May 2024: Volume 24 - Issue 8

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

Dear Readers,
We hope you enjoy our latest issue. Thank you for being so patient as we work to bring you the news while preserving the history of HixNews. We thank all of our volunteers for the hours they devote to bringing HixNews to you each month. Article contributions, suggestions, and news are always welcome! We would love to hear from you. Don't hesitate to get in touch with us at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 
 - Your HixNews Team

In Praise of Roger Whitaker

by Ron Wencer,
HHS Class of 1964

Introduction

I usually write about the village of Hicksville, but not this time around. This time, I’m writing on behalf of all of us – those who make Hixnews, and those who read it – to acknowledge the long and invaluable service of our former webmaster, Roger Whitaker. While I’m at it, I’ll also touch upon how connections among Hicksville families and friends led a man in Minnesota to play matchmaker for Illinois resident Roger (whom he’d never met in person) and a woman from Hicksville.

Overview

Roger was not part of the Hixnews founding team; his involvement began with a website he built for the 50th-anniversary reunion of the HHS Class ofRoger Whitaker, webmaster extraordinaire, courtesy of Vicky Whitaker Victoria Penner Whitaker1958, of which his wife Vicky Penner Whitaker is a member. As that website took shape, it became clear that Roger’s skills and technical knowledge could serve Hixnews well, and he soon became our volunteer webmaster. He served in that capacity from 2008 until the original “Newsletter” ceased publication following the death of Bob Casale. Even then, Roger continued to serve, assisting the team that built Hixnews anew, so that it could reappear in 2024.

It is all too common to hear about people who take their knowledge and computer data to the grave – well, that will never be said of Roger Whitaker. With the passing of Buffalo Bob, for a time, it seemed likely that there would be no future issues of the Newsletter and that the archive of past issues, wherever it existed in cyberspace, would perish – but Roger knew how to prevent that. He had retained digital copies of all the past issues. He alerted the new volunteers to the upcoming expiration of the contracts, which was essential to keep the old issues online and accessible. Equally important, he allowed the new Hixnews team to tap into his wealth of experience, even when we besieged him with “newbie” questions.

Vicky and Roger have each “worn many hats” and won many accolades throughout their lifetimes. In addition to their individual careers, at times, they have worked together, both in business and for charity. I find it impossible to write about Roger’s life without also writing about Vicky’s – which is, I believe, the way that they like things to be.

Vicky Before She Knew Roger

Victoria Penner, 1958 Comet YearbookVicky Penner majored in Journalism at Hofstra, where she became the student newspaper editor. After graduating in 1962, she worked as a newspaper reporter and editor, earning the respect of her peers and becoming President of the Press Club of Long Island. Her last job on the Island was serving as head of Public Relations for SUNY Stony Brook, a position that she held for nearly 15 years. During those 15 years at Stony Brook, Vicky was widowed when her husband of 26 years died in an airplane crash.

Roger Before He Knew Vicky

Roger Whitaker grew up in and around Springfield, Illinois. Interested in electronics from an early age, he became a licensed amateur radio operator at 11. Note that his mother encouraged him by studying along with him; she got her ham license at the same time! He earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri at Rolla. You may be interested to learn that one year, he interrupted his studies to go to Tunis, where he served as a radio operator onboard the hospital ship S.S. Hope during a lengthy humanitarian mission. 
Roger at the Ships Radio k9ljb.comS.S. Hope circa 1960-1974 Wikipedia

Ketch BarakaAfterward, his return to school was delayed by an unexpected adventure. A 56’ ketch moored at Tunis, unable to continue its voyage because its autopilot needed repair. Parts and expertise were nowhere to be found along the North African shore, but someone from the Hope persuaded the ketch owner to let Roger look at the problem. Roger did, and he repaired it. Invited to remain on board as crew, Roger got to sail partway home via Gibraltar, Casablanca, the Canary Islands, and finally, Barbados. 

His career as an engineer – he’s still working, albeit part-time -- has been successful but, presumably, less adventurous. He has designed and supported elevator control systems, taught electronics courses, and built, hosted, and supported websites since the early days of the World Wide Web.

How They Met

Mitchell FreedmanWhen Vicky was the student newspaper editor at Hofstra, she worked with another HHS grad, Mitchell Freedman (Class of 1960). Like her, he would go on to have a long career as a news reporter and later become President of the Press Club of Long Island. Over the years, chance meetings were inevitable and frequent when they both worked as reporters on the island.

