I went to Wetmore in Utica for elementary + St. Stanislaus Church (just wrote a memoir about them) and to Whitesboro jr-sr hi for 7 - 12 a few years before you. Lived on Whitesboro Street in Yorkville when I went to Whitesboro.

When I went to St. Lawrence (got a tuition scholarship from Niagara-Mohawk, where my father worked), my parents moved to New York Mills (both second-generation Poles) near Hapanowicz Meats. Isn't ND a block away from Hap's?

When I went home summers, I'd spend lots of time at various places in New Hartford. (My band director in HS, Don Cantwell, used to direct the summer concerts in the park there. I'd go to a local church there to play Scrabble on Thursday nights. The NH Mall. Meals at Casa Too Mucha.)

Utica -- a great place to grow up in.

I've been in the TI region for the last 30+ years.

What does TI mean? Thousand Islands??