April 2003 : Volume 3 - Issue 7

Newsletter for the Alumni and Friends of
Hicksville High School Hicksville, New York

The Editors:
Buffalo Bob Casale '61	Linda (Piccerelli) Hayden '60
Pat (Koziuk) Driscoll '56	Bob (Gleason) Wesley '61

Contributing Editors: Bob Gillette & Walter Schmidt

Webmaster: Roger Whitaker

To contact the editors, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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April Birthdays

Belated Birthday Wishes

• March 5th - Pam Kurth Woodbury, 1965
• March 15th - Nancy Walsh Gustafson, 1958 (L.I.)

In Memory

• Michael Kent Blue

  Passed away on January 31 at the age of 61. He was preceded in death by his beloved parents William and Gertrude Blue. Survivors include his wife, Zee Greenwood; son, Jeff; daughter, Julie; stepdaughters, Stacey Siegel and Tisha Greenwood; stepson-in-law, Marc Siegel; and sister, Roz McCracken; brother-in-law, Bill and their children, Eric and Kathy. Mike shared a full life with family and friends. A graduate of UCLA and a CPA by profession, Mike was one of the largest individual fundraisers for the Alzheimer's Association of Los Angeles, a founding member of The Executives of the Jewish Home for the Aging, and a philanthropist for the Jewish National Fund, UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center, and The Wellness Community. An avid sailor, Mike loved every moment aboard his boat, Tru Blu, named after his late mother, Gertrude. His passion for life was matched only by his generosity, dedication, enthusiasm, loyalty and love. May Mike's sense of family, religious and community responsibility, his wit, sincerity and perspective remain in our thoughts and actions and help us to make peace in the world. His life serves as an inspiration to us all. Memorial Services to be held at Eden Memorial Park on Sunday, February 2nd, 10:00 AM. Donations in Mike's memory can be made to The Wellness Community (310) 314-2555. Published in the Los Angeles Times on 2/1/2003.

• Kenneth Chupka, class of 1962, on Sunday, March 2, 2003.Ken leaves his wife Joann and two daughters, Lauri and Lisa, his mother, Anna Chupka and two brothers, Hank (class of 1955) and Tom (class of 1970) Chupka. For those who knew him, condolences are being received for the family at 160 4th Street, Hicksville, NY 11801, care of his mother Mrs. Anna Chupka.

News, Notes and Memories

• Once again - it's great - funny you mention Hicksville as an "unusual name" - when I first met my husband, he told he was from a hick town in Illinois - I burst out laughing because I told him I was from Hicksville - we met in Florida in 1979 and we celebrated 21 years last December.

  Keep up the good work!!

  Kathy ("Cookie" Koziuk) Hannaman, 1960

• First of all, for those of use who were born and raised there, Hicksville is NOT an unusual name! LOL!

  I want to thank you again for this newsletter. I really enjoy reading the history of Hicksville, as told by its residents. You are truly preserving history. Perhaps you would consider publishing a book with these historical memories.

  Regards,
  Carl Chris Calma '76

• Great newsletter again. Would like to hear from people from the 1950 thru 1954 classes who would be interested in working on a joint class reunion on Long Island or some other state. I presently reside in Georgia just North of Atlanta.
  Norm Nichols '52, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• I have truly been surprised by the number of Hicksvillites who have picked up on my name from hixnews releases, and have contacted me inquiring whether it is the same family name they knew. While I felt that few if any would remember, the number of inquiries, together with the recollections and comments, have surprised to the point that it has emboldened me to outline my traveling since I left HHS, as a few other "Classmates" have done.

  My basketball scholarship with LIU did not work out and after 6 months I found myself working on Wall Street in Bankers Trust Co., courtesy of contacts by Mrs. Farley, then principle (and stern disciplinarian) of HHS. A year later I was at American Tobacco Co., on 14th St., NYC, where my sister Marion was employed.

