USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 88
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 88
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At Brookhaven, on September 1, 1922, Louis A. Lukert was married to Leola L. Newey, a daughter of Samuel and Lillian (Lamb) Newey of that place. The children of this marriage are: I. L. Boyd, who was born at Moriches in August, 1923. After gradu- ating from the Center Moriches High School and the Farragut Military Academy, he entered Brown University at Providence, Rhode Island, but inter- rupted his studies to serve our country in World War II. Enlisting in the United States Naval Reserve, Boyd Lukert was commissioned an ensign and later won promotion to the rank of lieutenant junior grade. Since the conclusion of the war, Lieutenant Lukert has resumed his studies at Brown. 2. Ronald A., born at Moriches in February, 1926. He is a graduate of the Center Moriches High School and was a student at Amherst College when the call of duty in World War II led him to enlist in the United States Army.
V. William Sucks
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LOUIS RAMO-Well-trained in the academic knowledge necessary in the field of pharmacy and possessing many years of practical experience in the pharmaceutical trade, Mr. Louis Ramo brought a valuable service to the city when he opened his phar- niacy in Farmingdale in 1934. Mr. Ramo, son of Peter and Lena (Abruzzo) Ramo, natives of Brooklyn, was born in Brooklyn August 24, 1908. He received his formal education in the public schools of Brooklyn and Rockville Centre, graduating from South Side High School in 1926.
Deciding upon a career in pharmacy he matriculated at Columbia University and received his degree as Graduate in Pharmacy in 1930. This period of study was followed by eight years with the Long Beach Pharmacy at Long Beach and four years with the Kelso Pharmacy at Merrick. Then Mr. Ramo, under his own name, founded his present pharmacy as an agency of the Whalen Drug Company where he has developed a reliable business now employing five people.
In community life Mr. Ramo attends the Roman Catholic church and is a member of the Rotary Club. He is a sportsman, enjoying fishing as a hobby.
In July, 1937, Louis Ramo married Edith Zima, daughter of Emil and May (Kritl) Zima of Merrick.
R. WILLIAM SEMKE was the son of a farmer, and before he attained his majority, was the manager of a market. Judging by his early success, doubtless Mr. Semke would have had a reasonably lucrative business career if he had continued in the family trade, but he was both an ambitious and an observant young man, with the courage moreover to make a venture into a new field. As a result, Mr. Semke has become one of the most successful businessmen in the South Shore area of Long Island, and a key figure in the transportation system serving a score of communities and thousands of Long Island residents.
Mr. Semke's father, John Frederick Semke, was born in Germany, and came to this country when he was fifteen years of age. After many years spent in the butcher business in Brooklyn, he moved to Hempstead in Nassau County, and satisfied the desire he had long cherished to be a farmer. John Frederick Semke, who is now dead, married Adelheid Behrje, like himself of German nativity, and also now de- ceased. Their son R. William Semke was born at Hempstead on July 30, 1897. He attended the public school at Hempstead and also learned farming and tried his hand at a number of trades, finally becom- ing a butcher and presently rising to the manager- ship of the Circle Market.
It was in the second decade of this century that the motor bus came rapidly to the fore as a modern means of transportation. Young R. William Semke saw the need of such transportation among the widely-scattered South Shore communities. Home- seekers from metropolitan New York were eagerly thronging to Nassau County, a period of great growth of population was evidently on the way, but this move- ment was restricted by the inadequacies of transpor- tation between places not directly on one of the branches of the Long Island Rail Road. In 1918 R. William Semke purchased his first bus and put it into operation between Hempstead and Rockville Centre. The public response justified his calculations, and Mr. Semke purchased additional buses and opened up other routes.
Today Mr. Semke is president of Semke Bus Lines, Inc .; Dileo Bus Lines, Inc .; and Mack Brothers Transfer Company, Inc. Under these corporate names he operates a total of twenty-eight buses, and at the present terminal and service station located on Sewell Street in Hempstead, employs thirty people. His brother Frederick Semke is treasurer of the three corporations; also another brother, Nicholas E. Semke is general manager, purchasing agent and superinten- dent of equipment. At this time Mr. Semke is direct- ing the erection of a new and improved terminal, which will also be located on Sewell Street. The post- war period will doubtless see a further extension of Semke bus service, to take care of the ever-increasing population of the South Shore villages and resorts.
