THIS MONTH'S FEATURED HISTORY PROJECT
INTERVIEW:

    His father was William Aloysius Cuneen, New York City Police Dept Lieutenant Detective assigned to areas in Brooklyn and Far Rockaway. He was an easy going head of the household who could be known to resort to use of belt snapping as a means of eliciting from his youngsters behavior he wished to see.  Ray’s mother was a generous person. He remembered with a coy smile, being her favorite as he was growing up. During WW2 she worked in the defense industry – at Republic Aviation on Long Island in the role depicted by the character of Rosie the Riveter. She had been a telephone operator for Pan American Airlines before she married his father. Theirs was a police family with generations of Cuneens on the job.    
    Ray’s wife Mary Francis Bolan Cuneen gave him two, children-, now grown,  Christopher Michael Cuneen and Cara Ann Cuneen. She was the only other teacher in Ray family and had taught in NYC before they met and married in March of 1970. They were both athletic. Mary liked tennis and Ray was an avid lover of basketball, golf and skiing. Before they were married he lived in Valley Stream and for a couple of months, moved to upper Manhattan before working in Brentwood where he began teaching in 1965. He acquired a two bedroom apartment in Bay Shore to eliminate commuting and shortly after they were married they bought their house in Islip, on September 1^st 1970.
   He had been drafted into the armed forces in 1951 and served one and a half years of active service in North and South Korea. Assigned to a prisoner of war camp he had responsibility for thousands of prisoners until the truce and he came home to work at Republic Aviation. Thereafter he attended Hofstra University under the G.I Bill and in 1953 studied and enjoyed Economics and American History. He enrolled in education courses in his third year having changed his major once he decided teaching was what he wanted to do.  He’d always loved kids and enjoyed coaching and thought that would be the perfect means of accomplishing both objectives simultaneously.  
    He was interviewed by Fred Weaver and Stan Yankowski.  The names of former colleagues and leaders like Dave Martz, Jack Zuckerman, Guy DiPietro, John Callan, Frank Bartley and Pat McCarthy rolled easily off his tongue. It was Brentwood in the mid sixties the demographic mix had not yet begun to morph in to what it is today. Referring to a time he was obliged to take a stand Ray recalled walking a picket line around the administration building. 
    Throughout his career and with History as his favorite subject he taught 10^th – 12^th year Global History, American History and Economics. As an Assistant at East Junior High to Coach Stan Kellner Ray served for four years and upon Stan’s retirement moved to become Basketball Coach of both High Schools for four years, during which time the team earned three League Championships. Ray worked at Stan Kellner’s Basketball Camps during the summer leagues. He was also mentored by Coach Lou Grumman who he remembered fondly. Throughout his career coaching remained special to Ray, for the high energy required the reward experienced in players success and in the teamwork achieved. Together however it took a toll. He found the teaching, the preps, the homework corrections, tests, teamwork, practices, games, bus rides, getting home at 11 pm and serving as a delegate to the union to be draining. Time was always a problem. He fondly spoke of Marty Reiger’s Reunion Games in the Sonderling Gym where teams from all the various years could get together and give thanks to the players mothers for the sacrifices they made on their children’s behalf.