Alfred J. Kennedy (1877 - 1944) was an American politician from Whitestone, New York, who served in New York State Government and as Postmaster of Flushing, Queens. Kennedy was a member of the New York State Assembly for Community Board 2 in 1911, 1912 and 1913; and was Chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections in 1913. He resigned his seat on May 12, 1913, to accept an appointment as Postmaster of Flushing, Queens. On December 22, 1922, Alfred J. Kennedy, his half-brother Robert R. Clancy, and his son Francis Kennedy, were indicted by a federal grand jury for violating the postal laws, where they were accused of having leaked the questions (which had been sent by mail) for a civil service test. He ran unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 1920, as the Democratic candidate for New York's 1st congressional district. He was again a member of the NY State Assembly Community Board 3 from 1923 to 1926. He was a member of the New York State Senate from 1927 to 1930, and then was appointed Public Administrator of Queens in May 1930. Kennedy fought as a corporal of the 22nd New York Infantry (U.S. Army) in the Spanish American War. In August 1937, he was elected Commander-in-Chief of the United Spanish War Veterans. He died on July 28, 1944 and was buried at the Long Island National Cemetery. In 1950, an Alfred J. Kennedy Memorial was erected on the corner of Main and Northern streets in Queens. In 1952, Public School No. 193 in Queens was named for him, Alfred J. Kennedy School.

Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and influential figures in jazz, known for both his trumpet improvisations and his distinctive singing voice. He also broke down numerous racial divides in the music and entertainment worlds, becoming the first Black performer to get featured billing in a major Hollywood film ("Pennies From Heaven," 1936) and the first Black host of a national radio show (Fleischmann's Yeast Show, 1937). Born in New Orleans in 1901, Armstrong grew up impoverished in a racially segregated city. He dropped out of school in fifth grade to work, and developed a close relationship with a local Jewish family that gave him odd jobs and nurtured his love of music. By the age of 11, Armstrong wound up in the Colored Waif’s Home for Boys, where he joined the band and studied the cornet in earnest. Upon his release from the home in 1914, he began working as a musician on Mississippi riverboats and other local venues. His reputation skyrocketed, and by the early 1920s he moved north, performing and recording with jazz bands in Chicago and New York. Throughout the 1920s and '30s, Armstrong made dozens of records with his own and many other ensembles, toured extensively, and began performing in Broadway productions and movies. After some business and health setbacks, and in response to changing musical tastes, Armstrong scaled his group down to a six-piece combo in the 1940s and resumed touring internationally, recording albums and appearing in movies. Some of his biggest popular hits came in the later years of his career, including "Hello Dolly" (1964) and "What A Wonderful World" (1967). His grueling schedule took its toll on his heart and kidneys and in 1968 he was forced to take time off to recuperate, but he began performing again in 1970. Armstrong died in his sleep in July 1971, just a few months after his final engagement at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. Armstrong and his fourth wife, Lucille Wilson, purchased their home in Corona in 1943, shortly after they were married, and lived there for the remainder of their lives. I.S. 227, a public middle school serving grades 5 through 8, is located approximately one mile from their home, which is now the Louis Armstrong House Museum, offering public tours, concerts and educational programs.

Marie Curie (1867-1934) was a noted scientist and the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics. Born in Warsaw, Poland, Maria Skolodowska-Curie moved to Paris in 1891 to study at the Sorbonne. Soon after, she joined a research laboratory and in 1898, she and her husband Pierre expanded on Henri Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity, discovering two new elements, Polonium and Radium. This discovery earned Curie her first Nobel Prize, in Physics. She won a second Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911, becoming the first person to earn two such awards. Curie died in France in 1934 from leukemia, thought to be caused by exposure to radiation. Marie Curie Playground opened September 6, 1956, as a jointly operated playground at J.H.S. 158. Jointly operated playgrounds are under the jurisdiction of the Board of Education and maintained by Parks, so that parklands serve an adjacent school site’s recreational needs as well as the general public. In 1985 the park was renamed for Curie, and later renovations pay tribute to her career: an atom motif is featured in the spray showers, and the hopscotch grid is patterned after a chemistry table. Several plaques also feature Curie’s achievements and quotes.

Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920) was born in Cresson, Pennsylvania on May 6, 1856. His parents, Charles and Mary, originated from Maine. Charles died when Robert was three and Mary decided to move her only child back home to Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Peary attended Bowdoin College, joining the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, before graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1877. After college, Peary worked as a county surveyor and a cartographic draftsman. In 1881, he was selected to become one of the Navy’s first civil engineers with the rank equivalent of lieutenant (USN). His first assignment was to inspect a new iron pier being built in Key West. His following assignment, assisting the chief engineer of a canal project in Nicaragua, sparked his thirst for Arctic exploration. Perhaps his dissatisfaction with being a “workhorse” in the jungles of Central America and the inspiration of an 1886 paper “on the inland ice of Greenland,” prompted Peary to set off to explore the Arctic by way of Greenland. In May of 1886, he embarked on his journey, “making a deeper penetration of the Greenland interior than anyone before him, and discovering, once the crevasses and meltwater lakes had been passed, a truly ‘imperial highway’ for the explorer.” This would be the first of several expeditions to Greenland and the Arctic with his crowning achievement as being the first to reach the North Pole on April 6, 1909. Peary’s polar claim was disputed due to a “combination of navigational mistakes and record-keeping errors.” Still, it is universally accepted that Peary and his close friend Matthew Henson, were the first to reach the North Pole. Peary retired from the Navy with the rank of rear admiral in 1911. His publications included Northward over the “Great Ice” (1898), The North Pole (1910), and Secrets of Polar Travel (1917). Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary is credited in the Navy as being “the most famous Civil Engineer Corps officer to date.” The most prestigious exploration and research awards Peary won in his lifetime were the Cullum Geographical Medal (1896), the Charles P. Daly Medal (1902), and the Hubbard Medal (1906). In addition to his career as a naval officer and Arctic explorer, Peary was also very interested in aircraft and their “possible use for exploration and military purposes.” Peary remains an important figure not only for his Naval career or Arctic exploration but also for documenting tidal observations of the Arctic Ocean and the livelihoods of the Inuit people. However, Peary’s treatment of the Inuit and disregard for their culture remain controversial today. Upon his death in 1920, Peary was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with a “monument featuring a large, white granite globe and a bronze star pointing north marking the North Pole.” "In 1986, the U.S. Postal Service issued a set of stamps about Arctic Explorers identifying Peary as ‘one of two Civil Engineer Corps officers to be associated with a postage stamp.’”

