Doris “Dorie” Miller (1919 – 1943), was a World War II hero who shot down several enemy planes during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was the first African American recipient of the Navy Cross for valor. Miller joined the US Navy on September 19, 1939, at age 19 and was assigned to the Messman Branch. At the time, African Americans were limited to positions on supply ships. The easy-going serviceman was described as an impressive 200 lbs., and over 6 feet tall. On December 7, 1941, he was assigned as a Mess Attendant aboard the ammunition supply ship Pyro anchored in Pearl Harbor. In the Japanese attack that day, the Pyro was struck by at least six torpedoes and two bombs. Miller, leaving his post, raced to his ship commander Captain Mervyn Bennion, who was mortally wounded. After helping move the captain to a safer place, Miller, in the midst of bombing and a flame-swept deck, proceeded to help pass ammunition to two machine gun positions. When one of the gunners was killed, Miller took over his position and he downed at least two Japanese planes and as many as six. Shortly after, he was ordered to leave the bridge as bombing and danger increased. Dorie Miler was awarded the Navy Cross by Admiral Chester W. Nmitz to become the first US Hero of WW II and the first African American to receive the Navy's highest award. Two years later, on November 24, 1943, Miller was among more than seven hundred crew members who died in the sinking of the USS Liscombe Bay, torpedoed by an enemy submarine. In his honor, the Navy named a Knox class frigate ship the USS Miller. In December 1953, the first of three hundred families moved into the six buildings of the Dorie Miller Housing Cooperative. 34th Avenue between 112th and 114th is known as Dorie Miller Place.

In honor of Veterans Day, we are highlighting a few of the many public spaces in Queens named after veterans, some of whom emerged as community leaders.

Millie Rigoli (1923-2024) was a beloved centenarian who actively served her community of Bayside for over 50 years. She volunteered at P.S. 159, the Board of Elections the Department of Education, the Selfhelp Clearview Senior Center, St. Josaphat’s Church, and Blessed Sacrament Church, where she taught in the Religious Education Program for over 25 years. She also served as a board member of the Church's Senior Citizens Center. P.S.159 is located at 205-01 33rd Avenue in Bayside, NY, between 205th Street and Clearview Expressway Service Road. Millie Rigoli Way is at the intersection of 33rd Avenue and 205th Street, by the school where Millie made a lasting impact with her years of dedicated service.

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Cadwallader Colden (1688-1776) was born to Scottish parents in Ireland in 1688, and raised in Duns, Scotland. In his early life, Colden trained to become a Presbyterian minister at the University of Edinburgh until transitioning to the sciences. Colden immigrated to the British colony of Pennsylvania in 1710 where he worked as a doctor and a merchant until moving to New York in 1718. As a scientist, Colden studied biology, botany, chemistry, physics, and astronomy, while pursuing research on cancer, yellow fever, smallpox, and climate-based diseases as a doctor. Some of Colden’s famous academic publications include The History of the Five Indian Nations Depending on the Province of New York (1727), a classification of local species in the Linnaean system (1749), and a critique of Sir Issac Newton’s work in The Principles of Action in Matter (1751). Colden also pursued roles in public service, holding the position of Master in Chancery and Surveyor General of New York, serving on the Governor's Council, and eventually as acting Governor up until the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. Colden was not popular among American colonists due to his British-favoring policies on trade, as seen in incidents such as the Stamp Act Crisis of 1765. Forced out of office by the war, Colden died on his Long Island estate near Flushing, Spring Hill, in 1776. In addition to this school, a nearby playground is also named after him.

Detective Randolph Holder (d. 2015) came from a family of Guyanese immigrants who all served as police officers and settled in Rockaway, Queens. Holder had served with the New York City Police Department for five years and was assigned to Police Service Area 5. He and his partner were on patrol in East Harlem when they responded to a call of shots fired. The officers canvassed the area for the suspect and located him approximately 18 blocks away, near a footbridge over Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive at 120th Street. A gun battle ensued, and Officer Holder was struck in the exchange of gunfire and was killed in the line of duty on October 20, 2015. He was 33 years old. The suspect, who had been wounded in the exchange of gunfire, was located several blocks away by responding officers and taken into custody.

Sgt. Gerard J. Dunne (1946–1968) was a U.S. Army squad leader serving in the 11th Infantry Brigade of the Americal Division in Quang Ngai, Vietnam. He was killed in action on August 25, 1968, and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star—the military's third-highest decoration for valor. Born in Brooklyn, he was the son of Dorothy Dunne, a longtime resident of Breezy Point on the Rockaway Peninsula and a columnist for the local paper, The Wave.

Remington Vernam (1842-1907) was born in McConnville, New York, and moved to New York City with his family in 1854. He attended public school and went on to law school. He first came to Far Rockaway as a retreat from the stress of his work as a lawyer, but soon saw an opportunity to develop the area. His wife Florence, noticing that he signed his checks "R. Vernam," decided to name the hotel and surrounding community as a variation, "Arverne," which she thought had a nice French sound.

Saint Kevin of Glendalough (498-618) was a Celtic monastic and the founder and first abbot of the sixth-century monastery of Glendalough in modern-day County Wicklow, Ireland. Remembered for his ascetic, solitary life, he is traditionally revered for his love and kindness toward animals and nature. The story of his life is often described as one of a journey from solitude to community. He was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint by Pope Pius X on December 9, 1903. Saint Kevin’s life is not well documented by contemporaneous sources and is based largely on legend and tradition. He was born in the ancient kingdom of Leinster, near today’s Dublin, and given the name of “Coemgen” or “fair-begotten” in Gaelic, anglicized as “Kevin.” His parents, Coemlog and Coemell, were said to be of noble birth. From the age of 12, he studied under monks and was eventually ordained as a priest. As a young man, he chose to pursue a life of solitude and prayer, traveling to Glendalough, or “Valley of the Two Lakes,” located in a narrow valley in the Wicklow Mountains. He lived by the shore of the upper lake, reportedly led there by an angel to a man-made cave on the south side and still visible today from the lake’s north shore. Known as Saint Kevin’s Bed, it served as a space to sleep and meditate, and it was in this area that he lived a solitary life of contemplation for seven years. Known as a holy man, people increasingly sought him out for advice. By 540, a monastic community was formed that included a walled settlement known as Kevin’s Cell. After the community was firmly established, Kevin retired into solitude for another four years, eventually returning at the request of his monks and presiding as abbot until his death at Glendalough on June 3, 618. The community grew to become one of Ireland’s leading monastic centers and flourished for a thousand years after his death. Today, its ruins are among Ireland’s most famous and best preserved. The site is considered an important part of Irish history and heritage and is a popular tourist destination. Saint Kevin is known for his love, respect, and closeness with nature. Legends around his interaction with animals include stories of cows, sheep, otter, doe, wolves, geese, boars, hunting dogs, and various flocks of birds. One well-known legend illustrates Kevin’s harmony with nature. As he was praying with outstretched arms, a blackbird landed in Kevin’s hand, laying her eggs. Kevin remained still until the eggs were hatched, and the chicks were fledged. Nobel prizewinner Seamus Heaney popularized this story in his poem “St. Kevin and the Blackbird.” Saint Kevin continues to be revered as the patron saint of blackbirds, the archdiocese of Dublin, and Glendalough. Saint Kevin Catholic Academy is located at 45-50 195th Street in Flushing. The school was built in 1939, with two additions added in 1950 and 1965. The parish was originally established in 1926.

Abigail Adams (1744-1818) had the distinction of being the first Second Lady of the United States and the second First Lady. She was also the mother of the sixth President, John Quincy Adams. A political influencer, she is remembered for the many letters of advice she exchanged with her husband, John Adams, during the Continental Congresses and throughout his political career. In 1776, Abigail wrote her most famous letter, exhorting the Founding Fathers to “remember the ladies.” She added, “Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could.”

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Queens Public Library Connection The Carnegie Reading Room at Elmhurst Library is named after businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835 – 1919). The name honors the original Elmhurst Library building, which was a “Carnegie Library”, built with money donated by Carnegie. Over 2,500 Carnegie libraries were built across the world, between 1883 and 1929. In 1907, funds totaling $240,000 donated by Andrew Carnegie were used for the construction of seven new libraries in Queens, including the old Elmhurst Library. The one-story structure served the community for 110 years, but more space was needed, and in 2011 the building was demolished. The new four-story library opened in 2016. The only artifact saved was the edifice of the old fireplace, which is now in the 3rd floor room of the children's section. Four Carnegie Library buildings (Astoria, Poppenhusen, Richmond Hill, and Woodhaven) are still in use in Queens at this time.

Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968) was a lawyer and politician who served in the administration of his brother, President John F. Kennedy, as attorney general and a key presidential advisor from 1961 to 1963. In that time, Robert fought organized crime and was an instrumental supporter of the Civil Rights movement. He left the administration in 1964, the year following President Kennedy’s assassination. From 1965 to 1968, Robert represented New York in the U.S. Senate, where he continued to advocate for human rights and the economically disadvantaged, while opposing racial discrimination and the nation’s deepening involvement in the Vietnam War. On June 5, 1968, while campaigning in Los Angeles for the Democratic presidential nomination, Kennedy was shot several times by gunman Sirhan Sirhan. He died the following day at age 42. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, Robert was the seventh of nine children born to businessman and financier Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose (Fitzgerald) Kennedy, the daughter of the mayor of Boston. After serving in the navy in World War II, Robert graduated from Harvard in 1948 and earned his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1951. In 1950, he married Ethel Skakel, and the couple had eleven children together. Following law school, Robert joined the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, leaving in 1952 to manage his brother John’s successful campaign for the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts. In 1953, Robert was an assistant counsel to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, headed by Joseph R. McCarthy, but left the position because of his opposition to unjust investigative tactics. In 1957, he began to help investigate corruption in trade unions as Chief Counsel for the Senate Rackets Committee, resigning in 1960 to help run his brother’s presidential campaign. Robert is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, adjacent to the gravesite of President Kennedy. Opened in 1936, the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge consists of three bridges, a viaduct, and 14 miles of approach roads connecting Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx. Originally named the Triborough Bridge, it was renamed in Kennedy’s honor at a ceremony in Astoria on November 19, 2008. Other locations in Queens also named in recognition of his public service include Robert F. Kennedy Hall on the campus of Queensborough Community College and Robert F. Kennedy Community High School in Flushing.

Raoul Gustav Wallenberg (1912-c. 1947) was a Swedish humanitarian who saved the lives of approximately 100,000 Hungarian Jews threatened by Nazi persecution and execution during World War II. Wallenberg was born on August 4, 1912 to a prominent, wealthy family in Stockholm. He moved to the U.S. to study architecture at the University of Michigan in 1931, and then worked abroad before returning to Sweden in 1936. There he worked for a company owned by a Hungarian Jew, learning Hungarian after that country adopted anti-Jewish policies in 1938 so that he could travel to Budapest in place of his employer. In 1944 a U.S. War Refugee Board representative identified Wallenberg as someone who could lead efforts to rescue Jews in Hungary with assistance from the U.S. Department of State. He used his drafting skills to design counterfeit Swedish passports and distributed them on trains headed toward concentration camps. He purchased homes and painted them the colors of the Swedish flag, becoming neutral sites where Jews found safety. He also stocked warehouses with food for both rations and for bribes for Nazi officers. Wallenberg left Hungary on January 17, 1945 to meet with Soviet commanders about relief plans. He was reported missing soon after. A Soviet counterintelligence agency reportedly brought him to Moscow on suspicion of espionage. The Soviets claimed not to know what had become of him, but in 1957 the government shared documents that said he had died in a Russian prison in 1947 from a heart attack. Though the circumstances of his death remain unclear, it is widely believed that he was executed by the KGB. He was only formally declared dead in 2016. In October 1981, Wallenberg was made an honorary citizen of the United States. That December, City Council Member Arthur Katzman sponsored the bill to name this sitting area after Wallenberg. The site was dedicated in Wallenberg's honor on April 25, 1982. Several other locations are named for Wallenberg across the city, including streets in Brooklyn and the Bronx, a playground in upper Manhattan, and Wallenberg Forest in the Bronx.

Charles J. Steinmann (d. 1918), died in World War I. Steinmann grew up at 109 Greenpoint Avenue, in Woodside, and served in Company F of the 321st Infantry Division. He died of pneumonia on November 1, 1918, just ten days before the Armistice.

