March 2005
Volume 5 Number 6

FROM THE EDITORS

Dear Friends,

This is the last edition of the newsletter that I will edit. Bob Casale will take over. Hopefully, one of you out there has time to help him. All
correspondence now goes to hixnews@hotmail.com.

Pat Koziuk Driscoll, 1956

The Editors have sent an email to the following…to advise of the HHS Newsletter. So many people have no idea we publish each month. If you know of some friends who do not receive the newsletter, send us their email address or have them respond asking to be included in subsequent mailings.

1960 Betty Funfgeld Eriksen
1960 Sue Gilbert Ehrenberg
1961 Wanda Winebarger MacIol
1962 Delores Vatier
1964 Myra Fried Marcus

Pictures of Gertz circa 1955

Bill Hackmack, Class of 1966, has posted some very interesting pictures of the original Gertz Shopping Plaza in its infant stage …around 1955. Check it out. Can you see any of those interesting shops and venues talked about in the last newsletter?
Click on the following to take you to the first of ten pictures Bill posted. If you have others, you can add to Bill’s album. Follow the instructions at classmates…
It’s a simple process… http://photos.classmates.com/user/photoalbum/photo.tf?album_id=279313;offset=0

March Birthdays and Anniversaries
Welcome to Our New Readers
Returned Mail
In Memory
News, Notes and Memories
Feature

Reunions
Trivia

March Birthdays

2

Tom Steedman, 1960

14

Anton Mure, 1968 (L.I)
Jacci LaSalle Gallucci, 1959 (NY)

4

Den Collins, 1953 (L.I.)
Debbie Rubenstein Sirkin, 1967

15

Nancy Walsh Gustafson, 1958 (L.I.)

5

Pam Kurth Baker, 1965
Helen Penner Ackerman, 1956 (FL)

16

Steve Baum, 1962 (PA)
Carolann Luisi Saletto, 1975 (HX)

6

Michele (Jordan) Kowalski, 1974

18

Chris Andersen, 1967 (HX)
John Ennis, 1950

7

Sonya Teresko Fluckiger, 1938

20

Rick Campbell, 1970

9

Howard Bell, 1968

23

Joyce Gabrielsen Casale, (PA)

10

Carolyn Wood Imbrie, 1963 (AZ)

24

Betty Gardner Brunell, 1972
Jed Schaiman, 1959

12

Vickie Penner Whitaker, 1958 (IL)
(Sister) Maureen Schrimpe IHM, 1963 (MD)

25

Jeff White, 1973 (CA)

13

Julia White, 1963 (FL)

27

Janis Bartlett Wood, 1973 (HX)

 

 

29

Richard Calma, 1971 (NY)

 

March Anniversaries

3/15/1942 – Fred and Sonya Fluckiger
3/22/???? – Dave and Jan Baldwin (FL)


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Welcome to Our New Readers

  • Mike Lepp, 1956

  • Victor “Skip” Platania, 1958

  • Eileen Wieditz Moore, 1963

  • Judy Marcus Shivers, 1964

  • Bill Donovan, 1966

  • Gayle Schoenberg Wenchell, 1966

  • Jeff Feierstein, 1969 (NY)

  • June Gutekunst, 1974

  • Lainie Glatt, 1978

  • Laurie Maurice Churchill, 1979

  • Amanda Peter Erhart, 1983
    Resides Vinton, VA

  • Welcome back Gene Yetter, 1959

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Returned Mail

Diane Capone
Craig Campbell
Susan Coppola Simmons
Betty Sherin Trapani
Bob Steedman
Bob Leo
Dale & Linda (Ficter) Bennett
Frank DiGiorgio
Karen Drake McGee


In Memory

Dr. Lowell Glatt (Optometrist @ 32 Salem Road, Hicksville) died Dec 10, 2004 after a long fight with cancer. Wife Barbara, Son - Bruce HHS '68 & Daughter - Lainie HHS '78 - we will miss him.

Please add Lainie to the newsletter.
Thank you.

