Gifford, John J, Sr

(10/24/1892-8/14/1978) Moved to Central Park in 1924 to house he had built at Southwest corner of Broadway and Sycamore Avenue. The house is still there (593 Broadway 1/2000).

He worked for Grumman in the Personnel Department for many years and left only because he was forced to retire when he became 70 years of age in October 1962. One of his few hobbies was gardening and he was interested in sports and young people. One day he noticed that the high school running track, next to his home, needed work, and he proceeded to rake the entire quarter mile track getting out the large cinders to make it more suitable for running. He did such a great job that he was offered a paying job to take care of the athletic fields and the marking of the baseball, football fields and the track as events came up. He was very proud of his association with the school and he donated trophies to the outstanding students in various sport program.

(Submitted by Jack Gifford to the CPHS 11/01)