Frederick J. Gumbus “Pop”, 97 years old of Port Jefferson, died May 9.
He was born May 5, 1924, in Stony Brook, the son of Anetah and Joseph Gumbus.
Fred served in the U.S. Navy from 1942-1945 and was stationed in Okinawa. He was a tail gunner who flew a B24 bomber. Fred was a retired machinist – Mill Right for LILCO.Fred was a 73-year member of the Port Jefferson Fire Department, where he was an ex-captain and honorary chief of Hook and Ladder Company 1.
Left to cherish his memory are his daughters Betty and Carol; his sons Fred Jr, John, Henry and Frank; 12 grandchildren; 25 great grandchildren; and many other family and friends.
His parents along with his wife, Geneva, who was his high school sweetheart, preceded him in death. His son Joseph passed away shortly after.
Services were held at Bryant Funeral Home May 16. He was afforded full military honors at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Port Jefferson.
Arrangements were entrusted to the Bryant Funeral Home of Setauket. Visit www.bryantfh.com to sign the online guest book.
Gordon F. Davis, 94, of Port Jefferson, NY passed away on June 29, 2021.
Born Aug. 10, 1926 he was predeceased by his parents, Raymond and Gladys, brother Roger, twin sister Katherine, first wife Rose Marie, second wife Helen Marie and sons Michael, Kenneth and Timothy. He is survived by his loving son Daniel, Daniel’s wife Estine and granddaughter Shannon, daughter of the late Michael Davis.
Photo from family
After graduating from the Port Jefferson School District, he enlisted in the United States Navy at age 17, going on to serve in Okinawa, Japan. After his resignation from the Navy, he received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri.
Upon learning of his father’s failing health, he and his family returned to Port Jefferson, where he purchased the Long Island Heating Oil company — later named Long Island Comfort Corporation — and formed his own mechanical engineering company.
While living in Port Jefferson, he served on the Port Jefferson School Board, Village and County Library Boards, Mather Hospital Board and was president of both the Port Jefferson Rotary Club and the Empire State Petroleum Association.
A licensed pilot, his favorite pastime was flying across the country in his single engine aircraft, which led him and first wife Rose Marie to begin vacationing in, and ultimately retiring to, Fort Myers, FL where they lived until her death in 2001. After his remarriage to Helen, they divided their time between Fort Myers and Dublin, GA and permanently moved to Dublin to be closer to her family in 2017.
Gordon was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church worshipping at the First Presbyterian Church of Port Jefferson and then the Cypress Lake Presbyterian Church in Fort Myers.
A private graveside service will be held at a later date at the family plot at Sea View Cemetery in Mount Sinai, NY.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions to the First Presbyterian Church of Port Jefferson, PO Box 397, Main and South Streets, Port Jefferson, NY 11777.
Max Temkin, right, with his wife Sara. Photo from Marilyn Temkin
Holocaust survivor, Max Temkin, most recently of Setauket, who was part of a delegation that brought back soil from concentration camps to place under the Eternal Flame of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, died May 22, several weeks after suffering a stroke on his 99th birthday, March 27.
Max was born in Lodz, Poland, on March 27, 1922. He started his life in a large Jewish family consisting of his mother, Paula, father, Jacob, two brothers Chaim and Ephraim, and his sister Lisa.
When the Nazis invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, his world changed forever.All of his family members were eventually killed in the concentration camps. Max was separated from his family on Sept. 19, 1939, never to see them again. He was 17 years old.
Max described his experience as “hell
on Earth.”
In 1940, he was transported by cattle car to Auschwitz, where he was immediately given striped prison garments and tattooed with the number 142538 on his left arm. He would always say “This meant that 142,537 people were tattooed in Auschwitz before me!”
He was forced into slave labor; his primary job was in construction. He helped build the Autobahn, a public works program promoted by Hitler for the purpose of providing quick transportation for vehicles carrying troops. He also worked as an electrician and coal miner. Max had no formal training in these fields but always complied with orders. As he put it, “When the Nazis asked me to do something, I did it. Otherwise, they would kill me.”
Max was surrounded by starvation, sickness and death as well as the constant stench of cremated bodies. He was shot randomly by a German guard — “just for the hell of it.” The large wound on the back of his right leg did not become infected, and he survived.
On Jan. 18, 1945, with the Russians fast approaching, the Nazis forced the prisoners to march out of Auschwitz, to erase any evidence of their inhumanity. It was bitterly cold. Max ate snow to survive. Any person who stumbled or slowed down was taken to the side of the road and shot. The prisoners were freezing and infected with lice from head to toe, having not showered in weeks. Sixty thousand prisoners were forced to march from Auschwitz to other camps in Germany. The death toll was staggering.
