Steven Husowitz strolls around his house tending to his garden of flowers, admiring their beauty and appreciating them just as someone who participated in their growth would.

After retiring as the driver of Mineola School Bus 64, a job he held for 11 and a half years, Steven celebrated by revisiting the roots of his own family tree and what has blossomed from it.

Primrose, Pennsylvania was the site of the annual Husowitz family reunion, and it is where Steven took a good look at the roots of his tree with his seven brothers and five sisters

The family members come from as far away as Florida and as close to Primrose as Allentown, Pennsylvania. Children of a coal miner, many branches of the Husowitz family tree have bloomed in Pennsylvania.

Steven left Pennsylvania when he was 16 years old, leaving behind his jobs in a restaurant, a state hospital, and on a farm picking peaches. In 1944, he joined the Navy and was stationed at Memphis Naval Air Station before heading overseas to the South Pacific.

After the Navy, Steven spent some time on the open seas as a cook, making it all the way to Newfoundland. Upon his return , he eventually settled in Garden City with his sister, where he worked as a cab driver and for Easton Camera.

Steven met his wife Mary and they settled in Mineola where they live to this day.

From 1955 to 1985 Steven worked as a postal worker, and throughout his career earned citations and proclamations for his participation in four citizens arrests.

After the post office came bus driving, where he was awarded for his safe driving. Currently he dedicates his time to VIP Bowling, a program in which the blind are taught to bowl.

"I do what I can for them," said Steven, as to why he does it, "The joy of doing something worthwhile. I stay on the good side of life."

He said his father was like that and his wife shares a similar outlook. It is something also shared among family members such as his sister Olga who does volunteer work in hospitals and his brother Nick who volunteers with Meals on Wheels.

There are lessons to be learned when the family gets together. Even though the roads they have taken may be different and brother Pete is a butcher in the A&P where brother John worked with candy, some things they will always share.

One such occasion is the singing of Steven's favorite song. Steven, Nick, John and brother in law Bob get together every year to sing an eight-minute song introduced to Steven through the voice of Marty Robbins.

"Out in the West Texas Town of El Paso, I fell in love with a Mexican girl," sing the brothers in expression of their joy to be together as a loving family.

"It is good to get together. We don't forget each other. We're pretty good like that," said Steven.

These are Steven's roots, but the branches that grow not only return to the roots, but spread across the Atlantic Ocean to the childhood home of his wife Mary.

Mary was Irish born and after 27 trips since 1971, Steven is an unofficial Irishman himself. Though born of parents from Poland and Austria, Steven has developed a love for the Emerald Isle.

When in Ireland the couple stayed with Mary's mother, and though she passed away and the house was replaced with a new one, Steven is still welcome to stay in the home. It was a stipulation in Mary's mother's will.

Steven, who lost his own mother as a child, described Mary's mother as beautiful, and he said called the woman "Mammy."

"She was like a mother to me, I respected her like that," said Steven.

In one instance, Steven made a deal with a local businessman to ensure that the woman he loved would have enough wood to keep warm during the winter.

"If I can make someone happy then I have done something good," said Steven.

Sharing the joy, just as he does with his brothers and sisters in Pennsylvania, oftentimes music plays a big part in the visits. "They love their music," said Steven. So whether it is to a live band or tapes played on his wife's boombox, "Whatever they got over there I'll sing."

Attributing a greater vitality to his visits as well as a sense of well being, Steven loves his visits to Ireland.

"The people couldn't be nicer," said Steven, "Like I was one of them."

And he is, because how else would one welcome a member of their family but in the way the people of Ireland welcome him, "Welcome home Steve, back again."

Now that the summer is over, Steven returns with Mary back to Mineola and his flowers. Who knows what will spring forth from their garden? Well, whatever it will be, as indicated by their recent travels, it will have strong roots and beautiful blossoms appreciated around the world.