Daily News from New York, New York • 1095

Friday, June 10, 1988 DAILY NEWS MJ 3 ddDd By KEITH MOORE should not have to make," Community Board 12 Chairman Maria Luna said. Added James Berlin, the board's transportation chairman, "Service above 137th SL is annoying enough without having to go through this." New train eyed Under the plan, which involves only passengers traveling north of 116th the four stops to be skipped are 125th, 157th, 207th and 225th Sts. They would be served by a one stop to their destination may have to go downtown to get uptown, she added. Shopping area Berlin said the TA is ignoring the fact that Dyekman SL is a major area for shopping and that the 225th SL stop will become increasingly important with the opening of a new hospital. But the TA said in its presentation to the board's transportation committee Wednesday night that the new 9 train, which would skip five stops, too: 145th, 181st, Dyekman, 215th and 238th Sts.

"They (the TA) said the system worked in Philadelphia and Chicago, but what they don't understand is that this is New York," Luna said. She pointed out that there are a number of passengers making bus transfers into the Bronx for example, from 145th and 157th St. who would be inconvenienced by the plan. Passengers who are riding new service would "make (the line) more attractive to both existing and potential riders." Pointing to ridership trends, a TA official said there-was greater growth south of 96th SL than north of iL "Skip-stop express service would provide a more marketable service," the official added. Local board officials said they intend to press their case with the TA.

Daily News Staff Writer A plan by the Transit Authority to bring "speeded up" express service on the Broadway-Seventh Ave. line by skipping four stops is not going over very well in the Washington Heights-Inwood section. No sooner had the plan, which is set to go into effect in August, been unveiled than local officials were finding fault with it. "It will force people to make connections they v-: mm lllll By JOHN LEWIS i ONLY A CENTURY: Mary Kelly Stevenson, 105, is admired by her great-granddaughter. Heather, 5, who is held by her father, Roger Stevenson.

MMM ERWITT DAILY NEWS i Tracing roots. Ellis Island Daiiy News Staff writer An anonymous donor has given $3.5 million to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx to further research in diabetes through the establishment of a Diabetes Research Center and the endowment of a chair in diabetes research at Yeshiva University. Dr. Dominick Purpura, Einstein's dean, said the new center "will greatly aid biomedical studies of health problems related to diabetes." Some 12 mil-lion Americans suffer from the disease. Heading the new research center will be Dr.

Norman Fleischer, head of Einstein's Division of Endocrinology. The center will use state-of-the-art advances in basic research in an intensive effort among several departments to understand the causes and complications of diabetes. "I think the availability of these funds will enable us to do several things," Fleischer said. "It will enable us to expand the research effort that we have been making, and allow us to attract additional faculty. It gives us increased flexibility to allow us to do the most intensive research that we can." Einstein is one of 12 medical facilities nationwide that is funded by the National Institutes of Health to do basic research on diabetes.

"You can't compefe for these funds unless you have a strong research program and a high-class faculty," Fleischer said." Diabetes is a leading cause of blindness in persons younger than 65 and of kidney failure, premature heart attacks and strokes and poor blood circulation in others. across America to become as familiar with their heritage as Mary Stevenson is with hers. Computer records The project is the $25 million Ellis Island Family History Center, which, when it opens in 1992, will give visitors access to a computer containing the original ships manifest records on some 17 million immigrants processed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. Those wishing to research their family tree will be able simply to type the name of their immigrant ancestor onto a computer screen and call up information on how old the person was, their occupation, port of embarkation, and the names and ages of other family members and companions who were with them on board the ship. "People will learn how they became Americans," said Philip president of the Ellis Island tion Commission: tfThey wilr be able to learn fascinating details that can bring to life what may have only been a dim memory or a lost family tie." In a ceremony on the rain-soaked island yesterday.

Lax read a letter from President Reagan in which he called Ellis Island "the golden door to their (immigrants') pursuit of hopes and dreams in America. .1 can't think of a kinder gift to the family of America than the Family History Center." For a small fee. visitors to the center will be able to buy a printed copy of the immigration records they call up on a screen. Margaret O'Connell Middleton. 72.

of Tucson. got special treatment at yesterday's ceremony she received a framed copy of the ship manifest listing her mother, Annie Moore, who as a 15-year-old girl was the first immigrant processed through Ellis Island when it opened in 1892. The Ellis Restoration Com-. mission hopes to raise th, pUoa. needed to open the center in time for the island's centennial in 1992.

By JAMES HARNEY Daily News Staff Writer Mary Kelly Stevenson, 105, doesn't remember being awestruck or excited on that muggy summer day 68 years ago when she stepped from a boat from Ireland onto the cherished soil of Ellis" Island. She remembers being seasick. "My mother and I were sick all the time coming over, we only ate at the table once," Stevenson said in her thick Belfast brogue. "So we didn't really enjoy looking around or anything, we just come home as quick as we could." Stevenson's new home was Manchester, where her sister and brother-in-law already lived. Like millions of immigrants before and after her, Mary found work, settled down! raised a family and successfully pursued the American dream.

Yesterday she returned to the place where all began bringing three more generations of Stevensons 'With her te-attend the--tvelng-ef a project that will help immigrants.