Max arrived in Buchenwald in late January, weary but alive. Conditions there were not any better than at Auschwitz.
He was immediately put to work cleaning bunkers where there were bodies of dead German soldiers from previous bombardments by English forces.
Late in the afternoon of April 11, 1945, Buchenwald was liberated by General George Patton’s Third Army Unit. “This is a day I will always remember and cherish.”
Max is in the famous photograph by Life magazine photographer, Margaret Bourke-White (The Living Dead at Buchenwald, 1945), taken hours after liberation. He and fellow prisoners were still behind barbed wire when the photograph was taken. Max is the second prisoner from the right in the second row.
The Living Dead at Buchenwald was not published in Life Magazine until December 1960, in a special double anniversary issue. Titled “Grim Greeting At Buchenwald” the caption reads: “In Margaret Bourke-White’s grim comment on man’s inhumanity to man, survivors of Buchenwald stare out at their Allied rescuers like so many living corpses, barely able to believe that they would be freed from a Nazi camp where the only deliverance had been death.”
After liberation, while in the Zeilsheim displaced persons’ camp near Frankfurt, Germany,Max met and fell in love with Sara Braun, originally from Ozorkow, Poland. Sara also lost her family in the Holocaust. They worked as volunteers for the United States Army, Max primarily as a cook.
They promised each other to get married
in America.
Max always said that he was “at a loss for words” to describe how he felt when he first saw the Statue of Liberty as his ship, the USS Marine Flasher, pulled into New York Harbor. Although it was dusk and the Statue was hard to see, “her silhouette will always be preserved in my memory.”
He married Sara on May 8, 1948 (Mother’s Day) in the Bronx. Their wedding guests were members of their foster families and American soldiers who liberated Max from Buchenwald. The soldiers came from all parts of the country.
Although Max and Sara had the good fortune to live with two wonderful foster families, life after marriage was challenging. They lived in a tenement on the Lower East Side, shared one bathroom with the other tenants, worked full time during the day and attended English classes at night. They had to pass an English proficiency exam to qualify for U.S. citizenship.
Max had the opportunity to start a six-year apprenticeship to become a photoengraver at Intaglio Corporation of New York. The training would ultimately lead to a prized union job. Most of these jobs went to sons or brothers of employees, so this was indeed a lucky break for Max. A group of very understanding men guided him through his training. He was the only Jew and immigrant in the company when he started.
Max demonstrated a unique visual aesthetic and soon assumed responsibility for the preparation of advertisements that appeared in the Sunday supplement, Parade Magazine, which is still in publication and distributed across the nation with local newspapers. Max worked as a photoengraver at Intaglio Corporation for 32 years and it became his second home.
In November 1992, Max was part of a delegation from the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., which included survivors, US Army liberators and museum supporters, on a 10-day journey to Western Europe. The delegation, sponsored by the Museum in cooperation with the Department of Defense’s 50th Anniversary of World War II Commemoration Committee, visited Holocaust and military sites in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. As part of their mission to gather soil for the Museum’s Hall of Remembrance, Max was given the honor of bringing back soil from Buchenwald, where he was liberated in 1945.
He placed the soil from Buchenwald under the Eternal Flame in the Museum’s Hall of Remembrance during the Soil Dedication Ceremony in February 1993.
Fellow Jewish Holocaust survivors brought back soil from the 37 other concentration camps and participated in the ceremony as well.
Max was active in the Lodzer Young Men’s Benevolent Society, where he was a member of the executive board for 20 years and served as president from 1994 to 1998.
After retirement, Max and Sara traveled to middle schools and high schools on Long Island to talk to students about their Holocaust experiences. On the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day, they were invited to Ward Melville High School on two occasions, April 11, 2002, and April 17, 2008. In 2002, their older granddaughter, Stephanie Pollack, who was a junior at the time, was sitting in the audience. In 2008, their younger granddaughter, Ilana Pollack, also a junior, was sitting in the audience. They spoke to students at Paul J. Gelinas Junior High School, at the invitation of Mrs. White, Ilana’s eighth grade English teacher, also on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day.
They were invited by Jeffrey Sanzel, executive artistic director of Theatre Three in Port Jefferson, to join the theater’s traveling troupe at middle schools when they performed “From the Fires: Voices of the Holocaust,”the widely acclaimed play Jeffrey wrote. This gave Max and Sara another opportunity to talk to students about their Holocaust experiences.
They also spoke frequently at Islip Middle School at the invitation of now-retired teachers Adina Karp and Paul Tapogna, whom they met in the audience when they first saw “From the Fires: Voices of the Holocaust” at Theatre Three.