  Then some big changes occurred swiftly, when the Army draft caught me. I was in the first contingent drafted from Hicksville and we departed from the LIRR station. The whole draft board was present because, not only were we the first contingent, but also because it was St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1941 and the board gave each of us a green carnation.

  Basic training took place at Ft. Belvoir, Va., Camp Beauregard, La. and Camp Van Dorn, Miss. Immediately before my unit departed for overseas I returned to Hicksville to marry my HS sweetheart, Sonya Teresko. My unit, the 165 Engineer Combat Bn. shipped from Massachusetts to England. We hit the beaches in Normandy (Utah) and although subject to strafing and ground fire on the beaches, we were not there on D-day. We fought all the way across Europe with the Patton and Patch Armies,
  involved in all major campaigns in France, Germany, Italy and linking up with the Russians in Czechoslovakia.

  After the war I returned to my civilian employment and college at nights, only to be called up again when the Berlin airlift was in progress. Thereafter I stayed in the Army for a 30 year career following assignments to Guam, Okinawa, Korea (twice), Iran, France, (again) and Belgium, interspersed with assignments in the US, most of which was accompanied with family. After retirement from the service I was Director of Transportation for the Prince William, Va. County School Board, subsequently resigning for higher Christian purposes, to run two small transportation services for the retarded, elderly and handicapped.

  While in the service I never lost track of my Hicksville roots and look back on them even today with great fondness, staying in touch with some classmates, Dick and Gloria Rennie, Pat Naso and Philip & Betty Pignataro to name a few. There was correspondence with Howard Finnegan while he was with the Hicksville newspapers, and often stayed abreast of local news through a subscription. Sonya and I have raised three responsible daughters, and we have two grandchildren.

  We have resided in Richmond, Va., for the past 24 years where two other daughters are located, the third a resident of Wayne,
  Pa. Any reader who comes to Richmond is certainly welcome to visit.

  Fred Fluckiger, 1937

• Hi Pat, Linda and Bob,

  Thank you once again for a wonderful newsletter. I really enjoy receiving it as it allows me the headspace to think about my roots and places I've stomped about while going through those formidable years.

  Quoting from the Hicksville Newsletter, March 2003, Volume 3, Number 6 # - Why, do you think, Hicksville is listed as an unusual town name??? I think it's unusual because, well. . ., don't you get it?!? Heh! Just kidding. It's one of those names that's often quoted and used as reference in conversation and in writing to describe a personality type, township, or someone from the "sticks", similar in manner to calling someone a hillbilly, Joe-Bob, and the like. I would think that as a name, when used in a spoken manner, the name "Hicksville" may conjure up visions of little shacks in the backwoods or hills and perhaps under-educated people that live off a dirt road that have the old style cup receiver with straight cord telephones that you hand crank to get the operator to place a call for you (Mabel are you there?!?) in their homes. You know the type where there's an operator
  pulling and inserting phone jacks into a big board to make the connection for you.

  As an example, while sitting with a friend in a fast food drive through recently I couldn't believe what I had heard. She said, "Where's this guy from, Hicksville?" She was making a reference to the pickup truck in front of us that had unusually large wheels and tires. I said, "What did you just say? Did you make mention to that truck in front of us being from Hicksville because of the huge tires?!?".

  She did and I replied, "Honey, I've a story about Hicksville for you".

  I've a short story about the town name Hicksville. The "real" Hicksville that is!

  One beautiful early evening in the summer of 1973, my girlfriend Dianne Duncan (Class of 1975?) of Farmingdale and I were at Jones Beach walking along the shore and enjoying the sunset. We were approached by a slightly older young man who was wearing jeans, no shirt or shoes, a big round belly, an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips and a guitar hanging around him, which he was strumming. He asked us if we had a light for his cigarette. We gave him a light, chatted and I asked him where he was from. He said he was from Texas. He asked where we were from. I replied, "Well, I'm from Hicksville and Dianne is from Farmingdale." When he heard the town names he almost fell onto the sand from laughing so hard. Finally after his amusement
  allowed him to explain himself he said with a big Texas chuckle, "[hyuck hyuck hyuck] There ain't even a Hicksville in Texas!" We all had a good laugh over that one.

