September 2024: Volume 24 - Issue 12 - Etcetera for September 2024

Etcetera for September 2024

*Submitted by Susan Shuler Nolan, HHS '77:

Just have to say what a great article Wendy wrote on Grumman. I had the good fortune to work there for 13 years prior to the sale to Northrop.

Met some pretty amazing people while there.  The VP who headed the lunar module program.  The folks that sold products all over the world.  And even Fred Haise.  In gratitude for the module saving his life, he worked there too.

Participated in many a Round Table at Grumman where you would meet management from all over the company.  It was a fairly intimate gathering.  I remember one in particular where the hostess advised me there was someone at the table who remembered me from Hicksville High.  Was shocked to see Scott Crosby there.  Was 16 years since I'd last seen him. Was funny!

I remember the sound of the E-2C flying over my house early in the morning.  I am always reminded of that when the Bethpage Air Show takes place and the E-2 comes in to participate.  A real workhorse of an aircraft.  Have seen it land right outside the window of my office.  Brings back fond memories.

 In Memoriam

*Bruce Patoka passed on October 11, 2023.  Class of 1968. (Submitted by his brother, Mike Patoka.)

Ron Wencer received the following as part of an email from Pete Foster, HHS 1957; note that with Pete's permission, it's been edited.

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In 1942 my parents had a house built and moved to Hicksville on Elm Street.  Mom befriended some near neighbors, the Juds, who lived one block west of us on East Street.  It was an easy trip to see each other since our backyard bordered an empty lot on the east side of East Street, and the Juds were on the west side, directly across from that lot.  At the time  I was only three years old,  and the Juds' daughter Barbara was a year younger than I.  In those days, families had only one car, and both of our fathers took their cars to work.  As our moms were “stay-at-home moms,” they very often got together with us kids in carriages.  One of my mom's favorite stories was how Barbara and I were often in the same carriage together.

Barbara and I became lifelong friends, as did Len Cuccaro, whose death I reported to you recently.  She was part of the Hicksville HS Class of 1958.  After graduation, she became a nurse, and dedicated herself to working in the field of nursing for more than 50 years before she retired.  Barbara passed away in October of 2021. Her obituary can be found online  at www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/22933528/barbara-k-benvenuto

 

Incidentally, her father, August Jud served for a time as Chief of the Hicksville Fire Department.  He was mentioned in Hixnews in August 2023, in the article about the Romanov Princess who married a Hicksville man, Herman Jud.  Herman and August Jud were brothers.

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As there is no 1958 HHS yearbook online, we have no yearbook picture of her.  Pete suggested using the group photo of the FNA in the 1957 yearbook.  BTW, in the online copy, Barbara labeled herself!  I've attached it here for your convenience.

*Thank you to Jeanne Phillips for letting us know about the passing of her mother, Jeanne Broesler, Hicksville HS Class of 1960,  on August 18, 2024. She always had fond memories of her time at Hicksville High. If anyone has fun stories of her youth, her daughter would love to hear them. You can post a message at her obituary site or comment on the bottom of this page, if you are signed into the website.

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https://www.heinzfh.com/obituaries/jeanne-kirkman