Shurtleff family legacy lives on

For as long as he can remember, Lee Shurtleff had a dedication to community service instilled in him, primarily by his father, the late Phil Shurtleff, and that influence has guided Lee to commit himself to just that ever since.

Phil and Norma Shurtleff, along with their children, James (Jim) and Michael, moved to Groton in 1960 when Phil, who was a funeral director, purchased the Booth Funeral Company. Their family was completed in 1965 when their twins, Lee and Lisa, were born.

After a move to New Mexico in 1974 that lasted less than a year, the family returned, homesick for Groton, and Phil turned to real estate, operating NEA Realty until 1989 when the funeral company became available again. Phil was able to reestablish the business with his son, Michael, and renamed it Shurtleff Funeral Home.

Lee has had a goal to take part in the family business for a long time and is now ready to do so, but he has had a remarkable journey in the meantime.

When Lee attended Groton High School, he developed a love for local and state history as a member of the Yorkers Club, led by social studies teacher Lavena Court. Lee was appointed the village historian in 1980, a position he still fills today.

After graduating from GHS in 1983, Lee earned his BA in political science at Cortland State in 1987. While there, Lee also obtained his broker’s license and worked full time for Phil in the real estate business when he graduated.

In his “free time,” Lee began buying and flipping houses around Groton.

In 2005, Lee purchased his own home on the corner of East Cortland and Church streets, which was originally owned by Dr. Willard Short, who had ironically delivered Lee and his twin sister Lisa when they were born.

Lee’s home is right next door to the Groton Public Library, and when long-time family friend and GPL trustee Frank Satterly approached Lee a few years ago to consider selling some of the property in order for the library to expand, Lee very generously donated it instead.

“After the countless hours I have spent researching village history and research for my college papers in that library, I had to just donate the land,” Lee said.

Lee also joined the Groton Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter when he was in college.

“I’ve kind of followed in my dad’s footsteps right along,” Lee said.

He explained that the ambulance service in Groton was initially a part of the funeral home and that that was a strong influence on him growing up.

When Phil left real estate and returned to funeral directing, Lee also left and became the Tompkins County commissioner of elections and a fire dispatcher part time.

After nine years as elections commissioner, Lee’s involvement in the fire department led him to the next stage of his career, the deputy fire disaster and EMS coordinator for Tompkins County under Jack Miller, who was the director.

Miller retired as director after a 30-year career in 2002, and Lee was asked to fill his position. As director, Lee had four major goals to expand the scope of what his department would do. Over the course of the next 18 years before his recent retirement on April 7, Lee implemented them all.

“The 9/11 tragedy in 2001 was a defining moment for public safety and planning,” Lee said. “That, along with the explosion of cellular technology, made the calls that were coming in to dispatch very complicated because they were not identifiable like landlines.”

Goal number one for Lee was consolidating dispatching, two was developing a comprehensive emergency management plan framework for all responders and all emergencies, three was to link all responders to a common radio operations network, and four was to build a center to house the dispatch and emergency management operations in one place.

Lee was named project manager to build the $25 million center, the largest capital project in the history of Tompkins County government.

Throughout his entire career, Lee earned awards and accolades too numerous to name. His most recent honor was being elected president of the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs, the leading fire service organization in our state, but on the very day of his retirement, he received what he feels is the greatest award of all.

A conference room in the center of which Lee oversaw the building was named for him, and he was particularly touched that the room is adjacent to one that was named for his predecessor, John L. (Jack) Miller.

“My love of government, fire service and local history has all melded together into the ideal overall career,” Lee said. “But now, I’m ready for my ultimate goal.”

Lee had attended Simmons Institute of Funeral Service in Syracuse on weekends while he worked full time for Phil at NEA Realty in 1992. Because he needed to serve a full-time residency in a funeral home for a year to obtain his director’s license, Lee was never able to do so until this past year.

He took his licensing exam in January 2020 and received his license in March.

“Groton is my home, and it’s where I want to be,” Lee said. “After I turned 50, my desire was to be more home-based with my career and work with my family to serve the community that’s supported us these last 60 years.”

Our town is very fortunate to have received the many blessings of the Shurtleff legacy.

Groton on the Inside appears weekly. Submit news ideas to Linda Competillo, lmc10@cornell.edu or 607-227-4922.

In brief:

The Little Mermaid

The Groton High School Drama Club’s director, Annette Twitchell, and her students were disappointed that the show “could not go on” after months of rehearsals for their production of “The Little Mermaid,” when they received word on the day of their first dress rehearsal, March 13, that it would be their last day of school due to COVID-19.

Now, months later, despite their hopes that they might be able to perform it live, it has been made clear from the governor’s office that they may not.

Thankfully, some parents of performers had taken video footage at that last rehearsal, and one parent, John Brehm, is editing them to make some semblance of a “movie” of the students performing it for viewing in a “drive-in movie” style on the gymnasium wall.

While this will not be the full-blown amazing show our students have put on every year, it will still be a good representation of all the hard work they put into it, and it will be all the memory they will have to hold on to.

The “movie” will be shown at dusk, roughly 9:15 p.m., nightly Thursday, July 9 through Saturday, July 11 in the high school side parking lot.

Admission is free; donations to the Groton High School Drama Club are encouraged, and reservations for a car space will need to be made ahead of time by filling out the following reservation form at https://forms.gle/LjtKCrfTbSroSBNx9.

Admittance will begin at 8:30 p.m. via the Corona Avenue entrance only. Each car will be checked in. An FM transmitter will be used for movie-goers to listen to the sound on their radio.

There will be no intermission. Bathrooms will be available, but it is expected that movie-goers will remain in their assigned space for the duration of the movie, except for extreme need. When using the bathroom, please wear a mask, use the hand sanitizer upon entrance to the building and respect the six-foot floor markings to keep socially distant.

Pre-packaged refreshments (cold water, soda, chips, popcorn, etc.) will be available for purchase directly from your car, sponsored by the Spanish Club, and the GVPA Boosters will be selling raffle tickets for several items related to “The Little Mermaid.” Drawings will be held on July 11.

Please contact Angela Conger at congerfam03@gmail.com with any questions.