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Page 3 Vol. 33 No. 37
SEPTEMBER 10 - 16, 2026
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A first day of school she will never forget dust/smoke took the movie feel away.” The excitement of receiving For Bobbie Jo DiFabio, the her first teaching assignment first day of her teaching career quickly gave way to fear and u n c e r t a i n t y. “ I was supposed to was scared, and be a milestone felt like it was filled with excitewrong to be excitment, nerves and the promise of a ed to have a job new beginning. when things were Instead, it going so horribly became a day that wrong in NYC,” changed the counshe said. “I try — and shaped prayed for everythe educator she one responding would become. and victims in the On Sept. 11, buildings.” 2001, DiFabio, then Fo r D i F a b i o, 24, was waiting for who’s now 49, a call about a leave becoming a teachreplacement er was the culmiteaching position nation of years of in the Baldwin preparation. She school district. At studied history around 9 a.m., the and social scienccall came. But as es at Stony Brook she prepared to University, where begin her career, she also played BoBBIE Jo DIFABIo she was also flute in the uniw a t c h i n g t h e Baldwin High School versity band, events unfolding social studies teacher before earning a in New York City. master’s de g ree “When I first in reading educasaw the news, I thought a tion from Long Island Univermovie was being filmed,” DiFa- sity. bio recalled. “Seeing respondAfter years of coursework, ers with sirens blaring, rush- she was finally beginning the ing toward the danger, and the Continued on page 10
By AllYSoN FERRARI
aferrari@liherald.com
I
Sue Grieco/Herald
Stars, stripes and summer nights Members of a Baldwin musical group perform during the Oceanside Kiwanis Club and Friends of the Oceanside Library’s annual Independence Day barbecue Aug. 24. The event brought nearly 200 residents together for food, music and a celebration of community.
Still afloat after all these years By AllYSoN FERRARI aferrari@liherald.com
Ed Phalen’s first attempt at cardboard boat building and racing in Baldwin ended about as well as expected — it was an outright failure. The boat was too narrow, and it capsized almost as soon as Phalen climbed aboard the flimsily built vessel at Milburn Creek. He got back in and managed to paddle across the water before his creation began to sink, leaving a passing rowboat to tow him — and what remained of the boat — back to shore.
That might have been the end of cardboard boat racing in Baldwin. However, Phalen figured out how to build a better boat. Nearly three decades later, Baldwin and Freeport residents have kept the tradition alive. The annual cardboard boat race will return to Milburn Creek on Sept. 13, continuing the event created by Phalen, now 94, that has spanned three generations of his family and drawn hundreds to the waterfront. Phalen, then president of the Cross Island Motorcycle Club and a member of the FreeportContinued on page 10
Remembering
9/11
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t was the most beautiful Tuesday in September. The sky was blue and the temperature was perfect and life was good, until I got a call telling me to turn on my TV, and what I saw changed the U.S. forever.