Meanwhile, Mitch’s parents moved their family from Hicksville to Suffolk, not far from where Vicky lived. Her own parents were gone, and she sometimes turned to Mitch’s for advice, helped his mother with shopping, or just came over for a visit. They became herJack Freedman courtesy of Vicky Whitaker surrogate family. Mitch had a much younger brother, Jack, whom older readers of Hixnews might recall. (According to the 1967 yearbook, Jack was a member of the HHS Tactical Games Society, for which the faculty advisor was the man whom I recall as “the younger Mr. Horne.”)

Jack later became a hospital administrator and a consultant to healthcare organizations. Through extensive business-related email and telephone contact, he and Roger Whitaker became good friends, long before they ever met face-to-face. At some point after Vicky was widowed, Jack, who was working at a hospital in the Minneapolis area, decided that the divorced Roger would get along well with the widowed Vicky. After some preliminary conversations on that topic with each of them, he dispatched emails to Springfield and Long Island, suggesting that each follow through with the other. And they did.

According to Vicky, an exchange of emails eventually grew to a thousand printed pages. Deciding to spare whatever forests were left, they finally decided to meet in person. Vicky visited Roger in Springfield, and then Roger visited Vicky in New York. The spark was there (that’s an old radio pun, or at least it should be), and decisions were easy to make: they would marry, and Vicky would move to Springfield and become part of Roger’s family. More than 20 years later, that family boasts 10 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.

As the HHS Class of 1958 looked ahead to its 50th Anniversary Reunion, Vicky was on the organizing committee, tracking down “lost” classmates and publicizing the event online. Coincidentally, the Whitakers had started developing websites together as a business venture. Roger volunteered his time to develop a special reunion website. As noted earlier, Hixnews had come into existence separately. All parties then agreed that Roger should become its webmaster.

Partial List of Their Services, Awards, and Accomplishments

Vicky and Roger are ham radio operators, and they both serve at the state level of the Amateur Radio Relay League, overseeing radio clubs that operate in Illinois.

Roger serves in a number of volunteer roles that entail liaison with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and/or the Office of Homeland Security. Many relate to the use of ham radio for essential communications should normal communications channels fail. Most notably, Roger is the County Coordinator of ARES (i.e., “amateur radio emergency services”). He is also the manager and trustee of the Illinois State Emergency Operations Center, which was built in part to facilitate state-wide ham radio communications. In addition, Roger sits on two counties’ emergency planning committees, which are mandated to manage or contain certain types of threats, such as the movement of hazardous materials through the area.

Vicky has served on the national Board of the Society of Professional Journalists.  She continues to serve as a judge for the Society’s Sigma Delta Chi national journalism awards.

Both Whitakers have put in many years of service to plan and realize the Springfield Memorial Hospital Foundation’s annual Festival of Trees. Recently, the event has had to evolve to fit a post-COVID world better. Still, in the past it featured 70 different performances that attracted as many as 40,000 visitors over a 10-day run. Roger’s electronics expertise, especially with respect to sound systems, was always in demand.

Vicky has served on the board of Friends of the Sangamon Auditorium at the University of Illinois. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the Illinois Foundation for Frontier Studies, which supports archeological research in and around Illinois.

Roger and Vicky both remain active in the large (almost 700 members) Sangamon County Historical Society. Each has served as its President, and Vicky has served as Editor of the Society’s newsletter, Historico.

Earlier this year, Vicky was named recipient of the George M. Estabrook Award, awarded by Hofstra University to distinguished alumni.

Conclusion

I am certain that there are many, many other good things that I might have said about Roger and Vicky Whitaker. They are fine people, and they are impressive people – they excel at what they do. They both work hard to make the world a better place.

Kudos to Roger for doing an exemplary job, helping Hixnews flourish for so long. In the time that he and I overlapped at Hixnews, he was always helpful, always prepared to do more than the minimal effort required, and when necessary, exhibited the best quality one can have in a crisis – a sense of humor. He deserves special thanks for his great patience, resourcefulness when adaptations had to be made, and always being a team player, no matter what.

And, of course, many thanks to Vicky for sharing him with us.

Memorial Day Memories

Editors' Note: Registered members of Hixnews.com were asked for their memories of Memorial Day. Do you have any special Memorial Day traditions?
Is there anyone special you usually commemorate? Did you lose any friends or family members who served in the armed forces? Tell us about them.
Where and when did they serve? What follows are those cherished memories. 

 Submitted by William Jakabek - Class of 71

Fortunately, even though my Grandfathers, my Father, my Uncles, and several Cousins & In-laws served during peacetime and during wars (WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq/Afghanistan), none perished. My family was blessed.

