9th Noteworthy D. Austin Sniffen Medal of Honor Acceptance Speech By Anthony M. Cuomo, D.D.S. (The following speech was presented by Dr. Anthony Cuomo at his acceptance speech as the 2018 D. Austin Sniffen Medal of Honor recipient at the Westchester Marriott on Wednesday, September 12, 2018.) Mr. President, elected officers, Fellow members, staff and honored guests, I am humbled and honored to have been chosen as this year’s recipient of the D. Austin Sniffen Medal of Honor award. I wish to thank the Medal Committee for their vote of confidence by giving me this honor... Your Ninth District is a vibrant and healthy arm of the NYS Dental Association…this has only been made possible by the selfless dedication of your present and past officers, many of whom I have had the pleasure of serving with. It is they, whom I should be sharing this award with because no one person functions within this organization as an individual. I must extend a very special thank you to my wife Patricia for her unending love and support. Without Patricia, there would be a different person standing here, if I would be here at all. She has been a phenomenal partner in every way a husband can hope for. She is the person who made the sacrifices during my years of service to this organization. She never once tried to stand in the way of my attending countless meetings at her expense. Without her sacrifices, and without her standing by my side all this time, the man before you would be a lesser person. I have been blessed several times during my life. The first is my marriage to Patricia now approaching our 50th year anniversary. The next blessing was the births of our four children, Anthony, Christopher, Matthew, and Nicole. I am pleased that they all are able to be here today, joined with their respective spouses, Shelley, Kathleen and Andrew. The bond of love between a parent and child is an unbreakable one no matter how often it is challenged, this is why I am happy to say that not only do I love them all unconditionally,…they are 16 BULLETIN NINTH DISTRICT DENTAL ASSOCIATION also my best friends and confidants. And now those special blessings, my grandchildren. Most of them are here today. For those of you who are not aware,...I have 12 grandchildren. McKenna, or Mac as she is affectionately called almost exclusively by me, Kaylee, Christopher Jr. (better known as CJ), Ashley, Nicholas, Macey, Kylie, Caden, Olivia, Kiera, Lincoln, and Carson. With 12 of them, every time you turn around someone is having a birthday. This month is certainly no exception, so please join me in wishing happy birthday to two of them. Olivia who just celebrated her ninth birthday earlier this month and to McKenna who will turn 17 at the end of this month. I also want to introduce the other people seated with us today. These people have been a large part of my life and the lives of my family for many years. Here with us today is Dan and Karen Doyle. I met Dr. Daniel Doyle in the mid 70’s when he was a dental student at Fairleigh Dickenson and I was a resident at Lincoln Hospital, which was located in what was then called the “Fort Apache” section of the Bronx. I had the privilege of seeing their four sons grow into fine young men; presently they are starting families of their own. Karen and Dan’s sons always referred to me as their “Uncle Tony”….Now the oldest of their grandchildren also refers to me as "Uncle Tony". Dan served six years as a 9th Board of Governor. But even more remarkably, Dan is the President of the Board of Health for Putnam County and has been a Member of the Board of Health for 30 years…. For the past 6 years, he has been involved with the Haitian Health Foundation. He has traveled with them at his own expense to Haiti to provide dental services to those in need. Dan continues to practice general dentistry in Carmel NY with his