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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HICKSVILLE VIETNAM WAR ERA MEMORIAL - PROJECT UPDATE

We gained two new donors and one repeat donor in September. Donations continue, but at a slow pace with $320 received for a new total of $19,372. After tax expenses last year, we have a total of $18,497 available to us, sufficient to build the Memorial, but not yet enough to maintain it after construction. Repeat donors have been very helpful, but we sure would like to see new donors help in reaching our $25,000 total goal. Details on where to mail your donation check, continue to be shown in this month's Project Update, which appears in the Honoring Our Veterans tab of the newsletter.

In addition to donations, a number of good things continue to happen to move the Project towards completion. Please see the Project Update for details.
As always, should you have any new information to report for either the Confirmed or Unconfirmed Lists of Names, particularly to fill in missing data on the Confirmed List, please email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

On behalf of the Project Team, we wish all of you well!
Joe Carfora, HHS 1962

We start our 17^th year with the October issue. HixNews has come a long way since 2000 and the success is because of participation. It seems we begged so long for information from "you all"! The begging continues and the editors want to thank everyone who has contributed information that piques the memories of many! If you post something on Facebook, please send a copy to the editors.

There have been disappointments where the editors have tried to implement an idea for a special section only to see it fail. Obviously, some of you have ideas for such a section. Please submit your ideas to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Hicksville High School class of '67 Reunion is being planned. But this is the Big One: 50th Reunion. It will be at the Joseph Barry Knights of Columbus, Hicksville. We are starting early to give people time to make plans.

Click here to see the attached flyer for a description of what's in the offing for the weekend and the registration form.

We are asking people to register early and spread the word, Comets '67 to reunite again.

The Newsletter

Photo Gallery

 A few of these you may have seen, but probably very few.

Miss America 1924

Helen Keller Meeting Charlie Chaplin

Leather gloves worn by Lincoln to Ford's Theater on the night
of his assassination. Blood stains are visible at the cuffs.

Phoebe Mozee (aka: Annie Oakley). Famed for her marksmanship by
12 years old. When she outshot famed exhibition marksman Frank Butler,
he fell in love with her and they married.

Very Young Lucy Lucille Ball around 1930.

Amy Johnson, English aviator 1903-1941 One of the first women to gain a pilot's licence, Johnson won fame when she flew solo from Britain to Australia in 1930. Her dangerous flight took 17 days. Later she flew solo to India and Japan and became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic East to West, she volunteered to fly for The Women's Auxiliary Air Force in WW 2, but her plane was shot down over the River Thames and she was killed.

Prison Garb 1924. Belva Annan murderess whose trial records became the musical "Chicago."

Female photojournalist Jessie Tarbox on the street with her camera, 1900's

Roald Amundsen was the first person to reach the South Pole. At approximately 3pm on December 14, 1911, Amundsen raised the flag of Norway at the South Pole and named the spot Polheim 'Pole Home'.

The extraordinary life of Maud Allen: Seductive US dancing girl who was sued for being too lewd, outed as a lesbian, and fled London after being branded a German spy who was sleeping with the prime minister's wife.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Caroline Otero, courtesan, the most sought after woman in all of Europe.
She associated herself with the likes of Prince Albert I of Monaco, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Kings of Serbia, and Kings of Spain as well as Russian Grand Dukes Peter and Nicholas, the Duke of Westminster and writer Gabriele D'Annunzio Six men reportedly committed suicide after
their love affairs with Otero ended. Two men fought a duel over her. She was famed for her voluptuous breasts.

Wedding day photograph of Abraham and Mary taken November 4, 1842 in Springfield, Illinois after three years of a stormy courtship and a broken
engagement. Their love had endured.

Billie Holiday at two years old, in 1917.

Washington, D.C., circa 1919. "Walter Reed Hospital flu ward." One of the very few images in Washington-area photo archives documenting the influenza contagion of 1918-1919, which killed over 500,000 Americans and tens of millions around the globe. Most victims succumbed to bacterial pneumonia following influenza virus infection.

