On Sunday, April 14, 2024, at 2:00 p.m., the Ravena Coeymans Historical Society will present the last of the Winter/Spring program series. Guest speaker and author Gerald A. Finin will discuss his book, A Good and Noble Thing: The Pioneering Life and Service of Anna Ward Perkins, M.D. During the 1960s and 1970s, Dr. Perkins was a frequent visitor to the Finin family’s home in the Village of Rensselaerville. In 2018, Finin published a biography about Dr. Perkins, who served the Hilltown communities including the western part of the Town of Coeymans, and the fascinating life she led.

A native of Rensselaerville, NY, Finin attended Greenville Central High School, completed his undergraduate degree at the University at Albany and then his doctoral studies at Cornell University. Later, he joined the East-West Center, an Asia-Pacific educational institution located on the University of Hawaii Manoa campus. After thirty years of academic work, Finin is currently affiliated with Georgetown University’s center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies.

At the conclusion of the presentation, copies of his book will be available. We hope you can join us to learn about this remarkable pioneering and unorthodox woman of medicine.

Open to the public, this program will be held in the museum, located in the rear entrance of the village municipal building in Ravena, accessible to the handicapped.