Mineola’s Steven Grosskopf became the most recent recipient of the John S. DaVanzo Wall of Honor Award Oct. 18.
Grosskopf is the former Scoutmaster of the village’s Troop 45, a position he retired from this August after beginning his post in 1998. He has held numerous volunteer positions at the Cub, Troop, District and Council level for the Boy Scouts.
The move comes after a committee made up of village trustees, Chamber of Commerce board members and a designated resident determined who made a lasting impact on the Village of Mineola.
The wall, established in 2015 and named after DaVanzo, the longtime Mineola official nicknamed “Mr. Mineola,” honored first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic last year. Other members include Lou Sanders, Ed Smith, Stanley Krause, Robert Hinck and Lou Santosus.
Last year Ann Galante, Mineola’s first female trustee, mayor and former receiver of taxes for the Town of North Hempstead, posthumously received the John S. DaVanzo Wall of Honor Award.
Grosskopf, who has logged over 40 years in the Boy Scouts, also spent two years as president of the Theodore Roosevelt Council, beginning in 2015.
He is the vice president of Colortone Audio Visual in White Plains and previously told Blank Slate Media he credits the Boy Scouts program with giving him the leadership skills he applies professionally.
A dinner in Grosskopf’s honor was held at Jonathan’s Restaurant on Jericho Turnpike in New Hyde Park, where many of the scoutmaster’s former scouts and their families spoke on how the experience under Grosskopf’s guidance changed their lives, according to the Mineola Chamber of Commerce.
As part of the award, a black-and-silver plaque of Grosskopf will be on the wall in the village hall lobby where DaVanzo once sat at a desk and greeted those who came in.
DaVanzo was a Mineola resident his entire life, graduating from Mineola High School in 1938 before serving on the USS Glennon from 1943 to 1946, during which he survived D-Day.
In 1947, DaVanzo joined the Mineola Volunteer Fire Department, serving as captain of Engine Company 1 from 1953 to 1955. He received the National Volunteer Firefighter of the Year award in 2004 and was named an honorary chief in 2007.
DaVanzo served a total of 43 years as a village trustee, deputy mayor, North Hempstead town councilman and town clerk combined as well as being named New York State Clerk of the Year in 1986.
