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HERALD Your Health
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Inside
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Mental Health Vol. 29 No. 30
JUlY 21 - 27, 2022
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OBITUARIES
A waiter who served up companionship Victor Morfessis, working 50 years, dies at 93 By KARINA KoVAC kkovac@liherald.com
Courtesy John McCarroll
VICtoR MoRfeSSIS DReSSeD up for St. Patrick’s Day in the 1990s.
Victor Morfessis, who was a native of Greece, lived through occupations by Italy and Germany in World War II, the Greek Civil War and a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake in 1953 before he came to the U.S. seeking any opportunities available in 1955. Leaving his hometown of Homeric, Ithaka, where he was born on Jan. 13, 1929, he followed many other Greeks who emig rated to America. “There was literally no opportunity to stay there, and that was a time
when a lot of people from that area migrated here to the United States,” Victor’s son George, 59, said, telling the story of how his father jumped a ship from Greece in New York, was discovered and deported, and then jumped ship again in Montreal to cross the border. Victor worked as a server in restaurants and diners across the metropolitan area — including the Baldwin Coach Diner — for nearly 50 years, until his death on July 3, at age 93. “He was working pretty much in the restaurant business for his entire working life,” George said. Continued on page 15
The future looks bright for Baldwin Harbor teenager By KARINA KoVAC kkovac@liherald.com
Soraiya Baksh is a 17-year-old who can do it all thanks to time management, she says. Headed to Pennsylvania State University to study for a master’s in marketing after being one of 14 members of Baldwin High School’s pilot college education program, Baksh has started her own eyelash company, helped the homeless and won numerous awards along the way. Her most recent award was Excellence in Student Activities, earned while she was part of the Nassau Community College dual enrollment program, the first
high school partnership program with NCC, which allows seniors to receive college credits while attending classes on campus. After the turmoil of the coronavirus pandemic and discovering that a few of her friends turned out not to be as genuine as she thought, Baksh said she needed a “fresh start.” She found that in the dual enrollment program. “I wanted a fresh start, somewhere I felt that I could excel and succeed, and I feel like that was definitely Nassau Community College for me,” Baksh said. There, from September last year to June this year, she attended
I
feel like I’m more confident in myself.
SoRAIYA BAKSH
Baldwin High School graduate classes with college students, and last semester was president of NCC’s Caribbean Club. “The club definitely taught me a lot of leadership skills,” she said. “In my fall semester I was the secretary, and I got to manage the social media, which worked well for me because it was more hands-on experience.” “Academic-wise, socially, I feel
like I definitely excelled, and I wouldn’t be able to do that at Baldwin High School,” Baksh said. “It really opened up my communication skills, and now I feel like I’m more confident myself. I have better leadership skills and communication skills. So I feel like I’m so thankful for that.” In the prog ram she accrued 36 college credits, which
means she will enter Penn State as a sophomore. The program felt right for her, instead of high school, in part due to the pandemic. Baksh was a sophomore when Covid-19 hit, and when it was time to start her junior year, she said, “It wasn’t the same. I felt better learning virtually, because there was Continued on page 11