CITY OF NEWBURGH – State Sen. Bill Larkin and the community came together Monday to wish each other farewell.

Larkin is retiring after a long career of public service, including 40 years as a state lawmaker.

He got a police escort to the Newburgh Armory Unity Center and walked into the auditorium to the first of several standing ovations.

In addition to the expected local veterans, officials and others in the standing-room-only auditorium, Larkin’s well-wishers included state Sen. Diane Savino, a Democrat from Staten Island who came to thank Larkin for being the deciding vote on a bill she championed making medical marijuana legal in New York.

Savino conceded that it might've been an unexpected position for a senior Republican to take, but she said Larkin listened to the arguments in favor and realized it would help people.

She said the state is losing a good leader and lawmaker.

“We will hold his replacement’s feet to the fire,” she promised.

In a statement released by his office before the celebration, Larkin said his one regret in his final days was that there was not a real transition, because his replacement, Assemblyman and senator-elect James Skoufis, never contacted him.

That, Larkin said, “was very disappointing.” He has not reached out to Skoufis.

On Monday, Skoufis responded in a statement, "As I have said countless times, I am extremely grateful for Bill Larkin's service. His office made it clear to me shortly after the election that I was neither invited nor welcome to his retirement party. I am not interested in getting into a tit-for-tat and, instead, thank Colonel Larkin for his dedication to our state and country. I wish him well in the next chapter of his life."

Town of Haverstraw Supervisor Howard Phillips said his part of Rockland County only got to know Larkin late in his career, after districts were realigned following the 2010 Census, but they quickly learned to appreciate him.

At the time, Haverstraw had been trying unsuccessfully for more than 30 years to acquire some land for a center that would be like Newburgh’s Armory Unity Center.

“We had it within a year’s time” after Larkin stepped in to help, he said.

Orange County Sheriff Carl DuBois, honoring Larkin’s longtime support of all uniformed services, called first responders to join him at the front of the room. At his signal, they all saluted Larkin.

“He’s given us a lot of money to get us the tools to do our jobs,” DuBois said.

Andrew Komonchak, former executive director of the not-for-profit foundation that oversees the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor in New Windsor – another project Larkin helped make a reality – told the retiring senator, “Your legacy of service to Purple Heart veterans will go on long after you and I are gone.”

But it was Larkin who had the last word.

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to be your senator,” Larkin said.

mrandall@th-record.com