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

Our full Update for January, 2021 appears in the Honoring Our Veterans section of this newsletter. It is actually a repeat of the November Update, with the exception of a new donation in January in the amount of $20.

Given the surge in virus cases with colder weather and the new, more contagious mutation coming from England, we expect this will remain the case for a number of future months, but hope the effect of the new vaccines will give us momentum again by late spring to early summer of this year.

We are pleased to again report that our core action team is safe from the virus. We are thankful for this and hope the same is true for all our readers and alumni.

While the Dedication Ceremony remains on hold, please remember that the Memorial is complete and can be viewed by anyone visiting the Memorial Gardens located on the south side of the Jerusalem Avenue Middle School.

The project will be officially complete once we are able to conduct the Dedication Ceremony at the Memorial.

On behalf of the Project Team,
Joe Carfora, HHS 1962

Robert Edward Gleason Wesley, 1943-2010

Five 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 travelled 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 travelled 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

CLASS OF 1980 CLASS REUNION

August 7, 2021 7:30-11:30 pm
Oak Room at the Heritage Club at Bethpage. 
Cost $125 includes food and drink. 
Payment info will be released soon.
Nearby Hotels include: (Book sooner rather than later)
Hilton Garden Inn Round Swamp Road
Homewood Suites Round Swamp Road
Holiday Inn, Plainview on Sunny Side Blvd
Four Points by Sheraton in Melville, Plainview on South Service Road
Any questions? Contact Sue at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Newsletter

Photo Gallery

While being a Helicopter Crew Chief Instructor, I'd go to Washington DC, with a few buddies almost every weekend. We'd do the Smithsonian and all. On the way back to Ft. Eustis (125 miles), we'd-often stop for something to eat. One time, it was getting late. We landed in Falls Church, VA. We saw an old general store that was still open. We walked around on the old creaky floors looking for Frito's or something? I came across, an old wire frame post card holder. It was full of WWII post cards .... Penny a piece! I asked the guy, "How much do you want for the Post Cards?" He said, "A penny." He explained that they had been there ever since he was a kid. I counted them ... 300 plus. I gave him $4.00 and I got the rack, too. In San Diego, I sold a bunch for $1.00 each. I still have a bunch to hand down.

I know some of you are too young to recall these posters and WWII, but they were a part of my life and others who are now "older than dirt". These are great. Pass them along, especially to your older email friends. I wonder whatever happened to this kind of thinking.

I got a lump in my throat when I read this. I "grew up" thinking patriotism, it is the AMERICAN way! I am glad to see that somebody saved them. The statement at the end says it all!

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Memory Lane

VERY INTERESTING READ. A little over 100 years ago.

Remarkably interesting for all ages. This will boggle your mind. What a difference a century makes! Here are some statistics from 1920:

• The average life expectancy for men was 47 years.
• Fuel for cars was sold in drug stores only.
• Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.
• The average US wage in 1920 was 22 cents per hour.
• The average US worker made $200 to $400 per year.
• A competent accountant could expect to earn $2,000 per year.
• A dentist earned $2,500 per year. A veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year. A mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
• More than 95 percent of all births took place at home.
• Ninety percent of all Doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION! Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as "substandard."
• Sugar cost four cents a pound.
• Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
• Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
• Most women only washed their hair once a month, and, used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
• Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering their country for any reason.
• The Five leading causes of death were:

1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

• The American flag had 45 stars.
• The population of Las Vegas , Nevada was only 30.
• Crossword puzzles, canned beer and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.
• There was neither a Mother's Day nor a Father's Day.
• Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write and, only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
• Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at local corner drugstores.
• Back then pharmacists said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health!" (Shocking?)
• 18% of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
• There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A.

I will now forward this to others without having typed it myself and it will travel around the world in a matter of seconds.

We've come a long way... or have we?

Casale's Corner

Casale's Corner February 2021

I saw him in the church building for the first-time last Wednesday.

He was in his mid-70's, with thinning silver hair and a neat brown suit.

Many times, in the past I had invited him to come.

Several other Christian friends had talked to him about the Lord and had tried to share the Good News with him.

He was a well-respected, honest man with so many characteristics a Christian should have, but he had never put-on Christ.

I had asked him a few years ago, have you ever been to a church service in your life?

We had just finished a pleasant day of visiting and talking.

He hesitated. Then with a bitter smile he told me of a childhood experience some sixty years ago.

He was one of many children in a large, impoverished family.

His parents had struggled to provide food, with little left for housing and clothing.

When he was about ten, some neighbors invited him to worship with them.

The Bible class had been extremely exciting.

He had never heard such songs and stories before.

He had never heard anyone read from the Bible before.

After class was over, the teacher took him aside.

The teacher said, "Son, please don't come again dressed as you are now."

We want to look our best when we come worship the Lord.

He stood in his ragged, unpatched overalls looking at his bare dirty feet.

He said, "no ma'am, I won't ever! and I never did, he said, abruptly ending our conversation."

There must have been other factors to have hardened him so.

However, this experience formed a significant part of the bitterness in his heart.

I'm sure the Bible teacher meant well.

But what if she had studied and accepted the teachings found in the second chapter of James?

(My brothers and sisters; do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.

For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in bright clothes and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, "You sit here in a good place," and you say to the poor man, "You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool," have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?  James 2:1-4).

What if she had put her arms around that dirty, ragged little boy and said, Son, I'm so glad you are here, and I hope you will come every chance you get to hear to hear more about Jesus!

I prayed that I might ever be open to the tenderness of a child's heart.

I prayed that I might never fail to see beyond the appearance and behavior of a child to the eternal possibilities within.
Yes, I saw him in the church house for the first-time last Wednesday.

As I looked at that "immaculately dressed old gentleman" lying in his casket, I thought of the little boy of long ago.

I could almost hear him say, "No ma'am, I won't ever! ... and I wept.