Father Tomas Gomide is leaving Corpus Christi Church after 40 years. He will be a tremendous loss not only to Mineola, but to all the Portuguese communities in the diocese which he often visited.
Gomide was born in Brazil, speaks Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and English, which makes him indispensable. In the first homily I ever heard from him he said that when he was a little boy he hated Santa Claus because he wished so hard for toys but they never came.
His parents were too poor to purchase almost anything in the way of children’s toys. Thirty-five years ago, our son and daughter-in-law, Tom and Debbie, were married by Gomide.
Two months before the ceremony, Debbie said she wanted him to perform the wedding. Gomide said then that he doubted he would be here for even another couple of months, but instead he stayed an additional 35 years. Parishioner Tom Flynn told Gomide, “You look like Santa Claus.” Gomide, who does now have a white beard, said, “Yes, but I am much better looking.”
• • • •
Reagan and Billy Sellerberg live on Barwick Boulevard. He is a chemical engineer and she is the lead singer at St. Aidan’s Church.
• • • •
Allison and Brian Lovenstein lived in the Heritage House in Mineola for eight years and have now moved to Roslyn.
• • • •
Lisa and Michael Sedotto live in Mineola. She is a dentist and he is retired from ConEd.
• • • •
Jim and Louise Juliano have made their home for 47 years on Foch Boulevard. He worked in the purchasing department of Nassau County. Their daughter, Laura, is a professor of clinical psychology at American University in Washington, D.C.
• • • •
Jim Smith now writes a column about veterans’ affairs for the Mineola American. He was formerly the hockey writer for Newsday. As the Islanders play their final games at Nassau Coliseum and are now moving to Brooklyn’s Barclay Center, some Islander fans tell me that they will follow the team to Brooklyn. Others, like Corpus Christi Deacon Brian Mannix, say if they follow the team at all, it will be strictly on TV.
• • • •
Tony and Beverly Donnelly have lived on Marcellus Road for 60 years. Tony was an usher at Corpus Christi Church and for many of those years served as the head usher. He also worked in the church’s financial department. He and Beverly are frequent visitors to Silver Spring, MD, where one of their daughters lives. Beverly is a terrific swimmer and does 30 laps every day during swim season.
• • • •
Mary Ann Guarino and her late husband, Faust, were longtime residents of Mineola before they moved to Oceanside. Faust and I had a lot in common. We were both ushers in our churches, active in our local Chambers of Commerce and both stamp collectors. Faust and I enjoyed speaking Spanish and both he and I traveled a good deal in Spain. Faust served in World War II in the South Pacific and spoke often of the trip that he and Mary Ann enjoyed to the Hawaiian Islands.
• • • •
I am a longtime stamp collector. I read recently that Franklin Roosevelt was a famous stamp collector with more than one million stamps.
• • • •
Diego Rivera, whose works are being displayed in Detroit, always signed his paintings, “Dios no existe” (God does not exist). He was a lifelong atheist and was proud of the fact. Yet on his deathbed, he called for a priest.
Editor’s Note: Lou Sanders, who has his journalism degree from NYU, and his wife, Grace, a graduate of Adelphi, founded the Mineola American in 1952, giving the village its first successful newspaper. Lou and Grace have lived in Mineola for 60 years, and his popular column is a signature feature of this paper.
