•At the dog park this past Sunday, I had the pleasure of seeing a grown fox and a cub, romping near the woods. I’ve mentioned the foxes before, and in recent weeks have not seen them. I was much relieved to see that they’re still around. One of the other people at the dog park told us he had ridden his bike through the woods to Belmont Lake earlier that day. He was midway there when he was startled by a fox leaping across his path, only a yard in front of him!

•Get well wishes to Gina Anderson, a longtime member of the Babylon Fire Department, who had knee surgery last Friday. Many of the men and women who belong to fire departments and rescue units incur injuries, working on our behalf as volunteers to keep all of us safe. Get well soon, Gina.

•We are all saddened to hear of the death of a friend or relative. It’s especially sad when the person who died was an energetic and lovely young woman. Samantha Boyle, age 28, the daughter of Abby Kane and Michael Boyle, died suddenly on Sept. 8 in New York City. Samantha, called “Sam” by friends and family, left a little of herself in all those who knew her. She was brought up in Bethel, Connecticut, but spent a lot of time in Babylon, visiting her maternal grandparents, Jane and the late Thomas J. Kane, Jr. Sam attended Sacred Heart University and enjoyed living and working in New York City. She was working on a degree in social service, to reach out and help others. Samantha leaves her younger sister, Sarah, of Bethel. She is mourned by her uncle, Tom Kane, III and aunt, Kristen Kane Shaw, as well as their families.

•Happy birthday to Mary Rinklin, Judy Skillen, Ellen Merryman and Joanne Allar, all September babies!

•Babylon has once again lost some great residents to Florida with the moving of Jean and Roger Carpenter at the end of August. And at the end of September, we will have to say goodbye to Susan at Country Peddler on Deer Park Avenue. Susan has run a lovely gift shop in a tiny location for the last several years, and hopes to do something online in partnership with her daughter. The family is moving to Warwick, NY and we wish Susan and her family lots of happiness and success. If I find out anything about a website, I’ll let you know. You may want to stop in to say goodbye and take advantage of her generous discounts! I’ll really miss you, Susan!

•Marion Verdillo, the former owner of Mario’s Hi Hook, passed away on Aug. 9. Seldom could anyone enter his restaurant without being warmly greeted by Mario, even when he was no longer the owner. He was predeceased by his wife, Patricia, and is survived by children Richard, Karen and Kurt, as well as eight grandchildren. The Hi Hook is now called Tres Palm, but I suspect many will enter it with warm memories of Mario.

•The memorial service for Bob Pasch, who died on Sept. 6, will be held on Oct. 7. Further details will be forthcoming in next week’s column.

• Rumor has it that the U.S. Post Office in Babylon will be shutting down. We spoke to Postmaster Jim Meads who said this week that the rumors are not true. What the Post Office is doing is moving its distribution and its carriers to the West Babylon Branch. Meads said that the move will be undetectible in terms of service to the customers and that that building will remain open for all other postal business such as mailing packages, purchasing stamps and maintaining post office boxes. He added that to his knowledge the Post Office has no intention of selling and closing the building in Babylon.

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Readers can submit items to Mary Gallagher for her column at acjnews@rcn.com. Please include Babylon News & Muse in the subject line.