As I hit the big 80 I was given a wonderful birthday party hosted by our oldest son Richard and his wife Laurie at the Davenport restaurant. Present were our daughter Sister Annmarie, our younger son Tom and his wife Debbie and our grandchildren Kim and Colleen and Kim's friend Angel Rooney. Also there were Walter and Grace Weismantel, Faust and Maryann Gaurino and former Chamber of Commerce president Jerry Mehlman and his wife Muriel and my lovely wife of 55 years, Grace.

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Kathy Woyciechowski of Beebe Rd. volunteers every Thursday at the surgery information desk at Winthrop Hospital.

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Allen Walsh, the affable owner of Pyramid Jewelers visited England last year. Allen was born in Wales but spent his boyhood in London.

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Peter Golobin, former chamber president, had a great fishing trip to Alaska, bringing back a huge catch.

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Julia O'Brien has lived on Maple Place for the last 58 years and is a cook at the Corpus Christi rectory helping to feed seven hungry priests. Julia worries about the parking situation when the Willis Ave. School opens.

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I speak Spanish and I'm always glad to see a friend like Julia Ricca with whom I can practice now and then.

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Let's lighten up a bit on Bishop William Murphy who doesn't live in the mansion that Jimmy Breslin is always going on about. The bishop only occupies a few rooms on the top floor. The rest of the former convent is used for Diocesan offices and functions. The bishop made bad mistakes when he was in Boston but he has done a good job since being in Rockville Centre reporting abuse cases, helping the poor and fighting for the rights of the Hispanic immigrants in Farmingville.

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William Safire of The New York Times says that new girls' names that are coming up are Sailor, Destiny, Chloe and Jade and for boys Caleb, Tristan and Liam which is an old Irish name.

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Two delightful women who work for Dr. Anthony Durante are Christina Amador of Cottage Place and her sister Salvina Concalves of Beebe Road.

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The death of Bob Hope reminds me of the one time I got to see him more than 60 years ago when he entertained troops when I was in the Army.

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Rosemarie Losquadro, daughter of Manny and Janet of Albertson wed Todd Vigra of Baldwin Harbor Aug. 1, 2003. They will live in Baldwin Harbor.

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The village could not prevent the building of the 7-11 at Jericho and Mineola Blvd. because the convenience store that formerly occupied the premises was selling food already. The village controls food stores but in this case the right carries over. Actually it may be good for Mineola since it would clean up a messy corner. Look how the KFC at Jericho and Willis ended the eyesore there and McDonald's has certainly been an improvement over the rusting old building that previously occupied that spot.

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The Mineola bridge should be completed by December.

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Nick Witkoveski marked his birthday July 22. Nick is the former president of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. He and his wife Carol live on First St.

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Mayor Jack Martins will give us a "state of the village" address at the Mineola Chamber of Commerce meeting in September at La Cisterna restaurant. The speaker at the Oct. 21 meeting will be Dr. Lorenzo Licopoli, superintendent of schools.