Cavaliere Vincent Iannece (1925-2005) served the community for many years and in many ways. He was the founder of the Federation of the Italian American Organization of Queens, and was instrumental in organizing and hosting the Queens Columbus Day Parade for more than four decades. Iannece was also the founder of the St. Michael’s Society and an active member of the Astoria Civic Association; he was appointed as a member of Community Board 1 in 1993.

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Harry Suna (1924-1992) was born in the Bronx. He worked for Todd Shipyard at age 17. After completing his apprenticeship, Suna joined the Central Sheet Metal Company and in 1946, at 22, became the company's secretary and treasurer. The next year, Suna established A. Suna & Company, which became a multimillion-dollar construction and sheet metal fabrication firm. He successfully developed more than 1,000 units of affordable housing throughout New York City. Suna visited the Silvercup building in December 1979 and purchased it for $2 million in 1980. His sons Stuart and Alan, who were architects, saw the potential for movie sound stages. Suna was chairman of Silvercup Studios, which he turned into New York City's leading film and TV production facility. He passed away suddenly just before his 68th birthday.

Vincent G. Fowler (1953-1999) was born in New York to Vincent J. and Dorothy Fowler. His father was a Battalion Chief, and his 3 brothers: Gerard, Andy and John were all firefighters. He also had 2 sisters: Karen and Ellen. He attended St. Claire's grammar school in Rosedale and graduated from Christ the King High School in 1971. He attended St. Joseph's Seminary in Princeton, NJ and graduated from Farmingdale State College in 1975. He lived in Suffolk County with his wife Mona and three daughters, Dina, Amy and Stephanie. He coached his daughters in softball and enjoyed camping, hiking and fishing.   Lieutenant Fowler worked for years to insure that firefighters got the support they needed when a colleague was killed in the line of duty and took it upon himself to revise the procedures for handling a firefighter's death, recommending that bereavement counseling be available for colleagues as well as family members. Captain Fowler died on June 4, 1999 from injuries sustained while battling a fire in Ozone Park, Queens. He was cited for his bravery twice during his career and awarded the Medal of Valor posthumously.

Fiorello H. LaGuardia (1882–1947) was born in New York City to immigrant parents, attended public schools and graduated from New York University Law School in 1910. After practicing law for several years, he was elected as the nation’s first Italian American member of Congress in 1916. He served as a U.S. Representative until 1919, when he resigned to join the Army Air Service and serve in World War I. Upon his return, he was president of the New York City Board of Aldermen in 1920 and 1921, and was re-elected to Congress from 1923 to 1933. LaGuardia then served as mayor of New York City from 1934 to 1945. Among LaGuardia's many achievements as mayor, he is credited with unifying and modernizing New York City's public transit system, consolidating much of the city government, cracking down on illegal gambling, and beginning transportation projects that created many of the city’s bridges, tunnels, parkways and airports. He was also instrumental in the establishment of Queens College. In September 1937, Mayor LaGuardia broke ground on this airport's site. Its construction was funded through a $45 million Federal Works Progress Administration grant. More than half of the 558 acres on which the airport was built was man-made, filled in with more than 17 million cubic yards of cinders, ashes and trash. The new airport opened in 1939 as New York City Municipal Airport. In August 1940, the Board of Estimates renamed the facility for LaGuardia, who considered the project one of his greatest achievements. Today it is the third largest airport in the New York metropolitan area.

This collection explores a sampling of the diverse musicians who've lived and practiced their art in Queens.

Marie Curie (1867-1934) was a noted scientist and the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics. Born in Warsaw, Poland, Maria Skolodowska-Curie moved to Paris in 1891 to study at the Sorbonne. Soon after, she joined a research laboratory and in 1898, she and her husband Pierre expanded on Henri Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity, discovering two new elements, Polonium and Radium. This discovery earned Curie her first Nobel Prize, in Physics. She won a second Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911, becoming the first person to earn two such awards. Curie died in France in 1934 from leukemia, thought to be caused by exposure to radiation.

Emanuel Gold (1935-2013) was senior ranking Democrat in the New York State Senate from 1971-1998. He was the prime sponsor of over 80 laws. In 1977, he crafted the nation's first "Son of Sam" law which calls for victims of notorious criminals to be compensated from profits criminals gain from the sale of their stories. He also wrote laws covering health and medicine and the rights of the disabled.  Adam Gold (1972-2012) was an avid fan of comic books, chess and Star Wars. He was devoted to his family and lived his life with courage and dignity.