Mr. Semke is an active member of the Hempstead Rotary Club. He belongs to Morton Lodge, No. 63, of the Free and Accepted Masons and also to the Con- sistory, and holds the Thirty-second Degree in Ma- sonry. His other fraternal affiliation is with Lodge, No. 1485, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He enjoys the social and recreational facilities of the Hempstead Country Club. In politics he is a member of the Republican party. In religion he is a Lutheran, and a member of the Church of the Epiph- any of that denomination. His hobbies are fishing and hunting.
On June 10, 1925, R. William Semke was married to Anna Rohdenburg, a daughter of Henry G. and Martha (Hashagen) Rohdenburg. Mrs. Semke's father for many years operated the Hempstead Pure Food Market. a very well-known and successful business establishment.
RT. REV. MONSIGNOR THOMAS F. MUR- RAY-The year 1948 was exceptionally notable in the life of the Rt. Rev. Monsignor Thomas F. Mur- ray, pastor of St. Patrick's Church, Huntington, for it marked the fortieth anniversary of his ordina- tion to the priesthood; the twenty-fourth year of his service of St. Partick's Parish, and his elevation to the rank of . Domestic Prelate by His Holiness, Pope Pius XII.
Monsignor Murray was born in Albany, New York, on July 31, 1881, the youngest of the five children of James and Mary (Heaney) Murray. His father, a stone mason, was a native of Illinois. His mother was born in New York City. The family moved to Brooklyn in 1889, where he attended St. Joseph's Parochial School (Pacific Street). Upon his graduation with honors from St. Francis High School and College, Brooklyn, he entered St. John's Diocesan Seminary in 1903 and was ordained by Bishop Charles E. McDonnell on April 25, 1908 at St. John the Baptist Church, Brooklyn. His first appointment was at St. Thomas Aquinas Church (Ninth Street), where he served as an assistant until 1916. On March 24th, of that year, he was assigned as curate to St. Patrick's Church (Kent Avenue). His first pastorate came on December 21, 1917, when he was appointed to St. Anne's Church at Brentwood, Long Island. At that same time he became also the chaplain of St. Joseph's Convent and Academy in Brentwood. Here the Most Reverend Bishop Molloy authorized him to build St. Anne's Parochial School which was completed in 1923 and opened in September of that year.
On February II, 1924, Monsignor Murray was ap- pointed to St. Patrick's, Huntington, and came to his new parish on March Ist, to become its fourth pas-
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tor, a position he has ably filled for the past twenty- four years.
A most able pastor, administrator and educator, St. Patrick's has grown greatly under his ministra- tions, in properties, buildings and services, religious and educational, rendered the parish. All this in addi- tion to spiritual growth. The parochial school had more than four hundred and fifty pupils in 1948. Indicating the appreciation of the career of Mon- signor Murray by the church, is the following letter, written about the occasion of his elevation to the rank of Domestic Prelate by Pope Pius XII, on February 3, 1948:
March 25, 1948.
Dear Monsignor Murray :
It is indeed a source of genuine gratification to announce to you that our Holy Father has graciously deigned to confer upon you the dignity of Domestic Prelate, with the title of Right Reverend Monsignor, and I am pleased to present at this time the Papal Brief of official designation.
This ecclesiastical honor is bestowed in recognition of your notable priestly zeal in promoting the sanctification of souls and of your very faithful devotion to the advancement of works of religion, education and charity.
Permit me to extend to you most cordial felicitations in recognition of this well merited distinction which you have re- ceived from the Supreine Pastor of Christendom. I desire also to express the prayerful hope that you will be favored with future years of divine blessing and aid in your priestly labors so as to realize a rich spiritual fruitage in your holy ministry and merit divine approval and reward in time and in eternity.
Sincerely yours in Christ, Thomas E. Molloy BISHOP OF BROOKLYN.
PARNELL T. QUINN-Admitted to the bar of the State of New York some fifteen years ago, Par- nell T. Quinn of Bay Shore and Brightwaters has built an enviable practice and won a high place in his profession.
Born at Cheyenne, Wyoming, on January I, 1905, Mr. Quinn is a son of the late Josegot Edward Onemi Quinn, a native of Nebraska, and his wife Julia A. (Murphy) Quinn, who is still living and resides at Bay Shore. The elder Mr. Quinn owned and operated a ranch. He died at Bay Shore in 1946. Parnell T. Quinn attended Creighton Univer- sity at Omaha, Nebraska, from which he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1925. Hav- ing decided on a career in law, he entered George- town University, Washington, D. C., where he re- ceived his Bachelor of Laws with the class of 1928. In 1931 he took his degree of Master of Laws at New York University in the City of New York. Since then he has taken postgraduate work at Co- lumbia Training School. Admitted to the New York State bar in 1932, Mr. Quinn established himself in the general practice of law at Bay Shore. For some time he has been associated with William F. Matheas, Jr., also of Bay Shore. Mr. Quinn is also a member of the Suffolk County Bar. In religion a Roman Catholic, he is a communicant of St. Pat- rick's Church.
