July 2024: Volume 24 - Issue 10

Newsletter for the Alumni and Friends of Hicksville High School - Hicksville, New York

Dear Readers,
We hope you enjoy our latest issue. If you log into the website, you can click on Features and then Biographies to submit your biography to the site! We have included an article about Senior Trips. We saw a lot of comments on Facebook, but we hesitate to use them without permission. We would love to continue the article, but please send your stories and photos to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.m, along with your name and graduation year. Do you have pictures and memories of diners or delis? Do you have ideas for new stories? Please email us! Click Here for the Multi‑Year Reunion
 - Your HixNews Team

Senior Trip Memories 

Editors' Note: Last month, we published a story by Ron Wencer about Senior Trips to Washington, D.C., via airplane in the 1950s and we included pictures from the 1956 Comet Yearbook. We asked for more submissions. What follows are those submissions. It's not too late to send more as we can continue this feature into the future if there is interest. 

Scott Schutzman, Class of 1977

      On the Riverboat I was playing cards [for money] with my crew. Mr. O'Daugherty approached us and asked "who is the best poker player of you degenerates?" He then shuffled the cards for a few minutes and dealt two hands in 5 card draw. I was dealt Kings over 10s, a full house. He drew three cards and was holding 4 aces. We didn't stop talking about that for the rest of the trip. He definitely taught us a lesson. I miss him.

 Wendy (Elkis) Girnis, Class of 1977

Not counting graduation, the Senior Trip was the pinnacle of our senior year for the Class of 1977.  We went to Washington, D.C., and Williamsburg, Virginia, in March of 1977.  Each bus named itself after the teacher who was chaperoning that bus.  Our bus was known as "Salver's Savages".  I believe Ms. Crum, the school nurse, was also on our bus.  Since the TV show Charlie's Angels was popular at the time, the boys hung up a poster of Farrah Faucet in the middle of the bus surrounded by balloons.  The trip had a rocky beginning.  There was a tanker truck accident in the Fort McHenry tunnel, and we were stuck on 95 for at least 6 hours, but we finally arrived.

Williamsburg, Virginia, was a lot of fun. We toured the Colonial village, saw a musket demonstration, saw oxen pull carts, checked out the blacksmith shop, and tried out the pillory.  In Washington, D.C., we toured the Capitol, walked the Mall, took a Riverboat on the Potomac, visited the Smithsonian, and attended a wreath-laying by our class at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

The most fun part of the trip, was rooming with friends.  Remember, we were 17 and 18 years old.  The history was secondary, unfortunately.  As for rooming with friends, we had 4/5 of us in a room.  I don't think we slept at all, except on the bus.  The reason we didn't sleep was due to the nightly battles we had.  We all packed water guns and shaving cream.  Each night a battle ensued.  At one point, I had on a green raincoat to stay dry and was sprayed with lime-scented shave cream.  It definitely was a lot of fun, but as I said, we hardly got any sleep.  The chaperones didn't get any sleep either.  They kept the halls cleared by walking them all night. We definitely kept them on their toes. 

It was fun to reminisce while going through my photo album.  I have names on the backs of the photos, but unfortunately, after 47 years in a photo album, the photos are adhered to the pages.  I recognize quite a few people, but not all.  So, if you see yourself in any of the photos, and want me to put your name in the captions, please let me know.  

     Joanne Russo, Class of 1977

Some pics from our Senior Trip. 

   Kevin Clark, Class of 1977

This is the only picture I could find from the Senior Tip. My BF's Joe Licata and Ted Goussios on the bus (Krumm's Buns) to Washington, D.C.

Maryellen Little, Class of 1968 

The Class of 69 was down in DC when Martin Luther King was shot. We were quarantined in our rooms in Virginia, and the next day, they put us on busses, and we went down to Virginia to get to Williamsburg. Spent the day there. I remember our parents were freaking out. We had to take the bus home instead of the train in DC. I remember the military was going into DC. You see, the army ranks were in total chaos.

 Robert J. Karman

This is a picture of the Hicksville High School Class of 1938 Senior Trip to Washington, D.C., in April of 1938. The picture belonged to my Aunt Virginia Karman (Duer), who was vice president of the HHS senior class. Virginia was also secretary of the HHS Honor Society, a member of the Comet yearbook staff, and performed in the Senior Class play. Also a member of many clubs, Virginia played on the HHS Basketball and Field Hockey teams. 

