East Meadow celebrates Norma Gonsalves

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Norma Gonsalves has been dedicated to helping the East Meadow community for over 40 years. On Jan. 29 at the Chateau Briand in Carle Place, the community dedicated a night to her with a celebration of her past accomplishments.

Gonsalves, 82, a Republican who lives in East Meadow, was elected as the county’s presiding officer in November 2012, after her predecessor Peter Schmitt died suddenly of a heart attack that same year. Gonsalves served the 13th Legislative District starting in 1997 and, before that, was a civic leader in East Meadow.

Gonsalves is the founder and past president of the Council of East Meadow Community Organizations and is the project director for the Crime Watch and Civilian Patrol. She serves as a delegate to CEMCO from the Wentwood Oaks Civic Association and is an active East Meadow Chamber of Commerce member. She has served on the Kiwanis Club of East Meadow’s Board of Directors and served as a chairwoman to the East Meadow Bicentennial Committee.

“So many people came out from all walks of life and everybody had their own great stories to tell,” said Frank Camarano, the president of the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce. “Personally, I cannot thank her enough for all she has done for me.”

Camarano wrote in the Chamber’s newsletter that she has shown him that leading by example is the best way to accomplish great things and, if you put others first— in her case the whole community— then others will eventually start doing the same.

-Brian Stieglitz