In 1929 Parnell T. Quinn was married to Loretta Frances Nathan, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Francis Nathan. Of this marriage there are five children who were born in Brooklyn, and one born in Bay Shore. I. Gloria. 2. James J. 3. Parnell M. 4. Joseph. 5. Thomas P. 6. Lorr W.
JAMES JOSEPH MCDONOUGH-From the be- ginning of the "emergency period" in 1939 and throughout World War II, James Joseph McDonough served the nation as a special agent of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, under J. Edgar Hoover. From 1943 to 1946 he was resident agent at Mineola. Today he is in the private practice of law in the Nassau County seat and, with a partner is rapidly building a clientele and a reputation.
Mr. McDonough was born in Cold Spring Harbor, Nassau County on June 22, 1908, the son of James and Maria (Murphy) McDonough.
James Joseph McDonough was graduated from the Huntington High School in 1923 and from the Mar- quand Preparatory School, Brooklyn, in 1924. For a time he was a student at Villanova College, in Penn- sylvania, but transferred to Fordham University, from which he was graduated in 1931 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He was in the banking field as an employee of the National City Bank of New York City until he entered St. John's Law School. In 1938 he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws from St. Johns. The following April he was admitted to the New York State bar. In November, 1939, he was ap- pointed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, D. C. After service out of the head- quarters office for some months, he was transferred, successively, to Richmond, Virginia; Knoxville, Ten- nessee; Los Angeles, California; Newark, New Jer- sey, and New York City. In his final three years he was resident agent at Mineola. On January 1, 1946, he became a member of the law firm of Edwards, Froehlich and McDonough, with offices at 1501 Franklin Avenue, Mineola. His partner is Francis Bernard Froehlich (q.v.). Elvin N. Edwards, a promi- nent lawyer and former district attorney of Nassau County, who was the senior member of the firm of Edwards, Froehlich and McDonough died in July, 1946. Mr. Froehlich and Mr. McDonough are carry- ing on under the firm name.
Mr. McDonough is a member of the Nassau County Bar Association, the Society of Former Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Oyster Bay Council of the Knights of Columbus. He and his family are communicants of the Roman Catholic Church at Oyster Bay. He is a member of the Mineola-Garden City Rotary Club.
Mr. McDonough married Margaret Finnegan, daughter of James and Margaret (Waters) Finnegan, in Oyster Bay on December 22, 1940. They are the parents of a son, Michael James McDonough. Mr. and Mrs. McDonough make their home at 176 Aus- tice Street, Oyster Bay.
JACK STANISLAW-An attorney with an exten- sive practice, Jack Stanislaw of Smithtown Branch is also an influential Republican party official who is active in educational work and in the Boy Scout movement.
Mr. Stanislaw was born in New York City on July 25, 1905, the son of the late Ike and Betty (Daron) Stanislaw. His father was a real estate operator. Mr. Stanislaw was brought to Long Island by his parents when he was seven years old. He was educated in the public schools of Far Rockaway, being graduated from the Far Rockaway High School, and later, Columbia University. He received the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Laws from the university. For two years he did research work at Long Island College Hospital. Ad- mitted to the bar in March, 1931, Mr. Stanislaw be- came associated with the law firm of Paskus, Gordon and Hyman of 2 Rector Street, New York City. He later became a partner of this firm. On December
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31, 1945, he resigned to come to Long Island and open his own office on Main Street, Smithtown Branch, where he has since remained.
Mr. Stanislaw represents the Town of Smithtown on the Suffolk County Republican Committee. He is a member of the board of trustees of the St. James Public School and of the executive board of the Suffolk County Council, Boy Scouts of America. He is also a member of the St. James Fire Department. Politically, he is affiliated with the National Republican Club and the Suffolk County Republican Club, aside from the county committee. Professionally, he be- longs to the Suffolk County and the New York State bar associations and is, in addition, a member of the Smithtown Branch Chamber of Commerce, the Stony Brook Yacht Club and the Lone Star Boat Club. Fishing, boating and hunting are his favorite recrea- tions. From 1928 to 1932, Mr. Stanislaw was a mem- ber of the United States Navy Air Reserve, in which he attained the rank of ensign.
