James M. Kenny, Sr. formerly of Oyster Bay, passed away on Saturday, May 3, 2003 at his home in Nevada, Missouri. The cause of death was a heart attack.

Mr. Kenny was predeceased by his parents, John and Mae Kenny, of Oyster Bay. He is survived by a daughter, Sharon Kenny-Didden and a son, James, both of Missouri. He is survived by five grandchildren, all of Missouri, and four brothers and one sister.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Milster Funeral Home, Nevada, MO 417-667-7444. The family respectfully requests that any memorials in his honor be made to the Nassau County Firefighters Burn Center, P.O. Box 246, Levittown, NY 11756

Donald Bellospirito, 66, of Long Beach, CA, formerly of Oyster Bay, died on May 6, 2003. A graduate of OBHS, Class of 1955, he served a 20-year term in the US Navy before retiring in 1975. Husband of Toshiko. Father of Donald Jr. and Sandy (Aubrey) Branson. Grandfather of Roxanne and Sam. Brother of Eugene of North Carolina, Robert of Arizona, Roger of Lindenhurst, Richard of Oyster Bay and Brenda Oliver of Mineola. A memorial service will be held in California.

Vitantonio (Tony) Cassano, a longtime resident of Oyster Bay, died on May 10, 2003. Husband of Helen (nee Albert). Father of Frances Imburgia (Joseph) and Anthony (Nancy). Grandfather of Anthony, Justin, Michael and Anthony Jr. Brother of Flebonia, Clementina, Olimpia and Pasquale. Uncle of many nieces and nephews. Arrangements were made by the Francis P. DeVine Funeral Home, Oyster Bay. Funeral Mass at St. Dominic's RC Chapel. Interment Holy Rood Cemetery.

Gloria Rothman O'Rourke, a lifelong resident of Oyster Bay died on Friday, May 16. She covered the social scene in Oyster Bay in her column Harbour Lites in the Oyster Bay Guardian for the past 30 years. She was a lifelong resident of East Norwich and Oyster Bay.

Gloria O'Rourke was the wife of the late James E. and loving mother of Paula (Ed) Bracken, Tara (Doug) Olenick and the late Capt. James E. Jr.

She was the dear sister of Rita Curran and Paula Woods. She is survived by many nieces and nephews.

Mrs. O'Rourke was the Editor Emeritus of the Oyster Bay Guardian newspaper. In that role, she was a part of the life of the hamlet. Her children attended St. Dominic schools and she was past president of the St. Dominic I.H.M. Guild. She attended social functions with her late husband James at her side. She was socially gracious and had a hearty laugh and always had a great story to tell. Mrs. O'Rourke is famous for her column Harbour Lites. New York State Senator Carl Marcellino said of her, "Gloria was the light of Oyster Bay."

The senator said, "I was saddened to hear about the death of Gloria O'Rourke. Her passing leaves our community with a deep feeling of sorrow for the loss of such an honored and respected citizen. Her years have been marked with exemplary dedication to the best interests of the community. Gloria was the light of Oyster Bay. She justly earned the respect and high admiration of all she knew. My sympathies extend to her family and her friends and hope they will be consoled by the memories of her fine life and achievements."

Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto said, "The readers of the Oyster Bay Guardian have witnessed the passing of an era with the death of Gloria O'Rourke. Whether she was writing about local issues or something else dear to her heart, she did it with a unique style and sense of humor and an obvious love of the written word. She will be missed by those of us who had the privilege to know her personally, as well as those who knew her only through her writing. The light of Harbour Lites has gone out of this life, but will shine on in the next and in all of us who remember her with fondness and respect."

John Hammond, Oyster Bay historian, who writes Village Views, a column that often appears in the Guardian when asked for a comment said, "I'll use a quote from Gloria, 'Those were the days.' We shared an awful lot of Oyster Bay history. Memories of good times and some difficult times: I'm going to miss her." He will also miss her column of almost 30 years, he said. The column began in 1974.

Marie Knight, president of the Oyster Bay Civic Association and a lifelong resident, credited Gloria O'Rourke, as many others did, for the many years she kept the Guardian going with her own determination and her closeness with former publisher Edwina Snow.