Bruce Glatt, 1968

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News, Notes and Memories

  • Please correct my name in the new contacts. It should be Eileen Wieditz Moore 1963

    Thanks, Eileen

  • Hi Hicksville Alumni,

    Sal Mistretta here; Class of '62 . Here's an Update on some of my activity:

    Was recently on LAW & ORDER "FLUENCY" episode on NBC playing Cal Brunswick a
    Marketing Exec with Dennis Farina and Jesse Martin. I filmed a THIRD WATCH episode called "IN THE FAMILY WAY" as Attorney
    Alexander Sapp, which is supposed to be aired Feburary 11th. Currently I am in COUNSELOR AT LAW with Tony Winner John Rubinstein at the Theatre at St. Clement Off Broadway on 46th St in NYC. We opened last evening and have a limited run through March 6th. Hicksville Alum's, Carolyn (Wood) Imbre and Kathy Tranchina who came to see me in FANTASTICKS at Sacramento Music Circus this summer will be seeing the show in February. It is a terrific piece and Rubinstein shines in it. Here's some Tkt info if you are in NYC and want an uplifting and inexpensive evening.
    www.SmartTix.com
    Use this code for a $25 tkt price: STF25, or phone 212-868-4444

    And on a side note: Do we have any information on Michael Lunstead? None of us can locate him and if you can help it would be so appreciated. Thank you and hope some of you can see COUNSELOR AT LAW. HAPPY NEW YEAR.

    Sal Mistretta

  • The pizza place…was is Pizza Supreme had the best pizza for 15 cents a slice and it was square and thick…not round and thin!!!

    This was Pizza D'Amore (Pizza of Love!)
    Bob Dierker (62)

  • To Sue Voelbel Dalton, 1965

    The Dairy was called Fairway Farms on Burns Ave. It was run by the Staryk family. MaryLou Staryk graduated in 1966 and Suzanne Staryk graduated in 1964 or 1965.

    RJ Clemens - Class of 1966

  • I think the security lady at Mid-Island Plaza's name was Dolores. The tall thin woman with dark hair. She was still working there up until about 3 years ago. Amazing...

    Hey, talk about trekking across Duffy Avenue, here's another one for you 60's graduates. Remember when Walters Donaldson Volkswagen had about 400 VW busses in the lot behind their dealership (which then became Hills Supermarket). Everybody used to have forts in the broken into VW's. Growing up on Carroll Street off Cliff Drive, you could cut through at the end of the Dead End on Chestnut Street and it was a huge undeveloped lot all the way to the VW dealer at Plainview Road where it splits off to Old
    Country Road. There was no Hillside Terrace at that time and Alling & Summitt Streets were shorter.

    Some of this stuff would never come back to us, until it's dusted off by people writing in. It's amazing what's stored in our heads.

    Bill Alonge ' 72

  • I went to HHS with Glen Olson and his wife and now live about 15 minutes from NE Palm Bay, this is a small world, and I live in Satellite Beach. I actually dated Glen’s friend Johnny Walker

    Barbara Favero, 1965

  • My name is Jack Bellan, Class of '73. First I find the letters about Hicksville of the past very informative and always allow me some time to think back on my childhood growing up in Hixville in the 60s and the early 70s. I haven't loved there since the mid-70s but my parents still resided there for many years after I left the roost. I have been back many times for good and sad occasions. My father Dr. William Bellan passed away in '81 and my mother moved to Fla, where I have lived for the past 25 years in 1997. She since passed in 2002.

    I would like to know if any graduates remember my father Dr. William Bellan of 25 Holyoke Rd. He practiced medicine there for 27 years. In reading the last few letters about Mid-Island Plaza it could be of some interest that my father was the staff physician for the Gertz stores for over 20 years. In fact he had an office at Gertz in Hicksville on the third floor. I believe someone also wrote about a deli named Maisels in the Plaza. Although, I remember a deli on the Plaza I don't remember the name. I do remember the
    name of the general manager of the Gertz store for many years, Mr. Maisal. His daughter is married to Hixville High graduate, (Richard Epstein, Class of 7?); he is my friend’s brother, Steven Epstein, (Class of 73). We are all in Fla now.

