Greenport: Family Scrabble Festival to be held Jan. 15

The first column of the year and January is just about half over. More importantly, there are just 161 days left until the first day of summer.

The holidays and new year brought much sadness to our little village. Three people I was honored to know have left us. Joey Verity was one of the nicest guys I’ll ever know. Coming home for lunch or at the end of the school day I’d pass his house and Joe was always there, ready with a big wave and a smile for me. I’ll miss that. My sincerest sympathies to his wife, Eileen, his children Shannon, Matt and Brianne and their families. Joey, you will be missed.

Mary Moisa was one of the first neighbors we met when we moved into the Sound Road/Sunset Lane neighborhood. What a wonderful lady she was! My sympathies to her two daughters and their families.

Jack Campbell. The name alone speaks volumes. He touched so many lives in so many ways, as evidenced by the many tributes paid to him via Facebook this past week. He was someone I was proud to call a friend. To his wife, Dede, and his children, John, Brian, Lynn and Loretta, I offer my most heartfelt sympathies.

The Family Scrabble Festival will be held Sunday, Jan. 15, from 1 to 4 p.m. in the community room at Congregation Tifereth Israel in Greenport. All teen, preteen and adult Scrabble players are invited to compete for fun and prizes. Players can also challenge master Scrabble player John Williams, executive director of the National Scrabble Association, who has previously taken on up to six opponents at a time. The entrance fee is $8 per person; those under 12 play for free. There will be prizes and a 50/50 raffle. Light refreshments will be available. For more information, call 477-0232 or 477-0813.

Be sure to tune into MSG Varsity (Channel 14) this evening at 6:58 p.m., when the spotlight will shine on Greenport High School. The MSG crew spent almost an entire school day at GHS filming our students in action. After the broadcast, you can see the segment again at msgvarsity.com or on Channel 614.

The GHS DECA Club walked away with six trophies and two honorable mentions at last week’s regional competition at SCCC. Congratulations are most definitely in order for Cole Mezynieski, Kimberly Bracken, Nina Papamichael, Christian Angelson, Alexis Wachtel and Gavin Dibble, who received trophies, and for Megan Murray and Eddie Wright for their honorable mentions.

The National Honor Society, Greenport chapter, will welcome the following new members on Wednesday, Jan. 18: Kimberly Bracken, Daniel Bunchuck, Nicholas Connell, Megan Demarest, Timothy Gadomski, Shelby Kostal, Wilson Morales, Peter Peterson, Wendy Peterson, Claudia Sieverman, Courtney Weber, Alexander Whittle and Edward Wright. Sitting honor society members include Erin Creedon, Sean Charters, Payge Corazzini, Rafael Gonzalez, Victoria Gonzalez, Kerri Hands, Emily King, Nonia Lyburt, Mark Pagano, Sean Peterson, Alexa Suess, Jacob Thorp and Zoe Vayer.

Celebrating birthdays this week are Jamie Santora, Andrew Dzenkowski and Bob Chute on Jan 12; Marion Kruszeski on the 13th; Neil McDonald and my little buddy Ford Wilson (who will turn 1) on the 14th; Mark Berry on the 15th; Brian Quillin, Jacob Thorp, Faith Bullock and my cousin Tony Bondarchuk on the 16th; Jim Van Brunt on the 17th; and Hezekah Mangham on the 18th.