Patrolman Arthur J. Kenny (d. 1926) served the NYPD for three years with the 60th Precinct (the present-day 110th Precinct) before he was killed in the line of duty by a notorious burglar. In the spring of 1926, residents of Woodhaven were fearful of the "Radio Burglar." Targeting the relatively new and expensive home technology, the Radio Burglar was suspected in between 50 and 100 home break-ins where the radio had been stolen. In early March, the Radio Burglar shot and injured an officer who had stopped to question him about the large item he was carrying down the street after midnight. On March 25th, when police responded to a woman's call about suspicious activity at her neighbor's home, the suspect shot another officer. Kenney and another policeman took off in chase after the suspect. With officers all over the area, when Kenney ran into the suspect, he thought he was another cop. The suspect told him, "I think the man you’re looking for jumped over that fence." In this brief pause, the suspect shot Kenney in the neck before disappearing into the night. After two weeks, Kenney succumbed to his injuries on April 6, 1926 at the age of 28. He left behind a wife and daughter. The hunt for the suspect intensified. Police questioned a man whose name was on a pawn shop receipt for one of the stolen radios, and that man suggested it had been forged by his acquaintance Paul Emmanuel Hilton, a known criminal. Cops around the city were alerted and had Hilton's mugshot. Two detectives on their day off decided to look for Hilton at one place he might be—Hilton was a baseball fan, so they staked out the entrance to the Polo Grounds on the Giants’ opening day, April 13, 1926. When they spotted him, they asked for identification and grabbed Hilton before he could reach the gun in his pocket. Hilton was charged with Kenney's murder and later found guilty. He died by electric chair on February 18, 1927. The Newtown Historical Society, Council Member Joann Ariola, and the Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society worked to honor Kenney with a street co-naming, and the community held a ceremony to commemorate its installation on April 6, 2024, 98 years after his death.

John Lionel Golden (1874-1955) was a playwright who, at one time, had a Broadway theater named after him (202 W 58 Street). Golden and his wife opened their huge property in Bayside to the neighborhood for recreational activities. When they died, they donated the property to the city with the stipulation that it remain a park. The land is now Crocheron Park and a portion is designated as Golden Field. According to Wikipedia, as a songwriter, Golden was best-known as lyricist for "Poor Butterfly". He produced many Broadway shows and four films.

Malik Izaak Taylor (1970-2016), known professionally as Phife Dawg, was an American rapper raised in Saint Albans. Taylor co-founded the rap group A Tribe Called Quest in 1985 with his classmates Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Their biggest hit came in 1991, with the single “Can I Kick It?” The group went on to release five albums that sold millions of copies. Its album “Midnight Marauders” is often ranked as one of the best hip-hop albums of all time. Taylor also released a solo album in 2000 called “Ventilation: Da LP.” He died of complications from diabetes in 2016. Queens -- particularly the intersection of Linden Boulevard and 192nd Street -- was a fixture in A Tribe Called Quest’s rhymes, most notably on “Check The Rhime,” “Steve Biko (Stir It Up)” and “1nce Again.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) is one of the most well-known American novelists. He was born to a ship's captain and his wife in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804. His ancestors were staunch Puritans, supporting rigid religious worship, and his family's history served as inspiration for his most famous work, The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne grew up in Salem and visited Maine for extensive periods of time during his youth, where he studied at Bowdoin College. He achieved early success writing short stories, and was later inspired by his Transcendentalist contemporaries, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau. Other important works include The House of the Seven Gables and The Marble Faun. Hawthorne passed away in 1864.

Vernon Cherry (1951-2001), aka "Cowboy", served the City of New York as a firefighter at Ladder Company No. 118. Born and raised in Woodside, Queens, Vernon Cherry enjoyed a distinguished 28-year career as a firefighter. He was also well known for his outstanding singing voice, which he often used in support of charitable causes. On September 11th Vernon Cherry answered the call of fire and rescue operations following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and perished, at the age of 49, in the collapse of the twin towers.

Thomas J. Travers (1897-1958), was a prominent Queens Democrat and Jackson Heights community leader. Born and raised in Manhattan, he attended St. Agnes Church and Parochial School and MacDowell Lyceum. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War I, he returned to New York to marry his childhood sweetheart, Ann Desmond. The couple settled in Jackson Heights, where Travers took an active part in the social and political life of the community. In addition to his involvement with St. Joan of Arc Church, the Catholic Youth Organization, and the Jackson Heights Sandlot Baseball League, he was an active member of the Jackson Heights Taxpayers Association and the Queens Chamber of Commerce. During World War II, he worked on three War Loans Committees and chaired the Jackson Heights Committee for the New York War Fund. He served as Democratic District Leader for Woodside-Jackson Heights from 1940 until his death in 1958.

