Two Memorable Participants at the Saltaire Garden Club's Annual Flower Arrangement Contest

Below are photos of two of the most memorable characters to be involved with the Saltaire Garden Club (excepting Oliver Hull) were Wes Adams and Oreste Lorenzo Persechini. Wes Adams had one of the most beautiful gardens in Saltaire. It used to be located on the Northwest corner of Marine and Lighthouse Walks. If anyone can tell me what is going on with Hugh O'Brien in the photo with Wes Adams, please let me know by postining a comment. All others are free to speculate as to what inspired the look of blis on his face.

The second character was Oreste Lorenzo Persechini, more familiarly known as Larry. He gave one of the most memorable speeches in Garden Club history when he appeared as the Professor Emeritus of Bontany from the University of Barcelona. The speech was delivered in Italian, which no one else understood except for his praising of 'Merde de cannes' as one of the best fertilizers. Toward the end of his speech, he grabbed a potted tree by the trunk, ripped it out if its pot, and proceeded to beat the table with the tree while screaming in Italian.

NEW EDITORS INAUGURATED

COSMO and Liz Kelly, they’re real cool and ready to take over this blog and we are rotten glad of it, because if we’d a knowed what a trouble it was to make a blog and get 40,000 hits we wouldn't a tackled it, and we ain't a-going to no more.

But we reckon we gotta light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sarah she's going to try to sivilize us, and we can’t stand it. We been there before.

JOH
DERF
CO EDITORS EMERITUS
1-20-09

THE GODS OF SALTAIRE, 1950 TO 1970

THE GODS OF SALTAIRE, OUR VIEW







The First, Efficient Cause



"Hence, we must presuppose some first, efficient cause- which we all call God" Aquinas, Summa Theologica; cf. Maimonidies, Moreh.










GOD WHOSE POWERS MOVED OVER THE FACE OF THE WATERS:


God of all things moving on the waters of the bay, except for the bay swimming area, which was controlled by the God of Children. He had a puckish side and actually came ashore at night and sang, drank and was merry. Had dominion over the ball field one day per summer for great watermelon for kids and drinking for grownups bash. He controlled access to Saltaire by virtue of the Fire Islander.




GOD OF THE CHILDREN., THE BAY SWIMMING AREA, ALL ATHLETIC FIELDS AND SPORTS FACILITIES AND HAD THE AWESOME POWER TO ENDOW KIDS WITH SWIMMING SKILLS AND SPORTS ACUMEN. TEACHER EXTRAORDINAIRE. CEEDED CONTROL OF THE BALL FIELD JUST ONE DAY PER SUMMER . (SEE ABOVE)




CARRIED A BIG STICK (REALLY, A TEN FOOT BAMBOO POLE) AS HE LOOKED DOWN FROM THE SWIMMING DOCK AT CHILDREN SWIMMING IN BRACKISH WATERS, A WHISTLE IN HIS MOUTH THAT COULD BE HEARD FROM THE BAY TO THE OCEAN. USUALLY HAD WHITE NOXEMA ON HIS NOSE.

IN THE FALL, HE WAS ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL FOOTBALL COACHES IN NY STATE HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY. AT SALTAIRE, HE SOMEHOW COMBINED THE KINDNESS OF MR. ROGERS WITH THE TOUGHNESS OF KNUTE ROCKNE. FIRST, LAST AND FOREMOST A TEACHER.

GODESS OF EVERYTHING NOT COVERED BY ABOVE.

HER POWERS LASTED THROUGH THE EARLY 1980'S. EFFECTIVELY CONTROLLED ALL THINGS IN THE VILLAGE POLITICAL, PRACTICAL, GOVERNMENTAL. SHE WAS A CONCILIATOR, A NEGOTIATOR, AN ORGANIZER AND A COUNSELOR WHO RAN EVERYTHING FROM THE LABOR DAY SHOWS AT THE YACHT CLUB TO THE VILLAGE ITSELF AS MAYOR, AND FIRE ISLAND ITSELF IN THE FIRE ISLAND ASSOCIATION. WORKED HARDER, WAS SMARTER, AND MORE INFORMED THAN ANYONE IN VILLAGE MEMORY. DESPITE VAST POWERS OF MOVING AND SHAKING, MADE VERY FEW ENEMIES.

LOTS OF PICTURES. LOTS OF STORIES STILL TO BE TOLD

WE HEAR FROM JAIME MARSCHALK

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

FROM GEORGIA COMES A LETTER FROM AN OLD FRIEND:

Hi Jim,

I came across your blog and thought you might be interested with at least one of the photos I'm sending. The house in the picture was owned by my grandfather Harry Marschalk, then my dad. The house is still on the west side of Broad Walk, across and a little south of the church, at the corner of BW and Harbor Walk, I think. I remember about everything else about the house except for the exact address. My earliest memories (early 1970's) are of this house and watching cartoons at the "theater" on Saturdays and rainbow sherbet at the market. The second photo is of my dad, Harry Marschalk jr. at age 13 (which would have been around 1949 or 1950) after winning the Saltaire Midget boat races. I don't know who the girl in the photo is, unfortunately. I thought this might interest your blog readers. Hope so anyway!

--Jamie Marschalk, Alphretta, GA

ed note: checking around, we are reasonably confident that the girl in question is our old friend, the late Jean Lang Veronese.