Born in Brooklyn, Maurice A. FitzGerald (1897-1951) was a lifelong public servant. He began his career as a postal clerk at the age of 14. In the 1920s, FitzGerald became the president of the South Side Allied Civic Association and championed the construction of John Adams High School in Ozone Park. He also successfully opposed the displacement of local residents by the widening of streets. In 1929, FitzGerald was elected to the State Assembly where he served for nine years. During his tenure, he actively supported laws that extended the parkways through Queens, earning him the nickname “The Father of Queens Parkways.” FitzGerald also led a successful campaign to regulate utility companies, saving taxpayers millions of dollars. A staunch supporter of civil service and labor, he sponsored many pro-worker bills, including ones that restricted court injunctions and prohibited contracts that prevented workers from joining unions. In 1937, FitzGerald was elected Sheriff of Queens and embarked on a vigorous beautification and enforcement campaign for the 1939-40 World’s Fair. In 1942, he was appointed Borough Public Works Commissioner, a position he held for seven years. FitzGerald was then elected as Queens Borough President on the Democratic ticket with Mayor William O’Dwyer in 1949. Unfortunately, FitzGerald only served as president for two years; he suffered a fatal heart attack in 1951 while vacationing in the Adirondacks, ending a productive career of public service. Later that year, the City Council named a new playground for FitzGerald in Ozone Park where he had been a longtime resident. He had been instrumental in securing this site as a park and had participated in the groundbreaking ceremonies months before his death.

Queens Public Library Connection John Jacob Astor was born in Walldorf near Heidelberg, in what is now Germany. His father was a butcher and Astor spent his youth working in his father's shop. At the age of 20 and emigrated to the United State. Astor made his fortune as a fur trader, among other business dealings. Later in life, he invested in New York City real estate and was the first multi-millionaire in the United States. Astor was a patron of the Arts, and he made many charitable bequests by his will. Notably, he left $400,000 to found the Astor Library, now part of the New York Public Library system. In 1839 another prominent fur trader, Stephen A. Halsey, bought a large swathe of land along the East River. He incorporated the village and changed the name to Astoria, after his mentor: the millionaire John Jacob Astor, in the hope that Astor would invest in the area. Though Astor only invested $500, the neighborhood and later it's branch of the Queens Public Library, bears his name.

The following text was written by Paul Russo's brother George: Paul was a humble and devout Christian young man. Passing at the age of 33, his life was short but meaningful. He was a person of integrity who devoted his later life to the ministry of the less fortunate. Tending to the homeless, building shelter for the poor in Third World countries and bringing the spiritually disenfranchised to the Lord became his mission. He was also entrepreneurial and business-savvy, always giving back to others whatever success he earned through his hard work. The last months of his life were an inspiration to those who witnessed the selfless acceptance of his medical diagnosis offered for the healing of others. Paul was a heroic saint to those who knew him best.

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.

Alphonse “Al” Volpe (1925-2015) applied his volunteer efforts to improving the quality of life of his neighbors, particularly in the areas of housing and transportation. While working professionally in information systems, he served as Vice President of the Federation of New York Housing Cooperatives and Condominiums, working to help tenants of rental buildings that were being converting to middle-income cooperatives to navigate the conversion process and to protect their investment in housing ownership. He was a Board Member and Officer of Berkeley Cooperative Towers in Woodside for 27 years and also served as President of the Woodside Community Council, an umbrella civic association, and as Vice President of the 108th Precinct Community Council. He was a very active member of Queens Community Board 2 and its City Services, Transportation and Environmental committees for more than 13 years. When the MTA temporarily halted No. 7 Express service for repairs and wanted to make it permanent, he and fellow commuters started the No. 7 Flushing Line Committee. After documenting train overcrowding, they successfully lobbied to restore Flushing Line Express Service. Volpe was also Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of “Woodside on the Move” and President of the Board of Woodysun Senior Housing.

Thomas Emanuel (1923-1972) was born in Miami Florida, eventually moving to Astoria, Queens, NY. He served in the US Navy and was one of two Black stewards aboard the USS Nautilus during her successful attempt to become the first submarine to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole on August 3, 1958.

William D. Modell Way at Queens Plaza.

Seymour “Sy” Seplowe was a community activist and youth advocate. He was born in the Bronx, served in World War II, then settled in northeastern Queens during the early 1950s. Seplowe organized the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade and, in 1953, founded the Little Neck-Douglaston Youth Club, an organization of 1,200 members dedicated to providing community youth with athletic opportunities. Seplowe was also a founding member of Community Board 11 and the president of the Little Neck-Douglaston Community Council. Throughout his life, Seplowe worked to promote baseball, and served as the Little League administrator for School District 26 for 35 years. In 1951, the City of New York acquired the land adjacent to P.S. 94 and constructed a park for the school’s use. The City named the new park in honor of Seplowe. In 1985, Parks renamed the property Admiral Park; however, the playground within the park continues to be known as Sy Seplowe Playground.

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. The Louis Armstrong Community Center is located several blocks away from their home, which is now the Louis Armstrong House Museum, offering public tours, concerts and educational programs. The Community Center, opened in 1996, offers local residents a variety of activities and programs, including basketball, soccer, martial arts programs and dance classes for both young and old.

Klapper Hall as it appeared in the 1950s, then called the Paul Klapper Library.

Gilbert Ray “Gil” Hodges (1924-1972) helped win championships for his teams both as a player and as a manager. He was born in Indiana and excelled at baseball at an early age. He was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1943 but only managed to play one game that year, leaving to serve in the Marines for World War II. Hodges returned to the team in 1947 and played a number of positions before finding success at first base. During his peak offensive production from 1949 to 1957, Hodges averaged 32 home runs and 108 RBI per season. It was during these seasons that the Dodgers won five National League pennants and the 1955 World Series title. One notable achievement for Hodges occurred on August 31, 1950, when he became just the second modern-era National League player to hit four home runs in one game. Hodges moved with the team to Los Angeles in 1958 and helped it win its first National League pennant and World Series on the West Coast in 1959. His abilities and playing time diminished after that; he played two more years with the Dodgers and then with the new New York team, the Mets, in 1962 and 1963. He is credited with hitting the first home run for the Mets. Hodges retired early in the 1963 season with 370 homers (third most for a right-handed hitter at the time), 1,921 hits, 1,274 RBI and three Gold Glove Awards at first base – even though the award was not created until 1957. He was quickly chosen by the last-place Washington Senators to manage the team. He brought the Senators out of recent 100-loss seasons to a more respectable 76-85 record in 1967 with limited resources. This success was noted by the New York Mets, who hired him after the 1967 season to help their expansion team. It didn’t take long for Hodges to turn a team that hadn’t won more than 66 games in a season to “The Miracle Mets” of 1969 that won 100 games and the World Series title. The Mets had winning seasons in 1970 and 1971 but, tragically, Hodges had a heart attack and died just before his 48th birthday on April 2, 1972. Hodges’ uniform number 14 was retired on June 9, 1973, at Shea Stadium. He was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame in 1982. After years of consideration, his number 14 was retired by the Los Angeles Dodgers and he was finally inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Golden Days Eras Committee in 2022. In 1978, The Marine Parkway Bridge was renamed the Marine Parkway - Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, marking the first time a bridge was named for a major sports figure. Appropriately, it spans the Rockaway Inlet from Jacob Riis Park in Queens to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.

Thomas Rainey (1824-1910) a resident of Ravenswood, Queens, was one of the main contributors to the bridge across the East River between Manhattan and Long Island City. Rainey spent 25 years and much of his fortune on this bridge. The project was initially highly favored by the community, but it lost momentum in the financial Panic of 1873. Due to this, the burden of organizing and refinancing the company fell on him, first as treasurer in 1874, then as president in 1877. However, the project once again lost steam in 1892 . After the consolidation of New York City in 1898, the project gained new momentum and the bridge was finally built at Queens Plaza, a few blocks south of the proposed location. On opening day in 1909, Rainey realized his dream as he crossed the new bridge with Governor Charles Evans Hughes. The new bridge entitled the "The Queensboro Bridge," fulfilled its promise by tying the Borough of Queens into Greater New York. For his efforts, Rainey received a gold medal inscribed “The Father of the Bridge.” In 1904, the City of New York acquired several acres of waterfront property. The concrete “sea wall,” built where the park meets the East River, was completed in 1912, by which time Rainey had passed away. To honor his public spirit, the city named the property Rainey Park.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was the third president of the United States and an American Founding Father. He was born on April 14, 1743, in Shadwell, Virginia, and quickly became a key figure in the American struggle for independence. A fierce advocate for liberty, Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence at 33 as a member of the Second Continental Congress. He held many political offices throughout his life, serving as Governor of Virginia (1779 -81), U.S. Minister to France (1784-90), and Secretary of State to George Washington (1790-97). Jefferson often famously came into conflict with Alexander Hamilton, especially when Jefferson was Secretary of State and Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury. Jefferson consistently advocated for a limited federal government and for states’ rights throughout his political career, while Hamilton advocated for the opposite. Jefferson was also Vice President during John Adams’ term as President, and was himself elected President in 1800, completing his second term in 1809. As President, one of his biggest achievements was the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon in 1803, and reducing the national debt significantly. Jefferson also established the University of Virginia at the age of 76 in his retirement, which he largely spent at Monticello, the plantation he inherited from his father. Jefferson also inherited slaves from his father and his father-in-law, most of whom were enslaved at Monticello. Many of those enslaved who worked in the house were of the Hemings family, including Sally Hemings. Jefferson was the father of at least six of Hemings’ children, and the first was born when Hemings was only 16. He was, however, conflicted about the moral implications regarding slavery, and eventually freed all of Hemings' children. Jefferson died in Monticello on July 4, 1826, on the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the Declaration of Independence.

Police Officer Edward Byrne (1966-1988) was a rookie officer who was killed in the line of duty on February 26, 1988. Byrne was shot several times in the head and died instantly as he sat in his police car while on assignment protecting a drug case witness at 107th Avenue and Inwood Street in South Jamaica, Queens. The cold-blooded killing, which was apparently a plot to intimidate witnesses from testifying against drug dealers, shocked the consciousness of the city. A year after the murder, four men were convicted and sentenced to the maximum sentences of 25 years to life for the crime. Byrne was single, 22, and living in Massapequa, Long Island, at the time he was murdered. He had joined the police force the previous July, and worked at the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica, Queens.

Christian Hoobs (1869 - 1917) served the Broad Channel community as a volunteer fire fighter as well as a civic-minded businessman. He helped build both the Broad Channel Volunteer Fire Department (BCVFD) and St. Virgilius Church buildings, both of which are still standing. In December 1912, Hoobs was elected the fourth Chief of the BCVFD, holding the office until his untimely death at age 47. On June 14 1917, while eating dinner at the dining pavilion he owned, Hoobs heard the fire bell ring. He hurried to lead his men into the fire, but experienced a fatal heart attack, becoming the first and only member of the department to suffer a Line of Duty death. The intersection that now bears Hoobs' name is adjacent to both the Fire Department and St. Virgilius Church.

Clifford Glover (1962-1973) was a ten-year-old Black boy who was fatally shot by a white police officer. At ten years old, he was the youngest person killed by an NYC police officer. On the morning of April 28, 1973, Clifford (known as “Cliffie” to friends and family), a fourth-grader at P.S. 40, was accompanying his stepfather Add Armstead to his job at a junkyard. As they were walking, a car pulled up to them, and two plainclothes police officers emerged, looking for robbery suspects. Clifford and Armstead ran away, fearing they would be robbed (Armstead was carrying the wages he had been paid the previous day). One of the officers, Thomas Shea, shot and killed Clifford in the back. Despite Clifford being four feet, eleven inches tall and weighing fewer than one hundred pounds, Shea claimed not to have realized that Clifford was a child. He also claimed that Clifford pointed a gun at him; however, investigators found no weapon when they searched the area. Clifford became the youngest person ever killed by an NYPD officer, and his death sparked protests across South Jamaica. Shea stood trial for his murder a year later but was found not guilty by the jury. Half a century after Clifford’s death, in the spring of 2023, the intersection where he was killed was co-named in his honor in a ceremony attended by prominent political leaders, clergy, criminal justice reformers, and Clifford’s family.

Pianist, band leader and composer Edward K. "Duke" Ellington (1899-1974) was one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century. Born in Washington, D.C., he studied piano as a child and began playing professionally at age 17. He moved to New York during the Jazz Age of the 1920s and, with his band, was a fixture at Harlem's Cotton Club. After gaining much wider popularity through radio broadcasts and recordings, Ellington and his band began touring the world in 1931, a model he followed for the rest of his life. After the popularity of big-band and swing music waned in the later 1940s and 1950s, Ellington began working with the younger generation of jazz musicians, including John Coltrane, Max Roach and Charles Mingus. He died in New York City in 1974. Ellington wrote more than 2,000 works throughout his career, and often worked closely with composer/arranger Billy Strayhorn. Among the jazz standards he composed are "Sophisticated Lady," "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good" and "Don't Get Around Much Anymore." During his lifetime, Ellington won 11 Grammy awards, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and an honorary doctorate of music from Yale University, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, among many other honors.

