June 30, 2011

QUESTIONS CONCERNING RETIREMENT



Question: Among retirees what is considered formal attire?
Answer: Tied shoes.

Question: When is a retiree's bedtime?
Answer: Three hours after he falls asleep on the couch.

Question: Why are retirees so slow to clean out the basement, attic or garage?
Answer: They know that as soon as they do, one of their adult kids will want to store stuff there.

Question: How many retirees to change a light bulb?
Answer: Only one, but it might take all day.

Question: What's the biggest gripe of retirees?
Answer: There is not enough time to get everything done.

Question: Why don't retirees mind being called Seniors?
Answer: The term comes with a 10% discount.

Question: Why do retirees count pennies?
Answer: They are the only ones who have the time.

Question: What is the common term for someone who enjoys work and refuses to retire?
Answer: Nuts

Question: What do retirees call a long lunch?
Answer: Normal.

Question: What is the best way to describe retirement?
Answer: The never ending Coffee Break.

Question: What's the biggest advantage of going back to school as a retiree?
Answer: If you cut classes, no one calls your parents.

Question: Why does a retiree often say he doesn't miss work, but misses the people he used to work with?
Answer: He is too polite to tell the whole truth.

Question: What do you do all week?
Answer: Monday through Friday, nothing ... Saturday & Sunday, I rest.
____________________

THE SENILITY PRAYER
Grant me the senility to forget the people
I never liked anyway,
the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and
the eyesight to tell the difference.

AUTHORS UNKNOWN

June 29, 2011

Vintage pictures of DAHS graduates with a parent





Click on pix to enlarge

Depicted are:

* Maria DiGiovanni (class of 1960) and her G.I dad in 1945 or 1946. This was before Levittown began.

* Toni Crescenzo Gelfer (1968) with her dad in around 1961. The photo was snapped at snowy 203 Kingfisher Road.

* Mark Rotker (1968) with his mother in 1950. Mark was less than a year old and commented, "I wish I still had hair like that."

* Marilyn Monsrud (1963) having a Levittown backyard picnic with her mother in 1952.

* Linc (1963) and Carol Binninger (1964) and their mother in Miami in 1950. Linc sort of looks like Mayberry's Opie Taylor.


June 28, 2011

George "Doc" Linnehan was well known in Levittown and in Long Island softball circles



By FRANK BARNING

Most of the boys who played sports in early Levittown shopped for their equipment at George "Doc" Linnehan's County Sports Center store. First it was located at the North Village Green and later on Division Avenue, a few blocks north of the high school.

Just imagine how many wiseguy kids greeted Linnehan with "What's up Doc?"

As Mark Rotker, class of 1968, recently reminded me, Division Avenue High athletes bought their varsity jackets and lettermen sweaters from Doc. Some of us knew, but not many, that he was a highly regarded softball coach, both fast and slow pitch.

Softball was huge on Long Island back then with well attended tournaments held at the Jones Beach Stadium and other venues in Nassau and Queens Counties. I worked at Jones Beach in the late 1950s and early 1960s and remember some of those games quite well. Grumman had a great team, as did DeJur Camera, Musicaro's Restaurant as well as Doc's Meenan Oilers and later County Sports.

Newsday and the Long Island Press gave softball considerable coverage so those teams became well known to local sports fans as did the top players such as pitchers Roy Stephenson (also seen as Stevenson), Ollie Johnson, Dick Surhoff and Jerry Fleming.

Surhoff, a mountain of a man who drank beer in the dugout, had played briefly for the New York Knicks during the 1952-53 season. His sons B.J. and Rich were major league baseball players. Another son, Jeff Albert, was a pitcher at C.W. Post College and in the minor leagues. I digress on Surhoff because Jeff Albert and his mother were friends of the Barnings.

In 1977, Doc was inducted into the National Softball Hall of Fame.