Edie Watts advises us that Jean Lang's family:

" was owner of one of the orginal six CC’s ordered for the summer of 1946. The other owners were the Bells, Ludlows, Jean Illingworth (Jessup), and Edie Whitney. I can’t remember who the sixth owner was." -- Edie Watts

SALTAIRE'S 50 BEST SOFTBALL PLAYERS, 1940-1969 ANNOUNCED; MVP OF THEM ALL A FAMILY TALE

click on images to enlarge

SALTAIRE’S FABULOUS FIFTY, 1940-1969

The Best Softball Players of Saltaire, 1940-1969

The results are in for the votes for Saltaire Softball’s Top Forty Players, 1940-1969.

We have broken the results down into five nine man teams representing, generally, their time frames. Obviously some of the players played in overlapping time frames, so the fact that a player appears on one team does not mean he was limited to playing in that time frame. Generally, regardless of age, a player was placed in an era that they first became all stars.

1940’s to Early 1950’s:

1) Bob Wright (MVP of that ERA) (pictured here in 1955) could have made any Saltaire All star squad from 1940 through 1969).

2) Art Mol: famous as a slugger, this Saltaire legend whose family sold to Stillgebauers in 1957, was also long time Saltaire chief Ocean Lifeguard.

3) Harry Marschalk

4) Bruce Potter

5) Dan Kopfh

6) Bruce Banta: families still in Saltaire

8) Sid Greer

9) Walter Ulrich



EARLY AND MID 1950’S:

1) Bob Marks (MVP of that era) Pictured here: . All Muscle, not too tall, quiet and great power hitter.

2) Bill Weinlandt: of the Weinlandt brothers. Bill Played a cool first base. Tall, I thought he was Gil Hodges out there.

3) Ed Weinlandt: Pitched. Not blazing fast. The most deceptive pitcher since Satchel Page. Could get an anxious batter to swing at his slow underhand pitches before the ball got to the plate. Too much of a gentleman to gloat when he got you to swing at a ball three feet from the strike zone, he could compliment you (really) for a good try when he struck you out.

Ed Weinlandt loved the game so much that even after he hurt his foot badly, which left him with a permanent limp, he pitched for many more seasons. Lucky was the kid who got to pinch- run for Ed Weinlandt. You stood behind home plate and when he hit the ball, you ran. Kids got their first chance to play in a “grownup” game by running bases for Ed Weinlandt.

4) Joe Callahan: called the “best shortstop ever” at Saltaire by no less an authority than Robin Wright.

5) Paul W. Connelly Jr.: Bill Weinlandt and Paul Connelly Jr. were the two best first- baseman in Saltaire, but neither lived on Marine Walk. To keep things fair, Mr. Connelly would play first base for Marine Walk, and Bill Weinlandt would play the same position for “The World” in the classic “Marine Walk v. The World” match ups of the 1950’s. Like the Weinlandts, Connelly was a great athlete. Connelly ran track for Notre Dame. The Weinlandts, big guys, rowed for NYAC for many years.

6) Jack Thorp: big, strong, until last year still a Saltairian.

See Thorp, the Weinlandts, and others in this 1957 photo:

From left: Ed Weinlandt; Jack Thorp, Mike Fitzgerald, unidentified; Bill Weinlandt; Stick O'Brien and Bob Marks. Kid at end: Larry Lynch.

7) Charley Ludlow. Beloved, left us too soon. Played short and a fine hitter. Better yet, a fine person. Here he is years before, when he was a teenager.

8) Dave Banta

9) BOB Callahan (same family as the Corrigans)



MID 1950’s to early 1960’s

1) Robin Wright. (MVP of that era) the future “Fossil” is perhaps the only Saltaire Player with a more amazing and lengthy career than his father Bob Wright. Most home runs, 1960’s. Most home runs, all time. Most games played, most seasons played, all time.

2) John “JO.” (sometimes misspelled “JAYO”) Connolly. Still in Saltaire after all these years, played infield. When Uncle Pete let the kids play hardball, JO was often catcher. Could really take a licklin but keep on tickin behind the plate. His natural position: infield. Allegedly Hates the nickname.

3) Doug Wright: played a similar infield to John Connolly: same size, same scrappy style. As a hitter Doug got a lot of base hits as opposed the boomers launched all his relatives. He is Robin’s younger brother. Reflexes made him a good, quick third baseman.

4) James Connolly. Played a great first base for years. Hit with power and authority. He kind of ran defensive things from his first base position. In James’ later Saltaire summers in weeknight games against Ocean Beach, we sometimes tried to delay the start until the last ferry got in. James was a deckhand and we needed him, but so did Capt. Al. Johnny Glascock first played against OB when he would baby sit the first base position until James came running down Broadway and into the field somewhere in the middle of the first or second inning.

5) Thomas (Tom) Connolly. Twin to James. Tom and James Connolly were a year or two older than John. All three were terrific athletes, and they were coached well as youngsters.
Tom Connolly Sr. would bring Tom, Jim and John to the ball field when it was empty, and he would teach them basics. They were maybe 10 or 12 then. Mr. Connolly would stand at home plate, set the boys up at infield positions, and hit them fungoes. As the infield drills sped up, he would abbreviate the kids’ names: He would say “T” and whack a hard grounder to Tom. “J” meant get the ball to James. “JO” meant the ball was coming to John. The kids had good coaching.

6) Pete Kurachek Jr. : A chip off the old block. Strong, steady and versatile, Uncle Pete’s son could play any position, he did so well. Most often played shortstop or catcher.