  Sure enough, later that night, having looked at an atlas of Texas, he was right, there "ain't even" a Hicksville in Texas or a Farmingdale for that matter.

  That moment was one of those that never fades too long from my memories. It was a sweet night as were so many I have the pleasure of recalling of living on "The Island".

  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

• Found this interesting history page describing Hicksville on rootsweb.com:

  Robert Williams purchased from Pugnipan, Sachem of the Matinecock Indians, on May 20, 1648, the area known as the Williams Plantation which would be today part of Jericho, Woodbury, Hicksville, Plainview and Bethpage, for a quantity of trading (English) cloth.

  Thomas Hicks, the son of John Hicks who settled in Hempstead along with Robert Williams, obtained a grant of 4000 acres of land around Great Neck in 1666. Two of Thomas' sons are important to the Hicksville story.

  * Taken from:
  The Story of Hicksville Yesterday and Today
  Hicksville Public Library
  Hicksville's Story 300 Years of History 1648-1948 Ploughmen, Goldbeaters and
  Craftsmen: Hicksville's Earlier Economy 1648-1960

  Text in its entirety can be found here: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nynassa2/Hicksville.htm

• Newsday has what appears to be an excellent reference to Long Island history - http://www.newsday.com/extras/lihistory/

• As an aside, the San Francisco, California musician Dan Hicks released a record in the seventies titled, "Last Train to Hicksville". And, I'd like to add, it's a fine recording indeed. Additionally there's another recording called, "Return to Hicksville". See" http://www.danhicks.net/

  And there's a wonderful and fairly comprehensive article about Mr. Hicks and his musical history that can be found here: A Tip O' the Hat to Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks Fast Train to Hicksville BY MARGARET MOSER - July 13, 2001: http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2001-07-13/music_feature.html

• Additional asides:
  1) The fictional town called Hicksville, New Zealand - Dylan Horrocks' Harvey and Ignatz Award-nominated graphic novel Hicksville was published in 1998 by Black Eye Books. Black Eye has also published 10 issues of his comic book Pickle, which was nominated for two Ignatz Awards in 1997. Hicksville was also named a "Book of the Year" by the Comics Journal and was nominated by three of its critics as one of the Top 100 Comics of the Century. http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/cgi-bin/dq.cgi?head=bio&menu=dylan&content=dylan-bio

  Welcome to Hicksville, where you can find out what I've been up to recently - and see the results. Below you'll also find easy text links to some of the site's highlights, to save you trawling through dozens of links to find stuff. http://www.hicksville.co.nz/

  2) There's a Hicksville, Ohio, 43526 http://www.hicksvilleusa.com/

  3) There's the Hicksville Bombers/Country Cattin' website in the UK - http://www.hicksvillebombers.co.uk/

  4) There's the Hicksville Monthly On-line Magazine in Japan. Can any of your readers translate?!? :^) http://hicksville.sprinkle.ne.jp/main.html

  5) Another reference - http://www.placesnamed.com/h/i/hicksville.asp lists the following Hicksville's in these states: Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia.

  That's it for now. Gee whiz Wally, that was a lot of fun. Please feel free to publish anything you see fit from my email in the Hicksville Newsletter.

  Warm regards,
  Robert Cazares
  Class of 1974
  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• Two years ago I logged on to Classmates.com to find Linda Polonetsky and Sandy Weinstein, both from the class of '66. I never found them, but I did find Jim Gorman, my first high school sweetheart and now my husband. After all these years, what brought us together then, is still alive and well and we're living in Scottsdale, AZ.

  I found my husband, but I'm still looking for my girlfriends. Is there anyone who knows where they are or how to contact them? I would be eternally grateful. You can contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

  Thanks and remember you can take the girl out of Hicksville, but you can't take the Hicksville out of the girl.

