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The
VILLAGE TIMES HERALD
S TO N Y B R O O K • O L D F I E L D • S T R O N G’S N E C K • S E TAU K E T • E A S T S E TAU K E T • S O U T H S E TAU K E T • P O Q U OT T • S TO N Y B R O O K U N I V E R S I T Y
Vol. 46, No. 2
March 4, 2021
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What’s Inside
Plans for former East Setauket Waldbaum’s approved A3
Stony Brook resident kicks off social media campaign for local park A5 Funeral director’s assistant shares experience with mourning and helping others during pandemic A5
County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. (D) speaks at the March 1 event remembering local COVID-19 victims. Photo by Julianne Mosher
Suffolk officials unveil COVID-19 memorial BY JULIANNE MOSHER JULIANNE@TBRNEWSMEDIA.COM
Scientific illustrator Luci Betti-Nash reflects on her career at SBU
Almost a year to the day of the first reported case of COVID-19 in Suffolk County, elected officials joined mourning families to remember the lives lost. On Monday, March 1, Suffolk County Presiding Officer Rob Calarco (D-Patchogue) with his colleagues and officials unveiled a new county COVID-19 memorial in Hauppauge. “Over this last year, I don’t think anybody at the beginning would have thought that we would have had so many trials and tribulations, so many challenges and so many losses,” Calarco said. Since March 2020, there have been more than 500,000 deaths nationwide from the virus, and just over 3,000 in Suffolk County.
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“That is a tremendous number of people,” Calarco added. “And it has left many of us mourning.” The wooden structure, located outside the Legislature’s William H. Rogers Building at 725 Veterans Memorial Highway, was built and donated by Smithtown Boy Scout Troop 888, and will be on display throughout the month of March. Families and loved ones are encouraged to write the names of those who have passed, tying the purple ribbons on the metal cords across the wooden planks. It’s a way, Calarco said, to memorialize them. “Because especially for those who were lost early on, family members weren’t able to lean on each other,” he said. “They weren’t able to be with their loved ones in the hospital due to restrictions. They weren’t able to have
the normal funeral and wake process for their friends and family. When we grieve, we need to have the community around us to support us.” Deputy County Executive Jon Kaiman spoke on behalf of County Executive Steve Bellone (D) who was not in attendance. “Three thousand people in this county lost their lives … that’s more than 3,000 families grieving,” he said. “We in Suffolk County stand with them. We grieve with them. We know that we’re in the process of getting through it, we’re getting through it together.” Anyone who has lost someone to COVID-19 may submit their loved one’s name for inclusion in the memorial online at scnylegislature.us/ covid-19-memorial. To read more of this article, visit tbrnewsmedia.com.
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