Bethpage-Tribune_1979-02-22

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PLAINVIEW PLAINEDGE SEAFORD
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VOL. 13 NO. 16 Thursday, February 22, 1979 10 cents per copy
A n # M.m • I 1 £~**M.% Community Service A Distinguished Citizen T , T .
s- i * AT*, i * Leo s Lines Celebrates A Birthday
William Ahern on bicycle at corner of Stewart Avenue and Baldwin Place, Bethpage, circa 1915.
Photo courtesy of Nassau County Historical Museum
Last Saturday, several dozen
friends and relatives gathered to
wish a happy 90th birthday to
William John Ahern, Bethpage's
oldest native and the man most
responsible for renaming Central
Park to Bethpage. While
reaching the age of 90 is quite an
achievement for any man, for
Mr. Ahern it is all the more
impressive because it marks 90
years of devotion to family,
community and profession that
few people can boast of at any
Bill Ahern was born in
February 1889, when Grover
Cleveland was President of the
United States and the "Blizzard
of '88" less than a year past. He
was raised in Plainedge, moving
to Bethpage (then Central Park)
with his mother about 1900. He
still lives in the same house as he
did then, at the corner of Central
and Seaman Avenues.
As soon as he was old enough,
William Ahern began taking an
active part in community affairs.
One of the original members of
the Fire Department, he joined in
1910, and remained active long
enough to see three of his sons
join. A devout Roman Catholic,
Mr Ahern was a leader in the
movement to establish St. Martin
of Tours Church in 1924, and since
been active in parish Holy Name
and St. Vincent de Paul Societies,
in addition, he served on the local
Board of Education between 1932
and 1941
LED EFFORT TO CHANGE
NAME OF TOWN
Ahern's greatest service to
;Bethpage occurred in 1936, when
he spearheaded the drive to have
the name of Central Park
changed to Bethpage. He cir­culated
petitions and carried on a
vigorous letter campaign with
government officials, including
Robert Moses, before permission
for the change was granted.
When it was, in October, 1936, Mr.
Ahern knew that his job was only
half over; he realized that in
order to grow, Bethpage needed a
new economic base to com­plement
its new image. With this
in mind, he was one of the village
men who convinced the Grum­man
Aircraft Company to move
its operations to Bethpage, also in
1936. His foresight resulted in
bringing thousands of jobs to
Bethpage over a period of 40
years. Few people have done as
much for their home town as
William Ahern has for Bethpage.
LIFETIME OF BANKING
Mr. Ahern's professional
history is no less distinguished
than his public service record. He
began his chosen career of
banking in 1905, as a messenger
for the Mechanic Bank of
Brooklyn. In 1908, at age 19,
joined the National Bank of
Brooklyn, working in its trust
department. lie also attended
classes at the American Institute
of Banking, graduating in IMS.
By 1928, when the National Bank
merged into the Bank of the
Manhattan Co. (now the Chase-
Manhattan Bank), he had risen to
the post of Assistant Vice
President. In 1946 he was again
promoted, to full Vice President
in charge of all the bank's
Brooklyn offices.
Ahern retired from this
position in December of 1953, at
the age of 64. He still remained
active in banking, however, as a
trustee of the King's County
Savings Bank. In 1955, after
working 50 years, he came out of
retirement to become the
President of the American Trust
Company. In 1957 he moved to the
King's County Trust Company,
serving as Vice President until
1964 when he again retired, at age
75, after a career spanning 59
years.
Through these years he was
working in Brooklyn, Mr. Ahern
was active in many organizations
there, including the Bankers
Club, Rotary, the Chamber of
Commerce, the St. Patrick's
Society and the Montauk Club. He
served as President of the
Bankers' Forum and Alumni
Association, and Treasurer of the
New York State Bankers
Association. Mr. Ahern also
served as a trustee of the Roman
Catholic Orphan Asylum of
Brooklyn, and director of the
Brooklyn Red Cross Fund Drive.
Heading over these ac­complishments,
one might get
{Continued on Page 5}
Shriners at their work.
We have seen them parade in
hundreds of cities and villages
around the nation. We have
marvelled at their exotic
costumes; now Indian chief
headdresses; now turbaned
heads and red Fez headgear like
near Easterners from far across
the seas. They might be a
varicolored uniformed corps or a
group of camel riders, clowns
and horseback riders, a bearded
oriental looking military band, or
Zouaves, reminiscent of a famous
civil war regiment from the
north, conveying a French or
Near East atmosphere-but
wherever they march they cause
a sensation and we, the ob­servers,
wonder-who are those
middle aged and older men
playing at soldier and clown or
ornately-clad potentates and
having the time of their lives in
the doing.
They are a fun organization,
these men-these Shriners as they
call themselves and they come
from every walk of life; ex
presidents like F.D.R., Truman,
Harding and former V.P. Hubert
Humphrey, Governor Wallace;
Judges, Doctors, Lawyers and
businessmen and actors like Roy
Rogers, John Wayne and the late
.Harold Lloyd and plain folk like
you and me ... and they have one
thing in common outside their
parades and fun-making-and
that is their high purpose.
Their origins go back to the last
quarter of the 19th century, the
brainchild of two Masons; Dr.
Walter M. Fleming and actor
William J. Florence; who, as part
of a group of 12 Masons, used to
gather at a well known New York
restaurant for an evening out
together. Florence conceived the
idea after attending an Arabian
entertainment while visiting
France and Dr. Fleming
developed the idea into a ritual
and structure. Their formula
stressed good fellowship and fun,
rather than serious business;
with a membership exclusively of
Masons and at their first meeting
in Sept. of 1872; the Ancient
Arabic Order of the Nobles of the
Mystic Shrine was instituted.
There were, of course, rules to be
set up and a membership to be
recruited and so it was decided
that although one was a Mason
and a member in good standing of
a Masonic Temple, many years
of having served the ideals of the
Masonic Fraternity became the
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