The following was written by Christopher's sister, Patricia Cardona: Christopher grew up always wanting to follow in his father's footsteps. He wanted to be a firefighter. While in school, he learned that to be a firefighter, you would need to take the test and then wait to be called. He was attending Queens College, and decided as a backup plan, he would get an education degree so he could teach. He had a passion for history and social studies. He favored the older kids. He graduated from Queens College with a teaching certificate in middle school social studies. He got his foot in the door as a substitute teacher in the middle schools of District 30. He worked at PS 2, IS 10 and IS 141. He was offered a permanent position teaching middle school social studies at IS 10, and he turned it down because he had gotten called to the academy of the FDNY. He was on his way to becoming a firefighter. He was technically on the job for eight months as a trainee.("probie"). He was then asked where he wanted to be stationed and was given a choice since his father had just retired as a Deputy Chief of the FDNY. He was well-respected and so they wanted to grant his son a choice. Christopher chose midtown Manhattan. He wanted action. This house \[Engine 54] is known as one of the busiest firehouses in all the five boroughs. He had never been to a fire prior to 9/11. He was at that firehouse for only a couple of months. The morning of 9/11, he was expected to be off duty at 8:30 a.m. The bell rang, and he jumped on board, eager to go to his first big fire. He was excited (as told to us by his housemates). He re-suited up and jumped on board along with 14 other guys (between the two trucks). He never came home. Meanwhile my parents, who were at home in Long Island City (you could see the Twin Towers from their high rise), got a call from his fire station lieutenant, asking him to come to work. My father reported that he never came home. It was then that they realized that he had gone down to the site. My father, with all his experience, had looked out the window and knew that the towers would fall by the way that they were burning. My parents watched the burning buildings from their window, not knowing that their son was there and had perished. Meanwhile, I was teaching at a Jackson Heights school that morning (PS 149) and was watching the events on the TV. It was only that evening when he didn’t come home that we realized he was there. We called hospitals, put up signs and held out hope that he was trapped and would be found. Fifteen guys never came home from his house -- the biggest loss out of any firehouse in the five boroughs. My parents attended many funerals and memorials from his firehouse, as well as all the people my dad knew. A few days after 9/11, they recovered the body of a member of his firehouse, Jose Guadalupe. Jose was a 6-foot, dark-skinned Hispanic male. My parents attended his funeral. The next few months, they attended every funeral and memorial service. We still had not recovered Christopher. In December, a few weeks before Christmas, my parents were visited by the Coroner of the City of New York. They admitted to making a huge mistake. Jose was misidentified. The body that was buried as Jose Guadalupe was in fact Christopher Santora. (Christopher was 5’8", Caucasian with blue eyes.) According to them, they were unrecognizable. They were identifying them based only on a rare neck bone anomaly that coincidentally both had. The body had to be exhumed, and we finally had Christopher’s remains. We had a funeral for him, and he is buried at St. Michael's Cemetery in Queens. Jose was never found. A few months later, Dr. Angelo Gimondo (former District 30 superintendent) reached out to my parents. D30 wanted to build a school and name it for a fallen firefighter of 9/11. When they learned that Christopher taught in D30, they knew they wanted to name it for him. My parents agreed. They began building the school, and it was scheduled to open in September of 2002. I put in an application to transfer. I was interviewed and released from my school, and I have been there ever since. The father of one of the newly hired teachers, Rani Skopelitis, was a carpenter for trade. He built the case in the lobby of the school which has Christopher’s firefighter uniform. They had a big dedication and opening ceremony, and we are still here today at the FF Christopher A. Santora School, PS 222 \[in Jackson Heights]. Editor's note: Christopher Santora Place is located near the neighborhood basketball courts where Santora played as a child.

Archie Spigner (1928 - 2020) was a local politician who served for 27 years as a City Councilman for District 27 in southeast Queens, from 1974 to 2001, serving his last 15 years as deputy to the majority leader. He also served as the head of the United Democratic Club of Queens from 1970 until his death in 2020, a role in which he helped shape the borough’s Democratic Party leadership. During his tenure, he advocated for education, infrastructure, and the underserved community. Archie Hugo Spigner was born on Aug. 27, 1928, in Orangeburg, S.C., his family moved to New York when Archie was 7, and he grew up in Harlem. As a young bus driver engaged in union activism, Mr. Spigner drew the attention of the labor leader A. Philip Randolph, who charged him with forming a Queens branch of Mr. Randolph’s Negro American Labor Council. While looking for a meeting place for his group, Mr. Spigner met Mr. Kenneth N. Browne, who was running for the State Assembly, and who became the borough’s first Black member of the New York State Assembly and its first Black State Supreme Court justice. Mr. Browne took Mr. Spigner to the local Democratic club and introduced him to the district leader Guy R. Brewer, and Spigner’s career in Queens politics began. Mr. Spigner went on to attend college, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Queens College in 1972. Spigner went on to become a major power house in an area that reliably voted Democratic, a nod from Mr. Spigner all but assured election. He was known as “The Dean,” and considered “The Godfather of Politics” in southeastern Queens.  As a local-minded city councilman, Mr. Spigner helped shepherd the sale of the oft-criticized Jamaica Water Supply Company, New York City’s last privately owned waterworks, to the city government in 1997, bringing down costs for residents of southeast Queens. To spur local business, he successfully pushed for the construction of a permanent building for York College, part of the City University of New York, in the Jamaica section; a subway extension to downtown Jamaica; and a regional headquarters of the Social Security Administration.

Born in Veracruz, Mexico, Lorena Borjas (1960-2020) was a fierce advocate for the transgender and Latinx communities in Queens. Borjas moved to the U.S. in 1980 and earned a green card through a Reagan-era amnesty program. She was convicted of charges related to prostitution in 1994, but the charges were later vacated, since she was forced into prostitution by human traffickers. However, other convictions remained on her record until 2017, when then-Governor Andrew M. Cuomo pardoned her. She became a U.S. citizen in 2019. Borjas inspired many people through her advocacy for the LGBT community. She co-founded the Lorena Borjas Community Fund in 2012 and was actively involved in many organizations, including the AIDS Center of Queens County, the Hispanic AIDS Forum and the Latino Commission on AIDS. In 2015, she founded El Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo, a non-profit organization that works to defend the rights of transgender and gender non-binary people. The organization provides legal and medical services to trans and non-binary sex workers and undocumented members of the community. Although Borjas had already been taking sex workers to clinics to get tested for HIV and helping to get lawyers for possible deportation cases, El Colectivo was a way for her to officially continue that work. She also became a counselor for the Community Healthcare Network's Transgender Family Program, where she worked to obtain legal aid for victims of human trafficking. Borjas died on March 30, 2020, of complications from COVID-19. On June 26, 2022, a bill was signed by Governor Kathy Hochul establishing the Lorena Borjas transgender and gender non-binary (TGNB) wellness and equity fund, which will be used to invest in increasing employment opportunities, providing access to gender-affirming healthcare, and raising awareness about transgender and gender non-binary people in New York.

Anna Moscowitz Kross (1891-1979) served as NYC Commissioner of Corrections from 1953-1966. She was a lawyer, judge and advocate for women and the poor.

Mary Sarro (1927 – 2012) was a beloved member of the Jackson Heights community, and Former District Manager of Community Board 3 for over 20 years. She served on the board of directors of the Jackson Heights Beautification Group, was a member of the board of the 115th Precinct Community Council, and helped clear the way for the boroughs first Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade in 1993.

Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837-June 24, 1908) served as the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, the first to serve non-consecutive terms, and the first Democrat elected after the Civil War. Born in New Jersey and raised in upstate New York, Cleveland became a lawyer in Buffalo in 1859, and soon after pursued politics as a reformer. He served as the Assistant District Attorney and then Sheriff of Erie County, Mayor of Buffalo, and New York Governor. As governor, he took on Tammany Hall, the political machine based in New York City, even though it had supported him in the election. A sex scandal threatened to bring him down during the 1884 presidential election, but he admitted to the possibility that he had fathered a child with a woman out of wedlock, and with that bit of honesty he held onto his supporters. (Cleveland had the mother institutionalized against her will so he could take custody of the child, who he named Oscar Folsom Cleveland.) In the election of 1888, Cleveland won a larger share of the popular vote, but the business-backed Benjamin Harrison defeated him in the Electoral College. The Republican alienated many in his party, and, in 1892, Cleveland defeated Harrison. During his second term, Cleveland faced a nation suffering from its worst depression. During this period, he sent federal troops to break an enormous railroad strike and arrest its leaders. His other social attitudes were varied. He was opposed to temperance, spoke against injustices facing the Chinese in the West, sympathized with the South in its reluctance to accept African Americans as equals, thought Native Americans should assimilate, and never supported women's right to vote. He is remembered for his record-breaking use of the presidential veto, through which he attempted to balance the power of the executive and legislative branches. The city acquired this land in July 1924 and developed it from 1927 to 1929 into a park with two playgrounds, three tennis courts, two basketball courts, and a public restroom. It was originally known as Anawanda Park, a name taken from a small political organization of Tammany Hall-style politics proponents called the Anawanda Democratic Club. When its name was changed to Grover Cleveland Park, following the name of the new high school nearby, anti-reformists of the Anawanda Democratic Club protested the move.

Rufus King (1755-1827) was a distinguished lawyer, statesman and gentleman farmer. The son of a wealthy lumber merchant from Maine, King graduated from Harvard in 1777, served in the Revolutionary War in 1778, and was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts in 1780. He was a member of the Confederation Congress from 1784 to 1787, where he introduced a plan that prevented the spread of slavery into the Northwest Territories. King was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and made his most famous contribution to American history as a framer and signer of the U.S. Constitution. After his marriage to Mary Alsop in 1786, King relocated to New York and was appointed to the first U.S. Senate, serving from 1789 to 1796 and again from 1813 to 1825. An outspoken opponent of slavery, he led the Senate debates in 1819 and 1820 against the admission of Missouri as a slave state. King served as Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain from 1796 to 1803 and again from 1825 to 1826. In 1816 he was the last Federalist to run for the presidency, losing the election to James Monroe. In 1805, King purchased land and a farmhouse in Jamaica; this house is now the King Manor Museum, a New York City landmark. It is located approximately 4.5 miles from P.S. 26, a public elementary school serving grades pre-K through 5.

Shri Guru Ravidass was a great Indian thinker, reformist, traveler, spiritual leader, and mystic poet-saint of the Bhakti movement in Hinduism, which emphasized love and devotion to god and preached against the caste system. Active during the 15th or 16th century CE, he attained recognition as a most learned Guru and was venerated as a teacher in the regions of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh. The devotional songs of Ravidass have had a lasting impact on the Bhakti movement, and 41 poems attributed to him were included in the Adi Granth, the sacred scripture of Sikhism. A great social reformer, he fought the caste system in India with great courage when the system was at its peak, and upper caste kings became his followers. He was born in Banaras, Uttar Pradesh in the Chamar caste. The Chamars are a Dalit (formerly "untouchable") caste group numerically prevalent across North India, and traditionally associated with leatherwork and animal carcass disposal, connoting ritual impurity according to the Hindu religious system of caste hierarchy. In the face of enduring discrimination by wider Indian society, a sense of collective identity and solidarity remains strong amongst Chamars. The Ravidassi movement promised a collective religious identity for Chamars outside the existing socio-religious order, and Ravidas’s teachings focused on equality, social justice, and the unity of all humanity. Centered around the Punjabi city of Jalandhar, this movement has seen temples constructed across North India, including in the sacred Hindu city of Varanasi. Through these temples, religious leaders and reformers have promoted a separatist religious identity for Ravidassia, or those who follow the spiritual teachings of Guru Ravidas, one that rejects the ritually impure status afforded to Chamars as leatherworkers by Hindu cosmology. The Shri Guru Ravidass Temple was established in Woodside in 1987. It is the only known Ravidassia temple in New York City and the East Coast as a whole. On September 15, 2024, in a dedication ceremony held just outside the Temple, the intersection of 61st Street and Broadway was officially co-named Shri Guru Ravidass Marg in honor of the great poet and social reformer. The event was presided over by New York City Councilmember Shekar Krishnan, the first Indian-American ever elected to the New York City Council.

Dr. Paul Klapper (1885-1952) was the first president and guiding force behind the establishment of Queens College. Born in Romania, Klapper came to the U.S. with his parents as a child and enrolled at City College at the age of 14. After receiving his A.B. degree, he taught in the New York City public schools and at City College, eventually earning an M.A. and Ph.D. from New York University. He became head of the education department at City College in 1917, and served as dean of the college from 1922 to 1937, when he was asked to lead the newly created Queens College. Klapper personally selected the college’s first faculty, as well as the 400 students who enrolled in that first year. He led the college through its first decade, retiring in 1948. He then served as acting dean of teacher education for CUNY's five four-year colleges, and was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago from 1949 to 1951. He passed away in 1952 at the age of 66. Over the course of his career, Klapper also was a member of the board of trustees for The State University of New York, Brandeis University and The New York State Commission Against Discrimination. He received various honorary degrees from institutions including Yeshiva University, Columbia University and Queens College. His papers are housed in Queens College's Department of Special Collections and Archives. Klapper Hall was built and dedicated in 1955 as the Paul Klapper Library, and served as the college's main library until the larger Rosenthal Library was constructed in 1988. In 1992, the building was renovated and renamed Klapper Hall; it now houses the school's art and English departments as well as the Godwin-Ternbach Museum.

In 1970, Iccey Elvalina Gibbs Newton (1939-1993) and her husband moved to Woodside where they raised four children. She helped form the Woodside Tenants Association and then worked for NYCHA for 20 years. She started tenant patrols in Woodside Houses and served as District Coordinator for the Girl Scouts of America. She served on Community Board 1 from 1991 until her death.