7) Kenny O’Hare Jr. Played any position, usually outfield. Good hitter. Ran well.

8) Carbery O’Shea Jr.: all around ballplayer, coach, played outfield hit with consistency and power. One of the best at helping out younger players.

9. Squirt Aherne and Mike Fitzgerald (tie) Squirt: another smooth operator from Marine Walk.

Mike Fitzgerald worked hard at it. Bulldog as a catcher.

RobinWright, Squirt and Mike Fitz can be seen in this 1957 photo:

Early to mid 1960’s. These players were the ones that mostly learned the ropes from an early age from Uncle Pete. The picture shows part of the 1960's team team when they were just kids in 1957, and they played together under the same coaching for year after year until they dominated in the early and mid 1960's.

Pictured front from left: Kevin McGuinn, Jim O'Hare, Mickey Kurachek, Allen Aherne, Hans Hommels. Back row from left: Meegan Keegan, Danny Weinlandt, Larry Lynch, Johnny Glascock and Bill Ervin

1) Johnny Glascock and Danny Weinlandt: co- MVPs of the early/ middle 1960’s. Johnny was the best hitter and Danny the best pitcher. Johnny hit with power, and played first,and often caught both Danny and Ronnie Swedborg.

Danny pitched and batted left handed and pulled the ball, so his power hits were often doubles, but he hit for a good average. His pitching style was fast and hard to hit. Whereas Danny's Uncle Ed Weinlandt’s (see above) pitching style was slow and patient, Danny at his best could be too fast to hit.

Johnny Glascock was as versatile an athlete as there was. He was pretty big, but athletic enough to captain his wrestling teams in high school and college. He hit the Chocolate Church every now and then, and hit a lot over the fence. Caught enough because he was big and tough, but athletic enough to play a fine first base.

(picture at right: Doug Wright and Danny Weinlandt reminesce at Saltaire Reunion, September 2008).


3. Ronnie Swedborg: Pitcher. Right handed. Often he would pitch one game, Danny would pitch another. Ronnie was a couple years older and really pitched a lot in the early 1960’s before Danny and Johnny came of age. But he pitched in the mid 1960's for this team.

Ronnie could pitch maybe as fast as Danny, but he always pitched with his arm cocked at the elbow, as if he had a cast on his arm. That made his release a little higher than your normal underhand delivery, and it was very hard to get a good sense of where the ball was coming from. Also hit well and hit for power. All in all, Danny and Ronnie Swedborg were the very best pitchers in Saltaire in the 1960’s.

4. Allen Aherne. Great reflexes here made for a great third baseman. Could go to his right and get up to get the runner at first as well as anybody. Hit will and with power.

5. Kenny Torrey: both played at the same time, and a good argument can be made about either as being the best third baseman. Kenny Torrey, a little smaller than Allen, and a little bit more athletic. Allen could hit the ball farther; Kenny always hit a lot of singles. Kenny got bigger a few years later, and was an all-America playing baseball in small college. There is now a squash gym at Columbia Univ. named after Ken Torrey, assistant director of athletics to this day.

6. Eugene Piper: he was really important at short stop and he hit for average, especially for this team in its earliest years. Fine reflexes, and was a good match for his second baseman Bill Ervin. Butch Cassidy to Blervin's Sundance Kid.

7. Bill Ervin: could turn a double play with a good relay from Eugene or Kenny or Allen.
Bill Ervin had a good eye at the plate, batted for average, and had a good range at second base. On the small confines of a softball diamond, with Billy Ervin at second and Johnny Glascock at first, ground ball hits between first and second bases were rare.

8. Dick Latham: Great agile athletic infielder/outfielder, a lot of people know him from the 1970’s and beyond, but the judge started playing on Saltaire teams in the 1960’s and outshining kids 25 years his junior.
9. Phil Keane: another hardworking athlete who could hit. Phil and others bridged this team with the great teams that immediately followed it.



THE LATE 1960'S AND THE END OF AN ERA: THE LAST GREAT TEAMS before the formation of the Saltaire Softball league and organized schedules. These kids below not only rounded out the 1960’s with great teams, they would be the core of the exciting league play that started in the the early 1970’s:

1.)Bobby “Turtle” Cerveny, MVP of era. Grew into a great power hitter, hit the roof of the Chocolate church as many times as any person. He showed all the kids his age that they were just as good as all the great teams before them.

2. Denis Keane. Great hitter and fielder, he garnered a lot of votes for all around ballplayer.

3. Kevin Cunningham: big, strong, athletic and hit with lots of power. Like the Wrights and Connolly's before them, the Cunninghams contributed 3 great players to their generation. Kevin was the best athlete of the three.

4. Noel Feustel: lots of votes here, not just for athletic prowess but for pioneering new leagues. Another power hitter who was left handed and limited to doubles, Noel anchored the teams he built and kept all those guys together for years after the 1960’s.

4. Terry Cunningham: Big, Tall, Fun. Boy, we miss Terry. Could play outfield, and hit well. His humor probably kept the more serious Kevin on an even keel and the whole team benefited from his sense of proportion.