Phil “Scooter” Rizzuto (1917-2007) was born in Brooklyn to Italian parents but moved with his family to Glendale, Queens, in his youth. He played baseball at P.S. 68 in Glendale and Richmond Hill High School, which he left before graduating to play in the major leagues. Although disregarded by some local teams because of his height (5’ 6”), he convinced the New York Yankees to sign him in 1937. After proving himself in the minor leagues, Rizzuto played shortstop for the Yankees starting in 1941 and, after serving in the Navy from 1943 to 1945, played the remainder of his career with the team from 1946 to 1956. His superb defense and offensive contributions helped the team win 10 American League pennants and eight World Series during his 13 years with the club. After finishing second in MVP voting in 1949, he followed with a career year in 1950 in which he achieved career highs in multiple categories, including hits (200), batting average (.324), on-base percentage (.418) and runs (125), while winning the AL MVP Award. As a shortstop, he led all AL shortstops in double plays three times, putouts twice and assists once. By the time he retired in 1956, he left the game with a batting average of .273, 1,588 hits, 149 stolen bases, 38 home runs, 563 RBI and five All-Star Game selections. Rizzuto was hired quickly afterward by the Yankees as a broadcaster in 1957 and would announce for the team for 40 years, retiring in 1996. He was beloved by new generations of fans who adored his style – his “Holy Cow!” signature line is recognizable to this day. The Yankees retired Rizzuto's uniform number 10 in 1985 and placed a plaque in his honor in their stadium's Monument Park. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994, recognizing his career of more than 50 years in the game. The Glendale intersection co-named for Rizzuto is located in the neighborhood where he played ball in the street as a child.

Shri Guru Ravidass was a great Indian thinker, reformist, traveler, spiritual leader, and mystic poet-saint of the Bhakti movement in Hinduism, which emphasized love and devotion to god and preached against the caste system. Active during the 15th or 16th century CE, he attained recognition as a most learned Guru and was venerated as a teacher in the regions of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh. The devotional songs of Ravidass have had a lasting impact on the Bhakti movement, and 41 poems attributed to him were included in the Adi Granth, the sacred scripture of Sikhism. A great social reformer, he fought the caste system in India with great courage when the system was at its peak, and upper caste kings became his followers. He was born in Banaras, Uttar Pradesh in the Chamar caste. The Chamars are a Dalit (formerly "untouchable") caste group numerically prevalent across North India, and traditionally associated with leatherwork and animal carcass disposal, connoting ritual impurity according to the Hindu religious system of caste hierarchy. In the face of enduring discrimination by wider Indian society, a sense of collective identity and solidarity remains strong amongst Chamars. The Ravidassi movement promised a collective religious identity for Chamars outside the existing socio-religious order, and Ravidas’s teachings focused on equality, social justice, and the unity of all humanity. Centered around the Punjabi city of Jalandhar, this movement has seen temples constructed across North India, including in the sacred Hindu city of Varanasi. Through these temples, religious leaders and reformers have promoted a separatist religious identity for Ravidassia, or those who follow the spiritual teachings of Guru Ravidas, one that rejects the ritually impure status afforded to Chamars as leatherworkers by Hindu cosmology. The Shri Guru Ravidass Temple was established in Woodside in 1987. It is the only known Ravidassia temple in New York City and the East Coast as a whole. On September 15, 2024, in a dedication ceremony held just outside the Temple, the intersection of 61st Street and Broadway was officially co-named Shri Guru Ravidass Marg in honor of the great poet and social reformer. The event was presided over by New York City Councilmember Shekar Krishnan, the first Indian-American ever elected to the New York City Council.

John Bowne (1627-1695) was an English emigrant who arrived in in New Netherland, or Vlissingen (now Flushing) in 1649. He fought against Governor Pieter Stuyvesant's edict to restrict religious freedom by allowing Quakers to meet in his home. Bowne was arrested, fined and imprisoned for months by Gov. Stuyvesant and even deported due to his religious activities, though he was later set free by the Directors of the West India Company. He returned to his home later and acquired more land, including that designated for the Flushing Quaker Meeting House and a burial ground, where he was buried upon his death in 1695. Flushing had the previous name of Flushing Creeke by the original inhabitants who lived there, the Matinecock people, part of the larger Algonquin nation. While the Matinecock people are said to have sold land to the Dutch, and possibly to Bowne as well, there was also documented violence against them prior to this, as well as a smallpox epidemic that devastated the community years later in 1652. Members of the Matinecock tribe remain in Queens today.

Cadwallader Colden (1688-1776) was born to Scottish parents in Ireland in 1688, and raised in Duns, Scotland. In his early life, Colden trained to become a Presbyterian minister at the University of Edinburgh until transitioning to the sciences. Colden immigrated to the British colony of Pennsylvania in 1710 where he worked as a doctor and a merchant until moving to New York in 1718. As a scientist, Colden studied biology, botany, chemistry, physics, and astronomy, while pursuing research on cancer, yellow fever, smallpox, and climate-based diseases as a doctor. Some of Colden’s famous academic publications include The History of the Five Indian Nations Depending on the Province of New York (1727), a classification of local species in the Linnaean system (1749), and a critique of Sir Issac Newton’s work in The Principles of Action in Matter (1751). Colden also pursued roles in public service, holding the position of Master in Chancery and Surveyor General of New York, serving on the Governor's Council, and eventually as acting Governor up until the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. Colden was not popular among American colonists due to his British-favoring policies on trade, as seen in incidents such as the Stamp Act Crisis of 1765. Forced out of office by the war, Colden died on his Long Island estate near Flushing, Spring Hill, in 1776. In addition to this playground, the nearby Public School 214 in Flushing, is also named after him.

As part of his groundbreaking work as a journalist and photographer, Jacob August Riis (1849-1914) became a champion for social reforms that would help elevate people out of poverty. Riis was born on May 3, 1849 in Ribe, Denmark, and immigrated to New York in 1870. He worked various jobs before he was hired by the New York Tribune as a police reporter in 1877. He began working documenting poverty, especially in the Lower East Side and Five Points areas in Manhattan. Riis brought along a camera starting around 1887, and in 1890 his book How the Other Half Lives was released, which contained dramatic photos and essays illustrating the challenging lives of immigrants in the Lower East Side. The book had a big impact across the country, but in New York especially, where the Police Commissioner at the time was Theodore Roosevelt. Prior to becoming president, Riis' work inspired him to support legislation aimed at improving living conditions in the slums. Following in the footsteps of New York's settlement house pioneers, Riis helped the Circle of the King’s Daughters create and grow a settlement in the Lower East Side in the 1890s, and in 1901 it was renamed in his honor. It initially provided support for medical staff that offered help in the slums, but grew to provide health care, classes, and childcare support for those in need, as well. While on a speaking tour in 1914, Riis fell ill at a stop in New Orleans. His family brought him to their summer home in Barre, Massachusetts to recuperate, but he passed away on May 26, 1914. His legacy continued, though, and over the next several decades the Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement grew. The Queensbridge Houses opened in 1950. Queensbridge became the organization’s official headquarters in 1952, and by 1957, all Riis Settlement activities were consolidated at the Queensbridge site. Their work continues to this day, supporting youth, families, immigrants, and older adults of western Queens. Two other locations in Queens are also named for Riis: Jacob Riis Park in Rockaway Beach and Jacob Riis Triangle near where he lived in Richmond Hill.

Remington Vernam (1842-1907) was born in McConnville, New York, and moved to New York City with his family in 1854. He attended public school and went on to law school. He first came to Far Rockaway as a retreat from the stress of his work as a lawyer, but soon saw an opportunity to develop the area. His wife Florence, noticing that he signed his checks "R. Vernam," decided to name the hotel and surrounding community as a variation, "Arverne," which she thought had a nice French sound.

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.

Tadeusz Kościuszko (1746-1817) was a war hero from Poland. He fought to obtain freedom for all, whether that be in his home country or abroad. Kościuszko went to a Military Academy for his developmental years and went on to pursue art and engineering education in Paris, France. After receiving his education, he migrated to Philadelphia in 1776. Heavily moved by the Declaration of Independence, he joined the Engineers of the Continental Congress, connecting him with Thomas Jefferson. In 1776, he decided to travel with the Continental Army as a military engineer. During the American Revolution, he assumed leadership and defended Saratoga during the Battle of Saratoga and fortified West Point, NY. When odds were stacked against the U.S., these feats became some of the turning points putting the war on his side. West Point grew to become home of West Point Military Academy in 1802 to train more soldiers for the expanding U.S. army. In 1784 Kościuszko moved back to Poland to help fight for its independence against European Powers. He assisted in the Battle of Raclawice which led to Warsaw and Wilno being liberated. Upon fighting in a revolt, Kościuszko was imprisoned by the Russian Government. After being released in 1796, he returned to America. Old Penny/ Meeker Avenue Bridge was renamed Kościuszko to commemorate the work he put into defending the United States in its early stages.

Carl Clemens (1908-1989), a reporter, editor, and publisher of The Ridgewood Times, was a well-known community activist in the Ridgewood area. He began his career at the Ridgewood Times at 16 years old as a copy boy. For a period, the paper also operated a radio station, WHN, where Clemens announced sports, weather, and news. This station was later sold to Loew's Theaters. Clemens became a co-owner of the paper in 1933, eventually purchasing the entire newspaper and the Ridgewood Times building in 1955. He then served as its editor and publisher until his retirement in the 1980s. Clemens’s involvement with The Times fostered extensive collaboration with local civic groups, working to improve libraries, schools, senior centers, and other community establishments. In 1975, he co-founded the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society with other residents. The group's primary goal, which they successfully achieved, was to save an abandoned Onderdonk Farmhouse which dates back to the 1600s. Clemens also generously provided meeting space in the Ridgewood Times building for community board meetings. In the late 1960s, Mayor John Lindsay appointed Clemens as an honorary Commissioner of Public Events, and in 1985, Mayor Edward I. Koch renamed this intersection in Ridgewood in his honor.

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. I.S. 227, a public middle school serving grades 5 through 8, is located approximately one mile from their home, which is now the Louis Armstrong House Museum, offering public tours, concerts and educational programs.

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Firefighter James E. Bohan (1973–1998) of Ladder 170, is remembered for his exceptional bravery. He died in the line of duty on December 18, 1998, while battling a fire at the Vandalia Senior Housing Complex in Brooklyn. Bohan perished along with fellow firefighters Joseph Cavalieri and Christopher Bopp while attempting to rescue a resident who, unbeknownst to them, had already escaped the blaze. While the exact cause of the fire remains unconfirmed, it is believed a resident’s cigarette may have been responsible; tragically, the building's sprinkler system had been shut off for unknown reasons. This event is also commemorated by a park named for Christopher Bopp, located near his home in Brooklyn. Bohan grew up in Middle Village, where he and his friends frequently went to Juniper Valley Park to play. His deep-seated love for children was always in evidence. One Memorial Day, for instance, at the Irish Festival in East Durham, Bohan purchased a balloon stand's entire inventory and, with the help of his friends, distributed them to every child at the fair. Even on the day before his death, he and his fellow firefighters walked the halls of Brookdale Hospital to hand out toys to sick children. New York City honors his kindness, heroism, and sacrifice.

Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. (1943-1993) was born in Richmond, Virginia, and began playing tennis at the age of 10. In 1966 he graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he won the United States Intercollegiate Singles Championship and led his team to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship. At the 1968 U.S. Open, Ashe defeated several competitors to win the men’s singles title. By 1975, he was ranked the number-one tennis player in the U.S. After this string of athletic successes, he began suffering heart problems. Retiring from the sport, he underwent heart surgery in 1979 and again in 1983. During one of his hospital stays, Ashe was likely given an HIV-tainted blood transfusion and he soon contracted AIDS. Despite his illness, he remained involved in public life. His participation in many youth activities, such as the National Junior Tennis League and the ABC Cities Tennis Program, and his role in protests against South African apartheid earned Ashe recognition as 1992 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, long after his athletic career had ended. He died of pneumonia in New York at age 49.

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.

Ann and two gentlemen (probably members of the board) at Annual Dinner, some time in the 1960's, taken at Waldorf-Astoria.     Library Dedication at then Boys Club of Queens, Ann is the woman in a dark dress standing in doorway facing camera, Taken in the 1960-70's.   Mary Demarkos Ann Buehler and Lucille Hartmann posting before bleachers in gym at Variety Boys and Girls Club, taken some time in the early 2000s Ann working on a crafts project with kids, Taken sometime in the early 2000.

