Howard M. Bertenthal, 76, of West Hempstead, died on Dec. 21, 1997. He was born on Dec. 13, 1921 to Sarah and Louis Bertenthal. He graduated from John Adams High School and received his bachelor's degree from NYU in history. He attended the Coast Guard Academy and served on the Calloway from 1942 to 1945 in the South Pacific.

Mr. Bertenthal worked in his father's liquor store in Queens. He received his master's degree from Columbia University Teachers College. He taught history at Manhasset High School where he organized the domestic exchange program which sent local students around the country and placed exchange students in Manhasset homes. He later started the Open Door Student Exchange that sent teens overseas and brought many foreign students to stay with families here. The program merged with another exchange organization and it became Nacel Open Door.

Mr. Bertenthal served on the West Hempstead Library Board of Trustees and was a member and former president of the West Hempstead Chapter of Rotary International.

His first wife Ida Mazur, the mother of their three children, died in 1961. He married Sylvia (Wallace) in 1962. He is also survived by his daughter Judie Smith; his stepdaughter Diane Belinfanti; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his daughter Laura. Interment Mt. Ararat Cemetery.

Florence Joan Lawrence (nee Belus), of Glen Head formerly of West Hempstead, died on Dec. 27, 1997. She was a homemaker. Wife of William H. (Bud). Mother of Janet Lawrence, Marcia Rock and William Lawrence. Grandmother of Jason and Justin. Arrangements were made by the Whitting Funeral Home, Glen Head. Funeral Mass at St. Mary's Church. Interment VA National Cemetery, Calverton.