5. Bill Cunningham. The oldest Cunningham could hit the ball a mile. Level headed and cool, had a good eye and hit for average.
6. Mike Bernstein. Fastest ever in the outfield.
7. Chris Boyman: these guys were really good, even at an early age. Heree's Scoonj and Bernstein in the late 1970's but they were real good at early ages and sarted impressing people in the late 1960's.
8. Rudy Schott: older, played more later, but he played in the 1970’s and can’t be ignored in voting as a great pitcher.
9. Chip Hull: "Cosmo" received one vote from himself as “most notorious player ever.” Stepped on a nail and got an enormous flapper, 2008.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER OF ALL 1940-1969 IS:

A TIE

The co-winners of best players ever, 1940-1969 are:

MR. BOB WRIGHT AND

MR ROBIN (FOSSIL) WRIGHT

CONGRATULATIONS ALL

SALTAIRE38.BLOGSPOT.COM

Jim O'Hare,

Derf Fontanals

Editors for now

This Just In: Saltaire's Greatest Ballplayers. 1940-1969 to be Announced

click image to enlarge. Copyright JOH

JO'H:

This just in: The long anticipated results of our fans' voting for the greatest Saltaire Ballplayers from the 1940's 1950's and 1960's are soon to be announced.

The votes are all in and the results are being tabulated by our 1955 era UNIVAC Salt-Air 1000 computer in Palo Alto, Calfornia.

Scientists anticipate the complex logarithmic computations will be completed by by midnight Sunday.

To insure integrity of the vote and to avoid another "Bush v. Gore" nightmare, we decided to go retro. Katharine Harris is sooo 2000-ish, so we opted for a change you can believe in:

Since everybody knows that things were so much better in the old days, we dug up an old hero to vouch for the results of our vote.

Once the UNIVAC totals are fully tabulated, the results will be sealed in a zip-lock bag and turned over to former Columbia Prof. Chas. Van Doren who will take the Sunday night red-eye back to New York and securely hand us the envelope at JFK.

We will post the results here Monday morning.

Will your favorite be on this immortal list? Who did the fans vote for as the best from the Forties, Fifties, and Sixties?

Keep your browser tuned to http://www.saltaire38.blogspot.com/

The results will be posted here Monday morning.

Only on : www.Saltaire38.blogspot.com

J. O'Hare

Derf

Co editors

Too Late

On the ferry one summer’s day a generation ago, I sat next to Carbery O’Shea Sr., whom I knew only as someone I’d say hello to. Ours was the distanced relationship common in a vacation community like Saltaire.

We chatted all the way from Bay Shore to the village, talking about our families, our work, the commute. When I reached home I told Elizabeth about our encounter. “Carbery’s an interesting guy,” I said. “I’m glad I got to know him after all these years.” I added that I was looking forward
to seeing more of him.

Within a week, I learned that Carbery had died suddenly. We had gotten
together too late.

- Dick Starkey



_________________

JOH adds a sidebar:





Carbery O’Shea Sr. was a great legal draftsman.

I know this from a story Prof. Charles Lyon told me about the Lyons’ first summer in Saltaire, 1957, when they rented the O’Shea house for July.

It seems that Carbery O'Shea Jr. was Uncle Pete’s top counselor, and Uncle Pete needed him for the whole summer. No problem: The Senior O’Shea told Professor Lyon that Carb could stay with the Lyon clan in July.

Mr. O’Shea drew up the lease for July, 1957.

It was many years later that Professor Lyon, who had a great way with words himself, told me the story of how he always admired and recalled fondly the “magnificent” language of Mr. O’Shea Sr. in the “Carbery O’Shea Jr. clause” that granted Professor Charles Lyon full “in loco parentis” rights of discipline and control over Carbery Jr., along with full obligation to feed, house and shelter aforesaid Carbery O’Shea Jr.

Both Carbery O’Shea Sr. and Prof. Lyon were, of course, great lawyers. Lyon, being a founding partner of Skadden Arps, and Mr. O’Shea a partner in some equally prestigious Wall Street firm, they had great mutual respect and, I suspect, similar senses of humor.
---JOH.


P.S. On information and belief, Carbery Jr. caused no problems for the Lyons. Here he is working a track meet that very summer, 1957:



photo courtesy Stillgebauer Lode
Click image to enlarge

BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME

As most of our readers know, on January 20 DERF and Jim O'Hare will pass the torch of the editorship of this blog to a new generation of Saltairians, born a little later in the 20th Century, tempered with more current contact with Saltaire, and COSMO and LIZ KELLY will be entrusted with the full enthusiasm and support of JOH and DERF to continue to tell the stories and post the pictures, old and new that would otherwise be whispered and then forgotten.

In the meantime, you must indulge the two of us with the chance to pull some final thoughts together and maybe re run some of our favorite stuff here in the closing days. I would like to somehow put a summary of my impressions of the people and the things that made Saltaire Saltaire in the 1950's and 1960's. And we hope to finally get together some of those lists we have promised you for a year, like our favorite ball players of that era, the people who left the greatest impressions, and the best stories. And as usual, please forward us your thoughts.

DERF and I are really proud of what we started, and we are excited to see the new stuff that all the new voices will post. There are a million stories that could be told.



JO'H
DERF

Once I met a man who made me smile inside
And I meant to tell him but I never did
So he never knew
That he ever did such a lovely thing......

in a loss of nerve
leaving unresolved
like a piece of sting all I might deserve
If I took the chance to grow

.

"I Meant to..."

