Dix Hills Park Renamed After First Female Huntington Supervisor

DIX HILLS, NY — Dix Hills Park will be renamed in memory of the Town of Huntington’s first woman supervisor, Antonia "Toni" P. Rettaliata-Tepe, and her husband, Philip H. Tepe, at a remote town board meeting on Tuesday.

A resolution renaming Dix Hills Park was introduced by Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci on what would have been Rettaliata-Tepe's 76th birthday. Philip Tepe served on the Veterans Advisory Board and was commissioner of the Dix Hills Fire Department. The couple died less than three weeks apart in spring.

The park's new name has yet to be determined, but it will retain "Dix Hills Park," according to the Town.

"Supervisor Rettaliata’s election, first to the State Assembly in 1979 and then to the Town Supervisor’s office at the age of 43 in 1987, broke a glass ceiling decades ago for all women who aspire to achieve great things in public service," Lupinacci stated according to a news release. "Antonia ‘Toni’ Rettaliata-Tepe and Philip H. Tepe are deserving of recognition matching their decades-long devotion and dedication to the greater Huntington community and our country. It is only fitting that a place in Dix Hills, where they called home, is reserved for their legacies to thrive and grow in the years to come."

Councilman Eugene Cook was one of those who supported the resolution for the renaming, saying he was "honored" to do so.

"Phil and Toni have both dedicated their lives to public service to the betterment to the Town of Huntington," Cook said. "This dedication will allow not only their family, friends and members of the Dix Hills Fire District to have a place to remember and honor Phil and Toni, but for other families to enjoy the beautiful park and learn about how they can serve their community."

Rettaliata-Tepe was described by the Town as a "trailblazing public servant" who represented the 10th Assembly District in the New York State Assembly from 1979 through 1987. She was only the third woman to hold that seat in the tradition of Huntington suffragette Ida Bunce Sammis, who was the first woman elected to serve in the state legislature.

Rettaliata-Tepe secured the first $31,000 in funding that allowed former Town Clerk Jo-Ann Raia to build the award-winning and history-making Huntington Town Clerk’s Archives and Records Center.

Elected as Toni Rettaliata in 1987 as the first woman to hold the office of supervisor of the Town of Huntington when the term of office was only two years, her noteworthy accomplishments included establishing the Town of Huntington Veterans Advisory Board, on which her beloved Phil later served, and the Huntington Area Rapid Transit "HART" bus system.

Philip H. Tepe is described as "an American patriot with decades of service to his country and community" as a Vietnam veteran, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Nathan Hale Post 1469, and a member of the Town of Huntington Veterans Advisory Board. He was commissioner of the Dix Hills Fire District, of which he was an ex-chief, Badge #207 and 52-year member of Engine Company 2. He served as a Suffolk County deputy fire coordinator and a Town of Huntington fire marshal.

At its Tuesday meeting, the Town also renamed Gateway Plaza for prominent African American resident Paul H. Johnson, Sr. and ceremoniously renamed the Town "Hauntington" for the third year.

Johnson Sr. was a lifelong resident and community leader who was a Huntington High School Class of 1948 track star, Korean War United States Army paratrooper and member and leader of the Evergreen Missonary Baptist Church. He died in February at the age of 90.