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.
A lady we are friendly with at The Bristal in Westbury is Jean Smith. She and her late husband, George, owned the restaurant called The Lone Piper in Glen Cove. Several times Long Island’s own Billy Joel performed at their restaurant.
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We saw a pretty good movie the other day at The Bristal called Safe Haven. The Bristal has movies every day of the week, free of charge, of course.
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Jean Baker and her late husband, Earl, lived for 50 years on Garfield Avenue in Mineola. Their next door neighbor was Bill King, who was the commander of the Third Police Precinct. Mr. King’s wife was Billie.
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Two of our best friends both took falls recently—Marge Hoggarty and also Fran Dempsey. Marge is recovering after spending a month at Sunharbor Rehab Center, and Fran was treated at the hospital.
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Ross Fairgrieve is being operated on for his back for a persistent problem he has had for some time. Ross and his wife, Ngec, live in New Jersey. They have a son, Harrison, and a dog, Chester. The grandparents are Judge Scott Fairgrieve and his wife, Linda. Scott is an avid golfer and plays twice a week at Harbor Links. Linda is just beginning to get into the game. Scott is a very good golfer.
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Franwin Pharmacy on Mineola Boulevard has a new pharmacist, Anthony Martincic.
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“Let’s talk turkey.” This means, of course, let’s get down to business now. This expression comes from the early American woodsmen who hunted turkey for their evening meal. The woodsmen soon learned the call of the turkey and could imitate the call of the female turkey and then await the responding call from the potential mate. This would allow them to be able to locate and kill their prey.
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“To set one’s cap.” A girl today is said to set her cap when she has her eye on a particular guy she would like to wed. This expression comes from the French Navy when the bough of the ship was called the cap. In Latin this word is caput. Thus to set one’s cap was to be aiming for a particular port.
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Dr. Steven Brooke is a successful podiatrist. He has offices on Mineola Boulevard and in Williston Park. Dr. Brooke has been in business for 32 years.
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Bill Dempsey and his wife Susan are both attorneys and reside in Garden City. Bill is the son of Fran Dempsey and her husband the late William Dempsey, the family court judge.
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We have two new employees here at The Bristal—Alice O’Neil who lives in Westbury and Shroyer Moore who lives in Garden City.
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In our current events session we saw photos of the sensational 1937 crash of the dirigible The Hindenburg, which burst into flames as it landed in New Jersey. It was later discovered that the zeppelin should have been operating with oxygen, but instead had the highly inflammable helium, which led to the tragedy.
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Also in current events we discussed replacing Andrew Jackson’s picture on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman, a heroic figure in the Underground Railroad, aiding escaped slaves to work their way north before the Civil War. While I support honoring Harriet Tubman, I don’t particularly like the idea of removing Andrew Jackson since he was of that hearty Scotch-Irish heritage which did so much to develop the Western part of our country. We also have to remember his great victory in New Orleans in the battle over the British in the War of 1812.
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I got a fine haircut at Ed and Rob’s Barber Shop on Jericho Turnpike in Mineola. Isabella Lopez did an excellent job.
