Camillus, N.Y. — To keep his wife happy while he escaped for his annual deer hunting trip, Richard Ward Jr. stuffed an old pair of jeans and flannel shirt with hay and positioned a jack-o’-lantern on the shoulders. He propped his makeshift dummy on a front-porch chair next to two carved pumpkins and a strand of orange lights.
“This will get some trick-or-treaters to keep you busy,” he told Terri Ward while heading out the door.
That was 30 years ago this week, shortly after they had moved into their home at 222 Kasson Road. Terri had one visitor on that Sunday Halloween night, and it was the child of a cousin.
But it was the start of what would become a Halloween tradition in Camillus, one enjoyed by busloads of West Genesee School District students who passed it each morning and afternoon.
In 1994, Richard added another dummy, a couple strands of lights and a few more pumpkins. A dozen or so children in costumes stopped by for candy this time. He ultimately scheduled his hunting trip around Halloween as his tradition snowballed into something rivaling Clark Griswold’s over-the-top display in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” The make-believe cemetery in the Wards’ front yard eventually drew 333 trick-or-treaters in 2004.
“He kept it going every year, right up to the end,” Terri said last week. “Even when he was in pain, he’d be out here making sure the kids had fun.”
Richard died in January following a blood infection. He was 57, and he had undergone 10 years of dialysis. His obituary said his passions in life were his family, his animals and his Halloween spirit.
His family and friends are resurrecting that Halloween spirit by decorating the house and yard.
“Everyone knows this house at this time of year,” said Megan Haney, Richard’s niece. “People have been asking if we were going to keep the tradition going and decorate the house. This was something we had to do.”
Megan asked members of a Camillus Community Connection…
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