When I was young, my family celebrated Memorial Day pretty much the way all families did back then … Go to the parade in Hicksville and attend the Memorial held on the Hicksville Junior High School grounds to honor all the fallen men and women who died while serving. Afterward, my family had a BBQ (burgers and hotdogs) with family and sometimes with neighborhood friends. I marched in the Parade with CYO Baseball, Cub Scouts & Boy Scouts, and my Dad marched for a couple of years with the VFW Color Guard. My Dad served during WWII in Europe with the 701st Tank Battalion. His Sherman Tank got hit in Germany by a German 88mm on February 25, 1945. He was badly wounded but survived (obviously) and made a full recovery. He married my Mom on July 28, 1945, while still using crutches. My HERO! I can’t wait to fly our Flag this year!!!

Bill's Parents, Dorothy and William Jakabek

   Submitted by Christopher Composto, HHS Class of 1979

Memorial Day is important to remember our loved ones who served our country and have passed away.
Not only is it the “unofficial” start to the summer, but the Bethpage Jones Beach Airshow is a highlight and a tradition for my family.
My family was lucky enough not to have lost anyone during the wartime years, but my dad served in Korea in the 101 Airborne unit.

 Submitted by Ron Wencer, HHS Class of 1964

Growing up, I always thought that I "got" Memorial Day -- but it never really hit me until Hicksville's James Stolz died in Vietnam.

I never got to know him well, as we did not meet until 1965, in a college French literature class. Jim was friendly and confident; you got the idea he always knew what he was doing. When that semester was over, I changed majors and schools, and we didn't keep in touch. I now wish that I'd had the chance to know him better. While I was at Hicksville High, he attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Jamaica. Born less than a week apart, we both were Class of 1964 and four years later, we both tried to enlist. I qualified for Pilot training in the USAF but was disqualified from military service because of a minor hereditary skin condition. Jim was accepted into the USMC, and he became a helicopter pilot.

A week before Thanksgiving in 1970, I had just received the first pay raise of my career, and I was still a newlywed. Jim, about three months beyond Pilot training, was flying a "rescue /evac" mission to retrieve fellow Marines trapped at the base of the Khe Son mountains. His first two flights returned many of them to safety. By the time the third and final flight occurred, however, low cloud cover obscured the horizon, and both the men he was rescuing and his chopper were struck by enemy fire. Unable to see the passes between the mountains, he had to try to climb above them, but the damaged helicopter could not clear the mountainside. All those on board died. Since then, I have thought of Jim every Memorial Day and how we might have lived parallel lives, long or short. RIP, Lt. Stolz. These are copies of his yearbook photos from Molloy and St. John's University.

 For those interested, this is an account of his final mission: https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/50079/JAMES-E-STOLZ-JR/

Hicksville Public Schools Receives Music Education Honor…Again!

by, Arthur Mayer (husband of Gail Schwartzman Mayer, Class of 1973) 

Long Island has had its share of winning teams: There was the ABA Nets of the mid-1970s and the Stanley Cup Islander teams winning 4 consecutive championships from 1980-1983, but a dynasty has been building right here in Hicksville! For the 9th consecutive year, our Hicksville Public Schools has been honored with a Best Communities for Music Education Award  by the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation. This honor by NAMM, which has existed since 1901, recognizes the synergy created by the efforts of motivated, talented students from elementary through high school grades who have been inspired and nurtured by their dedicated teachers while receiving encouragement from family members. The result is a true “community” that supports the ongoing, innovative learning process that produces memorable vocal and instrumental music.

There’s no count of how many Hicksville High School graduates have chosen various career paths in the field of music. Still, watching the students perform on stage at the recently dedicated Chuck Arnold Auditorium, one has to wonder how many future stars are creating musical magic right before our eyes.

Attention Alumni! Join the 2024 Alumni Swim Meet.  When: June 1, 2024!
Doors open at 11:45
Warm-up starts at 12:00
Meet starts at 1:00
$10 to swim (Must Register by May 22)
$5 for spectators (you can pay at the door).

Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

Register here

Etcetera for May 2024

Dear Editors,

Thank you for Ron Wencer's history article in the March newsletter. We appreciate his extensive local research and its inclusion in the March edition.

Please pass our appreciation along to Ron. 

Sincerely,
Austin Bowles, '61
Eileen Frawley Bowles, '61

Thank you for your welcome comments.  What a nice surprise it was to receive them! ~Ron

Ron,

I am glad you were able to receive our appreciation. Eileen and I left Hicksville to go to college and never returned, but our childhood, even though less than a quarter our lives, was the most formative. We went to Nicolai Street and Old Country Road Schools prior to Jr. and Sr. HS.

We did get back fairly often as our parents remained, but once they died, less so. My family, which was smaller to begin with, is scattered. Eileen still has a brother in Hicksville and another in Suffolk county. However, it has been a few years and for various reasons the time between each visit is longer and longer.

Austin

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