Across the River

Next stop: South Korea

My daughter, Joanne McCormick, and my granddaughter, Shannon McCormick came to visit me on Friday night of this past week. Shannon came to bid me “good-bye,” for she was leaving to go to South Korea on Wednesday.

She is flying and will go to Japan and from there will travel to South Korea. She told me that the trip will take 17 hours by flight. She is going there to South Korea to teach English to the children. Shannon has studied extensively and has several degrees, although she is still quite young.

I will miss her and so will her parents her brother, grandparents, her aunts, uncles and cousins. She will be in South Korea for a year. She told me that the individuals who interviewed her were fascinated to learn that her father, Kevin McCormick, is one of the artists who com-pose “Garfield”, as they are very fond of the Garfield cartoon.

All of us, who knew her, were saddened for Helen Masonis passed away last Sunday. Helen was ill for some time and was at the Health Related Facility on Murray Hill in Mt. Morris. Helen was my son-in-law, Robert Masonis’s Mom. She lived her whole life in Cuylerville and leaves her children, her husband, John Masonis and many grandchildren.

Her funeral was held on Thursday of this past week, at the Martin Funeral Home in Mt. Morris and St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Leicester, and her burial took place in the Leicester cemetery. Her children came from Rochester and from out-of-state for the funeral. She will be sadly missed by her family and her many friends. Helen’s niece, Mary (Valentino) Underwood came from Boston to be with her aunt, and she remained with her (day and night) until the moment of her death. Mary did not want Helen to die alone. All of us were grateful to Mary for this wonderful act of love.

Leicester Park has been the scene for many weeks (on Wednesday evenings) of “great” music , played by various bands. Leicester was issued a grant which enabled them to enlist different bands and musicians to perform. It was enjoyed by so many and we hope that this will take place again, next year.

“Gatherings,” the little coffee shop in the railroad station was open on Wednesday evenings to accommodate anyone who wished to have refreshments. Gatherings has become a very popular coffee shop where excellent coffee and refreshments are available. Usually, almost all of the parishioners, (as many as 25 to 30 people) who attend St. Thomas Aquinas masses on Wednesdays, have their coffee break at Gatherings.

I saw Ann Jerris at the hairdressers on Saturday. She told us that her son, Tony, has just written a book about Marilyn Monroe. Tony lives in California. He and his brothers and sister are all very talented. Many are involved with music and/or show business. She left a copy of the book and Joanne Belden offered to let me read it, so I brought it home with me and will attempt to read it and return it so Joanne can also read it.

Leicester has always produced some very intelligent and talented students—all of whom attended York Central School.

Many became valedictorians of their class and then went on to excel in college. One who did this is Phil Lubanski. Phil is of course, the son of Dawn (Lubanski) D’Imperio and the grandson of Nancy and Stanley Lubanski.

He was the valedictorian of his class, won a scholarship and went on to college where he also excelled and he is now employed at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, a position that he just accepted. He is, now, a Clinical Pharmacist and deals with lymphoma and other forms of cancer. Phil came home to Leicester to visit his family this week, and he is, of course, in the process of moving his things to Buffalo where he will live.

People may also remember what a great race car driver he was, as he also excelled in racing, while attending high school. He won many races.—I often read about him in the Livingston County News. I will have more about Phil and also his sister, who will be going to Spain to study, in my next column.

It won’t be long, now. The kids will all be going back to school in a few days. Summer has flown by. All of my flowers are in full bloom. I hate to think of Winter. I do welcome fall with the beautiful foliage and, I, of course, look forward to the upcoming holidays—Christmas is one of my favorites.