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.

---

Robert Edward Gleason Wesley, 1943-2010

Four years ago, February of 2010, was when the music stopped for Bob Wesley. An accomplished musician, Bob had a radio show in Dannemora, New York that aired weekly.

Along with a co-host, Frank, the duo made music that the community really enjoyed. He loved music and traveled to local hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities and performed for the residents free of charge.

His passing saddened many. Bob "partied hard" over the years and realized his activities would tell its toll eventually. He survived open heart surgery only to find himself spending time in the hospital for a string of illnesses that did eventually cut his life short, too short.

I remember fondly the time he traveled from Dannemora to Long Island to visit me. What would be the last time, this visit included us making a trip to New Jersey to visit with Linda Piccerelli who along with Pat Koziuk were the original editors of HixNews. Bob was instrumental in taking the Hicksville High Newsletter from ancient times into the new world. The website he established exists today and many can thank Bob for his vision of what future issues of the newsletter should be.

His daughter, Heather and granddaughter, Rebecca remember Bob as a warm, wonderful person who they miss every day.

Buffalo Bob Casale

Hicksville High School Class of 1983 30 Year Reunion

Hey everyone!

I wanted to let you know that the Hicksville High Class of 83 is having our 30 Year Reunion in a few months, and we need to spread the word a bit. Would you be so kind as to mention this in your next newsletter? The contact email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We also have a Facebook page called Hicksville High School Class of 1983 30-year reunion. Below are the details.

Alice Freeman Prota

Date: Saturday, March 22, 2014
Place: Holiday Inn, 215 Sunnyside Blvd., Plainview
Time: 6:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Buffet Dinner
Cost: $100.00 per person

Hicksville Vietnam War Era Memorial - PROJECT UPDATE

For the first time in a very long while, no new names were added in January, but progress continued on filling in needed data for the Confirmed List and making qualification decisions on the Unconfirmed List of Names.  Our current total of names for the Confirmed List stands at 1,878 names.

Previously, we announced the inclusion of Reserve and National Guard members as part of the Memorial, provided they served during the Vietnam War Era and meet all other qualification requirements.  We have already added a good number of these names to the Confirmed List, but if you previously submitted your name, or the name of a friend, who under the old rules was turned down and do not currently see that name on the Confirmed List, please help us by resubmitting it to me for reconsideration.

To see the full report on the Memorial's progress, please see this month's update by clicking on the Honoring Our Veterans page of this newsletter.  Clicking on the two links near the bottom of the update will bring you to the complete Confirmed and Unconfirmed Lists of Names as of the end of January.

On behalf of the Project Team,
Joe Carfora, HHS '62

The Newsletter

Photo Gallery

Many thanks to Sherrie Proffe for sharing these remarkable photos with us. Gonna make it a game. See if you can recognize what part of the world is represented in each photo. The answers are listed after the pictures.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

Picture 5

Picture 6

Picture 7

Picture 8

Picture 9

Picture 10

The Answers:

1. Amsterdam , The Netherlands

2. Athens , Greece

3. Sydney , Australia

4. Barcelona , Spain

5. Bern , Switzerland

6. Rio de Janeiro , Brazil

7. Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada

8. San Francisco suburb, California

9. Cape Town , South Africa

10. Chicago Illinois

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Honoring our Veterans

Received From a Good Friend of Mine

Joe Carfora

As we face a new year, I recall visiting with three old friends, a few years back, at a park in the nation's capital.  It seems like only yesterday that we were all together, but actually it has been 42 years.  There was a crowd at the park that day, and it took us a while to connect, but with the aid of a book we made it.  I found Harry, Bruce and Paul.  In 1970-72 we were gung-ho young fighter pilots on America and Constellation off Vietnam, the cream of the crop of the U.S. Navy, flying F-4J Phantoms.  Now their names are on that 500-foot-long Vietnam War Memorial. 