Sung by Anne Correa

Words and Music by Michael Greer & Doug KatsarosKats 'R Us Music, BMI

THE MYSTERY SEA CREATURE, THE CHILD AND ART MOL

THE MYSTERY SEA CREATURE, THE CHILD AND ART MOL
by Patsy O’Shea

The configuration of Broadway at the ocean was different in the early 50’s. There were steps to the beach, a snow fence, a sign that said “No walking on the dunes,” a bench for several people to sit down on and gaze at the sea , and one shower for a rinse after a swim. The flagpole with the code system of flags was there too: a red flag for a wild ocean with a strong undertow, lateral or out to sea pull, a white flag for a challenging but swimmable ocean and the American flag for a gentle ocean, good for all kinds of swimmers. But there were big differences. Looking west, you could see a big white box of a house on the top of West Walk, jutting out with no intervening houses. It belonged to the Kempthorns and a few years later would be purchased by the Ervins. Everything was sparser then, and views wider and cleaner. As I recall it on the top of Broadway, there was no shed for beach chairs, no fancy lifeguard equipment like red rockets with rope, no tall lifeguard chair, no lifeguard tent, no launchable boat, no surfboards, no multiple faucets for feet or full body showers, and no Bell telephone booth. There was no bulletin board telling about ocean temperature or carrying life guard messages to the bathers either. Hurricane Carol in few years hence would sweep most of it all away anyway. I witnessed that aftermath too.

When I was about 8 years old Art Mol was the life guard at the ocean. He was very tall, muscular, dark tanned and he had very white teeth in that brown face. I was a child standing at the top of Broadway observing the SHOCKING SPECTACLE going on down below on the beach. The life guard Art Mol was leaning over this large dark brownish/gray creature that had washed up on the sand. and he was carving it up with a big knife. Blood was dripping off the knife. He was offering large chunks of flesh to the adults standing by. These chunks were about 4 inches thick and 8”-12” square. People were carrying these chunks away. There was something primordial in this scene and even as a young child I recognized it. The hunter was feeding his community.

I need to gather a term that wouldn’t enter the lexicon for about another 16 years when hippies were taking psychedelics and describing their state of mind during their drug explorations: mind-blowing. It was a mind-blowing sight. I somehow felt like those adults going off with the giant chunks were a bit like cannibals. Something unseemly was going to happen to eat of that flesh. I moved closer, down on the beach. The creature was about 15 feet long with a blunt head shape, lying on its left side, and it had a tongue. Was it a mammal, a whale? When Art Mol started carving the tongue too, the scene became even bloodier, with more blood running back toward the water’s edge. I don’t recall telling my family about the creature and I doubt any O’Shea came up to the ocean for a chunk of flesh. My dad was probably working in New York, and my mother was taking care of yet another baby, Deirdre.

After recalling this image, I later saw a comment on the blog written by Jeff Weinlandt. He wrote about Art Mol’s successful spearfishing of a skate. So I would say it’s clear that Art Mol loved the sport of it all. He was like an archetype of a hunter from tens of thousands of years ago. I wish I knew more about what he did in his life. I bet he was always an explorer and hunter, and had an interesting, virile path in life. If anyone knows more about him, I hope you will step forward to tell me.

Art Mol lived in the first house built in Saltaire by the F.I. Beach Development Company, 100 Atlantic Walk. It was subsequently bought in the mid 1950’s by the Stillgebauers. There’s a big fish with a sail, perhaps a marlin, that has resided over the mantle in that house for many years, and I don’t know if it was inherited with the property by the Stillgebauers and therefore came from the Art Mol era.

When I was about 15, I read the great sea adventure Kon Tiki by the Norwegian seafarer, Thor Heyerdahl, and there was a great deep creature that heaved up on that balsa raft and blew Thor’s mind completely. I know the emotions Thor Heyerdahl felt that day. I had experienced the same reactions as a child of 8 on the beach at Saltaire. Art Mol, Thor Heyerdahl, and mystery sea creatures are all wrapped up together in my mind to this very day.

-P. O'S.

Remembering Uncle Pete

With the recent passing of Peter W. Kurachek, the last of the biggest shapers and movers of Saltaire in the 1950'- 1960's has gone.

The purpose of this blog is to not be forgotten. That is why we have posted so many Uncle Pete stories. But for space limitations, we even have more. JOH had wanted to do something for Uncle Pete for years but it never got off the ground. Then Patsy O'Shea got involved and made it happen. We collected essays from 20 people or so--- more than 10,000 words in fact-- written by people about this remarkable man that none of them have even seen for 44 years. If you want the rest of the stories, we will eventually post them when the blog changes its format. In the mean time, anyone who wants a PDF of all these U.P. stories, just e mail the request to JOHARENY@aol.com. JOH had wanted to do something for Uncle Pete for years but it somehow never got off the ground. Patsy O'Shea made it happen.

Me being an editor (for now) I get the final word in the Uncle Pete department: Here's my take and then Patsy's:

“Uncle Pete, Uncle Pete”

I have in my mind’s eye the playground in Saltaire. It is around 1960 or so. It is on towards evening, after dinnertime, when a lot of little kids would come to the playground.

There was constant activity. Kids on swings, kids climbing the monkey bars, kids running in the sand, sliding on the slides. All kinds of kids. Kids four of five years old. Kids ten and eleven years old. Boys. Girls. I could always see and hear this frenetic scene from my house, which was by the ball field and the playground.

So it just happens that Uncle Pete is walking by the playground, coming down Neptune Walk, to go home.

