Village Board Celebrates 90th Birthday of “Mr. Mineola” (VIDEO)

The held an impromptu celebration at its meeting this past Wednesday night at the : an early birthday party for John DaVanzo, who is celebrating his 90th birthday Friday.

“Fire regulations prevent us from putting candles on it,” Mayor Scott Strauss joked, hinting that there would be one candle for every year DaVanzo had celebrated.

A large sheet cake was rolled out with a pair of numerical candles lit for the nonagenarian, who was visibly moved as he cut the vanilla cake, which featured a canole filling, in front of the 20 or so residents who had stayed behind through the end of the meeting.

DaVanzo, a World War II veteran, Captain, former deputy mayor, town clerk and trustee, is locally known as “Mr. Mineola” – having lived in the village all of his life. DaVanzo has also served and volunteered in numerous organizations including the Kiwanis, VFW, Sons of Italy and the Knights of Columbus, to name but a few.

His dedication to a life of public service has garnered him the admiration of an entire community. In 2007 the was renamed the “John S. Davanzo Mineola Community Pool.” Recently he from the .

“It’s a great honor to share this birthday celebration with you,” Strauss said.