An Old Military Academy on Long Island

I am happy to report that the Benedictines are still defending Aurora, Illinois quite well at Marmion Abbey and Military Academy.

http://www.marmion.org/academy.html

Benedictine High School in Richmond, Virginia also carries on the military tradition in Catholic secondary education.

Dear Mr. Cusack:

I graduated from LaSalle MA in 1970 and reading you article brought back so many wonderful memories. thanks you for this.

Cheers,
Dewey

I attended LSMA from 1983-1987. I was shocked that the school was closed in 2001. I have many fond memories of La Salle and this article was very interesting as well as exciting to me!

Shame to see the place go!
LSMA Class of ’62; fmr LCDR, MC, USNR; retired Radiologist.
from SMdA, Gto., MX

I attended LSMA from 1952-1956 (LSMA Class of ’56). I have many nostalgic memories of La Salle and this article brought me back to my early years, when life was a wonderful promise.

Thank you for the article!

I went to LSMA in 1939 for two years, until 1941. I was 13 at the time. My brother, Javier, also was a cadet and graduated in 1941. We were sent from Colombia and both are living in Medellin. You really brought so many memories and I thank you for that.

Yes, what nostalgia. I was living on Dale Drive, formerly West Street, formerly Chicken Street, and rode my horse all over the borders & woods of the Academy. I can still remember the rhododendrums so thick throughout the woods, the boys on parade daily,
and my horse getting stuck up to the belly in muck near the east border.
What a fright! I’ve remembered it til this day just as if it were yesterday.
We used to sit and watch the regimental parades on their parade days. Great memories.

I went to La Salle from from 1970-1971. It was a life changing experience and I was curious if there is any online school info from those years.

Thanks,
John McGuire

I attended LSMA 88-92. Some of the best years of my life! I was very upset when the school closed down. It’s a shame that my kids won’t have the opportunity to attend.

Thank you for the posting and the photos. The life skills learned there stay with us forever. It is a shame that future generations will be deprived of such experiences. LSMA class of 1976

Andrew,

Thanks for the wonderful article. I graduated from the Academy in 1988, and currently serve as its alumni association president. While a lot of my brethren sincerely wish the academy was still in operation, the AA focus is on nurturing the bonds that were made by and between our alumni and hosting events designed to facilitate that ideal. I would ask any alums, former faculty, administrators, or employees of LSMA to visit our site, http://www.lsmaalumni.com, and thanks again for recognizing a great institution, and its all too early demise.

JJB

Andrew,

Thanks for the article on our late, great Alma Mater. It brings back some fond memories.

Alums, please be sure to check out the website: http://www.lsmaalumni.com

Best,
George Gelish, Class of ’74
Alumni Webmaster

La Salle was never the “Westchester Institute”. The Westchester Institute was another school independenat of La Salle. When founded in 1883, LSMA was originally called “Sacred Heart” until military instruction and new name were introduced a few years later. That new name was “Clason Point Military Academy” and the school was located at Clason Point in the Bronx. Clason Point M.A. moved to Oakdale around 1910 and immediately changed its name to La Salle Military Academy.

I’m surprised all the former cadets neglected to comment on this.

If anyone who attended La Salle or lived in Oakdale would like to donate old pictures or stories of Oakdale & La Salle, please feel free to forward them on to me for inclusion in the site at http://www.OakdaleNY.com.

Thanks in advance!

I attended from 61-65 and I visited the campus yesterday. Sad to see most of the place deteriorating . They are keeping up the ground floor of the mansion for weddings but most of the place is shut up. St Joseph’s is now an”au pair” training facility.

Can anyone remember what the building next to the library was used for. I have no recollection of ever being in it.

I am a great granddaughter of Frederick G.Bourne and would love pictures of the Oakdale Estate. My sister will be coming down soon for a visit and I hope someone will be able to show her around.
There is a lot of history there.
Thank you so much,
Nancy Bourne Swan

I graduated in 1984 and operate the La Salle Rifles alumni association website. Thanks for the trip down memory lane….

