BY JUDY RATTNER
Describing Bossart as a lifelong community and service-oriented "trailblazer,"during her greeting to the group of well over 100, Dr. Cyd Charrow, Director of Senior Services, said, "We welcome you, congratulate you and now we want to hear from you."
In her remarks, Bossart said she hasn't really given much thought to the fact that she's the first woman mayor of the village, saying she's found the residents to be open-minded, and that very few have even mentioned her gender. "You are what you are," she said, pointing out that her qualifications, interest and abilities had more to do with her election as mayor. She said she was just one in a long line of women who have made a difference in Rockville Centre, mentioning former trustees Chris Amato and Catherine Pucciarelli, and also Martha Smith of the Fortnightly Club who led a group of women in establishing the village's public library well over 100 years ago.
Bossart also said she wouldn't have gotten to where she is without support. She pointed to members of her family who had joined her, along with Deputy Mayor Chuck Joyce and Village Clerk Carol Kramer, at the luncheon - her husband, Robert, her mother, Veronica Whalen, sister Madelaine Willi and and her 11 year-old niece Caroline Willi, who is in the fifth grade at St. Agnes Cathedral Elementary School. She also mentioned her own children, two sons, 29 and 20, and two daughters who are 26 and 23.
But Bossart made the point that not only do you have to appreciate the people who help you, but you have to be "equipped and positioned" to be successful. Education is key to this, she said, along with using your time to grow as a person and developing skills and values.
In accepting the plaque that the President of the Senior Club, Herb Fox, presented to her, Bossart remarked that unlike her predecessor, former Mayor Gene Murray, who had many items on his office walls, hers were still bare. "This will be the first thing that goes up on the wall," she said.
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