Featured Author

Paul S. Worboys

Inspired by Studs Terkel, J. Sheldon Fisher, Arch Merrill and others who love to root around in the historical ventures of the common man, Paul is the product of a Huckleberry Finn childhood in Honeoye Falls. Sometimes known as “P.J. Erbley,” a nom de plume acquired during those Huckleberry days, Paul was introduced to the world with a History B.S. (the ‘BS’ has been put to good use) and Geography M.A. from Murray State University in western Kentucky. He courted a pretty Appalachian girl from the hills near “Bloody Harlan,” and later found and subsequently married a Thai sweetheart he met in Washington, D.C. It was an insightful transition from bucolic Upstate New York, to tobacco country and log-cabin Appalachia, to the gridlock of D.C. and Bangkok.

The pressures of international sophistication and country bumpkinism worked against the union, so Paul raised his three children back in the old hometown. All graduates of Honeoye Falls-Lima schools and area colleges, his progeny have sought their own futures in a mysterious place midway between the Orient and “the sticks” — San Diego, California. In the 1990's, Paul found love and married a handsome neighbor of Harriet Tubman and William Seward, Auburn native and Pittsford educator, Susan Strong. She saved the day, righted the listing ship of matrimonial turbulence and inspired a life of gleaning small-town history from attics and ashcans around the towns of his nativity.

Based on several dozen articles researched and written about the Honeoye Falls/Mendon vicinity, Paul has done a number of programs and tours of historical interest. He is especially proud of his books, A Railroad for Lima: New York State’s Unique Shortline, and Take ‘Em Into Camp! The History of the Husky Farmers and Baseball Around Honeoye Falls, N.Y. His current addiction is three-fold: providing a column entitled, “New & Notes from Local History” for The Sentinel, a tiny local newspaper; selecting, researching and nominating deceased or geriatric candidates for the Honeoye Falls-Lima High School Hall of Fame; and either connecting or reconnecting distant people with their family heritage in the local area.

Paul's articles in the Crooked Lake Review include When Circuses Came to Honeoye Falls, Get the Ball Home! Basketball Origins in Honeoye Falls, The Cornfield Meet, Slaying the Dragon: Bringing an 'Urban Legend' to its Knees, What Ya Up To Now, Ben? Honeoye Falls' Legendary Benjamin Peer, and Chautauquas: The Most American Thing in America. His article Haulin' the Mail: A Slice of Nostalgia in Mendon, NY appears on TrainWeb.

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