Robert LaFave
Robert LaFave CENTERPORT, N.Y. - Brother Robert LaFave, 69, director of Camp Alvernia in Centerport, collapsed and died Saturday, May 17, 2008, at his home at the camp. LaFave fell as he was walking to the kitchen of his residence, and emergency responders were not able to restore his breathing and heart beat, said Brother Larry Makofske, who like LaFave, is a Franciscan. LaFave was a familiar figure at the camp, where he drove around in a golf cart, often accompanied by Snoopy, a golden retriever, or Sergio, a chocolate lab. "Everybody knew him. ... The children would go over and talk to him and the dog," said Makofske. "He was in very good health. ... He went for a check-up around Christmas. ... The doctor said to come back in a year." LaFave, who has been director of Camp Alvernia since 1997, used a golf cart to get around the sprawling summer camp overlooking Centerport Harbor because of a serious leg injury he suffered in an auto accident in 1999. Before he came to Long Island, LaFave had been principal at three religious schools, St. Brigid in Ridgewood, St. Lawrence in Tampa, Fla., and St. Peter's in Greenville, N.C. Makofske said that LaFave had a talent for making places better, and that, just as he doubled the enrollment at his last school before coming to Camp Alvernia, attendance at the summer camp doubled in his second year. Alvernia, the oldest continuously operating Catholic camp in the nation, is celebrating its 120th anniversary this year. A party that had been planned for Saturday was postponed indefinitely because of LaFave's death, and the camp's scholarship fund -- many of the 800 children who attend get financial aid anonymously -- will be named in his honor, said Makofske, the camp's program director. The not-for-profit camp runs four two-week sessions each summer. Makofske said that one of the marks LaFave left was a dedication to increase the diversity of the campers, both by race and religious affiliation. The all-white Catholic campers of decades past have been replaced by a mixture of whites and blacks, as well as Latinos, and by Catholics and Jews and, recently, some Albanian Muslims. On Sunday, as the news of his passing spread, the East Northport Jewish Center was having a picnic on the camp grounds, an event scheduled months ago. Founded in 1888 by the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn, the 18-acre facility on the peninsula was originally created as a summer retreat, but quickly became a camp for immigrant children from New York City. The children lived in tents until cabins were built in the 1930s. Camp Alvernia is named for Mount Alvernia in Italy, where St. Frances of Assisi is believed to have received his stigmata. A wake for LaFave was held at the camp chapel Monday and Tuesday from 2-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. A funeral Mass was celebrated on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church, which is next to the camp on Prospect Road. Burial was at Holy Rood Cemetery in Westbury, in the common plot shared by his Franciscan order.
Published in The Daily Reflector on 5/23/2008
Please provide corrections as needed....
Researcher::
Jim Radja
Vienna, Virginia, US of A
