Frances Moonan,89, formerly of New Hyde Park, died on June 27, 2001. Wife of the late Joseph. Mother of Rosemary McElroy and Michael Moonan. Sister of Mildred Guido. Grandmother of Michael, Lisa, Lara and Kerith. Great-grandmother of nine. The family was cared for by the Thomas F. Dalton Funeral Home, New Hyde Park. Mass of Christian Burial at Notre Dame RC Church. Interment Holy Rood Cemetery.

Dr. Thomas G. Rooney, retired superintendent of the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Schools, died unexpectedly on July 8, 2001 at Winthrop University Hospital. He was born in Plattsburgh, NY, in 1922. Dr. Rooney is survived by his wife of 52 years, Marjorie Barton Rooney of New Hyde Park; two sons, Tom Rooney Jr. of Gettysburg, PA, and John Rooney of Boston, MA; a daughter, Eleanor Poppe of Garden City South; and his grandchildren, Frank Thomas, Sarah Louise and Grace Barton Poppe.

Dr. Rooney was principal of both the Manor Oaks and the Hillside Grade Schools before he was selected as superintendent of public schools, a position he held until his retirement in 1978. During his tenure, Rooney enlivened the libraries of the elementary school district he headed. Using the labor and imaginative resources of his district, Dr. Rooney turned a basement library into a jungle. The pipes became tree trunks and snakes. Another library became a circus, and yet another, a castle. At the time of his retirement, every first and second grade student in the district tested at or above grade level in both reading and math.

Dr. Rooney earned a bachelor's degree from the State University of NY, a master's degree from Syracuse University and a Ph.D. from NYU. He was a former secretary of the Nassau Chief School Administrators, a life member of the PTA and was a former Rotary Club president. He was a veteran of WWII and earned three battle stars.

After retiring from education, Rooney entered the theater, and was active as a character actor until the time of his death. He wrote the book and lyrics, and starred in a one-man show about Benjamin Franklin entitled A Tradesman of Philadelphia which premiered in Gettysburg on July 4, 1982. Later that year, Rooney brought the show to LI where it played to a capacity crowd at Hofstra's Student Theatre. He later played a leading role in a docudrama produced to train jurors in NYS Supreme Court cases. As an actor Rooney toured the country in such roles and plays as Norman in On Golden Pond, Willy Clark in Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys and the Stage Manager in Our Town. As a model his pictures appeared in Time Magazine, People, Redbook, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. He appeared nationally in several commercials for both MTV and AT&T and was seen as an extra on All My Children and The Edge of Night. He was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, Actor's Equity and AFTRA.

Funeral services were held on July 11. Arrangements were made by the Krauss Funeral Home, Franklin Square.