Rosalie Walsh Niemczyk- Class of 1956

Rosalie Walsh graduated BHS in 1956, the first graduating class.  She was the class salutatorian. Rosalie went on to the New York State College for Teachers at Albany and later received a graduate degree from C.W. Post and did additional graduate work at New York University.

Rosalie is steeped in Bethpage history.  Both sides of her family lived in Bethpage and owned farm land here.  Rosalie eventually became a teacher in Bethpage and taught Business, Spanish and was a Guidance Counselor. 

In 1970 she set up the Career Research Center at the high school which assisted students in finding jobs, zeroing in on careers and assisting people in the neighborhood with community service.  She received the PTA’s prestigious Jenkins Award in 1984 in recognition of her humanitarian endeavors to assist poverty-stricken people in Appalachia in West Virginia.  She also had a reputation for caring for animals and was President of the Suffolk County Humane Society.

Rosalie moved upstate with her husband Frank to Bath in 1984. Frank’s parents also owned extensive farmland in Bethpage, much of which is now the northern portion of Bethpage State Park.  From Bath, Rosalie continues to be a contributor to the stories collected by the Central Park Historical Society.