All of a sudden all the miscellaneous chatter becomes about 30 kids yelling out “Uncle Pete, Uncle Pete.”

They all want to see him. They all want him to wave to them. Kids are yelling from the swings. Kids hanging off the monkey bars are yelling “Uncle Pete, Uncle Pete.” They all want him to see them. Kids run up to him.

And he waves back, smiles, yells out a lot of names: “Hi Jenny,” “ Hi Pam,” “Hi Mike,” and so on.

Every kid in the village knew Uncle Pete and he knew every name.

So you thought they would have had enough of Uncle Pete that morning at class? And at swimming lessons? Forget about it. He was like a rock star to those little tykes. They couldn't get enough of him.



That’s an image I have always had in my mind, and I guess that’s how I see him now:

Wow, the kids really loved him.

Jim O’Hare
Richmond Hill, NY

From Patsy O'Shea:

Dear Kurachek Family,
I appreciated your father for the fun and challenging experiences he created for me and my friends in our athletic “classes.” Especially archery, swimming and lifesaving classes. Uncle Pete was the only serious coach I ever had. In those years before Title IX, few people took girl sports seriously and few girls got an opportunity to be rigorously trained. So I thrived with the routines that Uncle Pete demanded of me. Up and down those lanes in the Great South Bay. I spent the angst of my adolescence in that bay swimming up and down, up and down, no matter what hypersensitive hurt my teenage mind was seething with. As a result of his superb encouragement, I really became a strong swimmer and I’ve had some marvelous experiences in the sea all over this planet.

Uncle Pete’s lifeguard training was legendary. I had my check out underwater test having to “save” him, and I must admit I felt some trepidation as I approached this final test. He was really strong, a real gorilla under water, and I can still remember the feel of it. But I succeeded well and with it gained the confidence to tackle just about any situation. This arose in 1977.

I was a tourist in full clothing, except for my bare feet. I was out on a remote beach on the Hana Coast of Maui. A middle-aged woman, also a tourist, had gotten into a serious rip tide and she was drowning, quite a bit off shore. I took off like a shot, forgot about being fully dressed, forgot that my bare feet were running hard on coral and just kept my eyes fixed on where she was going up and under. It was Uncle Pete’s voice going off in my head in that raspy, militaristic voice he has. “Don’t take your eyes off your victim, no matter what!!” Another person, a man already swimming, reached the victim at exactly the same time I did, and together we saved her. Brought her to shore together, into the arms of her traumatized family. So traumatized in fact, that they just popped her into their rented car, and took off, never even thanking us. It took me years to understand this reaction. Because I was young and not very wise at the time, I thought they were trying to escape from any liability for the injury I had sustained in the rescue. But I think it was their trauma that made them drive away. I came to understand how trauma is not just an individual experience, but a familial one.

Another thing I learned from this was the efficacy of some native medicines and the medical wisdom in old traditional cultures. In this case, the native Hawaiian people who witnessed my saving this woman, came to my rescue. For in the course of running on the coral with my eyes fixed on the victim, I was unknowingly tearing up my feet. I had a large, deep gouge about 2 in. by 1½ in. in my left heel. A couple of Hawaiian men went down to the rocks, picked off some seaweed, chewed it and then stuffed it into my wound. Meantime a couple of women obtained a papaya,
sliced it and put the slices on top of the seaweed. Coral cuts in the tropics are notorious for problematic healing. Yet I developed no infection whatsoever, and gradually the whole area filled in just fine. I continued my fun in the sun with no need to travel back to civilization for medical care. More swimming in salt water hastened the healing too.

I also thank Uncle Pete for the exquisite times I’ve had snorkeling and scuba diving. Swimming between islands in the Aegean Sea, enjoying the turquoise water. Diving on the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, most especially my drift dive in Dynamite Pass and my other adventure down 125 ft. on a shark current by great gray underwater cliffs under sea. The freedom I felt swimming over miles of giant clam beds by Lizard Island. My swimming off the Mahukona Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii with the Perez family. I was the bag lady for this family of spear fishermen, ½ mile off shore, when a whole school of spinner dolphins appeared suddenly and went cavorting past me. So making me at home in the sea gave me some of my most glorious experiences.

Thank you Uncle Pete. I hope you can hear my words.

Patsy O’Shea
Portland, Oregon

-------------------------------------------------------------

Robin Wright on Uncle Pete Kurachek:


The year was 1954. My father, who was in charge of Parks and Recreation for Saltaire, hired Uncle Pete, and Pete in turn hired me as a counselor, Art Mol as head lifeguard, and Werner Ulricht, a German Exchange student from Fair Harbor, as assistant life guard.

The next summer, after Uncle Pete’s counseling, I became Art Mol’s Assistant lifeguard.

Pete Kurachek was a great football coach! I spent hours with him on the Saltaire field learning the hard way how to block and tackle. He liked to win.

Wishing the Kurachek family sympathy and all the best,


Robin Wright
Woodside, CA

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remembering Uncle Pete
By Duncan Dobie

In one way, he had that bulldog look of a tough, seasoned football coach with a whistle around his neck who could breathe fire or tear you in half if he wanted to, yet he was always a hero to us young boys. He always had a smile on his face and a special twinkle in his eye. Although (like Beaver once said) he appeared to be 10-feet tall and larger than life to most of the boys at Saltaire, he usually spoke softly with encouragement and that encouragement had a way of giving you confidence in whatever you were attempting to do.

