MaryAnn and Rick Ronzoni with their collection. (
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The collection currently on display at the library. (
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Recently retired local teachers, MaryAnn and Rick Ronzoni, are a Goshen couple who combined their talents and passions by creating beautiful wooden birds now on display in the Community Collections Showcase in the lobby of the Goshen Public Library.
Rick has always liked to work with his hands — fixing up old cars, building things such as go-carts and bird houses, and making elaborate Halloween costumes to wear as a teacher. MaryAnn’s artistic talents seem to run in her family. MaryAnn’s father, Ray Cramer, has revealed his artistic inclination previously in the Goshen Library — displaying a collection of wonderful bird photographs he took. Her grandfather also was a painter, and her mother was an artist with needle crafts and also worked with clay. MaryAnn’s brother, Steven Cramer, is a poet with more than a dozen books published to date. The whole family has the creativity bug.
However, a love of birds was MaryAnn and Rick’s first connection. When they started dating, a typical date would be bird watching. When they planned their honeymoon, it was to a place known for its birds. (The same is true for their vacations.) They both love the outdoors. In fact, when a well-known local realtor, Linda Clark, was showing them Goshen houses for sale, their list of “must haves” included “woods and water and a fireplace and — please no bi-levels.” Linda took them to a Goshen house but instead of going to the front door, she took them to the back yard, which was secluded, with woods and a small pond. They were already sold even before they went inside the front door. (It was a bilevel with no fireplace. They bought it anyway.)
Included in the display are some of Rick’s carving tools and some of MaryAnn’s brushes and paints. Could you take a block of wood and those tools and supplies and produce such beautiful artifacts? Maybe not, but you can enjoy them.
If you have a small collection which you are willing to share with the community, a collection of some things that give you joy, please email Jim Tarvin at jtarvin@hvc.rr.com. Let’s share the joy with others.
Jim Tarvin
Goshen