Oceanville moves on after 20 years

We had employees who were with us from the beginning, and you get to know their lives and their families' lives.”

Susan Bevilacqua. Co-Owner Oceanville Mason Supply

It’s been a long and difficult journey for members of the Bevilacqua family, who owned Oceanville Mason Supply, on South Long Beach Road, for nearly 20 years. Even through tragedy, the family has endured, literally laying the groundwork for some of the best-known structures in Oceanside and Rockville Centre. Oceanville provided the bricks for the Madison Theatre and the first dormitory at Molloy College, and sand and salt for Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital.

Susan and Marty Bevilacqua, who are 61 and 63, respectively, sold the business to Kings Building Material late last year, and are now winding down their operation as Kings begins to move in.

Recent years have been full of challenges for the Bevilacquas. They lost their son, Mark, at age 20, in a motorcycle accident in June 2015. Mark worked for his parents, and hoped to one day run the company himself. His older brother, Matthew, 31, says that a lot of his favorite memories of his parents’ business, where he worked as well during his high school summers, centered on his brother’s plans for it.

“He had ideas like redesigning the website,” Matthew said. “I associate some really positive memories about him with his time at the brickyard.”

Today, Matthew, who works with his parents at Oceanville Properties, manages the site in Oceanside where Kings is a tenant.

Marty and Susan, who now live in Rockville Centre and New York City, respectively, divorced seven years ago, but have maintained a working relationship. Susan took on a large role in the male-dominated masonry industry after Marty was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2004.

“Thank God for Susan,” Marty said. “She took care of the business for me while I was out of commission. She was in there every day like a trouper. She was my backbone.”

The coronavirus pandemic did not slow the company down, and Susan kept busy. Business actually improved, she said, as families stayed at home and took on projects around the house.

Before the pandemic, Kings had inquired about moving onto the Oceanville property. When Marty worked as a contractor in Brooklyn from 1983 to 2003, Kings was one of his main suppliers of building materials.

According to Susan, Kings agreed to offer all of Oceanville’s employees an opportunity to join the company and continue working at the same building they have called home for years.

“That was our main concern, because we were more like a family than we were a business,” Susan said. “We had employees who were with us from the beginning, and you get to know their lives, their families’ lives, and their ups and downs.”

That family environment was evident at every employee’s birthday, when Susan baked a cake and everyone gathered for lunch and dessert.

Though this is the end of the latest chapter of their lives, Susan and Marty already have plans for the next one. Susan flew to Poland last Friday to help care for Ukrainian refugees, and Marty will continue to support Molloy College, and help stage an opera at the school’s Madison Theatre in the fall. And next winter he plans to continue building his locally famous snow sculptures in front of his home by Floyd B. Watson Elementary School, which includes the helmets of the two Super Bowl teams in February and children’s story characters like “Winnie the Pooh.”