Bethpage-Newsgram_1941-02-14

              Grumman Dance Scheduled for Saturday, March 29th
See Page 4 \EWSGRAM Vol. 1 No. 10 BETHPAGE, NEW YORK— FRIDAY, FEB. 14, 1941 1.50 per Year
FRANCIS FOX GETS HERO FUNERAL
HONOR FOUNDERS AT
P.-T. A. SESSION
The pioneers of present Parent-
Teacher Associations were honored
at the program presented at the
Bethpage School Thursday night.
Opening the Founders' Day pro-gram
was the pageant in which
eight members of the association
lighted candles from a main taper,
reading in turn the aims and ob-jectives
of the association. Mrs.
Prank N. Wechtel of Sea Cliff, the
county director of Northern Nassau
units, was the guest speaker.
She called the members af the
P.-T. A. one of the greatest factors
in American life with a roll call
which now has passed the 2,500,000
mark.
!Mrs. iPrederick Kramer, program
chairman, preisenited the speaker
with a boutiuet of carnations-anti
lilies on behalf of the association.
Past presidents were given cor-sages
in honor of past services to
the association. A candled birthday
cake with each member present
lighting a taper, concluded the pro-gram.
Mrs. Kramer reported on the
conference with the school faculty
on the part the association will
play in furnishing the library now
being installed within the building.
The final decision was shelved un-tl
the March meeting. One new
memlber, Mrs. Anthony Messina,
was welcomed into the group. Miss
Prances Jorgensen received the
weekly award in the miscellaneous
club sponsored by the group.
Taking part In the pageant were
Mrs. Henry Ebisch, Mrs. Henry
Strauber, Mrs. John GIfford, Mrs.
Emre Altman, Mrs. Frederick Ben-kert,
Mrs. Emma Kasainger and the
Misses Mary Risley and Geraldine
Martin. Alfred LlCasusI was at the
piano. Mrs. William Michaels was
chairman of refreshments, and Mrs.
Leslie Johnson, president, conduct-ed
the meeting.
Plan Community Award
For Fred Kramer
John J. GIfford of Broadway has
suggested a "community award
fund," to be maintained by small
contributions made by all members
of this community, both young and
old.
Mr. GIfford believes that the res-idents
of Bethpage would be very
much Interested in presenting the
first plaque of honor to Fred Kra-mer
for his brave action in the re-cent
tiagedj.
BULLETIN!
The iNewsgram has been re-quested
to advise on-lookers
who turn out at a fire or emer-gency,
that they are required
to stand back, out of the way
of the firemen. William De-
Fanis, fire commissioner and
captain of Company No. 1, of
the Bethpage Fire Department,
had to warn several persons to
stay clear of the firemen's way
last Saturday when the depart-ment
was called out on the
drowning of Francis Fox.
Avoid being served with a
summons. Qbey the law!
BALDWIN BURNS
CHimCH BONDS
The memlbers of the congrega-tion
of St. Paul's Lutheran Church
off Bethpage burned "$1200 in bonds
at the regular quarterly congrega-tional
meeting Thursday evening.
About 17 years ago these bonds
were issued to pay for construction
of the church and during the last
few years all the bonds have been
redeemed.
George Baldwin, who has been
president of the church council for
the past 16 years, officiated at the
ceremony. Since Mr. Baldwin's re-tirement,
his brother, Joseph Bald-win,
has been president of the
council.
BETHPAGE FIREIUEN
TO ADMIT EIGHT
The books of the Bethpage Fire
Department will be opened for the
admission of eight new members,
following authorization granted at
the meeting of the board of fire
commissioners, held Friday eve-ning,
at the firehouse.
Chief Sal Greco declared that no
new members have been accepted
for six years. A waiting list will
be studied and a sample applica-tion
made up at the next meeting
of the department to be held on
Marcr 3rd.
Acting on the recommendation of
the vamps, the board, headed by
Mathlas Rumscho, agreed to in-clude
appropriations for the re-painting
and repairing of the fire-house
in its next budget, which will
be made up in August. Tiie board
also discussed creation of an in-active
list to enable older firemen
to retain their status without hav-ing
to report to fires. This will be
considered at the department ses-sion.
Chief Greco reported that 27 men
have yet to have their pictures
taken for the special shield en-i
abling them to enter the Grumman
Aircraft plant in the event of an
emergency. The chief is making
special arrangements for tre men.
New Books Listed at
Bethpage Library
•Mrs. Mathilda Fredericks, libra-rian
of the Bethpage Library, an-nounces
the following new books
are available at this time: "Thee,
Hannah," by Marguerite dlAngeli;
"Peter the Wanderlust," Ursula
MoWIlliams; "Forty Acres," Mary
Urmston; "Men Without Fear,"
John Flaherty; "River Boy," Proud-fit;
"The Silent Drum," Swanson;
"No Stone Unturned," Lawrence;
"Murder Out of Turn," F. R, Lock-ridge;
"Sue Barton, Superintend-ent,"
H. D. Boylston; "How Dear
to My Heart," Mary Margaret Mc-
Brlde; "The Bishop's Crime," H. C.
Bailey; "Death at the Helm," H.
Rhode; "Spring Harvest," P. Dorn.