Filming the MGM Logo

Amelia Earhart

 Mae Questel ca. 1930's, the voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl, Minnie Mouse,
Felix the Cat (for three shorts by the Van Beuren Studios), Little Lulu, Little Audrey and Casper, the Friendly Ghost.

 Bea Arthur (n'e Bernice Frankel) (1922-2009) SSgt. USMC 1943-45 WW II Enlisted and assigned as typist at Marine HQ in Wash DC, then air stations in VA and NC. Best remembered for her title role in the TV series 'Maude' and as Dorothy in "Golden Girls".

 In 1911, Bobby Leach survived a plunge over Niagara Falls in a steel barrel. Fourteen years later, in New Zealand, he slipped on an orange peel and died.

 Emily Todd was Mary Todd Lincoln's half-sister. In 1856 she married Benjamin Helm, a Confederate general. After Helm's death in 1863 Emily Helm passed through Union Lines to visit her sister in the White House. This caused great consternation in the Northern newspapers. Emily Helm
took an oath of loyalty to the Union and was granted amnesty.

 Three days before his 19th birthday, George H.W. Bush became the youngest aviator in the US Navy.

 Market Street, San Francisco after the earthquake, 1906.

 All-American Girls Baseball, 1940's.

1943 : Breast Protectors for War Workers.

Mary Ellen Wilson (1864-1956) or sometimes Mary Ellen McCormack was an American whose case of child abuse led to the creation of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. As an eight-year old, she was severely abused by her foster parents, Francis and Mary Connolly.

 Sacajawea. Stolen, held captive, sold, eventually reunited the Shoshone Indians. She was an interpreter and guide for Lewis and Clark in 1805-1806 with her husband Toussaint Charbonneau. She navigated carrying her son, Jean Baptiste, on her back. She traveled thousands of miles from the Dakotas to the Pacific Ocean. The explorers, said she was cheerful, never complained, and proved to be invaluable.  She served as an advisor, caretaker, and is legendary for her perseverance and resourcefulness.

 Zelda Boden, circus performer, ca. 1910.

 A Confederate and Union soldier shake hands during a celebration at Gettysburg in 1913. Image from the Library of Congress. July 1-3, 2013 marks the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Geraldine Doyle, who was the inspiration behind the famous Rosie the Riveter poster.

Vintage Baked Potato Cart. A legitimate fast food lunch option back in the day.

Black physicians treating in the ER a member of the Ku Kux Klan.

Sergeant Stubby (1916 or 1917 - April 4, 1926), was the most decorated war dog of World War I and the only dog to be promoted to sergeant through combat America's first war dog, Stubby, served 18 months 'over there' and participated in seventeen battles on the Western Front. He saved his regiment from surprise mustard gas attacks, found and comforted the wounded, and even once caught a German spy by the seat of his pants (holding him there till American Soldiers found him).

Nightwitches - Female Russian bombers who bombed Germany during WW 2. They had old, noisy planes and the engines used to conk out halfway through their missions, so they had to climb out on the wings mid-flight to restart the props. To stop Germans from hearing them & starting up the anti aircraft guns, they'd climb to a certain height, coast down to German positions, drop their bombs, restart their engines in midair & get the hell out of dodge. Their leader flew 200+ missions & was never captured. 

Marilyn Monroe meets Queen Elizabeth II, London, in 1956 and both women are 30 years old.

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Memory Lane

F L A S H B A C K

October 2004
Volume 5 Number 1
From the Editors

Thank you all for the wonderful response I received to the address check note. Your kind words and encouragement are deeply appreciated. There are now 553 good email addresses on the distribution list. WOW! Four years ago we started with just a handful of addresses. As we start our 5th year, you are (once again) invited to share news of your life, memories and original writings.