People often talk about a special teacher or coach who influenced their early life in some special way. Uncle Pete was the epitome of that unforgettable teacher. He might as well have been a member of the family and I guess that’s why we called him Uncle Pete. He was family. He had that special gift for teaching and bringing out the best in people. He could be gruff and intimidating at times, but he always had our respect and he taught us how to do things and how to have confidence in ourselves. He had the gift for teaching you to believe in yourself.

One of my fondest memories of Uncle Pete goes back to the summer that he taught me how to swim. It must have been 1954 (it’s my understanding that ’54 was his first year at Saltaire) but it seems like it was a year or two earlier than that when I was five or six. At any rate, I was 7-years-old in 1954. Like a lot of kids, I could dog paddle around the shallow end of a swimming pool but I really hadn’t been around water that much and I couldn’t swim very well on my own.

My grandparents decided that if I was going to spend the summers with them at Saltaire, I’d better know how to swim. So Uncle Pete started giving me swimming lessons. We practiced in the bay off one of the swimming docks just west of the main dock. At first, the murky waters of the bay were quite intimidating, but Uncle Pete’s confidence-building style was contagious and he soon had me stroking and kicking and swimming out in water well over my head.

At last, the big day came for me to show everyone how well I could swim. My grandparents and my parents were both there on the dock along with Uncle Pete for the big event. I was to jump off the end of the dock and swim around to a ladder that was maybe 10 feet away. I had already practiced several times with Uncle Pete and it should have been an easy task. But something went wildly wrong as soon as I jumped in. My mind went blank and apparently I forgot everything that Uncle Pete had been teaching me. I thrashed around for a few seconds and Uncle Pete finally had to jump in – shoes, shorts, shirt and all -- and pull me over to the ladder.

I was very embarrassed. A dripping wet Uncle Pete acted as though nothing had happened. He immediately began encouraging me to try again. “It’s okay,” he said. “You can do it.” Finally I did it. I jumped off the end of the dock, floated up to the surface and calmly swam over to the ladder. Then I did it two or three more times. It was easy. Uncle Pete kept saying, “I knew you could do it!”

Uncle Pete gave me the confidence I needed to be totally at home in the water. It wasn’t long before I was a virtual “fish” in both the bay and the ocean like most of the other boys at Saltaire. In fact, those early swimming skills I learned at Saltaire paved the way for me to be a very strong swimmer in later life. I’ve always been at home in the water, and time and again those skills learned so long ago have helped me through some potentially dangerous situations.

I later became a certified lifeguard while volunteering at a children’s cancer camp in Georgia. Over the past 25 years, I’ve taught many youngsters from seven to 17 how to swim. I’ve never really even thought about it until this very moment, but in many ways, that is Uncle Pete’s legacy to me. He gave me the confidence to know I could do it, and I’ve been able to pass it on to others.

I spent every summer at Saltaire with my grandparents until I was 12 years old in 1959. For all of those years, Uncle Pete was always a much-loved permanent fixture – leading us boys and coaching us in baseball, archery, swimming and other activities. He might have been a little tougher with the older boys, but I don’t ever remember him putting me down or putting down any of my friends in any way. Instead he always built us up. He was my first and only great coach. As I grew older and started playing football and other sports in high school, he was always the yardstick by which I measured other coaches. None of them ever lived up to his ideal. None of them ever had the kind of influence on my life that he had. Truly Uncle Pete was 10 feet tall! Thank you, Uncle Pete, for the amazing gift that you have given to so many others!

Duncan Dobie
Atlanta, Ga.


Please click on "comments" to post your thoughts.

Inaugural Ball

After a wonderful year of developing and posting on the Saltaire38 Blog Jimmy and I have decided that the best way to move forward would be to pass the job on to some new editors for the coming year. We considered a number of ways to accomplish this task and have come up with a plan. We thought an election, by its very nature, would invite corruption. So we decided to go Rod Blagojevich style and pass over the top positions as Primary Administrators of the blog to the highest bidder. So if you are like, ummm, you know, interested please let us know and be sure to include login info for your checking account so that we may substantiate that you have the necessary funds. And for your convenience, we gladly accept Visa, Master Card, Discover, AMEX, Euros (sorry, no risky dollars, please) and PAY PAL. We promise to invest your money wisely and return it to you with interest and the end of your term.

The winners will be presented to the public on the morning of Tuesday, January 20, 2009, Inauguration Day!

Best and good luck, Derf & Jimmy

Dr. Bob and Flora

Dr. Bob and Flora


The speech given by Oliver Hull, Jr. (a/k/a Cosmo) at the Saltaire Garden Club’s Annual Fall Flower Arrangement Contest in the mid 1990’s.



“I wasn’t quite sure what to talk about this year, but I wanted to continue with the theme of last year’s, which was how my father developed his passion for flowers. Then someone suggested I talk at this year’s Fall Falderal about Dr. Bob and Flora.

Now why bring up that tawdry scandal after so many years? Certainly, Dr. Bob didn’t want it brought up again, and Flora’s family had paid me a great deal of hush money to forget it, but I figured-What’s a couple of tarnished reputations. This is the Saltaire Garden Club annual Fall Falderal.