JP

La Salle’s demise, in my opinion, is more than anything a sign of the state of the Church today, Her religious orders, and the crisis of Faith in general.

Many high school military academies continue to operate at a profit today and attract many students, both men and women. Many have no religious affiliation. All of them share something in common: preserve traditions and the vision. La Salle was unique in that sense: it was military and Catholic, a reflection of European hierarchical society located on Great South Bay.

I attended La Salle Military Academy from 1978 to 1982. I would never exchange those years for anything in the world. Yet even then, fellow students and I could see the small “cracks in the armor” that eventually widened and led to the schools folding.

Traditions were discarded: daily Mass, once mandatory for the cadet, became an option. Student retreats had little contemplation or actual prayer. Religious formation in the classroom was replaced by a “Faculty Advisory Period” where any subject could be brought up. Many military traditions were discarded as well, particularly living by company rather than by class. Easier, more comfortable uniforms replaced the dress gray, and the list goes on.

The De La Salle Brothers, who ran the school, were undergoing a vocational and religious crisis. That was the opinion of some brothers with whom I’ve maintained contact over the years. Many of the younger brothers in that provincial lost their vocations; many of our lay teachers were former brothers. I learned of these things as time went on, particularly after we graduated.

Eventually the school’s vision blurred as well. I guess we can’t blame the brothers entirely — they did what they could. Many are fine men, dedicated to education and excellence. Yet perhaps as their religious regimen as a community failed, so did the school. There were financial problems that also factored in the closing.

In a world which is increasingly post-Christian, where discipline, faith and ethics are sneered and jeered at, it is sad to consider that La Salle Military Academy, a bulwark against many of the non-values the world embraces today, is no longer with us. Thank God we still our fellow alumni. Saint John Baptist de la Salle, Pray for us. Live Jesus in our Hearts, forever.

My father-in-law attended Clason Military Academy in the 1920’s. Does anyone know where it was located at Clason Point? I’ve been driving around and can’t find anything. Please email me at Nimpastato@Juno.com. I have a photo of his class.

YES THEY WERE THE MOST ENJOYABLE YEARS AND AS EVERYTHING ELSE WE STILL HAVE THE FRIENDSHIPS THAT WE MADE.
SO WHY CAN’T WE CONTINUE.STAY IN TOUCH AND AS THEY SAY
LIFE GOES ON.

REGARDS
JOE MILEA’74

I Graduated with a New York State High School Diploma and a U.S. Army Junior ROTC Military Training Certificate from La Salle Military Academy in Oakdale, Long Island, New York on June 4, 1976 as a Battalion Cadet 2nd Lieutenant. I was the Commanding Officer of the La Salle Rifles Drill Team Company who Won 2 Man, Squad, Platoon, and Overall Armed Trick Drill 1st Place Trophies in the 1976 Manhattan and Greater New York High School Drill Team Championships which was the best experience of my life.

I attended LSMA from 1954 to 1957. I still live in Medellín Colombia. My greetings to my fellow clasmates

Thanks for the memories. I would have to agree with my classmate Mario, in that the demise of LSMA can be attributed to a loss of mission and faith. I knew the jig was up when it became a “global learning community”; more Moonie camp than Catholic school.

I am thankful for the sacrifices made by my parents to send me there, and to the Christian Brothers who educated me. Fordham and St Johns Law may have educated me, but LSMA formed me.

AMDG

The little time I spent with my classmates and on campus are on forgettable and wonderful times which will always be cheerished in my memory. Those might have seemed hard times to me but were wonderful times. Thanks to mom and dad for giving me those two good years.

Robert class of 74

Is there a way I can get in touch with Nancy Bourne Swan? I have a couple of photographs of Indian Neck Hall that would be of interest to her.
Jim Lewis

My days at La Salle were some of the most memorable times of my life. I met good, life long friends, learned a lot and shared great experiences that have helped to shape and guide my life.

