NEW CITY, NY – Rockland County Executive Ed Day has ordered that all County Flags be lowered to half-staff on Wednesday, August 7, out of respect for long-time Rockland resident and Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning novelist Toni Morrison.

“Rockland County mourns the loss of this wonderfully talented soul,” said Day. “Having called Grandview-on-Hudson home for many years, she made her impact known locally and across the country through her ‘Bench by the Road’ monument project commemorating the lives of slaves. Her contributions to our community and to our country will not soon be forgotten.”

“This is a devastating loss to the world, to the culture, to Toni Morrison’s fellow residents of Rockland County, and to me personally. We may all have a Toni Morrison story. When I was growing up, I wanted to be a writer–a novelist, in fact–like Ms. Morrison. I remember reading Song of Solomon in high school and instantly wanting to study English and creative writing wherever she taught. She was the first black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her writings lifted up the stories of black people in spectacular and unprecedented fashion, and those stories will now stand the test of time. Representation matters. I am so grateful for her.” said Mondaire Jones – Candidate for Congress NY-17.

On May 18, 2015, a bench was placed in Nyack’s Memorial Park in honor of Cynthia Hesdra, a former slave who eventually became a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Hesdra was also a successful entrepreneur, landowner, and business woman who owned properties and laundry establishments in both New York City and in Nyack, New York.

A memorial service in remembrance of Toni Morrison will be held on Wednesday 8/7 at 5:30 pm near the Hesdra Bench, located on the upper level of Nyack’s Memorial Park. People are invited to read a passage from one of Morrison’s books.