Freeport Authors: H

[Biography found on Flandersintheusa.org]

Cil Haesendonck was born in Leuven, Belgium, where she studied Economics. After a career in the banking sector she returned to her first love: literature. Her essay about Nobel Prize winner J.M. Coetzee was awarded the Essay Prize of the City of Leuven and the University Work Group for Literature and Media. For her Tito novel she did research in Ljubljana and Belgrade. The novel was nominated for the 2012 Flemish Boek.be Debut Prize.

Translated from Dutch by Frank Leone and Tom Sulzer.

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

A long time resident of Freeport, Fred Hager contributed articles to the Leader on Freeport history and participated in the Freeport Memorial Library oral history project.  He graduated with the class of 1941 from Freeport High School.  He ran for Mayor in 1985.  Recently, he was interviewed by NBC about the House of David baseball team for its All Star Break program.

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Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Justine Hanif is a reverend of the Refuge Apostolic Church of Christ in Freeport and taught in its Bible Institute.  She received her B.D. from the College of New Rochelle.  Hanif also holds a certificate in Christian Ministry from New York Theological Seminary.  She is a supervisor in the Nassau County Department of Social Services.

Marilyn Hanna is the author Stained Glass.  He donated a copy of her book to the library in 2016.

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

In 1958 Homer Irving Harris was the chairman of the Bar Association’s committee on decedents estates. 

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Janet Harris was on the board of the Long Island chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).  A native of Long Beach, Long Island, and a graduate of Long Beach High School, she graduated from Ohio University in 1951 with a B.S. in education.  She utilized the extensive collection in the Freeport Memorial Library for her research.  She was a lecturer in English at C.W. Post College and Glen Cove Community College.

Michael Harrison is the author of the book Pinstripes and Penance: The Life Story of Ex-Yankee John Malangone.  He donated a copy of his book to the library in 2015.

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Paul Hashagen moved to Freeport when he was six and graduated from Freeport High School with the class of 1969.  He joined the Freeport Fire Department in 1976 and was Captain of Excelsior Hook and Ladder #1 from 1981-1982.  He was a Freeport Fire Department Chief and was the first captain of the Dive Squad in 1986.  He joined the NYFD in 1978 and was assigned to Rescue Company No. 1 and has received several citations.  Before he joined the FDNY he worked for eight years at the telephone company in Freeport.  He recently retired from FDNY Rescue #1 after 25 years.  He is also a contributing editor for Fire House Magazine where he writes a monthly column.

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Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Michael Hayes is an adjunct instructor of history at SUNY Farmingdale and teaches history at W.T. Clarke’s alternative school in Westbury.

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

The radio commentator, Gabriel Heatter, first gained fame as a radio reporter for the Lindbergh baby kidnapping trial.  Broadcasting for the Mutual Broadcasting Corporation (WOR), his 6 o’clock news program started with “Ah yes, there’s good news tonight.”  Since this was during World War II, that was not always the case.  He was still broadcasting in 1958 when Sputnik became the news.  Since he did much of his broadcasting from home, remnants of the radio connections are still in evidence in the house on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Maida Heatter the daughter of Gabriel Heatter, was born on Long Island and brought up here and in Manhattan. Her mother was a former grade school English teacher.  After high school, she enrolled at New York’s Pratt Institute, where she earned a degree in fashion illustration. Shortly after graduation, she began a successful career working as an illustrator for the New York Herald Tribune.  She left when her hobby of making hand-worked silver rings turned into a full-time occupation.  In the late 1940s, she moved to Miami Beach, where she met her husband, Ralph Daniels, a restaurateur.  She made all the desserts at home for his restaurant.  She is a nationally renowned cooking teacher and the recipient of two James Beard Awards.  Her recipes have appeared in leading periodicals and newspapers, including Food & Wine, The New York Times, Woman’s Day, The Washington Post and The Chicago Tribune.

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Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Eugene Hecht is a professor of physics at Adelphi University.  His book, Optics, has been the leading text in the field for almost 30 years.  He is a member of the editorial board of the Encyclopedia of Modern Optics.  His book about the ceramist, G. E. Ohr, won Art Book of the Year Award in 1989.  He has lectured around the world on art and physics and has published papers on special theory of relativity, history of ideas, and basic issues in physics.  He is working on his fourth degree black belt in Tae Kwan Do.  Incidentally, his home was once owned by Hugo Stearns, the founder of Stearns Park of northwest Freeport.

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David J. Hendricks is military veteran with over 23 years of combined military service in the United States Army and the U.S. Marine Corps.  Hendricks earned an award for valor during a combat mission in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003. He is a retired Savannah, GA. police officer.  In 2020, Hendricks two published to ebooks: The Wild Adventures of David Felipe and Low Country Boil: David Felipe is Back. Hendricks is a Freeport High School graduate.  He lived on Wallace Street.