FROM THE HALL OF FAME WEBSITE

The only manager to have teams in the finals of the Men’s Major Slow Pitch and Men’s Major Fast Pitch National Championships, Linnehan started managing in 1956 and led the Meenan Oilers to a fourth place finish in the Men’s Fast Pitch National Tourney. In 1964, he led Local 138 of Huntington to a second place finish.

Switching to slow pitch in 1966, he led County Sports of Levittown to the national title in 1968 after finishing second in 1966 and third in 1967. His teams had a record of 55-23 in ASA national championship play. In 1965, he managed the Fast Pitch All-Stars and in 1968 managed the Slow Pitch All-Stars.

A native of Queens, Linnehan grew up in Jamaica, playing baseball in the Queens Alliance Baseball League in the 1930s before attending Palmer Chiropractic College in Iowa. After opening his County Sports Center, he continued his chiropractic practice at night for several years and began playing and managing softball teams. He died in 1990 at age 74 and was one of the most respected and well-liked people in the sport during his career. He also is a member of the Long Island ASA Hall of Fame.

June 27, 2011

Some more photos of DAHS graduates when they were children





Click on photos to enlarge

Depicted are:

* Tim Lavey, class of 1963, at age two in 1947. His grandfather Milton Lavey was holding on to him. Tim lives in Upper Montclair, New Jersey.

* Mark Rotker, class of 1968, long before cell phones. He lives in Sumter, South Carolina.

* Toni Crescenzo Gelfer's first day of Kindergarten in 1955. She is class of 1968 and now resides in San Antonio, Texas.

* Carol '64 and Linc Binninger '63 with their father in Miami in 1950. Linc lives in Margate, Florida, Carol in the family ancestral home in Levittown.

* Howard Whidden, class of 1962. Photo snapped in May 1952 in front of his house on Pinetree Lane. He was on his way to his First Holy Communion at St. Bernard's. Howard lives in Vernon, New Jersey.

June 26, 2011

Summit Lane teacher Ben Murphy was a very special person, mentor and role model whose life ended tragically

Click on class photo to enlarge

1956-57 Summit Lane School, Mr. B. Murphy's sixth grade class

First row: Marilyn Monsrud, Tyler Asdorian, Peter Barnett

Second row: Noreen Donlin, the late Bob Benn, Leslie Wohl, Judy Lewis

Third row: Aaron Gurwitz, John McCormick, Leslie Wohl, Brian Williams, Joanne Leib

Fourth row: Darrae Cabre, Richie Ligouri, Kathy Stahlman, Bob Leporati, Jeff Harriton

Back row: Charlie Kawada, x, x, Mr. Ben Murphy, David Lounsberry, Ricky Hofer

By KATHY STAHLMAN ZINN '63

I was privileged to be in Mr. B. Murphy's class from Sept. 1955 through June 1957, 5th and 6th grades at Summit Lane, You had to say Mr. "B" Murphy, because there was also Mr. "H" Murphy. The initial B was for Ben.

Our Mr. Murphy was a gifted and caring teacher. Everybody I've talked to, especially in our class which had him for two years, said he made them feel special. Because he became such an influence in my life, it took a long time for me to realize that he was only 29 years old when I met him.

We knew a lot about him, because, like most Irishmen (he was a Brooklyn Irishman), he loved to talk. He had left high school a few months before graduation, lied about his age and entered WW II as a Seabee in 1944. He spoke often of his war experiences, but never with any horror or bitterness. He told of his time working as a reporter on the Daily News, while he went to college on the G.I. Bill.

His reporting experience led to his making writing the centerpiece of his teaching. He taught me, and many others, how to write. Mr. Murphy held an annual year-long writing contest, encouraging us to turn in stories whenever we wished. He would often read these aloud to the class. I learned to love and value good writing, and in 5th grade I won that year's contest. My best friend, Jo Ann Leib, won it in the 6th grade.

He often read to us, sometimes from his own short stories (he always aspired to be a writer himself), other times from his favorite authors. I remember Jack London, Jo Ann remembers Samuel Beckett, my sister Elaine remembers Noam Chomsky. His interests were huge and varied: politics, music (his wife was a Julliard-trained opera singer, and he loved Puccini), the visual arts, public speaking, debating, math and science, sports, and especially other cultures and people.

