Hicksville High School Hicksville, New York
| The Editors: | |
|---|---|
| Buffalo Bob Casale '61 | Linda (Piccerelli) Hayden '60 |
| Pat (Koziuk) Driscoll '56 | Bob (Gleason) Wesley '61 |
To contact the editors, email
People Looking for People
We've taken a new approach to this section. It's been re-organized by Henry Lichtenstein as an online spreadsheet. Rather than publish the list here, it's now available below. If you have found the person you are looking for, please let the editors know so the name can be removed from the list. If there's someone you're looking for, just send your request and we'll be happy to add it to the list. If anyone knows these folks, send an email to:
HixNews Subscribers Name & Class List
We have an organized online spreadsheet that presents our current membership: available below. If you wish to add, subtract, or modify an entry on this list, send an email to:
HICKSVILLE VIETNAM WAR ERA MEMORIAL - PROJECT UPDATE
One new donor's contribution in the amount of $200 was recorded this past month! Otherwise, there is nothing new to report from our August 1 Update, where we indicated the following:
Plans for an official monument dedication remain on hold due to virus regulations and restrictions. At this time the monument can be viewed in the Hicksville Memorial Gardens on an individual basis at the south side of the Hicksville Middle School.
We understand that Hicksville and Levittown rank #1 & #2 in the number of Coronavirus cases in Nassau County. We'll keep you posted as things begin to change and promise that we will alert everyone of the dedication ceremony date, once we have it officially approved. We will also give everyone as much advance notice as possible, in the event they can and wish to attend.
Additional donations can continue to help us cover the cost of a Dedication Ceremony gathering for school district and local official dignitaries, as well as to honor donors who have made very significant contributions to the Memorial. Further donations will also help with maintenance and upkeep of the Memorial for many years to come.
The project will be officially complete once we are able to conduct the Dedication Ceremony at the Memorial.
Please visit the Honoring Our Veterans tab of this newsletter for the full update.
On behalf of the Project Team,
Joe Carfora, HHS 1962
The Newsletter
Photo Gallery
Havasu Falls, Arizona
South Georgia Island, tip of South America
Most sights on the Kamchatka Peninsula, a volcanic Eden that stretches for 800 miles in northeastern Russia, are inaccessible except for by helicopter. The region boasts at least 300 volcanoes, 10 percent of them active, and is mostly unspoiled wilderness with abundant eagles, orcas, bears, and salmon
This Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean has at least as many polar bears as people and is home to the Global Seed Vault, meant to help restore the world's crops in case of widespread disaster. The town of Longyearbyen, the world's northernmost permanently inhabited community, gets 24 hours of sun in the summer, but 24 hours of darkness in the winter.
While Bora Bora is certainly a popular destination, it's still off limits for all but a fraction of vacationers due to sheer expense. This Tahitian island known for its over-water bungalows is one of the priciest, most far-flung destinations in the world, and an average hotel room once clocked in at 855 dollars a night.
These remote, self-governed Danish islands halfway between Norway and Iceland are certainly off the beaten path. Sheep outnumber people, but there are plenty of craggy mountains, turf-topped houses, puffins, and tumbling waterfalls (including the stunning Mulafossur) to make the trip worthwhile.
The Acacus Mountains are a dramatic corner of the Sahara carved by desert winds and abrupt floods. The remote area in southwestern Libya, also known for pictographs dating back as far as 12,000 B.C., is reachable only by 4x4, and Libya remains largely off limits to most tourists because of terrorism and civil unrest.
Easter Island's popularity with tourists belies just how remote it is: a staggering 2,200 miles from the coast of Chile. It's also the closest landmass to Point Nemo, the point in the Pacific Ocean farthest from any land. Still, this small dot in the Pacific draws visitors eager to see the hundreds of mysterious moai, statues carved by indigenous people close to 1,000 years ago.
Dunes as far as the eye can see make up the Rub' al Khali, otherwise known as The Empty Quarter, which stretches over a third of the Arabian Peninsula, including vast swaths of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates. Many of its 250,000 square miles remain unexplored, and it's the largest area of continuous sand in the world.
These Island Vacations Don't Require a Passport. Once bustling with tourists, half of the Caribbean Island of Montserrat is a strictly controlled exclusion zone after a series of volcanic eruptions buried the region in the late '90s. The island's capital, Plymouth, is now a modern-day ghost town covered in ash, and the Soufriere Hills volcano continues to erupt to this day.
