The Terni Clan's Long History as Educators

Shortly after arrival in Millerton, most folks soon find their way to Terni's Store for a dish of ice cream, a cold soda, a paper, or even a glimpse of Millerton, the way it used to be.

A Country Store, in the purest sense of the word, Terni’s has been a presence on Main Street since the early 20th century. Featuring a diverse range of merchandise from fishing tackle, and candy, outdoor gear by Woolrich, Pendleton and Filson, to newspapers, magazines, case knives, and imported cigars - a warm welcome is still the most memorable aspect of the store.

Phil Terni, who now runs that familiar and long-time family establishment, is both the son (Assunta Terni , also known as "Madame Terni", was his mom)and husband of a teacher(many of you will remember wife Ellen W. Terni who taught at the Webutuck Elementary School and is now retired). There are many more teachers in the Terni clan .

Phil Terni's Aunt Esther

Phil's cousin, Susan Terni Taff, a former teacher - of course- wrote a reminiscence about her mom for our "Year of the Teacher" salute to the outstanding educators we have known. Our friends from Pine Plains easily recognize the name Esther "Esterinna" Peppe Terni.

Esther was born on April 21, 1912 to Archangelo and Maria Esternia Proia Peppe, the fourth of nine children. She grew up in Pine Plains, N.Y., loving music and caring for her younger siblings. She attended Seymour Smith Academy and the University of New York at New Paltz, where she graduated in 1934 as a teacher of kindergarten and primary grades. She taught at Jackson Corner one-room schoolhouse at the age of 19 as part of her teacher training.

Unidentified children at Jackson Corner school in 1931. Ester is in the center, back row

Cousin Susan writes: “My mom loved teaching and I believe she was quite good at it. She seemed to find the best in each student. She taught third grade most of her career... and, yes, she did try to encourage me to go into teaching, but I resisted. She was pleased when I finally started teaching later in life. My oldest sister was a teacher, as were some of my mother's siblings. My mother was forever going to night school to further her education, all while raising a family and working. I don't know how she did it! She had a lot of support from my father.”

Even after retiring, she served as a substitute in the Enfield School System until well into her 70s. Esther's greatest passion was for her "Teacher's Pet", her cottage at Point O'Woods Beach in South Lyme, where she spent the summers for over 45 years.

In 1937 Esther married Stephen Terni of Millerton, N.Y.

Stephen Terni and Phil's father, Art Terni, were brothers.
Esther's sister, Evelina Peppe-Lyle who is married to Chet Lyle, long-time Millerton insurance broker now living in nearby Connecticut.

Phil Terni says of his mom, the legendary 'Madame Terni' :

letter to the Millerton News back in June(6-17-10).

Watch your languages
My mother, Mrs. J.H.W. Terni, was the language teacher at the Millerton High School and later at the Webutuck Central School, retiring in 1972. When first she taught here, in the year of 1929, she taught Latin, French, and if I remember her saying correctly, Greek. The Greek was only offered for a short time, but she did continue with the French, Latin and English for many years after.

Phil goes on later to add: "I didn't think much about my mom being a teacher...at the time. Now I regret that I was not a better student. I never asked for help with my homework, for example.

My mother was from a little town called Marathon, New York. At Keuka College she developed a love for languages. When she came east to teach, she was popular and always had a good time.

She retired in 1972, but went back to school to coach her Regents Latin students who needed three years of Latin and had only one year when she retired.

She always loved music. She played the piano for musicals at the high school and played the organ for various churches in Millerton.

Her real favorites were her pets...dogs with classical names: Argus, Midas and Caesar.


Photo of Terni's Store courtesy of Jenny Hansell

Anne Moore Blownstine

One of my favorite teachers was Anne Moore, later, Blownstine, who taught American History when I was in high school. In the thirties and forties she was also the coach of many a winning girl's basketball teams at Amenia High School

She had such enthusiasm for her subject that it sparked one's interest in spite of the sometimes dull parts of history. We were still in the midst of World War II when I was in high school, and she certainly helped us understand the causes and effects of the war and as it was happening she traced the progress of the Navy as it captured island after island in the Pacific- - we certainly learned our geography as well as the current events that were to become history.