The following was written by Christopher's sister, Patricia Cardona: Christopher grew up always wanting to follow in his father's footsteps. He wanted to be a firefighter. While in school, he learned that to be a firefighter, you would need to take the test and then wait to be called. He was attending Queens College, and decided as a backup plan, he would get an education degree so he could teach. He had a passion for history and social studies. He favored the older kids. He graduated from Queens College with a teaching certificate in middle school social studies. He got his foot in the door as a substitute teacher in the middle schools of District 30. He worked at PS 2, IS 10 and IS 141. He was offered a permanent position teaching middle school social studies at IS 10, and he turned it down because he had gotten called to the academy of the FDNY. He was on his way to becoming a firefighter. He was technically on the job for eight months as a trainee.("probie"). He was then asked where he wanted to be stationed and was given a choice since his father had just retired as a Deputy Chief of the FDNY. He was well-respected and so they wanted to grant his son a choice. Christopher chose midtown Manhattan. He wanted action. This house \[Engine 54] is known as one of the busiest firehouses in all the five boroughs. He had never been to a fire prior to 9/11. He was at that firehouse for only a couple of months. The morning of 9/11, he was expected to be off duty at 8:30 a.m. The bell rang, and he jumped on board, eager to go to his first big fire. He was excited (as told to us by his housemates). He re-suited up and jumped on board along with 14 other guys (between the two trucks). He never came home. Meanwhile my parents, who were at home in Long Island City (you could see the Twin Towers from their high rise), got a call from his fire station lieutenant, asking him to come to work. My father reported that he never came home. It was then that they realized that he had gone down to the site. My father, with all his experience, had looked out the window and knew that the towers would fall by the way that they were burning. My parents watched the burning buildings from their window, not knowing that their son was there and had perished. Meanwhile, I was teaching at a Jackson Heights school that morning (PS 149) and was watching the events on the TV. It was only that evening when he didn’t come home that we realized he was there. We called hospitals, put up signs and held out hope that he was trapped and would be found. Fifteen guys never came home from his house -- the biggest loss out of any firehouse in the five boroughs. My parents attended many funerals and memorials from his firehouse, as well as all the people my dad knew. A few days after 9/11, they recovered the body of a member of his firehouse, Jose Guadalupe. Jose was a 6-foot, dark-skinned Hispanic male. My parents attended his funeral. The next few months, they attended every funeral and memorial service. We still had not recovered Christopher. In December, a few weeks before Christmas, my parents were visited by the Coroner of the City of New York. They admitted to making a huge mistake. Jose was misidentified. The body that was buried as Jose Guadalupe was in fact Christopher Santora. (Christopher was 5’8", Caucasian with blue eyes.) According to them, they were unrecognizable. They were identifying them based only on a rare neck bone anomaly that coincidentally both had. The body had to be exhumed, and we finally had Christopher’s remains. We had a funeral for him, and he is buried at St. Michael's Cemetery in Queens. Jose was never found. A few months later, Dr. Angelo Gimondo (former District 30 superintendent) reached out to my parents. D30 wanted to build a school and name it for a fallen firefighter of 9/11. When they learned that Christopher taught in D30, they knew they wanted to name it for him. My parents agreed. They began building the school, and it was scheduled to open in September of 2002. I put in an application to transfer. I was interviewed and released from my school, and I have been there ever since. The father of one of the newly hired teachers, Rani Skopelitis, was a carpenter for trade. He built the case in the lobby of the school which has Christopher’s firefighter uniform. They had a big dedication and opening ceremony, and we are still here today at the FF Christopher A. Santora School, PS 222.

Paul Raimonda (1922 – 1988) was a community leader and life-long resident in Long Island City and head of the Astoria Heights Homeowners and Tenants Association. Raimonda attended P.S. 126 and William C. Bryant High School and served for four years in the Army Air Corps during World War II.  He was an active member in the Long Island Seneca Club, but his most notable contribution was the creation of the Astoria Heights Homeowners and Tenants Association in 1971. Through the Tenants Association, Raimonda and community members sought to give a unified voice to residents. He was an instrumental leader in a successful campaign to block a state takeover and expansion of Rikers Island in 1980. In addition, Raimonda was a member of Community Board 1 and of the Liberty Regular Democratic Club. In April 1987, the Italian American Regular Democratic Association of Queens named him Man of the Year, and he received the good wishes of Governor Mario Cuomo.

Saint Mel of Ardagh (d. 487 or 488) was a missionary and bishop who was active in the early part of the fifth century. One of the earliest Irish saints, he was believed to be a disciple and nephew of Saint Patrick, and his ministry was an important part of the early establishment of Christianity in Ireland. Thought to be a native of Britain, Saint Mel was the son of Conis and Darerca, who is considered to be the sister of Saint Patrick. According to legend, she was the mother of 19 children, the majority of whom entered religious life. It is said that Mel traveled with Saint Patrick into the Irish countryside, preaching and evangelizing the Christian Gospels. While at Ardagh, a village in modern-day County Longford, Patrick established a church and ordained Mel as the local bishop, also making him the abbot of an adjoining monastery. According to traditional narratives, Mel continued to travel, performing manual labor to support his missionary work and giving back much of what he earned to help those in need. He is believed to have professed Saint Brigid as a nun, also giving her abbatial powers on par with those of contemporary bishops. An often-cited legend around Saint Mel tells of his living on a farm during a portion of his ministry with a woman, possibly his aunt, Lupait. This gave rise to gossip, prompting a visit from Saint Patrick. Mel and Lupait produced miracles to prove the innocence of their relationship, with Mel pulling a live fish from his plowed field and Lupait carrying hot coals without being burned. Revered to this day as the patron saint of the Roman Catholic diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, Saint Mel died in County Longford, leaving behind a monastery that flourished for centuries. Saint Mel Catholic Academy opened in 1960 and is located at 154-24 26th Avenue in Flushing.

Walentyna Janta-Połczyńska (1913-2020) and Aleksander Janta-Połczyński (1908-1974) were heroes in the fight against Nazism. Walentyna was one of the last surviving members of the Polish government in exile, formed after Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939. She became a personal secretary to General Władysław Sikorski, the prime minister of the Polish government in exile and commander of the Free Polish Armed Forces. She translated and prepared reports by Jan Karski, the underground courier who delivered eyewitness accounts of atrocities against Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, and helped organize Dawn, a clandestine radio station that broadcast to Poland from an intelligence complex in England. Aleksander Janta-Połczyński was a second lieutenant of the Polish Army cavalry.   They later moved to New York and opened an antiquarian bookstore. They also opened their home to Polish artists and writers who escaped the postwar Communist dictatorship. Walentyna was known as the first lady of American Polonia, active in Polish-American cultural institutions such as the Józef Piłsudski Institute of America and the Kościuszko Foundation. Jan was president of the American Council of Polish Cultural Clubs and a board member of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America. The street co-naming is actually for the couple's accomplishments, and the sign is in error, as it should read Polczyński, which denotes the couple, rather than just for Walentyna. After Walentyna passed away at the age of 107, the community rallied to save their 1911 home, which was on a plot of land owned by Cord Meyer's brother and partner, Christian Meyer. In the process, they documented the home, filming top to bottom as well as the garages—the very place where their manuscript business was conducted. They also held rallies, a heart bombing, a vigil, and submitted a landmarking application with support letters from Polish groups, organizations, elected officials, etc., making a strong case on many levels. Despite these efforts, the Landmarks Preservation Commission did not calendar the home. Subsequently, Councilman Shekar Krishnan wrote a scathing letter to the Commission, stating the agency must reevaluate its decision-making process and be more transparent in the future.

