Fifty years ago Grace and I arrived in Mineola with $2,000 in the bank and a pocketful of dreams. In spite of advice to the contrary we decided to spend all our money to start a paper in one of the few villages on Long Island without a weekly newspaper. Putting to good use the experience I had gained in working on a daily paper, The Binghamton Press, we went to work. How different things were then. The mayor was Tom Wilson, the third mayor in Mineola's history. The trustees were Ed Kraft, Harry Rotherham, Cliff Williams and Stanley Krause. All are long gone now except Stan who lives on Jackson Avenue and is more than 90 years old.

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Corpus Christi Church had as pastor Msgr. Edmund Fitzgerald and his associate priests were Rev. Vincent Hagan and Rev. Thomas Manning. They had all been here about 25 years. All are long gone. The Lutheran Church was headed by Pastor Arthur Doege, Father Rex Pierce Butler was at the Church of the Nativity and at the Presbyterian Church was Pastor Kermit Nord. And in those days there was a Methodist Church on Willis Avenue with the Rev. Paul Postlethwaite at the helm. The local Temple Beth Sholom was headed by Rabbi Maurice Speier.

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The local school system was headed by Dr. Raymond Ostrander, superintendent and the school board president was Dr. Frank Barnes. The high school was on Emory Road where the middle school is and that facility was on Willis Avenue. The present high school in Garden City Park was built much later. The Jackson Avenue School was much smaller than it is now. Some may remember some of the stores from those days such as Price's Hardware, Klein's 5&10, Bert's Men's Shop, Fox Lamps and Shades, Moyse's Fruit and Vegetable Market, Fischl's Ice Cream Store, Weismantel's Bakery, Jake Katz Furniture Store, Deckers Pharmacy, Knott's Pharmacy and other long forgotten drug stores were Kuhn's, Sosler and Birchwood. Then there was Ashby's Hardware, Merienda Hardware, Bertie's Variety Store, Frame Chevrolet, Bishop White Dodge, Bill Davis Plymouth Agency, Frank Brown's Insurance, John Ruocco's Country Life Realty, the Packard Dealer on Willis Avenue and the Studebaker Agency on Hillside Avenue. We could go on and on. Of course many of the stores that were here in 1952 are still here such as Katz Floor Covering and Foresto's Men's Shop and others. The only store in the Mineola, Williston Park area with the same owner still in charge is Munder's Hardware in Williston Park. Charlie Munder in his 20s then headed the store and still does.

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We must mention Dorothy Koehler, our editor for 25 years, and Ruth Kazdan, our ace reporter for almost 30 years. Our three children, Richard, Tom and Annmarie, all worked on the paper at different times.

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Last week I was talking to Louise Zobrist who lives on White Road. Her father-in-law was Ed Zobrist who owned a tailor shop on Main Street 50 years ago. When he died his son Ed and Louise took over the business. Ed was a Mineola volunteer fireman who tragically died after a fall down a flight of stairs. Louise was a member of the Mineola Tennis Club of which, 50 years ago, I was the president. Louise's dad Larry Rucker was one of our best players.

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Long-time residents of Beebe Road are Ken and Gerri Aiello and daughters Stefanie and Francine.

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Maryanne Martin of Andrews Road has lived in town for 52 years. She used to work at the library and has three daughters: Joyce Perz, Barbara Mummers and Claudio Martin.

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Manny and Luisa Carvalho, owners of Churrasqueira Restaurant, are grandparents for the first time. Their son and daughter-in-law Roy and Elizabeth are the happy parents of Jordan Roy. Little Jordan was baptized at Corpus Christi by Father Tomaz Gomide.

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At the inspiring memorial service at the park for the heroes and victims of Sept. 11 and the unveiling of the beautiful monument we had a chance to talk briefly with Charlene Conway, Bob Rosenthal, Steve Ford, Lou Panacciulli, Richard O'Callahan, Joe DiGiorgio, Brother Richard Hartz, Ann Jankay and Judge John O'Shea.

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Tony and Beverly Donnelly of Marcellus Road recently celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary.

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Corpus Christi pastor Father James Bowman enjoyed breakfast at the Jericho Diner.

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Also met at the Jericho Diner Trustee Jack Martins and former White Road resident attorney Tim Sullivan.

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Aidan Geoffrey Tice was born Sept. 5 to Kerry and Geoff of Wellington Road. Aidan has a big sister, Mary. Mom is the former Kerry O'Neill.

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Phil Palese is active in the Albertson Legion. He and his wife Nora often breakfast at the Jericho.

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Bill Kaiser and his pooch Tucker do plenty of walking around Memorial Park. Bill lives on Andrews Road.