Abigail Adams (1744-1818), was the wife of John Adams, patriot leader, lawyer and second president of the United States. She was a patriot in her own right and a supporter of education for women. She married John Adams in 1764. From 17874 to 1784, she raised four children alone and ran the family farm. Her son, John Quincy Adams, was the sixth President of the United States.

Remington Vernam (1842-1907) was born in McConnville, New York, and moved to New York City with his family in 1854. He attended public school and went on to law school. He first came to Far Rockaway as a retreat from the stress of his work as a lawyer, but soon saw an opportunity to develop the area. His wife Florence, noticing that he signed his checks "R. Vernam," decided to name the hotel and surrounding community as a variation, "Arverne," which she thought had a nice French sound.

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.

Conrad Poppenhusen (1818-1883), entrepreneur and philanthropist, was born in Hamburg, Germany on April 1, 1818. After working for a whalebone merchant as a whalebone purchaser in Europe, Poppenhusen moved to the United States in 1843 to set up a whalebone processing plant on the Brooklyn waterfront. In 1852 he obtained a license from Charles Goodyear to manufacture hard rubber goods, and then moved his firm to a farming village in what is now Queens. Poppenhusen is credited with creating the Village of College Point, which was formed in 1870 when it incorporated the neighborhoods of Flammersburg and Strattonport. In order to accommodate his factory workers he initiated numerous developments; including the establishment of housing, the First Reformed Church, and construction of streets.. In 1868, he opened the Flushing and North Side Railroad, which connected the town to New York City. In that same year he also founded the Poppenhusen Institute, which was comprised of a vocational high school and the first free kindergarten in the United States, and is the oldest school in Queens today. After Poppenhusen retired in 1871, his family lost much of its fortune due to the financial mismanagement by his three sons. Conrad Poppenhusen died in College Point on December 12, 1883.

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William T. Gunn, Jr. (1961-1992) grew up in Bellerose and joined the New York Police Department in 1982. He received many commendations during his seven years of service, including an award for meritorious police duty. On January 20th, 1989 he was shot and badly wounded by a dangerous fugitive who was wanted for questioning in connection with two separate murders. Detective Gunn fell into a coma and died on November 27, 1992.

Roy Ottoway Wilkins (1901-1981) was an American civil rights leader from the 1930s to the 1970s. After graduating from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, he worked for the weekly newspaper, the Kansas City Call. His reporting on the treatment of blacks in Army flood control projects helped to bring about change. In 1931 he began working with the NAACP, eventually serving as as Executive Director from 1955-1977. In 1963 her helped organize the March on Washington. In 1967 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Lyndon Johnson.

Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. (1943-1993) was born in Richmond, Virginia, and began playing tennis at the age of 10. In 1966, he graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he won the United States Intercollegiate Singles Championship and led his team to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship. In 1968, Ashe made history by winning the men’s singles title at the U.S. Open. He was the first Black player selected for the United States Davis Cup team and remains the only Black man to have won singles titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. By 1975, Ashe was ranked as the number-one tennis player in the U.S. After a series of athletic triumphs, Ashe began to experience heart problems. He retired from tennis and underwent heart surgery in 1979 and again in 1983. During one of his hospital stays, Ashe likely received an HIV-tainted blood transfusion, which led to his contraction of AIDS. Despite his illness, he remained active in public life, participating in youth initiatives such as the National Junior Tennis League and the ABC Cities Tennis Program. Ashe also became a vocal critic of South African apartheid, which contributed to his being named the 1992 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. He passed away from pneumonia in New York at the age of 49.

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.

The following text was contributed by Det. Abear's widow, Catherine Abear: Ray Abear \[1976-2020] was a Queens native and spent his entire life in this community – he was raised on this block and this is where he would start a family and raise his children as well. He attended St. Nicholas of Tolentine church, P.S. 131 and St. John’s University. His first job was at Mark’s Aquarium on Parsons Boulevard, which gave him his passion for sea life, something he shared with many communities he came into contact with. He even helped businesses, community members and members of the NYPD set up their own aquariums. There’s even a fish tank in his memory at the Queens Special Victims office.   Ray’s passion and commitment to the community was professional as well. His entire 20-year career in the NYPD was spent making the Queens community a better place – first in the 112th Precinct and then in the Queens Special Victims Squad. Local business owners, restaurants, community members – everyone knew Ray and his giant smile.   There are few more challenging tasks in law enforcement than Special Victims, and Ray was passionate about his work with the Queens Squad. Each of the letters from colleagues supporting this honor of a street co-naming highlighted the compassion, patience, sensitivity and skill Ray brought to this most difficult work and the commitment he brought to finding justice for these individuals. One letter even said, “No one performed this difficult work better than Detective Raymond Abear.”   This honor – having their dad’s name permanently affixed to this street corner – is a reminder to his children that their dad was a hero not only to his family but the entire community and he will never be forgotten. Ray’s legacy will live on forever thanks to everyone who helps keep his memory alive.

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.

Staff Sargent Edward R. Miller (1918-1944) lived in Glendale, Queens. He served as in the US Army in Africa, Sicily, and Normandy. He was killed in action in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest in Germany on November 22, 1944 at age 26.

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Benjamin N. Cardozo (1870-1938), former Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1932-1938). Justice Cardozo is notable for both his defense of the New Deal’s social programs during his six short years at the Supreme Court and his advocacy for the common-law approach throughout his judicial career.  Born in New York City to a Portuguese Sephardic Jewish family, Justice Cardozo was tutored by Horatio Alger and various home tutors as a youth, before being admitted into Columbia College at age fifteen. Cardozo had ambition to restore his family’s honor, after his father, Judge Albert Cardozo of the Supreme Court of New York, achieved notoriety for his involvement with the corrupt Tweed ring. The elder Cardozo resigned in 1872, just before he could be impeached. After the younger Cardozo’s graduation from Columbia College and a few years at Columbia Law School, he joined his father’s law practice and entered the bar. In 1914, Cardozo was appointed to the Court of Appeals, he would serve eighteen years at the court - five of which at the head. Following Oliver Wendell Holmes’s retirement from the United States Supreme Court in 1932, Justice Cardozo was named to the Supreme Court by President Herbert Hoover. This appointment earned him the distinction of being the second Jewish judge to be appointed to the Supreme Court, after Justice Louis Brandeis. Despite later describing himself as an agnostic, Justice Cardozo volunteered within the Jewish community throughout his life. He was a member of the Judean Club, a board member of the American Jewish Committee, and a member of the Zionist Organization of America at various points. At the point of his appointment to the Supreme Court, he resigned from all offices except for his membership on the Executive Committee of the Jewish Welfare Board and on the Committee on the Advisor to the Jewish students at Columbia University. On the Supreme Court, he was one of the “Three Musketeers” - the nickname given to the three liberal members of the Court that supported the New Deal agenda, including Justice Brandeis and Justice Harlan Fiske Stone. He is noted for his defense of social security and old-age pensions in particular.  The City of New York acquired the land for this playground in April 1955, and it opened in August 1957 as J.H.S. 198 Playground. The playground contains benches and a softball field for the school and the community. Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern changed the name in 1985 to Benjamin Cardozo Playground, physically commemorating the life of a man who left an indelible mark on New York City.

In the course of his 25 years in politics, Joseph Addabbo (1925-1986) won much respect from his colleagues, constituents and community for his ability to be just, compassionate and effective. A lifelong resident of Ozone Park, he was educated at City College and St. John’s University, where he received his law degree in 1946. Addabbo began his career as a lawyer. First elected to represent the 6th District in Queens in 1960, Addabbo, a Democrat, was re-elected to Congress 12 times. He supported legislation to benefit the elderly, education, small businesses, veterans benefits, and appropriation of funds for economically depressed areas. As Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense (1979-1986), Addabbo played a powerful role in both shaping and challenging national defense policy. He worked to curb defense spending, sponsored legislation to halt the Vietnam War, and advocated a nuclear freeze while at the same time bolstering defense contracts for New York. Addabbo served in Congress until he died on April 10, 1986. The area bounded by 80th and 83rd Streets, 133rd Avenue and North Conduit Avenue was named for Addabbo in 1986. It is one section of Tudor Park, which consists of 24.2 acres acquired as parkland between 1915 and 1974.

Remington Vernam (1842-1907) was born in McConnville, New York, and moved to New York City with his family in 1854. He attended public school and went on to law school. He first came to Far Rockaway as a retreat from the stress of his work as a lawyer, but soon saw an opportunity to develop the area. His wife Florence, noticing that he signed his checks "R. Vernam," decided to name the hotel and surrounding community as a variation, "Arverne," which she thought had a nice French sound.

Marjorie and Nicholas Ferrigno were founding members of The Broadway-Flushing Homeowners’ Association. Marjorie Ferrigno (1916 – 2013) was an educator who founded the Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts. She was President of the American Educational Theatre Association which represented all nonprofessional theatre in the United States, Secretary and Executive Committee member of the American National Theatre and Academy, was Chair of the North Shore Branch League, taught speech courses at several universities, a founding chairman of the drama department at LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts, past President of the American Educational Theatre Association, chairman of the North Shore Branch of League of Woman Voters and steering committee member of the Economic Development Committee. She was a founding member and President of the Broadway-Flushing Homeowners’ Association and won a landmark court case to enforce a restrictive covenant, which led to a rezoning of part of Northern Boulevard. Nicholas Ferrigno (d. 2010) was a senior instructor for American Airlines at JFK and LaGuardia Airport and a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. He was a founding member of The Broadway-Flushing Homeowners’ Association.

Monsignor William F. Burke (1917-2005) was ordained in 1943. His love of the Rockaways began at St. Francis deSales in 1945 before his transfer to St. Camilus Church in 1951. He founded the famous The St. Camillus Band in 1952. In 1963, he began his work at Institutional Services of the Brooklyn Diocese but remained a fixture at St. Camilus.

Michael Perna’s (1940-2020) family migrated to Corona, Queens, beginning with his grandfather, also named Michael Perna, in the 1920s. Grandpa Perna was a concrete and mason worker who taught Michael from a very young age. As his grandfather’s protégé, he learned both how to work with his hands and how to give back to the community. Community members with limited means knew they could rely on him to fix and repair anything, and he was always a willing and dependable source of relief for many. Michael’s mother brought him to church regularly, as she was president of the Saint Ann’s Rosary Society. This opened the doors for him to address the crucial needs in the church as well. Some of his extensive involvement and dedicated work included helping to build and provide regular maintenance at the local church, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, organizing volunteers to plan and prepare community events such as the Annual Mount Carmel Feast. He maintained his grandfather’s garden on 111th and 52nd to help the families in the community that were in need and during the Vietnam war he advocated for the many military troops from Corona by collecting monthly donations from community members, in order to prepare care packages that he shipped to those stationed abroad. He was an inspiring and a beacon of hope to people near and far.

John Wesley Drumm (1862-1930) was a Queens educator whose career began before the consolidation of New York City. He started his 37-year career as a teacher and principal at the Glendale Union Free School #13, which had recently expanded. At that time in 1893, it was part of Newtown, but after the five boroughs came together in 1898, the school was renamed Public School 67. He served there as principal until 1915, after which he was principal at Public School 91. He was also principal of the newly opened Public School 119, but passed away at the end of its first school year. He died suddenly and unexpectedly of heart disease on June 8, 1930. Soon after his passing, faculty, alumni, and the schools' mothers clubs began planning memorials. That fall on his birthday, October 28, they planted a tree in his honor in the yard of P.S. 91. Plans for a more permanent memorial began afterwards, and on May 21, 1932, the John Wesley Drumm Triangle was dedicated following a weeklong observance. The site, which had been acquired by the Parks Department on February 4, 1926, was named for Drumm on April 19, 1932 by the Board of Aldermen. A parade led large crowds to the dedication, and a dinner dance was held that evening. A plaque was donated to the site by the Alumni Association of P.S. 91. The space received an upgrade after Councilmember Thomas Ognibene secured $204,000 in capital funding to add new greenery, decorative pavement, and benches from the World’s Fair. A ribbon cutting for the renovation took place on August 25, 1997.

