Well it’s time for another Killy’s Korner and we start this one with great news.

JPCA Executive Board member, Angelo Raneri and his wife Josephine became the parents of a beautiful baby girl on March 22. Her name is Olivia Lianna and in case you’re wondering, she is definitely an honorary Juniper Junior! Congratulations, Angelo and Josephine.

State Senator Joe Addabbo opened his Middle Village office on May 8th in the presence of his family, staff and many friends. The festivities included refreshments and drinks and everyone congratulated Joe and wished him much success with the new office, which is designed to serve his constituents living north of his Howard Beach headquarters. Good luck, Senator Joe!

June 26th is the date for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life in Juniper Valley Park. Mark your calendar and plan to attend this very successful fundraiser. Last year the event raised $100,000, not a bad number! See you all on June 26th.

Seona Maloney will be graduating from Our Lady of Hope School in June and has won scholarships to Saint Vincent Ferrer High School, the Mary Louis Academy and she has also won the NY Police Department Scholarship. Seona’s grandfather, Lt. Mike Maloney was one of the most heroic firefighters in the NYC Fire Department.

Christine Kotov, granddaughter of JPCA Executive Board Member, Joyce Beaudoin, received her confirmation at Trinity Lutheran Church in Middle Village. Christine graduated from Louis Armstrong Middle School and she was accepted to St. Francis Prep High School. Her family is very proud of Christine and her many accomplishments in her short life and we all join in congratulating Christine and wish her great success in her future.

Congratulations to Middle Village scholar athlete, Marielle Duryea, on her acceptance of a full athletic academic scholarship to Adelphi University. Marielle is a 2006 graduate of Our Lady of Hope School. In June she will be graduating with honors from Archbishop Molloy High School where she played Girls Varsity Basketball for four years. On April 15th, Marielle signed her NCAA National Letter of Intent at our Lady of Hope Rectory in the presence of her family and her pastor, Reverend Michael Carrano. Marielle is the daughter of Dorian and Scott Duryea and the granddaughter of JPCA member John and Dolores Gaidis.

May is a big Birthday, Communion and Confirmation month. Vicki Koenig was 40. Their daughter, Caycie, had her “Red Carpet” party at Party Perfection in Maspeth.

Twins Jack & Julia Killcommons, celebrated their 8th Birthday and they also received their First Holy Communion.

The Chiodi Family of Middle Village celebrated two happy occasions in May. Gianluca received his first Holy Communion on May 8th and Juliana received Confirmation on May23rd. 

Congratulations to Stephanie Zdazenski, on receiving her Confirmation on May 23rd from her Mom, Dad and Jacqlyn!

Thomas Jankowski received his First Communion and Amanda Miller received Confirmation on May 23rd.

Happy Birthday to Nicole Werner who was 9 years old on May 30th and to Dana Cirillo, 9, on May 23rd. A celebration was held at California Pizza Kitchen. Gene and Ginny Hummel celebrated their 50th Anniversary in the Watermill Restaurant on Long Island. Congratulations to all

Killy’s Korner information in the last Juniper Berry about the Cardiac Health Center at 174-03 Horace Harding Expressway, Flushing, New York 11365 has had positive results. We hear that a few people who took us up on the suggestion to check it out have been diagnosed with heart problems that have since been remedied. That’s great, just what we want to hear!

Girl Scout Troop #4315 had a flower planting and dedication ceremony in Juniper Park with many notables in attendance. Special thanks are extended to George Lambert, husband of Scout Leader, Theresa Lambert, who worked very hard to keep everything on schedule. State Senator Joe Addabbo,
Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi and Council Member Elizabeth Crowley all spoke to the girls. Council Member Crowley and State Senator Addabbo gave the girls Certificates of Achievement to commemorate the occasion. A wonderful time was had by all, topped off with the Girl Scouts planting their flowers. Then, there was the reward, Les Barnes, owner of London Lennie’s Restaurant, treated the girls to a delicious meal at the restaurant. It was a great day with special meaning that Girl Scout Troop #4315 will always remember.

