On Feb. 9, 1982, two armed invaders burst into a home in Roslyn Heights where five women were playing mah-jongg. Wielding a gun and an ax, they robbed, handcuffed and threatened the quintet with death before eventually leaving, their identities never definitively known.

One of those women. Paula Broxmeyer at the time, Paula Geonie after a divorce and remarriage, found a way to fight back — not in that terrifying moment but shortly afterward, as the founder of multiple organizations dedicated to victims and to teaching children how to recognize and react to danger. Her efforts would lead to accolades from far beyond Long Island’s shores.

"The weekend I met her, we made plans to go out the following week," remembered her husband, Rob Geonie, of Commack, "but then she couldn't go because, s

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