It happened more than 50 years ago, yet people can’t stop talking about the New York World’s Fair that took place in Flushing Meadow from 1964 to 1965.
Lou Purdy of Round Mountain, Nevada, recalls growing up in St. James the Apostle parish in Carmel, N.Y., and coming down to Queens for the Fair. His father, Joseph V. Purdy, was a manager of the Vatican Pavilion. Lou’s mother, June, who currently lives in Florida, was born and raised in Flatbush.
“I and my twin brother Larry stayed at the Pavilion for several days with Dad and were given the great privilege of looking closely and actually feeling the texture of the Pieta,” says Lou.
“It was almost unbelieveable – like I was living in another world. I had to stand up on a step ladder to touch it. My father told me not to pull on anything.
“The delicacy of the statue was just amazing. I remember thinking to myself how could anyone have done something like this so many years ago.”
His father oversaw many facets of the construction, maintenance and demolition of the Vatican Pavilion and also provided security for the Pieta.
Lou says his Dad, who died in 2008, became friendly with Msgr. Joseph Lahey and Msgr. John Gorman, who were the diocesan directors of the Pavilion. He also got to know Bishop Bryan McEntegart and had photos taken with Cardinal Francis X. Spellman.
About the visit of Pope Paul VI to the Fair site, Lou says, “Dad was very busy. There was a lot of security and no one felt the least bit vulnerable.”
Lou recalls that he only visited the Fair once but it was a week-long stay and during that time he and his brother lived in a back room of the Vatican Pavilion.
“It was comfortable and we knew we were close to God,” says Lou.
“My Dad gave us each $20 and we went everywhere,” he remembers. He mentions the Dinosaur Park, It’s a Small World exhibit, GM’s Futurama and the Monorail.
He even had a chance meeting with his second grade teacher, Sister Rita Therese, who was touring the Fair.
“It was like surreal being there. But we were,” he says. “The World’s Fair was a projection of the future. A lot of things came true and others didn’t.”
It was in the 1970s that the family moved West to Wyoming. Lou worked as an electrician and later in construction. He then resettled in Nevada where he works for a mining firm.
He resides in a small town of Round Mountain, where he and wife helped design and build St. Barbara’s Mission Church in 1992.
A priest comes by on Saturday for Mass. The closest Sunday Mass is 55 miles away.
He maintains his membership in the Knights of Columbus and is a third degree card-carrying member.
Although he hasn’t been back to New York in about 20 years, he remembers flying into LaGuardia Airport and seeing the Fairgrounds from the air.
“I could see the Unisphere. It was so well-built. It looks like it’s still in such good shape.”
Fifty years later, the World’s Fair in Queens is just a memory, a historical fact for others and something that probably will never be duplicated.
“It was the time of our lives and we will never forget it,” concludes Lou.
