Joseph V. Reilly is being inducted posthumously into the Hall of Fame for his service to his county, his 30+ years of teaching and administering in the Rensselaer City Schools and for his volunteer service to his community.
Joe graduated ahead of his class by 2 years, from St. John’s Academy in Rensselaer in 1935. He received his BA in History from SUNY Oneonta, and his MA in Education and Administrative Certification from SUNY Albany. After college, he enlisted in the Army and served as a communication specialist during WWII. He was stationed in England, France, Iceland and Greenland. After the war, he started teaching Jr. High History. In the summer, he worked as the Director of Parks and Recreation and was one of the founding members of the City’s Little League baseball organization which he worked with for many years. He was a great supporter of the (then) Rensselaer Boys Club. Joe was promoted to principal of the Van Rensselaer Elementary School in the late 50’s- early ‘60’s, and then was appointed Superintendent in 1963. Many teachers Joe hired were alumni, some of whom are in the Hall of Fame. Joe had the kind of dedication that is exemplified by the story of how he worked all night the evening School #2 burned in 1967 to insure that not one student missed a day of instruction by placing them in other schools, churches and fire houses. During this time, he was crucial to obtaining the property on the riverfront for the new Junior-Senior High School. He worked long and hard to see this dream to fruition. His contacts with Lady Bird Johnson, the First Lady, and Governor Malcolm Wilson aided in the purchase of the land from the rail road. He was a “hands-on” administrator, frequenting classrooms to see students and faculty working. He also served the Rensselaer community as clerk of the Public Library, and was a member of the Kiwanis, the Gerald O’Neil American Legion Post and was an active parishioner of St. Joseph’s Church. Joe lived in Rensselaer his whole life. He passed away in 1997. He was married to the late Anne Carey Reilly and they had six children and 18 grandchildren. Joe was nominated by his daughter Anne Reilly Vadney.
Fran Pilato is being inducted into the Hall of Fame for her unique dedication to the students of the Rensselaer School District.
Fran went to high school in Batavia, NY and came to the Capital District in 1977 to attend Siena College where she graduated with a BS in 1981. She began her teaching career at Rensselaer Junior Senior High School that year and got her MS at SUNY Albany in 1984. Fran taught for 33 yrs, retiring just last year. She taught high school Biology and Chemistry and Middle School Living Environment. At her retirement Fran received the Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) “Volunteer of the Year” award which was inscribed with the following, “From day 1 she embraced diversity and academic challenge, resulting in a positive contribution to the students’ learning community”. Some of the highlights of her teaching career include being a founding member of the Mediation Program. She conducted training for mediators and coordinated the Middle School program. She was a committee member for the 2002 Intermediate Level Science core curriculum for NYS and continued to contribute to updates to the curriculum until her retirement. She organized many science field trips to area places such as the Children’s Museum of Science and Technology (CMOST), Howe Caverns, the sloop “Clearwater” and the BASF nature preserve at the Port. Her innovative teaching style is exemplified by the several cross-curriculum projects she initiated with the English Department e.g. showing how science pertained to Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe. She also partnered with Home and Careers through “Cooking in Metric”. Fran was the coordinator for many years of the Middle School Science Olympics. She also coordinated the Student Photography Project SNAP with BASF and Kodak. Fran initiated yearly student trips to the NYS Capitol and plaza monuments. Fran’s uniqueness excelled with student charitable projects aiming to instill community responsibility through such initiatives as sending “care packages” to former students in the military, food drives for the needy and fundraisers for the Little League and softball teams. She had a perennial wintertime mantra for the students to “shovel out hydrants and help with your neighbor’s sidewalks”. She went beyond her job duties to donate money, food and clothing to needy students and when she felt they needed help with getting to the prom or paying for yearbooks and class rings. Fran lives in Rensselaer and was nominated by her friend, former faculty member and 2013 Hall of Fame inductee, Ernie Mann ’65.