At the end of each talk, Max would say:
“I want to leave you with this message: Never, never hate. Hate is the enemy. The Nazis were a vehicle of hate. Hate is like a cancer, it will destroy you as well.
Hate is the enemy but for those of my generation, time is also the enemy. I am an elderly man and I want to share my story with as many young people as possible before I am no longer able to.
So, go home today and hug your parents and siblings. And never take the Statue of Liberty
for granted.”
Max enjoyed attending the monthly meetings of the board of directors of the Port Jefferson Ambulance Corps with his daughter,Dr. Marilyn Temkin. It reminded him of his many years of service as an EMT and later as a dispatcher in his former neighborhood of Little Neck-Douglaston, Queens.
Max was a vibrant, elegant man who always kept a positive attitude. He made friends everywhere he went. He always lived in the moment but never forgot the past.
“Papa Max” is survived by his wife, Sara; his children,Dr. Marilyn Temkin (the late Dr. Mitchell Pollack) and Dr. Jay Temkin (Beata Drachal), two granddaughters, Dr. Stephanie Pollack (Matthew Perle) and Ilana Pollack (Dr. Zachary Wolner);U.S. Army Specialist Tyler Nussbaum and U.S. Army Sargeant Jade Nussbaum, to whom Papa Max was a beloved grandfather-by-choice; cousins Yoram Tiomkin (Nava), Adina Tiomkin (the late Raffie), and Chaim Tiomkin (Ofra) and their families in Israel and California; U.S. Army Corporal veteran and foster brother Bernard Kleinman (Lila) and family in Florida; and cousins-by-marriage Cantor Bruce Braun (Dianne) and family in Canton, Ohio.
Funeral services were held May 24 at Star of David Memorial Chapel followed by burial at New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon, New York.
Longtime Belle Terre resident Joanne Wright Cornell passed away on May 16 at 80 years old.
Born on Jan. 31, 1941, in Staten Island, she leaves behind a vibrant legacy in the Port Jefferson community after decades of service.
Starting off as a model in Manhattan and working on Wall Street with stock and bond traders, she moved to Long Island in the early 1970s where she entered the world of real estate.
“Her emotional intelligence was incredible,” said her daughter, Melyssa Cornell.
Joanne formed a lifelong friendship and business partnership with Eileen Petsco, together forming Cornell/Petsco Real Estate. The duo started their firm in a modest small office space, eventually growing into a larger building on East Main Street that lasted almost four decades.
“Joanne was a perfect partner,” Petsco said. “In 37 years, we never had a serious argument. She was a tireless worker and a valued friend.”
Their friendship lasted long after their firm shutdown.
Photo from Melyssa Cornell
“A few years ago, we were kidding around about what epitaph we wanted on our gravestones,” Petsco added. “We settled on this for Joanne: ‘My candle burns at both ends, it shall not last the night, but oh my friends and oh my foe, how brilliant was the light.’ The world will be a dimmer place without Joanne to light the path. She will be deeply missed.”
While building up her real estate business, Joanne was also a single mother who worked hard to create a successful life and business, and gave back to her community in a multitude of ways.
“The early 1970s wasn’t the easiest time for a woman to launch a business,” Melyssa said, “But she and Eileen did an incredible job creating an extremely successful company.”
Joanne was vice president and then president of the Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, and president of the Belle Terre Community Association. She supported a multitude of the area’s charities and civic functions.
Along with her other hats, Joanne was a founding member of the Greater Port Jefferson-Northern Brookhaven Arts Council, and chaired the ladies day golf outings at the country club for many years.
She immersed herself in community pride chairing the Fourth of July committee and was known as the Easter Bunny and Mrs. Claus for years in the parades.
“She made the community a better place because of the professional and civic leadership she demonstrated over the years,” Melyssa said. “Her legacy is extraordinary — she lived life to the fullest with an incredible zest for life, a mischievous twinkle in her eye and her dancing shoes on. She was always the life of the party, the first on the dance floor and the last one off — life to her was not a dress rehearsal.”
Melyssa added that her mother should be remembered for her strength, fierce loyalty, honesty and that she welcomed all. She was a true friend to everyone — and still had so many lifelong friendships going back to elementary school.
“Joanne Cornell was a professional, a dedicated member of her community, a warm, welcoming and generous friend and a gracious hostess on all occasions,” said Denise Adler, one of Joanne’s closest friends. “She believed in making life more joyful for all those she touched.”
Melyssa said that her mother “knew how to make a moment last and always believed that the best of times is now. … She did what she said she would do — always.”
She is remembered by TBR News Media publisher, Leah Dunaief for her sense of community and service.
