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HERALD Rec Center hosts Fall Kids Fest
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Page 3 Vol. 34 No. 43
oCToBER 19 - 25, 2023
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Rockville Centre rallies support for Israel By DANIEl oFFNER doffner@liherald.com
Dan Offner/Herald
Rabbi David Lerner, of Congregation B’nai Sholom-Beth David, joins Cantor Alexandra Weiser in a prayer for the people of Israel.
The Rockville Centre community stood in solidarity with Israel at a special gathering on Oct. 10, three days after the attacks carried out by the terrorist organization Hamas near the Gaza border. More than 100 congregants, residents and elected officials gathered at Congregation B’nai Sholom-Beth David for an evening of somber prayer and comfort, in the wake of the attacks on Oct. 7 that claimed the lives of at least 1,200 people who were brutally massacred in their homes, on the streets and at an outdoor music festival. The attacks, which included numerous missile strikes, were a coordinated assault that took place during Simchat Torah — an annual Jewish holiday immediately following the festival of Sukkot, which marks the beginning of a new cycle of Torah readings — and resulted in the capture of more than 150 hostages. Since the attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav GalContInueD on pAge 10
Rockville Centre honors six firefighters lost this year By DANIEl oFFNER doffner@liherald.com
The Rockville Centre Fire Department held its annual memorial service at Firefighters Memorial Park last Sunday, to pay tribute to the six members of the department—Stephen J. Geraghty, Robert “Bubba” Seaman, Eric Burel, Charles Elmore, Edward Simpson, and Robert Greenfield—who died over the past year. During the memorial, the department honors each of the deceased members’ final day as their “last alarm.” Firefighter Stephen J. Geraghty, a retired battalion chief
in the New York City Fire Department and a Rockville Centre native, died of a World Trade Center-related illness. His brother, Eddie, chief of the FDNY’s 9th Battalion, was working in Lower Manhattan on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, and his body was never recovered from the rubble after the attacks. Stephen Geraghty was a member of the FDNY for more than 40 years, and was also the ex-captain of RVCFD Eureka Hook, Ladder and Bucket Company No. 1. He devoted much of the latter part of his career to training young firefighters, and taught at the Nassau County Fire Academy, preparing them
for the next disaster or terrorist event. He answered his last alarm on Sept. 21, 2022. Ex-Chief Robert “Bubba” Seaman, a beloved member of the Rockville Centre community, died at just 57, also of an illness brought on by his rescue and recovery work at ground zero. He joined the village Fire Department in June 1989, as a member of RVCFD Live Oak Engine Company No. 1. Seaman was captain of the company from 1995 to 1997 and again from 1999 to 2001, and chief of the department from 2015 to 2017. He answered his last alarm on March 3, 2023. The department fondly remembers
him as a natural leader who always made the time to mentor young recruits. Ex-Chief Eric Burel joined the Malverne Fire Department as a line officer in 1982, and served there for 10 years before transferring to the Freeport F.D. in 1992. He spent nine years in Freeport, four of them as captain. Burel moved to Rockville Cen-
tre, and joined RVCFD Woodland Engine Company No. 4, in July 2000. He served for six years as a line officer, from 2005 to 2011, and as captain of the company from 2009 to 2011. He was elected second assistant chief of the department in 2015, first assistant chief in 2017 and chief in 2019. ContInueD on pAge 12