Huntington Original Passes Away
Alice Thurber was a Huntington original. Born and raised here, the 1938 Huntington High School graduate lived out her life in the community. She passed away last month at 89.
Alice Mary Halligan graduated from Huntington High School on Tuesday evening, June 28, 1938. It was the school's 77th annual commencement. The high school was then located on Main Street (now town hall), across from the Old First Church.
Principal Robert L. Simpson and Superintendent Raymond C. Burdick presided over the commencement. Florence Halbreich gave the valedictorian's address on "Folklore of Old Long Island. Doris Ethelyn Mayer gave the salutatorian's address on "The World at Our Door."
Two years after graduating, Miss Halligan married her high school sweetheart and a fellow member of the Class of 1938, Frank Watts Thurber, Jr. The couple resided in Huntington.
Mrs. Thurber was a riveter on the Hellcat fighter plane project for Grumman Aircraft during World War II. She later worked as the Rocket Diner, Suffolk Grill and Hamburger Choo Choo in Huntington village. When the latter establishment closed, the Huntington grad went to work at Genovese and Eckerd drug stores as a cashier. She was well-known in the village.
Mrs. Thurber is survived by her sons David and William, daughter Jayne, six grandchildren and two great-grand children.