A third of the plant life on this 'most alien-looking place on earth' in the Indian Ocean is unique to the island, part of Yemen, according to Atlas Obscura. That includes the umbrella-like dragon's blood tree, probably the most iconic example. Roads are few and far between here, and most travel to turbulent Yemen has been a no-go for U.S. citizens for quite a while.
The Amazon is so large, it could be home to as many as 50 tribes that have never had contact with the outside world. The river itself snakes nearly 4,000 miles from mountainous Peru to the Atlantic, and some of the vegetation surrounding it is so dense that it takes up to 10 minutes for rain to reach the ground. 
The worlds second-tallest mountain is nicknamed the Savage Mountain for good reason: It's far more difficult than Mount Everest to climb, with mind-boggling steep cliff faces, and a location so remote that just getting there is an expedition in itself. Nearly 30 percent of climbers die trying to reach the top, compared with 4 percent who try to summit Everest.
There's a reason Napoleon was exiled here: This volcanic island, a British territory in the South Atlantic, is a staggering 1,200 miles from southwestern Africa, the nearest stretch of continental coastline. Until late 2017, the island was reachable only by a five-day voyage from Cape Town, but it now has an airport, nicknamed 'the world's most useless.'
A picture taken from the inaugural commercial flight between Johannesburg, South Africa, and the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena shows the cliffs of the volcanic tropical island in the South Atlantic Ocean on October 14, 2017.
A picture taken on October 15, 2017, shows the inaugural commercial plane from Johannesburg before its takeoff at the newly-built Saint Helena Airport.
A picture taken from the inaugural commercial flight between Johannesburg and Saint Helena shows the newly built airport.
Jamestown, on the tiny Atlantic island of Saint Helena.
A man climbs the 699 steps of Jacob's ladder rising from Jamestown.
A man walks up the stairs above Jamestown.
The suburb of Half Tree Hollow at Jamestown on Saint Helena Island sits on an inclined plateau rising from Ladder Hill to High Knoll Fort.
A picture shows Jamestown, Saint Helena's capital.
Click here to see other photos
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Birthdays
- 1: Joe Pitchell; Janet (McMenamin) Butcher
- 2: June (Olsen) Cullen; Joanne (Picari) Skelly
- 3: Doreen Cluxton; Peggy Maier
- 4: Patty (Bryan) Carstons; Pat (Meehan [Kelly]) Welles; Harry Butcher; Michele Lauer-Bader
- 5: Stu Orton; Maureen (Carey) Ostroski; Frances Kosinski
- 6: Marcella Yenick; Tom Mullin
- 7: Patricia (Kozak) Koch
- 8: Doris (Williamson) Tully; Sue (Kotowski) Athenas
- 9: Irene (Evans) Beresford; Arlene Klein; Barbara (DiBella) Dowd; Peggy (Gesslein) Rybak
- 10: Susan Weber-Fishkin; Mary Jo (Crabtree) Morrow
- 11: Chris Thiel; Charlie Alesi
- 12: Bonnie (Scharr) Papes; Helen (Luna) Carr; Jerry Fischer
- 13: Claramae (Gross) Ceravino
- 14: Joe Carfora; Jim Dolan; Phil Servedio
- 15: Pete Foster; Larry Senn
- 16: Gail (Fraser) Hagstrom
- 17: Dianna White; Dave Baldwin; Harry Berkowitz
- 18: Karen (Hubner) Jenkins; Arlene (Richards) Wellbrock
- 19: Tina (Gardner) Kwiatkowski; Geralyn Manning
- 20: Ron Palmer
- 21: Santo Carfora; Steve Wagner
- 22: John Cunningham; Jim Cunningham; Ron Landau
- 23: Don Myers
- 24: Michael Patoka
- 25: Bill Canham; Frank Lombardi; Susan (Donner) Merkler
- 26: Alice (Hertel) Florentine
- 27: Kathie Sumrow
- 28: Gail (Fallon) Hessel; Gerry Dizinno; Denise (Eisele) Felipe; Bill Claudy
- 29: Joan (Malfatti) Morgan; Tom Reilly
- 30: Art Lembke; Joan (DeJohn) Brite; Jan (Breeden) Manaskie; Cathy (Ofenloch) Gensinger; Kevin McHugh
Anniversaries
- 9/01/1984: Karen and Herb Finkelman (MD)
- 9/02/1990: Jack and Lauri Bellan
- 9/04/1965: Karen (Hubner) and Myron Jenkins (L.I.)