Peter’s Field is named for two of the city’s most prominent historical figures: Peter Stuyvesant (1610-1672) and Peter Cooper (1791-1905). Peter Stuyvesant, a Calvinist minister’s son, born in The Netherlands, joined the Dutch West India Company at the age of 22. After becoming the director of the company’s Caribbean colonies of Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire in 1643, Stuyvesant led a victorious attack on the island of Saint Martin; he gravely injured his right leg and was forced to have it amputated. The wooden leg he wore from then on earned him the nickname “Old Peg-Leg.” Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam in 1647 as the Director General of New Netherland and quickly worked to limit the sale of liquor, enforce his own church’s domination, and persecute Lutherans, Quakers, and Jews. Stuyvesant bought a farm, the Bouwerie (the namesake of the Bowery), in 1651, and built his home, White Hall, in 1655 at what is now the intersection of Whitehall and State Streets. Often remembered as a violent despot, Stuyvesant also encouraged commerce and helped form New Amsterdam’s municipal government until the British seized New Netherland in 1664. Following his withdrawal from public life, he retired to his farm where he lived until his death in February 1672.  New York City native Peter Cooper, an inventor with little formal education, began his career as a cloth cutter during the War of 1812. After becoming a prosperous glue manufacturer, Cooper built the country’s first steam engine, the Tom Thumb, at his Canton Iron Works factory in Baltimore. Deeply involved in New York City politics, he worked to disentangle the fire and police departments from their political connections, to supply better water and sanitation, to improve prison conditions and to provide the poor with public education. The namesake of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (formed between 1857 and 1859), Cooper was an unsuccessful presidential candidate in 1876, when he ran on the Greenback ticket.

Charles J. Vallone (1902-1967) was a judge on the Queens County Civil Court. He received his law degree from Fordham University in 1928 and went into private practice until being appointed to fill a vacancy on the court by Mayor Robert F. Wagner in 1955. He was then re-elected twice to the post, serving until his death in 1967. A number of Vallone's descendants have continued in public service, including his son Peter, a New York City Council member from 1974 to 2001, and grandsons Peter Jr. and Paul, both of whom have served as Council members from Queens.

Louis Windmuller (1835-1913) was a civic leader and businessman who summered in Woodside until his death. He was born in Westphalia Germany and emigrated to the United States at the age of 18. He began working in the banking industry and chartered several banks that served New York’s growing German immigrant population. Windmuller also helped found the German-American Insurance Company in response to the devastating fire that destroyed Chicago in 1871. Later in life Windmuller devoted his energies to civic service, becoming active with the Reform Club, the New-York Historical Society, the Legal Aid Society, the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) was an Austrian Jewish journalist and playwright best known for role as founder of the political form of Zionism, a movement to establish an independent Jewish State. He was born in 1860 in Budapest, Hungary to Jakob and Jeanette Herzl, who were both wealthy German-speaking Jews. Though Herzl received his degree in law at the University of Vienna, he later focused on literature and was a successful journalist and playwright. He published a Zionist manifesto called “Der Judenstaat” in 1896. Subsequently, he put together the first Zionist Congress to take the steps to establish the Jewish State. He was the leader of the organization until his death at the age of forty-four in 1904. He was the only person mentioned by name in Israel’s Declaration of Independence and was known as the founder of the vision for the Jewish State. The Herzl’s monument was built a hundred years after his birth. It was designed by Joseph DiLorenzi and funded by the Kew Garden Zionist District. The Herzl monument is across the street from a Jewish high school and is regarded as a symbol of Jewish community strength.

Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) was a Swedish botanist known as the father of modern taxonomy. "Linnaeus Park," New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, accessed February 3, 2023, https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/linnaeus-park Tom Garlinghouse, "Who was Carl Linnaeus?" LiveScience.com, updated February 02, 2022, https://www.livescience.com/carl-linnaeus.html

Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. (1943-1993) was born in Richmond, Virginia, and began playing tennis at the age of 10. In 1966, he graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he won the United States Intercollegiate Singles Championship and led his team to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship. In 1968, Ashe made history by winning the men’s singles title at the U.S. Open. He was the first Black player selected for the United States Davis Cup team and remains the only Black man to have won singles titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. By 1975, Ashe was ranked as the number-one tennis player in the U.S. After a series of athletic triumphs, Ashe began to experience heart problems. He retired from tennis and underwent heart surgery in 1979 and again in 1983. During one of his hospital stays, Ashe likely received an HIV-tainted blood transfusion, which led to his contraction of AIDS. Despite his illness, he remained active in public life, participating in youth initiatives such as the National Junior Tennis League and the ABC Cities Tennis Program. Ashe also became a vocal critic of South African apartheid, which contributed to his being named the 1992 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. He passed away from pneumonia in New York at the age of 49.

The Persia Campbell Dome, August 2022. The dome houses a lecture space for the Queens College community.

Rory Staunton (1999-2012) was a young resident of Sunnyside Gardens and a student at the Garden School in Jackson Heights who was known for his civic responsibility, inspiring leadership and kind heart. A member of the Garden School's student council, he led the "Spread the Word to End the Word" campaign to discourage the use of the term “retarded.” Staunton tragically died of sepsis after a minor sports injury at the age of 12. Following his death, the Staunton family founded the End Sepsis organization to increase sepsis awareness and advocate for mandatory sepsis protocols in hospitals.

Rev. Dr. Samuel B. Joubert Sr. (1922-2013) was the pastor of the Community Baptist Church in Bayside for 47 years, beginning in the late 1960s. A longtime resident of Bayside, he spent his life in service to his faith and his community. He served as president of the Bayside and Vicinity Interfaith Interracial Improvement Council for several years, which offered programs for young people, and he instituted the NYC Needy Family Food Program, which evolved into a family clothing program. Joubert was also chaplain of the Bayside Volunteer Ambulance Corps, a clergy liaison for the 111th Police Precinct, and president of the Bayside branch of the NAACP. In recognition of his lifelong service, he received many awards from the NYC Board of Education, the 111th Police Precinct Community Council, the Queens Borough President, and other agencies and organizations. Samuel Berthal Joubert was born in Grand Prairie, Louisiana, to Edmond Joubert III, who managed the family farm, and Virigie Wickliffe Joubert, a schoolteacher. The fifth of their eight children to survive infancy, Joubert attended high school in Opelousas, Louisiana, and Peabody High School in Alexandria, Louisiana. At age 15, he was elected president of the state 4-H Club. Serving for three years, he gave speeches around the state, experiences that he considered the beginning of his career as a public speaker. In 1945, he moved to New York City, settling in Harlem. On September 11, 1948, he married Doris Joyce Lee Thorpe, and the couple raised five children together. Joubert worked for a period at Harlem Hospital. In 1954, he began preaching full-time as pastor of the New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Upper Manhattan. On June 10, 2023, a co-naming ceremony was held at Community Baptist Church in Bayside to rename the northeast corner of 46th Road and 206th Street in Joubert’s honor as Rev. Dr. Samuel B. Joubert Sr. Way. The corner is located directly in front of the church where Joubert served his community for nearly half a century.

