Town to Rename Dix Hills Park for Toni and Phil Tepe

The Town Board voted Tuesday to rename Dix Hills Park for Toni and Phil Tepe, a couple who served Huntington for decades until their deaths three weeks apart earlier this year.

The vote came after Town Councilman Mark Cuthbertson objected and said the park should be named for one-time Supervisor Robert Flynn, who established the park system, including Dix Hills Park and Crab Meadow golf course.

He suggested that Caledonia Park be renamed for the Tepes and Councilwoman Joan Cergol also objected, saying the honor for one supervisor shouldn’t be given at the expense of another.  But they were outvoted.

Town Supervisor Chad Lupinacci noted that Tuesday would have been Toni Tepe’s 76th birthday, and that as the town’s first woman supervisor, was deserving of the honor of having the park named for her.

Tepe, who led the Republican Town Committee, died April 8 after battling cancer. She was served what was then a two-year term as supervisor, from 1988-89, and previously served in the state assembly.

Her husband, Phil, died three weeks earlier after a heart attack. He was a Vietnam veteran, active in veterans’ affairs, and served as commissioner of the Dix Hills Fire Department, with 52 years in the department.

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