Photo from Melyssa Cornell
“Joanne had a great sense of fun even as she was very good at her job,” she said. “I enjoyed working with her on the Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, where she gave many hours on behalf of helping the business community and the village. She and Eileen Petsco were a dynamic duo, personifying successful business executives at a time when not many women were in business. They were the founders of Cornell/Petsco Real Estate, and their race horse weather vane was a frequently seen icon.”
Joanne leaves behind her daughter Melyssa, and a grandson, Ryan Cornell Thorpe, 17, who both live in Virginia. She is survived by her sisters Leslie Ellerbrook and Judy Repage, both of New Jersey.
“We found fun and laughter in every adventure,” Melyssa said. “We loved Broadway, and, to her, life was a cabaret. My mom made every moment special. When I was super young, and she was working hard to make it in real estate, we didn’t have much money, but we would always sit down and have dinner by candlelight — usually Chunky soup. She didn’t wait for the special moments to happen — she created them.”
A Celebration of Life will be held in honor of Joanne at The Country House in Stony Brook on June 30 from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m.
“A life so beautiful deserves a special celebration and we welcome anyone who would like to come and share in the memories, the love and the laughter of her life that was lived to the fullest with us,” Melyssa said.
Elisabeth Kaalund Russell died peacefully on March 31, 2021, in her home on Merritt Island, Florida. She succumbed to cancer after a hard-fought battle.
A loving mother and grandmother, she lived a full life and will be greatly missed.
Photo from Tina Myers
Born in 1941 in Copenhagen, Denmark, Elisabeth shared many memories growing-up as the youngest of five siblings in a country recovering from a world war.
As a young woman she decided to immigrate to New York as an Au Pair. Soon after, she met her first husband, Charles Helenius. They eventually settled down in Baldwin and had two children, Peter and Tina.
Many years later, including a couple of years living in Copenhagen, she moved to Port Jefferson with her children.
She had a second daughter, Ingrid, and in 1987 found her favorite home on Puritan Path.
As a young mother, Elisabeth went to college to become a registered nurse. She started her career at Hillcrest Hospital in Queens in the labor and delivery department.
Over the years she worked at Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen, Brookhaven Hospital in Patchogue, North Shore Hospital in Manhasset, Stony Brook Hospital and then ended her career at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson.
Liz met Dr. Frank Russell in the operating room, and they became lifetime companions outside of the hospital.
One of her proudest moments was being the attending nurse in the first surgery performed at Stony Brook Hospital.
After a few years of retirement in Vermont, Elisabeth found her “paradise” in Florida. She loved the warmth and sun there.
As usual, she found a local Danish group to socialize with and maintain Danish traditions.
Liz enjoyed working in her yard and swimming in her pool during the day and knitting at night.
Her joyous spirit and endless energy will continue to inspire everyone she knew and loved.
She will be remembered when her loved ones are reading, painting, knitting, cleaning and entertaining.
Liz always set a beautiful table and made everyone feel special. She is survived by her son and daughter in-law, Peter Helenius and Margaret Luckey of Mastic Beach, daughter and son-in-law, Tina and David Myers, ofBeaverton, Oregon; daughter and son-in-law; Ingrid and Larry Pike, of East Middlebury, Vermont.
She is also survived by her brother and sister in-law, Karl and Lis Kaalund; brother and sister in-law Per and Marianne Kaalund; sister and brother in-law Inger and Gordon Campbell.
In addition, Elisabeth has seven grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews in the United States, Canada, Denmark and Australia.
In lieu of flowers please make donations to the American Diabetes Association
Miriam with great-grandaughter, Ella. Photo from Jeff Remz
Miriam (Groman) Remz, a long-time resident of Belle Terre and former business manager of the Port Jefferson school district, passed away from COVID-19 on Feb. 21 at the age of 94 in Brookline, Mass.
Miriam was born on Dec. 15, 1926 in Czestochowa, Poland, the only child of Israel and Gertrude Groman. She moved with her parents to Brussels, Belgium at the age of 2, where she lived until emigrating to New York on March 1, 1938, avoiding the terrible fate that awaited most of the remaining Jews in Europe.
Miriam considered that date her second birthday, special to her because it represented the beginning of her new life in the United States.
Miriam graduated from City College of New York in 1946 with a degree in business administration and accounting. She then worked in a New York City accounting firm where she met Louis (Leo) Remz.
Miriam and Leo Remz. Photo from Jeff Remz
After he popped the question and was told “I’ll get back to you,” (she said “yes” a week later), the two were later married on Feb. 17, 1948 in the Bronx.
They moved to Port Jefferson in 1949 where Louis worked with his brother, Morris, at M. Remz (later Louis Remz Supply), a feed and grain business —which eventually added bakery ingredients, as well — located next to the Port Jefferson train depot.
