While it’s true that earlier this year, County Executive George Latimer appointed The Westchester County Historical Society as the official county historian, Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner has made some historical moves of his own.
Feiner found two local diamonds in the forms of Riley Wentzler and Felicia Barber, an engaged couple who have been putting out articles in their blog, “A Slice of History,” and are now working for the town as assistant town historians.
“They’re amazing; they’re totally amazing,” Feiner says. “I really hope that no one steals them from us, because they really do some excellent work.”
“In 10th grade, I had this teacher who talked about history in a way that no one ever had to me before,” Wentzler says. “He would say, ‘All you need is: “Who is group A? Who is group B? And why aren’t they getting along?”’ History became interesting, because it became about stories.”
Wentzler and Barber first met at Pennsylvania’s Edinboro University, where he graduated with a master’s in communications and she earned a bachelor’s in fine arts, with a focus on graphic design.
“If you’ve read any of our articles, you’d know we have cerebral palsy,” Wentzler shares. “This is partly how we ended up at Edinboro University, because it was one of the best colleges at the time to provide a good education for individuals with disabilities.”
Wentzler helms the writing, while Barber does the designs. She created the logo for their internship program and made the logo for her and her spouse’s blog.
“She’s in aesthetics, and I’m in goal-setting,” Wentzler says. “If we walked into Thomas Jefferson’s kitchen, for example, she’d say, ‘The walls are yellow; I can’t believe they’d use this color,’ and I’d say, ‘Oh, I didn’t even notice that!’”
According to Feiner, the couple seem to complement each other especially well. “People read and love their articles all the time,” Feiner says. “They truly make history come to life.”
Wentzler and Barber post weekly at www.greenburghny.com, under the “News & Information” section.
