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.
John Broder, who was vice-president for external affairs and development at Winthrop University Hospital, and is now retired, spends most of his time working around the house and reading. He and his wife, Josephine, recently took a trip to Italy. John eagerly awaits the opening of the golf season, since he plays almost every day in the spring and summer.
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We were sorry to learn that Monsignor Robert Batule will be leaving Corpus Christi Church. This was his second time as pastor of the Mineola church.
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Ginny Cheidel of White Road is doing well after her recent illness. Her husband, Dan, is a retired Third Precinct police officer.
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Jack and Karen Gayson are very proud of their first granddaughter, Farah Faley, who plays the violin. She is 12 years old and played in the Mineola Middle School’s production of The Lion King. She also participated in the stringed instrument contest at the middle school.
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Mary Ann Guarino is suffering from cabin fever, being confined to the house following her pacemaker operation.
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Tony Figalli works for his dad at Alpha Collision.
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Jim Agnew has lived on Garfield Avenue for 25 years. Prior to that, he lived on White Road. Jim often visits Ireland. He was born in County Louth, Ireland’s “tiniest county.”
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In the weekly current events session at The Bristol we zeroed in on the country Uruguay. The very first actions of World War II took place at Montevideo, Uruguay. The pride of the German army, the armored ship, the Graf Spee, was trapped in the port. Three British light cruisers surrounded the port of Montevideo. The captain of the Graf Spee refused to give up, scuttled the ship and committed suicide.
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Rhoda Plotkin is a professor of political science at Queens College and lectures here at The Bristal regularly. She talks and takes questions from the residents, and often focuses on politics, the environment and the current presidential campaign.
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A lot of people from other countries ask me why we say, “It’s raining cats and dogs.” That expression comes from the early days in England and Ireland when houses had thatched roofs. Cats used to rest in the straw and when it would start to rain very hard, the cats would fall through into the homes. I don’t know where the dogs came in!
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We had a great visit from two friends of our daughter, Sister Annmarie—Lisa Elnick and Diane Hassett – who were good enough to come and visit us. Diane’s mother, Wanda, used to run a business in Mineola, Dana Travel.
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Mike Tsontos, the founder of Tsontos Furs, was a very good friend of mine. He was wounded in the north African campaign in World War II and taken prisoner by the Germans. He spent three years in a German prison camp and started his fur business shortly after his liberation.
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Our daughter-in-law, Laurie Sanders, was a victim of an identity theft. Her quick actions prevented her from losing anything significant. The amount of paper work, telephone calls, and email messages involved in resolving this was overwhelming. No money lost, but hours were spent in correcting the damage.