I didn't know it at the time but she was a relative of the Murphy family and therefore my husband-to-be, Jim. They clashed occasionally and he was not as enthusiastic as I about her teaching. I think the reason Jim didn't like her was the subject. At that time he was milking cows twice a day and coming to school full time--real study was not on his agenda--except for Physics taught by Howard Lonsdale whom he liked as a teacher very much as well as liking the subject.

The photo in this article has been provided by Jim’s sister Catherine Murphy.

I have fond memories also of Gertrude Foley and "Mac" Kinney but Arlene Iuliano has already ably covered them. (See blog archives.)

Charlotte Murphy

Rose McKean- Romancing the Language

We have recently had the good fortune to be in touch with an old friend from Amenia, Ken McKean. Ken grew up in Amenia and now lives in Florida having had a distinguished Air Force career. We wanted to do a little reminiscence about Mrs. McKean for the Schoolhouse Blog. When we asked Ken what he might feel about such a thing, he answered in the affirmative and included this brief little scene:

Time--- 1947/48
Setting--- Amenia High School---- Freshman classroom

Teacher--- Mrs. Rose S. McKean

Student--- Kenneth R. McKean

Situation--- Either Algebra 1 or Latin I class

Teacher asks-- are there any questions?

My hand goes up--- am never recognized!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Situation--- home on South Street in Amenia

Kenneth comes downstairs from doing homework with a question concerning either Latin or Algebra homework

Mother, sitting at dining room table grading papers, tells me for the 257th time, "Kenneth--- you know I am your teacher and cannot give you extra help at home" !!!!

End of Freshman year: Social Studies = A, English= A, Biology= A, Latin= D & Algebra = D.

Fall of 1948 I commence my plebe year @ Culver Military Academy, IN--the turning point in my road to "book learnin" & maturity.


I learned in later years that Miss Staunton, Mrs. Foley, Mr. Bonville, Miss Cogan & Mrs. Tripp, all counseled her to at least give me a chance ? !

Looking back---- a blessing in disguise?






Rose S. McKean was one of that cadre of very fine teachers that made up the Amenia High School, later to be the Webutuck Central School , faculty. Mrs. McKean had the thankless job of introducing endless numbers of the local progeny to Latin and French. She never gave it less than her best. For some of us it was a mystery never to be penetrated. For others of us, however, it was as if a light had gone on in our social and intellectual development.
Mrs. McKean’s favorite trick on Day One (or is it Day I?) of Latin I was to arrive for the class carrying three dictionaries--Latin, French, and English. She proceeded to demonstrate that fully half of the English dictionary came from the Latin one. She illustrated this by opening the English dictionary to the middle and leaving it flat on her desk. But fully ninety percent of the French dictionary came from the Latin one! That, too, was deposited on her desk in a ninety to ten ratio. It was a stunning object lesson to the novices who were about to embark on the study of a dead language.
Mrs. McKean knew as well as anybody that to study a language is not only to learn the grammar and vocabulary, but it also to enter a different civilization, a different world view, and a different way of thinking. For me her enthusiasm was everything. She encouraged one to learn to learn more deeply about the individual culture. That is precisely what happened to me at university where I pretty much devoured what the French department had to offer. I was always assured that my background was so strong, I would have an enjoyable time of it. And so I did.

One of the interesting things about working in a language that is not your own is that you do begin to see the logic, the rhyme and reason of the other country, if you will. In my case, I learned this rule again from her when I ran into trouble with first year Algebra. It was a complete and total mystery to me, and I began to fail badly. Fortunately for me, my parents asked Mrs. McKean to tutor me; to see if she could get me going. She approached it as if we were learning another language with its own syntax, rules of grammar and such. Within a few weeks she had me seeing the light.

And to this day I think of Mrs. McKean whenever I hear someone say something involving unknowns; I find myself saying ‘ Two trains leave Chicago at the same time going in different directions… ‘

Barnett Epstein

If you wish to comment on this reminiscence, add some details or send Barney a message, write to IndianRockschool@aol.com

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