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 Dr. Bart Savino submitted these photos of the Senior Trip from the Class of 1970

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Peppercorns of Hicksville Closing

Recently, HixNews Editors learned Peppercorns, the longtime restaurant and catering, located at 25 East Marie Street in Hicksville on the site of an old firehouse is closing as of August 1, 2024. There is now a petition to declare the site a historic landmark.

Here is the link to the petition: Change.Org Petition Link to click.

     The following was part of a recent article by Karl Schweitzer about Hicksville Pubs, Past and Present.

Another mainstay bar and pub was the old Hicksville Fire House. After it was moved across the street from its current location, it became Jean & Joe’s Firehouse Inn, then just the “Firehouse Inn,” before Tommy Colwell bought it and kept the name. It was the “Uncle Albert’s” before it became known as the “Wind Whistle,” and for thirty years, it has been known as “Peppercorns.”

Hicksville's Appointed Governor of North Dakota

Karl Schweitzer, HHS Class of 1981

The Hicksville community has had its share of celebrities, actors, musicians and others over the years. The most famous of our residents of course is the world-renowned rock star Billy Joel. Then, there is Al Pitrelli, a guitarist who has played with the rock band Alice Cooper and most recently with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra; Denny Dias, the lead guitarist from rock band Steely Dan; The Long Island Medium, Theresa Caputo; A true funnyman, Comedian, Jackie “The Joke-Man” Martling;  Professional Football player, Larry Eisenhauer from the Boston Patriots (AFL); and from the Hicksville High School Class of 1972  actor Lorraine Bracco who starred in Goodfellas, The Sopranos, and Rizzoli & Isles. 

To my surprise, one of the first people from Hicksville who found fame was the Governor of the state that is known for “Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable” – North Dakota.

Recently while I was researching a separate project, I came across an interesting article in the October 16, 1936 edition of the Hicksville Town Topics Leader Newspaper. The newspaper was entirely focused on celebrating the Hicksville Community’s 100^th Anniversary.

Hicksville's Appointed Governor of North Dakota

Louis K. Church, Lawyer, Appointed In North Dakota In 1895.

Louis K. Church, a lawyer and a resident of Hicksville for several years, was appointed governor of the State of North Dakota by President Grover Cleveland in 1885. He served a term as head of the western state and, after his retirement, settled there permanently.  Several of the oldest residents of Hicksville remember Mr. Church as a very cultured man, a forceful and interesting orator, and a profound thinker. During the years he lived here, Mr. Church resided at the Caspar Klein farm on Woodbury Road. He had a daughter born here shortly before his appointment.

Several years ago, while on a trip through the east, she visited here to see her birthplace. She expressed pleasure and pride in her original hometown.

I continued my research to find out as much as I could about the Honorable Louis Kossuth Church.

Louis was born December 11, 1846, in Brooklyn. His parents were Rodney Smith Church and Anna Maria Jones.  His father, Rodney, was a Lawyer who practiced in Massachusetts before settling in Brooklyn to challenge the corrupt politics of Tammany Hall.

Louis Kossuth Church began his education at the Hudson River Institute in Claverack, New York. He would marry Emma Jean Murphy on May 24, 1874, and they would have nine children.

After studying law at the office of Judge N. B. Moore, Church was admitted to the bar. He practiced law with Judge Moore until about 1874, when he opened his own practice. Church was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1883, 1884 and 1885 hailing from the Queens 1^st Congressional District. Louis "worked closely with Republican Legislator and future president Theodore Roosevelt,  continuing the fight that his father started with Tammany Hall and promoting educational reforms."

Louis and his family spent the several summers in Hicksville at the farm of Casper Klein on Woodbury Road and his second child, Emma Clarrissa was born June 26, 1883. 

In 1885, President Grover Cleveland appointed Church as an associate justice of the Dakota Territorial Supreme Court for its fifth District, replacing Seward Smith, whose mental health had come into question. Because of Church's good reputation as a judge, President Cleveland appointed Louis Church as Governor of Dakota Territory. "A number of prominent Dakotans, Democrat, and Republican alike, applauded the appointment for Church, which had earned a reputation for fairness and integrity as a judge." Louis Church became Governor on February 21, 1887. He scrutinized every bill and restrained excessive spending with his veto power. He allowed the reform school to be established at Plankinton. Church opposed the division of Dakota Territory into two separate states. Governor Church and former Governors, Nehemiah G. Ordway and John L. Pennington, wanted Dakota to enter the Union as a single state.

"Among the many issues Louis Church faced as governor, the question of statehood assumed gigantic proportions." Democratic Leadership and the Northern Pacific Rail Company, and Church opposed the division of the territory into two states.