Juniper Valley Park was the place to be on April 19th. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe and our Queens Parks Commissioner Dottie Lewandowski arrived to dedicate the new children’s playground on Juniper Boulevard South and 74th Street. Commissioner Benepe was gracious in his remarks about the JPCA. The Commissioner stated that Juniper Park is as nice as it is because of the work of the JPCA. He then went on to tell his “frog” jokes in honor of the original occupants of the Juniper parkland back in the day. While everyone moaned at the punch lines, the Commissioner was comical and turned a serious park dedication into a light moment. He was quite serious when he stated that Juniper Park has a high ranking on the list of one of the nicest parks in NYC. Way to go, Commissioner Benepe!

The picture in this piece of news sent to Killy’s Korner is of Frank and MaryAnn Barone, Sr. who were long time residents of Middle Village, over 30 years. They now reside in Port St. Lucie in Florida. They still make several trips a year to New York to see their grandchildren and family. They miss Middle Village, its quaintness, surroundings and people. They continue their participation in the Juniper Park Civic Assoc. and anxiously await the next issue of the Juniper Berry Magazine. The picture is of them celebrating the birthday of MaryAnn, which was on May 27th. The couple will be celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary in November 2010 with a reception at the Chateau Briand in Carle Place. Congratulations Frank and MaryAnn, your words of missing Middle Village are echoed very often when we receive news from retirement areas all over the United States.

We congratulate our very own, Joe Magnus, Vice President of the Middle Village Volunteer Ambulance Corp. on the publication of his book, The Resonant Voice. It is the story of Joe’s struggle to come to America as a young boy and how, when he got here, he never looked back. No one is more proud to be an American than Joe Magnus. Good Luck with the book, Joe!

The following story came to Killy’s Korner from Nancy Zdazenski. It tells of an enduring friendship, which began during WWII – “While U.S. service men were stationed in Australia during WWII in the 1940s, one local Middle Village resident, Joe Scalone, who was in WWII, in the US Army Medical Corp. 9th Division, was also stationed in Australia. An Australian family named Asmar would regularly have dozens of Australian and American soldiers for Sunday lunch. While there, Joe became friends with the Asmar Family. To this day Joe had never forgotten the hospitality shown to him and his fellow service men. Joe recants the stories of how dozens of US servicemen, including himself, came down with potentially deadly diseases like scrub typhus – the reason why local Australian’s refused to have hospitals built. The Army’s expectation for Joe’s survival was not good and a death notice was sent to his mother in Brooklyn, but Joe prevailed and pulled through. Last summer, at the age of 90 Joe and his youngest of 4 daughters Nancy, along with her 2 daughters, Jacqlyn and Stephanie, finally took the 20-hour flight and went to Australia for 3 1/2 weeks. The bond is so close between these 2 families, one of the grandaughters of the Asmar family, Rebecca Asmar, has come to live with Nancy and study in New York at the New York Film Academy for the next 2 years… and so, the generations of friends continue.”

Let me close this Killy’s Korner with a funny joke that came across the Internet. It’s called The Secret to a Long Marriage and it goes like this –

At a weekly husband’s marriage seminar where husbands talk about their “secrets” to their long and happy marriages they asked Joseph who said he was approaching his 50th wedding anniversary, to take a few minutes and share some insight into how he had managed to stay married to the same woman for so many years. Joseph replied to the assembled husbands, ‘Well I’ve tried to treat my lovely wife well, I spend a lot of money on her, but best of all is, I took her to Paris for our 25th anniversary!’ In awe one of the attendees at the meeting responded, with “Joseph, you are an amazing inspiration to all the husbands here!  You took your lovely wife to Paris for your 25th Wedding Anniversary, please tell us what you are planning for your 50th anniversary?” Joseph proudly replied, with, “I gotta go pick her up!”

Don’t forget to send us your news. We would like Killy’s Korner to represent the news in all our neighborhoods. Please understand that we have limited space and many times we edit articles to keep them short and on point. Thanks for your cooperation. Killy’s Korner has become a very popular column and we would like to keep it friendly and interesting with all the good stuff going on in our great neighborhood. Until next time, be well.