Sad News

Update – Marita Hickey, R-UTN member and former district Math Chairperson, passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday, November 16th at the age of 77. She is survived by her husband Steve, daughters Allison Schmidt and Becky Hickey, two grandsons and a sister Sr. Lorraine McGrew. She was predeceased by a brother Thomas McGrew and sister Maureen Green.

Marita and Steve made their retirement home in the Glen Lakes Golf and Country Club community in Weeks Wachee, Florida, Marita was active in the Women’s Gardens Club of Glen Lake, The Italian Club, The Glen Lakes Library and the Wahoos. She was a member of St. Francis Catholic Church and will be dearly missed by her loving family and friends.

A Funeral Mass was held on November 25th, and there will be a memorial Mass on Tuesday December 7 at 10 a.m.  at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church in Spring Hills, Florida.

If any R-UTN members have memories they wish to share about Marita, please email r-utn@digitalquinn.com. Please keep your commemorative brief and include your name and school.

Medicare Information

If you are 65 or older you are probably bombarded with information about Medicare Advantage Plans, both by direct mail and TV ads. Don’t be misled. Do your research if you want to know more about these plans and how they compare with traditional Medicare and our NYSHIP/United Healthcare secondary insurance. Most of these plans are designed for people who do not have employer health insurance in retirement. The official Medicare.gov website states:

Talk to your employer, union, or other benefits administrator about their rules before you join a Medicare Advantage Plan. In some cases, joining a Medicare Advantage Plan might cause you to lose employer or union coverage. If you lose coverage for yourself, you may also lose coverage for your spouse and dependents.

In other cases, you may still be able to use your employer or union coverage along with the Medicare Advantage plan you join. Remember, if you drop your employer or union coverage, you may not be able to get it back.

Did you know?

The Book Revue in Huntington village went out of business earlier this Fall. The iconic bookstore was an institution in Huntington Village for 44 years, and in a farewell letter to the community, co-owner Richard Klein wrote:

Book Revue has always been more than just a place to buy a book. It has always been a place to meet people, to socialize, to hang out, to spend time. That’s what my brother Bob and I intended from the beginning, in 1977. We didn’t have any ideas about the signings and events for which we became widely recognized. That came later.

Former Book Revue employee Mallory Braun is attempting to raise enough capital to open a new book store in Huntington called The Next Chapter. She asks for help in spreading the word about this project. She is sure that many of our members have a special place in their hearts for independent bookstores and wish her success.