The deeds one does in life are often what is most remembered by loved ones and the community at large after a person dies.
Such is the case of May F. Link, who passed away just short of her 100th birthday on March 14 2005, but whose 57 years of service were honored with a proclamation at the recent Manhattan Beach Community Group (MBCG) meeting.
“The Manhattan Beach Community Group will be 70 years old in 2011 so we’re beginning to honor our founders and influential people in Manhattan Beach and we’re also compiling a book on the history of Manhattan Beach and our group,” said MBCG President Ira Zalcman.
However, her work with the organization was only part of what Link did for the tight-knit community.
Link, was also an attorney in a day when there weren’t many female attorneys, became involved in the community shortly after she and her husband moved with their two sons, Alden and Danny, to Manhattan Beach on June 20, 1935.
“She brought a certain class. She was a dedicated mother and grandmother, and was particularly dedicated to the young people in the community,” said Danny Link.
This dedication to the youth included Link being instrumental in transforming the four-room wooden schoolhouse into the modern building currently housing P.S. 195 in Manhattan Beach.
She also served as the first PTA President of the school as well as the PTA president of P.S. 225, and later as the first vice president of the Lincoln High School PTA,
Additionally, Link had a leadership role in the Jewish group Hadassah and was known to be an excellent golfer as a member of the Women’s Golf Club at the Dyker Heights Golf Course.
Link’s service was so fondly remembered that among those elected officials who signed onto the proclamation honoring her contribution to the area were Mayor Bloomberg, Borough President Marty Markowitz, U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, City Councilmember Mike Nelson and Assemblymember Steve Cymbrowitz.
The honor also gave Danny Link the opportunity to come back to the neighborhood in which he grew up as he now lives in Westchester.
“We moved into our house on Kensington street one week before my first birthday,” recalled Danny Link, who is an attorney and certified public accountant. “Growing up here it was initially a real paradise. There was only half the number of houses there are now and a lot of open lots.”
Link recalled how the family would go to the Manhattan Beach Baths where Manhattan Beach is now and Oriental Beach where Kingsborough Community College is now.
Also honored at the meeting with community service awards were Marty Baron, Flory Kostoff and Larry Walton.
The Dana Borrell Award for service went to Fran Olk.