_________________ WANTAGH ________________
HERALD
IS IT TIME FOR A HEARING CHECK-UP?
Page 10 VOL. 74 NO. 30
JULY 23 - 29, 2026
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Where the tiles tell a story Longtime players and newcomers alike find connections with weekly mahjong there when you’re done playing mahjong, but while you’re playing, you’re laughing, you’re The steady clack of mahjong talking, you’re interacting.” Shumsey has been playing tiles echoed through the social hall at Congregation Beth Tik- the game since she was 13, vah on a recent Thursday after- when she learned from the noon as laughter bounced from mothers at her family’s beach table to table. The temple, on club, who taught their daughthe Wantagh side of the Want- ters while they played. agh-Seaford border, hosted “I went to school, I went to around 80 players — some long- college, I got married, I had time regulars, othchildren,” she ers learning the recalled. “But it was game for the first always there.” time — gathered not After retiring as just to compete, but a guidance counselto catch up with or 18 years ago, friends and make Shumsey began new ones. teaching mahjong, While mahjong and eventually has experienced a started a weekly nationwide resurprogram at her forg e n c e i n r e c e n t LINDA SHUMSEY mer synagogue. years, fueled in part Mahjong host at Beth When she joined by social media, col- Tikvah Beth Tikvah seven orful game sets and years ago, she a renewed interest brought the proin screen-free hobbies, the near- gram with her. ly century-old tradition has Today, 70 to 90 people fill the long had a home in Jewish com- synagogue each Thursday, munities. At Beth Tikvah, it depending on the weather. has become a weekly ritual cen- Shumsey also teaches beginner tered on connection. mahjong and canasta classes, “It’s cheaper than therapy,” and she says demand has only said Linda Shumsey, 75, of Bell- grown. more, drawing laughs from “I’ve had to add a lot more players nearby. “Seriously. Your beginner classes,” she said. problems are still going to be CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
By HUNTER FENOLLOL
hfenollol@liherald.com
Courtesy Christina Daly
A newly installed, government-issued headstone now marks the grave of Civil War veteran George W. Keep at Greenfield Cemetery in Uniondale. The marker was dedicated as part of an effort by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War to honor veterans whose graves had gone unmarked for generations.
Wantagh woman helps honor her Civil War ancestor 160 years later By HUNTER FENOLLOL hfenollol@liherald.com
For years, Catherine Ruzika’s mother talked about returning to Greenfield Cemetery, in Uniondale, to visit the family plot, where generations of relatives, including Civil War veteran George W. Keep, were buried. But after Ruzicka’s mother became ill and died in 2011, the visit never happened. Instead, Ruzika made the trip to the grave herself. What she found launched a yearslong journey into her family’s history and a mission to ensure that her great-greatgreat-grandfather would finally receive the recognition he had earned through military service over a century and a half ago. On Aug. 1, Keep will be among 21 veterans
honored in a dedication ceremony at Greenfield Cemetery after receiving a governmentissued headstone, thanks to the efforts of Moses A. Baldwin Camp No. 544 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, based in Hempstead. The group has spent years researching veterans buried without proper markers and working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to secure new headstones. For Ruzika, 71, a resident of Wantagh for nearly 40 years, the moment has been more than a decade in the making. “He is the reason I started doing the ancestry,” she said of Keep. After her mother’s death, Ruzika began digging into family records and genealogy, hoping to learn more about the relatives CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
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he’ll tell me mahjong saved her life and gave her a new chapter.