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Coreania Hayman Carter (1916 – 2014) taught at Daniel Payne College, in Alabama and Dunbar Middle School in Tucson Arizona. While an educator, she had a passion for music. She possessed a profound lyric soprano voice and was asked to perform throughout the country. She was eventually asked to join the Broadway production of Porgy and Bess, with which she traveled to over 45 countries.She later starred as Cindy Lou in Carmen Jones. In 1940, she met Rev. Julius Ceasar Carter and in 1945, they married. Despite her love for music, she decided to retire from singing and assist her husband in ministry. In 1946, Rev Carter rejoined active duty in the military. At that time, Mrs. Carter was directing the choir at Allen AME Church, Jamaica. Its members impressed upon Mrs. Carter to ask Rev. Carter to organize a church and be its pastor. Carter Community AME Church was founded in 1947 with the first services being held at the Crowe Funeral Home. Many of the members were professional musicians and performers. That same year, Rev. Carter located a white frame building at its present site on Linden Blvd. The church held its first worship service there in August 1948, but that building was destroyed by fire in 1952. In 1964, they broke ground for a new church and senior citizen complex on the same site. While Rev. Carter was away serving his country, Mrs. Carter held the church together, including buying bricks for the facing of the building and also jumping on oil trucks to bring oil to keep the church warm for service. Mrs. Carter was involved in many church ministries. She organized the Bertha Faithful Missionary Society at Carter Community and served as its first president and as adviser until the end. She also was president of the AME Ministers Wives and Widows Alliance, a life member of the AME Missionary Society and a life member of the International Association of Missionaries.

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Reverend Monsignor Leopold Andrew Arcese was the first Chaplain of the NYC Department of Sanitation. Arcese was born in Arpino, Italy on June 21, 1887. After arriving in United States, he attended Holy Cross College in Worcester MA and St. Francis College and St. John's University Seminary in Brooklyn. He was ordained 1911 and served at churches in Glen Cove and Huntington Long Island. He also founded St. Frances of Paola Church in Brooklyn. From 1931 to his retirement in 1966 he was pastor of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Ozone Park. As pastor emeritus he remained in the community until his death on January 30, 1970. He was given Papal honors and the title of Right Reverend Monsignor in 1941.

Clarence “SPUD” Josey Jr. (1960 – 2020), was a local basketball coach, MC, and DJ who was heavily involved in the anti-gun violence movement in Rockaway. Clarence Josey Jr. was born in Queens and attended Richmond Hill High school where he was a star player on the football team as a running back. Before he graduated from high school, he was drafted into the United States Marine Corps and served his country before being honorably discharged. He was affectionately called SPUD, a nickname that stuck with him throughout his life. He grew up in South Jamaica, Queens, and relocated to Far Rockaway as an adult, where he became a basketball coach for the young people in his neighborhood. In 2011, he got involved with OPERATION SNUG (GUNS) spelled backwards. This was an anti-gun violence initiative that was based in Redfern Housing Projects within Far Rockaway, New York. He was very instrumental in spreading the message of peace and advocating the need for brotherhood in the Far Rockaway area and abroad. In 2012, he joined “Father’s Alive in The Hood Inc.”, (F.A.I.T.H.), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote a positive presence of fatherhood and protection within families and communities. He invited F.A.I.T.H to partner with him in a mentorship program he was already involved with at M.S. 72, located on Guy R Brew Boulevard in the Southeast Queens area. While a part of “Father’s Alive in The Hood,” he partook in numerous anti-gun violence Peace Walks throughout Far Rockaway and other troubled areas within New York City. He also assisted a great deal after Superstorm Sandy left Far Rockaway, Coney Island and other areas in New York ravaged. He volunteered tirelessly, getting supplies for seniors and people in need.

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Named for WWI veteran Corporal Frank Farrell Fagan (b. 1896) in Astoria, Queens. He enlisted in the Marines on May 2, 1917 and served overseas in France in the 43rd Company of the 5th Regiment until 1919. While he was in France, he fought in numerous battles including the Aisne Defensive in the Chateau-Thierry Sector, the Aisne-Marne Offensive, and the St. Mihiel Offensive. Fagan was promoted to Corporal on January 1, 1918, and received the French Croix de Guerre with a gilt star for coolness and bravery. The French Croix de Guerre was created in 1915 to award all members of the Allied Forces for acts of courage in battle. He was discharged with excellent character on August 13, 1919. Fagan Square sits at a busy Astoria intersection near the N/R train and William Cullen Bryant High School. The .004-acre site has been parkland since 1915, and today, it's part of the Greenstreets program.

Bishop Roy L. Gilmore (d. 2007) led an extraordinary life with an outstanding commitment to the people of Laurelton, Queens. Bishop Gilmore had 41 years of ministerial service and more than 50 years of service to the community.

Scott Jordan (1966-2020) was an Ozone Park resident, a longtime south Queens activist and Community Board 9 Member. Jordan worked for the NYC's Mayor's Office of Housing Recovery Operations and was instrumental with helping local residents rebuild their homes following Superstorm Sandy through the Build It Back Program. He was a pillar of the local community and was active with his local parish, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Ozone Park. He received papal honors by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and entered the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem – Eastern Lieutenancy.

Msgr. Robert R. McCourt (1935-2001) was a longtime pastor at St. Pascal Baylon Church in St. Albans and of Saint Clement Pope in Ozone Park.

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(The following biographical information was provided by Samaritan Village in Richmond Hill, Queens.) Sylvia Simowitz was born in 1919. Throughout her life she gave unsparingly of her time and energy to the various community organizations with which she was associated. These included: Therapeutic Communities of America, Queensboro Council of Social Welfare, Association of Voluntary Agencies on Narcotic Treatment, Queens Transitional Services and the Queensboro President’s Council on Substance and Alcohol Abuse. In 1984, at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, Simowitz was cited as one of the Empire State Women of the Year for her leadership in the development of drug abuse treatment services. In 1966, Simowitz joined Samaritan Village as a volunteer assistant to its founder, Father Damian Pitcaithly. She was involved in all aspects of Samaritan Village, from improving the management of the kitchen to counseling clients’ family members to representing Samaritan Village before state and federal agencies. After holding several administrative positions at the organization, she was named First Executive Vice-President. She provided 32 years of inspiring leadership throughout the Samaritan Village organization on its Board of Directors as it grew to a network of 13 locations providing services to 1,500 men and women. On October 8, 1998, following Simowitz's death, Samaritan Village dedicated its flagship facility located at 130-15 89th Road in Richmond Hill in her memory. Simowitz also volunteered in Beth Israel Hospital North, Mary Manning Walsh Nursing Home and New York Hospital, and was a longtime member of Hadassah. The Sewarol Park High School Alumni Association honored Simowitz for her lifetime of achievements.

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This area was once used as a dumping ground for agricultural waste by farmers from nearby St. Albans and Springfield. Alfred Ashmead (1818 - 1891) and Amelia Ashmead (d. 1887), who moved to Jamaica from England purchased the land in the 1880s and created a community garden. The Ashmead’s transformed the space into “the show place of Jamaica Village” wrote the Brooklyn Eagle, a paradise of "roses, peonies, gladioli and hollyhocks . . . whose fragrance and beauty residents from all over the village came to enjoy." The Ashmead’s eventually deeded the property to the village for a public park. In 1898, when Jamaica was incorporated into greater New York City, the park came under new jurisdiction, and by 1910 had become derelict and overgrown with weeds. In 1914 the Jamaica Women’s Club, led by Kate Porter Blanchard, partnered with the Queens Department of Parks to create at Ashmead Park the borough's first public playground. The park was formally opened on July 31, 1914. Some 400 children attended the event, which featured a band, ice cream, and a speech by Park Commissioner John E. Weier. Like most city playgrounds at the time, Ashmead Park was supervised by a "play director." The Women's Club rented a nearby store to shelter children in the event of a storm and to keep first-aid supplies. Harriet Hassler of the Queens Children's Library curated a weekly "storytelling hour" for younger children. Ashmead Park was cut in half when Liberty Avenue was re-aligned through the space in the late 1930s. Too small and surrounded by traffic, it was no longer suitable for a playground. Today it survives as a little island of green, anchored by a flagpole, commemorating the long-ago generosity of the Ashmead’s and their commitment to improving life in our city.

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Annie Cotton-Morris (1949-2023) was a community leader who served as president of the Woodside Houses Tenants Association for over forty years. She was a graduate of the New York City public school system and attended City College of New York, where she majored in Early Childhood Education. She spent over 30 years working at Verizon. In 2015, Cotton-Morris was elected Queens District Chair on the Citywide Council of Presidents, where she worked to bring stability and assurance to New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) residents citywide. She pushed political leaders for more affordable housing and to upgrade conditions for NYCHA residents, improving the quality of life for communities throughout Queens. Cotton-Morris also started the Sisters in the Hood program, offering mentorship and career advice for teen girls, as well as the Woodside Gents program for young men, which provided mentorship and sports involvement for young people. She served as a board member of Urban Upbound, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people living in public housing. In honor of her decades of dedication to her community, Cotton-Morris posthumously received the New York Senate’s Women of Distinction Award from Senator Michael Gianaris in May of 2023.

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Stanley Wdowiak (1925-1988) served in World War II as a Radioman Second Class on board the destroyer excort U.S.S. Pillsbury. He received the Navy Cross from the President of the United States for his extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty when the U.S.S. Pillsbury captured the German Submarine U-505, on June 4, 1944, off Cape Blanco in French West Africa. The submarine was running on the surface with enemy personnel below setting demolition charges and scuttling. Stanley Wdowiak, with two other crew members of the U.S.S. Pillsbury, plunged down the conning tower of the enemy submarine and captured the German crewman. Eventually, the enemy submarine was towed to Bermuda. In later years, Stanley Wdowiak lived in Maspeth with his wife and children.

John Vogt (1956-2023) held many extracurricular activities, including volunteering and serving on the board of Sunnyside Shines, the local Business Improvement District, that he was instrumental in founding. He served on the board of Sunnyside Shines for the entire history of the organization, serving as Board Chair since its founding in 2007. He was also a former President and longtime leader of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce. He continued to support local businesses for his entire life and to improve the streetscape of Sunnyside. He served on the board of Copiague Kiwanis, working to foster the next generation of leaders. He was the President of the American Venice Civic Association, working to improve his local community and was very active with Troop 284 of the Boy Scouts.

Staff Sergeant Patbouvier Enrique “Bobby” Ortiz (1964-1991) was a longtime resident of Queens who was killed in action during Operation Desert Shield. Born in Munich where his father, a U.S. Army 1st Sergeant was stationed, Ortiz was raised in Richmond Hill. In May 1983, at age 19, he followed his father's footsteps by enlisting in Army. He rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant. His unit was one of first to be deployed to the Persian Gulf in Operation Desert Shield. On February 27, 1991, he volunteered to go on a rescue mission to find a pilot who had been shot down behind enemy lines. Ortiz was flying in a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, searching for the downed pilot, when the craft was shot down. Ortiz was killed, along with helicopter's pilot and co-pilot. He was 27 years old.

Private First Class Alberto Colon (1949-1968) was a United States Marine who was killed in action in Vietnam on February 20, 1968. He had just turned 19 at the time of his death. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.

Rocco “Rocky” J. Moretto (1924 – 2018) was drafted into the United States Army during WWII in 1943. He was a member of Company C in the Army’s First Infantry Division, the legendary Big Red One, who stormed Omaha Beach at the cost of more than 2,000 casualties. After the Normandy landings, he went on to serve in five campaigns before the war ended. He was awarded two Bronze Stars and on the 60th anniversary of D-Day, he was honored with the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest honor, in recognition of his service. A longtime Astoria resident, Moretto served on the United War Veterans Council of New York as well as post commander of American Legion Post 6 and the VFW Post 2348, located at 31-35 41st St between Broadway and 31st Avenue. VFW Post 2348 in Astoria was renamed in his honor in 2013.

Linda Ruscillo (1948-2018) was a longtime active member of the 100th Precinct Community Council, where she notably initiated a youth committee that developed after-school chess and volleyball programs for kids in the area. Her husband Danny also served the Council, first as recording secretary and then as president. Linda then became its corresponding secretary. The two worked together to bring back Rockaway ferry service after budget cuts arising from Hurricane Sandy threatened to shut it down, as well as to combat excessive plane noise in the area. Linda was also a noted animal lover who, over many years, adopted several cats and dogs. Linda passed away on October 1, 2018, at the age of 70. She was proposed as a candidate for street co-renaming by City Councilmember Joann Ariola, and the family held a ceremony to unveil the new street name on June 30, 2024, on the corner of Beach 124th Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard. "Linda Ruscillo was not just an advocate for this community," Councilwoman Ariola said at the ceremony, as noted by The Rockaway Times. "She was an inspiration, a role model, and a leader, to name just a few of her many titles.

Abram D. Ditmars (1822-1899), was an Astoria native who served as the first mayor of Long Island City. Ditmars was born in Newtown, New York (now the area of Elmhurst, Queens) on February 14, 1822 and attended local public schools. He later studied law under the auspices of John L. Riker and was admitted to the bar in 1844. In addition to beginning a career in law, Ditmars pursued a lucrative business as a real-estate dealer and was an active member of the Holland Society

Thomas J. Ashton (1979-2001) was an electrician assigned to work at the World Trade Center on the day of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, where he tragically lost his life. A lifelong resident of Woodside, Queens, Ashton grew up in the Big Six Towers, attended St. Sebastian School, and was a devoted member of St. Sebastian Church.

