For longtime Liberty resident and 104-year-old Loretta Saltzman, memory lane follows a set of New York, Ontario & Western Railway tracks, and ends with a place to rest her feet and reminisce. As a marker for those memories, a bench erected right in that spot, highlights Loretta, “the only lady that could stop a train.”

With her family homestead on the corner of Garden House Road and Denman Road, she would often travel by train, but her true destination split between two stops. As a nod to her, the train conductor would apply the brakes just for her so she could finish her journey by walking down the road.

Her niece, Jean Dermer, said that her aunt’s best memory was when the train conductor would ask her son about her –“she was beautiful and I think he was flirting,” Dermer reminisced. 

Loretta, born in 1920 in Swan Lake, lived on Denman Road until the age of 19. Shortly thereafter, she married and moved to Brooklyn, and later to Staten Island. However, she often visited Liberty in the summertime.

She and her spouse eventually spent six months of the year in New York, and spending the remaining six months in North Miami Beach, Florida’s Aventura. 

However, she returned to Liberty full-time after her husband’s death in 2020 - when she was 92 - in order to be nearer to her family. Saltzman still maintains contact with her little brother right across the road, who is 94. 

Since then, the centurian still finds a way to make it back to the exact spot where she had a say in when the train would stop and when it would go.

Looking into the past

It was in Brooklyn during her late teens and early 20’s that Seltzman would find her love of the Dodgers [back when they were the Brooklyn Dodgers] and baseball itself. By exension, she is also a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

You could ask Saltzman anything about their players, their stats and she’d be able to tell you. Of course, a lot of this knowledge is helped by her love of watching all the games.

Her hobbies also include watching Blue Bloods and listening to the music of Josh Groban as well.

In her school days, Saltzman attended a one-room school house for elementary school which she traveled by horse and buggy. The teacher’s words, “Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. if not for Mrs. Collins your brains will turn to dust” stayed with her forever. This is something that would absolutely stick.

Her career goal was always to become a nurse. Though, she was from a poor farm family. Nevertheless, she married and began raising her family after leaving Liberty.

“During Covid, she and I got all dressed up for her granddaughter’s wedding,” said Dermer. “We were at her home and couldn’t attend in person, but we had a nice dinner, a “champagne toast,” wedding cake, and more. We attended the wedding on Zoom and it was so much fun and she looked beautiful!”

“She is who I’m most inspired by,” said Dermer. “If she can do all she does with a smile, we can do anything.”