Northport Nostalgia: Jelly Beans

The Sum of the Parts

To fully understand the impact of the "Northport Connection," in November of 2011, I went to Palm Coast, FL with our "Antique Roadshow Band" rhythm guitarist and fellow alumnus, Diana Lund to visit with old Northporter, Frank Fonte who now lives there.  We gathered pieces of the historic puzzle and this now, eighty-eight year old man spoke of names and places from our beloved hometown with remarkable ease of recall. To appreciate the significance of Frank Fonte's involvement in our past, we will revisit Northport of 1948 the year President Truman dedicated Idlewild Airport and Glidden first introduced  latex paint.

The Exodus to the Island
Just after World War II, Long Island became a bee hive of development and Northport was no exception. The Lund family had moved into a new home on
Horseshoe Drive near Ocean Avenue School and it was there that life would unfold
for Diana and her two sisters, Karen and Judy. At age five, Diana watched as Walt Sandberg and Frank Fonte worked to hand mix concrete for a new home in their neighborhood.  She asked "what are you mixing", to which the workers replied "jelly beans," a humorous response in proximity to Easter which was coming up. The event may seem innocuous enough, but for Diana it was permanently
"cast in stone," literally and figuratively. As she matured, she realized that you cannot pour concrete with jelly beans but for the next half-century and then some, she would carry that precious little freeze-frame of life through construction projects in Miami and Orlando Florida, remembering those two smiling guys in their twenties who helped create her Nothport environment.

The Connection

The story of "jelly beans" came full circle when Diana's little sister, Judy
inadvertently connected with Frank since they live in the same town, one of those abstract long-shots.  She in turn connected me with Frank who invited us into his home, rolling out "old school" stories and showing us memorabilia from a place we all once called home.  What we saw was an old Northporter  who just keeps on ticking, an image of the energizer bunny, raised on "Northport Water." In a surprise twist, we learned that he was the designer of the Lund family home floor plan in that quiet little subdivision, a place that served as a springboard for the rest of their lives. 

Parallels

Although Frank Fonte is many years our senior, the folks he knew as a young man, were the same ones we knew as young children. It was an interesting study of viewpoint, but the "family of Northport" is an undeniable feeling. He mentioned a
chance meeting in a Palm Coast barber shop with the now late "Frankie" Royce who served for many years on the Northport Police Department. Mr. Fonte's partner and boss of so long ago, Mr. Frank Albino, the general contractor for the Lund family home, was also my parents landlord for a few years, back in the
day. My childhood friend's dad, Stanley Kitchel was the building inspector who
approved Mr. Albino's work. Percy Ervin was a name that EVERYBODY KNEW! The
family circle is forever. There were no conversational gaps, the afternoon passed before we knew it.

Here We Are, Nearly at the Station

It seemed like an eternity riding the train of life over mountains, across the rivers, levees and plains to get to where we are now. It isn't until you talk to a guy like Frank Fonte that you realize how quickly you are becoming part of the hometown tapestry and that one day, they'll be talking about you!. The familiar loud conductor echoes of the past, "Huntington-Greenlawn-Northport" become bittersweet reminders that we have already driven this train and the throttle has now been handed over to a new generation. It's not a bad thing....it's just the way it is. The cycle of life is like the Tilt-a-Whirl at the fireman's fair. You only get so many revolutions and when the ride is over, it's time to get off. I've enjoyed the
ride so much, that when it comes to rest, I hope I have at least one more quarter just to stay on a bit longer. Frank is a man with a pocket full of quarters. Thanks, Mr. Fonte for allowing us into your life for an afternoon. What we came for was information to help write a blog, what we got was fellowship and perspective.