Robert F. Wagner, Jr. (1910-1991) was a politician and diplomat who served as the 102nd mayor of New York City from 1954 to 1965. Along with Fiorello La Guardia, Edward Koch, and Michael Bloomberg, Wagner is one of four modern mayors to serve for a total of three terms. When running for his third term, he broke with his supporters from the Tammany Hall organization, beginning the decline of the political machine’s reign over city politics. The son of a U.S. senator, Wagner oversaw the City during a period of political and societal transformation. He was born in New York City on April 20, 1910, to Robert Ferdinand Wagner, a German immigrant, and Margaret Marie (McTague) Wagner. His mother died when he was nine years old, and he was raised by his father in Yorkville on New York City’s Upper East Side. Educated at the Loyola School on Park Avenue and at Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, he went on to receive his bachelor’s from Yale in 1933. He also studied at Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration and the School of International Studies in Geneva, and in 1937, he received his law degree from Yale. From 1938 to 1942, Wagner served in the New York State Assembly. He resigned at the outset of World War II, and joined the Army Air Corps as an intelligence officer, where he achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel and received the Bronze Star and the French Croix de Guerre for his service. After the war, he returned to New York City, where he accepted a position as City Tax Commissioner, later holding the additional appointive posts of Commissioner of Housing and Buildings and chairman of the City Planning Commission. In 1949, Wagner was elected Manhattan borough president, a position he held until 1953. That same year, he ran for and won his first term as New York City mayor. At the time, the Tammany Hall political machine was prominent in NYC politics, and Wagner won his first two terms with their backing. By 1961, in an attempt to appeal to a broader electorate, he broke with the group. His third-term win signified a shift in and reduction of the influence of large political groups in the city politics. Wagner’s accomplishments as mayor include granting collective bargaining rights to municipal labor unions and securing state and federal funds to help build public housing. He approved the law that led to the development of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and he helped aid in the saving of historic structures such as Carnegie Hall. Wagner also promoted the arts, leading to the establishment of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and free Shakespeare productions in Central Park. He is credited with the integration of City government through the appointment of more people of color to administrative posts, the development of the City University of New York, and with the construction of parks, roadways, and schools. In addition, despite losing the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants to California in 1957, Wagner was instrumental in luring another baseball franchise, the Mets, to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, which opened as Shea Stadium in 1964. Following his years as mayor, Wagner went on to work as a partner at a New York law firm. In 1968, he served one year as ambassador to Spain in the Johnson administration, and later served as presidential envoy to the Vatican from 1978 to 1981 under the Carter administration. In 1942, Wagner married Susan Edwards, the sister of his roommate at Yale, and together the couple had two children, Robert Jr. and Duncan. His first wife died in 1964, and the following year, he married Barbara Jean Cavanagh, the sister of Wagner’s former Fire Commissioner, Edward Cavanagh. They divorced in 1971. In 1975, he married Phyllis Fraser Cerf, the widow of writer and publisher Bennett Cerf. The couple remained together until Wagner’s death at his home on East 62nd street from heart failure on February 12, 1991. He is buried with his first wife, Susan, at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside. Constructed in 1910, the Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Secondary School for Arts and Technology is located at 47-07 30th Place in Long Island City.

Howard Ames Von Dohlen (1895-1918) Died in battle in France during WWI. Von Dohlen grew up in Ozone Park, Queens, and attended a local public high before working for the brokerage firm V.C. Brown. He was a member of the Men’s Club Epiphany Church of Ozone Park and was also Superintendent of the Sunday School Epiphany P.E. Church. In June 1917, he enlisted in the U.S. Cavalry and was assigned to Troop D, Squadron A of the New York National Guard. Von Dohlen was promoted to corporal while stationed in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and then again to sergeant shortly before his unit sailed for France in May 1918. Sergeant Von Dohlen assumed a leadership role during every engagement and battle in which the 27th Division fought. On three separate occasions he volunteered to carry wounded men to the dressing station through a heavy counter barrage of enemy artillery and machine gun fire. On the morning of October 17, 1918, Von Dohlen was killed in action while commanding a machine gun section in the Battle of La Salle River in St. Supplet, France. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action.

Elmer Ebenezer Studley (1869 - 1942) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. From 1933 to 1935, he served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Studley was born on a farm near East Ashford, Cattaraugus County, N.Y. in 1869. He went to local schools before attending Cornell University which he graduated from in 1894. He was a reporter for Buffalo newspapers in 1894 and 1895, and studied law, passing the bar in 1895 and began his practice in Buffalo. He was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Two Hundred and Second Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, serving in the Spanish American War in 1898 and 1899. After the war he moved to New Mexico where he practiced law and began to get involved in politics until 1917, when he moved to New York City. He continued to practice law in New York and became Deputy New York State Attorney General in 1924 and was United States commissioner for the Eastern District of New York in 1925 and 1926. In 1932, he was elected at-large as a Democrat to the 73rd United States Congress, holding office from March 4, 1933, to January 3, 1935. Afterwards he resumed the practice of law. In February 1935 he was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a member of the Board of Veterans' Appeals and served until his death in 1942. Studley is buried at the Flushing Cemetery.

Frank Michael Carrado (1930-2019) was a lifelong resident of Long Island City and, from the age of 75, an amateur photographer who documented his changing neighborhood for nearly two decades, starting in 2005. He also served on the 108th Precinct Community Council. Many of his photographs are displayed in local building lobbies, restaurants, and bars. More than 200 of his images were featured in a 2007-2008 exhibition, "Hunters Point In The Eyes of Her Son: The Photography of Frank Carrado," hosted by the Greater Astoria Historical Society. The exhibition won an award from the Queens Council for the Arts.

