My wonderful Grace celebrated her 80th birthday with a surprise party at the Davenport, Dec. 30. Among the guests were Mineola friends Fran Dempsey, Helen Alfiere, Irene and Gavin Duffy and Karen and Peter Smith. The party was hosted by our son, Richard and daughter-in-law, Laurie. The rest of the family was there, too: Sister Annmarie and Tom and his wife, Debbie and our grandchildren Tracey, Kim and Colleen. Richard is the executive news editor of People, Annmarie is the director of communications for the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and Tom is the comptroller of the Mellon Foundation. Also present were Jerry and Muriel Mehlman, Faust and Maryann Guarino, Norman Clarke and Angel Rooney.

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Lou Panacciulli's Nassau Pops did their usual great job at the Christmas concert at Chaminade. Those we got to talk to there were Mary Matson, Maryann and Bruce Burns, John Spellman, Joe Galante, Deputy Mayor Larry Werther, Maryann Cantaleno, Al Ratto, Judge Scott and his wife Trustee Linda Fairgrieve, Elizabeth Conlon, Terry Ranfone and Fred DePrisco, Lou and Maryann Iaquintos and Jack Simon.

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Dining at the Davenport were Joe and Kay Leonard and Catherine and Joe Torrito with friends from out of town. At another table were Buddy, Francis, Barbara and Janie Fichter and Kathy Govin. The Fichters used to own the florist shop and greenhouse of the same name.

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The holiday party of the Mineola Chamber of Commerce held at Piccola Bussola drew the biggest crowd in the organization's history with 120 people in attendance.

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Florence Peterson has finally retired from the meter team. The other four - Stuart Goldstein, Laurie McCarran, Ron Rental and Andy Ruggiero - did an excellent job of keeping traffic moving during the busy Christmas season.

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At this time of year our storage basin in Memorial Park looks like a pristine lake with its banks clean and a few water fowl swimming along.

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Nancy D'Avanzo enjoyed breakfast at the Jericho Diner. She and her husband Bill live on Washington Avenue. Her husband is the son of Bill D'Avanzo and the nephew of trustee John DaVanzo.

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It was good to exchange Christmas greetings with Chaminade Brother Richard Hartz. Richard is the man who skates almost daily through the west end and is a German teacher at the school.

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Mary Calfapietra and Fran Dempsey had breakfast at the Jericho Diner.

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A part of the centennial celebration will be the Nassau County Firemen's Association parade and drill plus a block party to be held July 6, 7, 8 and 9. Some 71 departments will be participating. There will be an old-fashioned and a motorized drill at the North Hempstead Arch at Tully Park according to Mike De Stefano, who will become president in May.

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The lads at O'Donnell's Irish Pub are ardent Islander fans and whenever possible like to tease Maryann Ferron of Cj Gifts who is a big Ranger fan. During a recent game when the Isles went ahead 1-0 Maryann's phone rang, "Hey Maryann, good game yeah?" When the Isles made it 2-0, her phone rang again, "Hey Maryann, you watching anything on TV?" As we recall the Rangers scored the next six goals and won 6-2. There was not another call the entire night from the guys at O'Donnells. We can't wait for the next match.

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The Villa Margherita restaurant has been in business for 47 years.

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Paula Walsh, owner of the Hudson Diner, provided everyone who stopped by with a free hot and cold buffet to celebrate the holiday season. Paula sent notices around the area so plenty of people were in on the fun.