    If anybody remembers my dad or family please contact me at: JACKLAW397@AOL.COM.
    Just one word of correction, my anniversary is September 2, 1990.

    THANK FOR ALL YOU DO TO PUT THE NEWSLETTER TOGETHER.

  • The February Newsletter has my birthday listed incorrectly as February, it falls in September.

    Mid Island Plaza Memories

    When the Plaza first opened there was a neat cafeteria-style restaurant at the east end (Broadway Side) that was part of a chain popular in Manhattan. It was Horn & Harnardt (spelling). The food was behind these little glass doors that you had to insert the correct amount of quarters to open.

    The name of the dairy that Sue Voelbel Dalton remembers that was just west of the Plaza was Fairway Farms. For many years they had the cows there in the field until the population became to congested and they resorted to trucking the milk in to process, and, of course, eventually closed down. My mom had delivery from them every other day to a milk box that was by the kitchen door, delivered in trucks that had block ice to keep the milk cold. For a lot of its years, Fairway Farms had the contract with the Hicksville
    School System and we had the pint sized glass milk bottles served to us in the school cafeterias.

    Long's Chinese Restaurant in the Plaza brings back a humorous memory. In the early 60's there was a Chinese restaurant scandal brought out in the newspapers on Long Island. It had to do with the garbage pick up men finding the remains of cats in the garbage cans in the back of Chinese restaurants. It was found or answered as a food that the help would eat, but, cat was never served to the patrons. Now, if you remember, Long's Chinese Restaurant had two ways of entering the restaurant. The front
    entrance from the Mall, or if you parked in the lot in back of Long's, you could walk through the kitchen to the front. One day, my wife to be, Alice Davidson (1959) and I called in a take out order to Long's. We went to pick in up, parked in the back and walked through the kitchen to the front to pay for and pick up the order. On the trip back, we were passing through the kitchen to return to the car and we passed an oriental gentleman at the top of the stairs to the cellar holding a piece of fish calling "here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty" to some unseen cat in the cellar. Needless to say, the Chinese food was not too well received that evening.

    Pete Foster (1957) FL

  • Hi,

    I think I have the answers to some of the questions asked in this month’s newsletter:

    1) The white creamy stuff was a custard and started out costing 10 cents. It was flavored with your choice of either chocolate syrup or cherry flavored syrup.

    2) The dairy farm was Fairway Farms and we all got our milk delivered to our homes.

    3) The pizzeria was Pizza D'Amore...the owner had twin sons that worked there....and were they ever cute, one was named Mike and I cannot remember his brothers name. I understand they are out in the Arizona area now.

    4) I don't know where Neil is but if he is the real cute guy who was in the art class ( Mr. Holmes) let me know if you find him...lol

    5) The field that Mid Island Plaza was built on was a potato field that at one time held a orphanage.

    6) Not a question answer but a note, almost all of Hicksville was a potato farm at one time.....lol....that includes Cantiaque Park.

    Helen (Mangialomini) Coulmas 60

  • Has anyone seen Mike Halpin? He would have graduated in 1973.He went into the Navy so he did not graduate with his class. He lived by South Oyster Bay Rd. in Hicksville. If you know anything please email me: junehi@aol.com Thank-you for the help.

    June Gutekunst, 1974

  • Hi! I was born in the house that stood on the corner of the parking lot of the Gertz shopping mall. The exact address was 106 North Broadway. Across Broadway (when it was still a 2 lane main drag) were farms. When my Mom wanted a head of lettuce for the dinner salad, I was sent across the street and picked it fresh from the farm. That is where the Mid-Island shopping plaza was built. Of course my family had moved to the other side of town by the Long Island Lightning Company before either one was built.
    The land that Gertz is built on was also farmland. My Dad used to have quite a garden out behind our house and even grew corn. Used to collect the Japanese beetles that gathered on the stalks to prevent them from eating it. They sure felt funny crawling on your hands. Also I remember the creamy treats that were sold in the Gertz mall. You could get it plain or with either chocolate or strawberry syrup added. It sure was good whichever way you got it. Madeline (Bianco) De Louisa '60

  • Hi,

    Again, excellent newsletter. You guys certainly do a great job. I like reading about "old" Hicksville and this newsletter brought back so many names and places at the "Mid-Island Plaza".