Also, "Industrial Sheet Metal
Drawing," J. H. Paul; "How to
Read Aircraft Blueprints," A. A.
Owens; ")Random Harvest," and
"Nurses Are People," Hancock;
"iHls Wife, the Doctor," McCord;
"Entertaining Is Fun," Dorothy
Draper, and "Claudia and David,"
Ros« Francken.
Old Time Box Luncheon
Planned by Legion Post
The Archie McCord Post of the
American Legion will sponsor an
old fashioned box social on Wash-ington's
birthday, February 22.
The Leglonalres invite everyone
to take part in what will probably
be the last interesting social event
of the season.
Ladies are requested to disguise
their boxes well, and not to "tip
off" more than two favorite swains
on how to Identify them.
Questionaires Mailed to
Ten Bethpage Men
Draft questionaires were mailed
to ten Bethpage men this week.
They are: John D. LeidI, Spruce
A.venue; Earl A. Burleson, Broad-way;
Louis D. Spina, Washington
Street; Harold F. Dieterle, Wester-ly
Avenue; Thomas P. Trifaro,
Railroad Avenue; Henry C. Flagg,
Fourtr Street; Arnold I. Martin,
Sheridan Avenue; Frank Drinkwa-ter,
Central Avenue; John J. Man-cuso,
Alice Court; Norman F. Deu-bel,
Central Avenue.
BOY SCOUT WEEK
CELEBRATED
Bethpage Boy Scouts, as well as
scouts of other communities of the
county and nation, celebrated Boy
Scout Week.
The scouts in our community
fiaVe worked hard on their window
display. Although saddened by the
loss of a member of their organ-ization
who gave his life that an-other
might live, the Bethpage Boy
Scouts took first prize for the best
window display of handicraft.
All the scouts in Nassau County
have competed in the contest. The
show window of Troop 118 is lo-cated
opposite the Bethpage rail-road
station. All work in the win-dow
is that of local scouts.
The following is a list of scouts
(Continued on Page 5
Bethpage Boy Scout
Gets Inspectors Funeral
Francis Fox, 13-year-old Scout, drowned on Saturday
while attempting to rescue his pal, Edwin Okula, 8, in a rain-filled
culvert on Powell's Road.
A full inspector's funeral, usually reserved for police
heroes, was given the Fox boy. This was the first such fune-ral
ever given to any person outside of the Police Depart-
•ment or County government.
Fox was on his way to the
headquarters of his Troop No.
118, when he responded to
cries for help. Two young-sters
said that Edward Okula
had fallen into the culvert.
Fox plunged into the icy wa-ters
but was overcome by the
cold water before he could ef-fect
a rescue.
Edward had been sailing a toy
boat in the culvert, swollen to a
depth of 15 feet by the heavy rain
of last Friday. Slipping on the ice-rimmed
edge of the pool,- he fell
Into the water.
As both boys struggled In the
water, Frederick Kramer, 18, of
Concord Street, assistant scout-master
of Troop 118, who was pass-ing
in his car, went to the rescue.
Meanwhile, Harold Auer, also a
member of the scout troop, ran to
a nearby house to summon the
Bethpage Fire Department. When
the vamps arrived, both boys had
been dragged from the water. Fire-men
and volunteers worked over
Francis without avail, but Okula
was revived. After treatment for
exposure by Dr. Louis Luttge, he
was taken home and put to bed.
Francis was a high school stu-dent,
as were the other younger
boys. The boys had been particu-larly
active in work for Boy Scout
Week, which opened Sunday.
High praise of Kramer came
from F. Howard Covey, Nassau
County Scout executive.
"He's the kind of fellow who
will jump right in and do a job,"
said Covey, "so I'm really not sur-prised
that he did. He Is a real up-standing
young fellow."
Police Commissioner Abram W.
Skldmore also praised young Kra-mer
and added that S'couts In the
county had given the police valu-able
help at various times in comb-ing
woods. In Investigations and
accidents.
J. Russel Sprague, county exec-utive,
heard of the tragedy soon
after it had occurred and called
the commissioner. He ordered Iiim
to consult the father ol the dead
(Continued on Pac« 2)
GIRL SCOUT TROOP
PLANS ACTIVITIES
The Senior Girl Scouts of Beth-page
have planned a full schedule
for the future. The girls expect to
do the following things: Visit the
police department, Seaford Museum
and visit Victor Miller, who will
give them information In amateur
radio broadcasting. The girls also
expect to attend the Mineola Roller
Skating Rink once a month; to
spend one evening each month sew-ing
on a Red Cross layette project.
Other tentative plans are to visit
the Tiffany Estate and to attend a
radio broadcast of the Truth and
Consequences program. The girls
exipect to spend the last meeting
of each month preparing handicraft
projects.
The Intermediate Girl S'couts
also have future plans, which in-clude
undertaking a study of pho-tography.
The girls plan to take a
hike soon, in order to relp the Ten-derfoot
pass their outdoor skill
tests. The Intermediates expect to
receive approximately 65 merit
badges.
The Intermediate and Senior
Girl Scouts expect to entertain the
Boy Scouts at a Valentine party,
Februai-y 20th, at Bethpage School.