Beatle pictures and songs are everywhere at Eleanor Rigby's Restaurant. In fact, the name itself is taken from a Beatle song. Eleanor Rigby's was chosen by the Mineola Democratic Club as the No. 1 business in the village. Owner Larry Monachelli, a retired NYC fireman, has made this place a success. Until Larry started his business 15 years ago, it had been through a number of failed ventures, starting with the first place, the Firehouse, the Scales of Justice, Delancy St. and Kevin Grants. Larry OKs the daily specials and selects the talented musicians who play every weekend. A recent Newsday article said, "Eleanor Rigby's has the 'Best Burgers' around and their chicken pot pie signature dish was really great." At the "Taste of Mineola" held by the Chamber of Commerce a year ago, Eleanor Rigby's was voted top restaurant.
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Dolores Mangold and Josephine Daly, both of Wardwell Road, enjoyed breakfast at the Jericho Diner.
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Vera Barrick and Lyde Newman enjoyed dinner at the Davenport. Lyde was the daughter of Jim and Rita Newman, owners of Newman's Funeral home ([Cassidy's] today. Lyde is Vera's niece.
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Speaking of which we saw Bill and Diane Cassidy at Corpus Christi with Bill's mother, Betty Cassidy of Mattituck. Mrs. Cassidy's grandfather and father were undertakers in Brooklyn, Her husband, Bill, was a funeral director in Queens for many years. Her son, Bill, has been the owner of Cassidy's Funeral Home for 33 years and her grandson, Bill, is a Mortuary Science student at Nassau Community College. That's a total of five generations of undertakers.
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Corpus Christi priest, Father Gabriel Miah, a native of Ghana, has now become an American Citizen.
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Ian Angus Edwards joined his Clan of Gordon Highlanders, kilts and all, for the installation of Glen Cove Mayor Ralph Suozzi. Scottish-born Ian and his wife, Joan, live on Clinton Avenue.
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Anne Hotchkiss and grandson, Dylan, lunched at my favorite diner.
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Sorry to hear of the death of Ron Rentel, one of our meter people. Ron was 76 years old. His death leaves just three meter people to keep traffic moving, Andy Ruggiero, Stuart Goldstein and Lori McCarron.
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Transitory Deacon Tom Tassone, he will be ordained a priest in about five months, delivered the homily at Corpus Christi on the Feast of the Holy Family. "Most families have problems drinking, infidelity and divorce among them. In my own family my dad was bitterly opposed to me becoming a priest. Become a priest over my dead body, " he declared. His dad, he explained, was part of the Ave Maria Group, considered outside the Roman Catholic Church. His three brothers are all non-practicing Catholics and one said that he must be "nuts" wanting to be a priest. His dad, now deceased, eventually made peace with his son and accepted his decision. "Love, faith and forgiveness can heal many family differences," he said.
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Andrew Reardon worked for Con Ed. He and his wife, Margaret, live on Wilson Boulevard. Andy is a good friend of Pat McDonald, owner of the Shamrock Service Station on Willis Avenue and is active in Irish affairs.
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Our Web site, Antonnews.com, gets about 110,000 hits a week. That doesn't necessarily mean they are all reading the MA, but are the number of people reading all of our 18 weekly newspapers in our Anton chain.
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Our daughter, Sister Annmarie, is part of a group raising money for a movable museum exhibit about the history and contributions of American nuns. They have reached their goal of raising $3.5 million needed. The next step is getting museums to take the exhibit. Among those expressing interest are the Smithsonian and Ellis Island museums.
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Roy Harlick and wife, from Richlee Court, breakfasted at the Jericho. At another table were former town clerk and village trustee John DaVanzo and his longtime friend, Lillian Michalak.
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Samantha Delventhal is on the Honors List at Holy Trinity. She is the granddaughter of Bill and Ruth Delventhal of Pomander Road and the daughter of Bill and his wife, Donna, of Westbury. Bill is our boss here at Anton's.
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Jim Howard was at a recent Islander game and saw the locals lose 4-3 to the Panthers. Jim is retired from Mnaufacturers Hanover and he and his wife, Maureen, live on Primrose Street. They are 28-year residents of the area.