A life full of Five Towns memories

Bert and Betty Kahn celebrate 61 years together

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Cedarhurst native Bert Kahn, 86 and his wife of 61 years, Betty, 82, are lifelong and longtime Five Towns residents, respectively, who have enjoyed living and contributing to their community.

Bert grew up in Cedarhurst and his family enjoyed living there due to its proximity to New York City, as his father commuted to work. His grandfather William Blumberg was the mayor of Cedarhurst in 1909.

It was a childhood filled with playing tennis in Lawrence and Atlantic Beach, swimming in the Rockaways, roller-skating and baseball. “In my childhood there was a lot of vacant space so I often played baseball and basketball, but today there are houses on every spot so kids can play on school grounds,” Bert said.

As a Boy Scout, Bert was exposed to the outdoors, which looked different than they do today. “The Lord’s Estate” was the name given to the area by Peninsula Boulevard. As marsh and woodlands, Bert used to camp out there on trips.

“There was no Peninsula Boulevard then and the Boy Scouts camped on the area where Peninsula Boulevard is now, which was called Woodmere Wood,” he said. A student at Number Five School in Cedarhurst, then junior high, Bert graduated Lawrence High School in 1942.

He remembers the elementary school principal, who looked like Abraham Lincoln and the 1938 hurricane that severely damaged Long Island’s South Shore, the year he graduated junior high.

“I clearly remember the hurricane in Cedarhurst in 1938, where all the trees came down in my area,” Bert said. “It was more severe than the hurricane we had just, so I’ve been reflecting on that.”

Betty began her life in Brooklyn and first attended P.S. 220, then when her family moved to Cedarhurst, she also went to Number Five School, but was four years behind Bert. “I remember ice skating in the pond at Cedarhurst Park, where I would spend time during cold winters,” Betty said.

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