Enoch Hawthorne Gregory (1936-2000), aka “The Dixie Drifter,” was born in Hertford, North Carolina. He served in the United States Army 10 the 1950s and received an honorable discharge. Gregory was a legendary soul DJ at WWRL in Woodside, Queens in the 1960s and 70s. He was also and one of WWRL's first African-American program directors and organized the scheduled the station’s music, commercials, and news. WWRL was one of the first successful Soul R\&B stations in the City and a premier radio station serving the City’s black community. A musician in his own right, he released an album, topped by the single Soul Heaven, which charted at number eight on Billboard’s R\&B Singles in 1965.

James Nicholas Pappageorge (1972 – 2001) grew up on 95th Street in Jackson Heights. he attended day school at the Transfiguration of Christ Elementary and went on to Newtown High School. Having been deeply involved in a variety of sports since childhood that included volleyball‚ softball and football‚ Jimmy went on to pursue a career in physical therapy at Hunter College. After graduation he became an emergency medical technician, working at the scene of traumatic accidents and fires. He then became a paramedic and later, a firefighter. He graduated in July 23‚ 2001 from the Fire Department’s academy and was assigned to Engine 23 in Manhattan. He died during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, September 11, 2001.

Joseph Jockel served with the NYPD Motorcycle Squad 1. He was killed in the line of duty while attempting to arrest four robbery suspects. He was posthumously awarded the NYPD Medal of Honor for his actions.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) was the 35th President of the United States (1961-1963), and the youngest man and first Roman Catholic elected to the office. On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, becoming also the youngest president to die. Kennedy Airport, often referred to by its three-letter code JFK, is the largest airport in the New York metropolitan area. Construction of the facility began in 1942 on the former site of Idlewild Golf Course; hence it was initially called Idlewild Airport. When it opened on July 1, 1948, it was officially named New York International Airport but continued to be popularly called Idlewild. It was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 24, 1963, following the assassination of President Kennedy the prior month.

Conrad Poppenhusen (1818-1883) was an early developer of College Point, Queens and a local entrepreneur and philanthropist.  Born in Hamburg, Germany on April 1, 1818, he emigrated to the United States in 1843. He started a whalebone processing plant in Brooklyn and then manufactured rubber goods, eventually moving his firm to Queens, then a farming village. Poppenhusen developed the Village of College Point, which was formed in 1870, to accommodate his factory workers. In 1868, he also opened the Flushing and North Side Railroad, connecting College Point to New York City. At the same time, he founded the Poppenhusen Institute, which was comprised of a vocational high school and the first free kindergarten in the United States. It is still in existence today.  After Poppenhusen retired in 1871, his family lost much of its fortune due to financial mismanagement by his three sons. He died in College Point on December 12, 1883. The bronze memorial was created by Henry Baerer (1837-1908). Baerer, born in Kirscheim, Germany, came to the United States in 1854. He created six sculptures in New York City Parks, including statues of Ludwig von Beethoven in Prospect and Central Parks.

Patricia Brackley (1940-1999) was an activist who focused her efforts on beautifying Rockaway. She was president of the Shore Garden Club of Belle Harbor and Neponsit and served as vice president of the Second District of the Garden Clubs of New York State. Born in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, Brackley graduated from Indiana’s Purdue University in 1961 and moved to New York to work as a schoolteacher. An expert florist in her own right, she became an accredited flower show judge and wrote a gardening column for her local newspaper, The Wave. Dedicated to the beautification of her Rockaway community, Brackley took it upon herself to renovate the neighborhood’s Cronston Triangle. With particular care, she designed plantings, seats and a sprinkler system for the park. Spending $10,000 from her own funds to make those designs become a reality, Brackley also helped beautify the nearby Beach Channel Drive median and worked with neighborhood storeowners along Beach 129 Street to plant trees and flowers in front of their establishments. After fighting cancer for several years, Brackley died in January 1999.

Carlos R. Lillo (1963-2001), was a paramedic for the New York City Fire Department’s Emergency Medical Services Division who died while on duty on September 11, 2001.  Raised in Astoria, Queens, Lillo began his career in emergency medicine as a volunteer with the Astoria Volunteer Ambulance Corps. As an emergency medical technician (EMT), Lillo joined the city’s Emergency Medical Services in 1984. He worked on a tactical unit in some of the roughest neighborhoods in the Bronx during one of the most active times in EMS history. Pursuing his dream career, Lillo attained advanced lifesaving skills and became a paramedic in 1990. Lillo demonstrated his dedication and commitment to the citizens of the city, state and country as he performed his duties on September 11, 2001. Carlos Lillo Park serves as a touchstone for the many families who lost loved ones on 9/11 and provides the neighborhood with a place for solace and reflection

Francis Lewis (1713-1802) was a merchant, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Born in Wales, he attended school in England before working in a mercantile house in London. In 1734, he came to New York to establish a business. While working as a mercantile agent in 1756, Lewis was taken prisoner and sent to prison in France. Upon his return to New York, he became active in politics and made his home in Whitestone, Queens. A member of the Continental Congress for several years before the Revolutionary War, Lewis played a significant role in the nation's founding.

