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Vol. 34 No. 14
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‘He’s just an amazing man’ WWII vet Joseph Michael Stone approaches his 100th birthday they led him to a career later in life as well. At age 20, Stone enlisted in the There aren’t many World War Navy. Wanting to assist his counII veterans around nowadays. try during World War II, he Most have passed away, especially served from 1943 to 1945 as a within the last few years. radioman Second Class-T on the There’s one Valley Stream res- USS LSM-25, a landing ship. ident, though, who served and is Landing ships carried tanks, still going strong. His name is vehicles, cargo and troops directJose ph Michael ly onto shore, withS t o n e, a n d h e ’s out use of docks ap p ro a ch i n g h i s or piers. 100th birthday. Stone was honor“He’s just a really ably discharged from amazing man,” the Navy in 1945. Stone’s daughter, Upon retur ning Debra, said of him. h o m e, h e b e g a n “He’s done so much working for Gibbs & and he’s loved by Cox, Inc., an indeDEBRA SToNE all.” pendent naval archiStone was born Daughter tecture and marine on May 16, 1923, the engineering firm. eldest of Marie and He and Ag gie Adolfo Stone’s six children. He married two years later, bouncing spent his childhood and teenage around a few places in the Bronx years making friends in the for years before buying a house neighborhood. None were more in Valley Stream 20 years later in meaningful than a girl named 1967. They had three children Aggie, whom he met at age 15. together — Robert, who’s now 73; Stone attended Murray Hill Richard, 72; and Debra, 64. He High School in Manhattan. There also has four grandchildren and were schools closer to him in the seven great-grandchildren. Bronx, but he specifically wanted After working as an engineer to attend Murray Hill because of and draftsman for 47 years, Stone its architecture and engineering decided it was time to finally classes. They not only sparked his interest as a teenager, but Continued on page 9
By BRENDAN CARPENTER bcarpenter@liherald.com
Juan Lasso/Herald
New board, new court Trustee Dermond Thomas, far left, and Mayor Ed Fare, fresh off a re-election win, joined Trustee John Tufarelli and Sean Wright to officiate the general election ballot count. Village Justice Melanie Jenkins, back left, and incoming Trustee Kevin Waszak will serve their first terms.
Questions loom on Rockaway over storefront facelift program By JUAN lASSo jlasso@liherald.com
On a warm, sunlit evening last week, a seemingly endless line of cars flowed through the stretch of downtown businesses between East Merrick Road and Sunrise Highway known as Rockaway Avenue. Despite the ideal walking weather, however, the same could scarcely be said of its downtown sidewalks, where only a scattering of pedestrians could be seen moving out and about. A cursory look down Rockaway showed an uneven flow of
foot traffic from one shop to the next. Some businesses handled a modest crowd of clientele. Others welcomed the occasional shopper drifting in. Still, many others remained open, yet eerily empty for a brisk afternoon. When the coronavirus upended how people gather, work and play at this multicultural hodgepodge of mom-and-pop delis, beauty parlors, restaurants and barbershops three years ago and put Rockaway businesses in flux, village officials and local business leaders took great lengths to keep its commercial and community relevance and appeal alive.
Now, Rockaway is pulsing slowly back to life. Its vacated storefronts are starting to fill. New, or soon-to-arrive, businesses are sprouting. And the downtown economy is on a steady post-pandemic recovery. But some owners — and the neighbors who shop there — still say the business district continues its struggle recapturing its former vibrancy and buzz of activity. And that’s where Mayor Ed Fare and his economic development team step in. Their latest investment comes in the form of a new storefront Continued on page 31
H
e’s done so much and he’s loved by all.