I have always felt that he formed my moral conscience, even more than did my parents or my church. It was from him I first learned of civil rights issues and the history of discrimination in this country. He was a patriot who believed we had to live up to the promises of our Founding Fathers.

Two of my younger sisters also had Mr. Murphy. My sister Chris, a year younger, said "He had rules but he wasn't strict." I remember his saying "To abuse a privilege is to lose a privilege." She was also impressed that he had put extra credit projects on the bulletin board to "encourage us to go as far as we could." My sister Elaine, 4 years younger said "I knew that I was in the presence of greatness. He seemed to be quite a scholar and intellectual."

Many of my former classmates have shared memories of him: "He was always fair and he loved all sports" said Richie Liguori, who, along with Bobby Leporati, credited Mr. Murphy with their choices of careers as middle school teachers. Leslie Wohl Day, also a middle school teacher, said "He was always so kind to everyone and that was a role model for me." Marilyn Monsrud Frese said "It was exciting to come to school every day - you never knew what he had planned."

Mr. Murphy was a role model for me in other ways. He talked about his wife and children with great love and admiration. I could tell his marriage was truly a partnership, and that he respected as well as loved his wife. He loved life and people. Jo Ann and I, and perhaps others, were mentored by him for years. Following 6th grade, we would walk across the field from DAHS after school and sit on the old desks, chatting with him. During that time, he helped each of us choose our paths through high school and college, supporting our girlhood friendship, yet noticing and appreciating our differences. From our discussions of current events and politics, it was clear that he lived his life according to his values and beliefs. He encouraged us to do the same.

In 1967, he set out to fulfill a dream of both his and his wife Terry's. The whole family, including four sons, aged 4-13, moved to La Paz, Bolivia for what was to be a two-year leave of absence, so he could teach at the American Cooperative School. It was to be a great adventure and was just that, according to his family, until March of the following year. He suddenly came down with severe food poisoning. The family left for home and Terry had him admitted to the VA Hospital in Brooklyn. Despite the efforts of American medicine, his illness overwhelmed his body.

At this time, one of our former classmates, 22-year old medical student Charlie Kawada, learned of his illness and came to the hospital. "I just had to tell him how important he was to me, that he had been the most influential teacher I'd ever had." He died the day before his 42nd birthday, leaving not only his family in grief, but his shocked colleagues, students and friends as well.

Never able to get Mr. Murphy out of my mind, in 2007 I was able to meet Terry and their sons, now in their 40s and 50s. I learned more about him as a person, and they learned about him as a teacher and mentor from me. Ken, his second son, has spent his career as a public school teacher and currently works for the East Meadow schools. He was thrilled and amazed to learn that in 1956 his father's activities in the Levittown Education Association were deemed a "plus" sign in a letter of recommendation for tenure by then principal Andrew Donnelly. "My Dad got praised for his union work by his principal," said an incredulous Ken, an avid teacher's union member. I said I doubted the LEA was anything but a "professional organization" at that time.

What I gained the most from my time with this wonderful man was the conviction that all people, regardless of their backgrounds, are to be valued and learned from. He lived this belief out and his life was the greatest lesson he taught.

June 25, 2011

More vintage pictures from Frank Barning's early Levittown archives





Click on photos to enlarge

There are hundreds of early Levittown photos in my files, a treasure chest of images. Many have been used to compliment stories that have been posted in our blog, and others will lend themselves to articles yet to be written. At the same time there are many that don't seem to have a fit, often because there is little or no information for a caption.

Old Levittown photos that seem to be especially pleasing are class and team photos, but not every one I receive includes a list of the kids depicted. The choir photo posted here, for example, has so many people in it that listing all the names is impossible. Hey, it's not easy to remember people you last saw more than a half century ago.

