_______ Malverne/West HeMpstead ______
HERALD Your Health
Diabetes & Weight Management
Inside Vol. 29 No. 51
Santa spreads Christmas cheer
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DECEMBER 15 - 21, 2022
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Memorial bench honors ‘special’ man honor him, which is how the Sheldon Wagner Memorial Bench became an idea and evenThe late Sheldon Wagner, who tually a reality. Recently was described as a “legend” in installed just outside the train Malverne, was recently honored station, the bench bears his with the creation of a memorial name and is a way for those who bench outside the knew him to rememLong Island Rail ber him with a Road station. smile. Wagner, who died “He was a legin 2018, defined a end,” said Don sense of community Pupke, a former Viland was the type of lage trustee and p e r s o n eve r yo n e organizer of the knew and liked, Malbench project. “Peoverne village offiple loved Sheldon. cials said. He was a very speAs the popular cial guy in the vilunofficial mayor of lage for a very long Malverne, Wagner time.” greeted everyone at Friends, family the LIRR station, at and Malverne resiHempstead Avenue dents ultimately and Utterby Road, raised $4,500 with a characteristic through an online DoN pupkE cheerful wave and crowdfunding was a fixture at former village account for a memoparades and events. trustee rial in Wagner’s After his death at honor. The question 89, family and was deter mining friends packed the Malverne just how to honor him, and Funeral Home to say one final Pupke said that dozens of folks goodbye and share memories of offered ideas, including a sculpthe man who helped define this ture, but the cost became prohibera of Malverne. itive. After Wagner’s passing, many After visiting more than 50 in the community felt a need to Continued on page 14
By MaRk NolaN mnolan@liherald.com
i
Mark Nolan/Herald
RoSSaNa WEitEkaMp iN her Malverne home office. After a career in journalism, Weitekamp published her first book of fiction in November.
Vivid storytelling in local author’s first work of fiction By MaRk NolaN mnolan@liherald.com
Rossana Weitekamp has been thinking about writing a novel for many years, and now that aspiration has become a reality. Weitekamp, a former editor of the Malverne/West Hempstead Herald, self-published her first work of fiction in November on Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com. While it’s too soon to tell if Weitekamp’s book, “Where You End, I Begin,” will climb up the ranks of the New York Times bestseller list, her finished project is a great achievement, a testament to her hard work and dedication.
“The book is something I’ve always wanted to write for a long time,” Weitekamp said. “I’ve had it in me for decades. Once I started writing, the story took me where it wanted to go. As I wrote, it kept changing and evolving and twisting and turning. I was quite entertained by it.” The Malvern native’s book tells the story of several Italian immigrant families and the life choices they make. Weitekamp said the story, told through flashbacks, helps readers grasp how important events are in their own life. “I am a first-generation Italian-American,” Weitekamp said. “I was raised by peoContinued on page 4
n true Malverne form, this was the effort of a lot of people who were all grabbing an oar and rowing to get it done.