UPDATED 3/13/02 LYNBROOK,N.Y.My hometown on my homepage! A past and present look at Lynbrook Lynbrook, located in southwest Nassau County, on Long Island. By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer LYNBROOK, N.Y. (AP) - A man with a rifle walked into a Long Island church during morning Mass and opened fire Tuesday, killing the priest and a 73-year-old worshipper. The suspect was captured at a nearby apartment house after a daylong standoff with police. The 34-year-old suspect, whom police did not immediately identify, was captured after he attempted to stab an officer with a small knife, Inspector Pete Matuza said. Mayor Eugene Scarpato said he understood that the gunman was a former church employee who had been fired several months ago. Police and church officials would not immediately confirm that. The Rev. Lawrence Penzes, 50, known to his congregation at Our Lady of Peace Church as "Father Larry," was speaking to about 40 parishioners when he was shot in the back and fell near the altar, the mayor said. Eileen Tosner was shot in the face and found slumped in a pew, Scarpato said. Jean Maier was in the first pew when she "heard three cracks like a firecracker and I just threw myself on the floor." "I saw Father Larry go down. ... Then when I finally got up, the lady behind me was dead," she told the News12 cable TV station. Two parishioners, one of them an off-duty police officer, chased the gunman as he fled and wrestled the rifle away. But he escaped into the house about a block from the Roman Catholic church. A grade school next to the church with 400 students was locked down, and several blocks around the house where the man hid were cordoned off. Dr. Dana Monaco said the bullet that struck the priest likely went through his heart. "It's very likely he died on the altar," she said. Joanne Zizzo, a neighbor who attends Mass at the church, said Tosner was a beautiful person, and "we love that priest. I'm sick over it." The Rockville Centre Diocese, which encompasses Nassau and Suffolk counties, is home to 1.5 million Catholics. Penzes organized several sessions on dealing with stress in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, parishioner Joe Tunkel said. He said Penzes would travel several times a year to visit U.S. armed forces troops stationed around the world. Fresh out of the seminary, the Rev. Lawrence M. Penzes didn't take long to make a splash at St. Pius X in Plainview, where bake sales and raffles were the norm. He announced one day that he was sponsoring a family from Laos to come to the United States and move into the parish. The family consisted of a mother who had lived in a concentration camp and her three daughters. Penzes took them under his wing, and soon the parish did, too, teaching the mother everything from driving to cooking American-style. "He took care of them as if they were his family,� said Salvatore Spano, liturgical director at the parish. Tuesday morning, Penzes, who was known as "Father Larry,� was remembered by parishioners and friends as anything but atypical parish priest. A chaplain and a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve, Penzes, who was gunned down at Our Lady of Peace Roman Catholic Church as he delivered Mass, traveled the world to comfort troops. In 1990 and 1991, he served in the Middle East during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. "You wouldn't see him for a couple of weeks and he'd come back and say, �Yeah, I was in China or I was in the India or I was in the Middle East,'� said Jack Gordon, the longtime head usher at Our Lady of Peace. Many parishioners worried for Penzes' safety during the trips, and were relieved when he returned. To think that he lost his life in the sanctum of the church in Lynbrook after his dangerous work flying overseas was unfathomable to them. "He comes home and he says Mass in his home parish and this happens,� church volunteer Pat Palazzolo said yesterday by telephone as she was holed up inside church offices during a police lockdown. Penzes, 50, was born in Brooklyn on Jan. 9, 1952, grew up in Farmingdale and was ordained a priest in 1978. After St. Pius X, he was assigned to St. Frances de Chantal in Wantagh as an associate pastor in 1985. Nine years later he was named pastor of Our Lady of Peace. He took over a 2,400-family, one-priest parish that was $100,000 in debt, church officials said. Penzes balanced the books, put in stained glass windows, refurbished the altar and pews, and installed air conditioning. He seemed to have an uncanny knack for getting people to fill the collection basket without seeming pushy, Gordon said. Weekly collections jumped from about $5,000 when Gordon started as head usher two decades ago to $17,000 last week, he said. Since 1974 Penzes had served as an Air Force reservist, and in 1980 he became a member of the 514th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, which he often visited. "He was a very popular chaplain here. He was deployed with the troops on several occasions overseas, and people are just shocked,� said Maj. Christie Dragan, a spokeswoman for the 514th Air Mobility Wing. Penzes was decorated with awards including two Meritorious Service Medals, and in November received rave reviews for his invocation at the rededication of the New York City Vietnam Veterans Plaza, Dragan said. In 2000, he also helped organize reservists to attend a taping of "The David Letterman Show� which honored members of the military who were serving in Bosnia. Penzes regularly e-mailed a "Chaplain's Thought for the Day� to three-quarters of the 3,000 members of the 514th Wing. The last one she still has from Sunday, was a quote from Virginia Woolf: "If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.