For the first time in 50 years, the Ragamuffin Parade Committee at its recent November meeting elected an all-female executive board headed by Arlene Keating, a past president and later executive secretary of the Bay Ridge Community Council.
Other officers include Vice President Laurie Windsor, current president of Community Education Council for District 20 public schools; Secretary Rose Gangi, a volunteer group administrator for Dachshund World Charities, and Treasurer Ilene Sacco, past president of the 68th Precinct Community Council and a former president of the BRCC.
However, according to the recent 50th anniversary journal, there are still some male members who serve on the committee. They include former Treasurers David Ryan and Joe Conly; Peter Killen, Kevin Peter Carroll, Ted General and Chuck Otey.
Other well-known female members are former President Colleen Golden and past Vice Presidents Marie Lane and Patricia Killen, as well as Shirley Behlen, Lynda O’Neill, Sandy Sacco, Leigh Brannan, former Secretary Barbara Slattery, Liz Amato, Tressa Kabbez, Joan Curran, Maria Rando, Donna Guarinello, Inna Trinidad and past Ragamuffin Presidents Gloria Melnick and Dilia Schack.
It is with profound sorrow that we note the recent death of former Brooklyn Borough President Sebastian Leone, more recently a New York State Supreme Court Justice. Back in the 1970s, Leone, who later became a long-time Bay Ridge resident, marched in the annual Children’s Ragamuffin Parade.
The prestigious Cathedral Club of Brooklyn, founded in 1900, held its annual memorial mass on November 19, in the Our Sacred Heart Chapel, on the sprawling grounds of the Visitation Monastery, 89th Street and Ridge Boulevard in Bay Ridge.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, who is at the helm of the Brooklyn Catholic Diocese which covers parishes throughout Brooklyn and Queens, and Spiritual Director of the Cathedral Club, conducted the service which was co-celebrated by Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello.
Among the attendees was a uniformed honor guard of the Knights and Ladies of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. Also delivering remarks at the service was Mark Cipolla, the president of the Brooklyn Cathedral Club. A communion breakfast followed at the Bay Ridge Manor.
Our best wishes for a blessed and Happy Thankgiving.
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