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Image provided by: Suffolk Cooperative Library System
f_„C S ___ ■\— > r > J 2 . BEACON NEWSPAPER, February JL n i 1 ( T h e r e ’s n o t Babylon \ m u c h n e w s N C W S \ week...late jjty j January seem s & / to be a time that I f M i i Q P P many of us just i v i u o c want to hibernate by Mary \ after the holidays. ' ' \ Even the stores I Gallagher0! are em p ty as people realize just how much th e y sp e n t in December and decide to save some money for a change. In recent years, even * in nice weather, children are busy indoors with their electronics: telephoning, twittering, texting, and playing with the computer. Years ago, when many -mothers were hom e during the day instead of working outside the home, children were encouraged to go out and play even in the midst o f winter. In the 40s, 50s, and 60s the weather pattern was definitely colder.. Snowfalls of a foot or more were a regular occurrence, fust as today, when the snowflakes started to fall, the children watched in fascination, especially if the storm began during a school day. But while todays students are likely as not to show up at school in shorts and short-sleeved shirts in the midst of winter, school children then were bundled up tight against the cold. Have you ever seen the holiday classic movie, A Christmas Story ? If so, you have some idea of the torture that children (and their parents) went through to prepare for going outside, even if you were just going to school on the bus. In the film, Ralphie and his kid brother • were bundled up tight by their frazzled mother. • • First, the children were dressed with warm (som etim es long) underwear. Then came the shirts and pants (if you were a girl, you often wore pants as well as \ sk'irt o f dress). Then a good, heavy sweater, and finally you donned your snow suit. The snow suit was so thick that it could almost stand upright even when there was no child inside. A scarf was wrapped around your neck and throat before the snowsuit jacket was zipped or snapped closed. Then it would become obvious that someone had forgotten to include mittens. The jacket Would come oft and the search for the mittens would begin. Usually they were attached to a piece of cord or elastic that was long enough to reach from the bottom of one sleeve cuff, across the back or the neck, and down through the other sleeve so that the mittens or gloves dangled just below the hands. Thé mittens were fastened to the string or elastic with special snaps or large safety pins, the idea being that if they were fastened this way, no mittens would be lost. (A foolish hope on the part of the parents.) No sooner than it was finally time to put on the jacket again, the child would announce that they had to go to the bathroom and everything would have to be undone to allow the child to use the toilet. At the end of a half hour (on, a .good ; day, and depending how.many children * t here were tp Suit up,) it was time to: send the kids out to play in the snow. Older kids would build snow forts and have huge snow ball battles, while the younger brothers and sisters would plead to be allowed to play or ask their siblings to take them for a ride on the wooden sleigh. 4, 2010 The South Shore has few hills for sledding, the best one locally being the Montauk Highway overpass of the Robert Moses Causeway. The problem there was the competition for space. Kids from Babylon and the surrounding areas battled with the kids from Islip to find a suitably snow-covered space. Then you had to worry that you couldn’t stop the sled fast enough to avoid the traffic on the causeway access roads. Add to that the lack of parking along the Causeway and you had to constantly try to avoid conflicts. The area where large num b e rs of children did not cause a problem was skating on Argyle Lake. Most years, by the beginning of January, the lake and two of the nearby ponds were frozen. If we were lucky, the ice was nice and smooth. Tiny children generally used the small pond near the playground (usually referred to as the Duck Pond). This little pond was the first to freeze and was shallow enough that even if a child fell through the ice they could be easily rescued. The big lake however was another problem. Since my friends and I lived nearby and played at the lake year-round, we knew the areas where it was usually safe to skate. The east side of the lake was usually the least frozen, and it was considered a real treat if the lake w a s. frozen enough for you to climb onto the Big Island (slightly east o f the center of the lake) and the Little Island (in the northwest corner of the lake). Half the time, you could get to the Little Island, but getting to the Big Island was relatively rare. At one point in the late 50s, a pair : o f boys who lived nearby, tried to get to the Big Island and ended up stranded on a small floating-piece ôf ice. While all on shore watched with bated breath, the