He married Margaret Hawthorne in New York City on October 31, 1936. They are the parents of three children: Paul, Peter and John Stanislaw. The family makes its home in St. James and attends the Roman Catholic Church of Saints Philip and James.
WILLIAM J. WELDEN-A two-way contribu- tion to the continued growth and prosperity of Glen Cove is being made by William J. Welden-for he is Commissioner of Public Safety of that community and a successful operator, in association with Freder- ick Bond, in the electrical contracting business. Mr. Welden has twice held the office of Public Safety Commissioner and one was City Clerk of Glen Cove. He is a veteran of World War I and is active in veterans' work.
Commissioner Welden was born in Glen Cove on July 29, 1895, the son of the late William J. and Sarah (Johnson) Welden, the former a native of Pennsylvania who was a barber in Glen Cove, the lat- ter also a native of that city. Educated in the Glen Cove public schools, the Friends Academy, Columbia University and Pratt Institute, William J. Welden was a first sergeant with the First Division Corps of Engi- neers in the Army Expeditionary Forces in France for twenty-eight months during the course of and fol- lowing World War I.
On being discharged, he entered the engineering field at home. For several years he was associated with William H. Seaman, County Engineer of Nassau County. In 1920 Mr. Welden became City Clerk of Glen Cove and served through 1921. From 1922 to 1926 he served his first term as Commissioner of Public Safety. The next seven years he was associated with the Title Guarantee and Trust Company of Jamaica.
Resigning the Jamaica position, he became manager of the New York-Suffolk Title Company in Mineola, and this post he held for four years. He was then manager of the law office of Russell and Hurley in Mineola until 1941. From 1942 to 1945 he was with the Sperry Gyroscope Company, serving in the treas- urer's office, at Lake Success. On January 1, 1944, Mr. Welden again took office as Commissioner of Public Safety in Glen Cove and in 1945 was re-elected to a term ending in 1947. It was in 1945 that he formed the partnership with Mr. Bond and together they operate the flourishing electrical contracting business. Mr. Welden is a member of the J. E. Dona- hue Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
On January 28, 1922, Mr. Welden married Emma Voss, daughter of Edward and Emma (Jensen) Voss of Glen Cove. The Weldens have a daughter, Dorothy May, born May 5, 1932.
MRS. KATHERINE D. SHEEHAN, one of Long Island's best known real estate operators, has made a substantial contribution to the growth and develop- ment of Port Washington and the surrounding area. Since 1936, she has actively headed the business founded by her late husband, William Francis Shee- han.
Mrs. Sheehan was born at Hudson, New York, the daughter of James and Mary (Healy) McLoughlin, the former a manufacturer of woolen goods at Troy, New York. Mrs. Sheehan was educated at the Con- vent of the Sacred Heart, Kenwood, Albany, New York, from which she was graduated in 1899; she married William Francis Sheehan in June 1906, at Troy, New York. Mr. Sheehan was a graduate of Troy Academy, attended Union College, at Schenec- tady, and was a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity .. He was a veteran of the Spanish-American War, and' a member of the Troy Citizens' Corps.
On June. 15, 1921, Mr. Sheehan established the William F. Sheehan Real Estate Agency in Port Washington, in which Mrs. Sheehan soon became ac- tive. By working together they made their firm one of the best known in this field in the Port Washing- ton area. Indicative of the wide-spread influence of the firm in the community is the noteworthy fact that in the second year of his career in Port Washington, Mr. Sheehan sold one million dollars worth of pro- perty. Mr. Sheehan played an important part in 1928 in the formation of the Port Washington Chamber of Commerce. At the beginning of his career in real estate in Port Washington, Mr. Sheehan had exclusive sale of the Port Washington Park Development. He was president and manager of Manhasset Bay Estates, Inc., for several years up to the time of his illness in 1936.
Since Mr. Sheehan's illness Mrs. Sheehan has managed the business. Mr. Sheehan died January 10, 1945, and Mrs. Sheehan has continued to main- tain the integrity of his name in the real estate world. Mrs. Sheehan has three daughters: Mrs. Theodore Maynard, Mrs. Ralph Hollingsworth Smith, and Rosemary Michael Sheehan.
THOMAS A. FLEMING, D. O .- A widely known physician of Amityville, Dr. Thomas A. Fleming has contributed much toward the growth and develop- ment of the medical profession in this region. A graduate of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathy, he has since graduation distinguished himself as an osteopathic physician, gaining an excellent reputation for his work with a host of loyal and satisfied patients. He is married and is a member of and surgeon for the Amityville Fire Department.