The black and white photos posted above are part of our town's amazing history.

* Levittown Community Church confirmation class. Approximately 1956. Photo courtesy of Pat Raynor, class of 1962.

* 1957 photo taken at Cliff Fromm's 14th birthday party. In front, Mal Karman. In back (left to right) John Koehler, Cliff Fromm, the late Steve Lilienthal, Don Florman and Geoff Eisenbarth. All graduated in 1960 except Florman, class of 1961.

* Phyllis (class of 1960) and Johnny Cotter. Johnny seems to be having a good time with his big sister. Approximately 1958.

*Debbie Cooper and Susan Kilbride (class of 1962) in 1958.

*Sister Seraphina's catechism class at St. Bernard's school of religion 1952-53. Photo compliments of Lillian Smith, class of 1962.

June 24, 2011

A tale about Cosmo the ice-cream man in the dog days of Levittown summers


By BARBARA TAYLOR WITTENBERG '60

We lived on Pinetree Lane from 1964 to 2009. We had four children and they all experienced the happiness that Cozzy brought to our block every day at 3:30 P.M.

So did our English Springer Spaniel, Clancy.

Cozzy made three stops on Pinetree Lane at the beginning of the block at Blue Spruce Road and Pinetree, in the middle of the block, right in front of our house and at the end by Birch Lane. Kids lined up 10 minutes before Cozzy showed up. I am sure that this was repeated all over North Levittown. He seldom used his jingle bells, the kids knew his schedule. So did Clancy.

Clancy would get on the line and wait his turn. When it came, he would get up on his hind legs, take his cup of vanilla ice cream, walk under the nearest tree, carefully take the cover off, and enjoy his daily treat.

There was one problem though.

Clancy knew Cozzy’s schedule too, and he would start at the top of Pinetree Lane and work his way down to the other two stops. At the center stop, one of our kids would pay for Clancy’s cup, but the other two stops were a “hit and run” tactic by Clancy.

One day there was a knock on our door, and there stood a smiling Cozzy with a bill in his hand for the extra ice cream cups. Clancy had built up quite an invoice.

I asked him why he let Clancy get away with this? And he said that he enjoyed it as much as Clancy did. In fact he said, he gave Clancy a “regular customer” discount. And we know that he threw a couple of freebies in the mix too.

It took a few weeks to wean Clancy down to the one stop by our house, but every once in awhile we would see Clancy casually walking up the sidewalk towards Birch Lane. Coincidently, Cozzy was on our block at the same time.

Clancy spent 17 happy summers with us and every day around 3:15 he would walk out to the curb, sit and look towards Blue Spruce Road and watch and wait for his pal Cozzy.

June 23, 2011

More photos of DAHS graduates when they were kids





Click on photos to enlarge

Depicted are:

* Maria DiGiovanni Mollica, class of 1960, and her father in 1945 or 1946 in Coney Island. He had just returned from serving in Germany.

* Tom Filiberto at age one and a half, flash bulb in hand. He is class of 1963. Are flash bulbs still manufactured?

* Leslie Bell Sands (left) Class '68 and her friend at Jones Beach's main mall on Easter Sunday 1951.

* Beth Cummings '60 in 1948 on her bicycle. She is with her father, Fred Cummings.

* Cliff '60 and Michelle Fromm '63 with their mother, Sylvia, in 1947.

June 22, 2011

Cosmo, Levittown's legendary ice-cream truck driver



Click on photos to enlarge

COSMO IN LIVING COLOR

* Cosmo at 2010 class of 1975 reunion at Eisenhower Park. Picture courtesy Larry Loewy.

* Cosmo and Samm, April 1998 when he was 81 years of age. Samm is the grand daughter of Marilyn Monsrud Frese.

* Cosmo with Samm, October 2000. She will be 16 this month.


By MARILYN MONSRUD FRESE '63

What I always found amazing is that Cosmo (or Cozzy as we called him) had the ability to remember every kid's name. He drove the streets of north Levittown for nearly 50 years.