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Rabbi Simcha Krauss (1937-2022) was a leading figure of Modern Orthodox Judaism and an advocate for women’s rights within Orthodoxy. He created a rabbinical court to support women whose husbands refused to divorce them. He studied at Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn, where he received his rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner in 1963, and later studied with the Modern Orthodox luminary Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. He served as a congregational rabbi for decades, first in Utica, New York, and later in St. Louis and in the Hillcrest neighborhood of Queens, where he led the Young Israel of Hillcrest for 25 years. He taught Talmud at Yeshiva University and began to get more involved in issues related to the role of women in Orthodoxy. In the 1990s, he began supporting the practice of women’s prayer groups, in which women gathered to worship together without men and often to read from the Torah together, a ritual traditionally only performed by men in Orthodox communities. In 1996, his wife became the founding principal of Maayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls, one of the first Modern Orthodox high schools to teach Talmud to women.

George O’Neill (d. 2018) served in the United States Army. He later became the owner of O’Neill’s sports bar, which had been founded by his father in December 1933. O’Neill’s became well-known for hosting events, such as benefits for the NYPD, FDNY and St. Jude’s Hospital.

Lorraine Sciulli (1934-2017) was a member of Community Board 5 for over two decades. An active participant in her community, she was a long-time first vice president of the Juniper Park Civic Association (JPCA); served as editor and advertising manager for the Juniper Berry Newsletter; and was chair of the membership committee. In 2012 she was named one of New York State's Women of Distinction, an honor given annually to one woman in each of the state's 62 Senate districts.

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Edith N. Putney was a teacher at Newtown High School and founded the XYZ club. She died at the age of 39, attempting to save 3 of her students who drowned in a rafting accident. The tablet was placed on the wall of Newtown High in 1923.

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Jayden Zahir McLaurin (2007-2023) was a lifelong resident of the Ravenswood Houses, where his deep passion for basketball began. A talented athlete, he played for the Boys & Girls Club (CM3), Team Pro Reps, Martin Luther King High School, IS 204, and the 114th Precinct’s Saturday Night Lights program. As a sophomore at the Martin Luther King Jr. High School for Law, Advocacy, and Community Justice, Jayden was a resolute member of the bowling team and aspired to a future career as a realtor or an attorney. A natural leader and a pillar of his community, Jayden served as a vital bridge between local youth and older generations. He was known for his instinctual kindness, never hesitating to assist seniors or volunteering his time to organize community events. Tragically, Jayden’s life was killed while he was riding a Citi-bike in a hit-and-run accident in April 2023, leaving a profound void in the neighborhood he so vibrantly represented. In the wake of his passing, the Boys & Girls Club, local schools, the 114th Precinct, and the Ravenswood Community Center have honored his legacy through memorial events and basketball tournaments. His family remains a dedicated voice for change, organizing rallies for the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims to raise awareness about intersection safety and prevent future tragedies. On Saturday, March 9, 2024, Council Member Julie Won and the family of Jayden McLaurin held a street co-naming ceremony at 35th Avenue and 21st Street for the 16-year-old Ravenswood Houses resident at the intersection where he lived.

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Allen Sylvane (1913-1984,) was chief engineer for Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center. He also designed and managed the installation of all radio and sound systems in New York City's public schools from 1936 to 1946. He was also active in civic and charitable work in the Rockaways. He spent 25 years with the Neponsit Property Owners Association, was a member of Community Board 14 and a director of Peninsula Hospital.

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Christopher J. O’Sullivan (1936-1965) was born and raised in Astoria, Queens. He attended Immaculate Conception School in Astoria, Xavier High School and enrolled in the ROTC program at Fordham University. After graduating in 1958, O’Sullivan was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army and became an airborne ranger. He served in Thailand, before going to Vietnam as a military adviser. In May of 1965, during a counter attack against the Viet Cong, O’Sullivan was hit by shrapnel. He died on Memorial Day, May 30, 1965, at the age of twenty-eight. On behalf of her husband, Mrs. Eleanor O’Sullivan accepted six medals, including the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, and the Purple Heart.

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Joseph Austin (1904-1998) was a longtime youth league coach and active member of the Jamaica, Queens community. Austin worked after school at the Boyce MotoMeter Company in Long Island City to support his family. He played on the company baseball team and would later play semi-professional baseball on various teams. After losing his job during the Great Depression, Austin coached co-ed youth sports teams in baseball, basketball, and football. He continued coaching after he found a job at the Piels Brewery in Brooklyn once the 21st Amendment ended prohibition in 1933. One of Austin’s most famous players was Governor Mario M. Cuomo (1932-2015), a fellow dedicated public servant and accomplished baseball player.

Henry Clayton, Jr. (1943-2019) relentlessly served his community starting in the 1970s, providing free extermination services in his Southeast Queens community. He then went on to open what became one of the largest black owned travel agencies in NYC in March of 1988, growing to employ over 30 black and brown community members who also went on to become professional entrepreneurs. He also partnered with Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York to provide safe, affordable, and memorable trips for seniors and their families. Additionally, he used his community route as a Frito-Lay salesman as a pathway to support, employ and mentor young men throughout Jamaica Queens. He provided holiday gifts out of his own pocket for over 150 families every year.

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Andrew J. Reiff (1887-1963) was a community activist and president of the Ridgewood-Metropolitan Civic Association of Queens.

Mr. Shri Prakash Gossai, born in Guyana in 1953, came to the United States in 1983 on a teaching scholarship for marine biology. He taught for 10 years at Thomas Jefferson High School, serving underprivileged youth. He had a strong connection to spirituality and went to India for intensive study of Vedant Hindu philosophy. After his studies, he founded the Bhuvaneshwar Mandir in 1984 in Brooklyn and then founded the Queens branch located at 86-01 101st Avenue in 2004. At Bhuvaneshwar Mandir, he was able to distill the wisdom he had attained in India, and package it into easily accessible, practical, and inspirational advice on living life efficiently while striving for peace in the world. Mr. Gossai went back to Guyana in 2006 as the Spiritual Advisor to the President of Guyana. This was his dream and it was there that his millions of devotees around the world learned of his untimely passing in 2009.

Frank Golden (1915-1968), was a prominent labor leader. Golden was an officer of the New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council as well as the founder and chairman of the Queens Community Labor Committee.

Sean Bell discovered at the age of six that he was passionate about baseball. He began playing for the Ozone Park Wakefield Little League where he remained a player for eight years. He then went on to play baseball for John Adams High School where he led his team to the NYC High School Championship played at Yankee Stadium. He went on to play for Nassau Community College where he averaged 11.0. He put his baseball career on hold to support his family. In the early morning hours of his wedding day on November 25, 2006, he walked out of a Queens nightclub, climbed into his car with two friends who had been celebrating with him and was killed by bullets fired by five police officers. The shooting sparked protests throughout the City. The officers involved were ultimately acquitted of criminal charges brought against them. Nevertheless, Mr. Bell’s death has led to reforms within the police department, including the administering of breathalyzer tests after every time a police officer discharges his/her firearm.

Lance Corporal Kopacska (1945-1967) graduated top of his class in Automotive High School in 1965 and dreamed of opening his own Texaco service station. When Lance Corporal Kopacska was around, friends, neighbors and even strangers’ cars ran like new. He willingly wanted to fight for his country and enlisted in the Marines in 1965. Tragically, he was killed in the line of duty during the Vietnam War in May 1967 at the age of 21.

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John Bowne, (1627–1695), an English Quaker, arrived in New Netherland in 1649. Defying Governor Stuyvesant's attempts to suppress religious freedom, Bowne offered his home as a meeting place for fellow Quakers. This act landed him in jail, even leading to deportation, but eventually his conviction was overturned. Bowne returned to Flushing, acquiring land that included the Quaker Meeting House and a burial ground, where he rests after his death in 1695. Before Bowne's arrival, this land belonged to the Matinecock people, native inhabitants of Flushing Creeke. Although history records land sales to the Dutch and perhaps to Bowne himself, it also documents prior violence against the Matinecock community, and a devastating smallpox epidemic in 1652. Despite these hardships, some Matinecock people remain a living presence in Queens today.

Born in Brooklyn to Bavarian immigrants, George Seuffert, Sr. (1875-1964) received his only formal music training from the violinist Joseph Zoellner. Seuffert became a music teacher and concert violinist before establishing the Concordia Military Band in 1894, later becoming the Seuffert Band. They performed on a bandstand on this spot until 1920, when the bandshell was built to replace it. Seuffert worked as a bank executive and personally knew John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), the famous Marine Band leader. Sousa had a large influence on Seuffert’s son, George Seuffert, Jr., who took his father’s place as bandleader in 1931. Seuffert retired in 1945 and died in Ridgewood, Queens, on November 9, 1964. The bandshell was named for him by local law in 1979. George Seuffert, Jr., was born on May 10, 1912, and learned to play the piano when he was four years old. He began providing free concerts in 1928, when he was just 16, and three years later went on to fill his father’s position as bandleader. Seuffert then served in the Marines during World War II, conducting the Third Marine Air Wing Band in the Pacific. He studied music at New York University, where he earned his M.A. and Ph.D in education. In 1951, Seuffert was named director of the Fordham University Band. He also served on the advisory board of the Lighthouse Music School, the New York Association for the Blind, and taught music in Bushwick and Grover Cleveland High Schools, serving as the chair of the music department. In 1966, Mayor John V. Lindsay (1921-2000) appointed Seuffert the City’s music consultant. Seuffert reportedly knew all the world’s national anthems, and was responsible for performing them at diplomatic functions for the city. He is best remembered in this community for the free concerts the Seuffert Band gave every summer at this bandshell. By the time Seuffert died on May 9, 1995 in Narragansett, Rhode Island, the Seuffert Band was one of the last concert bands in the city. After Seuffert’s death, the Queens Symphony Orchestra began performing in the bandshell, continuing the tradition of free concerts.

Alexander C. Grey (1866-1933) was a veteran Queens newspaperman and a respected community member from Whitestone. Grey died in Queens Flushing Hospital on March 21, 1933, after suffering from a fractured skull. Single and 66 years old at the time of his death, he is buried in Flushing Cemetery. Located in Whitestone, Alexander Grey Triangle was originally named Francis Lewis Square in honor of the merchant, patriot, and co-signer of the Declaration of Independence, Francis Lewis (1713-1802). In 1940, the park was renamed by local law to honor Grey.

Father Matthew J. Crosson (1908-1968) was born in Greenwich Village, N.Y. He was ordained in 1934 and served as an Army chaplain in the South Pacific in World War II. In his youth he played baseball and basketball with independent and semi-pro teams on Long Island, and was later known as "The Baseball Priest" because of his long-standing association with youth athletic leagues. He held several pastorates throughout the New York City area. His final assignment was at St. Patrick's Church, Highland Mills, N.Y., from 1964 until his death in 1968. Within this small "sitting park" is a bronze tablet memorializing Father Crosson.

Dorothy Neary (1920 – 2014), was a community advocate in Woodside, Queens which she moved to in 1930. Neary participated in St. Teresa's Rosary Society, Girl Scouts, and much later became one of the directors of the United Forties Civic Association. She was the Vice President and Treasurer of Datamovers, Inc., an air mail expediting and messenger company started by her husband in 1954. She was continually active in her community and was passionate about the United Forties' efforts to maintain a high quality of life in the area of the number 40 streets in Woodside through some difficult times; she was also the United Forties newsletter editor for about fifteen years.

Private First Class Le Ron Adrian Wilson (1988-2007) immigrated to the United States from Trinidad and Tobago at the age of 11 to live with his mother in Springfield Gardens, Queens. He dreamed of a military career and enlisted after graduating from Thomas Edison High School. He was deployed to Iraq and was killed on July 6, 2007, when an IED exploded near his vehicle.

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Alvin Benjamin (1920-2012) was a real estate developer originally from Brooklyn, NY, who is remembered for his commitment to building affordable multifamily and senior housing projects. Benjamin's vision of community transformation through smart-growth and environmentally-conscious development translated into the Arverne by The Sea project in Rockaway, Queens, one of the largest urban redevelopment projects in the country at the time of its opening in 2004. Born in Brooklyn, NY, Benjamin graduated from Erasmus Hall High School and Brooklyn College before voluntarily enlisting in the United States Navy during World War II. He rose to the rank of captain and was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions aboard a landing vessel during the battle of Iwo Jima. After his military service, Benjamin enrolled in law school and took a position as a mortgage broker with the LeFrak Organization, resulting in the foundation of Benjamin Development in the early 1960s (now called The Benjamin Companies, located in Garden City, NY). Benjamin's imprint was initially centralized in New York with a focus on affordable senior housing – a niche he saw as not being adequately served - and his company eventually spread throughout the East Coast. His development portfolio similarly expanded to include both affordable and luxury multifamily units, as well as smart-growth communities incorporating residential, commercial and retail properties. Benjamin was proud that the hallmark of his projects, and now, his legacy as a developer, was building in harmony with the environment while fulfilling the needs of the local community. To this point, he has been quoted saying, “A developer must respect nature’s gifts and build to complement what she has given.”