Aurora Gareiss founded the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee in 1969. The organization's mission was -- and remains -- the conservation, preservation and restoration of the remaining undeveloped wetlands and wooded uplands in the Udalls Cove watershed. Udalls Cove is the eastern arm of Little Neck Bay, itself part of Long Island Sound. At the time, most of the area that is now preserved as Udalls Cove Park was mapped for residential development. As a result of the efforts of Gareiss and the organization she founded, almost all the undeveloped lands have been protected as part of the park.

Patricia Brackley (1940-1999) was an activist who focused her efforts on beautifying Rockaway. She was president of the Shore Garden Club of Belle Harbor and Neponsit and served as vice president of the Second District of the Garden Clubs of New York State. Born in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, Brackley graduated from Indiana’s Purdue University in 1961 and moved to New York to work as a schoolteacher. An expert florist in her own right, she became an accredited flower show judge and wrote a gardening column for her local newspaper, The Wave. Dedicated to the beautification of her Rockaway community, Brackley took it upon herself to renovate the neighborhood’s Cronston Triangle. With particular care, she designed plantings, seats and a sprinkler system for the park. Spending $10,000 from her own funds to make those designs become a reality, Brackley also helped beautify the nearby Beach Channel Drive median and worked with neighborhood storeowners along Beach 129 Street to plant trees and flowers in front of their establishments. After fighting cancer for several years, Brackley died in January 1999.

Daniel Carter Beard (1850-1941) was a prominent Progressive-era reformer, outdoor enthusiast, illustrator, and author, and is considered one of the founders of American Scouting. His series of articles for St. Nicholas Magazine formed the basis for The American Boy's Handy Book (1882), a manual of outdoor sports, activities, and games that he wrote and illustrated. In addition, he authored more than 20 other books on various aspects of scouting. His work with author and wildlife artist Ernest Thompson Seton became the basis of the Traditional Scouting movement and led to the founding of the Boy Scouts of America in 1910. Beard was born on June 21, 1850, in Cincinnati, Ohio. When he was 11, his family moved across the Ohio River to Covington, Kentucky. The fourth of six children, he was the son of Mary Caroline (Carter) Beard and James Henry Beard, a celebrated portrait artist. In 1869, Beard earned a degree in civil engineering from Worrall's Academy in Covington and then worked as an engineer and surveyor in the Cincinnati area. In 1874, Beard was hired by the Sanborn Map and Publishing Company, and his surveying work led him to travel extensively over the eastern half of the United States. His family joined him in moving to New York City in 1878, and they settled in Flushing. From 1880 to 1884, Beard studied at the Art Students League, where he befriended fellow student Ernest Thompson Seton. Beard’s time there inspired him to work in illustration. His drawings appeared in dozens of newspapers and magazines, such as Harper's Weekly and The New York Herald, and he illustrated a number of well-known books, including Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) and Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894). In 1894, he met and married Beatrice Alice Jackson, and together they had two children, Barbara and Daniel. His career led him into the magazine industry, and he became editor of the wildlife periodical Recreation in 1902. While at Recreation, he wrote a monthly column geared at youth, and in 1905, he founded the Sons of Daniel Boone to promote outdoor recreation for boys. By 1906, he had moved on to Women’s Home Companion and then to Pictorial Review three years later. In 1909, he founded Boy Pioneers of America, which merged together a year later with similar scouting groups, including Seton’s Woodcraft Indians, to become the Boy Scouts of America. In 1910, Beard founded Troop 1 in Flushing, one of the oldest continuously chartered Boy Scout Troops in the United States. Beard was one of the Boy Scouts’ first National Commissioners, holding the position for more than 30 years until his death. Affectionately known to millions of Boy Scouts as “Uncle Dan,” he served as editor of Boys’ Life, the organization’s monthly magazine, and he became an Eagle Scout at age 64. In 1922, he received the gold Eagle Scout badge for distinguished service, the only time the badge was awarded. Through his work with his sisters, Lina and Adelia Beard, who together wrote The American Girls Handy Book (1887), Beard also encouraged girls to take up scouting. He helped in the organization of Camp Fire Girls and served as president of Camp Fire Club of America. His autobiography, Hardly a Man Is Now Alive, was published in 1939, and Beard died at his home in Suffern, New York, on June 11, 1941. In 1965, his childhood home in Covington, Kentucky, became a National Historic Landmark. In 1942, Daniel Carter Beard Mall was named in his honor by local law. Located on an esplanade at Northern Boulevard between Main Street and Linden Place in Beard’s former neighborhood of Flushing, it is the western portion of what was formerly Flushing Park, now known as Flushing Greens. Other sites in Flushing named for Beard include Daniel Carter Beard Memorial Square and J.H.S. 189 Daniel Carter Beard.

Father John J. Gribbon (1925-2005) was a priest with the Church of St. Anastasia in Douglaston for 39 years. He also served as chaplain for the Little Neck-Douglaston Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

NYPD Captain Richard McHale (1877-1935) was a member of the New York 69th Volunteer Infantry, Company A and a veteran of the Spanish-American War. He was a recipient of the New York City Police Department’s Medal of Honor and the Commanding Officer of the 109th Precinct in Flushing, Queens. Captain McHale was shot and killed by one of his own officers, Patrolman Walter Miller. Miller had previously been suspended by Captain McHale for being drunk on duty and had just been given his gun back. As the captain signed the police blotter for night duty, Miller loaded his service revolver nearby. He followed Captain McHale into his office, reportedly saying, "Captain, you've caused me an awful lot of trouble!" before fatally shooting him in the chest. Another patrolman immediately shot and killed Miller. Captain McHale died before the ambulance arrived. On October 28, crowds of citizens, civic groups, and police officers attended Captain McHale's funeral services in Whitestone. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was born in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau attended Harvard University where he met Ralph Waldo Emerson, with whom he would have a complicated but impactful friendship. After graduating, he became a teacher but resigned after just two weeks. Following a brief stint helping at the family business, pencil-making, Thoreau started a small school with his brother that survived for three years before closing. Thoreau then began dedicating his life to writing, and submitted poetry to a magazine. This magazine was made by Emerson and others in the Transcendentalist movement, which celebrated individualism, emotionality over rationality, and intuition. In 1845, after little success and a return to his family's business, Thoreau moved to a piece of land on Walden Pond, on Emerson's land and built his own home. He largely lived off the land, spent his time in nature, and writing about his observations and thoughts. The latter made up the famous book "Walden" which is composed of a series of essays. Partway through his time at Walden, Thoreau refused to pay his poll taxes and spent the night in jail. Though his aunt paid it and got him out the next day, these events were impactful and led to his essay "Civil Disobedience" in which he wrote about resisting an unjust government that promoted imperialism and slavery. He continued writing about abolition until his death in 1862.

