The Town of North Hempstead held a Veterans Day celebration on November 11 to honor local veterans at the Monfort Cemetery in Port Washington, and veterans throughout the Town were invited to place flags on the graves of Revolutionary War veterans. Following the flag-planting, Gabe Germain, a Port Washington resident and Paul D. Schreiber High School graduate, performed his original song, “Cemetery.”
Among the attendees was George Edward McIlhenny, a World War II veteran who served as an instructor of military aircraft repair at the Naval Air Technical Training Center in Norman, Oklahoma. McIlhenny settled in Port Washington in 1947 and never left; he taught industrial arts and driver’s training at the Main Street School and Schreiber High School for 47 years.
Town Historian Ross Lumpkin said of McIlhenny, “As we were getting started, Ed objected to being offered a place to sit. ‘I don’t want to be the only one sitting down when everyone else is standing.’ He relented when a few of us joined him on the bench. No doubt that attitude is a key to his longevity. It was an honor and a privilege to have him with us today.”
The Monfort Cemetery was declared a Town landmark on July 23, 1985, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It was an active burial ground from at least 1737 to 1892. The site contains some of the Town’s earliest settlers including the Onderdonk, Hegeman, Dodge, Rapelje, and Schenck families. The Monfort Cemetery was cared for until 1984 by Burtis Monfort and then deeded to the town. The Town of North Hempstead and the Cow Neck Historical Society have worked in conjunction to raise funds, obtain grants, organize tours and events, and landscape the property.