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Ed Salvinski (1921–1984) was a community activist and member of the Woodhaven Residents' Block Association who organized cleanups and worked to improve lighting and safety in Forest Park. Born in Greenpoint on December 26, 1921, he was a World War II Army veteran who moved to the area just south of Forest Park in Woodhaven in 1949. Following Salvinski's death in 1984, Councilman Arthur Katzman proposed renaming Baby Carriage Lane—one of Salvinski's favorite spots—in his honor. Mayor Ed Koch signed the bill in October 1984, and the street sign was unveiled on February 2, 1985. The sign soon disappeared and, despite multiple efforts, was not reinstalled until 2021.

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Laura “Mother” Carter (1914-1999) was a champion of rights for women and children, a devoted church member, and community activist in Jamaica, Queens. Carter was born in Hawkinsville, Georgia. After marrying Willie Carter in Miami, Florida in 1940, she and her husband relocated to this neighborhood in the late 1940s. Mother Carter joined the nearby Rush Temple AME Zion Church in 1970, where she served as a deaconess, missionary, food pantry and hotline worker, and life member of the Women’s Home and Missionary Society. Mother Carter was active in bettering the park and the surrounding neighborhood. She adopted the area around this garden, encouraging local children to volunteer and planning events throughout the year to bring locals to this sprawling greenspace. She also founded “Adults and Youth for a Better Baisley Park” and planted the first Christmas tree on the property. Diminutive in stature but great in personality and political savvy, she tirelessly advocated to local elected officials on behalf of the park and community.

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Goldie M. Maple (d. 2003) was a longtime resident and activist in Rockaway, particularly in the field of education. Maple moved to Rockaway in 1958 and became a member of the Tenant’s Association at the Arverne-Edgemere Houses in 1961. She began her school activities in 1973, when, as a parent, she became involved with PS 105 and its parent association. She is also a lifetime member of the NAACP and a founding member of the New Democratic Coalition serving as president from 1982 to 2003. Maple was also a member of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church as a member of the choir and as the editor of its newsletter.

Corporal John Ruoff was the first resident of Ozone Park to fall on the battlefields of Europe during World War I (1914-1918). Ruoff was killed in action on August 14, 1918.

William Trist Bailey was a land developer who founded the community of Bayswater in Far Rockaway. He purchased the land 1878 and turned Bayswater into a fashionable residential neighborhood. Two Bayswater streets were named for him: Trist Place and Bailey Court. He built the Bayswater Hotel which led him to bankruptcy in 1905. He was sued by his wife for $50,000 in 1888, claiming she loaned him the money to purchase the hotel. He and his wife were separated for many years. Bailey also had many real estate holdings throughout Long Island.

Alison Russo-Elling joined the FDNY in 1998, and rose through the civil service ranks. She was a paramedic and a first responder at the World Trade Center during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A dedicated public servant, she also volunteered with the Huntington Rescue Squad on Long Island where she lived. She was in uniform when her attacker fatally stabbed her multiple times. She was waiting for roadside assistance to come and repair her FDNY vehicle. While she waited, a civilian told her there was someone having a medical emergency. She responded to investigate when the murderer walked up to her and attacked her. She died while responding to an emergency and performing her duties.

Private First-Class Joseph Patrick Strippoli (1946 – 1968) perished while serving in the Vietnam War. Strippoli was born in Manhattan and attended Our Lady of Good Counsel Parochial School in Yorkville until the age of ten, when his family moved to Woodside, where he attended P.S. 151 and William Cullen Bryant High School. An able and talented young man, Strippoli earned an academic scholarship and won several awards for his sculpture. In 1968, at the age of 21, Strippoli was tragically killed by a landmine near the Cambodian border during his service in Vietnam.

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Joe Femenia (d. 2019) revived the College Point Civic and Taxpayers Association and served as its president from 2008. He was also a member of Community Board 7 and the Board’s Transportation Committee Chairperson from 2006 until 2016. He successfully campaigned for building a public middle school in College Point. Before the opening of that school, students had to be bused to Whitestone and Flushing. He also successfully advocated for funding to reconstruct the College Point Fields, and for the NYPD to remove illegally parked trucks in the neighborhood.

Robern N. Davoren (1966-2003) worked for the Department of Corrections for the City of New York from 1971-2006. He retired as Chief of Department.

Anton J. Dietrich Jr. (1918 – 2018) was a World War II veteran and lifelong resident of Richmond Hill. Corporal Dietrich served in the 9th Infantry Division – 39th Regiment, G Company from 1941 through 1947. He saw action in North Africa, Sicily, France and was wounded in Sedjenane and France which ended his infantry fighting. Years after his return he was awarded two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, the French Legion of Honor, and many other awards. After the war, he was very active in his community as an Usher at Our Lady of the Cenacle for 63 years, Holy Name Society at Our Lady of the Cenacle, a member of Queens Community Board 9 for 43 years, a member of the Van Wyck Civic Association and President of the Kiwanis Club of Bellerose. He was a member of many military organizations including the Military Order of the Purple Heart - Chapter 3 and a Life Member of the Disabled American Veterans 118, Glendale.

Saul Weprin (1927 - 1994) was an American attorney and politician. He was a member of the New York State Assembly and served as its Speaker from December 1991 until his death in 1994. Weprin was born to Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1951, in the late 1950’s he became president of his co-op apartment board in Hollis, Queens, and in 1962 he became Democratic leader of the 24th Assembly District. In 1971, Weprin won in a run for the New York State Assembly and was re-elected many times remaining in the Assembly until he died in 1994. Weprin was an opponent of the death penalty and a supporter of abortion rights. He pushed the first gay rights bill through the Assembly, sought to increase state aid for schools in New York, and defended the state's Medicaid and welfare programs against cuts proposed by the Republican-controlled Senate.

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Joseph F. Mafera (1895-1967) was a longtime Ridgewood resident. He served in the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. His career in public service began as secretary and later superintendent of the Queens Parks Department from 1925 to 1932. Mafera subsequently served as an alderman from the 59th District, Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles in charge of the Queens office, Assistant Commissioner, and then Commissioner of Borough Works.  Following the death of Borough President Maurice A. Fitzgerald in August 1951, Mafera was appointed interim Queens Borough President. An executive member of the Ridgewood Democratic Club, he also served on the New York City Tax Commission from 1951 to 1961. Mafera died on February 12, 1967.

Father Yohanna T. Guirgis (1923 - 2018) arrived in Ridgewood in 1973 from Egypt and established New York’s first Coptic Christian Church, St. Mary & St. Antonios, on Woodward Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens. As persecution against the Coptic Christians rose in Egypt, many sought refuge in the United States. Father Guirgis was one of the first of the Coptic Christians to arrive in the United States and began aiding other Coptic Christians arriving from Egypt. He rented space in a church and began ministry services for Coptic Christians as they were taught in Egypt. He also assisted Coptic Christians to obtain jobs and housing, often offering his own home until they got on their feet. For over 45 years, he aided hundreds of families.

Rabbi Joseph Weiss (1913-2001) led the Congregation of West End Temple for 52 years. Rabbi Weiss was co-founder of the Rockaway Catholic-Jewish Committee, a member of the Rotary Club, the Boy Scouts, the Jewish War Veterans, the Belle Harbor Property Owners Association, the 100 Police Precinct Council and a member of the Advisory Council of Peninsula Hospital.

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Msgr McGinness was a US Army chaplain who served in the South Pacific, and was killed on Okinawa on April 24, 1945 at age 38. Before entering priesthood, he resided with his parents at Woodhaven, near this triangle.

Joseph Albergo was one of the most active residents of Rosedale for half a century. He serve as Treasurer of Community Board 13 and President of Community School Board 29 and was a member of the Rosedale Ambulance Corps, the Rosedale Civic Association, the Rosedale Lions Club and the Rosedale Nutrition Club.

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William Haberle was an active member of the Rosedale community. He was one of the founders of the Rosedale Civic Association. Haberle was serving his second term as president of the association at the time of his death in 1953. One of his main concerns in the community was overcrowding and lack of sufficient schools. At the time (1950s), some children in Rosedale had to attend schools in neighboring communities. To solve this, Haberle fought to have a new elementary school built. The school, P.S. 195, was approved and completed after his death. The Rosedale Civic Association petitioned to have the school named after him to honor his efforts.

Father Andrew L. Struzzieri (1947-2020) was born in Brooklyn and was affectionately known by many as Father Andy. He spent 50 years of his life living the gospel by reaching out to those in need. Father Andrew served as an assistant at Our Lady of Mercy, Forest Hills, 1975-76, and St. Matthew, Crown Heights, 1976-88. He was pastor at Our Lady of Refuge, Flatbush, 1988-99, and St. Matthew’s, 1999-2012. While at St. Matthew’s, he also served as administrator of Our Lady of Charity, Brownsville. After years of serving in Brooklyn, Father Andrew was transferred to Saint Clare Roman Catholic Church in Southeast Queens in 2012, where he was assigned and served as Pastor until his death. He used his opportunity as the leader of the largest Catholic Church in Rosedale as an opportunity to inspire parishioners to challenge injustices. During the COVID pandemic, he led a distribution at St. Clare’s for individuals who were food insecure. Under his leadership, the church built a strong youth ministry and took an aggressive community service position. He was instrumental in aligning St. Clare’s Church with Queens Power, a community organizing institution formerly known as EQUAL. In 2015, the parishioners organized their first campaign with over one hundred attendees, fighting for a traffic sign on Brookville Blvd in Rosedale, and they have continued to organize and demand justice for themselves and the communities they live in. During the summer of 2020, the parishioners rallied and protested the injustice of African Americans. After his death, the Rev. Andrew L. Struzzieri Memorial Endowment Fund was established to honor the memory of Father Andy. The fund provides for new household furnishings for newly arrived refugees, medical assistance, grocery gift cards and tuition costs for short-term vocational training programs.

Corporal Robert Marcus Rodriguez (1982 – 2003) was born in Brooklyn, and grew up on 59th Drive in Maspeth, Queens. In 1999 after graduating from high school he joined the Marine Corps at the age of 17. He was deployed to Kuwait in January 2003 and assigned to the Marine First Tank Division, Air/Ground Combat Unit. On March 25, 2003, the tank in which he traveled with three other marines, fell under heavy artillery fire and was forced off a bridge into the Euphrates River. All four men in the tank were killed, Corporal Rodriguez was 21 years old.

Sergeant Thomas F. J. O’Grady (1879 - 1916) served in the New York Police Department for 12 years, until his death in 1916. While responding to a report of a stabbing at Dexter Park in Woodhaven, his horse slipped on cobblestones. O’Grady was subsequently thrown from his horse and the horse fell on top of him. Four days later, he succumbed to his injuries in Saint Mary’s Hospital. He had been assigned to the Mounted Squad at the Richmond Hill (102nd) Precinct. In 2018, O’Grady’s name was added to the State of New York Police Officers Memorial in Albany, NY. The street co-named in O'Grady's honor in 2024 is near the site of his fatal accident.

Daniel Andrews (1948–2020), a longtime resident of Woodside, passed away in 2020 following a distinguished career as a political reporter and press secretary. He spent over 25 years as a dedicated civil servant, notably serving as the press secretary and public information officer for Queens Borough Presidents Claire Shulman and Helen Marshall. Throughout his tenure, he remained deeply devoted to both his family and the people of Queens. Andrews was an active member of the Silurians Press Club, the New York Press Club, and the Narrowbacks. For 20 years, he served as the program director for the Inner Circle organization, where he raised significant funds for local charities. His contributions to the city were further recognized by his appointment as an Honorary Battalion Chief of the FDNY. A faithful parishioner at Corpus Christi Church, he frequently volunteered for bingo nights, door-to-door fundraisers, and various parish events. Additionally, he dedicated his time to the Soul of the Peruvian Andes, a charity providing essential healthcare to impoverished communities in the Andean region.

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Technical Sergeant Thomas J. Davey (1919-1945) was a resident of Queens County. He served his country during World War II and was killed in action on January 17, 1945. The United States Army honors his service with the Technical Sergeant Thomas J. Davey Triangle. This park is also known as Cowbird Triangle and was once called Alexander Triangle.

