Blue Devil Great Passes Away at 89
Roland L'Hommedieu, a legendary Blue Devil athlete who starred on three sports teams during a golden era in Huntington High School history, passed away on Sunday, January 23. He was 89.
A member of the Class of 1940, Mr. L'Hommedieu excelled on the football, basketball and baseball teams, earning the Malcolm Paul Hagen Memorial Prize as a senior for being Huntington's Most Outstanding Athlete.
Mr. L'Hommedieu, who passed away at his Cold Spring Harbor home, was vice-president of Huntington's General Organization (student council) as a senior. Nicknamed "Pony Boy," he played four years on the football and baseball teams for famed physical education teacher and coach Bill Class and four years of basketball under coach Harold Kincaid.
Mr. L'Hommedieu grew up on Jackson Avenue near the site of the original Huntington High School, which was then located on Main Street in the building that now serves as Huntington Town Hall. He quarterbacked the 1939 football team that was crowned Western Suffolk champions and played second base on the baseball squad. The football and baseball teams then played their games in Heckscher Park and the basketball squad played in the small high school gym, which featured a walkway/balcony around the top.
After graduating from Huntington High School on Tuesday, June 25 1940 at 8:15 p.m. in the auditorium, Mr. L'Hommedieu served in the U.S. Navy as a metalsmith aboard the USS Bellona during World War II. The ship was active in the Pacific Theatre. Upon his discharge from the military, the Huntington alum worked as a draftsman and engineer at American Bosch Arma Corp. and Republic Aviation, where he was part of the project to build a four-gun turret on the B-52 bomber. He was later employed by the Town of Huntington as a building inspector.
Mr. L'Hommedieu designed and built his Cold Spring Harbor home 56 years ago and enjoyed it ever since, especially when he was surrounded by his family. As an adult, he took up golf and bowling and also played softball on an American Legion team.
Known as "Rollie," the Huntington alum married his high school sweetheart, Bernadette Walsh, She was also very involved in school activities, serving as secretary of the Class of 1940, president of the commerce club, secretary of masque (drama club), president of the Girls' Athletic Council and a member of Arista and the yearbook staff. Mr. L'Hommedieu's wife predeceased him.
Mr. L'Hommedieu, who had sparkling blue eyes and bright smile, is survived by his four children, eight grandchildren and seven great grandchildren, as well as his close friend, Ruth Fahlbusch, also of Huntington.
A religious service led by Rev. Andy Hart of the Old First Church, located across the street from the building that served as Huntington High School during the time Mr. L'Hommedieu studied there, was held at MA Connell Funeral Home. Interment followed in the Huntington Rural Cemetery in the L'Hommedieu family plot.