She said the best thing about Mrs. O'Rourke was that she listened to people. "When people called and spoke to her about something, she would look into it and if she felt it was worthy, she would write about it. She was an excellent editor. She will be a loss to the community because she had a great memory for names, people, places and families. And, you could always be sure the names were spelled correctly," said Mrs. Knight. "She was one of a kind!"

Anita Sweeney who has retired from the Guardian, worked with Gloria for many years said, "She was one of the most brilliant woman I ever met. She was very strong mentally as well as physically. She was a very talented lady. She had a very big job with attorney Leonard Hall (who became the Republican National Chairman). He said to her that she could have been an attorney, but she preferred to raise her children.

"She kept the newspaper going when we didn't have a penny in the bank. She paid the bills and got the paper out. At one time, after her husband had died and then her son died, I said, Gloria, I can't put out the paper and she said, 'You're putting out this newspaper!

"The paper always went out, whatever was happening. Her column went in and the paper never missed a deadline. She was always there even when there was no money. She always managed. I don't know how she got the guts up. We were on the verge of bankruptcy.

"And, she had style. Even my children said she was the last of the classy ladies. She always had that air about her: like high society," said Mrs. Sweeney.

That was her beat. Gloria covered high society in Oyster Bay. She attended events with her husband James and photographer Ed Hornosky. She would organize the people for the picture and Ed would take the shot. She knew everyone's name. Her long association with her parents restaurant, Rothmann's, started her off with a great knowledge of the people living in this Gold Coast area.

Rothmann's is a part of the wonderful memories of many Oyster Bay and East Norwich residents. Today Rothmann's is reborn as the Chas. Rothmann's Steak House on the corner of Route 25A and 106. Inside there is a wall of memorabilia of the original restaurant.

Guardian sport's columnist Rick Robinson remembered Gloria fondly. He said, "When I came back to Oyster Bay more then 20 years ago I stopped in at the Guardian's office, (then) near Larrabee Street to ask Gloria if they would have any use for a weekly sports column that dealt with sports in Oyster Bay and she said that would be wonderful. I started bringing in my column every week and I named it after a column that appeared in the '40s in the Guardian called Sports Parade: a fellow named Jack O'Keefe wrote it.

"She also encouraged me to do some cartoons, like the ones in The New Yorker, on events and things coming up. The captions usually had an ironic twist. I've been doing the column for 22 years, so she gave me my start as a local sports columnist, and I wrote a weekly feature on sports, too.

"I used to drop in and see her in the last year, to chat about community events and a little bit of philosophical thoughts, like about being ill. I had had open heart surgery and we compared how to overcome the setbacks of physical illness and the trials and tribulations of growing older. We kept up a good relationship," he said.

"One of the things Gloria never did was to work on a computer. She wrote her column on a manual typewriter set on her dining room table. She used an old manual in the office too," he added.

Marilyn Benson, creator of Boulevard magazine, now an Anton publication, said, "I worked at the Guardian for several years, on and off. Gloria was always very dedicated to the Guardian. She was Edwina Snow's right hand man, and she preserved Edwina's vision of what the paper should be.

"I admire the way Gloria kept the newspaper running during those difficult times after Edwina Snow died and before the newspaper was bought by Helen Dolan," she said. "Gloria became one of the "grande dames" of Oyster Bay. Everybody loved her column Harbour Lites, and especially reading about people who have left the area, but still kept in touch with Oyster Bay friends. When I was there, she worked with a great team of editors, Anita Sweeney, Rick Robinson, Christine Nielson, and Denise Mayer. Every day she showed her devotion and loyalty to her family and St. Dominic's," she said.

Father Malcolm Burns, associate pastor of St. Dominic R.C. Church said, "She was such a wonderful woman of Oyster Bay, St. Dominic's and the family. She epitomized what a family is. She was able to take a large community like Oyster Bay and brought people into the intimacy of her family, like the Rothmann compound where she lived with her sisters and parents. She was a real matriarch of the religious and civic community. Ironically, she was born in May and died in May and lived long enough to celebrate one more Mother's Day. She was a true image of Mary the Mother of the faith community," he said.

Visiting was at the Francis P. DeVine Funeral Home Inc. 293 South St., Oyster Bay on Sunday and Monday May 18 and 19. A Funeral Mass was held on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. at St. Dominic R.C. Chapel with the interment at Holy Rood Cemetery. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the American Lung Association.

- DFK