BULLETIN TEMPLATE (Nov 14, 2018)

Paul ran this day's meeting and announced the 2019-20 RI theme (beginning in July): "Rotary Connects the World". He also introduced and welcomed our visiting speaker, Chris Ryon, the Port Jefferson Village (Municipal) Historian, and the Director of the Port Jefferson Conservancy, which is responsible for the Village Center and all of its activities. Chris' audio-visual presentation centered on the current main exhibition at the Village Center: Grumman's History on LI. However, Chris began with the history of the Village Center, a part of Port Jeff's shipbuilding history, via statistics that show that the last spike in this activity was during World War I, when the government began buying up shipyards, including those in Port Jeff, in order to produce steel ships for the war effort. He showed photos of oceangoing tankers and oilers built at the Bayles Shipyard. The building that now houses the Village Center was originally used for shipbuilding during this era. When WWI ended, Port Jeff's shipbuilding industry waned, and this was one of the buildings that fell into disuse. In more recent years, when this rusted building was surrounded by oil tanks, and the latter were purchased and torn down, villagers had to decide what to do with this prime harbor property and, especially, with the eyesore that this building was at the time. Mayor Jeanne Garant headed the fight to preserve the building and transform it into a village recreation center, surrounded by a public park. Later, village officials and resident activists eventually helped see her idea come to fruition. The Conservancy is now in charge of the Village Center, and among other activities, it produces 2 major public exhibits per year in January and September. (The ice rink/skating facility and summertime Mustang show are among the most popular activities available to the public for free at the Village Center.) Chris next showed photos of his office on the Center's 2nd floor, and proudly pointed out the huge scanners and printers in the office that are capable of reproducing/duplicating anything of any size for public display. The Center invites folks to share photos of all aspects of village life, including their businesses and homes, will scan them, return the originals to their owners, and, with the owners' permission, will add them to the Center's archives. These archives often provide material for exhibits at the Center. And so, in visiting a few photos having to do with Grumman, and discussing with colleagues the importance of Grumman to LI, the Conservancy decided to create a Grumman exhibit. It quickly learned that a huge number of locals have or know of Grumman connections. For much of the Cold war era, Grumman was the largest corporate employer on LI, with facilities originally in Valley Stream, then in Farmingdale, and then Bethpage, with testing and product final assembly taking place at the Naval Weapons Station in Calverton. (At its peak in the 1980's, Grumman employed well over 20,000 people on LI.) After announcing a coming Grumman Tribute, people began dropping by the Village Center office in increasing numbers, bringing in their Grumman souvenirs- stickers, posters, photos, etc. Chris had to lease a box truck to pick up more Grumman artifacts from a huge collection protected by a few dedicated former employees at the Grumman History Center. Chris showed us photos and a live example of some of the items he obtained for the Port Jeff exhibit- such as a model of an F14 Wildcat Navy Fighter. He spoke of the X29 with backwards wings that needed to be controlled by a computer, and showed photos of models like the A2C Hawkeye currently on exhibit at the Village Center. The Conservancy funds the exhibit and includes separate areas showing WWII photos, Korean War photos, the LEM (Apollo Lunar Module), and a separate test pilot exhibit showing many a familiar face (ie., Bruce Tuttle, Amy's father). A model of an X29 is on display above the Center's entrance. Chris showed photo examples of amphibious planes made by Grumman, of women pilots who ferried planes to air fields around the country, and of the torpedo bomber Avenger like the one famously flown by George H.W.Bush. Grumman lost its Navy contract in 1994. Only around 300 Grumman employees remain on LI. Chris invited all to visit the Village Center's exhibit (it's free!) through the end of February to enjoy all the above-mentioned photos (especially those with familiar faces such as former Mayor Hal Sheprow, who worked on the F14 project), art work, and original airplane models, too. There is even an A6 on display in the Danford's parking lot. The exhibit, primarily on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Village Center, opened last week with a forum and reception that drew more than 350 guests. Chris also suggests that folks interested in more information about Grumman on LI contact Belle Terre's historian, John Hiz, an expert on this topic.