Author Archives: Jon Dogar-Marinesco

I’m Manuela Michailescu. I served four years as your Town of Rochester Councilwoman, currently I’m a member of the Town’s Youth Commission. Why am I running? I’m doing it for the right reason: I have a genuine desire to serve … Continue reading →

May 9, 1980 is a day I cannot ever forget. A week after leaving Romania for good, I was approaching North America on a Pan Am flight out of Istanbul, Turkey. My first transatlantic flight, with an airline still alive … Continue reading →

Transforming a problem into an opportunity results in excellent ideas, products, or marketing solutions. A muddy trail which could not be used by the Youth Department for this year’s Easter Egg Hunt led to the idea of using, with great … Continue reading →

Easter is my preferred celebration. For over thirty years now I attended the Easter service at Saint Mary’s Romanian Orthodox Church in Queens, New York. I love to look up and see my father’s name, Luca, looking down from the … Continue reading →

I’m being Manuela because my father chose this name for me. It means “God with us.” Here we are together in this Christmas 1953 photograph: my father, myself, and my doll. A political prisoner from 1959 till 1964, my father … Continue reading →