Babylon Fire Department arrived with ladders and lines and began to make their way toward the boys. The crowd was so silent th^t you could hear both boys reciting the Lord’s Prayer from the shore. The rescue went well and everyone got home safely. But Argyle Lake had numerous areas- where the current hidden by the ice made the ice much more treacherous. This was especially true alongside the Trolley Line Road section of the lake. One winter day, while crowds of people skated on the southwest section of the'lake, five sisters unfamiliar with the currents, decided'to make their way home and crossed the lake heading for Trolly Line Road. The lice gave way and all five sisters plunged into the freezing waters and disappeared beneath the ice. Only the oldest, 12-year- old, managed to find her way to the surface and was saved. In my lifetime, this is the greatest tragedy that the Village of Babylon has ever seen. But w h e ther it’s caused by global w a rm ing or a periodic shift in the weather, I can count on one hand the number of times Argyle Lake has frozen enough for skating in the past couple of. decades. Snowfalls with significant accumulation have been relatively rare in the past twenty or thirty years. Both parents work, and children communicate with their friends electronically instead of playing together. It’s a new age, but I for one am delighted to have those happy memories of Babylon winters long ago. Reflections contest winners... The Babylon School D istrict’s B o a rd of E d u c a tion, PTA/PTSA members, and administrative team announce that five district students have been commended for the creative projects they produced for the 2009- 2010 PTA R e flections C o n test. These pieces were selected from the numerous submissions made to the annual contest and recognized as Suffolk County Award of Excellence winners. , Each o f the projects will now move on to the next level o f the competition - the state level of judging. This year’s submissions were based on the theme Beauty Is... Congratulations to the following students: Avery Bzdyk (Babylon High School), Musical Composition; M e g h a n F l a u g h e r (B a b y l o n Elem e n tary School), Literature; P a tr icia M c G u inness (B a b y lon Memorial Grade School), Literature; M a tth e w M i n i c o z z i .(B a b y lon E l e m e n t a r y S c h o o l) , M u s ical C o m p o s itio n ; Em m a S c h u b a r t (Babylon Memorial Grade School), Musical Composition. Nancy C. Keating and Thomas A. Stock to wed Nancy C. Keating of Babylon and Thomas A. Stock of Manorville have announced their engagement. The couple, both poets, will wed in October of this year. M s. K e a ting, w h o w o r k s fo r S u f f o l k County, is a graduate of Bucknell University a n d th e U n i v e r s it y o f M i n n e s o t a . M r. Stock, a retired high- school science teacher, graduated from Canisius College, a n d th e State University o f New York at Buffalo. Ms. K e a ting is the d a u g h ter o f th e late P a trick C. and Faith D. Keating. Before his retirem ent, her father was a reinsurance executive; he was active in the local painting community and the St. Joseph’s Church choir. Her mother retired as the assistant director of the West Islip Public Library. L o cal businessm a n helps save BVAC c o n certs Since 2005, the Babylon Village Arts Council, a local community not-for-profit group, has presented free concerts on the Second Thursday of each month at Astoria Federal Savings Bank. With the economic woes facing many art organizations, it was decided that the January concert would not be offered this year.' Peter Devore, a local Babylon Village resident and active BVAC member, wasnot content with this decision, however. Devore stepped up and donated $400 towards the January concert. The January concert, featuring ‘Barnaby Bright’, a folk music duo from Brooklyn, was a huge success with more than 70 residents enjoying the music on a cold winter night. Without the generosity of Astoria Federal Savings Bank for the unusual venue and grants from various government sources, these music-filled evenings would not be m ade possible. Community support is a vital necessity for the arts. Increasing membership and sponsorship opportunities aid in BVAC’s mission to provide the arts to the public. If interested in becoming a member, visit our website at www. babylonvillagearts.org and download an application or contact Rose Norman at 631.669.1810. Matthew Happ ofW.I. promoted to PFC Matthew Happ from West Islip, and serving with Company B, 1 -69th Infantry is promoted to the rank of Private 1st Class. Maj. Gen. Joseph J. Taluto, the Adjutant G e n eral for the State of New York, announces the promotiön of meihbeftf of the New York Army National Guard in recognition of their capability for additional responsibility and leadership. Army National Guard promotions are based on overall performance, attitude, leadership ability, and developm ent ’{Jofohtial.