- 9/05/19??: Alan and Margaret Nave (FL)
- 9/06/1997: Rose (Oswald) and Chris Colasunno (VA)
- 9/06/1980: John and Carol Ann Ohrnberger (VA)
- 9/07/19??: Sandi (Notov) and Stan Katz (CO)
- 9/08/1956: Barbara (Fellows) and Charlie Cava (FL)
- 9/08/19??: Denise (Eisele) and Juan Felipe (FL)
- 9/09/1961: Irene (Evans) and Milton "Gene" Beresford (L.I.)
- 9/09/1962: Jean (Goettelmann) and Jack LaPointe (FL)
- 9/09/1978: Terri (Ellis) and Steve Riscica
- 9/10/1966: Barbara (Barnett) and George Edwards (NY)
- 9/10/1977: Jan (Bartlett) and Arthur "Woody" Wood (HX)
- 9/11/1982: Mr. and Laurie (Maurice) Churchill (PA)
- 9/11/1982: Leslie (Becker) and Jeffrey Hecht (IL)
- 9/13/1958: Rudy and Dolores (Etzel) Frey (FL)
- 9/13/1969: Judy (Diers) and Richard Maggi (FL)
- 9/13/1970: Cheryl (Canfield) and Bob Ward (FL)
- 9/13/1980: Noel (Horowitz) and Greg Heinz (IL)
- 9/13/19??: Tom and Sandy Reilly (AZ)
- 9/14/2005: Ginny (Wills) and Jack Wyer (FL)
- 9/15/1956: Joe and Jacquelene (MacLean) Bausk
- 9/15/1984: Howard and Alison (Weiss) Bell (L.I.)
- 9/19/1970: Lorraine and Bob Briell (OH)
- 9/20/1969: Claire (Gross) and John Ceravino (L.I.)
- 9/23/????: Elke and Richard Ollins
- 9/23/1961: Ed and Mary (Fuller) Osborne (CO)
- 9/24/1994: Maria (Gargano) and John DiPasquale (NY)
- 9/24/2006: Tommy and Susan Sullivan (L.I.)
- 9/24/19??: June (Sass) and Rudy Reeve (CA)
- 9/25/1999: Sharon (Murphy) and George Simon
- 9/29/19??: Vivian (Goodman) and Ralph McCraw (FL)
- 9/30/19??: Susan (Ambrico) and Jeff Smith (CA)
Memory Lane
Little Known Heroes of World War II
THE OIL PATCH WARRIORS OF WORLD WAR II
Another great history lesson not taught in school.
Seventy-five years ago this month, a Band of Roughnecks went abroad on a top-secret mission into Robin Hood's stomping grounds to punch oil wells to help fuel England's war machines. It's a story that should make any oilman or woman proud.More "Little-Known" Heroes of WWII.
The year was 1943 and England was mired in World War II. U-boats attacked supply vessels, choking off badly needed supplies to the island nation. But oil was the commodity they needed the most as they warred with Germany. A book "The Secret of Sherwood Forest: Oil Production in England During World War II" by Guy Woodward & Grace Steele Woodward was published in 1973 and tells the obscure story of the American oil men who went to England to bore wells in a top-secret mission in March 1943.
England had but one oil field, in Sherwood Forest of all places. Its meager output of 300 barrels a day was literally a drop in the bucket of their requirement of 150,000 barrels a day to fuel their war machines.
HMS Queen ElizabethThen a top-secret plan was devised: to send some Americans and their expertise to assist in developing the field. Oklahoma based Noble Drilling Company, along with Fain-Porter signed a one-year contract to drill 100 wells for England, merely for costs and expenses. 42 drillers and roughnecks from Texas and Oklahoma, most in their teens and early twenties volunteered for the mission to go abroad. The hands embarked for England in March 1943 aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth. Four National 50 drilling rigs were loaded onto ships but only three of them made landfall; the Nazi U-boats sank one of the rigs en route to the UK. The Brits' jaws dropped as the Yanks began punching the wells in a week, compared to five to eight weeks for their British counterparts. They worked 12-hour tours, 7 days a week and within a year, the Americans had drilled 106 wells and England oil production shot up from 300 barrels a day to over 300,000.
The contract fulfilled; the American oil men departed England in late March 1944. But only 41 hands were on board the return voyage. Herman Douthit, a Texan derrick-hand was killed during the operation. He was laid to rest with full military honors and remains the only "civilian" to be buried at The American Military Cemetery in Cambridge.
