Last Saturday evening, February 4, 2023, the Rockaway Graybeards held their 21st Annual Dinner Dance at the Rockaway Hotel. The event saw over 250 Graybeards, honorees and guests gather for the evening’s festivities.
Acting as emcee for the evening, as is the organization’s tradition, was current Graybeard President Tommy Morgan. Tommy in his opening remarks recapped some of the great work the Graybeards have done in the past year, from helping out neighbors in their time of need, organizing food drives and fun runs, feeding hundreds at Thanksgiving, to building a wheelchair ramp, helping fire victims recover from their experiences, sending a young boy battling cancer for the second time to a Yankee Game with his family for a fond memory and repose from treatments and, of course, their laudable Soldiers to Disney initiative, that saw the 96th family of a wounded warrior sent to Disney for a well-deserved vacation; it was a very success filled year of 2022 for the organization.
Following his opening remarks Tommy presented the Don “DH” Hart Memorial Award to Mrs. Lynda Collins. Lynda, much like DH over the years, has donated hundreds of hours of her free time to many organizations throughout the Rockaway peninsula. Aside from her great work with LAOH Division 25 and The Knights of Columbus Columbiettes she has helped out the Graybeards, Knights of Columbus, AOH Division 21, St. Francis de Sales Parish and School, St. Rose of Lima Parish and School, St. Edmund’s Prep High School and many other charitable causes. Along with her family, husband Kenny, daughter Grace and son Thomas by her side and helping her out in any way she needed, Lynda has raised much needed money for all those organizations. In her acceptance speech Lynda thanked them all and had the following to say: “I want to thank the Hart family and the Graybeards for this honor. It’s very easy to step up and help out an organization like this, we’ve taught each other the importance of kindness, community and friendship, never forget where you came from”!
After Lynda’s speech Tommy presented the Tom Ryan Memorial Special Recognition Award to the DeMatteis family of Rockaway, which was quite fitting as the Ryan and DeMatteis families have been friends for almost 60 years, and Tom was the father in law of Keith DeMatteis. Under the guidance of Al and Peggy DeMatteis, the family has literally helped shape the Rockaway peninsula through economic development and construction, community support and their ceaseless philanthropic endeavors. Along with building the Surfside and Dayton Tower complexes, many schools and high rise buildings throughout New York City and in Long Island as well as internationally in Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, the family and now their Family Foundation which includes children; Keith, Kelly, Karen, Kevin, Kerry and Kraig has never forgotten to pay their successes forward. From charities such as the Bishop Loughlin Scholarship Fund, the Angel Guardian Guild of the Sisters of Mercy, Rev. George Ruggieri Scholarship Fund for St. Joseph’s of Philadelphia, the Osbourne Laboratories for Marine Science to ones closer to home such as the Graybeards, The 100th Precinct Council, the St. John’s Home For Boys, and the Belle Harbor Garden Club the family and the foundation have been very generous for many years and more than worthy of Tom Ryan Memorial Award. Accepting the award for the family was Peggy DeMatteis 
who had the following to say: “Thank you very much to the Graybeards on behalf of my entire family for this great honor in memory of such a very kind and caring man. Thank you to the Graybeards for all the work they do for our community, and an even bigger thank you to all the ladies that stand by them and support them as they do it!”
After the awards, Tommy handed the microphone over to Eugene Brennan, one of the main organizers of the charity Stockings For A Cause, to make a special presentation to wounded warrior USN CDR Teddy Tan. Though unable to attend the dinner himself due to an advanced and terminal form of ALS which he came back with on his last deployment, Teddy’s wife Laura, also a US Navy Veteran, was in attendance. Eugene asked her to come up and accept not only the certificate for the 1 week Disney stay with all the bells and whistles, but also an additional $35,000 check from the Stockings For A Cause, which she accepted to a thunderous standing ovation. Following the donation, Laura Tan gladly accepted the task of picking the annual Graybeard Pot O’ Gold Drawing Ticket worth $300,000 which was won by a teacher at PS/MS 114.
Following the drawing, the band The Knobs took to the center of the dance floor to get the crowd up and dancing, and then the order of the evening was to follow the Graybeard rules… Rule #1 Have Fun, and Rule #2… Follow Rule #1!