Community Columns

Oysterponds News: Free tick kits at the elementary school

Hello everyone! It’s that time of year again! I’m sitting here (a little early — explanation follows) to write my mom’s column for Mother’s Day.

This is my 22nd year doing this, which somehow seems astonishing! Let me start out by wishing a Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there — especially mine, and thanks for sharing your day with my birthday! Enjoy your day!

The next wishes must go out to my May 8 “birthday twin” Doris Morgan. This year, it’s my honor to wish Doris many blessings on her 100th birthday. I’m writing a bit earlier than usual so I can share her address and we can all send her cards to celebrate the event. You can reach her at: Doris Morgan, 610 Harmony Drive, Apt. 111, New Oxford, PA 17350. Doris, please have a special day and wishes for many more.

I’d also love to wish a very happy Mother’s Day to a couple of very new North Fork mommies. Three of my fellow classmates had babies in the last month: Eric Sepenoski and his wife, Brenna; Denise and Dean Karavas; and Andrew and Jessica Dzenkowski.

Henry Montgomery Sepenoski was born March 14 at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. His proud grandparents are Katie and Peter Sepenoski of East Marion, Chris and Gary Montgomery and Marc and Bonnie Leveille. Henry also has living great-grandparents on both mom’s and dad’s side: Rene and Leona Leveille, Marcia Jubinville, Kae and Bill Lieblein and Patricia Sepenoski. Henry is the first of his generation for the Sepenoskis and the Liebleins. Eric and Brenna are loving being parents and can’t wait to spend the summer on the farm with Henry.

Denise and Dean Karavas welcomed baby Ava March 22. Her grandparents are Donna and Dave Angevine of Greenport and former Greenport residents Gloria and Thomas Karavas. Everyone is very excited about her arrival!

Another Oysterponds kid also became a father when Andrew Dzenkowski and his wife, Jessica, welcomed son Tyler Rocco Dzenkowski April 14 at 10:17 p.m. at Southampton Hospital. Grandparents Kim and Betsy Dzenkowski of East Marion and Rocco and Jackie Tinebra of Oceanview, Del., are thrilled with his arrival, as are great-grandfather Bill Wysocki of Orient and great-grandmother Alice Dzenkowski of East Marion. I, for one, can’t wait to meet all of these new babies this summer!

If you can handle a move away from all the new-baby happiness, here are some community events that may interest our Oysterponds residents.

The Oysterponds PTA invites you — and everyone you know  — to join them Tuesday, May 3, from 6 to 7 p.m. at Oysterponds School to listen to well-known tick-borne disease expert Jerry Simons, PA-C. Free tick kits will be distributed that contain all you need to be prepared for tick bites: pointy tweezers, magnifier, first-aid supplies and Tick ID card — all packaged in a kit you can hang on your backpack or put in your pocket.

Another exciting event is set for Friday, May 6, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. when an Artists and Carafes wine glass-painting fundraiser will be held at San Simeon by the Sound. No experience is necessary and instruction will be provided. The cost is $40 a head in advance and $45 at the door. Seating is limited, so it’s first come, first served. There will also be a 50/50 raffle and chinese auction. Call 631-477-2110 for tickets and information.

Oysterponds extends sympathy to the Latham family on the passing of matriarch Kathleen Latham at 96 years young. She was a fixture in Orient and will be greatly missed by all who knew her. Orient wraps their arms around her children, David, Priscilla, James and Zoë, and all her grand- and great-grandchildren, especially Orient’s own Tom, Emily, Sarah and Mary.

Gearing up for Mother’s Day, Orient Congregational Church will hold a plant and homemade bake sale Saturday, May 7, and Sunday, May 8. There will be beautiful hanging baskets and gorgeous container gardens, as well as gallon-size perennial plants and colorful annuals for the garden. Most of the plants are deer-resistant. It will take place rain or shine under the tents on church grounds, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to noon on Sunday.

Before I go, I want to wish my other “birthday twin,” Dr. Stuart Rachlin, a happy birthday on May 8.

See you in a couple of months, Oysterponds!