The Oil Patch Warrior"The Oil Patch Warrior," a seven-foot bronze statue of a roughneck holding a four-foot pipe wrench stands near Nottingham England to honor the American oil men's assistance and sacrifice in the war. A replica was placed in Ardmore Oklahoma in 2001.
It is by no means a stretch to state that without this American mission, we might all be speaking German today. "The Oil Patch Warrior," a seven-foot bronze statue of a roughneck holding a four-foot pipe wrench stands near Nottingham, England to honor the American oil men's assistance and sacrifice in the war. A replica was placed in Ardmore, Oklahoma in 2001.
Casale's Corner
Casales's Corner September 2021
Since college football season is about to begin, I thought you might enjoy some of these famous coaches' comments. None of them are new, but they are so good they never get old. Enjoy!!
Footballisms
"Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble the football."
John Heisman, first football coach at Rice
"I make my practices real hard because if a player is a quitter, I want him to quit in practice, not in a game."
Bear Bryant / Alabama
"It isn't necessary to see a good tackle, you can hear it!"
Knute Rockne / Notre Dame
"At Georgia Southern, we don't cheat. That costs money, and we don't have any."
Erik Russell / Georgia Southern
"The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it."
Lou Holtz / Arkansas - Notre Dame
"When you win, nothing hurts."
Joe Namath / Alabama
"A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall."
Frank Leahy / Notre Dame
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
Woody Hayes / Ohio State
"I don't expect to win enough games to be put on NCAA probation I just want to win enough to warrant an investigation."
Bob Devaney / Nebraska
"In Alabama , an atheist is someone who doesn't believe in Bear Bryant."
Wally Butts / Georgia
"I never graduated from Iowa . But I was only there for two terms - Truman's and Eisenhower's."
Alex Karras / Iowa
"My advice to defensive players is to take the shortest route to the ball and arrive in a bad humor.
Bowden Wyatt / Tennessee
"I could have been a Rhodes Scholar except for my grades."
Duffy Daugherty / Michigan State
"Always remember Goliath was a 40-point favorite over David."
Shug Jordan / Auburn
"I asked Darrell Royal, the coach of the Texas Longhorns, why he didn't recruit me "He said, "Well, Walt, we took a look at you, and you weren't any good."
Walt Garrison / Oklahoma State/Dallas Cowboys
"Son, you've got a good engine, but your hands aren't on the steering wheel."
Bobby Bowden / Florida State
"Football is NOT a contact sport, it is a collision sport. Dancing IS a contact sport."
Duffy Daugherty / Michigan State
After USC lost 51-0 to Notre Dame, his post-game message to his team was "All those who need showers, take them."
John McKay / USC
"If lessons are learned in defeat, our team is getting a great education."
Murray Warmath / Minnesota
"The only qualifications for a lineman are to be big and dumb. To be a back, you only have to be dumb."
Knute Rockne / Notre Dame
"We live one day at a time and scratch where it itches."
Darrell Royal / Texas
"We didn't tackle well today, but we made up for it by not blocking."
John McKay / USC
"I've found that prayers work best when you have big players."
Knute Rockne / Notre Dame
"He doesn't know the meaning of the word fear. In fact, I just saw his grades and he doesn't know the meaning of a lot of words."
Ohio State 's Urban Meyer on one of his players
Why do Auburn fans wear orange? So they can dress that way for the game on Saturday, go hunting on Sunday, and pick up trash on Monday.
What does the average Alabama player get on his SATs? Drool.
How many Michigan State freshmen football players does it take to change a light bulb? None. That's a sophomore course.
How did the Auburn football player die from drinking milk? The cow fell on him.
Two Texas A&M football players were walking in the woods. One of them said, "Look, a dead bird."
The other looked up in the sky and said, "Where?"
What do you say to a Florida State University football player dressed in a three-piece suit? "Will the defendant please rise."
How can you tell if a Clemson football player has a girlfriend? There's tobacco juice on both sides of the pickup truck.
What do you get when you put 32 Arkansas cheerleaders in one room? A full set of teeth.
University of Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh is only going to dress half of his players for the game this week.
The other half will have to dress themselves.
How is the Kansas football team like an opossum? They play dead at home and get killed on the road.
How do you get a former University of Miami football player off your porch? Pay him for the pizza.