Lyndon B. Johnson was born on August 27, 1908 and grew up in rural Texas. Johnson served in the House of Representatives for six terms, from April 10, 1937 to January 3, 1949. He also served in the Senate from January 3, 1949 to January 3, 1961, becoming the youngest Minority Leader in Senate history in 1953, and then Majority Leader in the following year. As a Senator, one of Johnson’s greatest achievements was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first civil rights law in 82 years. He also pushed the United States on space exploration. In 1961, he resigned to serve as Vice President for John F. Kennedy. After John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, Johnson was sworn in on the same day, and became the 36th President of the United States. The next year he ran for President against Barry Goldwater and won with the widest popular margin in American history. In the wake of Kennedy’s assassination, Johnson resolved to finish what Kennedy was unable to complete. He pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through the Senate, and moved on to focusing on his goal to “build a great society, a place where the meaning of man’s life matches the marvels of man’s labor”. His agenda included aid to education, a war against poverty, and the removal of obstacles to the right to vote. Although Johnson managed to achieve much of his agenda, one of his greatest obstacles was the Vietnam War. Johnson’s goal was to end Communist aggression, and while he pledged in his campaign to limit military involvement in Vietnam, he instead increased the number of U.S. troops. Along with the controversy surrounding the war, controversy around Johnson’s domestic policy also grew, as his Great Society failed to materialize and racial tensions increased significantly, especially in 1968, following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Tensions escalated, as did the casualties, and Johnson declared he would not run for re-election in the election of 1968, resolving to focus on achieving peace through negotiations. When he left office, peace talks had begun, but he died suddenly of a heart attack at his Texas ranch on January 22, 1973.

Spotlighting LGBTQ+ activists and organizers honored in the borough of Queens with place names. 🌈🏳️‍🌈

Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was a marine biologist who worked for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries (later the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) while developing a career as a nature writer. She published her first book, Under the Sea-Wind, in 1941. After the success of her second book, The Sea Around Us, which won the National Book Award and the John Burroughs Medal in 1951, she resigned from government service to focus on her writing. Her third book, The Edge of the Sea, was published in 1957. Carson is best remembered for her groundbreaking 1962 book Silent Spring, which examined the detrimental effects of the insecticide DDT on wildlife. Despite opposition from the chemical industry, an investigation was ordered by President John F. Kennedy (1917-1962), and in 1963 Carson testified before Congress. She died of breast cancer the following year. DDT was banned with the passage of the federal Clean Water Act in 1972. A 1978 renovation to make this playground accessible led to the alternate name of Playground for All Children. A 1999 renovation included the addition of a flagpole with a yardarm and depictions of sea creatures and the titles of Carson's three books preceding Silent Spring. The adjacent Silent Springs playground is a tribute to her most influential work.

Cornelius Van Wyck (1702-1769) was part of a third generation Dutch family who played an active part in the early settling of Central Queens. He was the eldest son of Johannes Van Wyck, whose father had emigrated from Holland in 1660. In 1735, Cornelius built a home on what was then the Van Wyck family’s 125-acre farm. Today, it is one of the last remaining eighteenth-century buildings in Queens and is considered among the best examples of the period’s Dutch Colonial-style architecture. Located on the shore of Little Neck Bay in Douglaston, the Cornelius Van Wyck House was designated a historic site by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1966. Van Wyck married Mary Hicks, and together the couple had three sons — Stephen, Cornelius II, and Gilbert. Stephen and Cornelius II were delegates for Queens County to the Continental Congress. Their third son, Gilbert, remained a loyalist during the American Revolution. Their wood frame home was originally a three-room structure. Between 1735 and 1770, the home was expanded several times. The residence passed down to Van Wyck’s son, Stephen, and the family later sold the house to Wynant Van Zandt in 1819. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. \*Cornelius Van Wyck is likely Cornelius Johannes Van Wyck. Historical records also indicate the possibility of his death being in 1759 (see citations below).

Thanks to his granddaughter, Susan Latham, we can tell a fuller story about William Latham, whose name graces a pocket park in Elmhurst.

Thomas Rainey (1824-1910) a resident of Ravenswood, Queens, was one of the main contributors to the bridge across the East River between Manhattan and Long Island City. Rainey spent 25 years and much of his fortune on this bridge. The project was initially highly favored by the community, but it lost momentum in the financial Panic of 1873. Due to this, the burden of organizing and refinancing the company fell on him, first as treasurer in 1874, then as president in 1877. However, the project once again lost steam in 1892 . After the consolidation of New York City in 1898, the project gained new momentum and the bridge was finally built at Queens Plaza, a few blocks south of the proposed location. On opening day in 1909, Rainey realized his dream as he crossed the new bridge with Governor Charles Evans Hughes. The new bridge entitled the "The Queensboro Bridge," fulfilled its promise by tying the Borough of Queens into Greater New York. For his efforts, Rainey received a gold medal inscribed “The Father of the Bridge.” In 1904, the City of New York acquired several acres of waterfront property. The concrete “sea wall,” built where the park meets the East River, was completed in 1912, by which time Rainey had passed away. To honor his public spirit, the city named the property Rainey Park.

William H. Pease, Jr. (1921-2004) was a professor, a former engineer, and an advocate of the study of African American history. He served in the United States Army Air Corps as a weather observer during WWII and was stationed for a period in Tuskegee, Alabama as part of the Tuskegee Airmen. He won accolades as the Tuskegee Airmen welterweight champion in 1945. Born in Harlem, Pease graduated from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn and Fordham University, and he and his wife, Louise, raised their daughter, Denise, in Corona. He went on to work as a senior instructor at RCA Institute, a microwave engineer at Tung-Sol Electronics, and for more than two decades, as an educator at Suffolk County Community College, where he was a professor of electrical engineering and assistant dean of instruction. He was the first full-time African American administrator at the college, and the first African American president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Pease gave back to his community in many ways, including sponsoring a scholarship awarded through the Central Brooklyn Martin Luther King Commission to student winners of essay and art contests. In the 1970s, Pease also served on the board of the Langston Hughes Branch of the Queens Public Library. Through his career, he received awards from the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, the New York University Weekend Tutorial Project, the Professional Achievement Award of the Brownsville Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the Teacher of the Year Award from the New York University Outreach Program for Mathematics and Science, the Mary McLeod Bethune Award for the motivation of black youth, and a proclamation from the Suffolk County Executive for outstanding service and leadership. His daughter, Denise Pease, a longtime government leader, went on to serve under President Obama as Regional Administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration Northeast and Caribbean Region, as well as on President Biden’s Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans. In honor of his dedicated community service, the intersection of 104th Street and 35th Avenue in North Corona is co-named Professor William H. Pease, Jr. Way.

Exterior view of the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library and Cooperman Plaza on the Queens College campus.

Denis J. Butler (1927-2010) was a lifelong resident of Astoria who represented his district in the New York State Assembly for 24 years. He served on the Rules, Aging, Economic Development, Labor and Oversight, Analysis and Investigations Committees and on the Joint Budget Conference Committee’s Subcommittee on Higher Education, which helped to maintain and increase funding for higher education. As Chair of the Assembly Subcommittee on the Special Problems of the Aging, he was responsible for the MTA putting the rough paint on the edge of the subway platform to alert the visually impaired that the platform was ending. Assemblyman Butler volunteered with the Lighthouse for the Blind for 20 years. He also served as president of the St. Joseph’s Home School Association, and was a member of the Holy Name Society Parish Council. In 1988, he received the Brooklyn Diocese’s Pro Vita Award, presented by Bishop Francis J. Mugavero in recognition of his efforts on behalf of the unborn and in support of life. In 1992, he received the New York State Catholic Conference Public Policy Award, presented by John Cardinal O’Connor and the Bishops of New York State for his work in support of the Maternity and Early Childhood Foundation. In 2009, he was made a knight of the Papal Order of Saint Gregory the Great in Brooklyn’s St. James Cathedral Basilica by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzo.

