Mineola joined the rest of the world in mourning the death of the Vicar of Christ. Pope John Paul II healed the rift between Christians and Jews as he stretched out his hand to all of mankind with his visits to more than 130 countries. Special Masses were held throughout the week of his death at both Corpus Christi and St. Aidan's.

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Seven Mineola teachers enjoyed lunch at the Jericho Diner. Midge McInnes, Linda Quinn, Missy Nichols, Terry Maisto, Nelida DeAlmeida, Andrea Romano and Joanne Gagliano were all on their lunch break from the workshop on Differentiation Instruction.

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Want to hear a real American success story? Julio Quijada arrived in our country from his native El Salvador knowing almost no English. But he went to night school and learned the language while working as a busboy at the Jericho. His diligence caught the attention of Jimmy, the owner, who promoted him to cashier. Today, he is a student studying hotel management at Nassau Community College. He has taken a lot of interest in the Mineola Chamber of Commerce. He worked on the "Taste of Mineola" project, he is part of the Mineola Fair Committee, and he helped with the Chamber's Senior Lunch Day. Julio was recently honored at a Chamber meeting. He now speaks fluent English, plus his native Spanish and even a little Greek. Jimmy recently named him the manager of the Jericho Diner. Not bad for a 27-year-old man who has lived in our country for about six years.

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Speaking of "Taste of Mineola," it was a huge success with about 300 people attending the event to enjoy the food of 24 different Mineola restaurants. Among those we had a chance to talk to were: Arline Cavanaugh, Lillian and Ed Barnola, Virginia Smith, Frank and Joan Nedelka, Paul Cusato, Amy Thompson, Patricia and Bob Sperling, Gerald Johns, Connie and Bill Altvater, Arlene McAuliffe, Vicki and Phil Fontanetta, Peter and Carole Langan, Ellen Posch and Bob Rosenthal. During the evening one of the guests suffered a possible heart attack and, fortunately, members of the Mineola Ambulance Corps were right on the scene. Those who came to the man's aid were Tom Devaney, Russ Brown, Bridgit Devaney, Greg Kozlowski and Marissa Koch.

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Our daughter, Sr. Annmarie and several members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, will be spending a week in Brazil in May. As part of her work with the congregation, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, she spent five years in Peru and spent time in South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, China, Bolivia, Guatemala and Rome.

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On Easter Sunday, it was good talking to Frank, Maria, Diane, Alyssa and Tyler Caetano and later to Lucille DeStefano and granddaughter Lynn. Also on that morning, we chatted with Fran Dempsey and her son and daughter-in-law William and Susan.

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A man who seems to enjoy his work is John McGuire, a conductor on the LIRR. You travel one end of this Island to the other constantly meeting new people and getting to know some of the regulars real well. Every day is different and time passes quickly punching tickets and making change.

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Cindy DeRienzo is a busy young woman. She works as a waitress most nights at the Davenport and some mornings at the Jericho. She and her husband, Rocky, live in Williston Park.

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Speaking of Williston Park, Lud Odierna, owner of Custom Funding, is strongly considering running for mayor of that village next March. Lud has served on the Williston Village Board in the past as trustee.

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Mineola's population today is 20,000. In 1866, we had just 200 people, most of whom owned farms, and the business community consisted of one general store.

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Those new parking meter boxes are great and we thought would solve the problem of broken meters. However, they are frequently out-of-order and, of course, the village loses a good deal of revenue.

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