    My first job, which began the day after graduation from HHS in June 1954, was diagonally across the street from the Plaza. I watched the entire construction of the mall from my office. I can still remember the bulldozers, earthmovers, etc. at the very beginning. Spent many lunch hours there, etc. etc.

    Take care.
    Ellen Boos Bruwer, 1954

  • Hi, I am Judy Marcus, class of 1964. My brother, Ken Marcus, AKA the Gertz Monster, informed me about the Hicksville Newsletter. I really enjoyed reading everyone's correspondence and all about their experiences concerning Gertz Plaza. One name that was familiar was Phylis Jackson. She lived around the corner from me. So "hi" Phylis.

    I, also have a fond memory of Gertz plaza. When I was eleven years old, my friend, Lynn Sobeckie, (1964] and I used to go on the bus from Newbridge Road to the Plaza on a Saturday afternoon. It was our first experience "shopping alone" without parental supervision. We felt very grown up and mature going about the mall by ourselves. The highlight of the Saturday excursion was to" eat out "at Newberry's lunch counter. I think the standard lunch was a "hot dog".

    For all the fun that we had, walking around and looking at clothes, spraying perfume on ourselves, trying on lipsticks, and in general, acting very grown up, it was a wonderful learning experience as well. We learned how to read a bus schedule, count change, order food and in a very protected area, how to handle ourselves. It was a very wonderful time to be eleven years old.

    Judy Marcus Shivers, 1964

  • Hi,

    Just wanted to let you know I moved from Long Island to Tucson AZ the end of August. You never know where you are going to wind up in life. It’s wonderful not to have to shovel the snow.

    I worked in Hicksville twice in my adult life. First time was at Cantiauge Park, at the ice rink. I worked there for 3 years. The second time was a nursing job. I worked on the same Kuhl Avenue. The same street that I lived on as a kid.
    I have spoken to Pat Hanagan. She moved to Florida .I was wondering if the Senior class trip still goes to Washington DC? My class had 2 trips (‘60’). The first group that went was so bad the school was going to cancel our group. I remember we slept on a boat.

    Hope everyone has a great year.

    Love, Diane (Burke) McGinn

  • After graduating from Hofstra, I enlisted in the Army. After my enlistment was up I went to Rutgers - Newark law school. Graduated in 1967. After three jobs [two for publishers, one for a trade association], I relocated to Columbus, Ohio to work for the state legislature and then finished my career with the state by working as an administrative law judge for the Ohio E.P.A. I retired in 1996 but continue to do what I started in 1989 - teach at our community college.

    In addition to teaching, I write. I have dabbled in poetry, but my thing at the moment is journaling. I am trying to turn this into a much broader interest/activity. Thanks so much for putting me on the list. A fifty-year reunion! Wow! I would attend even though I was a student at Hicksville schools for only three years - the last 3 years of high school.
    Mike Lepp, 1956

  • Hicksville High Graduate featured at the Downtown in Farmingdale

    The “new” Coney Island Korman band rocks. Paul is a 1968 graduate of Hicksville High School. This alumni, as well as brother Fred, have some real background in music.

    Paul calls his new band Dr K’s Motown Review.I've heard some of the renditions presented by this multi talented band,
    and I Flipped Out. There are some old Temptation sounds mingled with Some Martha & The Vandellas and so much more.
    The group is appearing at the Downtown in Farmingdale on Sunday, the 13th of March. The show starts at Noon and runs to 3pm. It’s a Sunday brunch, so bring your eating clothes and dancing shoes. For more info, call 516-293-7700…or send an email to
    Mr4string@aol.com

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Feature

My brother, Bob Casale, was so looking forward to his senior prom. This was 1961 and he was very excited.
His girlfriend, Kathy Kapsol, was very active with the committee that named the Senior Prom, Ramayana, and she was very active in helping with the decorations.