I swear he must have had a map of each street and house with the kids' names on it hidden in his truck. I moved around the corner from where I grew up and Cosmo was still working as our ice cream man. My kids got to buy their ice cream from Cosmo throughout their childhood too. That was one of the many benefits of staying in Levittown all these years.

There is a photo of mine posted here of Cosmo at age 81. I wrote on the back, "Taken in April 1998". He's selling ice cream to my oldest granddaughter, Samm. She was the third of three generations of us buying our ice cream from Cosmo, never from anyone else. This was on our block, Furrow Lane.

Cosmo also remembered all the kids birthdays as well as their names. And as a parent, I know he didn't ask the parents. He really cared about the children on his routes, and he always took his time with them (or I guess I should say "us"). He would never rush the kid who couldn't decide what he wanted, and if any other kids would start getting annoyed with the one who was taking so long and holding up the line, Cosmo would make sure that kid never got to get nasty with the little undecided. A truly kind and gentle man was our Cosmo.

So many Levittowners adored Cosmo, including Sally Mann '61. She commented recently, "We waited for him and the special ring and I got my cup of butter pecan but more important was the contact - so positive, so caring."

According to my classmate, Tom Filiberto, "Cosmo is still alive. He's in his early 90s, lives in Bethpage and grows tomatoes."

June 20, 2011

Summer has arrived. Now the chilling snow of winter is but a memory enhanced by vintage pictures from our youth.





Click on pictures to enlarge

* Sitting on her sled, or is it sleigh, is Tony Crescenzo Gelfer '68 in 1954 when she was four years of age. She and the snowman lived at 203 Kingfisher Road.

* The photo of the man with the snow shovel was provided by Karen Biro, class of 1960. The scene is Bluebell Lane in approximately 1957.

* Maria Mollica graduated in 1960. Standing in front of their car are Maria's parents after a 1958 blizzard. They lived at 41 Sandpiper Lane and her sister Frances, class of 1963, still lives in that house.

* Carnation Road snow scene, circa 1959. Although they may be difficult to see, Leslie Sands Bell '68 and Gail Sands '70 are standing on a mound of snow.

* Two unidentified little boys in a snowy backyard. The thingy on which to hang clothes was in most early Levittown backyards. Of course, on cold days, everything froze. Notice the absence of fences.

1957 Northside School, Mr. R. Clark's sixth grade class

click on photo to enlarge

First row: Irene Kuhn, Jay Barabash, Elaine Castro, Leon Gussow, Lynn Golden, Paul Shiffman

Second row: Charles Drakos, Ron Area, x, Fern Klotz, x, Penny Lines, Mickael Sullivan, Diane Dehne, Tom Filiberto

Standing: the late Bill Dineen, Raymond Yaw, Jerry Gippetti, John Petrontoni, x, Ron Porter, x, Joseph Batewell, Ted Robertson, Len Sandok, George Walling, Mr. Clark
__________________________________

This is the sixth and final post of Tom Filiberto's collection of Northside elementary school photos from the 1950s, grades one through six. They have been spread out in our blog over the past two months. It has been an interesting glimpse at how kids were dressed in those days, much less casual than recent years. There was a true sense of pride in how children looked when they were sent off to school on the day of the annual class picture.

Levittown was a somewhat transient community in the early years because many houses were rentals and families, for various reasons, would move away. So there was a coming and going of students, which is probably why so many youngsters in Filiberto's photos are unidentified. This is more so in his earlier class shots.

By 1957 when this picture was taken, the Levittown population was much more stable than a few years earlier because there were relatively few houses for rent. Early Levittown youngsters from families that remained often lost close friends who had moved. Some of those relationships remain even some 50 or more years later, but most were lost forever.

Several of these youngsters in today's photo graduated from Division Avenue High School in Levittown along with Tom in 1963. Some of the other 1963 grads attended Summit Lane School for sixth grade.

