Edith Filosa - Nurse
    Edith Mildred Kretchman Filosa was born in Ozone Park, Queens in 1928. Her family moved with her to Lake Ronkonkoma on Long Island in 1937, where she attended school in a four room structure. They had summered there as a family for years prior to their move arriving by means of the Vanderbilt Parkway which ended at the Lake. Edie’s maternal German American family name was Haase. She had an extensive family history dating on Long Island back to1863 in the Lutheran Cemetery.      
     She was a consummate daddy’s girl. Her father had been orphaned at an early age and for most of his life worked long 16 to 20 hours a day until President Roosevelt introduced a 48 hr work week during his New Deal. Her father was remembered by his children as pushing education having been denied a formal education himself. He wasn’t a disciplinarian but a talker and astute problem solver who taught by example. Edie’s maternal grandmother had been a practical nurse and she was most likely the person who most influenced the choice of Edie’s career. Theirs had been a close family with a father who was deeply involved with his children. Edie had two brothers; Roy who was older by 12 years and served in the Merchant Marines until he retired in ’85 or ’86 and had died twelve years prior to her interview which took place on July 28, 1998. She retired from Brentwood in 1989 four years after her husband Al had retired. She did so without a NY State incentive almost ten years prior to her interview. Her decision made to go, she told Gary Mintz at the time she didn’t sleep all the following night. At that point she and Al had been married since he was 49. Their son Sandy became a Special Ed. Teacher in Brentwood. Edie’s other brother (younger by 5 years) was a Navy pilot assigned to the FAA in Florida. From both brothers she learned to be outgoing and active.
    During our interview she spoke of living with grandparents, her childhood friends, her room, chores, her first paying job, and memories of being a spotter during WWII. She remembered VJ Day, the beginning of the war in 1941 and hearing about Pearl Harbor.
     She was always a morning person and once received ‘Baby Wet Doll’ as a gift. She remembered the aroma of Lilly’s of the Valley, new books, crayons and the first day of school. She attended Rapid Advance classes in PS 108, PS 142 in South Jamaica in the 8th Grade and Sayville High School from which she remembers Mr. Prucci her Health teacher, participating in track, developing the life-long practice of reading obituaries, Mr. Wink, Mr. Rogers, Dr Ingersoll, her favorite period LUNCH and her favorite classes. Science and Physics. Even before she graduated she’d been a girl scout, a reporter – which she expected to become later – and was a club joiner. She spoke of her 8th grade teacher, Walter Dunham, and having practiced the Sr. Kenny’s method of treatment for polio while volunteering with patients during that epidemic.
     She worked in Brooklyn Hospital, Kings Park, as part of a three year program and passed the State Boars after three years in 1949, emerging as an RN, living in Elmont working in local hospitals and at St John’s as a Public Health Nurse.
     It was about that time she met Tom Hastings who with Fred Weaver, offered her a job teaching in Ross High School, Brentwood, in 1958. She spoke of Fran Cairns and remembered her teas. While at Ross, she met and worked with Janet Gorman with whom she organized and sponsored the Future Nurses of America (FNA) without pay.
    One of her first emergencies as a nurse happened the day she heard screaming in the hall only to discover a student running toward her and yelling at the top of his lungs, “I cut them off”,…”I cut them off”, followed soon after by Dave George the Wood Shop teacher who had the boy’s fingers in a towel and was shouting, ”I’ve got them….”I’ve got them.” Then there were the pregnancies, issues surrounding 1st amendment rights, controversies related to nurses uniforms, parenting skills, bereavement and dieting, While Edie taught Health, she also worked with kids as well as the faculty. She was active in the Air National Guard and that’s how she met Frank Spenser who had been a reservist with the Guard. Among her main student contacts she remembers Ray Perez, and Vinnie Carnevalle,
     Her early association with The Brentwood Teachers Association came while Charlie Grey was still it’s President. She took over Good and Welfare from 1960 -1961 and when Shirley Hodges was looking for volunteers to become building delegates for the BTA, Edie stepped up again. She worked with Bob Wellman, Les Black, Gary Mintz, Fred Weaver, Dennis Hickey, Stan Yankowski, Maurie Burns, Max Spearer, Jack Zuckerman and was present the day Bobby Kennedy visited Brentwood High School landing in a helicopter on the football field with the Governor of NY State and H Lee Dennison, Suffolk County Executive.