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Testimonial Dinner
In Honor Of
MRS. MYRTLE M. FINGAR
Commemorating Thirty Years
of Loyal Service as Postmaster of
Coram, N. Y. 11727
1937 — 1967
Thursday, July 13, 1967 - 7:00 P.M.
THE WAGON WHEEL RESTAURANT Route 112
Port Jefferson Station, N. Y.
Honoring
MYRTLE M. FINGAR
Postmaster
Thirty Years
Thirty years of friendly and cheerful
service to the people of
Coram, New York
The Committee
Howard “Mike” Scherer, Chairman
Virginia BaylesAstyig Bertsch
Lucille Marinuzzi Charles D. Roselius
The Committee extends sincere thanks and appreciation to all who came to help honor “Myrt” who has served the Community so well for so many years.
Memories
MOM - - - This is your life - By Lois
It is not easy to write just about Mom because everything in my happy childhood included Dad, Don and Doris. At this point I must mention Don’s title for the family---Mr. and Mrs. Fingar and their three charming children, Sugar, Stinken, and Slob. I guess you can all figure out which one was Sugar.
It’s very hard to give you much history about Mom because she was an only child and I have to rely completely on memory for bits of information I’ve gathered over the years.
Mom was born at the turn of the century in Ohio to Mary and George Moore. She never knew her father because he died shortly after she was born.
When Mom was two years old Grandma married James T. Petty, affectionately known as “Jamie”, and the family moved East to Paterson, N. J. Soon after they bought a farm in Red Hook, N. Y., but they had an apartment in New York City. Mom and Jamie spent much of their time in the city where she went to school and Jamie was Sunday editor for the NEW YORK HERALD.
Their weekends and summers were spent in Red Hook where she became friendly with the Fingar Family who owned a neighboring farm.
On February 10, 1922, Mom married Dad, her childhood sweetheart, and they started married life in Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
Mom and Jamie were very close and his death in 1923 came just before Don was born on June 6. Mom was very disappointed that Jamie didn’t live to see his first grandchild.
On April 19, 1925, Doris was born and the family moved to New York City. I was born September 28, 1927 and now our family was complete.
Although we lived in the city, many happy days were spent picnicking on Long Island. It was a long trip out to Montauk Point in our Model A Ford and it was even longer coming back, sunburned in our sandy bathing suits.
We always met the Heisser Family from Farmingdale somewhere on Jericho Turnpike for these excursions. On a Sunday in August, 1934, our meeting place was Coram. We stopped at the little gas station owned and operated by Jake’s father, “Pop” Baczensky. Naturally Doris and I had to visit the ladies room so Mom and Dad had a chance to chat with “Pop’. He told them the place was for rent and they immediately began thinking how nice it would be to live in the country again. Our friends came along and that was that!
Mom and Dad were sold on the place and on the way home we stopped and looked again. Our bathing suits were hardly dry in time to pack and make our move to Coram.
Dad continued working nights in New York, and Mom found herself pumping gas with a hand pump, waiting on customers in the store, and taking care of the three of us.
On July 13, 1937, Mom was appointed Postmaster. At that time it was not really difficult to sort a handful of mail and sell a few stamps each day. As long as I can remember the whole family pitched in to help at Christmas when the mail really increased. We hand cancelled all mail until about ten years ago. We now have a hand operated canceling machine which is somewhat of an improvement.
Mom and Dad naturally became involved in community affairs. Mom was Clerk and Dad the Treasurer of the Coram School District for many years. Much later on, Mom served on the Board of Trustees for the Coram Library.
We kids grew up, got married, and started raising our families. Finally in 1950, Mom and Dad tossed caution to the wind and took their first real vacation. They went to Florida for two weeks. It was the first time Don, Bob and I were entrusted to hold down the fort. Mom telephoned every night in case something came up in the Post Office that I couldn’t handle. Nothing ever went wrong, but she continued to call every night and this went on for six Florida vacations.
The saddest part of our lives occurred in 1956, when on May 16 Dad suddenly passed away. Whatever would Mom do without Dad? They had been together night and day for so many, many years. We discussed different plans about where she would live and what she would do, but Mom quickly made her own decision. It was to remain right where she had spent the happiest years of her life and she had done just that.
