Dec 6
Holiday Luncheon

No Executive Board Meeting
in December

Jan 3, 2020
Breakfast

Events Schedule

Meetings Schedule

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE
POSTED 12/1/19
     
     On Saturday, October 12, 2019, 2 days after her 81st birthday, Letty Sustrin, a long time member of ROBS, received her Bat Mitzvah. The Bat Mitzvah took place at the Kings Park Jewish Center, a small temple and congregation. She had people attending from all the "Branches of her tree" and even had friends that she went to school with when they all started in Kindergarten together in 1943. It turned out to be a weekend she will always treasure. She had 22 out-of-towners and she put them all up at the Hampton Inn near the airport.
   Click on the following file to read the beautiful speech that Letty made at her Bat Mitzvah.

     
View photos in the Member Photos Album in the Photo Gallery

SAD SHARING
POSTED 12/12/19
   Joe Purcell passed away on Tuesday, December 10. He retired from the Brentwood High School in 1992 as the Central Librarian.
   There will be a service on Saturday, December 14 at 8:00 am at the Jacobsen’s Funeral Home, 1380 New York Avenue, Huntington Station, NY 11746 (1-631-423-2185) with mass at St. Hughes across the street at 9:30 am.
     View the Life Tributes page created by Joe's family where you can share your memories.
www.jacobsenfuneral.com/obituaries
     You can view his ROBS History Project Video interview here.

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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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