Both the religious aspects taught by the Christian Brothers and military discipline (taught by US Army personnel) learned at La Salle helped to make my future college studies and my tour of duty in the US Navy much more rewarding experiences.

Living on such an awesome campus (day and night) through High School was such a unique and special experience. I don’t think that anyone other than fellow LSMA cadets can truly understand or appreciate what that experience meant, or how tight the bonds are that were formed between friends in those four years. We shared the good and the bad together and were happy and sad together as well. Now 30+ years later, many of us are still close and are more like brothers than just friends. I have no doubt that all classes feel the same closeness with their fellow cadet classmates.

Long live that line of gray!!

Live Jesus in our hearts!

Paul T. Fortunato – Class of 1974

I cannot help but agree with Robert E. I spend alot of time reliving my days at LaSalle. And there are times I wish I could go back and live those days all over, they were “BEST OF MY LIFE”. I also would like to thank my mother and father for the opportunity to attend L.S.M.A.
To all the friends I made and the alumni, you will live in my heart forever. Gotta go now I’m getting some water in my eyes.

Bless you all,
Derron H. Blackshear class of ’74

I am so happy to have found this web site! We are looking at boarding schools for our son, Christopher, Jr. & I am very curious about what happened to LaSalle. My father, David F. Palma, Jr. graduated from LaSalle. His brothers Joseph & William graduated from LaSalle also. William’s sons, Bill, Ed, Lawrence, & John were also graduates of LaSalle. I would love to know what happened to this Military Academy & what is the property used for now?

Military schools provides efficient help and support to struggling teens. La Salle Military Academy has a long history and it is a good military academy for teens.

I agree with the first paragraph above, so I will try to be as factual as possible.
Similiar to the vast majority of other people, I’ve had hard years; the two years I was at La Salle were amoung the worst. I was in the 7th and 8th grades while I was there. The 7th grade Christian Brother, had he treated children today as he treated us, would be serving a term in jail, based on newspaper articles I’ve read. My uncle warned my mother, before I was sent there, that the Christan Brothers were ham-handed in dicipline; true in several cases. To be fair, some of the other brothers were fine men and kind to me. The majority of the kids in those grades were the some of the meanest and worst bullies I’ve encountered. La Salle was where I learned that military academies are in part reform schools.
Obviously, the school was very beneficial to many of the students; I don’t understand how. The above wasn’t meant as a rant; I tried to be objective. How many postings has this site received from former students who hated the school? I’ll be surprised if my post is put on this site.

I spent the most menorable summers of my life on that campus. LaSalle was a summer day camp from late June to late August. I attended with my sisters for years, and later as a teen I worked there. I will always hold these memories as my best. I also spent a bit of time there with a boy named Michael Costello. I went to many dances there with him. 79-80? I have many photos and wonderful stories!

I had a great time at LaSalle and these are times that I will never forget. While the school is not there anymore the momories will live within all of the graduates.

Class of 1975

I happened to look up Lasalle because my daughter’s friend said he went there and he is 25. I looked up Good Ole Lasalle in Oakdale Ny and this came up.I wanted to see what year the school closed.
For the person who asked, LaSalle is now owned by St. John’s College. The grounds are still the same. The big Statue was removed and I think the boathouse is still there but I am not sure what they use it for.
My grandmother worked @ Lasalle for thity years and before she died one of the boys who graduated from there won a Chinese Auction they had.He named a Street sign on the property after her because everytime he came to visit she was still working there.That sign is now on our bulk head at our house.”Connie Smith Drive” She worked there until the last day of her life. That was her second home. She died 3 days before Christmas (1994)and one of the brothers did her service @ the Funeral home. I put all the flowers from the funeral home around her street sign and the brothers who saw it thought that was great. They later had a special mass for her at the school chapel which her family went to. I used to go there because of the parades and just because it was around the block from where I lived.I too got to work there in the cafeteria. I mean what young girl wouldn’t have loved LaSalle. All the handsome boys!!! It is still little old Oakdale the ghosttown. No more bowling alley or movie theatre in the shopping center across the street. There is a new grocery and a Wendy’s. The movie theatre is used for theatre plays. I miss hearing the marching band drums from there. I think in our attic we have about thirty years of yearbooks that my grandmother kept. I don’t know if my aunt will dig them out for me but I just wanted to share that Lasalle Military Academy was a special time and place and I am so glad my Grandmother had the brothers and boys as her extended family and I really miss those days …. Thanks to all who were nice to my Nana. She was the best and loved you guys! If Sal Randazzo is out there somewhere tell him that Connie’s granddaughter, Gina was wondering how he was doin!!! Alex if you are out there I hope you to are well! And God Bless Reno Monteforte. I still have his mass card May he RIP.
Well thanks for letting me chat away. I miss those days and that wonderful time. It is a shame it doesn’t exist today! Some of the kids today really could use the discipline and structure of school and being away from home.
Well take care!! Maybe oneday I will get to talk to some of my old friends!!
Gina