Having moved to Cliff Road, Belle Terre where they built a house, Miriam took time off from work to raise a family of three boys. The Remzes were among the founding families of the North Shore Jewish Center, then in East Setauket.
Miriam would later become president of the Sisterhood and a member of the Board of Trustees of the synagogue.
Miriam returned to work in 1963, spending her career with the Port Jefferson school district. She worked first as an account clerk and later became the business manager, a position she held until she retired in 1991.
Miriam was a world traveler — visiting more than 150 countries and all 50 states (North Dakota was the last that she visited — not to mention all U.S. territories.
Her final major international trip was in August 2016 at the age of 89 for the wedding of her granddaughter in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Miriam had a keen sense of adventure, enjoying interactions with people from other countries and cultures and enjoyed learning history. But sometimes her love of travel got the better of her judgment.
On one occasion, already well into her 80s, she visited eastern Turkey at a time when the Syrian civil war had spilled into that region, very close to where she had planned to visit. When asked by her children why she would go there, she said she had already been to western Turkey three times, so she had to see the rest of Turkey.
After her husband Leo passed away in 1994, Miriam continued traveling at an even more frenetic pace, doing about six trips around the world each year.
In addition to her travels, Miriam was passionate about many things in life, including education, her family, Israel and the Jewish people, theater and the arts.
A formal photo of Miriam Remz. Photo from Jeff Remz
She often went on trips to New York for theatre and dance with friends and sometimes meeting up with her grandchildren. She always enjoyed a good time, dancing, celebrating and socializing with family and friends, and making new acquaintances.
Miriam wanted to pass that on to her family and made sure her children and grandchildren would have every opportunity that she could provide, whether in supporting their educational endeavors or taking her grandchildren on special trips abroad upon them becoming a Bar/Bat Mitzvah including London, Paris, Italy and Brazil/Uruguay/Argentina.
She moved from Belle Terre to Brookline in 2014 to be near two of her sons, Jeff and Sandy. She continued her love of lifetime learning by attending lectures about politics, current events, history, literature, art and Judaism and reading history and biographies.
Almost exactly two years before she passed away, she attended a Dolly Parton tribute concert by Berklee College of Music students in Boston.
Miriam is survived by her three sons, Harvey (Mary Jane) Remz of Huntington, Conn.; Sandy (Arlene) Remz of Newton Centre, Mass. and Jeff (Judy) Remz of Newton Centre, Mass., six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Burial took place at Washington Memorial Park in Coram.
Helene Bowler, Charles Gerace, Reilly Orlando and Tom Walsh honor Michael Bowler. Photo from Bowler family
“Circumstances the way they were, the ball just didn’t bounce our way today.I hate to say it but that is the way life is, it isn’t always fair. And it takes a good man to lose and then to come back from it. You guys have your whole lives ahead of you, you have nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be proud of — even though we didn’t win everything, in my book we did. Because guys are everything. Not the trophy, not the wins, it’s you guys.”
On Dec. 6, 2019, Michael Bowler eulogized the special memory of his father Michael P. Bowler who was a noted teacher, coach, club adviser, and administrator at Rocky Point High School since 1973.
This powerful speech was given at Infant Jesus R.C. Church in Port Jefferson, in front of a packed crowd of family members, neighbors, teachers, friends, former lacrosse players, coaches and parents.
For decades, he spent countless hours in his classroom, administrative office, and on the practice and game fields.
This week, Rocky Point High School honored Bowler with a large picture frame with his trademark coaching jacket, hat, whistle and pictures that showed his more-than forty 40 years of service to this North Shore community.
Always armed with a big smile and a can-do attitude, Bowler was the epitome of commitment toward every type of student and athlete who crossed his path during his life in education.
Even up to his death, as he fought cancer, Bowler expected to coach his players, where they were never far from his mind.His life focused on the love of his family, service to his church, , and the devotion to the students and residents of Rocky Point.
Helene Bowler, Kevan Bowler and Michael Bowler. Photo from Bowler family
Helene Bowler rarely missed a lacrosse game at Rocky Point and was the anchor of support toward the entire Bowler family. Like her husband, she can quickly describe the players, teams, and games that her husband coached, since he established this program.
“Mike loved everything about the game of lacrosse — the skill, the speed, the plays and strategies, the physicality,” she said. “He loved the challenge and excitement of being a coach and considered it an honor and a privilege to mentor these young men at Rocky Point.”
All the Bowler kids played lacrosse on the college level, they all coached their own teams and children, and three of the boys are teachers and administrators. Bowler’s third oldest son, Kevan, connected lacrosse to the makeup of his parents and said, “I know many schools or programs like to think of themselves as a family, but I know that my dad, with the help and patience of my mom, looked after his team as if they were part of the family. Whether that meant trying to keep them on the right path academically, asking my mom to help wash the uniforms so the team looked sharp or trying to find the best possible college fit for them, lacrosse was not just a spring sport to him.”
