South Farmingdale vigil honors Peter Morris, Vietnam War vet killed in crash

Although he didn't know Peter Morris, Joseph Minieri stood in the frigid cold Tuesday evening in South Farmingdale to honor his fellow Vietnam veteran, who died in a vehicle crash Friday moments after attending a Veterans Day celebration at his granddaughter's elementary school.

Before Minieri, 75, and a Navy veteran, took to the podium outside the main entrance of Woodward Parkway Elementary School in South Farmingdale, near where Morris' SUV was hit by an allegedly stolen Nissan, the Farmingdale resident said he was “happy” to see more than 300 people at a vigil to honor and remember Morris on Veterans Day.

“It’s very good … to see the whole community out to understand what his sacrifice was for our country,” Minieri told Newsday on Tuesday evening. “The ultimate sacrifice that men and women give to this country is when they join the service.”

Morris, 80, and an Army veteran from South Farmingdale, died on Friday after Randy Colon, 24, of Hicksville, allegedly crashed a stolen 2013 Nissan into Morris’ SUV on Woodward Parkway just in front of the school, Newsday previously reported.

Colon pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, criminal possession of stolen property, grand larceny and leaving the scene of an incident resulting in death, Newsday reported. He is scheduled to return to court Wednesday, and is represented by the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County.

Minieri and the others in attendance listened as students at the elementary school sang patriotic songs and recited poems.

“I do believe that he ended his life on a high note, a nice little lunch with his favorite people in the world and a hug from his granddaughter,” Morris' eldest daughter, Suzanne Rysanek, told the crowd gathered for the vigil.

“He probably sat in his car, started it up and said to himself, ‘That was an amazing morning,’ ” Rysanek continued. "And after that moment, he just saw his wife’s face welcoming him into heaven. That’s it. He knew nothing else.”

Morris’ grandson, also named Peter Morris, said he will remember his grandfather as “a kind man who had faced and endured lots of hardships as a young man.”

“My grandfather lived for his family,” Morris said, sporting his grandfather’s "Vietnam Veteran" cap. “Whenever his grandchildren had events or activities, he was always there. He was also never afraid to strike up a conversation with a stranger and to share a smile, to show his humor, or pull out photos of his grandchildren.”

Patrick Klocek, principal of Woodward Parkway Elementary School, said he sat next to the elder Morris on Friday and “could tell that he was having a wonderful time.” When Morris’ granddaughter saw him in her school that day, Klocek said, the young girl “spilled into his lap.”

“You could tell that that was a place that she spent so much time, probably a place that she felt most loved and most safe and most seen in the world,” Klocek told the crowd. “I got to see the look on his face in that moment, and the word joy doesn’t really capture it. In that moment … he looked complete.”