A. MERRITT JONES-Distinguished as the old- est school official in Suffolk County in point of serv- ice, A. Merritt Jones, District Superintendent of the Third Supervisory District of Suffolk County Schools, has spent the major part of his professional career as an educator on eastern Long Island.
Born on December II, 1886, at Lamson, New York, a son of J. V. and Nettie A. (Thompson) Jones, A. Merritt Jones spent most of his youth in upper New York State. He was graduated from
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Phoenix High School in Phoenix, New York, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Syracuse University in 1914. During an intermission period between his high school and college days, Mr. Jones began teaching school at Springs, New York, begin- ning in 1907. Later he was an instructor at a number of Long Island schools in Amagansett, Sag Harbor, Mattituck and Smithtown Branch. With more than a quarter of a century of teaching experience behind him, Mr. Jones was appointed District Superintend- ent in May 1933, with headquarters at Huntington.
Prominent in county and state educational circles, Mr. Jones is a former president of the Suffolk County Schoolman's Council, and belongs to the Suffolk County School Executives, Third Supervising Teach- ers Association, New York Teachers Association and the National Education Association. He is a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Williamson, New York. By faith, Mr. Jones is a Methodist, and worships in the Methodist Church of Huntington. In his youth, he was an outstanding athlete, and today retains an ardent interest in the various sports, including baseball, tennis, golf and bowling. Last summer he shot a 79 in golf.
On October 31, 1910, he married Lucia Parsons of Springs, New York. A daughter of J. Ward and Mary Alice (Miller) Parsons, Mrs. Jones is a de- scendant of an early Colonial family who settled in New York States in 1640. The Joneses have become the parents of eight children: I. Jeanette, a gradu- ate of State Teachers College of Albany, and the wife of Harold J. Storey of Albany. 2. Lloyd, a grad- uate of State Teachers College. 3. Kathryn, an alumna of Houghton College, who died in 1940. 4. Colbert, a graduate of Clarkson College of Technol- ogy, served in the United States Navy in World War II. He is an engineer with the Crucible Steel Company in Syracuse. New York. 5. Lola, who died in infancy. 6. Merwin, also a graduate of Clark- son College of Technology, entered the United States Army as a private in World War II and was dis- charged as a captain of the Combat Engineers. He saw service in ten foreign countries. 7. Ruth, an alumna of Cornell University, is the wife of Emil Wolff and resides at Northport. 8. Eunice, a graduate of State Teachers College at Fredonia, New York. There are eight grandchildren: Harold Storey, Jr., and William Storey; Colbert Jones, Jr., and his sister, Judith; Karen, Eric and Barbara Jones, children of the Merwin Joneses, and Patricia Wolff.
Recently Mr. Jones has built a home, Marevista, on Sodus Bay Heights, Sodus Point, New York, where he and Mrs. Jones plan to live upon his re- tirement from active work in 1950.
ALAN E. GRATHWOHL was born in Cutchogue on May 3, 1905, the son of the late Edward E. and Lettie May (Corwin) Grathwohl. His father, who died December 24, 1924, was also a native of Cutch- ogue. His trade was that of blacksmith. His own father, Jacob Grathwohl, was born in Germany, but came to the United States, settling in Cutchogue, in his boyhood. He became a prosperous farmer. Alan Grathwohl's mother was born in the town of Southold, the daughter of Oliver Corwin and a des- cendant of earlier settlers in the area. Mrs. Grath- wohl, born in 1871, makes her home in Cutchogue.
Alan Grathwohl attended Mattituck High School after completing his elementary school education in Cutchogue. After serving an apprenticeship under the late Mr. Tuthill, Mr. Grathwohl became a journey-
man in the plumbing and heating field, and continued the association for the next twenty-one years. In 1942 he established his present business, under the name of Alan E. Grathwohl, Plumbing and Heating, in which he employs seven men and through which he has handled numerous private, commercial and pub- lic contracts in all parts of the county.
Mr. Grathwohl is a member of the Cutchogue Chamber of Commerce, the Suffolk County Associa- tion of Master Plumbers, the National Association of Master Plumbers, and of the Presbyterian Church of Cutchogue. He is a charter member, former cap- tain and is now trustee of the Cutchogue Fire De- partment.
He married Alice Griffing of New York City and Greenport in the old Grathwohl homestead in Cutch- ogue on November 5, 1929. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Grathwohl: Alan Hewlett, on November 26, 1934, and Richard Warren, on No- vember 10, 1939.
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