Since their earliest days of growing up in Hicksville, Bowler was a beloved brother to his siblings. His younger sister Meg Malangone, of Lake Grove, described her brother as being, “protective, caring and gentle. I could always talk to him and he always had time for me, even if I was being an annoying younger sister. When my husband died suddenly, Mike was there to share the load — helping with my kids, whether talking sports, watching movies and just laughing with them.”
Stephanie Bowler described her brother as being “an unsung hero who was always in the background, waiting to be of assistance to anyone in need, great or small. No one was beyond his notice or care. Others always came first, be it a family member, student, athlete, community member or even a stranger.”
A lasting impression was made on his fellow teachers who have long retired from Rocky Point. Vincent Basileo was an American history teacher who vividly remembered Bowler speaking to the students on a class trip to Quebec.
“We were in a historic church and Mike had the students mesmerized through his description of the religious artifacts that these young men and women were learning about,” Basileo said.
For 25 years, Bruce Mirabito taught and coached next to Bowler.He saw his friend as being a “goal-orientated man who always led by example within all of his endeavors.”
High school guidance facilitator, Matthew Poole, was a young counselor who worked closely with Bowler handling the administrative tasks for the junior high students within the mid-1990s.Poole watched as “Bowler disciplined and advised students to help them find better decision-making.
He was also a man who understood the college recruiting process to help his players enroll into the best possible schools.”
Athletic director, Charles Delargy, often spoke with Bowler, where these two “Irishmen” enjoyed each other’s company.
Delargy believed that “Bowler was a true professional and gentlemen.I was very lucky to have him as a good friend.”
Longtime athletic secretary, Rose Monz, had the routine of seeing Bowler and said, “Never has there been a kinder gentleman. A man with old-fashioned values with a faith strong enough for everyone. I think of Mike every day for many different reasons — for the kids who seem lost, for his kindness and generosity to all the secretaries. And most of all,I miss Mike for just being Mike.”
It is impossible to put a number on the players who participated on the lacrosse teams since Bowler’s first competitive year in 1978.
“As a player of his and then watching as a fan as he coached two of my sons, he never lost the passion or dedication that he had for not only his teams, but all of the kids coming up,” said Peter LaSalla, a 1982 Rocky Point graduate. “He is missed greatly.”
John Fernandez praised Bowler, too.
“He treated his players with respect and wanted to get the best out of them,” Fernandez said. “He loved the game and studied it to be the best possible coach.”
Michael Muller, a 2010 graduate, was a pallbearer for his beloved coach who helped him get him accepted to Dartmouth College.According to Muller, “The world needs more people like Mike Bowler. He changed the course of my life and countless others for the better.His legacy will live on forever.”
For years, entire neighborhoods have been tied to the Rocky Point lacrosse program. Nicky and Vin Loscalzo graduated in 2011 and 2012 and they grew up with several boys living next to their home. Nicky always laughed when Bowler jokingly yelled at the six boys who made up the “Dana Court Crew.”
Kevin Fitzpatrick was a “crew” member who wanted to thank Bowler “for always teaching me to hold myself accountable for my mistakes and to have pride in the things I work hard at.”
Nicky LoManto, a 2005 graduate, said, “Bowler provided an outstanding environment for student athletes that emphasized teamwork, respect for opponents and personal life skills for life.”
During the unveiling, Chris Nentwich spoke about the difficulties of leaving Rocky Point to coach his own son and being away from the presence of Bowler.
Dave Murphy touched on the loyalty of Bowler and thanked his family for allowing all of us to have special moments with him.
James Jordan addressed the sincere messages that people wrote when they learned Bowler was named a lacrosse national coach of the year.
Family friend and a lacrosse coach Brian Buckley spoke of Bowler’s knowledge and how he always loved to talk about his sport. Rocky Point lacrosse coach Tom Walsh cherished his moments with Bowler and would like to carry on many of his traditions within this school.
And Rocky Point lacrosse senior captain, Reilly Orlando, mentioned he is one of three brothers who all played for Coach Bowler.
It is not easy to speak about a loved one who has passed away but, when it is about Michael P. Bowler, his legacy is easy to address and will be difficult to duplicate.
Rich Acritelli is a social studies teacher at Rocky Point High School and an adjunct professor of American history at Suffolk County Community College.
It was devastating to hear of the passing of one of our community’s greatest treasures. For those of us lucky enough to have known Nancy Altman “Nan” Guzzetta, we all knew just how special she was. It’s important that everyone who didn’t know Nan knows just how she impacted their lives too.
