Since 1931 Temple Beth Sholom Chabad has been serving the small but vibrant Mineola Jewish community. We can recall Rabbi Maurice Speier, Rabbi Irving Rockoff and the present Rabbi Anchelle Perl. Some of the mainstays of the temple over the years were Abe and Sadie Reiss, Harry and Yetta Katz, Rebecca Miller, Mr. and Mrs. David Minsky, The Oppenheimers, Irving and Ann Fass, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Markowitz, Jack and Bertha Baumfeld, Ruth and the late Lennie Kazdan, Jerome Saul, Nat and Edith Rosenberg, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Rosenthal and, of course, today Judge Robert Rosenthal. Rabbi Perl is a popular figure around the village and is frequently called upon to render the benediction at public functions. In earlier times the temple was Conservative but today under Rabbi Perl it is Orthodox. Because of this the temple draws many religious Jews from surrounding communities giving it a fairly large congregation.

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Congratulations to longtime residents Ed and Dorothy Onorato of Wellington Road on their 60th wedding anniversary May 7. They enjoyed a family celebration with their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

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Remember Tommasini's Appliance store on Hillside Avenue where Duane-Reade is today? Former owner Frank lunched at the Jericho Diner and told me that his son Anthony is now the music critic of The NY Times.

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PJ and Kathy Diskin of Marcellus Road had dinner at Eleanor Rigbys. They have lived in the village for 20 years and he works for the Transit Authority.

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It was good to see Joe and Silvina Concalves of Beebe Road and their three girls Kristina, Steffanie and Kaitlin.

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Two good parishioners of Corpus Christi Church are Joe and Gisela Pungello of Lincoln Avenue.

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Sheila Johnson recently returned from a two-week stay in Ireland, Scotland and England accompanied by her son. Sheila is Irish but was born in Liverpool, England; Liverpool has a large Irish community.

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Bob Kershaw was buying the NY Post at TK Gifts in order to get the pictures of the Yankee players which the Post is offering its readers. The week before the Post had cards of the NY Met players.

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Charlie MacDougall of Cottage Place has been enjoying his pints of Guinness at O'Donnell's Irish Pub since 1947. The pub was previously called O'Dougherty's.

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Speaking of that pub, owner Martin O'Donnell, Bob Teemsma and Judge John O'Shea golfed in North Carolina.

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In the near future Mineola's downtown will have additional and much needed parking. There will be 100 places available where NY Ravioli is today and 75 more spots where the Allied building is located on Roslyn Road. Plans are also in the works to create a shopper's mall on Main Street from Second Street going south by closing traffic. A foot bridge would allow walkers to pass over. Mineola's downtown is getting rave reviews with the new brick sidewalks, benches and street lamps.

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Jim Moran of Herricks has coffee every morning at the Jericho Diner. Jim is really a sports maven and can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about baseball, football, hockey or basketball. Whether it has happened yesterday to the Mets or what happened 60 years ago to the Brooklyn Dodgers he will have the answer.

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Olympia Linehan is an interesting lady to talk to having lived on Royal Avenue for the past 56 years.

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Former Mayor John Colbert is joining the real estate firm of Smith and DeGroat. John has a real estate license. Edward Smith, former mayor and the owner of the firm, is retiring and his son Matt is now at the helm.

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Jackson Avenue is now called Ida Ayres Avenue in honor of the school's principal.

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Few Mineola residents seem to enjoy their summer home in Greenport more than Tony and Marion Bellissimo. Their place is located not far from the "Port of Egypt." Tony, a former village trustee and the head of the once Mineola Band really loves the North Fork.