wow Gina, you really brought back some memories. Was your nana one of the ladies at the PX ? I played on the soccer team with Reno, he was a great kid from a nice family. I was in his brother Frankie’s class 87. I remember when Reno died, we all wore a band on our arms on the field to remember him. Coach Timo really liked him as did the rest of the team. I can picture him cruisin in that white sports car he had. I was in Sal Randazzo’s class as well. I havn’t been back to oakdale since I left 21 years ago. I got a sick feeling in my stomach when i heard it closed. I wasn’t the best cadet for sure, third from last in my class I think, kinda lucky to graduate really, but I did like being there, there was a pride that I’m not sure I would have had somewhere else. My fondest memory was being on the soccer field for a mid week home game. When the flag was coming down and the cadets were lined up in formation on company street, the refs would stop the game and we would all face the flag with hand on heart. The other teams didn’t seem to get it but damn I sure was proud of that.

I had a great time at LSMA and will never forget my fellow classmates and the friendships that were established during those year. I was the Capt of the La Salle Rifles the year it was formed as a company, what an experience. Fond memories that will never be forgotten.

Class of 1965

Thank you for posting this blog with phtoos. This brings me so many memories from my high school days. Even though I transferred to another school on my second year, I will never forget all the memories that I had at La Salle.

Ella

I was at LSMA only for one month on an international program to learn the english language. In that month I had the privilege to meet a lot of friends from all over the world, good teachers and the Christian Brothers as brother Paul and brother Nicholas. I shared experiences that helped me to aproach my life in a diferent way. It was disapointing to hear that the academy disapeared.

There is an interesting article with illustrations in the Feb. 09 issue of The American Organistmagazine about Frederick Bourne’s fabulous mansion, Indian Neck Hall built in Oakdale, Long Island and the organ he had installed in the ballroom. It was the largest Aeolian Organ ever built. Aelolian made it’s fortune selling residence organs to the rich and famous of the day in the early 20th century.The article is by Rollin Smith, a New York musical historian who has written extensively on the subject of organs, composers and performers. He has been residence organist at the Frick Collection in New York City.
In the 1960s I copied out the stop specification of the organ from the defunct player console in the library at Oakdale. In the 1990s when I was director of St Dunstan’s College Conference on Sacred Music in Newport, I gave the papers to recitalist, Gordon Turk when he told me Rollin Smith was doing research on the Oakdale organ. Smith used my notes in this current article.
My memory of the ballroom/chapel was that it had decent accoustics but a miserable Hammond perched in the small gallery overlook in the back of the room. Of course, it was back in the day before the miracle of digital instruments.