Edna Henry is the author of Native American Cookbook.

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Robert A. Herendeen, a professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign is a systems ecologist/modeler for the Center for Aquatic Ecology.  He graduated from Freeport High School in 1958 and went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he received his B.S. in physics in 1962.  His Ph.D. in physics is from Cornell University (1970).

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Leo Hershkowitz grew up in the East Bronx.  From a poor family, he went to Queens College on the G.I. bill, then to New York University fir a Ph.D.   He was a professor emeritus of History at Queens College where he taught New York City and State History.  He had a keen interest in collecting the city’s archives which documented social, economic and labor history and donated the collection to New York University’s Tamiment Library.

[Biography found on Amazon.com]

Gabriella Hewitt is the pen name of creative writing talents Sasha Tomaszycki and Patrizia M.J. Hayashi. Together they weave tales of romantic suspense and dangerously sensual paranormals.

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Irma Hewlett was the assistant professor of social work at Adelphi University from 1953 to 1962.  Prior to that, she was the director of the Social Work Clinic and supervisor of psychiatric social work at the Psychiatric Institute.  She has contributed articles to Parents Magazine and Family Circle.

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Golie M. Hill was born and raised in Georgia.  She is a 1965 graduate of the Mandl School as a medical lab technician and a graduate of Hempstead General School of Nursing.  She has taken courses at SUNY and Nassau Community College.  She received a masters in religious education from MKW Religious Institute.  She moved to Freeport in 1964 and is a member of Zion Cathedral where she has held a number of positions.  Presently retired she was employed as an administrative assistant and an insurance customer service representative.

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Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Marty Himes was born in Oceanside and moved to Freeport when he was 12.  He drew up on Turk’s Island as well as on Mill Road and attended Freeport High School.  He pursued a career in auto racing and raced at the Freeport Stadium.  He is the owner of the Himes Museum of Motor Racing Nostalgia located at 15 O’Neill Avenue, Bayshore and writes articles on automobile racing for several publications including the Great South Bay Magazine, Long Island Sportsman Courier, The Alternative (a publication for vintage motor racing in Pennsylvania), and South Shore Monthly.  He is the historian for three auto racing tracks.  The Museum features many artifacts from the Freeport Stadium and racing: midgets, stock cars, helmets, pictures and trophies.

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Born in Guyana, Selwyn Seyfu Hinds attended Freeport High School from the ninth to the eleventh grade and is a graduate of Princeton University with a degree in English and African American studies.  He has written for Vanity Fair, The Village Voice, Spin, The Lost Angeles Times, Vibe, and USA Weekend.  He has appeared on CNN, BBC, ABC, BET, NBC and MTV.  He is the former editor-in-chief of The Source, a hip-hop magazine.  He cofounded Schematics in 2001 which is a media think tank.  He also was the chief creative officer, vice president and editorial director of 360hiphop.com, an Internet firm.  He has participated in forums at Princeton University, Brown University, and The S.I. Newhouse Communication School at Syracuse University,

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

A 1956 graduate of Freeport High School, Robert Hohlfelder is a professor and former chair of the Department of History at the University of Colorado in Boulder.  His research interests are ancient maritime history, Late Antiquity, and ancient numismatics.  He has published or edited six books, 84 articles, and 59 reviews, and presented 131 papers at professional conferences in 13 countries and given over 300 public lectures at universities and museums around the world.  He has participated in or directed 40 maritime archaeological expeditions throughout the Mediterranean.  Currently he is co-directing a pan-Mediterranean study of the development, properties, and use of Roman hydraulic concrete in maritime environments.  He currently serves as a senior maritime archaeologist for an international, interdisciplinary team research group engaged in a deep-water search for shipwrecks off the coast of Greece dating from Persian War era in the 5th century BC.

Shirley Terrill Holdman lived in Freeport as a child and attended Archer Street School.  Her father worked for the company S. S. Kreage.  Holdman donated her books to the library in 2021.

Click here for books by Shirley Terrill Holdman.

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Freeport born, Savage Steve Holland is a writer-director and animator who wrote and directed the cult films Better Off Dead (1985) and One Crazy Summer (1986), starring John Cusack. He also directed the movie How I Got Into College (1989), and animated the "Whammy" on the game show Press Your Luck. He later went on to create and produce Eek! the Cat for Fox Kids. Now, he manages his own studio, Savage Studios Ltd and directs shows for Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.  His films are “heavy on sight gags and combine live action and animation.”

Biography by Cynthia J Krieg, Village Historian

Ella Adelia Hunt was a Freeport High School graduate in 1901.  She is a descendant of Adam Smith, who served on the patriot’s side in the Revolutionary War as well as John Rock Smith, one of the early settlers of Long Island.  Her husband, Stephen Williamson Hunt, was Treasurer of the Village of Freeport for many years.