Community finds various ways to soothe

feelings of loss after Darcy Manor tragedy

By SUZANNE MOORE

ELLENBURG -- Eric and Leigh Gibson were on the road with their Gibson Brothers bluegrass band when they learned schoolmate Darcy Manor had been murdered.

North Carolina is a long way from Ellenburg Depot, but their hearts went home.

"I graduated with Darcy in 1989," said Eric. "This is a horrible loss."

Manor, a bus driver for his alma mater, Northern Adirondack Central School, and owner of Ellenburg Depot shop D.J. Auto Repair, was killed in Mooers on May 10.

He leaves his wife, Heather, two sons, Jake, 5, and Evan, 19 months -- and a community that deeply grieves his loss.

"A little town has a broken heart," Eric said, "and it's not going to mend anytime soon."

On Sunday, the Gibson Brothers will remember Mr. Manor with a performance that will benefit the scholarship created in his name.

"You don't feel so helpless if you can do something," Eric said. "What we do is play, so ..."

Others have had that same notion.

So many donations to the Darcy R. Manor Memorial Scholarship Fund have flooded in that the first award will take place at this year's NACS graduation.

"We have had significant amounts of money toward the scholarship," said Superintendent of Schools William Scott.

Mr. Manor loved working with his hands. He was a skilled mechanic who found pleasure in farming, too, the superintendent said. And so his family will select scholarship recipients who have the same kind of interests.