Recently Marlborough resident Bill Donaldson was honored by the Ulster County Legislature and by the Town of Marlborough for turning 100 in June 2023.

Legislator Tom Corcoran began by citing a few historical dates: On March 3, 1923 Time Magazine published its first issue; April 4, 1923 Warner Brothers Pictures was established; and on April 18, 1923 the first baseball game was played at Yankee Stadium with the Yankees beating the Boston Red Sox 4-1. Later that year in October, the Yankees won their first of 27 World Series. Also on July 13, 1923 the Hollywood sign was inaugurated in California, originally called the Hollywoodland sign and later that year on October 15, 1923 the Walt Disney Studios was established.

On Sunday, June 10, 1923, Bill Donaldson was born and Corcoran recognized Donaldson with a Pride of Ulster County Award to commemorate his 100th birthday.

“To Bill Donaldson, congratulations and best wishes on the occasion of your 100th birthday on June 10, 2023. Congratulations,” Corcoran concluded.

Supervisor Scott Corcoran said, “There must be something in the water in Marlborough because we have a lot of people that are getting close to the 100 year mark, 90s, 80s so that’s a great thing.”

Corcoran said, “just to think that what happened in the last 25 or 30 years of our lifetimes, what you’ve seen in a hundred years is unbelievable...It’s an achievement to get to 100 years then keep on going and be able to come in here [at the town hall] and receive this award.”

Donaldson recalled that, “I was 4 years old when Lindbergh flew to Paris in 1927 and I’ve been interested in airplanes ever since. I was in World War II and our particular outfit went over on the Queen Mary, a huge ship, and we went south because it got warm and then we went up north to a bay. They got a little boat out to us and then we took a train down to Flixton [part of Manchester, England] where our air field was. We were there a year and a half.”

The full Town Board had their picture taken with Donaldson, followed by one with family and friends.