_______ Lynbrook/east rockaway ______
COMMUNITY UPDATE Infections as of June 22
3,303
Infections as of June 15 3,297
HERALD Also serving Bay Park
Pull Out $1.00
VOL. 28 NO. 26
Schools are ‘no place for hate’
ERHS seniors earn awards
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JUNE 24 - 30, 2021
Strongbox Theater to come to E.R. By MIKE SMOLLINS msmollins@liherald.com
Mike Smollins/Herald
TONY LEONE SAID it was a dream realized to purchase the former East Rockaway National Bank and Trust Company building, which he plans to convert into the Strongbox Theater. Above, Leone inside an old bank vault that he said he might keep after the renovations.
To ny L e o n e c a n s t i l l remember the moment he fell in love with theater. After landing a few bit parts in plays as a college student at SUNY Buffalo, he finally earned his first speaking role when he played an old curmudgeon named Mr. Morse in the Lanford Wilson play “Hot l Baltimore.” For his first line, he rumbled into the scene from a backstage staircase to deliver four words — “I have a complaint” — and from that
moment on, theater was a major part of his life. “It was like an explosion,” Leone recalled. “When I said that line, the whole audience erupted in laughter by the way I delivered it. Night after night, I got all these laughs, and so, ever since that moment, it was like something happened in me and I had to do theater. That feeling has never left me.”
A new endeavor
Theater emboldened him to take a risk. Right before Covid CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
A bittersweet farewell for E.R.’s St. Raymond School By TOM CARROZZA tcarroza@liherald.com
The annual St. Raymond Parish carnival was a bittersweet event this year, because it marked the final day for the school before it permanently closed amid lowered enrollment accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic. Students, administration, alumni and parents celebrated the emotional final day for the school on June 18, the last day of classes. After a 9:30 a.m. schoolwide Mass, the students were led to the parking lot, where inflatable obstacle courses
W
e cared for those kids like they were our own, and the families treated us like we were part of their families.
KAY HAMATY
Teacher, St. Raymond School and games were set up. A DJ blared music, and students played and ate cotton candy and ice cream. “St. Raymond has been my family for the past 34 years,” said Kay Hamaty, who taught sixth through eighth grades at the school. “We cared for
those kids like they were our own, and the families treated us like we were part of their families. It was a very spiritual, loving place to be a part of.” First-grade teacher Joanne Fischer said she felt an extraordinary bond with the
community as well. “It was my second home,” she said. “It’s hard to watch the doors close, but we know that they’re going to be OK.” Sister Ruthanne Gypalo, the principal, wrote a letter on the school website reflecting on St. Raymond’s closing. “There is an uncertainty that looms above us all — where
we are going, what we are doing, will we be welcomed a n d c a re d fo r i n o u r n ew place?” it read. “But our faith should also let us realize that we will be OK because God is in charg e and he loves us very much.” Gypalo closed by focusing o n c e l e b r at i n g t h e s ch o o l CONTINUED ON PAGE 4