"The divisive statehood issue and the control of patronage were the crucial issues that split Democrats during Church’s tenure, resulting in the two quarreling groups-the “Home Rule" and "carpetbag” factions with the latter opposing division."

Despite his integrity, Louis Church became very unpopular as governor because of his opposition to separate statehood. When Benjamin Harrison defeated Cleveland as president, Church became a lame duck who was generally ignored by the territorial legislature. On March 4, 1889, Benjamin Harrison was inaugurated as president, and Louis Church resigned as governor on March 9, 1889.

After leaving office, Louis Church returned to practicing law, first in Huron and then in Everett, Washington. He died after developing pneumonia during a trip to Juneau, Alaska on November 23, 1897.

•  Wikipedia, Louis K. Church, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_K._Church
• South Dakota State Historical Society (1997), The Private Letters of Governor Louis K. Church to President Grover Cleveland 1887-1889, https://www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-26-4/the-private-letters-of-governor-louis-k-church-to-president-grover-cleveland-1887-1889/vol-26-no-4-the-private-letters-of-governor-louis-k-church-to-president-grover-cleveland-1887-1889.pdf

Etcetera for July 2024

The Editors received the following correspondence:

Dear Editor,

My name is George Wink. I graduated from HHS in 1971. I have followed Hix News for many years, and in fact, I sent my 1970 HHS yearbook to Bob Casale in Georgia (FedEx) when he sent out a request for one. I am writing today as the 30th anniversary of a good friend and neighbor's passing (August 20, 1994) approaches. She was Carolyn Stack to me for many years, but her later formal name was Dr. Carolyn Kelly. She, too, was a 1971 graduate of HHS. As a child growing up, she lived on York Street, and I lived one block over on Windsor. We walked together to Burns Avenue School for a time, with me always stopping by her house to "pick her up." She had diabetes, something I didn't understand as a child, and on several mornings, I watched her as she gave herself her daily insulin shot. She was brave and always had a smile on her face. She was also smart and kind, and beautiful (inside and out). I would have loved to have had her as my "girlfriend," but that never seemed to work out. We stayed in touch through middle school and high school, and although we both attended Adelphi University (by sheer coincidence), I do not recall ever seeing her on campus. We both graduated from Adelphi in May 1975. I recall seeing her once or twice after graduation. I remember her telling me a cute story that her son Brian had (or had at the time) Mrs. Kagen for kindergarten as she and I did. My parents were in the same group of neighbors as the Stacks, so my mom kept me up to date on whatever was happening in the other families as I moved to New Jersey in 1986.

My father-in-law also passed away in August 1994, and it just so happened that I was on Long Island for him the same day as Carolyn's memorial viewing. My parents would be there so I decided I should be there too. It was the first time I had seen Carolyn's family and all the neighbors in a long, long time. It turned out to be a very sad day for me as my father-in-law was buried that morning.

Recently, while going through my mother's documents that she had saved over the years, I discovered a story about Carolyn (see attached) that showed me just how much she had accomplished in her short life. It certainly did not surprise me as I always thought she would do great things in her life. To this day, every March 5th (her birthday), I think about her and hope she is at peace. Sadly, I ask that you please add her name to the "In Memoriam" list for 1971. I have attached her obituary as well as a story about her that appeared in Newsday.

Thank you.
Kind regards,
George Wink
HHS 1971

PS.  I almost forgot to say that my first wife's name, who I first met in 1974, was Carol.  Another coincidence??  She passed away in 2009 after 30 years of marriage.

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Thank you to Diane M. Harvey for sending us an updated In Memoriam list for the Class of 1975. The following names have been added to the In Memoriam page for the Class of 1975:

• Steven Annenberg
• Bruce Barnard
• Iris Bebergal Kelly
• Cindy Bosco Hill
• Werner Busch
• Edward D’Amico
• Aran Eisenstat
• Timothy Farrell
• Joseph Fischbach
• Damiana Kuller
• Wayne McLaughlin
• Debra Moorhouse McGregor
• Lucia Oliva
• Polz, Harry (1975 or 1974?)
• Mary Ann Wigdzinsky McLoughlin

In Memoriam

The editors recently found this information on Facebook, and Billy C was added to the Class of 1965 In Memoriam page: William Corrigan Obituary (2021)

• Helen Bereznik Grace, Class of 1968

 This is a separate reunion from the multi-class reunion that is planned. 

This is a "Save the Date" for the Class of 1975's 50th Reunion next year.  We have an active, private Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/67266179651 (Hicksville High School Alumni Class of 1975) that will have the most current information. The group needs approval to join and is currently at nearly 500 members.