He, Bob, was working at the Cross Island Oil Terminal in Hicksville after school. The facility was located just off Broadway in the proximity of where Blackman Hicksville is located on Hazel Street. Bob had gotten the job through his friend, Steve Blust, whose Dad was working for Cross Island at the time.

Because Bob was working, he couldn't pick up a corsage from the florist.Bob asked Dad to get it for him. As always Dad came to the rescue and he picked it up. I came home from work and asked Dad if he had gotten the corsage?] " Of course," was his comment.
" Do you think I would let my son down," he suggested? He emphasized, too, that he put the corsage it in the freezer to keep it
really fresh.

I screamed and we discovered, in the freezer, a very black and very dead corsage. I just remember looking at Pop and seeing how terribly upset he was. He kept mumbling to himself, "I'll figure out something and just left the house. He kept telling us, "don't tell Bob.
" I'll fix this." Dad had a dilemma, but he had a solution. He thought, "If I go to the Hicks Nursery and knock on the door, everything
will be okay."

So, off Dad went to Hicks Nursery. If memory serves me correctly, the nursery was next door to where the Hicks
family lived. Dad knocked on the Hicks family front door, told them what he had done. This was Hicksville, circa 1961...
They interrupted their dinner and went and unlocked the florist. They proceeded to make up a beautiful orchid corsage. We were surprised that Dad had chosen an orchid. Dad said the least he could do was to make it worth all their trouble. While this was all going on, Bob got home from work and merrily went up to shower and get ready. Meanwhile Mom and I were in a total panic. But as usual Dad took care of things.

Gosh we were really lucky growing up with such terrific parents. I still miss them so much.

Eileen Casale Mahan, 1959

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Reunions

WHO: Class of 1950
WHAT: 55-Year Reunion
WHEN: Saturday, August 20, 2005, 7 pm to 11 pm
WHERE: KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS HALL
Heitz Place (Opposite Gregory Museum)
Hicksville, NY

The evening will include:
One (1) hour open bar and hors d’oeuvres Followed by a cash bar, hot buffet, coffee and cake.
Entertainment by THE SAME WONDERFUL D.J. (for your dancing pleasure)

COST: $50.00 per person. $25.00 p/p deposit is required NOW.

Please send checks payable to:
GRACE WAY
51 VINCENT ROAD
HICKSVILLE, NY 11801
(516) 931-2529

“This class reunion is open to all Hicksville Alumni. We expect to have alumni from the class of '48, '49, '50, '51 & '52.
The reunion committee is also trying to plan for a brunch on Sunday. This may be the last time these classes will get together.
If you have any questions you can e-mail me.

Art Lembke pokerdot@msn.com, 1949

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Trivia - Lasts

  • ALCATRAZ PRISON
    Alcatraz Federal Prison was closed in March of 1963. The facility had served as a US military prison from 1859 to 1933 and as a federal prison from 1933. Frank Wathernam was the last prisoner to leave Alcatraz prison on March 21, 1963.

  • ANNE FRANK
    13-year-old Anne Frank made the last entry in her diary on August 1, 1944; a diary she had kept for two years while hiding with her family to escape Nazi deportation to a concentration camp. Three days later the Grune Polizei raided the secret annex in Amsterdam, Holland, where the Jewish family was in hiding. Anne died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at age 15.

  • AUTOMOBILE
    The last Model T Ford came off the assembly line on May 26, 1927. The 1550 Silver Spyder Porsche was the last car designed by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche. The Studebacker-Packard Co. made the last Packard on August 19, 1958.

  • BRANDING FOR PUNISHMENT
    Jonathan Walker, in 1844, was the last person branded in the US as punishment for a crime. He had the initials SS branded into the palm of his right hand as punishment for helping American slaves escape to the Bahamas. (The charge against him was slave stealing.)

  • CIGARETTE AD ON TELEVISION
    On December 31, 1970, the last cigarette ad, a commercial for Virginia Slims, was aired on the "Tonight Show." Cigarette advertising was banned from radio and TV effective January 1, 1971.