Sincerely,
Pat Koziuk Driscoll, 1956

Pat Koziuk Driscoll, 1956 Pat Koziuk Driscoll

P.S. I wonder how many newsletters will be returned this month because of all the hurricanes and storms in the East and earthquakes in the West? I will not remove any addresses this month because of these possibilities.

Editor note...this was before we evolved into our own website. Who amongst you were the original classmates who was receiving the emails? Thanks so much for your work with the newsletter. I enjoy reading it and should send something about what's happened in my life since I wasn't able to attend our reunion last year.

After high school, I went to Potsdam and finished a degree in music. I taught 2 years in Westhampton Beach, married an Air Force officer stationed at Suffolk County AFB and moved to England. We lived there 2 years. He finished his tour and we moved back to LI where I taught in Manorville and he taught at Mercy HS in Riverhead. After 3 years we moved to a small town, Manti, in central Utah where Russ taught English and I stayed home with our growing family. In 1975 we moved to Lehi, Utah and have been here ever since. We have a home on 5 acres and love it. I am currently the director of a tutorial program for at-risk HS students. I also have been a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for the past 11 years and am having an incredible experience there. Russ and I have 3 boys and 1 granddaughter with another coming in November and another coming in December.

~ Rita Paesani Felt 1962

Rita Paesani Felt 1962

Favorite Teachers

John (Jack) Clarke taught English at HHS in the early-to-mid sixties. He rode a motorcycle to school. Definitely an outlaw (or so he seemed to us) and someone who questioned conventions of all kinds. On the faculty he was friendly with Gerry Shanley, another HHS English teacher, another outlaw.

I had him in junior year English (Track 2 - the "average" kids). He had an ability to connect with a very tough audience of bored adolescents. I remember he'd sit on top of his desk and read aloud from anything and everything - poetry, short stories, novels, newspaper and magazine articles - didn't care if it was "not appropriate" (in those days, novels like The Catcher in the Rye were not considered "appropriate" for high school students.) He was funny, smart and angry - he'd often rail against hypocrisy and bull. He had our respect and tolerated no nonsense in his classroom. Of course I had a massive crush on him, though I hardly ever spoke in class. Too shy.

By junior year I was already an avid reader (it was a great escape) and, because he was passionate about good writing and the power of words, he showed me that literature could be sexy and subversive too. He inspired me - us - and that's the very best a teacher can do. We are blessed when we find inspiration at a formative stage in our lives. I was blessed, and I've never forgotten him.

Years after graduation, when I was living in Manhattan, I reconnected with him. He had left teaching (sadly) and was working for an ad agency in Connecticut. Still riding his motorcycle. We saw each other a few times, in the city and at his house in Connecticut. He and his wife came to my wedding reception in 1970. Then we lost contact. If anyone knows where he is these days, I'd love to get in touch with him again. If anyone knows, send me an email.

Nancy Portoghese, back in HHS days Nacia Miller 1965

The following was in the September 2005 newsletter.

Hi All,

Just thought I'd add a sort of interesting turn of events in my life as a 1962 graduate of HHS. On July 5th, I moved from my job at the Office of the United States Trade Representative to the White House, I am now the Director for Western Hemisphere Economics and Brazil and the Southern Cone at the National Security Council. My White House ID badge hangs from my Hicksville High Comet's lanyard. So far, I think I'm the only HHS grad working here. I owe it all to Mr. Rusch's Documents in American History class a million years ago.

Sue (Relling) Cronin 1962 Sue on Air Force One with President Bush

The following was in the March 2009 newsletter.

Ted Swedalla (1964) and Bob Casale (1961) are starting their memorable trip from Key West, Florida to Bar Harbor, Maine on April 1^st.