John Michael Moran (b. 1959) was a 22-year FDNY veteran with a law degree from Fordham University. The chief of New York City Fire Department Battalion 49, he had finished his shift at the Special Operations command on Roosevelt Island when the World Trade Center call came and he went to help; he entered the inferno of the World Trade Center’s South Tower on September 11, 2001. Moran’s last known words, transmitted over a two-way radio, were “We’re going up there to see if we can do some good,” Then the tower collapsed. Moran was the third child and first son of Walter and Margaret “Peggy” (Murphy) Moran of Rockaway Beach. Walter, a Navy veteran, was a New York City firefighter, and Peggy was vice president of the local bank. In 1980, John passed his fire academy exam and was the class valedictorian. He became a rookie firefighter the same year his father died, and at 21, assumed responsibility for being “the man of the house” and a surrogate father for his 16-year-old brother, Michael‚ who later became FDNY firefighter as well. He rose through the FDNY ranks: lieutenant at 32, captain at 36 and battalion chief at an almost unheard of 38-year-old. John met his airline attendant wife in front of the mid-town Engine 54 firehouse, and they married in 1990. Shortly after that, he enrolled at Fordham for a law degree, while remaining a firefighter. Moran played the piano and guitar, and loved to sing Irish songs; he also enjoyed kayaking and bicycling.

Patrick Collins was an Irish-American from Woodside who died on a European battlefield during World War 1.

Paul A. Vallone (1967-2024) was an attorney and civic leader whose political career in the service of northeastern Queens and New York City was cut short when he died of a heart attack on January 28, 2024, at the age of 56. Part of a noted Queens political family, Vallone served as City Council member for District 19 from 2014 to 2021, and then as deputy commissioner of external affairs for the New York City Department of Veterans' Services from 2022 to 2024. His grandfather, Charles J. Vallone, was a judge in Queens County Civil Court. Both his father, Peter Vallone Sr., and his brother, Peter Vallone Jr., represented Astoria on the City Council, from 1974 to 2001 and 2002 to 2013 respectively, making for a 47-year run of City Council service by the Vallone family. Born on June 2, 1967, and raised in Astoria, Vallone attended high school at St. John's Preparatory School, graduated from Fordham University, and received his law degree from St. John's University. He was admitted to the New York and New Jersey Bar Associations in 1992. Prior to his political career, he was a managing partner at his family’s general practice law firm, Vallone and Vallone LLD, which was founded in 1932 by his grandfather. Vallone moved from Astoria to northeast Queens and, failing in a bid for City Council office in 2009, he followed in his family’s footsteps in 2014 when he won the District 19 seat. He was known as an advocate and champion for the Queens communities he served. During his tenure, he sponsored 800 pieces of legislation — 128 of which he was the first primary sponsor — and was credited with fundraising nearly $40 million in funding for his district. He was at the forefront of adopting participatory budgeting, which allows constituents the opportunity to vote for and prioritize the capital projects they want funded by their councilmember’s office. As Vallone shared with the Queens Daily Eagle in 2021, “It was a beautiful way to create community involvement in your own tax dollars.” Vallone was dedicated to supporting students and seniors in his district. While on the council, he helped expand school capacity by 4,500 seats and reinstated the New York City Council Merit Scholarship, known as the Peter F. Vallone Academic Scholarship, awarding high school graduates up to $350 per semester. He also helped to launch a free transit service for northeast Queens seniors. In addition, he spearheaded a project that brought $3.6 million in improvements to Flushing’s Bowne Park. The work was completed in the spring of 2023 and included upgrades to the playground, pond, plaza, and bocce court. In recognition of Vallone’s dedication to improving schools for his district, a 627-seat addition to P.S. 169 Bay Terrace School and Bell Academy in Bay Terrace was named in his honor. Located at 18-25 212th Street, the Paul Vallone Community Campus officially opened at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on October 17, 2024. The site serves students from kindergarten through eighth grade and includes 16 classrooms, five kindergarten rooms, and three special education rooms. As a strong advocate for veterans, Vallone voted as a city council member in favor of a measure that established the New York City Department of Veterans' Services in 2016, making it the first City agency in the country dedicated to serving veterans and their families. After his tenure on the city council ended due to term limits in 2021, Vallone lost a bid for a Civil Court seat in eastern Queens. But he continued his public service in 2022, when Mayor Eric Adams appointed him as deputy commissioner of external affairs for the new Department of Veterans' Services. Vallone held that role until his death in 2024. In addition to his government work, Vallone was active in his Flushing community as a soccer coach for St. Andrew Avellino Catholic Academy, winning two championships for the school, and also coaching his two daughters, Lea and Catena, and his son Charlie (Charles J. Vallone III). Vallone was survived by his wife, Anna-Marie, and three children. Two other city locations are named in Vallone’s honor. They include Paul A. Vallone Way, at the intersection of 157th Street and 32nd Avenue in Flushing, and the Paul A. Vallone Queens Animal Care Center, located at 1906 Flushing Avenue in Ridgewood.

