Bethpage-Tribune_2004-04-23

              Celebrating
40 Tears In
Bethpage
f VOL. 42 NO. 13 I '_
. SERVING BETHPAGE, ISLAND TREES, OLD BETHPAGE, PLAINVIEW, SEAFORD AND PLAINEDGE
" • r r * ' —— m • nun • , ;
April 23-29, 2004 FORTY CENTS
A Tribute For An
Extraordinary Man
Former students of Francis X.
Pendl at the Nassau County Fire
Academy have fond memories of
the way he'd toss sourball candy to
those who correctly answered his
questions.
He'd also take his students into
one of the academy training
buildings, light a fire and have them
sit and watch as it grew and spread
around them, until the heat finally
drove them out. His goal was to
teach them the ways of fire,
replacing fear with a knowledgeable
respect for its power.
Frank Pendl, a former Bethpage
fire chief and first deputy chief
instructor at the county fire
academy, trained thousands of
firefighters over his 40-year career
there, and worked with countless
others as an arson investigator and
inspector with the county fire
marshal's office.
He died April 1 in North Shore
University Hospital after a two-month
battle with cancer. He was 75.
"He could do anything - the man
was a genius when it came to
firefighting," said Walter Grochala, a
Washington, D.C., fire department
paramedic and former Pendl student
who returned home with five other
firefighting alumni to pay their
respects at a crowded funeral
Tuesday. "He knew how to get you
to do things you didn't think you
could do."
Born in Manhattan and raised in
the Bronx, Frank served briefly in
the Navy and married his high school
sweetheart, Mary Jane Thompson,
before moving out to "the country,"
as Bethpage seemed to the family
then, in 1953. He joined the fire
department a year later and rose
through the ranks, becoming an
assistant chief in 1962. In his later
years with the department, he
worked as a planning and fire
prevention officer and was known
for his fire safety work with children.
Frank passed on his two loves to
his 12 children, most of whom are
teachers or firefighters or both, said
his third son, Clifford, a Holbrook
Fire Department ex-captain and
(Continued in centerfold)
Northrop Grumman
& Bethpage Schools Kick Off
Unique Internship Program
Bethpage High School students join officials from Bethpage
School District and Northrop Grumman Corporation outside the
company's Bethpage facility for the kickoff of a new internship
program that will run through June.
Twelve students from Bethpage
High School with varying interests
are participating in a new internship
program at Northrop Grumman
Corporation's (NGC) Bethpage
facility. Since March, these students
have been working with NGC
professionals; some in the
Engineering Department, some in
the Information Technology
Department, and others in the
Business Department.
NGC hosted an orientation for
the students in March, where Vice
President for Engineering Bob Klein
welcomed the students, who were
accompanied by Principal John
DeTommaso and Superintendent of
Schools Harvey Hilburgh. The
orientation also gave students the
opportunity to tour the facility,
including NGC's Cyber Warfare
Integration Network Lab, a large
room with multiple computers and
large screens that is used to analyze
defense systems for the U.S. military
and conduct "war gaming."
Ten students who are
participating in the internship
program are enrolled in Bethpage
High School's Senior Seminar
course and two students are
enrolled in the school's Academy of
Technology. They are: Edward Rae -
Engineering, Danny Morello -
Business/Finance, Amanda Kalamar
- Engineering, Joe Bestreich -
Business/Accounting, John
Hochenberger - Engineering, Adam
Drobecker - Engineering, Will Kwok -
Business/Finance, Adam Stevko -
Legal Counsel, Edward Chester -
Engineering, Alex Scanlon -
Information Technology, John Van
Alst - Information Technology, and
Daniel Resch - Information
Technology.
The partnership between the
Bethpage School District and NGC
represents the latest initiative to
provide Bethpage students with
meaningful school-to-work
experiences with some of the most
Bethpage High School students participated in an
orientation for a new internship' program between Northrop
Grumman Corporation and Bethpage High School.