Peter Di Mento honored for work at Islip's Scully Estate
Peter Di Mento, 88, volunteers at the historic Scully Estate in Islip, performing tasks ranging from clearing trails with chainsaws to repairing birdhouses. Credit: Enrico Nardone
An Islip volunteer was recently recognized for his work maintaining a local nature preserve that he fell in love with decades ago.
Peter Di Mento, 88, has performed tasks ranging from repairing birdhouses to clearing trails with weed wackers and chainsaws within the historic Scully Estate in Islip. The 70-acre estate is managed by the nonprofit Seatuck Environmental Association through a partnership with the Suffolk County Parks Department. It is open to the public and includes a mix of habitats including salt marsh and freshwater wetlands, Di Mento said.
He is a member of the estate’s board of directors and chairman of its building and grounds committee, which consists of about seven retirees who care for the land. The committee’s responsibilities include pothole repairs, weekly lawn maintenance and setting up for events that include festivals and fundraisers, he said.
Di Mento was honored for his work in January with an Outstanding Suffolk County Nonprofit Volunteer Award in the district represented by Suffolk Legis. Steven Flotteron (R-Brightwaters).
“As far as I’m concerned, it was the whole committee that got the award in recognition of what we do,” Di Mento said. Of volunteering at the Scully Estate, he said: “My wife and I had lived in the area for something like 20 years and didn’t know what was inside those gates, so we went to take a look and fell in love with the place. And it’s right around the corner from our home, so it made it very easy for us.”
Di Mento said he and his wife, Noreen, first visited when they volunteered to help clean up the property following its 2004 sale to Suffolk County from the National Audubon Society.
Before volunteering, he spent 38 years working in the Brentwood school district, where he was principal of multiple elementary schools until his 1996 retirement.
“Peter is the epitome of an outstanding nonprofit volunteer. . . [and] deserves this recognition for all he contributes to Seatuck,” Flotteron said. “The property is meticulously maintained because of his exceptional detail and direction.”
The estate’s executive director, Enrico Nardone, also praised Di Mento as “tireless” and “unbelievable.”
“He’s been the glue that keeps them together,” Nardone said of Di Mento’s impact on the building and grounds committee. “He truly does anything and everything. He’s just a great guy to be around.”
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
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