F L A S H B A C K
From the October 2000 newsletter...
I don't know if they had a prize at the mega reunion for the person who traveled the farthest but Loretta Lorenzo Shields ('56) and husband, Andy, must be in the finals. All the way from California.
There are so many things to write about. Hicksville has changed a lot, not only in size but people. We have a section now called Little India, Broadway because of all the Indian shops and storeowners.
The Hicksville movie is now The Long Island Abundant Life Church.
The Mid Island Plaza is now called the Broadway Mall all closed in with a Sterns store replacing Gertz that now is Macy's!
The Westbury Drive-In is gone replaced with a Multi-plex indoor theater and BJ's Wholesale Club.
The High School is the same except there is no student parking lot anymore; they built an Administrative building there.
They used to place a chain across it so the students wouldn't leave during school time but we would drive our cars thru it and break the chain at lunchtime. We were called the "HOODS" back then because we turned our shirt collars up! We would drag race in front of the school...we had girls with checkered flags to start the race. I once blew my transmission of my car in front of the school racing?
One of my sad memories was that I was drafted into the Viet Nam war after High School in 1965 and a friend who also lived on 9th street (Dave Wilenski) was killed there in 1968.
Steve Diegelewski
From the June 2003 Newsletter...
Love reading the newsletter and have forwarded it to some coworkers who were unaware of it's existence. Also proud to say that Tony Toscano and myself, Eileen Walter Toscano will celebrate our 41st anniversary and our first granddaughter's 16th birthday on May 5th. Not bad for two "childhood Sweethearts." I often think of myself riding my bike alone mind you to the West Village Green to swim and "hang out", with no fear of being kidnapped or molested at age ten. How many of us would feel safe allowing our children or grandchildren to do that? Keep up the good work.
Eileen Toscano 1959
I went to see my brother yesterday who has lived in Hicksville for the last 2 years, had a little time, and drove thru town, very different from the old Hicksville. Movie theater is gone, just a gaping hole in the building (they were renovating), the old A&P in town where most of us worked after school is now small playhouse, & strangely a Reptile museum in the town, also drove by my old house, no kids playing in the street like we use to do, playing ball or something. Must be video games, Oh well that's all for now.
Bob Uhlich 1957
My mother was born in Hicksville in my grandparents' house on 10th Street . Her maiden name was Florence Strozak. Grandma and Grandpa built a new house on the corner of 9th and Jerusalem in 1925. It still stands today behind overgrown bushes! My mother would have graduated in the early 1930's but I am not sure if she graduated. She did go to NYC to a secretarial school, which was the custom of the time. After she retired to Florida from Nassau County Medical Center , she went on to work part time for a pediatrician in Inverness .
I was born in the front bedroom of that house, which now has the address of 298 Jerusalem Ave.
Pat Koziuk Driscoll 1956
My mother is Lucille (Keller) Kochersberger who graduated with the class of 1944. She was recently at a Grumman retiree function and another person gave us this email address to contact.
I would like to have the Hicksville HS news be sent to my Mother. Do you send out a USPS newsletter? Or is it an email newsletter? If you send out USPS, I will give you my mother's address. If it is an email newsletter, could you send it to me?
I appreciate your assistance. My mother would love to hear any news about Hicksville H.S. acquaintances and friends.
Sincerely,
Linda Kochersberger (Bethpage HS, 1971) for Lucille (Keller) Kochersberger class of 1944
Feature, by Bob Casale
(continued from last month)
I think that was the reason for Hicksville .... a place for nice people to congregate. The first several years we lived in Hicksville , I made the West Village Green my stomping ground. We would congregate near the deli that was on the corner of Barter Lane and Newbridge Road . I remember Bob's Esso gas station on the corner, too, because Bob was my dad's main mechanic.
Directly behind the deli was where the local police department had set up a phone to call the main desk. It was common for several police cars to be there at the same time. We would talk with the policemen all the time and some of us were known on a first name basis. Didn't know at the time if that was a good or bad thing.
Across Newbridge Road was one of the Hicksville water towers. I can remember looking up there one morning to see fresh writing. Someone had climbed to the top and wrote their name...surreptitious, of course.
Next to the deli was the barbershop and Joe, my friend, would always cut my hair. There were actually three buildings that made up the West Green. The center was a King Kullen store and it was there I had my first job. It was a strange job, too, because I spent most of my time in the basement sorting glass bottles that were returned. I would have to separate them into wooden boxes by vendor (i.e. Canada Dry, Cott, Hoffman, etc.). It was not recycling as we know it today, but it was recycling nonetheless, and that was 1958.
During the summer months, when I wasn't working in the "dungeon," I would spend my afternoons basking in the sunshine at the West Village Green Pool. It was so crowded there sometimes it was wall-to-wall people in the water. We would sometimes get on our bikes and pedal to the pool on Levittown Parkway hoping for less people. There were a lot of students from school that we recognized at both places.
We never socialized with them for various reasons...time...commitments...age difference.... gender difference.... but now we could. Many mini romances were started too...you know, puppy love.
My wife of 37 years, Joyce, was lucky. She had an aunt who used to drive them to the beach in Bayville. They would spend the hot summer days in the breezy sound of Long Island. There were others who wound up at Jones Beach or in Zachs Bay. That must have been nice.
At night, during the summer, we would go to Fork Lane School and just sit around talking. There were always several birthday parties that were scheduled for either a Friday or Saturday night and that would occupy our time.
As fall approached and school was beginning, life took on a different perspective. The casualness of summer, where few kids had a schedule, ended, and now everything was a commitment to time. We thought we had it tough. Becoming a parent later on sure changed my outlook on what is tough.
The Labor Day Fire Tournament signaled the end to our summer. It was a last big get together and so many of us gathered to watch our volunteer fire departments compete in various skills. It was a lot of fun, then, and many still enjoy the thrill years later.
Walking down the hallway the first couple of days was exciting. Many of us had fond memories of summer that we eagerly shared with friends we had not seen for months. The girls would talk about the special boy they met....the guys would talk about baseball and the upcoming football season. Priorities never change.
