FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 7, 2019
Contact: John Lyon 845-638-5645

New City, NY, - Rockland County Executive Ed Day ordered all County Flags to be lowered to half-staff on Wednesday, July 7, 2019, out of respect for long-time Rockland resident and Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning novelist Toni Morrison.

"Rockland County mourns the loss of this wonderfully talented soul," said Day. "Having called Grandview-on-Hudson home for many years, she made her impact known locally and across the country through her 'Bench by the Road' monument project commemorating the lives of slaves. Her contributions to our community and to our country will not soon be forgotten."

On May 18, 2015, a bench was placed in Nyack's Memorial Park in honor of Cynthia Hesdra, a former slave who eventually became a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Hesdra was also a successful entrepreneur, landowner, and business woman who owned properties and laundry establishments in both New York City and in Nyack, New York.

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