Grace and I attended the wonderful memorial to the victims and heroes of 9/11 at Memorial Park when the impressive monument was unveiled. The memorial was the project of Edward Kaiser for his Eagle Scout rating. It was a wonderful experience.
* * * *
Tilly and Noel McPartland dined at Eleanor Rigby's.
* * * *
Good talking to longtime resident of Herricks Rd., Jay Kor.
* * * *
Head Corpus Christi usher Tony Donnelly tells us that his home on Marcellus Rd. was burglarized.
* * * *
Met Nick Passarella of Emory Rd. in church the other day. He was the chairman of the bingo games for the K of C from 1968 to 1998.
* * * *
Our friend Eileen Browne is closing her wonderful Irish imports store in Williston Park at the end of the year. The good news is that she will still be able to sell her fine Irish products from her home with her website Irishimports.com.
* * * *
The butterfly preserve in Memorial Park is really growing extensively, adding another attraction to our landscape.
* * * *
Former school official Al Ratto of Jackson Ave. does a lot of traveling these days. He has just returned from a trip to Montreal.
* * * *
Our daughter Sr. Annmarie is home after spending a month visiting missions and educational institutions in South Africa, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
* * * *
Our neighbor of 50 years Blanche Paris of Garfield Ave. is still in reasonably good health according to her live-in companion. Blanche is 97 years old.
* * * *
Dan and Faye Kelleher dined at the Townsend Manor in Greenport recently. They live in Mattituck. Dan comes from an old Mineola family. His dad Charles was the president of the First National Bank of Mineola. That was the first bank in the village and was located at the corner of Main and Front St.
* * * *
Josephine Daly, Mary Gaydor, Dorothy Fielder, Margaret Heinrich, Elizabeth Ciaburri, Charlotte Going, Catherine Mannix and Mary Fazio had breakfast at the Jericho. They are members of the Renew and Widows clubs.
* * * *
John and Valerie Chirichella enjoyed dinner at the Soundview restaurant in Greenport. John used to work for Gensel's Furniture and his uncle Joe was one of the first people to run for trustee in Mineola as an independent in the 1970s. The couple now lives in Baldwin.
* * * *
Kevin and Vicki Sheridan have lived on Richlee Ct. for 50 years. Kevin worked for LILCO for 32 years. In retirement he works part-time at the Harbor Links Golf Course. Some may remember his dad Bill who died at the age of 49. His mom Elizabeth, 92, still lives in Mineola.
* * * *
Troy Matlof owns Prime Windows and has been serving the area for 17 years. He used to live on Columbus Parkway.
* * * *
What a beautiful lawn is maintained by Lou and Veronica Staiano of Emory Rd. where they have lived for 37 years.
* * * *
Tina Vassiliadis is 67 years old but still works every day at St. Francis Hospital. She and her husband Pete, the barber, live on Foch Blvd.
* * * *
Alice and Stan Grom of Arlington St. fell in love with their little great grandson Jacob Brewer. Jacob's mom and dad are both in the Navy stationed in Japan. Due to circumstances Alice and Stan got to have Jacob for a wonderful week.
* * * *
At our final visit to the pool we had a chance to talk with two of the original members, Virginia Lynch and Joe DeGeorgio. Joe and his wife Louise were the founders of the Mineola Ambulance Corps. Louise, unfortunately, has been ill and not able to come to the pool for the past two years.
* * * *
Julio Quijada, cashier at the Jericho Diner, is a happy fellow these days as his mom and dad Julian and Erlinda are visiting from El Salvador. They are very proud of Julio who went to school here and learned to speak fluent English and worked his way up at the Jericho from busboy to cashier.