  Toni Passalacqua, 1966 

• Fond Memories
  By Bob Casale

  When you're 13, maybe 14 years old, your priorities are different. For the boys, there was more emphasis on basketball, baseball and intramural sport, and not so much on having a date with the Prom Queen. For the girls, there was more emphasis on school related items, like field hockey, or cheerleaders and not a date with that cute guy down the block

  What did we do for excitement??

  We, Tommy Farrell, Jimmy Thompson, Bob Casale, Eddie Caesar and other Hicksville High School Alumni, went "Roller Skating" Friday nights in Levittown. It was a diversion from the hectic pace we experienced in high school and a time to meet some neat people from other schools. The kids we skated with came from various parts of the island…East Meadow, Franklin Square, Westbury, Oceanside…and points East.

  The skating rink was adjacent to Jahn's Ice Cream Parlor on Hempstead Turnpike, just a little east of Newbridge Road. We arrived early because we hated standing in line waiting to get inside. Being first in line meant you would get inside faster, get a good choice of skates, and get onto the skating floor before the crowds rolled in.

  After skating for several months, we became part of the regular crowd. Some of us even bought our own skates and had a carrying case that was many, different colors. We could watch cars pull up and see some of the kids that became our new "Friday" night friends arrive. Parents dropped kids off, and then picked them up. It was a special time of my life, and there were many friends I'll never forget even though I've never seen them since leaving high school. We skated and made arrangements to meet in Jahn's afterwards to have a Banana Barge or some other, sinful treat.

  I remember one night getting a phone call at home from Melody Priceman. She was at a meeting in a Jewish Center close to Wantagh Parkway and Carmen Avenue in Westbury. We had an ice storm and her Mom didn't want to drive to get her, so my dad picked her up and took her home to 52 Alpine Lane (how can I remember that 40 some odd years later?? ((And I'm suffering from CRS)).

  Who remembers going to watch a football game then going to the Sweet Shop for a soda. How about getting ready for prom night and decorating the boys gym?? Then going to the Casa Allegra for a slice of pizza and a soda.

  To this day, I remember Paul Carbe dancing with Jackie Travers who was selected Senior Queen for the class of 1961 at the prom with the strange name, "Ramayana!", The variety show, The Good Old Days; the senior play, Romeo and Juliet; and of course, South Pacific. Sal Mistretta, who starred in many shows throughout high school is still involved in theater and was on TV last year.

  I remember my first job when I worked at King Kullen at the West Village Green…and my supervisor was Gladys Stermer, (Bobby Stermer from the class of 1959 and his sister, Barbara's Mom).

  I remember working at Newberry's during Christmas because they needed part time help. I think I was paid $1.00 per hour. Wow!!! Had a chance to sell stuff I knew nothing about.

  Who remembers Girl's Sports Night…the Orange Team…the Black Team??? The Orange team captain in 1961 was Volena Henningsen and the Black team captain was my wife, Joyce Gabrielsen. Some of the leaders were Vicki Krasner, Joan Brandt, Joy Edelstein, Kathy Kapsol, Bonnie Scharr, Judy Yanof, Alice McIntosh, Lois Werneberg, Pat Kocher and Aileen O'Campo.

  This winter has been one to remember with the extreme cold and snow. Why is it I remember big snows back in the late 50's and early 60's. I recall one big snowfall when Rob McCotter, Mike Goldsmith, Billy Cook, Nick Quatrone, I think Roddy Clements and me walking south in the middle of old Newbridge Road (when it was one way in each direction) with not a car in sight…the snow was deep and falling at a steady rate.

  My "2nd" last year in high school when I worked at the Cross Island Oil Terminal that was located down near the old Farmer's Market on Broadway (Steve and Stu Blust's father hired me). The Farmer's Market was a great place to get a variety of pickles. Oh, those old Garlic Dill were the best.

  I think when the place burned down, that was one of the biggest fires we ever had in the area…or maybe it was Henshaw's on the corner of Hempstead Turnpike and Jerusalem Avenue (or maybe it was the Christmas tree bonfire in January of 1958 in the middle of the potato field that is now Trinity Diocesan High School).

