Thirteen priests and two deacons concelebrated the installation Mass of Corpus Christi Church's new pastor, Father James Bowman. Msgr. John McCann represented Bishop William Murphy. Concelebrating priests included Fathers Paul Dolan, Cajetan Uchendo, Anthony Arulsamy, Msgrs. Edward Tarrant, Dennis O'Brien and Eugene Murphy as well as Deacons Brian Mannix and John Reinhart. It was Msgr. O'Brien, a priest for 58 years, who was a guiding light to Father Bowman. Others present included school principal Mrs. Susan Anaischik, Mayor Colbert and most of the village board. Also attending was Father Bowman's proud mother who is 89 years old. The color guard of the Knights of Columbus were there in full regalia. Father Bowman in his homily spoke of the "wisdom of God." The new pastor is very popular and the church was filled.

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Dorothy Giuliano and her daughter Debbie enjoyed dinner at Eleanor Rigbys.

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Jim and Pam Canell and children Tess and Gregory had lunch at the Jericho Diner.

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Mike Dagostino and his wife Evelyn live on Buchanan Avenue. Mike, who has lived in Mineola for 36 years, is a retired insurance man.

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Pat and Julie McCrave enjoyed breakfast at the Jericho Diner.

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That good-looking blonde waitress at Eleanor Rigbys is a future child psychologist. That was Deidre Stav's major at Montana State University. Deidre was born and raised in Montana and now lives in Williston Park.

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Three people we like a lot were re-elected: Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, State Senator Mike Balboni and Assemblywoman Maureen O'Connell. We were particularly gratified by Carolyn's victory. Carolyn's big victory showed that smear campaigns don't pay off.

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Joe Pryor of Arlington Street is an usher at Corpus Christi Church. We met him having dinner at the Jericho Diner. Joe says his favorite place, however, is the Davenport Press restaurant.

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That sweet lady from Albertson who said she enjoyed this column said I should only call her Ann B. and everyone would know who she was.

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The sidewalk in front of our favorite diner is really in bad need of repair.

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Jimmy Pappas and his wife Jenny live on Lincoln Avenue. Jimmy has worked behind the counter at the Sparta Diner for 35 years. Before that he worked at Nick Phillips' Mineola Diner. Some may remember Nick who really loved the ponies. Nick once told me that he had won a million dollars and lost a million dollars during his long betting career.

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Mario Alves of Emory Road has been a driver at Winthrop Hospital for 27 years.

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Former Mayor Stanley Krause will be 93 years old on Jan. 1. Stan served as trustee and later mayor from 1952 to 1968. I met his daughter Zenia Peragine of Pompano Beach, FL who was with Stan. Zenia and her husband had two sons, one of whom was killed in a tragic auto accident. Their other son is a physician. Zenia by the way was Miss Mineola when the village held its 75th anniversary celebration. Stan, who was Mineola's fourth mayor, skied until he was 88 years old.

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Josephine Daly has lived on Wardwell Road for the past 52 years. She has been an optician for 43 years.

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Sharon of Tres Belle Hairstylist recently celebrated two happy occasions: her daughter's wedding and her own birthday. Congratulations Sharon!

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Whoever thought of the idea of placing red reflector metal rods on the stop signs deserves an award. At night they show up like a red lantern and can be seen from a great distance.

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The new refurbished Veterans Monument in Memorial Park is wonderful. It names all of America's wars from the Revolution to the current war against terror. It tells when each war began and ended. The inscription lists the number of dead and those missing in each of our conflicts.