Born: 1899, in Fairfax, Vermont
Died: April 24, 1971; buried in St. Bernard's Cemetery
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, April 27, 1971; reprinted in "People, places and things," Adirondack Daily Enterprise, July 7, 2018
Arthur Joseph Townclock, 72, who was reported missing from his home on Algonquin Avenue since Saturday night was found dead on a woodland trail behind the new Saranac Lake Central School by Garwood Munn at 5:50 yesterday.
Police were notified and in turn called Ronald Keough, Franklin County Coroner who ordered the body removed to the Saranac Lake General Hospital where an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.
The Enterprise learned from a reliable source that Mr. Townclock, who was generally thought to be destitute by most residents of the village, was carrying about $500 when his body was discovered.
The police theory is that Mr. Townclock suffered a heart attack as he fell forward into the snow with a bag of groceries still clutched in his arms. He apparently was heading home with the groceries, taking the route up Olive Street, in front of the new school. He then took a trail at the rear of the school gym which cuts over to the baseball field near Schroeter's Restaurant. It is not known why he went onto the trail because it goes in the opposite direction from his home but the theory is that he may have felt ill and walked into the woods.
Mr. Munn was on his way to Ampersand Avenue [the Munns then lived at 88 Ampersand Avenue] after track practice when he discovered the body.
Mr. Townclock, affectionately known in the village as "Ticker" had lived in Saranac Lake since about 1940. He worked at many odd jobs about the community and for many years worked on a general delivery truck owned by John Pratt.
He was born in Fairfax, Vermont, in 1899. It is believed that he has a brother in Swanton, Vermont, and a sister in Georgion, Vermont.
In the 2018 reprint Howard Riley added this: "Ticker" had an intellectual disability. I remember one winter in the 1940s--and one wonders how he arrived in Saranac Lake from Vermont--he lived in an abandoned panel truck in what was then a field where T. J. Dupree's auto repair shop is located today, off Church Street Extension. I also remember a bunch of us kids opening the back door to look inside and it was loaded with mounds of old quilts and pillows to keep him warm.