  I went into the navy shortly after high school. When I was home on leave, I remember going to Shady Maples to have a couple of beers. Shady Maples eventually was turned into TJ Courtney's and was owned by Bobby Flanagan (Class of 1964???).
  I seem to remember a lot of Hicksville kids hanging there, playing pool and just being sociable. I think that's where I bumped into Carol Marsh and her husband Denis Roussillon one night. And perhaps Helen Luna.

  I'm sure that what I'm saying is similar for everyone who ever went to school.

  I have special memories, too, of those from the old neighborhood near Fork Lane School…Mike Heanie, Mike Rosenwasser, the Fenigstein boys, Ira and Louie, Jack McCarron (he moved to Florida), Chris Polanski, Jeff Muller, Bob Gillette, Charlie Lantay, Charlie Gemuendt (and his lovely sister, Mary Jane), Ann Cassesse and Candice McGloughlin Yvonne Jeanette Liddle. And I almost forgot Dottie Brooks.

  I just love Hicksville and the many fond memories and it's fun to share with everyone. Why not take a moment and jot down your own recollections of what it was like growing up on Long Island. It would be great reading for us all…

FYI

Most of us who have used the Internet for a while are familiar with emoticons. What do all these abbreviations mean anyway? Welcome to the growing world of Internet acronyms (e.g. LOL) and "emoticons" - a huge family of online expressions that has grown extremely popular as shorthand to showing emotion without tons of tedious typing! Defined as various actions, facial expressions, and pictures created using combinations of letters, punctuation marks, and other keyboard symbols, most emoticons are read sideways from left to right.

Following is a list of popular ones for you "newbies":

Popular Emoticons

• :) Happy or sarcastic
• :( Sad or depressed
• :'( Crying
• :] Smug or satisfied
• :[ Despondent
• :D Really happy, excited, or laughing
• :-| Indifferent
• :/ Or :\ Undecided, confused or skeptical
• >:-( Annoyed
• 8-O Surprised

Popular Internet Acronyms

• LOL Laugh out loud or lots of luck
• BFN Bye for now!
• FAQ Frequently asked question
• FYI For your information
• BRB Be right back
• ROFL Rolling on the floor laughing
• TTYL Talk to you later!

Trivia

1955:

• Little Richard sends his first audition tape to his future label, Specialty Records.

1956:

• Pat Boone's cover version of Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" hits #12 on the pop chart.
• Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" becomes his first top-10 single.

1958:

• Frankie Avalon scored his first top 10 hit when "Dede Dinah" reached number 7. He would follow it with a string of hits over the next couple of years, including Ginger Bread (number 9), Venus (number 1), Bobby Sox to Stockings (number 8), A Boy Without a Girl (number 10), Just Ask Your Heart (number 7) and Why (number 1).

1959:

• Elvis Presley sings after-hours at the Lido Club in Paris while on leave from the U.S. Army. 

1960:

• The Everly Brothers recorded "When Will I Be Loved", which turned out to be their last hit for Cadence Records. It was released shortly after Don and Phil had a top ten hit with "Cathy's Clown", on their new label, Warner Brothers Records.
  "Teen Angel" by Mark Dinning hit number one on The Cash Box music chart, despite being banned by several U.S. radio stations who called it "the death disc".

1963:

• The Beatles saw their second release reach the top of the U.K. singles chart. "Please Please Me" became a big hit despite the fact that John and Paul could clearly be heard singing different words.

1964

• England's Billy J. Kramer released his first hit song in the United States. "Little Children" kicked off a string of hits that included "Bad to Me", "I'll Keep You Satisfied" and "From a Window".
• Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass appear in their first major concert, in Los Angeles.
  
• Simon & Garfunkel
complete the recording of "Sounds Of Silence".
• The Beach Boys record "Don't Worry Baby".

Pat Koziuk Driscoll, 1956, FL
Linda Piccerelli Hayden, 1960, NJ
Bob Casale, 1961, HX and PA