RETIREE MEMBER REQUEST
POSTED 4/27/26
     Carolyn Lapham, a retired special education teacher and administrator from our district, has a son, James Patrick, who was involved in a horrific motorcycle accident. He is currently receiving specialized medical treatment in Colorado for spinal cord injuries. There is a Go Fund Me page that has been set up to aid him with his medical care and to assist the family with their needs to help James recover from his injuries. The link is as follows:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-james-spinal-injury-recovery

SAD SHARING
POSTED 5/12/26
   Anne Mygland, a retired Brentwood teacher, has passed away. She suffered a terrible fall and was taken to the hospital and died a few hours later. Anne was a teacher at Laurel Park Elementary and in retirement she was a devoted ROBS member.
     There will be no wake service, but there may be a church service in the future.
      Condolences may be sent to her family at :
The Mygland Family
44 Wyandanch Blvd.
Smithtown, NY 11787
     Please keep the Mygland family in your thoughts and prayers at this sad time. May Anne's memory be a blessing and may she rest in peace.    

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Why did we do it?
     What was our purpose in taking on such an open ended “History Project”; for which we evolved a script of questions and got answers from over 150 subjects for two decades?
     We couldn’t answer the question in 1994 when people would ask “What are you going to do with the interviews?” All we could say was that for educational purposes we had to document our record now or lose the chance to preserve so many poignant accounts, funny stories and touching tales told by exemplary educators. We knew these dedicated public servants might shortly, for reasons yet unknown, be leaving Brentwood for good.
     So, we decided to let time sort out the details. We began scheduling appointments. We asked questions and listened saving for generations the essence of what it meant to have been an educator or employed, in this large public school system during the second half of the 20th century. Brentwood remains an exemplar to all others; a diverse microcosm of America reflecting 124 districts on Long Island while simultaneously resembling thousands across the U.S. We’ve accomplished something here to be proud of. Whether we were interviewed or not, ours is a claim of service that few professionals in the State of New York or elsewhere have positioned themselves to share in the way we have.
     INITIALLY the practice of sitting with a subject for an hour and giving them a hundred percent focused attention seemed somewhat daunting to a number of friends and colleagues. So much so in fact that many declined our repeated invitations to speak with us as they left careers or retired from full employment. Despite all assurances that we were not about investigative journalism or invading privacy, they deferred. Now, twenty years after we began, some are saying they may be ready. “Better late than never” we say. However, to all among you who were willing to share not only your classroom experiences and personal stories, but precious memories from your lives along with your fondest hopes for the future, we say “Thanks”. Thanks for allowing us to continue the process by paying it forward as we share these interviews with the Brentwood community and countless professionals and researchers near and far. Through an acceptance of ROBS offer of collaboration with Archivist Dr. Geri Solomon and The Long Island Studies Institute at Hofstra University our History Project lives on in academia as well as in the collection of the Brentwood Public Library, thanks to Director, Thomas A. Tarantowicz.
   You can enjoy unlimited visits to www.robsny.org where you can watch and listen to segments from featured Interviews in the ROBS History Project Section on our Announcements Page each month. Return here to listen and learn again and again.

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THIS MONTH'S FEATURED   HISTORY PROJECT
INTERVIEWS:
Richard John Mundy
Biology Teacher
June 22,1998

    Rick arrived in Brentwood in 1970. Not being one to look back it was time now after twenty eight years to turn the page, close the book, open another book and move on.  He had wanted to create a business before he retired but to his surprise the art business he started took off faster than imagined. He needed to slow things down to hold to his initial plan. Rick describes his early influences and the formative impact that specific people and events had on his evolving interest in art from the age of four. This soft spoken gifted artist began his Brentwood career teaching Biology for which he was hired. He remained sharing that favorite subject with successive years of Tenth Graders until he retired. Rick's love of nature and the great outdoors was never far from a need to express that love in his painting. He still wonders what would have become of him had he pursued formal instruction in art (something he never had) and begun painting landscapes decades earlier that he did.  The accomplishment in his life for which he has the most pride is his marriage. Rick describes himself as a lucky man for having married the love of his life Ann, another retired teacher, and his best friend.  

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Rich Edwards
Travels with Rich Edwards