For 32 years, Maria Herzog Saumier has worked as a waitress at the ever-popular Gardenview Diner, at 650 Old Liverpool Road. In fact, Maria goes all the way back to the eatery’s earlier location in the strip mall in Galeville, at Beechwood Avenue and Old Liverpool, when it was called Two Guys.
Over all those years Maria has made many friends at the diner – customers and co-workers alike – and right now they’re rallying to her side.
In December Maria was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. She’s 52 years old.
Employer pitches in
I bumped into Maria in Nichols’ Supermarket parking lot last month and, despite the grim prognosis, she remains feisty as ever. She views the disease as an opponent and not a worthy one at that.
“I’m going to beat its [butt],” she exclaimed.
The Ionnides family, for whom she works at Gardenview, is making sure she receives the best care possible, she said.
“Nick’s sending me to New York City,” she said, which means Sloan-Kettering, one of the leading cancer treatment centers in the hemisphere.
Benefit set for April 1
Her good friend, Christina Collins, is organizing a benefit set for noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 1, at the Cicero American Legion Post 787, off Route 31 at 5575 Legionnaire Drive. Tickets cost $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Children ages 4 to 12 will be admitted for $5, and toddlers are free. To buy tickets or to donate, contact Collins at 863-8281, or via email at [email protected].
We know what those xo’s stand for, Christina!
Southern sojourn
Nichols is a great place to meet and greet your neighbors.
I caught up with John Eallonardo in front of the deli there at the end of February. John, who lives in Liverpool over on Iroquois Lane, was fresh back from the state of Georgia where he visited a daughter who’s teaching in Savannah.
The winter down South was as green as ours, he said, and warm to boot!
John is a longtime member of the village of Liverpool Planning Board.
Cusha scores!
This has been another depressing ice hockey season, and not just because the ice never froze solid on Onondaga Lake this lukewarm winter.
It’s the fourth season in a row in which the Syracuse Crunch has failed to make the American Hockey League playoffs.
While Crunch fans can cry in their beer, they might also take some solace in the fact that a veteran of local youth hockey programs is among the pros now skating on the War Memorial ice down city.
Defenseman Nick Schaus, who hails from Buffalo, played many games at the State Fair Coliseum when he was in the pee wee leagues and later when he patrolled the blue line for the 15-, 16- and 17-year-old New York State Select teams.
Last Friday, March 16, Schaus scored the winning goal in a hard-fought 4-3 Crunch victory over its Thruway rival, the Rochester Americans, played at the Onondaga County War Memorial. He netted the game-winner with just 3:09 remaining in the game third and final period.
A former member of the UMass at Lowell RiverHawks, Schaus sports an interesting nickname: Cusha.
Amerks return Saturday
Schaus and his team-mates face off again against the Amerks when the Crunch continues its woeful 2011-12 season with two home games this weekend at the War Memorial, down city.
The Crunch host the St. John’s IceCapes at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 23. Then, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 24, they play a rematch with the Rochester Amerks.
The Crunch is affiliated with the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks, while Rochester is the top farm club of the Buffalo Sabres and the IceCaps are affiliated with the Winnipeg Jets. Ticket prices for home games range from $14 to $21; 473-4444.
