From left, then Keene town Supervisor Bill Ferebee, then Jay town Supervisor and Wilmington town Supervisor Randy Preston get soaked by a bucket loader full of ice water during an ALS Association Ice Bucket Challenge on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014 at the annual Festival of the Colors in Wilmington. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

WILMINGTON – The parking lots were full, and cars lined the shoulders of state Route 86 for hundreds of yards in both directions near the Calvary Baptist Church on Tuesday, July 23.

A state senator, two state assemblymen, a representative from the governor’s office, dozens of uniformed firefighters and other first responders, the county district attorney and other local and regional officeholders, family members, town employees, sparring partners, and many friends filled the church almost beyond capacity.

Diane Kirby looked out at the crowd and said, “Randy would have loved this. He would have absolutely loved this.”

Randy Preston – the sharp-tongued, sharp-elbowed small business owner who bulldozed a dramatic political ascent and changed his town forever – was remembered in Wilmington on Tuesday with fanfare that approached a level proportionate to his impact on his community.

Preston, who died on Thursday, July 18 after a 28-month struggle with cancer, was eulogized at the church by state Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos, North Elba Town Supervisor Roby Politi, and Kirby, his sister.

The sign at the Calvary Baptist Church on state Route 86 honors Wilmington town Supervisor Randy Preston, who died on Thursday, July 18 after a long battle with cancer. This was the site of Preston’s funeral service on Tuesday, July 23. (Provided photo — Tim Follos)

Family members and friends remembered Preston as a self-made man who grew up with four siblings in a small house on Route 86 and worked at the Whiteface Mountain ski center and in the prison system before launching a business that repairs firefighting equipment.

His family said Preston was a “blue-collar guy” who made a living “turning wrenches.”

Preston, a longtime chief of the Wilmington Volunteer Fire Department, was in his late 40s when he was lobbied by businesswoman and behind-the-scenes politico Fran Walton to challenge then-incumbent Wilmington town Supervisor Jeanne Ashworth’s 2007 re-election bid. To the surprise of many, Preston, a political Independent, soundly defeated Ashworth. He then trounced all challengers to hold his title for the rest of his life.

“I’ve lived here for 50 years. I don’t think there’s ever been a supervisor who’s done more for the town,” Preston’s close friend Paul Coarding said after the funeral.

The projects that Preston worked on and supported as town supervisor – improving the town beach, renovating the Whiteface Veterans’ Memorial Highway, renovating the elevator to the top of Whiteface Mountain (a roughly $5 million effort), vastly expanding the network of mountain biking trails in Wilmington and establishing Wilmington as a regionally and nationally recognized mountain biking hub, spurring development in the rural mountain town, and creating the new 3,000-square-foot High Peaks Health Center, among others – will continue to impact the lives of Preston’s constituents for decades.

State Sen. Betty Little, R-Queensbury, talks with the Coarding family Tuesday, July 23 at the reception in the Wilmington firehouse after the funeral of Wilmington town Supervisor Randy Preston. (Provided photo — Tim Follos)

Coarding said Preston was fully invested in his current project, seeking to dredge the silt that has conspicuously accumulated in the Lake Everest section of the West Branch of the AuSable River in recent years, until his final days.

Kirby spoke for many when she said, “Wilmington has never looked better than it has throughout the almost-12 years he was supervisor.

“Randy worked hard. Don’t ever think, as taxpayers, that you didn’t get your money’s worth.

“During (cancer) treatment he just wanted to get back to work.”

Kirby also spoke about a different side of the oft-acerbic Preston.

Wilmington town Supervisor Randy Preston, left, gets ready to fire the ceremonial shot to begin the 2011 Wilmington Whiteface 100k bike race. (Provided photo — ORDA)

“He loved kids,” she said. “He loved taking all the kids in the family on the fire trucks. He had the softest heart for kids. He treated his stepkids as his own. He said, ‘They’re not my stepkids. They’re my kids.'”

Mourners remembered that one of Preston’s goals was to live long enough to see his stepdaughter graduate from the Lake Placid High School in June.

He did.

Kirby concluded her remarks with the simple words she knew her brother wanted the crowd to hear: “Whiteface Mountain is in Wilmington, New York.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo memorably described Preston as his “hero” in 2017, when Preston was the chair of the Essex County Board of Supervisors and helped spearhead the effort to convince the state to invest millions of dollars in the former Frontier Town theme park. DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos read a statement from Cuomo at the service and, speaking for himself, said that he first met Preston in 2012.

“It did not take long for Randy to get into my face,” Seggos said. “He was a special person who wore his heart on his sleeve. To say that you always knew where you stood with Randy would be an understatement.”

Seggos praised Preston’s “tough-as-nails attitude.”

“Even fighting this terrible disease, he always had strength in his voice and in his eyes.”

North Elba town Supervisor Roby Politi echoed Seggos’s sentiments.

“You never saw him quit,” Politi said. “Wilmington and Essex County so benefitted from his tenacity and his spirit.”

Diplomacy and grace were not his strongest attributes, according to Politi.

“He had the tact of a mongoose and the subtlety of a flying brick.”

Still, “he was a real community champion – someone who made a difference in the lives of others,” Politi said near the end of his eulogy. “He’s left his mark – forever.”

Asked for a comment about his friend and colleague’s life and legacy, Wilmington Deputy Supervisor Darin Forbes responded with a message praising Preston’s integrity.

“When he told you something, that was as good as gold,” Forbes wrote. “He stood for what he believed in and found a way to make his dreams a reality. One of his dreams was to make Wilmington a better place, and he did. His legacy will live on, and he will be truly missed by his hometown.”

On July 23, long lines of traffic from the memorial service crawled past the house in which Preston was raised and the nearby Little Supermarket.

In life, Preston succeeded in spurring business and residential growth in Wilmington. In death, he created a traffic jam.

Some people left Preston’s funeral and went to his gravesite at Haselton Cemetery. Others went to the firehouse to prepare for the reception. Still others left Wilmington and began to filter back toward the various towns of Essex County. And some stopped at the Little Supermarket and walked past the posters and the newspapers touting the upcoming Wilmington Mountain Bike Festival and the fact that National Geographic named Wilmington one of America’s “20 Best Mountain Bike Towns.”

In his eulogy, Politi remembered a moment that exemplified Preston’s focus and approach.

Politi recalled watching Moriah town Supervisor Thomas Scozzafava speak to Gov. Cuomo. Eventually, Preston nudged Scozzafava aside and said, “Moriah’s got enough. Now let’s talk about Wilmington.”