The story goes back many years to when Dr. Bob first entered college. Some of you may not know, but Dr. Bob’s first line of study was not medicine, but Botany, and it was in his first semester Botany 101 class that his and Flora’s eyes first met. They immediately knew they both had a passion for the same thing. Flora was the daughter of the Professor Emeritus in Botany at Edinborough. He was one of the pioneer’s in propagating exotic hybrids, which he grew in his greenhouse. Dr. Sheim wanted his daughter to follow in his footsteps, devoting her life to Botany.

At first, it all started rather innocently, with late night study sessions on cross-pollination, the growing of rare plants for use as aphrodisiacs and walks at night looking for the night-blooming primrose.

As the semester went on, Dr. Bob’s passion for Flora grew, as did hers. Eventually, their ardor grew so intense that they would sneak off to her father’s greenhouse and she would show Dr. Bob what previously had been some of the most rare and unseen pieces of flora. Finally, one moonlit night, they snuck off for the greenhouse, but Flora’s father being suspicious, followed. He could only hear muffled voices inside. Things had come a long way since their early discussions of pistils and stamen. Flora said to Bob “I have a Euonymus Alata for you tonight,” to which Bob replied: “I just want to see your Lobelia again.” With that her father burst in and yelled: “I heard what you said. I’ve caught you, you cad!” Nothing Dr. Bob could say or do could convince Dr. Sheim that his intentions were purely honorable and in the interest of his love for Botany.

Dr. Sheim, wishing to spare his daughter from ever again having to cause such a blemish to the family name, sent her to a remote research facility in Antarctica, limiting here research solely to the asexual reproductive methods of lichens.

Dr. Bob, on the other hand, fell into a deep depression, drowning his sorrows for 6 months with Peter’s Solution (10-15-10). When he finally resurfaced, he had lost his love for Flora, and decided to turn his attentions to Fauna. So the sordid tale goes.

By the way of a coda, Flora and Fauna were both seen again years later. As Jack Arnoff tells how he got to be a member of this fine club …

Flora Sheim later went on to start her own line of shoes.

Saltaire Garden Club Editor's Note II: The story above was one of the speeches I gave at the Saltaire Garden Club's annual Flower Arrangement Contest. My father, Oliver Hull, won the first two Contests, and as a result, the Board banned him from entering any more exhibits, and made him a permanent judge. To assuage his pique, the Board also allowed him to make speeches at the annual Fall Faldoral.
Toward the mid 1990's, my father was in failing health, and I would present the speeches he wrote, and after his passing, I took over giving the annual speech. They were always 'Tongue in cheek', but also were always related to horticulture and flowers. One year in the late 90's, the annual Fall Faldoral was scheduled on the same day as Dr. Bob's birthday. The day before, I was drawing a complete blank when Virginia O'Brien suggested the theme be Dr. Bob and Flora. The following morning, as I was standing in the shower, I experienced divine inspiration, and a few hours later, the story was written.-Cosmo O.

THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE SALTAIRE GARDEN CLUB

THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE SALTAIRE GARDEN CLUB

By: Georgiana McGill Hull



This is the true story of the Saltaire Garden Club. I know; I was there. It was, in fact, my idea. I am Georgiana Rose McGill Hull, formerly of 104 Marine Walk.

The month was September, the best time to be at Fire Island. My husband Oliver, Allen Aherne and myself were there, with Florence and Frank McManus at their house. It was a beautiful day- a Friday, I think- and I was on Marine Walk looking toward the bay when it struck me how beautiful the beach grass looked swaying in the wind. Then I noticed the pretty colors of Virginia Creeper and Poison Ivy, sumac and the dainty flowers of Clematis. I said to all: “Let’s have a flower arrangement exhibit.”

That did it. For once, we all agreed and went to work on our arrangements. Oliver’s, I remember, was a few sprigs of beach grass in a narrow-necked glass bottle or vase; Frank’s was a piece of silvery driftwood with one flower on it; Allen’s was driftwood with a hole which he packed with seaweed. Oliver’s was titled “Windswept”; Allen’s “Jonathan’s House” (it was the year of the book “Jonathan Seagull). I don’t remember anything about my exhibit or Florence’s. I only know that Frank brought the silver cup with his exhibit, and neither he nor Florence knew where the cup came from, who won it or for what.

Now we needed judges. Since the ferry had just arrived, we grabbed the first two people who came down Marine Walk. They happened to be David Ludlow and Chip Hull. The winner: Oliver Hull with “Windswept.” There were four objections and complaints (there being four other exhibitors), but we all helped him celebrate.

With that the Saltaire Garden Club was formed, but it took a lot more than that to get it organized and going. There were many meetings- always at the McManus or Hull deck; always spontaneous, and always accompanied by martinis )I think we all drank Gin back then). Subjects varied, and even lost (which then required another meeting). But one rule was set: no one could win the cup two years in a row. Otherwise the winner would be permanently disqualified from exhibiting and made a life-time judge.

I don’t remember much about the second Exhibition. We might have invited a few other exhibitors, but I do remember that Frank’s entry was the same- except that he had two flowers instead of one.

Meetings continued the next summer, so much that we enlisted the services of Jeannie Jessop as secretary to record all the decisions and/or discussions. I remember at one meeting noticing that she had no notebook. I asked her “how come?’. She showed me a match book.

Saltaire Garden Club Editor's Note: The story above of the founding of the Saltaire Garden Club is the first of hopefully many posts on this Saltaire institution. the story of the Saltaire Garden Club has been crying out to be told. Much more to come in the near future.

Happy New Year

From the gang at Saltaire38