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Joseph Schmidt (d. 2004) served in the United States Military during WWII. He was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, “The Big Red One” and was shipped to Tunisia, North Africa for his first campaign of heavy fighting. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for exemplary conduct in ground combat. His next mission was the invasion of Sicily. On June 6, 1944, he landed on Omaha Beach and was promoted from Private to Sergeant on that day. On July 21, 1944, he received his second bronze star by crossing over open terrain under enemy machine gunfire to rescue a seriously wounded member of his squad. He received a citation for the Silver Star, on October 15, 1944, by assaulting an enemy Pillbox, crossing open terrain under heavy fire and placing dynamite near steel door structures. When German soldiers realized they were trapped, they surrendered. He then fought in the Battle of The Bulge and was awarded his fifth Purple Heart on January 28, 1945. During his wartime service, he was awarded a Silver Star, Bronze Star with cluster, Purple Heart with 4 clusters, Bronze Arrowhead, Distinguished Unit Badge, European African-Middle Eastern Service, Medal Combat Infantry Badge and six Battle Stars. He is buried in Calverton Cemetery.

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Chanta Monique Howard (d. 2019) was a community activist and president of the Redfern Housing Advisory Board. Howard was a pillar of the NYCHA Redfern Housing community, especially for youth – she served as manager of the Stack Angels Dance group, co-founded the Rockaway Female Softball league, organized barbeque events and provided free school supplies for students. She also founded the annual “White Affair” event that honored local individuals who perished as a result of gun violence or sickness, and organized the “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child” event to honor all the seniors in the development by providing certificates labeled as Redfern Heroes. The 48-year-old mother of three passed away in March 2019.

William Steinway (1835–1896), born Wilhelm Steinweg, was a German-American piano manufacturer and former president of Steinway & Sons. The company was founded by William's father, Henry E. Steinway, shortly after the family moved from Germany to New York City in the early 1850s. William took over Steinway & Sons in the 1870s after the death of his father and two of his brothers. Steinway was a generous patron of the New York opera and orchestra companies, as well as touring European musicians. His investments in the arts and innovative print advertisements led to the construction of Steinway Hall in Manhattan and other halls worldwide. In the 1870s, Steinway relocated the company's operations to what is now northern Astoria, Queens, after purchasing a home, Steinway Mansion, and the surrounding property to establish a company town, Steinway Village. The Steinway Mansion and Steinway Piano Factory still stand, and many nearby buildings bear the Steinway name. As one of New York City's leading industrialists, Steinway's developments included the transportation industry. One of his former resorts east of Astoria became LaGuardia Airport; he was a partner in the American production of Daimler AG/Maybach cars, and served as head of the New York Subway Commission. Steinway wanted to expand his Steinway Railway Company, a trolley system for his workers under the East River. Steinway died in 1896 before the completion of tunnels and subway line. The Steinway Tunnels under the East River and the Astoria subway station Steinway St were named in his honor.

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Rabbi Sholem B. Kowalsky (d. 2010) served a number of Jewish communities in the United States and Israel beginning in 1942. In 1959 he became rabbi at the Young Israel of Hillcrest which, under his leadership, became the largest Young Israel in New York City.

Barbara Smith (d. 2019), a Jamaican immigrant, came the United States in 1968 before settling in Far Rockaway in 1979 and becoming an EKG Technician at St. John's Episcopal Nursing Home. Actively engaged in civic life, Barbara was a dedicated member of the Deerfield Area Civic Association and collaborated with various community organizations. Her leadership as President of the Deerfield Area Civic Association shaped it into a respected organization. Barbara's commitment to social justice extended beyond her community. She participated in the NAACP, Thurgood Marshall Democratic Club, and Queens General Assembly, and served as a delegate for 1199 SEIU at St. John's, advocating for her fellow healthcare workers. Her tireless efforts for the community were recognized with awards form many organizations and elected officials, a testament to her lasting impact on Far Rockaway.

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Beverly Baxter (1960-2009) wrote the column, “On the Beach” for the Rockaway Wave newspaper and participated in many local community organizations including the Queens County Parade Committee, the Rockaway Republican Club, the Rockaway Homeowners Association and the Rockaway Action Committee. Ms. Baxter was also instrumental in starting the Rockaway Music and Arts Festival.

Patricia Larkin served as Principal at P.S. 129. She joined the public school system after receiving her bachelor's and master's degrees from Hunter College. She died July 22, 1977, at St. Agnes Hospital, Point Pleasant, N.Y., at age 46.

Jules Taylor, Jr. (1962-2020), local civic leader in Rosedale, Queens, who was a board member of the Rosedale Civic Association, a member of the JFK Rotary Club, and past president of the Brookville Park Tennis Club. Taylor was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and later moved to the United States. He began his career in HR after receiving his Master of Science in Human Resource Management from The New School University and worked in various positions over his more than 30-year career. His last position was at East Side House Settlement in the Bronx as their Human Resources Manager. After settling in Rosedale, Queens, NY, he became active with the JFK Rotary Club, and served as president from 2008 until 2010. As president, he assisted in helping the biggest fundraiser for the JFK Rotary Club, the “5K Runway Run”, going from 150 runners to 1,500 runners and from $10,000 to $40,000 in 5 years. In addition, he served as president of the Brookville Park Tennis Club, where he was instrumental in securing a brand new tennis court for the club. He also served on the Board of the Rosedale Civic Association, Inc. for many years, where he held the positions of second vice-president and co-chair of the fundraising committee. He died of COVID-19.

Msgr. Francis J. Dillon was the seventh and longest-serving pastor of St. Luke Roman Catholic Church in Whitestone, where he presided for 46 years, beginning in 1918 until death in 1965. Dillon was an active member of the community, where he was committed to the youth and needy of the area. In a Council committee hearing in 1995, Queens City Councilman Michael Abel noted that, “during the holidays, Francis Dillon would provide anonymous gift packages of food and clothes and leave them on the doorsteps of those families he knew were in need but were too ashamed to ask.” The Monsignor’s positive impact on his community led the local Whitestone chapter of the Knights of Columbus to be named in his honor. To mark the 30th anniversary of Dillon’s death in 1995, 150th Place between 17th Avenue and the eastbound service road of the Cross Island Parkway was renamed as Msgr. Francis J. Dillon Place. A commemorative sign is located at the northeast corner of 150th Place and 15th Drive, about a 4-minute walk from the church where Msgr. Dillon served for nearly a half century.

Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. (1905-1986), was a recognized national labor leader & President of NYC Central Labor Council from 1959 to his death. While serving in this capacity he set up the Hispanic Labor Committee, and the Black Trade Union Leadership Committee, organized the NYC Taxi Drivers Union Local 3036 and served as its first president, and served as treasurer of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

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Leo Ehrenreich (1882-1962) played a supporting role in Queens civic life and was instrumental in the creation of this playground. His father, Moses, owned Ehrenreich Bros. Coal Yards and was a successful real estate developer. Leo attended New York City public schools and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School. On June 7, 1923, he married Minnie Manasse and within months, they purchased a house in Kew Gardens. After moving to Queens, Ehrenreich became active in politics. He became the first President of the Santee Regular Democratic Club. But Ehrenreich soon underwent an ideological transformation and decided to disassociate from all political organizations. He became what many have called a “One Man Civic Association,” meaning his campaigns were conducted with a purity and singularity that would not succumb to the pressures of political organization. Ehrenreich supported his independent civic activities as a salesman for the Lefrak Real Estate Organization. Ehrenreich’s initiatives focused on improvements in traffic efficiency, pedestrian safety, and the creation of recreational facilities in Kew Gardens and Forest Hills. Beginning in 1937, he petitioned for the construction of more playgrounds in his district. He also campaigned to increase the number of police officers patrolling New York’s 6,000 miles of streets. In 1938, he began a successful program to install traffic signals in Queens’ 50 most dangerous intersections. In conjunction, he supported the creation of the Queens Traffic Advisory Committee. Between 1939 and 1941, Ehrenreich helped convince the City to pave Coolidge Avenue and Lefferts Boulevard for the first time. During this period, Ehrenreich began working to create the Austin Street Playground. He petitioned Parks Commissioner Robert Moses and Queens Borough President George U. Harvey to purchase the plot. On May 2, 1947, after years of negotiation, the area was purchased and the playground constructed. The remainder of Leo Ehrenreich’s “one-man political career” contained a successful parking meter campaign designed to reduce parking congestion and stimulate business on Queens’ busiest streets. In later years, he became known as “the unofficial mayor of Kew Gardens.” During 1952, two local fire companies, Engine Company 305 and Hook and Ladder Company 15, named him as a honorary member. Ehrenreich passed away on December 8, 1962. He is survived by two daughters, Gloria and Leone.

Lois Sanders (1922-2003) moved to Far Rockaway with her husband in 1955. She became active in the First Church of God and held various positions. At the National Ushers’ Convention in 1989, she was honored for her dedication to the ministry of ushering. Her life was chronicled by Ann Morris in the book, Grandma Lois Remembers.

Father Bernard J. Reilly (1889-1945) was the founder of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, serving as pastor until his death. He served in the US Army in WW I and was awarded the Silver Star for bravery under fire. Father Reilly also built the parish elementary school in 1932. During the Depression, Reilly organized a parish Save-a-Home fund that rescued some 30 homes from foreclosure.

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Bernard M. Aquilino (1928-2018) was active in the Rocky Hill Civic Association for more than 40 years, and was its president for over 25 years. With State Senator Frank Padavan, he successfully worked to prevent the City from closing P.S. 18Q. Aquilino also facilitated the relocation of a Sanitation Department garage that had been proposed for the Creedmoor Campus so the community would not have to hear trucks constantly rumbling through its streets. Aquilino supported athletic programs for local youth, educated homeowners about government services, and personally weeded and cleaned public spaces in his neighborhood. He also led the fight to have the U.S. Postal Service rename his community Bellerose Manor.

More info coming soon. If you have information about a named place currently missing from our map, please click on "Add/Edit" and fill out the form. This will help us fill in the blanks and complete the map!

More info coming soon. If you have information about a named place currently missing from our map, please click on "Add/Edit" and fill out the form. This will help us fill in the blanks and complete the map!

Arthur J. Katzman (1903-1993) was born in Belarus, then part of the Russian Empire. He immigrated to the United States at the age of five and settled in Brownsville, Brooklyn. After graduating from Brooklyn Law School, he practiced law in Forest Hills for 65 years. Elected to the New York City Council in 1962, he championed the development of Yellowstone Park on Yellowstone Boulevard in Queens, securing its inclusion in the Mayor's Capital Budget for 1964-65. Known as "the conscience of city government" for his advocacy for ethics, Katzman retired in 1991. He died at the age of 89 on August 30, 1993, in Mountain View, California.

Justin Wallace was 10 years old when he was shot and killed on June 5, 2021 as he and his uncle were entering their home. Police say it was over a parking dispute. He died just days before his 11th birthday and his scheduled graduation from elementary school.

The Reverend Dr. Eldridge Gittens born and raised in New York City. He attended Haaren High School and Shelton College before serving in the United States Army during World War II. In 1955, at a meeting held in his Jamaica, New York home, Rev. Gittens and eleven others founded the Rush Temple African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Today, the Church is a pillar in the Queens community it serves. Its active congregation, under the leadership of its wise, patient and congenial pastor, embraces all who come. Among its many community programs are such needed activities as a food pantry for the hungry, a clothing distribution program, scouting, academic tutoring, family counseling, housing development, an addiction recovery program, a youth choir and, of course worship. Rev. Gittens for more than 40 years was committed to improving the lives of people in the community.

Honors the patron saint of Quaglietta, Avellino, Italy. The Societa Gioventu Quagliettana, located on 28th Avenue, was founded by immigrants from that town in 1911.

VaSean Phillip (1992-2004) was a wonderful son with a smile that could illuminate the sky. One of his greatest joys was playing basketball one-on-one with his Mom and their weekly Wednesday night games. He loved his neighborhood and was an ever-present sight in it laughing and playing with his friends. VaSean also loved to travel. He visited Barbados, Grenada, Finland, England and Disney World, as well as many states in the continental United States. After VaSean was tragically struck and killed by a drunk driver, his mother lobbied for changes to the existing DWI laws, resulting in the swift passage of "VaSean's Law" which significantly strengthened state laws punishing drunk drivers who kill or seriously injure others.

Frederick T. Haller, Jr. (d. 2007) was a longtime Glendale and western Queens community leader. He organized the first Home School Association at Sacred Heart School, was a Charter Member of the Monsignor Sherman Council, Knights of Columbus and of the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society. In addition, he was the founder of the Greater Ridgewood YMCA, held several Board positions of the Glendale Kiwanis Club, was the Chairman of Queens Community Board 5 for more than ten years, and served on the Board of Trustees of Wyckoff Heights Hospital for forty years.