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.
Paula Herling is retiring from her teaching position at the Chinese-Christian Heritage School in Flushing. She is the wife of John Herling of the reference department of the Mineola Library. They live on Dow Avenue. Their daughter, Sarah, just graduated from college and is starting a master’s degree in education. Their oldest son, David, is doing missionary work in Thailand. David speaks Chinese.
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Mary Ann Guarino was close to death. Thankfully, she is much better now. Her son, Clifford, and daughter, Linda, were expecting the worst when they were called to the hospital, but Mary Ann has miraculously survived.
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Greg Eskow works at Mini-Point on East Second Street. He is a great bowler, recently scoring 270. His boss, Peter Gollobin, was involved in the build-your-own-boat project. Peter, a mechanical engineer, has the know-how to do many of the things required. In the ensuing race among the self-made boats, he came in second.
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Jack and Karen Gayson took a cruise, stopping at Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos and St. Kitts.
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Speaking of the West Indian Islands, a remarkable number of people working here at The Bristal come from Jamaica—not Kingston Town, but Montego Bay.
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Bill Alston was the first African-American man to own a newspaper in this area. He was the owner of the weekly newspaper in Uniondale. Bill, a retired policeman had been employed in New York City as a transit cop.
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Recently, we enjoyed a tour of Paris presented in the cinema here at The Bristal. Paris is such an interesting city. I’ve always been fascinated by its subway which has stops with names such as Nation, Austerlitz, Solferino, Iena and Stalingrad. These were all sites of victories for the French.
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My grandfather always said, “If the Republicans are in power, vote for the Democrats, and if the Democrats are in power, vote for the Republicans.” In other words, he believed in throwing the rascals out!
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Here at The Bristal we were entertained by the Sweet Lorraine Duo. On Memorial Day they were with us to perform patriotic songs.
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In current events here, we discussed the new James Bond film soon to be released. I always thought that Dr. No was the best, with Sean Connery as 007.
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I want to thank Sisters Beth Pearson, IHM and Beth McEneaney, IHM for their many visits and fine treatment. They have helped us so much here at The Bristal.
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Tony Lubrano, president of the Mineola Chamber of Commerce, offered me a ride in a car in the Memorial Day Parade. The car was to be driven by Lou Palumbo. Unfortunately, I had to decline, but I appreciated the offer.
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From what I hear when I talk to people in Mineola, the LIRR’s plan to build a third track is not very popular. There are too many unanswered questions about the cost and the length of time we will be disrupted.
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Londinium was the name that the Romans gave to the capital city in England as the Roman empire spread there and to Ireland.
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Also in current events here we talked about the assassination of Robert Kennedy, who was murdered by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian who was infuriated over the Kennedys’ support of Israel.