I had some time to “kill” so I got on the computer and decided to search out LSMA and found this great piece of work loaded with memories.
I can honestly say that the most formative part of my life was the four years at Oakdale. Upon graduation in ’51 I enlisted in the Army for three years. When I took Basic at Ft. Dix with the 39 Inf Regt I was very aprehensive about it, having heard all those horror stories from the WW 2 Vets. While the physcical exertion was difficult I found the dicipline end of “boot camp” a piece of cake compared to LSMA. I remember commenting to some of my GI buddies when they would complain, that they didnt have a clue as what real Chicken S%&t was like. I wound up my three year enlistment stationed in Wash. D.C. by way of 16 months in combat in Korea. This was followed by a 55 year career in Banking that started with assignments repossessing cars in Harlem and Bed Stuy. It ended abruptly in January of this year with being laid off as a result of “job elimination” Not a happy ending career wise but hey, I milked it for more than a half of a century. Between Social Security and unemployment compensation I will keep me and the wife in Beer and pretzels.

What I want to say now, as I approach my 76th Birthday, is that the years at La Salle was where, for better or for worse, I was formed. I get somewhat emotional when I reflect back on those four years. I have lived through combat, the death of my only son, two marriages, Sept 11th where my oldest daugther Terry had do go 47 flights of stairs in her stocking feet to hit the ground floor and get out with only five minutes befor it came down. I have had to face my short comings and realize that some of my decisions/actions were more self serving (selfish actually !)than they should have been.

But through it all I have always been able to look at my self and admit when I screwed up and move into damage control mode. La Salle made all of us Realist’s. You can call your self an optimist or a pessimist, but when push comes to shove you know who and what you are. I dont know about the rest of you, but for my part, I am at peace with myself and ready for the twilight. La Salle formed all of us. I thank my parents, my fellow Cadets, the “monks”,and the good LORD above for all of it.

May God bless each and everyone of you. And you guys from the class of ’51…”Stay loose, the best is yet to come…remember you guys, when one door closes the good Lord opens another one.”

Your all in my prayers, “every day !”

Tom Powers

I attended LSMA 1961-1965 and have many fond memories.I revisited the campus in 2000, just before the official closing the next year.The place was starting to show it’s age.
Saw a comment from Pete Drower, would sure like to hear from
him..

I was a student at La Salle, class of 1999. Probobly the last graduating class before the school was sold. My Uncle Brother Nicholas Picciano was also a Chritian Brother and lived most of his life on the La Salle Oakdale campus. He beleived that the school could have been saved and so did I.
I would like to start an organization to fund the purchase of the school back. It is such a wonderful place to learn with fond memories for everyone that ever stepped foot on the campus. I as well as many alumni wish that they could send their children to school here. We feel that we can make it happen.

Nice to revisit this page and see comments from some of my classmates.

While LSMA was an important part of my youth I don’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about it. I’m not a guy who longs for the days of his youth all that much. I’m much happier at this stage of my life.

I would say on the whole LSMA was a good experience, particularly educationally. I would also have to agree that, for better or worse, it formed me to the person I am today. In spite of myself I do indeed feel bound to that “Long Gray Line.”

While Guy has a nice thought(and he is not alone amont the alumni in his dream) of buying the property and reinventing LSMA, I wonder how realistic it is. IMHO the decline of LSMA parallels the decline of the Christian Brothers. The whole economic model of the school was based on most of the labor being done by brothers who worked essentially for room and board. As the pool of available brothers dwindled and aged, this economic model was no longer viable. Therefore even if you bought the property, you probably couldn’t afford to staff it properly.

LSMA was a great school in its day but all things, alas, must pass. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.

I attended Lasalle from 1967-1971 and have always had great memories of those days at LSMA. I was part of the LaSlle Rifles and the Drama club. It was really a great time. I look forward to hearing from any classmates or any graduates from that era. Regards to all!

Louis Hurtado
Class of “71”

It’s great to see this here. memorizing some early year memories!! thanks!!

graduated in 1974. i posted many pics from 1973 and 74 on Facebook. look me up at TommyG33428@yahoo.com and add me as a friend on Facebook.

