It's a family affair

Next weekend, all eight Daveys – along with many other families with deep roots in Merrick – will reunite to help celebrate Calhoun's 50th anniversary. The three-day event will feature sports, concerts and a dinner dance on April 25, with more than 300 people on the guest list. Eight alumni and faculty members will be honored as the inaugural inductees in the Calhoun High School Hall of Fame.
Doug Mills, owner of the Printing Emporium on Merrick Avenue and an active member of the Chamber of Commerce, said he, too, is one of six siblings that graduated from Calhoun. His oldest son, Greg, graduated last year, and his youngest, Matthew, will graduate in 2012.
“So the eighth Mills is now in Calhoun,” Doug said with a smile, reaching into a cabinet in his office and producing his 1982 yearbook. The yellow book, covered in illustrations of the ’80s cartoon “The Smurfs,” now serves as a business reference for him, Mills said, jolting his memory from time to time as former classmates call looking to become clients.
He owes his longtime commitment to Merrick in large part, he said, to his high school experience. A print shop teacher, Charles Langdone, noticed his penchant for printing and urged him to pursue the trade at BOCES. By his senior year, Mills said, he was spending two class periods each day working at the Printing Emporium, and in 1984 he bought the store from its original owner, Ralph Corso.
“My brother Frank had Charlie Langdone, the man who got me into printing, and he actually printed my birth announcements,” Mills said.

The Daveys were also inspired to make a lasting commitment to the community through Calhoun. Tim Davey, a 1969 graduate and a Hall of Fame honoree, was a founder of the Calhoun Alumni Association, was instrumental in planning the school’s 25th anniversary and has used his position as director of operations for the New York Jets to donate sports equipment to the school. He also visits and speaks at guidance programs.
Mary Esposito, formerly Mary Davey, said she is looking forward to seeing old friends, “and seeing my brother being honored – it's well deserved.”
Mills noted that the anniversary is intended to be more family-oriented than a class reunion. “For those families that are making it a family event to go, I think it's going to be very rewarding,” he said. He added that the sports events will give former athletes a chance – outside the dinner dance – to show their school spirit.
Esposito, a former high school athlete and member of LeaderCORE, a leadership program for girls involved in sports, said she was eager to see phys. ed. teachers Joan Salvia and Maryjane Sutay. “They're just great people,” she said. “They ran a great sports night program for all the girls.
“They were some of the best years of my life,” she added.
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