WPCNR Mr. and Ms. White Plains Voice. By Candyce Corcoran. January 4, 2004: Sunday, the father of Candyce Corcoran died at his home in Florida at age 89. As all of us age and our parents age, we tend to grow apart and consider each other at wary distances. In this memoir, Ms. Corcoran reflects on that passage of child to adult to one's relationship with an adult.

William Canelstein. Photo, Courtesy of the Family

A Tribute to My Dad

At 2:12 PM on December 30, 2004, I had an unsettling urge to call my Dad in Florida.  The time of day was not the norm, since I always waited until 9:00 PM to make my call. The number was speed dialed, it should have been my Dad’s soft voice at the other end, yet an unknown man answered the phone.  My heart started pounding; I could hear each and feel every beat.  The unknown voice asked me my name and asked my father’s name.  I replied, “Candyce Corcoran and my Dad is William Canelstein”, I felt my eyes swelling with tears. Strangely, I reverted back to a little girl and asked to speak to “My Daddy!”   My 89 year old father was gone. 

As I collected my thoughts, and after making several calls to family and friends, I loaded the car up with my three furkids, Oliver, Beemer and Lexus, and made my way past my childhood home on Albemarle Road.  I then proceeded to drive “downtown” to reminisce my Dad’s life, my life in White Plains.

Dad was one of five generations that lived in White Plains and for years he maintained his commercial real estate office above the Lowe’s Theater on Main Street.   I walked as a child hand in hand with my Dad down Main Street.   The memories of the cafeteria, Busch’s Jewelry Store, Fanny Farmer’s Candy Store, Bowman’s Florist, the corner Rexall Drug Store, RKO Theater, etc, became vivid in my mind, yet there was nothing left.  Nothing left of Main Street or of my Dad! 

All of a sudden I felt robbed.  My Dad was taken away and my childhood memories were only just that, memories.   Fifty three years of my own memories of my beloved Dad and my birth City of White Plains were gone right before my eyes.

Perhaps what White Plains is lacking is a “Memory Lane” within the confines of the “new” White Plains.  A dedicated memorial fountain, park, etc. for those of us whom have built our lives, our families and have cherished memories of White Plains.  A place for us. . .to reflect and remember; and for those new to White Plains, a place to learn our wonderful city’s history.