� Copyright � 2002, Newsday, Inc. this story appeared at newsday.com on March 12th 2002. Photos from "Long Island To-day" by Frederick Ruther, 1909 HOW LYNBROOK GOT ITS NAME By Arthur Mattson, Lynbrook Village Historian March 2, 1998 (Originally published March 11, 1986)Copyright protected Long Island railroad LYNBROOK STATION INFO Lynbrook UA movie listings I remember my whole 7th grade class at Our lady of Peace School taking up two entire rows across the then 1 movie showing of Jaws2. In the days before multiplexes. It now houses 6 screens. So if you want to know what's playing now....click the above link! HOTSKATES This is the place we used to hang out at every Friday night! Lynbrook High school before 1979 after 1979 If you are Class of 1982 Click on the After 1979 photo My freshman year of high school we were subjected to split sessions due to the renovating of the school. my day started @ 12:00pm and went to 5:00 pm. Was really nice not having to wake up early for school! But payback was a bitch in the winter! i had to walk home after sunset and boy was it a cold walk! Captain Kangaroo was the longest running network children's show ever - from 1955 until 1984, the good Captain could be seen on CBS. Hugh (Lumpy) Brannon played sidekick Mr. Green Jeans, joining Cosmo Allegretti's hand-puppets Mr. Moose and Bunny Rabbit in the Captain's Treasure House. A Saturday morning version of the show (with a different Treasure House set) ran from 1956 until 1968 (with a year off in 1964-65 when Bob Keeshan starred as 'Mr. Mayor'). Regular features on both 'Captain Kangaroo' shows included visits from zoo animals and a torrent of falling ping-pong balls brought on by Mr. Moose's whim. Before Keeshan was a captain he was a clown - the most famous clown of the 1950s in fact - Clarabell from the 'Howdy Doody Show' starring Buffalo Bob. 'Howdy Doody' first aired on December 27, 1947 and is credited for selling more people on the future of television than any other single event. Millions of children tuned in to the daily live kid's show, and Clarabell the clown was an important part of the ensemble - selling millions of Poll Parrot shoes, assorted toys, dolls and packaged cereals for their sponsors. Unfortunately, Buffalo Bob and Bob Keeshan didn't much care for each other. Keeshan was fired in 1950, and replaced by another performer - but a flood of phone calls and mail from sceptical kids forced the producers to re-hire him a few weeks later. Keeshan was fired again (along with almost all of the rest of the supporting cast of 'Howdy Doody'), when he led an uprising over more money in December, 1952. Bob Keeshan was 28 years old in 1955 when he and producer Jack Miller created 'Captain Kangaroo'. Television was a relatively new addition to most American homes - there had never been a generation of kids exposed to home-video entertainment before, so the series was designed to give kids a gentle alternative to the frenetic nature of most children's shows of the day (of which 'Howdy Doody' was one of the worst offender). Watching an episode of Captain Kangaroo show from 1961, one is struck by the achingly slow pace and overall gentle nature of the show. Why am i mentioning Captain kangaroo? well...... Bob Keeshan (Robert James Keeshan) TV actor, producer Born: 6/27/27 Birthplace: Lynbrook, Long Island, New York Prominent figure in the development of programming for children, Keeshan began his career by creating the character of Clarabel the Clown for the Howdy Doody Show (1947�52). He developed the format for and wrote the scripts for the Captain Kangaroo show (1958�85), winning over generations of children and their parents through innovative approaches to interesting topics. Greg Taylor Claims Save Percentage Title Seawolves' standout goalie records nation's best .671 mark Stony Brook, NY -- Greg Taylor (Sr., Lynbrook, NY/Lynbrook HS) became the first goalie in Stony Brook men's lacrosse history to win the NCAA Division I save percentage title, compiling a .671 save percentage during the 1998 season. A three-year starter for Stony Brook, Taylor finished with an 18-17 career record including a 16-9 mark over the last two seasons. His play during that span helped vault the Seawolves into the Top 25 for the first time in school history. The 1998 season saw Taylor turn in two 20-plus save performances, including a 25-save effort in an 18-8 win over Dartmouth. His outstanding play was rewarded as he was selected to play for the North squad in the annual North-South All-Star Game at Nazareth College on June 13, 1998. Taylor also ranked third in the nation in goals against average, yielding only 7.92 goals per game. Lynbrook even had a major league baseball player Joe Kelly Career Statistics: Batting Avg. = .335 Full Name: Joseph James Kelly Bats: Left Throws: Left Height: 6'0" Weight: 180 lbs. Born: in New York, NY Major League Debut: Apr 13, 1926 Died: Nov 24, 1967 in Lynbrook, NY Claims to Fame: French chef Henri Charpentier, the inventor of crepes suzettes, ran a nationally known restaurant in Lynbrook from 1915 to 1930. Henri's closed when the effects of Prohibition forced Charpentier into bankruptcy. Fruit store owner Jimmy Costas is said to have coined the remark, ``Yes, we have no bananas,'' which evolved into a popular pre-World War II song. Anti-Communist Whittaker Chambers grew up in Lynbrook. A Few pictures of Lynbrook that I took and scanned onto my computer, November 2000. "A LA CARTE" is one of many new buisnesses to pop up on Atlantic Avenue. Featuring a beautiful kitchenlike setting (you'd wish it was your own) classes are held in cooking. Here is a shot of the newly renovated downtown area on Atlantic Avenue. along with new businesses, some of the ol' staples have improved. Notice here the LYN GIFT SHOP, which by the way, the owner is also a Lynbrook High School Graduate. Sign across from Lynbrook High School "LACROSSE STATE CHAMPS 1999 and 2000" Lynbrook Public Library Looking at Lynbrook high School from the playground area of the kindergarten center The NE corner of Sunrise Hwy and Peninsula Blvd. Looking towards Valley Stream. NAVY R U SERIOUS DEFINITIONS REDEFINED JOKES ELO FUNNIES1 FUNNIES2 FUNNIES3 KIDS SAY SILLIEST STUFF LINKS LYNBROOK USA POETRY POKER GAME GRAFFITI SIGN GUESTBOOK VIEW GUESTBOOK