LaSalle Academy was a pivotal change in my life. I remember Gerald Harris, Michael Mays, Jeff Gordon among others. I remember Brother Willie Mann as Commandant of Cadets – strang fellow.
What I remember most was the discipline and focus that was commanded of everyone to do their best – which has stuck with me all my life.
I have often visited the campus and clearly visualize where I used to stand on the parade grounds and where I ate in the mess hall. As recently as last year, the school hallway is still the same with the same carpeting in good condition – its amazing!
I often have tried to bring my son to the school to see and only once got him to do so. Now, at 19, he is off to UCLA – never more interested in what once was. I guess he now has his own past.
I cherish every memory and am thankful that I was one of the few that attended and graduated from this school – despite all the interesting challenges that were put before me.

I attended LSMA for my freshman and sophomore year 1972-1974. I have nothing but great memories of Lasalle and the great education I received. My brother Paul was there for his freshman year. I went on to serve in the Marines and my brother Paul served in the Navy.

I was in D Company and the D&B Company as best I can recollect- Brother William Mann was the prefect of D Company. If any of the following read this I would like to hear from them and anyone else who was a part of my LSMA memories: George Daniels, Jim DiCarlo, Frank Cannon, Takoa Yamada, John Dagher, Joe Spilabotte, and John Roe…..

Thanks for the aeriel photo…I can remember the well-worn path to the beach to get sand for one of my many screw-ups.

What can I say about the academy that hasn’t been said before. It was a fine institution whose lessons taught, if accepted, would never be lost over time. Reading over the various posts bought back a lot of old memories, both good and bad. Yes, it was a tough institution which one was not protected by their parents and one had to find his way in order to prosper and survive. Yes, there were bullies, and yes, some of the brothers were less than what one would expect. But that is key. It was one’s expectations that would mold your experience whilst there. Therefore my post is more of a response to those who would negatively portray LaSalle as an institution.

As I said before, bullies and less than adequate teachers were to be found at that institution. So what did that mean? In a roundabout way, you were given a sample of what the world would offer: are there not bullies and people who would fail to meet your standards in the real world? But in that environment, you would learn to deal with these issues that would arise in your adult life. You were also taught the consistency of discipline, as well as the value of independent thought. You learned to be able to work with people from various cultural backgrounds, and although at the time it’s importance and value may have been lost to one’s youthful consciousness, it nevertheless exposed us to the multicultural spectrum that the globe offers as others at the time may not have been able to have been exposed or may have sadly not wanted to due to racist or xenophobic feelings. Their loss.

One cannot also argue about the quality of education received. The Teacher/Student ration (1:15 if memory serves me correctly) ensured that we were given the attention necessary to be able to compete with others in a global sense. When one looks at the state of public eduction today or the general apathy demonstrated by today’s collegians regarding subjects outside of their sphere of interest {usually politics (local/domestic/geopolitical), science, and civil service} one must thank an institution like LaSalle who exposed one to all these disciplines and more. We left with a more well rounded educational and social basis to build from than others.

I know my experience at LaSalle has helped me as a man.As fortune would have it, I eventually did join the military, rose through the ranks and would see duty in far distant lands (culminating in a tour of duty in Iraq – OIF III). I’ve seen the birth of a nation and been there for their first elections. I have led men under combat conditions, dealt with situations that I am sure most people never deal with. I have had to overcome language and cultural barriers in order to work with the Iraqis. And although the Army taught me the lessons and skills I needed to do my job, the foundation and basis for all of my success were the lessons and experiences that I was given at LaSalle.

It is sad to see a great institution as such end. But my friends, as with empires, nothing lasts forever.

I’d like to say hello to all my fellow staff members as well as my former students. I hope all of you are well. I’v been teaching fourth grade at a private school in Westhampton since the close of LaSalle in 2001 and loving it. I now have four grandchildren ranging in age from seventeen to eighteen months. They are a joy.

I will always remember the special days at LaSalle when the entire school would get together, break up into groups, and participate in fun activities. Also, I remember the student/staff Broadway fashion show we put on, directed by the parents. Lots of fun.

Keep well.
Barbara Carroll,
Fourth Grade Teacher, ’95-’01