RWD_p030

RT07142016

56 The QUeeNS coUrier • JUly 14, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com 30 TIMES • JULY 14, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com The Passing of Precious People – Elie Wiesel and Lily Gavin Victoria SCHNEPS-YUNIS vschneps@ gmail.com Lily, with LaGuardia CC President Gail Mellow Dynamic for all the news 24 $1500 hours,off Lumineers 7 days $500 a off week Invisalign DENTAL go WORK to www.timesnewsweekly.CALL FOR FREE CONSULTATION THE INVISIBLE WAY TO SOME EXCLUSIONS APPLY com STRAIGHTEN TEETH Third Generation Dentist 175-15 Jamaica avenue, Jamaica 718-297-4100 • 718-297-4106 The world stood still when the word came of the passing of the heroic, brilliant scholar Elie Wiesel. And, those of us involved in the Queens world were stunned when we heard of the passing of our local hero Lily Gavin. Each in their own way had an enormous impact in our world. I had the privilege of meeting Elie Wiesel when he visited the Holocaust Center at Queensboro Community College. We chatted about his books that powerfully portrayed the horror of the Holocaust. His ability to capture his experiences made the stain on humanity come alive. Probably, his telling enabled the readers to remember, years after many people would have liked to forget, the atrocities of the Nazis. Wiesel’s words and his appearances around the world never allowed for forgetting. In his quiet, low-key manner, he mesmerized me. I think his courage is unmatched. To have survived the sadness of his loss of his beloved family and the torture he endured is a testimony to all of us who get overwhelmed by life. For Wiesel, there was no time for pitying himself. He was driven to take action and he did it with his pen and his “person.” Bitterness was not in him. He turned his pain into purpose to teach us all tolerance. His courage to carry on is a lesson for us all that will live forever. His legacy was said best in his own words: “To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” Then, a few days later, I got word that my WOW “sister” Lily Gavin, a Top Woman in Business award winner, had lost her struggle to stay with us and passed away with her beloved family around her and her eldest son Raymond holding her hand as she took her last breath. Lily was the reigning Queen of Sunnyside, beginning with her ownership of everyone’s favorite restaurant, Dazies. It was her home away from home and she made everyone who walked through her doors feel it was their home, too. But, her gracious hostessing was just the beginning of her involvement in the community. Lily saw a problem and got involved to solve it. She was a founding member of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce, Sunnyside Shines, and responded to a call from LaGuardia Community College to set up a fundraising effort. She went into action, and helped and led the creation of its foundation. When she talked about the wonderful college in Long Island City, her face glowed and she was glad to share its uniqueness, and her adoration of its powerful president Gail Mellow. Lily lost her mom when she was 4, but was embraced by her Albanian family. She went on to become an entrepreneur who began as a waitress and later bought Maizis that she turned into the incomparable Dazies of Sunnyside. She had the courage to break the barrier at her local Kiwanis club and become the first female member, and led the charge to create the beautiful, powerful archway “Sunnyside.” I think it was in her DNA to lead and create relationships and bring people together. There are few people in our world who have that skill. Lily did. Lily was a star, a successful entrepreneur, a mother of five children, a wife to two men, and a friend to us all. Lily, I will miss your warm, caring smile, but it penetrated my heart, and I will cherish that memory forever! And, as the funeral program proclaimed, quoting Mother Teresa, “In this life we cannot do great things, we can only do small things with great love.” That was Lily! Victoria’s Secrets tweet me @vschneps With Elie Wiesel at the opening of the Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center At Joe Conley’s party with her WOW friends Lily Gavin with Hillary Clinton, Helen Marshall and Joseph Crowley


RT07142016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above