Carving a niche in retirement

Ogden resident Gary Beldue stands behind his product, a Windsor rocker which he handmade at a class he attended at the Windsor Institute in Hampton, New Hampshire. The class lasted a week and it took Gary about four days to construct the chair. He plans to finish it with red milk paint and an overlay of black milk paint, an old-fashioned treatment. Gary has been working with wood for about 13 years, carving jewelry boxes, wall hangings and birds and progressed to tables and desks before starting to make chairs last year. He retired from Kodak two years ago after spending 32 years there. He used his Kodak retraining money to learn more about woodworking, attending three different class sessions. He stated, with enthusiasm, "I start out with a piece of wood and end up with something people enjoy." Some of his work is carried by J. William Jewelers in Spencerport.

This wall hanging dispays some of Gary Beldue's talent in making Intarsia, a design incorporating several varieties of colored wood. Photos by Walter Horylev.

Life after retirement

Carving a niche in retirement

Though Gary Beldue was forced to retire early, he has been able to handcraft how life after Eastman Kodak will be.

The Spencerport resident has been able to use the energy and creativity that he once poured into 32 years as a toolmaker and use it to shape amazing designs out of wood. Walking through Gary and Marjorie Beldue's home is like touring an art gallery. His designs are everywhere you look or sit. On the walls hang wooden clocks designed by Beldue, right next to the decorative wall hangings he crafted. He also has created a wine cabinet, end tables, a desk, jewelry boxes, a bookcase and his newest project, Windsor chairs.

Beldue is a modest tour guide, but his work does the talking for him. Even his most functional pieces showcase a look that sets them apart.

"For me, retirement is more or less being able to do what I want to do," Beldue said. "It is fun to do something you enjoy."

His wife, Marjorie, is his biggest customer, and while she is impressed with his work, she isn't surprised.

"He's not a man of a lot of words, but he is a man of a lot of thoughts," Marjorie said. His thoughts center around tackling creative challenges by reproducing things he has seen, or creating new designs.

Right now his challenge is producing Windsor chairs. When he retired from Kodak in 2003 he used the retraining money offered to him as part of his package to attend the Windsor Institute in Hampton, New Hampshire. It was a weeklong, intensive class that taught him the process of designing beautiful wooden chairs.

These chairs take about three to four days for Beldue to build and are made from three different types of wood, maple, oak and pine.

The end product looks more like a work of art than a piece of furniture.

"I think I've enjoyed all of them (his different projects), but right now it is the chairs that are most challenging," Beldue said.

For Beldue, creativity runs in the family. His grandfather, William Beldue, worked for Kurlash Company and invented the eyelash curler. His father, William Jr., did a lot of home remodeling and even enjoyed making his own candles. Beldue himself registered a patent while working at Kodak.

Beldue got a glimpse into his new world when he took his first carving class at the Rochester Museum and Science Center back in 1992. Carving had always been an interest, but the classes he took would really fuel his new craft. Sensing that his job at Kodak would soon be elimimated, like so many others have been, he started to invest more energy into his carving and began his own small business, Beldue's Creations in Wood.

Today, he hopes to grow his business offering custom woodworking and design, and home remodeling. He created his own Web site at www.belduescreationinwood.com http://www.belduescreationinwood.com/ and can be reached by calling 746-3803.