Stanislaw Kozikowski (1895-1967) fought in the United States Army during WWII and was awarded the Army’s Distinguished Service Cross. The citation read: “The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Stanislaw Kozikowski, Private, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Binarville, France, October 2–7, 1918. During the time when his company was isolated in the Argonne Forest and cut off from communication with friendly troops, Private Kozikowski, together with another soldier, volunteered to carry a message through the German lines, although he was aware that several unsuccessful attempts had been previously made by patrols and members of which were either killed, wounded or driven back. By his courage and determination, he succeeded in delivering the message and brought relief to his battalion.” After his discharge from the Army, he continued to serve his country working a job at the Brooklyn Navy Yard for over 30 years, mostly in Shop 31, which is today the home of New Lab.

Program booklet for the dedication of the Chaney-Goodman-Schwerner Clock Tower in 1989.

Patrolman John J. Madden, Sr. (1923-1968) was a 19-year veteran of the NYPD. He was assigned to the 104th Precinct when, on September 11, 1968, he was pursuing several suspects on foot on Stockholm Street in Brooklyn. When he complained of chest pains, Madden was taken to Wycoff Heights Hospital in Queens, where he died from a heart attack. Prior to the NYPD, Madden had served in World War II in the United States Navy Reserve. He was survived by his wife and three children. In 2023 City Councilmember Robert F. Holden proposed co-naming 70th Street, where Madden had lived, in his honor. A dedication ceremony was held on June 1, 2024. \*also known as Patrolman John Madden, Sr.

General George J. Lawrence, Sr. (1881-1949) was an athlete, soldier, doctor, and civic leader whose extraordinary military service and 40-year medical career made him a leader in the Flushing community. Along with his father and a son, he was a part of three generations of doctors from the same family who all practiced at Flushing Hospital. Born on June 25, 1881, to Mary Margaret (Fuller) Lawrence and Dr. Enoch Pink Lawrence, he grew up in Flushing. He attended St. Francis College in Brooklyn, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in 1902. He then attended the University of Pennsylvania where he excelled as an athlete, serving as captain of the basketball team and a star quarterback on the football team. In 1907, he graduated with a medical degree, and the same year, he married Olivia Josephine Blaber. The couple settled in Flushing, and together they had 10 children. Lawrence spent his medical career working at Flushing Hospital where he headed the obstetrics and gynecology departments. He served as the first president of the Queens Surgical Society and as president of the board at Flushing Hospital. For a period, he worked with his son, George J. Lawrence, Jr., who was himself an attending ob-gyn physician of Flushing Hospital from 1940 to 1974. In addition to his medical career, Lawrence served for many years in the military, beginning in 1908 when he joined the Flushing National Guard. By 1911, he was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant in the 12th Regiment Medical Corps. He received two silver stars for his valor in combat in World War I, having been stationed in France as part of the 69th Infantry Regiment, also known as the “Fighting 69th.” At the end of the war, he earned the title of Lieutenant Colonel, and by the end of World War II, he had received the highest promotion to General. He continued to serve veterans as a State Commander of the American Legion and as First Commander of the Leonard Legion Post in Flushing, and he also served as a vice president of the Flushing Savings Bank. Lawrence died on November 9, 1949, at his home in Flushing. The Brooklyn Eagle noted that approximately 2,000 people attended a requiem mass in his honor at St. Andrew Avellino Roman Catholic Church. A local law named the park in his honor in 1950. Lawrence Triangle is located in Flushing at the intersection of Parsons Boulevard and 147th Street, between Elm Avenue and 45th Avenue. It is across the street from Flushing Hospital and a short walk from the home where Lawrence lived at the time of his death.

James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael (Mickey) Schwerner were three civil rights workers who were murdered in Mississippi in June 1964, where they were volunteering for the Freedom Summer Project. At the time of their deaths, Goodman was a student at Queens College and Schwerner’s brother, Steve Schwerner, was the director of the college’s counseling program. The three men were primarily involved in registering Black voters, but on the day of their disappearance were investigating the burning of a Black church that had been used for voter registration. They were abducted near the town of Philadelphia, Mississippi, and the case was initially treated as a missing persons investigation. After two months, their bodies were discovered; members of the KKK as well as local law enforcement were charged with the killings, but only seven of 18 defendants were convicted, on lesser charges of conspiracy. However, the case was reopened in 2004 after new evidence came to light and one defendant, Edgar Ray Killen, was convicted of three counts of manslaughter. He died in prison in 2018 at the age of 92. The Chaney-Goodman-Schwerner Clock Tower sits atop the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library on the campus of Queens College. It was dedicated to the three men in 1989, shortly after the library's construction. A campaign to furnish the tower with a real bell carillon, rather than electronic chimes, was spearheaded by Queens College music professor David S. Walker, and a five-bell peal was commissioned and cast at the Royal Eijsbouts Bell Foundry in the Netherlands. The carillon was dedicated in November 1990.

The Carnegie Reading Room at Elmhurst Library is named after businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835 – 1919). The name honors the original Elmhurst Library building, which was a “Carnegie Library”, built with money donated by Carnegie. Over 2,500 Carnegie libraries were built across the world, between 1883 and 1929. In 1907, funds totaling $240,000 donated by Andrew Carnegie were used for the construction of seven new libraries in Queens, including the old Elmhurst Library. The one-story structure served the community for 110 years, but more space was needed, and in 2011 the building was demolished. The new four-story library opened in 2016. The only artifact saved was the edifice of the old fireplace, which is now in the 3rd floor room of the children's section. Four Carnegie Library buildings (Astoria, Poppenhusen, Richmond Hill, and Woodhaven) are still in use in Queens at this time.

Héctor Figueroa (1962-2019) was president of 32BJ SEIU, a New York local of the Service Employees International Union representing more than 170,000 building cleaners, security guards, doormen and airport workers. Mr. Figueroa was also a leader in the Fight for 15, the grass-roots effort by fast-food workers in New York that grew into a nationwide campaign for a higher minimum wage. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Héctor J. Figueroa understood the importance of hope. As the visionary president of Service Employees International Union 32BJ from 2012 until his death in 2019, he empowered workers who toil in grueling service jobs – from fast-food workers to office cleaners – to demand respect, a living wage and better working conditions. Hector used his position as a union leader to fight not just for his members, but for all low-wage workers. He was ready to organize wherever working people were hurting. He had a profound sense of how all of us are connected and depend on one another, and he had a style of leadership that empowered those he led. Héctor inspired a whole generation of young leaders in the immigrant justice movement to come out of the shadows and take a stand. He fought to make sure immigrant families could drive safely in New York, Connecticut, Washington, D.C. and Maryland. He helped win the passage of TRUST acts up and down the east coast so undocumented immigrants need not fear local police.