Buster Leads the March in Annual St. Pat's Parade

Charles Patrick Toner, known around these parts as “Buster” will lead the march as the Grand Marshal in Kings Park’s third annual St. Patrick Day Parade on Saturday.

Toner, 78, was born in Kings Park and raised by his mother  His father died when Toner was just five, and his mom, like so many Kings Park Irish immigrants, worked in the Kings Park Psychiatric Hospital. Toner got his nickname from the doctor who delivered him and declared, “he looks like a Buster!”

“We grew up poor, but didn’t know it,” said Toner.

In a story by the Times of Smithtown, Toner said after his father died, his mother never remarried.

"She didn't want anybody else over her children," he said. "It was really tough times." Toner began working at a young age. According to the Times, Toner held jobs at Russ Savatt's barber shop, Myer Schneider's chocolate shop and later at Bob's Luncheonette on Pulaski.

He went through high school working odd jobs to help his mother and after graduation followed in her footsteps and began work in the hospital, working nights. During the day, Toner was a carpenter who eventually started his own masonry business.

In 1955, Toner married and eventually raised four children. He began working for the Town of Smithtown and became Smithtown Park Commissioner. When Toner took over the department, there were less than 15 full-time employees. By the time he retired, Toner had grown the department to more than 60 full-time employees and a dozen part-timers. Buster retired from the department in 1990.  Charles P. Toner Park in Smithtown Boulevard in Nesconset was named after him in 2011.