Over the last ten years the Larchmont/Mamaroneck community has joined in support of Richard Kemper Park, and this holiday season we want to express our thanks for this.  The park outside of Mamaroneck High School (MHS) honors community members  who died fighting fascism and  helps  promote the values they fought to defend. We celebrate these values during the holidays and they guide us throughout the year: respect for others who may not share our ethnicity or religion or political views; empathy; the golden rule; democracy; diversity; education and rational discourse.

Thanks especially are due to:

• members of the Kemper Memorial Park Preservation Fund (KMPPF) and Jan Northrup, president,  Susan Amlicke, vice-president, Mark Schumer, treasurer;

• Tom’s Amlicke, whose pro bono legal work helped launch  both the Kemper Foundation and the KMPPF;

• Liza Strauss, Chelsie Walters, and Rick Marsico, members of the Kemper Foundation board;

• Ed and Cheryl Murray, Howie Heyel and the others with the American Legion who have supported the park.

• World War II veteran Tony Marsella, whose brother is named on the park’s monument and whose remarkable ability to lead an assembly in song has been, along with his wife Jo, an indispensable presence at innumerable park events;

• Mamaroneck Town Supervisor Valerie O’Keeffe, New York Assemblyman Ron Tocci and other public officials who have actively supported the park;

• LMC-TV producer Eileen Mason;   Sound and Town reporter Paige Rentz; Larchmont Gazette editor Judy Silberstein,  The Loop editor Polly Kreisman, and other members of the media who have covered Park stories.

• Derek Ward, KMPPF’s summer intern who researched  the individuals memorialized  on the Park’s monument;

• members of the school community for their support of the park and the Richard Kemper Memorial essay contest, including: MHS teachers Adam Sobel and Mary Cronin; MHS principal Mark Orfinger;  Superintendent Paul Fried, School Board President Linnett Tse and the other board members; MHS staff  Elizabeth Clain, Carol Scheffler, Don Keene, Tina Pantginis, Janice Landrum, and others who helped with the contest;   Hommocks teacher Rich Darcy, whose students visit with local veterans and attend the park annually;   Ed Cofino, the person most responsible for KMPPF’s excellent website; and John Esposito who developed the park’s  landscaping plan.

• and all the many MHS students who have participated in the essay contest over the years.

Just knowing the Larchmont/Mamaroneck community consists of people like them lifts our spirits. We hope it lifts yours too. Have a joyous holiday and a happy, happy New Year.

Paul Cantor and Yvonne Myska Lopaur
President and Vice President, The Richard Kemper Foundation for Promoting Human Rights Education

Norwalk, CT

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