_________ Oceanside/island park ________
HERALD Golf outing for a good cause
Honored for going above and beyond
Syosset beats Sailors, for once
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Vol. 58 No. 22
MAY 25 - 31, 2023
$1.00
‘Please share our stories’ Holocaust survivor tells students about life, what she’s learned mentary called “Marion’s Triumph,” in which she recalls how “we often tripped and fell over of the Oceanside/Island Park Herald the dead . . . death was everyWhen Holocaust survivor where.” Marion Blumenthal Lazan, 88, “The game was based on spoke to seventh- and eighth- superstition,” Lazan said of graders at Lincoln Orens Middle Four Perfect Pebbles. “If I were School in Island able to find four pebPark, she didn’t just bl e s a ro u n d t h e want to pass on a same size and shape, message — she needin my mind, that ed to. And that meswould mean that the sage was one of four members of my kindness toward family would surone’s fellow man. vive.” “In a few short Although she and years, I and other her family all sursurvivors will not be vived the various around to share our camps, Lazan’s experiences firstfather, Walter, would hand,” Lazan told succumb to typhus the students. “Please six months after. share our stories. It Lazan also told is you who will have MArioN the students that, to bear witness.” while in the camps, BluMeNtHAl Lazan details she hoped for three much of her unique lAzAN B’s: a bed, a bath, and heartbreaking Holocaust survivor and bread. Or in her story in her novel mind, as a German “Four Perfect Peb10-year-old, Ein Bett, bles,” co-authored by Lila Perl Ein Bad, Ein Brot. and named for an imaginary “As far as the beds were congame that she played during her cerned, they were triple-decker and her family’s time in the Ber- bunk beds, with two people shargen-Belsen concentration camp ing each bunk,” Lazan told the in northern Germany. Her story Herald — but, she said, she was the subject of a 2002 docuContinued on page 16
By SeAN KeNNeDY & KAriNA KoVAc
Maureen Lennon/Herald
MAriANNA WiNcHeSter, tHe Gold Star mother of U.S. Marine Lt. Ronald Winchester, and American Legion Post 303 Commander Frank Colon Jr. honored the troops on Veterans Day in 2017. Winchester, an Oceanside Middle School physical education teacher, created the fundraising Walk of Honor in her son’s memory.
End of a fundraising era After over 15 years, last Saturday was the final Walk of Honor for late Marine Ronald Winchester By cHriStiNA eNrico Correspondent
What began as a way for a sister to honor her brother was transformed into a 15-yearlong community-wide tradition in Rockville Centre. U.S. Marine Lt. Ronald Winchester was killed on Sept. 3, 2004, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle, killing three other Marines and Winchester, who was serving his second tour of duty in Iraq. He was 25. In Ronald’s memory, his sister, Kristine, organized a pub crawl with friends and family the following year.
Their mother, Marianna Winchester, a phys. ed. teacher at Oceanside Middle School, liked the idea so much that she decided to broaden the remembrance, and in 2006 she organized a fundraiser, a Walk of Honor, to commemorate her son in a way that would have made him proud. For Marianna, the memorial event was more than just a symbol of her son’s heroism. She considered it a form of grieving, and a way to continue Ronnie’s legacy by doing what he had done throughout his short but honorable life — help make a difference in the lives of others. It was Marianna’s mission to keep Ronnie’s Continued on page 9
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n a few short years, I and other survivors will not be around to share our experiences firsthand.