Massapequa Historical Society Trustee Arlene Goodenough gleams when she recounts the story of her paternal grandparents, although she admits she may not have all the details quite perfect. She believes her grandparents' first trip to America was in 1860 during their honeymoon. After touring New York, the wealthy couple returned to their native Russia and had five or six children. In a tragedy that is almost unthinkable today, they lost all their children to an influenza outbreak. Shortly afterwards, they relocated to New York City and started a new family. The couple had six more children, four boys and two girls. The fifth child, Arlene Goodenough's father, was named George Washington Wolff. The baby of the family, being born during President William McKinley's tenure, was named William McKinley Wolff.

"To my little girl ears hearing this story, I felt such a love for America in that my grandparents found happiness here and had that wonderful man, my father," says Goodenough "It just touched me so when it came to my consciousness at eight or so, some impressionable age. It did give me this feeling of love for America, and to me, Massapequa, is America."

Goodenough, one of the first trustees of the historical society, is about to end her two decades of service in the society to move to White Plains, New York. She and her husband of 44 years, Bill, are downsizing their lives, moving from their Massapequa home with its lush but high-maintenance garden to an apartment near one of their six sons. She says she and Bill feel so much lighter now that they've thrown out all their excess belongings.

"You know, you really are possessed by your possessions," she says.

So with not too much extra baggage, Goodenough is leaving the place she's helped to preserve and restore as part of the historical society since 1979.

Goodenough, 61, began working with the society when the ministry of the Grace Episcopal Church announced that they could no longer financially maintain Old Grace Church on Merrick Road. Community members interested in trying to save the church were asked to attend a meeting on what could be done.

"That was a wonderful night in Massapequa history," she says about the night of the meeting which drew a large crowd of concerned residents. "Religion had nothing to do with it. It was the structure, the old Massapequa they wanted to see preserved and not torn down and turned into a Carvel stand or something."

That night spawned the beginning of a new historical society that grew to be a strong, positive force in the community. Not only did the society buy the old church, but it has continued to this day its dedication to keeping Massapequa's history alive, says Goodenough.

Goodenough's participation has ranged from being a trustee to vice president to president of the Society. She is currently recording secretary. She says her years as president, though hard work, were enjoyable.

"I was so damn conscientious. I used to make agendas this long," she says holding her hands about a foot apart and laughing. "My meetings were too long, I see looking back . . . I wanted the whole membership to know about everything."

While the society may have kept her busy, it wasn't the only work she had to do. In the meantime, she put in 18 years working part-time at Macy's at the Sunrise Mall. She's also worked parttime at the Plainedge Public Library and Long Island Blood Services before it moved to New Jersey. She is currently working at the De Lancey Floyd-Jones Library.

"My friend says I'm the queen of the part-time jobs," she says giggling, but she adds that it was working only a few hours a week that gave her the extra time to devote to the society. And working for the society has been no small task for Goodenough.

"Our society is not about fun," she says. "There is no social life. We don't have parties. All we do is work, work, work. They are the most dedicated, wonderful bunch of people I ever saw in my life."

She credits a lot of the society's success to the support of the community. She's proud to say that the society currently has 837 members.

The list of things, Goodenough says, of the society's biggest accomplishments is long. She's really proud of all the commerative historical markers it has installed around town including the ones at Fitz Maurice Flying Field, Jones Cemetery at West Neck, Van De Water Hotel and the Old Brick House which is thought to be the oldest house in Massapequa. Goodenough says she was particularly happy with the society's success in getting a marker placed at Jones Beach explaining why the beach is so named.

It's not surprising that she so pleased with the markers. Goodenough says that when she was a girl, she always wanted to stop to read historical markers she saw when riding in the car with her family.

"It turns out I love history. I didn't realize I loved history so much," she says.

Goodenough is also proud of the talks society members give to school children on Massapequa history and the annual Strawberry Festival. But perhaps one her proudest personal accomplishments was the commemoration of the 200th anniversay of George Washington's visit to Long Island despite the pouring rain that day. The society had a horse and wagon, people in costumes and the author of "George Washington's Expense Account" as guest speaker.

The society planted a tree and placed a plaque in front of it in George Washington's honor as well.

"I got so much satisfaction out of that," says Goodenough. "You can't buy it, You can't buy that nice feeling I get from history."

After nearly 20 years after her start in the society, she can still clearly state the original driving motivation for her devotion to the historical society.

"I love Old Grace Church itself.," she says. "I really love the building and it would've killed me to see that building torn down."

And of course, she has also always had a soft-spot in her heart for her father's namesake George Washington.