Bob Transom

Since ground was broken for the green in 2000, the once vacant lot on Foxhurst Road has been transformed into Oceanside’s center for outdoor community events. For this, Oceansiders can thank Bob Transom, whose commitment to his town reaches well beyond that grassy meeting ground.
One day, Transom — the president of Oceanside Community Service and a Board of Education trustee — was driving with his wife, Betsy, past the lot where School 1 had been demolished years before, and Betsy had an idea: Why not turn the property into a community green? A long-time construction manager, Bob was willing to devote the time and labor to make her vision a reality. “I had the idea, and he made it happen,” Betsy said.
The couple, who had moved to Oceanside in 1989, founded Oceanside Education Foundation Schoolhouse Green, and Transom designed and planned the green. Today it features a gazebo, a 9/11 memorial garden, a brick-paved “memory lane,” a flag pole and light, and luxuriant grass and shade trees. Someday the Transoms would like to build a 19th century replica schoolhouse that would serve as Oceanside’s historical center.
School 5 Principal Steve Kriss recalled when he, Transom and another member of the foundation built the ranch-style wooden fence that borders the green. “Bob did the measurements, he dug holes, he loaded the fencing on a truck to get it over there,” Kriss said. “Amazing. Amazing.”
These days, when he’s not maintaining the green — sometimes he spends entire days there, just cleaning up — Transom can likely be found taking charge of some other community activity. In honor of his efforts, the Herald is proud to name him Person of the Year for 2007.
Transom is serving his fourth term on the Board of Education. It was his background in construction — and running marathons, of all things — that initially moved him to seek a seat on the board. Having completed more New York City, Boston and Long Island marathons than most runners will in a lifetime, Transom would jog around Oceanside, often with his youngest son, Craig, in a baby stroller, and stop by school buildings and inspect them.
In addition to serving as the board’s president, which demanded many hours of his time, Transom’s main contribution to the school district has been his many years as co-chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee. Maryanne Lehrer, the board’s senior member, said that Transom always takes care of the details of building contracts as well as the construction itself, from windows to boilers to the artificial-turf field at Oceanside High School.
“Because of Bob, our buildings really are in tip-top shape,” Lehrer said. She and others in the district estimate that Transom’s construction know-how has, over the years, saved taxpayers lots of money.
Transom’s involvement in the village includes coaching football for the Oceanside Stallions league and basketball for the Department of Community Activities. He also coordinates Boy Scout projects that focus on refurbishing and beautifying everything from street signs to gardens. And he can also be found flipping burgers at DOCA barbecues, and making pancakes at the Oceanside Kiwanis Club’s annual Super Bowl breakfast at St. Anthony’s Church.
A story that many people recall about Transom, one that captures his benevolent spirit, involves a child who missed the bus from Oceanside to Kamp Kiwanis in upstate Rome one summer. The Kiwanians raise funds each year to send a group of children, often from broken or dysfunctional homes, to the camp for a week. With his sons tagging along, Transom, then the club’s president, decided to make the 12-hour round trip just so the child could join the other campers.
“Bob put this kid in the car and drove up to Kamp Kiwanis, which is a half hour outside of Utica,” said Anthony Iovino, a fellow Kiwanian. “... And there was a heat wave while he was up there, so he went to a local Wal-Mart and bought every floor fan for the kids, all out of his own pocket.”
When Transom isn’t helping kids, he’s helping families who are struggling, through the donation-based Oceanside Community Service, which he has served as president for three years. Among the organization’s largest annual projects is the holiday food and toy drive, for which Transom and others fill baskets and boxes with donations from the community. Last week the OCS planned to make deliveries to 46 homes.
Throughout the year, Transom, along with former OCS president Al Cullinane, helps needy families in many ways, providing clothes, medicine and hospice care, and even covering the fees for the funeral of a loved one. “He’s just tireless,” Cullinane said. “You know, he’s a young guy, but I still don’t know how he can go on the way he does.”
Cullinane, Iovino and Kriss all mentioned how Transom seeks no recognition for his seemingly endless volunteer work. “You can’t keep a tab on all that he does, and a lot of it he does anonymously,” Iovino said.
Kriss recalled that when his students held a car wash at School 5, Transom ordered lunches for them — but no one knew where the food and drinks came from. “Bob is the most unassuming guy,” he said. “He’s absolutely under the radar. I don’t think people know what kind of time and resources he has committed to this community.”
Betsy calls her husband “very impartial” because he divides his time equally among his various causes. “And all the work he does never phases him, and he always has a kind word for others,” she said. “That’s why I think he has so much energy and time to do everything.”
Betsy is also quick to point out that, despite all of his community activities, his work in construction management and his co-ownership of a real estate agency in town, her husband still spends quality time with their three sons, Michael, 19, Christopher, 17, and Craig, 12.
Lehrer said that in every area of Transom’s life, no matter how big a problem someone has, it’s never too big for him to tackle — and invariably solve. “If ever there were a case for cloning a human being,” Lehrer said, “I would start with Bob Transom.”
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JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.