The Reckouwacky Girls

A few months ago, in January, I received the following email:

"I have interesting newsletters that a group of Far Rockaway High School students put together known as RECKOUWACKY - news, pictures birthdays, etc. We sent out "the girls" to knock on doors from Far Rockaway thru Neponsit gathering military addresses (GPO) and then we sent out our newsletter to those addresses. I treasure those newsletters but would be willing share them with you. If interested, let me know. L. Weiss (Bilinsky)."

About a week later Ellie (Leanore Bilinsky Weiss) my wife Barbara and I were having lunch together at the Sherwood Diner, just about a mile from Ellie's home in Cedarhurst. We were having an enjoyable time reminiscing about all things Rockaway. Afterward, we made plans to get together again at which time Ellie would provide me with copies of all the precious Reckouwacky Newsletters that she had the foresight to preserve over the years.

This time we met at Ellie's home. It was a delightful surprise that also joining us was Ellie's lifelong friend and fellow Reckouwacky girl, Florence Mass Rand. It was great to be in the company of these wonderful ladies who truly "kept the home fires burning".

Marty Nislick

Florence Mass Rand, Elinore Bilinsky Weiss, Feb., 2010

The following article was originally published in the Wave, July 8, 2000, and written by another Reckouwacky girl, Gert Anderson Tutundjian. Gert passed away in April, 2007.

Reckouwacky Girls Still Together
Relationships Span Seven Decades

By Gert Tutundjian

I read an article in your paper recently, which described a group of men, "The Pythons." It said they met and remained friends throughout the years. I would like to share a female version of that story.

Still friends after all these years, the "Reckouwacky Girls" pose for a more recent photo. Photo taken July, 2000 (Courtesy of the Wave)

We are a group of women, some of whom met in P.S. 42, Arverne, in 1930 and others when we entered Far Rockaway High School eight years later. After graduation from high school in 1943, we went on to college, work, and marriage, but we kept in touch.

We were in the midst of WW II, our male classmates were away in the armed services, and we wanted to do our share. We started a monthly newspaper, which we named "Reckouwacky", an old Indian name for Rockaway. The paper was sent monthly to our "local boys" and it included news and gossip from the homefront, service addresses of the guys from this area, birthday wishes, and pictures of home and the girls left behind. As a result of this paper, we became known as the "Reckouwacky Girls," a name we still use.

In addition to the newspaper, we visited the army hospitals (remember Mitchell Field and of course, Floyd Bennett Field) to entertain the soldiers, help write letter and just talk and listen. Two of us worked as farmerettes in Pennsylvania to help out the farmers who couldn’t find employees.

At the end of the war we went our separate ways, but always kept in touch with each other. In adult years, we would meet for birthdays and anniversaries. Sadly, we just lost the first of our "Reckouwacky Girls," Enid Garbowitz Lyles, someone we’d known for 70 years.

The "Reckouwacky Girls" consist of Florence Mass Rand, Leonore Bilinsky Weiss, Rita Borowitz Lipschutz, Gert Anderson Tutundjian, Ruth Westrich Gellman, Marcelle Elkind Greenfield, Lee Jacobson Ross, Lucille Seidlitz Friedberg, and Carol Friend Kalish.

"Lo, the passage of time nor distance has shaken the sand from our shoes."

Click here to read the Reckouwacky Newsletters