June 19, 2011

More photos of DAHS graduates when they were children





Click on photos to enlarge

This is the 11th in a series of posts featuring pictures of Division Avenue High School graduates when they were children. Of special interest to your blogger are shots that show early Levittown houses in the background.

Depicted are:

* Michelle and Cliff Fromm in early 1946. Michelle, class of 1963, was one year of age. Cliff, class of 1960, was three.

* Toni Crescenzo Gelfer, class of 1968 when she was three years of age. She's the tot in the back following her sun-tanned brother Jimmy and a cousin.

* Mark Rotker (left), class of 1968, with his dad and brother Scott '64. Picture was taken in around 1953 or 1954 in front of their home on Saddler Lane.

* Franne Newman, class of 1960 and brother Bill. He is class of 1963. They lived on Carnation Road.

* Lillian Smith, class of 1962, in front of her 17 Brook Lane home in 1951.

June 18, 2011

Vintage pictures from Frank Barning's early Levittown archives





Click on photos to enlarge

There are hundreds of early Levittown photos in my files, a treasure chest of images. Many have been used to compliment stories that have been posted in our blog, and others will lend themselves to articles yet to be written.

At the same time there are many that don't seem to have a fit, often because there is little or no information for a caption. Old Levittown photos that I find especially pleasing are class and team photos, but not every one I receive includes a list of the kids depicted. Hey, it's not easy to remember people you last saw more than a half century ago.

The black and white photos posted above are part of our town's amazing history.

* The late Richard Streb was among the top teachers at Division Avenue High School in late 1950s and a few years beyond. His subject was citizenship education. The photo was taken at a 1960 Division football game and was provided by Kathy Rees, class of 1961.

* 1952 Wisdom Lane School second-grade class photo from Lillian Smith, class of 1962. She is two persons to the right of the teacher, Mrs. Weiner. Can anyone give us the names of the other students?

* Art Dorrmann (class of 1960) was on this Pony League team in 1955. All-star catcher Art is in the back row, third from the left with his eyes closed. Also in the shot are Levittown Memorial High grads Mark Scope and Kermit "Spike" Undegrove and Fred Eno from Island Trees. Others have yet to be identified.

* From June 1958. Jim Anton ('61), and three 1960 classmates Artie Kornfeld, Jay Citrin and Peter File. Picture sent by Sally Mann '61.

* From 1958. Diane Sexton (class of 1961) and the late Bruce Garabrant (class of 1960).

June 17, 2011

Bowling center at North Village Green has closed after 57 years, but vivid memories remain; Frankie Tompkins' perfect game


Click on pix to enlarge

By KEN TAYLOR

The shocking news came down recently that the North Village Green bowling lanes have ceased operation after 57 years. The one at the South Green will remain in business. Once again the weak economy has struck.

In 1956, Vic Lawson, Buddy Weston, Bobby Lombardi and myself walked into the bowling alley to play a few games. The man behind the counter was named Bob. I never knew his last name, but Bob was always there. He said “Sorry boys, but we don’t have a pin boy to set the pins for you. In fact, we have a men’s league coming in in two hours, and I’m short a man for that too."

I was always looking to make money, so I said to Bob, “I can set pins." The next thing I know we are walking to the rear of the alleys and I know Bob knew that I was lying to him, and he told one of the pin boys, “Teach this kid how to set pins and make it fast."

I learned and also had a lot of fun being a pin boy. It didn’t pay much, but I learned from the other guys how to hustle a buck from the back of the alleys.

I would hang out up by the front desk, and when a group of kids came in just to have fun bowling, I would quietly offer my services to one guy in the group. When his girlfriend threw her ball down the lane, I would step on a pedal and steel rods would pop up inside the pins. When her ball hit the pins, it would bounce off and roll back towards her. The rods were used to set the pins up again, so they were in the identical spot for the next person.

Or when my guy in the group threw his ball, I would have a pin in my hand, and when the pins were hit, I would throw the “extra” pin at any pin that I sensed would not go down. I became very good at this trick and no one could see me doing it.