Nancy Altman “Nan” Guzzetta. Photo by John Griffin
Most in our community knew Nan as the owner of Antique Costume & Prop Rental on Main Street in Port Jefferson. For decades, she helped quietly bring to life every festival, celebration, and fun historical event in the area. When Nan was called to service, she didn’t just show up; she would move heaven and earth. Truthfully, on more than one occasion I saw her hoist a mannequin twice her size over her head … just to ensure a Civil War general would have the proper brass buckle. To say she took her work seriously would be an injustice; she didn’t just love history … she lived it.
To Nan, her costumes weren’t just pieces of fabric … they were living pieces of history and art, many of which were originals or perfectly replicated to exact historical specifications. She explained to me that it wasn’t so much the details that mattered. It was about the respect that came with it. To her, it was personal that we honored legacies properly.
Nan was feisty, funny, witty, and smart. She was both ahead of her time and yet seemed to belong to a bygone era. She was sophisticated, cultured, and worldly. For a woman of such small stature, she stood taller than most and never relented when she knew she was right. She was a woman of great principle and yet always shared a tenderness with those who knew her.
Here’s the truth though. Nan changed lives with her gift of time travel.
For the small child lacking in self-confidence whom she transformed into a Dickensian character of old and unleashed upon the streets of Port Jefferson, they will always know the joys and confidence that community service can bring. For the young woman who heard the forgotten story of a Setauket suffragette during a Three Village Historical Society (TVHS) Spirits Tour, she’ll spend the rest of her life knowing she too can transform policy and shape the future. For the Ward Melville High School freshman celebrating Culper Spy Day who sees a little of themself in Setauket’s Revolutionary War heroes, their lives will forever be transformed by Nan Guzzetta, a woman who made it her business to bring history to life and ensure no story go untold.
Nan left an incredible impact on so many, but to me, she was an unlikely friend and unforgettable mentor and confidant. Despite an age difference of some 60 years, our lives were wonderfully intertwined. We first met when she costumed me at just 10 years old as a Dickensian pickpocket for the Village of Port Jefferson’s annual Charles Dickens Festival. By chance, her son and his family had bought my childhood home which brought both of us great joy.
Nan costumed Times Beacon Record News Media’s (TBR) first major film project, The Culper Spy Adventure, and helped introduce me to the wonders of film. We became great friends and our chats around history and politics would sometimes last for hours and hours. Occasional tea with her and her wonderful husband became some of my favorite memories.
I’d always look forward to volunteering at the TVHS Spirits Tours, not just because they’re fun but because I knew it gave Nan such a thrill to see her costumes come to life when worn by such a passionate group of actors. Nan quite literally saved TBR’s Revolutionary War feature film One Life to Give on more than one occasion, procuring us silk stockings and enough tricorn hats to outfit a Continental Army. She was always there when her community needed her and she was always there for me.
A few years ago, Nan picked up the phone, and on the other side of the line was a Hollywood producer in need of some costumes for a new series. Despite the fact I wasn’t yet a mature and/or responsible adult (as Nan often liked to remind me when I failed to bring back properly cleaned frockcoats) she insisted that the producer speak with me and consider hiring me to work on the show. He did.
Some dozen or so television shows later here I am on my third year in Los Angeles running my own production company and because of Nan, I’ve now had the chance to work in Hollywood and achieve my dream of being a storyteller. Without her, I’m genuinely not sure where I’d be. I’ll forever be indebted to her for jumpstarting my journey and for all the kindness, understanding, and generosity she showed me.
My last conversation with Nan was just about a month or so ago. We didn’t talk much about the past, but about our optimism and hope for the future. For her, history was a blueprint and a guide to help us do better. She had so much hope, especially in today’s young people.
Nan will forever stand among the greats in this community, no less than a Melville, Mather, Woodhull, or Strong. In everything she did, she thought about her neighbors, and the joy she could bring them, and the magic of history she could share. Her passion for the past was only surpassed by her love of family. To her, her children and grandchildren were and are the greatest gift she could leave behind to the place she calls home.
Nan, you can rest easy knowing that the community you inspired will pick up that mantle and continue your work. Now it is time for us to honor your legacy and to ensure that future generations know of the extraordinary life you lived and the standard of service you set for us all.
Until we meet again, Nan. Thank you for making history.
Patsy Vassallo during his military days.
Photo from the Vassallo family
By Rich Acritelli
Rocky Point High School lost a special employee that held a special place within the staff and student body on March 21.
Patsy Vassallo, of Miller Place, considered his moments within the hallways of this school to be amongst the most gratifying of his life. At 83 years old, Vassallo wore a big smile, where he engaged the young men and women of this school, and he spoke to all the staff members as a calming presence.