David Franklin Bluford (1932-2020) served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, and earned an honorable discharge. Upon completing his undergraduate studies at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, he earned a Masters of Arts from CUNY Hunter College, as well as certifications for Advanced Study in Education at Columbia University and St. John’s University. He later served as an Assistant Superintendent and Junior High School Principal in East Harlem’s Community School District 4, and a middle school teacher in Brooklyn’s Community School District 23. His history as an administrator included stints as director of the Upward Bound college preparatory program at CUNY Queens College, and adjunct professor of educational administration at CUNY Brooklyn College and St. John’s University.  Locally, he served on the Board of Directors of the Queens Urban League, and as Chairman of the Alpha Phi Alpha Senior Center and Community School Board 29 in Southeast Queens. His personal affiliations also include the Jamaica NAACP branch, Freemasons, and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He received many awards, such as Outstanding Educator, Jamaica Branch of the NAACP, the Jackie Robinson Junior High School Man of the Year Award, The Distinguished Citizens Service Award and the Community Service Award. Renee Noelyn Bluford (1937-2021) was born in Brooklyn, New York. She graduated from PS167 Elementary School and Erasmus Hall High School iand received a Bachelor of Science Degree from Baruch College (CUNY). Renee worked as an Information Technology Senior Purchasing Manager for New York City under the Koch Administration ane eventually closed out her career as the owner of the first successful Allstate Insurance Agency in Southeast Queens. Her career with Allstate spanned 30 years. and she received the “Concerned Citizen Award” for invigorating economic development in Southeast Queens.  Renee has been honored as the recipient the “Concerned Citizen Award” for invigorating economic development in Southeast Queens. We was awarded of numerous other awards from Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Jamaica Service Program for Older Adults, Greater Queens Chapter of the Links, NAACP, New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators and many other local, state, and community organizations. Renee’s philosophy was “If I can help somebody my living would not be in vain.”

Lewis Howard Latimer was an African American inventor and humanist. Born free in Massachusetts, Latimer was the son of fugitive slaves George Latimer and Rebecca Smith, who escaped from Virginia to Boston in 1842. Upon arrival, George Latimer was captured and imprisoned, which became a pivotal case for the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts. His arrest and the ensuing court hearings spurred multiple meetings and a publication, “The Latimer Journal and the North Star,” involving abolitionists like Frederick Douglass. The large collective effort eventually gained George his freedom by November 1842. Against this backdrop, Lewis Latimer was born in 1848. Latimer’s young life was full of upheaval as his family moved from town to town while tensions in the country continued to mount before the Civil War broke out in 1861. In 1864, Latimer joined the Union Navy at age 16. After the conclusion of the war, Latimer was determined to overcome his lack of formal education; he taught himself mechanical drawing and became an expert draftsman while working at a patent law office. He went on to work with three of the greatest scientific inventors in American history: Alexander Graham Bell, Hiram S. Maxim and Thomas Alva Edison. Latimer played a critical role in the development of the telephone and, as Edison’s chief draftsman, he invented and patented the carbon filament, a significant improvement in the production of the incandescent light bulb. As an expert, Latimer was also called to testify on a number of patent infringement cases. Outside of his professional life, Latimer wrote and published poems, painted and played the violin. He was one of the founders of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Queens and was among the first Civil War veterans to join the Grand Army of the Republic fraternal organization. He also taught English to immigrants at the Henry Street Settlement.

Sean McDonald (1968-1994) was a rookie police officer killed in the line of duty at the age of 26 when he interrupted the armed robbery of a Bronx tailor shop. Officer McDonald grew up in Astoria, after coming from Dublin as an infant. He had attended Most Precious Blood Grammar School, located next door to the church.

The Persia Campbell Dome, August 2022. The dome houses a lecture space for the Queens College community.

Thanks to his granddaughter, Susan Latham, we can tell a fuller story about William Latham, whose name graces a pocket park in Elmhurst.

Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837-June 24, 1908) served as the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, the first to serve non-consecutive terms, and the first Democrat elected after the Civil War. Born in New Jersey and raised in upstate New York, Cleveland became a lawyer in Buffalo in 1859, and soon after pursued politics as a reformer. He served as the Assistant District Attorney and then Sheriff of Erie County, Mayor of Buffalo, and New York Governor. As governor, he took on Tammany Hall, the political machine based in New York City, even though it had supported him in the election. A sex scandal threatened to bring him down during the 1884 presidential election, but he admitted to the possibility that he had fathered a child with a woman out of wedlock, and with that bit of honesty he held onto his supporters. (Cleveland had the mother institutionalized against her will so he could take custody of the child, who he named Oscar Folsom Cleveland.) In the election of 1888, Cleveland won a larger share of the popular vote, but the business-backed Benjamin Harrison defeated him in the Electoral College. The Republican alienated many in his party, and, in 1892, Cleveland defeated Harrison. During his second term, Cleveland faced a nation suffering from its worst depression. During this period, he sent federal troops to break an enormous railroad strike and arrest its leaders. His other social attitudes were varied. He was opposed to temperance, spoke against injustices facing the Chinese in the West, sympathized with the South in its reluctance to accept African Americans as equals, thought Native Americans should assimilate, and never supported women's right to vote. He is remembered for his record-breaking use of the presidential veto, through which he attempted to balance the power of the executive and legislative branches. The high school was built and named in his honor in 1931.

Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and influential figures in jazz, known for both his trumpet improvisations and his distinctive singing voice. He also broke down numerous racial divides in the music and entertainment worlds, becoming the first Black performer to get featured billing in a major Hollywood film ("Pennies From Heaven," 1936) and the first Black host of a national radio show (Fleischmann's Yeast Show, 1937). Born in New Orleans in 1901, Armstrong grew up impoverished in a racially segregated city. He dropped out of school in fifth grade to work, and developed a close relationship with a local Jewish family that gave him odd jobs and nurtured his love of music. By the age of 11, Armstrong wound up in the Colored Waif’s Home for Boys, where he joined the band and studied the cornet in earnest. Upon his release from the home in 1914, he began working as a musician on Mississippi riverboats and other local venues. His reputation skyrocketed, and by the early 1920s he moved north, performing and recording with jazz bands in Chicago and New York. Throughout the 1920s and '30s, Armstrong made dozens of records with his own and many other ensembles, toured extensively, and began performing in Broadway productions and movies. After some business and health setbacks, and in response to changing musical tastes, Armstrong scaled his group down to a six-piece combo in the 1940s and resumed touring internationally, recording albums and appearing in movies. Some of his biggest popular hits came in the later years of his career, including "Hello Dolly" (1964) and "What A Wonderful World" (1967). His grueling schedule took its toll on his heart and kidneys and in 1968 he was forced to take time off to recuperate, but he began performing again in 1970. Armstrong died in his sleep in July 1971, just a few months after his final engagement at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. Armstrong and his fourth wife, Lucille Wilson, purchased their home in Corona in 1943, shortly after they were married, and lived there for the remainder of their lives. After Lucille’s passing in 1983, she willed the home and its contents to the city of New York, which designated the City University of New York, Queens College to administer it. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and a New York City Landmark in 1988. The archives became accessible in the 1990s, and the historic house opened for public tours in 2003. It also now serves as a venue for concerts and educational programs.

Kiely Hall on the campus of Queens College

Bishop James Ferguson (1925 – 2018) Began working with the community organization Elmcor Youth and Adult Center in the East Elmhurst/Corona neighborhood, starting with the Junior Choir caroling in front of Elmcor during the Christmas of 1982. The then “Rev” James Ferguson began an outreach ministry consisting of twice weekly bible study and monthly outreach every fourth Sunday, which helped many local residents deal with issues such as drug addiction and instability. He also initiated and sponsored the Corona East Elmhurst Clergy Association (CEECA). CEECA is a monthly meeting that addresses troublesome activity within the Corona, East Elmhurst, and Jackson Heights communities that were brought to the attention of the clergy by the local police precinct. Bishop James is credited with implementing the Gospel Explosion, which is an outdoor event where various churches worship in front of their church conveying the same message to the community at a set time during the month of July. He is also responsible for implementation of the Gospel Crusade which is an event held during the month of August near or on Junction Boulevard with a Health Fair component to meet the needs of the community.

Rathaus Hall on the campus of Queens College, 2022.

Janet Kelly (1947-2021) was one of the founders of the Jackson Heights knitting group and taught knitting at the Catherine Sheridan Senior Center. She also served as director of the Jackson Heights Beautification Group, led the garden club, which was deeply involved in beautifying the community and improving 34th Avenue, and was a key organizer of the annual Children's Halloween Parade in Jackson Heights.

In 1970, Iccey Elvalina Gibbs Newton (1939-1993) and her husband moved to Woodside where they raised four children. She helped form the Woodside Tenants Association and then worked for NYCHA for 20 years. She started tenant patrols in Woodside Houses and served as District Coordinator for the Girl Scouts of America. She served on Community Board 1 from 1991 until her death.

Mary Vavruska (1932 – 2015) was a well-known Jackson Heights community activist that served the community for over 50 years and was instrumental in the building of Louis Armstrong Middle School, I.S. 227. She worked as the chair of Community Board 3 for many years, and was especially active on issues of land use, economic development, and education. She helped initiate the building of the 115th Police Precinct on Northern Boulevard. Vavruska also helped form the Jackson Heights Community Corp. and organized and implemented volunteer services for the homeless at the Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church. She was an active PTA member and championed the Department of Education to receive continual financial support for the maintenance of the Paired Schools under the Princeton Plan to integrate the schools between Jackson Heights, Corona, and East Elmhurst after the decentralization of school districts. She received the Volunteer of the Year from the Regional Alliance for Small Contractors, the Community Service Award from The Asociacion Benefica Cultural Father Billini and the Small Business Person of the Year from the Queens Chamber of Commerce.

Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. He gained a reputation as a humanitarian as the head of the American Relief Administration, which distributed food and relief supplies throughout Europe following World War I. Under President Warren Harding, Hoover served as U.S. secretary of commerce, where he helped direct the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Hoover Dam. Unable to address the severe unemployment, homelessness, and hunger brought on by the Great Depression, Hoover was defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election. He was born in West Branch, Iowa, the son of Jesse Hoover, a blacksmith, and Hulda Minthorn Hoover, a seamstress. When Hoover was six years old, his father died of heart disease, and he lost his mother four years later to pneumonia. Hoover then left Iowa for Oregon, where he was raised by his maternal uncle and aunt, John and Laura Minthorn. He graduated from Stanford University in 1895, and there he met his future wife, Lou Henry. Together, they raised two children. In the years following his presidency, he wrote several books critical of President Roosevelt’s New Deal. Until Pearl Harbor was attacked, Hoover opposed US involvement in World War II, and he also condemned American participation in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He died in New York City in 1964 at the age of 90. Martin Thomas Manton (1880-1946) was a district and federal judge. In 1916, he was nominated by President Woodrow Wilson to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Two years later, he was again appointed by Wilson to serve as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In 1939, he became the first U.S. federal judge charged with bribery. Though later acquitted of that charge, he was convicted of conspiring to obstruct justice and received the maximum penalty—two years in prison and a $10,000 fine, for which he served 19 months in federal prison. The son of Irish-immigrant parents, Manton was born in New York City. He received his law degree from Columbia University in 1901 and went into private law practice from 1901 to 1916. In 1907, he married Eva Morier. Manton eventually retired to Fayetteville, New York, where he died in 1946 at the age of 66. The Hoover-Manton Playgrounds are located in Briarwood on Manton Street (also named for Manton), between 134th Street, 83rd Avenue, and Main Street.

Officer Vitale and and Officer Abruzzo were two police officers, both assigned to the 109th Precinct in Flushing, who died in the line of duty. Officer Vitale was killed on December 24, 1980 and Officer Abruzzo less than a year later, on December 16, 1981.

Rev. Dr. Samuel B. Joubert Sr. (1922-2013) was the pastor of the Community Baptist Church in Bayside for 47 years, beginning in the late 1960s. A longtime resident of Bayside, he spent his life in service to his faith and his community. He served as president of the Bayside and Vicinity Interfaith Interracial Improvement Council for several years, which offered programs for young people, and he instituted the NYC Needy Family Food Program, which evolved into a family clothing program. Joubert was also chaplain of the Bayside Volunteer Ambulance Corps, a clergy liaison for the 111th Police Precinct, and president of the Bayside branch of the NAACP. In recognition of his lifelong service, he received many awards from the NYC Board of Education, the 111th Police Precinct Community Council, the Queens Borough President, and other agencies and organizations. Samuel Berthal Joubert was born in Grand Prairie, Louisiana, to Edmond Joubert III, who managed the family farm, and Virigie Wickliffe Joubert, a schoolteacher. The fifth of their eight children to survive infancy, Joubert attended high school in Opelousas, Louisiana, and Peabody High School in Alexandria, Louisiana. At age 15, he was elected president of the state 4-H Club. Serving for three years, he gave speeches around the state, experiences that he considered the beginning of his career as a public speaker. In 1945, he moved to New York City, settling in Harlem. On September 11, 1948, he married Doris Joyce Lee Thorpe, and the couple raised five children together. Joubert worked for a period at Harlem Hospital. In 1954, he began preaching full-time as pastor of the New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Upper Manhattan. On June 10, 2023, a co-naming ceremony was held at Community Baptist Church in Bayside to rename the northeast corner of 46th Road and 206th Street in Joubert’s honor as Rev. Dr. Samuel B. Joubert Sr. Way. The corner is located directly in front of the church where Joubert served his community for nearly half a century.

Arthur Hayes (1923-1997) was an active member of Community Board 3, President of the East Elmhurst-Corona Civic Association, Inc., First Vice-President of the Jackson Heights Community Development Corporation, a Board Member of the Jerome Hardeman Day Care Center and Worshipful Master of Trinity Lodge No.51 in East Elmhurst. As part of CB 3 Mr. Hayes served on the Transportation, Land Use and other committees, and was instrumental in obtaining approval to make 32nd Avenue a one-way street because of the heavy traffic. He participated in numerous meetings with public agencies on environmental, traffic and safety issues related to La Guardia Airport, and to the dredging and clean-up of Flushing Bay.

Natalie Katz Rogers (1919–2023) was the founder of Queens Centers for Progress, a nonprofit organization established in 1950 to advocate for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. A champion for those with these disabilities, she served on the board of directors for the Cerebral Palsy Association of New York State. Rogers advocated for policies at the state and federal levels that would empower individuals with disabilities and helped expand the range of services available to them. Rogers began advocating for children with cerebral palsy after visiting a ward of patients at Queens General Hospital in 1950. Recognizing the specific needs of these children, Rogers and several concerned parents worked together to establish United Cerebral Palsy of Queens, which is now known as Queens Centers for Progress. In addition to her work in advocacy, Rogers was an aerodynamic engineer for TWA during World War II and served as Mayor of the Village of Ocean Beach on Fire Island from 1998 to 2006.