Then at the end of the game, my man would roll a gutter ball down to me, usually with a few bucks stuck in the thumb hole as negotiated.

Nick Mormando was the owner and his brother “Dusty” ran the day-to-day business. Dusty was not a “people person”, but Nick was outgoing and a very nice guy. One day Nick said to me, “We are putting in automatic machines and we won’t need pin boys any more." I thought fast and asked, “Will you need mechanics to fix them?”

I was given a two-week course and became the assistant mechanic to the Brunswick man who came with the machines. I worked there for about three more years, and then moved on to other jobs in Levittown and environs. I loved every moment of growing up in Levittown.
___________________________

By FRANK BARNING

Division Avenue High athlete, Frankie Tompkins class of 1961, told his coach he was not feeling well and could not attend practice. Instead of going home, he headed to the North Green bowling alley. Believe it or not, Frankie bowled a 300 that afternoon. His score was posted on the wall for many years.

Of course, the coach found out because the perfect game made the Levittown Tribune plus Tompkins told all his friends. Not the sharpest tool in the box, that Frankie, but he sure could bowl.

________________________________

Photos by Marilyn Monsrud Frese '63

June 16, 2011

Jones Beach, a Long Island treasure for Levittowners





Click on photos to enlarge

By FRANK BARNING

One of the best things about living in Levittown is the proximity to Jones Beach. For those of us who have moved away from Long Island, many list Jones Beach as one of the things they miss the most. Kathy Stahlman Zinn, class of 1963, muses, "How I took for granted all those trips to Jones Beach." She lives in North Carolina.

It was my good fortune to have worked at Jones Beach for five summers, starting with the summer between my junior and senior years at Division Avenue High School, all the way through college. My earnings there paid for a sizeable portion of my Hofstra tuition.

Once I starting working at the beach, I never had to look for another summer job. Most of the other members of what we called "The Jones Beach Navy" because of our uniforms, were students from nearby communities such as Freeport, Wantagh and Seaford. I don't recall any classmates who were also seasonal employees.

Most of the time my first couple of summers was spent picking up litter in the parking lots of Fields 4 and 5. Then I requested and received a move to the parking field at the Marine Theater on Zach's Bay where our crew directed traffic before and after the shows produced by Guy Lombardo. One summer, I was the night watchman at the theater.

Above are photos of Division Avenue people at Jones Beach.

* June Johnson, class of 1963, sitting on a beach blanket. Her classmate Pat Henry in the dark swimsuit.

* Reading a book is Roberta Landry. Behind Roberta is her 1961 classmate Alice Nutini.

* The two couples enjoying a day at the shore in 1960 are long-time DAHS teacher David Peyton (reading and smoking a pipe) and his wife Sybil. With them are their friends Arlene and Ed Lavey, parents of the class of 1963's Tim Lavey.

* Taking in the beach scene is four-year old Marilyn Monsrud, class of 1963.

June 15, 2011

Photos of DAHS kids, this time on their precious bicycles




Click on photos to enlarge

Before we learned how to drive, children rode their bicycles around the safe streets of Levittown. No one wore helmets, but do you remember any head injuries? Yes, we may have scraped our knees or tore our pants. Occasionally, while not paying attention or showing off, we might bang into a parked car. However, mostly it was reasonably safe to take a spin. Ah, the simple pleasures of our long-lost youth.

Early Levittowners depicted above are:

* Tim Lavey, class of 1963, at age four in Brooklyn in 1949. Biking was safer in Levittown.

* Carol, class of 1964, and sister Kim Binninger '73 in 1958 on Quiet Lane.

* Marilyn Monsrud, class of 1963, giving her sister Susan '65 a ride on a bike with training wheels.

* Leslie Sands Bell, class of 1968, shows off her new ride in 1959. That's her sister Gail (class of 1970) behind her. "Sadly," lamented Gail, "we moved to East Meadow in 1966." Therefore the Sands did not graduate with their friends from Division Avenue High School.