I am hesitant to visit the wall when I'm in Washington DC because I don't trust myself to keep my composure.  Standing in front of that somber wall, I tried to keep it light, reminiscing about how things were back then.  We used to joke about our passionate love affair with an inanimate flying objects we flew.  We marveled at the thought that we actually got paid to do it.  We were not draftees but college graduates in Vietnam by choice, opting for the cramped confines of a jet fighter cockpit over the comfort of corporate America.  In all my life I've not been so passionate about any other work.  If that sounds like an exaggeration, then you've never danced the wild blue with a supersonic angel.  To fight for your country is an honor.  I vividly remember leaving my family and friends in San Diego headed for Vietnam.  I wondered if I would live to see them again.  For reasons I still don't understand, I was fortunate to return while others did not.  Once in Vietnam, we passed the long, lonely hours in Alert 5, the ready room, our staterooms or the Cubi O'Club.  The complaint heard most often, in the standard gallows humor of a combat squadron, was, "It's a lousy war, but it's the only one we have." (I've cleaned up the language a bit.)  We sang mostly raunchy songs that never seemed to end -someone was always writing new verses - and, as an antidote to loneliness, fear in the night and the sadness over dead friends, we often drank too much.  At the wall, I told the guys only about the good parts of the years since we've been apart.  I talked of those who went on to command squadrons.  Those who made Captain and flag rank.  I asked them if they've seen some other squadronmates who have joined them.  I didn't tell them about how ostracized Vietnam vets still are.  I didn't relate how the media had implied we Vietnam vets were, to quote one syndicated columnist, "either suckers or psychos, victims or monsters."  I didn't tell them that Hanoi Jane, who shot at us and helped torture our POWs, had married one of the richest guys in the United States . I didn't tell them that the secretary of defense they fought for back then has now declared that he was not a believer in the cause for which he assigned them all to their destiny.  I didn't tell them that our commander-in-chief avoided serving while they were fighting and dying.  And I didn't tell them we "lost" that lousy war.  I gave them the same story I've used for years:  We were winning when I left.  I relived that final day as I stared at the black onyx wall.  After 297 combat missions, we were leaving the South China Sea heading east.  The excitement of that day was only exceeded by coming into the break at Miramar, knowing that my wife, my two boys, my parents and other friends and family were waiting to welcome me home.  I was not the only one talking to the wall through tears.  Folks in fatigues, leather vests, motorcycle jackets, flight jackets lined the wall talking to friends.  I backed about 25 yards away from the wall and sat down on the grass under a clear blue sky and midday sun that perfectly matched the tropical weather of the war zone.  The wall, with all 58,200 names, consumed my field of vision.  I tried to wrap my mind around the violence, carnage and ruined lives that it represented.  Then I thought of how Vietnam was only one small war in the history of the human race. I was overwhelmed with a sense of mankind's wickedness balanced against some men and women's willingness to serve.  Before becoming a spectacle in the park, I got up and walked back up to the wall to say goodbye and ran my fingers over the engraved names of my friends as if I could communicate with them through some kind of spiritual touch.  I wanted them to know that God, duty, honor and country will always remain the noblest calling.  Revisionist history from elite draft dodgers trying to justify and rationalize their own actions will never change that.  I believe I have been a productive member of society since the day I left Vietnam.  I am honored to have served there, and I am especially proud of my friends-heroes who voluntarily, enthusiastically gave their all.  They demonstrated no greater love to a nation whose highbrow opinion makers are still trying to disavow them.  May their names, indelibly engraved on that memorial wall, likewise be found in the Book of Life.  Remember that throughout the new year.

As an afterthought, I find it funny how simple it is for people to trash different ways of living and believing and then wonder why the world is going to hell.  Funny how you can send a thousand 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding life choices, people think twice about sharing.  Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but the public discussion of morality is suppressed in the school and workplace.  Funny isn't it?   Funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.  Funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me than what I think of me.

I wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2014.

Casale's Corner

The Back Nine

Submitted by Kathy McDonald Corey,  Class of 1960

You know...time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years. It seems just yesterday that I was young, just married and embarking on my new life with my mate. Yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went. I know that I lived them all. I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams.But, here it is... 'the back nine' of my life and it catches me by surprise...How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where did my youth go? I remember well seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that 'I was only on the first hole' and the 'back nine' was so far off that I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like.But, here it is...my friends are retired and getting grey...they move slower and I see an older person now. Some are in better and some worse shape than me...but, I see the great change...Not like the ones that I remember who were young and vibrant...but, like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see and never thought we'd become. Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day! And taking a nap is not a treat anymore... it's mandatory! Cause if I don't on my own free will... I just fall asleep where I sit!And so...now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do things that I wish I had done but never did!! But, at least I know, that though I'm on the 'back nine', and I'm not sure how long it will last...this I know, that when it's over on this earth...it's over. A new adventure will begin!Yes, I have regrets. There are things I wish I hadn't done...things I should have done, but indeed, there are many things I'm happy to have done. It's all in a lifetime.So, if you're not on the 'back nine' yet...let me remind you, that it will be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life please do it quickly! Don't put things off too long!! Life goes by quickly. So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure whether you're on the 'back nine' or not! You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life...so, live for today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember...and hope that they appreciate and love you for all the things that you have done for them in all the years past!!"Life" is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after. Make it a fantastic one.

LIVE IT WELL!
ENJOY TODAY!
DO SOMETHING FUN!
BE HAPPY!
HAVE A GREAT DAY

Remember "It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.

LASTLY, CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:

• Your kids are becoming you......but your grandchildren are perfect!
• Going out is good... Coming home is better!
• You forget names.... But it's OK because other people forgot they even knew you!!!
• You realize you're never going to be really good at anything.... especially golf.
• The things you used to care to do, you no longer care to do, but you really do care that you don't care to do them anymore.
• You sleep better on a lounge chair with the TV blaring than in bed. It's called "pre-sleep".
• You miss the days when everything worked with just an "ON" and "OFF" switch...
• You tend to use more 4 letter words ... "what?"..."when?"...? ???
• Now that you can afford expensive jewelry, it's not safe to wear it anywhere.
• You notice everything they sell in stores is "sleeveless"?!!!
• What used to be freckles are now liver spots.
• Everybody whispers.
• You have 3 sizes of clothes in your closet.... 2 of which you will never wear.

But Old is good in some things: Old Songs, Old movies, and best of all, OLD FRIENDS!!

It's Not What You Gather, But What You Scatter That Tells What Kind Of Life You Have Lived.

TODAY IS THE OLDEST YOU'VE EVER BEEN, YET THE YOUNGEST YOU'LL EVER BE, SO ENJOY THIS DAY WHILE IT LASTS.