The years passed quickly. Grandma Patty died in April, 1963, after spending eight years in a nursing home. Mom’s nine grandchildren grew up fast. She is very proud to have four of them in college and the other five are in high school.
Mom and her buddy, Carolyn Fox, have attended several Postmasters’ Conventions including Washington, D. C. , New York City, Denver, Cob., and Seattle, Wash. They even went to Hawaii and we kids were shocked to see them come home wearing muu muus.
Mom just bought a house on Oak Lane, Coram, and will be moving into it very soon. We’re trying to figure out how to clear a straight path for her to drive back and forth to her office. There’s no reason for us to worry- -really--as we know she’ll figure out a way to be on the job every day as she has for .the past thirty years.
I’ve worked in the Post Office with Mom for almost nineteen years and I’ve seen Coram grow rapidly. Within the last few years the number of postal patrons served has doubled. Needless to say, the responsibilities have tripled.
We’re very proud of Mom for the fine job she has done. She has raised a family she’s proud of, and she’s still doing a great job as Postmaster of Coram.
GRAM By Clara
I like you
Its hard to explain just why
So many different things
About you
To like
When I come into the Post Office
And you are busy
Youdon’t just say
Shoo
Scat
You say
Wait a minute Dear
I am busy
And when you are not busy
We have fun
When I am away
You send me funny letters
Half in French
And half not
I like you a lot
Because of that
And I send you funny letters back
I like you because
If I cut my finger
You don’t just say
Hold it over your head or
Soak it
Like other people do
You are nice
And put a band-aid on
It hurts you too
And if you cut your finger
My finger hurts
We know what its like
I know you really like me
And I really like you back
Its fun that way
So many different things
About you to like
Its hard to explain just why
I like you but I do.
POSTMASTERS OF CORAM
by Thomas R. Bayles
The First Post Office in Coram was opened in 1826 with Richard Smith as postmaster, followed in 1831 by the appointment of Seth B. Worth as postmaster.
Evidently some of the Coram people did not like this arrangement. Following is a petition the original of which I have turned over to the Coram Library, dated December 14, 1834, and addressed to the Postmaster General.
This petition was signed by a number of the old families of Coram, including Elisha Overton, Brewster Terry, Samuel Davis, Lester Davis, Oscar Swezey, John B. Overton, Samuel F. Norton and several others. Evidently it did not carry much weight with the Postmaster General, for according to the records, Richard
W.Smith was appointed postmaster in December 1834, and continued to hold the office until 1849, when Lewis R.. Overton was appointed. Richard W. Smith was again appointed in 1853, and it was not until 1856 that Lester Davis was appointed. James M. Oakley was appointed in 1861, and in 1864 Richard W. Smith, Jr. was appointed and held the office until 1870 when William H. Osborn became postmaster.
Emma L. Norton was appointed in January 1886, and held the office until 1915, when Thomas B. Smith was appointed. Emma L. Norton had it again from June 28, 1915 to November 1916, when Alvah F. Dake took over the office. On February 21, 1918, Joseph Rovagna was appointed and he and his wife held the office until Jacob Baczensky was appointed in 1928. Leo B. Burns was appointed in 1930 and held the office until the present incumbent, Mrs. Myrtle Fingar took over in 1937.
(From the June 20, 1957 PATCHOGUE ADVANCE)
Early neighboring Postmasters
SELDEN MIDDLE ISLAND (*)
Joel D. Overton (1852) Zachariah Hawkins,Jr (1798)
Charles W. F. Davis, Jr. (1856) Mordecaj Homan, Jr. (1803)
Samuel Dare (1861) Jehiel Woodruff (1810)
Albert R. Norton (1864) Benj. Hutchinson (1811)
Sarah R. French (1885) Benj. T. Hutchinson (1834)
Samuel Dare (1900) Edwin Brown (1850)
Jacob E. Hagamayer (1908) Winthrop Bailey (1851)
(*) First office opened and called Middletown, 1796,
Apollos Wetmore postmaster. Then called Brookhaven
and changed to Middle Island about 1820.
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