This trip is memorable. Ted is dedicating this trip to the returning veterans from the conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan. So many of our veterans are returning to friends, family and loved ones with injuries and disabilities. We are concerned for those Heroes. Our government does many wonderful things to accommodate returning veterans. Unfortunately, they cannot fully address the emotional needs of those returning veterans. So many organizations pick up the slack after our government has fulfilled their obligation. Our hope, Ted's and mine, is to try to raise some funds to support the organizations that help our returning veterans. Anyone interested in helping, please contact Ted and Bob by sending a note to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We, Ted and Bob are starting in Key West and going up the East Coast. We are very interested in alumni who live in the alley we will travel from Key West to Bar Harbor. Let us know where you live and we will try to stop and see you on our trip. This is an alumni adventure and an alumni venture to help support our troops.

Love Yah,
Ted Swedalla and Bob Casale

P.S. what makes this unique is that Ted is riding his bicycle...a bicycle that you pedal from point to point. We are shooting for about 50 miles per day. Bob will take the motor home from point to point....a 50 mile ride for Ted will result in catching up with Bob at the next Campground.. Easy for Bob...hard for Ted...sounds like our business adventure. Hey, we love it and hope for some help from our friends...and we love you all!!!

Bob's ride is below. Ted's is at the bottom.

Ted's ride...

Unfortunately, our trip was cut short because of some family issues. We made it to Charleston, South Carolina so Ted pedaled almost 800 miles. Several years later, Ted biked from Roanoke, Virginia to Portland, Oregon over an 80+ day period and clocked over 4,000 miles.

Cross Country Trip at the Continental Divide Continental Divide

The following was in the June 2011 newsletter.

Dear Bob,

Thanks so much for the look back and reminding me how horrible I looked. LOL!! Hey, it is what it is. What was I thinking with those glasses and ugh! that puka bead necklace. But, as I recall it was fashionable at the time. It's hard to believe that it has been 35 years. Thinking back to high school, I just felt lost. We were a graduating class of, I think, 900?

I didn't participate in sports, or music, or the plays and clubs, oh and no proms either. If you were overweight at that time, no boy would ask you and you didn't go to the proms without a date. You see, I was a "tech" student. I went to BOCES for half the day.

So I didn't associate much with most of the kids in those photos. We had our own group. But, you really don't see them in yearbook photos. Somehow always feeling on the outside. But, we had a ball.

We went roller skating at the Levittown Roller Rink on Hempstead Turnpike in Levittown. And to the Hicksville Movie theatre, too. There were dances; the carnivals were a blast at St. Ignatius. It was a religious trek to the Mid Island Plaza every Saturday.

Then of course we hung out at the bars (yes, we were under age) What was the name of that place in Farmingdale on Main St. that played Beach Boy Music and had surf boards hanging from the ceiling and lifeguard stands. Can't think of it right now and its funny I have lived in Farmingdale since 1986!! Oh by the way, I went to Westbury Boces for business occupations. I worked for Avis rent a car for 11 years, right out of high school.

Then I stayed home for 10 years to raise my kids. Now, for the last 11 years I have worked for New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury.

First, in the Office of Financial Aid and now in Admissions. I wonder what has become of all those kids who felt like me. I just went on to lead a typical Long Island middle class existence. Kind of boring, really. But, it's my life and I chose it. I love my family and I thank God every day that I have a husband who still loves me despite all my faults.

We have been married for 27 years. I don't miss high school as it was NOT "the best time of my life" (as everyone kept telling me back then). The BEST time of my life were the years following high school. When I was in my mid twenties before I got married. Now, that was a blast! I was single, independent, working. Hey, it was the 80's, say no more!! Below, Josie and Joe in 1982 when they met and a more recent picture!

~ Josie Bacchi Whitezin '76

This was in the October 2015 newsletter.

Thanks to Kathy McDonald Corey class of 1961 for the following.

An Amazing Farmer - Will touch your Heart - Most inspirational story I think I've ever seen! It's good to see a story like this to maintain our perspective on life, both individually and societally as well.

Casale's Corner

Stars and Their Cars

Thanks to Roe Marchese Genovese Class of 1961 for the following