  • CONCORDE FLIGHT
    The last Transatlantic Concorde flight touched down in London on Friday, October 24, 2003. The last flight was piloted by Mike Bannister. The Concorde made its first commercial flight in January 1976.

  • DRIVER'S LICENSE
    New York was the last state, in 1984, to put photographs on driver's licenses.

  • ELLIS ISLAND
    In 1954, Ellis Island closed after processing more than 20 million immigrants since opening in New York Harbor in 1892.

  • LAST CALL
    A bartender's announcement that customers may order one more drink before the bar closes is known as the last call.

  • LAST HORSEMAN
    The last horseman of the Apocalypse is Death, according to Revelations 6:2-8.

  • LAST POST
    The title of music played at military burials is called the last post.

  • LAST SUPPER
    The Passover meal taken by Jesus and his disciples before his death.

  • LONDON TRAM
    London's last tram ran July 6, 1952, as motor buses replaced streetcars.

  • MOON LASTS
    US Astronaut Eugene Cernan is the last person to set foot on the moon - December 1972.
    The last words spoken from the moon were from Eugene Cernan, Commander of the Apollo 17 Mission on 11 December 1972. "As we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind

  • MORSE CODE
    The last Coast Guard radio navigation station still using Morse code transmitted its last message on March 31, 1995 from Chesapeake, Virginia.

  • OLDSMOBILE
    The last Oldsmobile rolled off a Lansing assembly line the week of April 27, 2004, ending production of an automobile line that began in 1897. The last Oldsmobile is an Alero, the only model still in production. General Motors slowly phased out other Olds models the past few years.

  • PROHIBITION
    On December fifth, 1933, national Prohibition came to an end as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment.

  • RED DYE #2
    The most frequently used dye in drugs, food and cosmetics, red dye No. 2, was banned by the US Food and Drug Administration on February 12, 1976, after studies indicated the dye was carcinogenic.

  • SLAVERY IN US
    On December 18th, 1865, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, was declared in effect.

  • US CIVIL WAR
    All Confederate troops west of the Mississippi River surrendered on May 26, 1865.

  • US CURRENCY
    Bills in denominations of $500 and up were last printed in 1969. Gold coins were last circulated in 1933. The Gold Reserve Act of 1934 made it illegal for private persons to own gold bullion. The last Indian Head or Buffalo nickel was issued in 1938 by the Denver Mint. Three men: Two Moons, Crow Tails, and John Big Tail had been used as models for the Indian head.
    The last Lincoln cent with wheat ears on the reverse side was issued in 1958.
    The last time US quarters and dimes actually had any silver content was 1964.

  • US INDIAN RESISTANCE
    The last major American Indian resistance to white settlement was the 'Battle of Wounded Knee,' in 1890.

  • US PRESIDENT
    The last "foreign" born US president was William Henry Harrison. He was born in 1773, in Virginia, before the USA was formed. The Constitution would later require that the president be a native-born citizen and a resident of the US for at least 14 years.
    The last US President not born in a hospital was Lyndon B. Johnson. He was born in a farmhouse in Texas in 1908.
    The last US President to be born in a log cabin was James Garfield. He was born on Nov. 19, 1831.
    The last US President to own slaves was Ulysses S. Grant. In 1848, when he married Julia Dent, she already owned 1 slave. She received a second as a wedding gift, and later purchased a third one. Grant bought a slave named William Jones and later freed him.
    The last US President to resign from office was Richard Nixon, on August 9, 1974.
    The last US President to serve 4 terms was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In 1947, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution limited future presidents to two terms.

  • WITCHCRAFT TRIAL IN ENGLAND
    The last witchcraft trial in England was the trial of Jane Wenham in 1712. She was found innocent. TELESPHOBIA
    The fear of being last.

YOUR EDITORS:
Pat Koziuk Driscoll, 1956 (FL) - MY LastS
Linda Piccerelli Hayden, 1960 (NJ)
Bob Casale, 1961 (HX)

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