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Page 16 July 23, 2008
Louis Mancuso was born in Beth-page in 1919. His father Dominickcame to the U.S. as a teenager fromCalabria, Italy. His mother Rose(Mancuso) Mancuso also came fromCalabria. It was an arranged mar-riage.
Lou worked on local farms inBethpage as a boy and earnedenough money to take 15-minute fly-ing lessons. He noticed peopletreated and spoke of pilots in a highlyrespected manner. He decided hewould become a pilot. He pursuedhis flying aspirations and would earnhis Certified Flight Instructor Pilot li-cense within five years. During WWIIthe British were incurring heavy pilotfatalities. Their airfields were not asafe place to train new pilots. Amer-ica would take on the role of trainingBritish cadets and the U.S. Army AirCorp needed Lou Mancuso to helpteach British cadets to fly. Lou enlistedin the Army and was off to Clewiston,Florida where he would begin teach-ing in Boeing Steerman Bi-planes. Hewould later teach gunnery and airavoidance tactics in North AmericanAT-6 “Texan” aircraft. Connie Savinofrom Deer Park fancied Lou and fol-lowed him to Clewiston. They wouldmarry and had their first child,Juanita. Lou’s flying buddy, FrankVeltri, would become Juanita’s godfa-ther and Lou and Frank’s teaching ad-ventures would continue until the endof the war.
After the war, Lou, Connie andJuanita would return to Deer Park.Connie’s dad, Mike Savino, had 50acres of Pine Barren land in DeerPark which he gave to Lou and Con-nie as a wedding present. Lou, alongwith his brother Joe and his brother-in-Law John, would clear the PineBarren land and make a single smallrunway. Deer Park Airport wasborn. It was 1946. Lou bought abrand new Piper Cub for $500 andstarted Mid Island Flying School, in-corporated as Mid Island Air Serv-ice, Inc. He began training WWIIveterans under the GI bill and to thisday Mid Island Flying School hastrained over 5,000 people to fly. Loustarted a second location inBrookhaven in 1964 and a third loca-tion at Islip MacArthur Airport in1972. Lou’s son is President of MidIsland, now also known as NewYork Jet, and Lou’s daughter GailMancuso Jensen is Vice-Presidentand General Manager. Lou’s grand-children Michael Mancuso, KariMancuso Jacino and Susan MancusoGuerra also take an active role inhelping to keep the Mancuso FlyingSchool tradition successful. Lou’swife and Lou’s cousin Frank hadalso helped run the Brookhaven
branch. Lou’s sister Mona assistedwith bookkeeping for many years.Connie helped with phones andeven ran a sandwich shop within theflying school for a number of years.
Lou flew air charters for manyyears in his Beech Bonanza and thenhis Cessna 310. He often flew har-ness horse jockey William Houghtonand developed a relationship withthe famous jockey. Bill found Lou aharness horse in 1962 named NobHill. Nob Hill went on to win a num-ber of stakes races and in 1963 Loutraded a brand new Twin EngineCessna Skymaster for a one-half in-terest in a horse named Rum Cus-tomer. Rum Customer went on to behorse of the year in 1964 and wonthe Triple Crown. With Rum Cus-tomer’s winnings Lou bought an800-acre ranch in Virginia where heand Connie raised race horses and200 Black Angus Cattle. Lou wouldgo on to name Dowling College asthe beneficiary of a Charitable Trustwhich will receive the proceeds ofthe sale of the farm upon Lou andConnie’s deaths.
Lou eventually retired and spent histime between Boynton Beach, Floridaand Manorville. He especially enjoyedLong Island because he would get fre-quent visits from his four children, fivegrandchildren and three great-grand-children. Lou was especially proud ofhis daughter Gloria, who became anurse practitioner and would be calledDoctor by her patients. No one wor-shiped Lou more than his preciousdaughter Gail. His daughter Juanitawould frequently fly in from the westcoast to spend time with her Dad and
Mom. His wife Connie of 60 years gaveLou magnificent care and comfort, es-pecially in his last few years. He was a
kind, entrepreneurial, generous andgentle man. He was loved by manyand will be missed dearly by all.
Louis Michael Mancuso Sr.August 25, 1919 - July 12, 2008
Louis Michael Mancuso Sr.
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