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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The class of 1965 just celebrated their Fifty Year Reunion and they had a blast. To see some of the exciting get-together, please go to Memory Lane.

NOTE: The deadline for checks has been extended to November 15th.

CLASS OF 1971 SAVE THE DATE FOR OUR 45^th ReunionJuly 8-10, 2016

We hope you will be able to attend. We arranged hotel accommodations at the Historic Roosevelt Hotel in the heart of midtown Manhattan at Madison Ave. and 45th St.

Website: www.theroosevelthotel.com
Details:

• Rate: $189 per night + tax/single or double occupancy (a really great rate for NYC!)You may extend your stay 1 day before or after the weekend for the same low rate
• Includes free WIFI and complimentary entrance to 24 hour health club
• To make your reservation call 1-888-833-3989. Please mention The Hicksville High School Class of 1971 Reunionin order to get this discounted rate. Your credit card will not be charged until your stay. PLEASE NOTE: Cancellations will be accepted no later than 24 hours before July 8th (or 7th if you're planning to come in early), otherwise your credit card will be charged.
• Please reserve your room by Nov. 2, 2015
• We are in the midst of planning the entire fabulous weekend (because 45 years is a long time to catch up with one another in just 1 night). We're also looking for assistance with planning our event weekend.

For questions about the reunion or to volunteer for the planning committee, please email us:

• Carol (Greenstein) Epstein: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Arlene Gottesman: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Looking forward to seeing you in New York City in July 2016.

Your classmates,
Carol Epstein and Arlene Gottesman

The Newsletter

Photo Gallery

Wounded Lion Sculpture in Honor of Swiss Guards Who Died in the French Revolution - Luzern , Switzerland

Artist Designs a Wolf Out of Pipe Cleaners

 Moreton Island , Queensland , Australia . It's a man made scuttle structure so boats could have safe anchorage while also providing a neat dive site

Lenticular 'UFO' Cloud

The Runway at the Gibraltar International Airport Has a Road Crossing It

Loaf of Art.  Each Color Was Layered to Form the Picture.  Apparently Each Slice Sold for $5000.

View of Space Shuttle Atlantis from the International Space Station

What a Liter Bottle of Soda Looks Like Before Compressed Air Is Added.

Rarely Seen Back of the Hoover Dam Before It Was Filled with Water in 1936

Marlon Brando Before and After His Makeup Was Done for His Role in the Godfather

Power Strip Liberators

Cross Section of Undersea Cable

This Is Only One Picture

Cryptex Flash Drive

Cross Section of a Commercial Airplane

There Are 1 Million Different Colors in This Picture

Hitler Had to Cut His Moustache to Fit Into a Gas Mask. This Is How He Looked Before

A Fish That Eats Prey Up to 10x Its Mass and Twice Its Length

Bismuth Is a Chemical Element With An Amazing Iridescent Oxide Surface

Coins Stacked in Such a Way That They Extend Past the Edge of the Table

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Memory Lane

Class of 1965 50th Reunion

celebrated the weekend of October 2-3 at the Plainview Holiday Inn

The festivities began at a Meet and Greet on Friday evening attended by more than 75 people.  It was a casual event which began at 7 and most stayed until 11 PM.  It was fun to see classmates after so many years.  There was a memorabilia table with the photo from the class trip to Washington DC and an original hat and plume sent in by Jim Mills, elementary school photos, and Paula Madden Mulhearn's cheerleading uniform.

Saturday morning about 30 people enjoyed a wonderful tour of the high school with young, energetic Principal Raymond Williams. His enthusiasm and love of his job was evident to all of us. We watched the dance team practice and enjoyed wandering the halls and some of us even found their old lockers. The school looked wonderful and all the new technology was quite impressive. We ended with a question and answer session. We continued onto the site of the Veterans Memorial on the Middle School grounds for an emotional wreath laying ceremony lead by Bill Walton, Commander of the local VFW. We honored 2 class members, James Stolz, Jr. and Stanley Tomasovic, who died in Vietnam. Then on to the Sweet Shop for a delicious lunch and fond memories, the Gregory Museum and the football game which HHS lost to Freeport.

Saturday evening the festivities began at 7 for an hour cocktail party followed by a dinner dance with Tommy Sullivan as DJ. Carol Rondeau Rasmussen sang a beautiful ballad perfect for old friends and fond memories. 106 of us danced, ate, drank and enjoyed all being together and reminiscing our years at HHS.

Thank you to those who helped plan the weekend, to those who did a fabulous job with decorations, and to those who worked the registration table:

• Diane Bassett Brown- reunion registration
• Terry Madden Best & Paula Madden Mulhearn-Saturday events
• Mary de Felice Stea, Carol Fred, and Noreen Braemer Ubracanik-decorations
• Dolores Frank Buckley, Ann Schwartz Arroyo, Patti O'Rourke Hoffer & Sandy Di Pasqua- registration table
• Bill Walden- donated the wreath for the Veterans Memorial

A special thank you to my husband, Rick Lawrence, who took photos throughout the weekend. The link to view all the photos is on Snapfish. You have to register, set up a password, at no cost, to view the pictures. Snapfish Link click here.

If you want to order any prints you can do so at CVS, Walgreens or have them mailed to your home.

Thank you and hope to see you in the years to come,

Elin Fischman Lawrence, Chairman HHS '65 Reunion

Casale's Corner

The Boy and the Doll

I was walking around in a Wal-Mart store, when I saw a cashier hand this little boy some money back. The boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old.

The Cashier said, "I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll."

Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him, ''Granny, are you sure I don't have enough money?''

The old lady replied, ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy this doll, my dear.''

Then she asked him to stay there for just 5 minutes while she went to look around. She left quickly. The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to.

"It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much for Christmas. She was sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her."

I replied to him that maybe Santa Claus would bring it to her after all, and not to worry.

But he replied to me sadly. "No, Santa Claus can't bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there."

His eyes were so sad while saying this, "My Sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.''

My heart nearly stopped.

The little boy looked up at me and said, "I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall."

Then he showed me a very nice photo of himself. He was laughing. He then told me "I want mommy to take my picture with her so she won't forget me."

"I love my mommy and I wish she didn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister."

Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly. I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy "Suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll!''

"OK" he said, "I hope I do have enough." I added some of my money to his without him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money.

The little boy said, "Thank you God for giving me enough money!"

Then he looked at me and added, "I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give it to my sister. He heard me!' I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. My mommy loves white roses."

A few minutes later, the old lady returned and I left with my basket. I finished my shopping in a totally different state of mind from when I started. I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind. Then I remembered a local newspaper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy?

Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the newspaper that the young woman had passed away. I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was for people to see and make last wishes before her burial. She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest.

I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed forever. The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.