Each day, Vassallo was pleased to go to work, where he embraced being a part of the RPHS community. As COVID-19 surely has that tested the roles of administrators, teachers and students, Vassallo was always a warm presence to lighten our atmosphere.
Photo from the Vassallo family
Originally from Bayside, Queens, he started working at the young age of seven, where he learned how to repair footwear in a shoemaker shop. At 17, Vassallo enlisted into the New York Army National Guard where he proudly served in the military for eight years.
For many decades, he held manufacturing engineering positions and was an entrepreneur that owned and operated machine, coffee and shoe businesses. Vassallo was a proponent of education and in his 60s, he taught college level courses as a lecturer of architectural design through the application of software.
Always armed with a “can-do” attitude, Vassallo lived an extremely productive life. This was seen at 77 years old, where he provided customer service at a local hardware store. And when he was not working or spending time with his family, Vassallo was a drummer with his brother Charles who played the saxophone in a wedding band during the 1970s and 80s.
Always known for his energy, athletically, Vassallo was also an avid golfer. One thing was for certain, Vassallo through his many interests was able to speak to every type of person that crossed his path, especially those individuals that were fortunate to see him at his most recent job.
Vassallo’s greatest achievement was his family. He cherished his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. He preached the necessity that “family always comes first,” and as the senior patriarch, Vassallo always exclaimed, “I love you to the moon and back.”
In a brief matter of months, Vassallo had a reassuring presence that was welcomed by the staff of Rocky Point High School.Principal John Hart believed that “At the age of 83, Pat quickly became a well-loved member of the High School community and was often referred to as a true gentleman. He proudly arrived early each day, exchanged pleasant conversations with our staff, was detail-oriented, and most importantly respectful and friendly to all those in this building.”
Hart’s secretary, Sheila Grodotzke observed the positive qualities of Vassallo as “loving his job and his reliability in seriously taking his responsibilities. He showed and expressed such fierce pride in his family.”
“I will remember how he beamed with such passion and humbleness when he introduced me to his two grandchildren who attend our high school,” she added. “I truly miss him and never will forget him. May he rest in peace.”
Within these hard times for the Vassallo Family, RPHS wanted to thank these residents for the unique opportunity that our students and staff had in knowing this good man. While his loss has been on hard on his family, they were immensely proud of his many achievements.
Thank you for the daily devotion and affection that Mr. Patsy Vassallo provided to all those that he befriended in this North Shore district.
She was born Oct. 7, 1936, in Manhattan, to William and Christina Mullen.
Margaret and her husband, Albert, owned and successfully operated Bernard’s Restaurant in Coram and then Ramann’s Restaurant in East Setauket. Margaret and Albert moved to Florida only to return to New York and work in the restaurant industry until Al’s passing in 2008. They always worked together as a team and loved serving and getting to know their many loyal customers.
Margaret faithfully volunteered at Christian Aid Mission in Charlottesville, Virginia, from 2010 until 2015, assisting in the record keeping and financial divisions.
Margaret was predeceased in death by her husband, son Thomas and two older brothers, Joseph and John. She is survived by her son Timothy and his wife Frances of Fuquay Varina, North Carolina; daughter, Terese and husband Keith of Huntersville, North Carolina; six granddaughters Kimberly and Meghan of Holly Springs, North Carolina, Erika and Noelle of Huntersville, North Carolina, and Mariah and Shavaun of Cary, North Carolina; five great grandchildren Paul, Luke, Mark, Adeline and Clara. Margaret is also survived by her siblings Mary, James, Jeremiah, Kathy, Theresa, Bill, Vincent, David, Michael and many nieces and nephews.
Arrangements entrusted to O.B. Davis Funeral Homes in Port Jefferson Station. Visitation will be held Tuesday, March 2 from 9 to 10 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial at 10:45 a.m. at the Chapel at St. Charles, 200 Belle Terre Road, Port Jefferson. Interment to follow at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.
The funeral Mass will be live streamed via Tribucast. Copy and paste the following link into your web browser to view the Mass. https://client.tribucast.com/tcid/80833180
In lieu of flowers the family has asked that donations be made in honor of Margaret to Hope House Ministries at 1 High Street, Port Jefferson, NY, 11777.
Frederick J. Gumbus “Pop”, 97 years old of Port Jefferson, died May 9.
Nan left an incredible impact on so many, but to me, she was an unlikely friend and unforgettable mentor and confidant. Despite an age difference of some 60 years, our lives were wonderfully intertwined. We first met when she costumed me at just 10 years old as a Dickensian pickpocket for the Village of Port Jefferson’s annual Charles Dickens Festival. By chance, her son and his family had bought my childhood home which brought both of us great joy.
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