May 2011 (11)

From Rima Gitlin Faber (Wolff)

Classmates,

It is interesting to see, in your news flashes, that many of us are progressing to the stage of grandparentism, social security benefits, Medicare and, for some, retirement - an instant bond. In spite of the great variety in the progression of our lives, whether wealthy in relationships, professional pursuits, experiences, or finances, we can all share the wealth Great Neck High gave us in education. In my encounters, I am constantly amazed at the level of intelligence and competence of graduates from Great Neck High, in our class and in other age levels. My daughter is teaching high school in a school district that is happy it is now fourth from the bottom instead of the worst of the 17,000 school districts in the United States. I can't begin to tell you the difference between that education and the start in life that we all received!!

I hope all of you have found fulfillment in your path. I hope you come to the Reunion as I, as one of many, would love to learn about it. If your journey has been difficult (mine included), come to find acceptance and appreciation for life's struggles. We have all lived enough of life to know them.

With best wishes to everyone for health and happiness in 2011.

From Richard Hartstein

I am alive and well in tropical Fort Lauderdale since 1975.

I am just returned from my 3rd cruise this year and had a great time.

I still work full time for a very big company Stanley Black and Decker in the tool division. I did retire for about 10 years back in the late 80's to about 1997 and so far getting full SS and a nice paycheck keeps me out of trouble most of the time.

Both my daughters are here in South Florida and so are my 2 very young grandsons

Here is a picture taken on this cruise to the Bahamas Dec 2010

Happy New Year

Richard Hartstein feeling good and looking better.

From Joan Rever Wenzel

hi all

have been living in palm beach since 1987 and working as a realtor

Have a daughter and 2 grandsons living in Miami. My daughter is with Allen Wenzel who sadly passed away 2 years ago after a heart transplant

Although we were divorced remained very good friends i have a significant other for many years. Can’t believe so many years have passed since our days at great neck high

From David Haber

As a gerontologist I couldn’t possibly miss the 50th reunion. There are other motivations to attend as well. I am retiring at the end of the academic year and will need some pep talks from those who have gone through the process. It is my turn to follow my wife’s career—she got a wonderful job as a clinical nurse specialist in geriatrics at Salem Hospital in Oregon--and at my age it sounds better to be retired than unemployed. We always wanted to retire in the Northwest, and this is a good way to make the transition. The other motivation to attend the 50th? Perhaps some of you live in Salem or Portland. I will need to make new friends.

Update from March: guess I won’t be retiring after all. I will join the faculty (in the psychology department, which is starting up a gerontology program next year) at Western Oregon University, just outside of Salem, where my wife will be a geriatric nurse specialist at the hospital (one reason we are moving; the other, Oregon is beautiful). Nice to know I am still employable at the tender age of 66.

Mellon Gregori Tytell

Mellon recently updated her postal address information including her website: www.mellontytell.com

From Ellen Diner Nelson

Ellen and her husband recently relocated to Boynton Beach, FL.

Long ago and far away, in a land that time forgot,

Before the days of Dylan , or the dawn of Camelot.

There lived a race of innocents, and they were you and me,

For Ike was in the White House in that land where we were born,

Where navels were for oranges, and Peyton Place was porn.

We learned to gut a muffler, we washed our hair at dawn,

We spread our crinolines to dry in circles on the lawn...

We longed for love and romance, and waited for our Prince,

And Eddie Fisher married Liz , and no one's seen him since.

We danced to 'Little Darlin,' and sang to 'Stagger Lee'

And cried for Buddy Holly in the Land That Made Me, Me.

Only girls wore earrings then, and 3 was one too many,

And only boys wore flat-top cuts, except for Jean McKinney.

And only in our wildest dreams did we expect to see

A boy named George with Lipstick, in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We fell for Frankie Avalon , Annette was oh, so nice,

And when they made a movie, they never made it twice..

We didn't have a Star Trek Five, or Psycho Two and Three,

Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty in the Land That Made Me, Me.

Miss Kitty had a heart of gold, and Chester had a limp,

And Reagan was a Democrat whose co-star was a chimp.

We had a Mr. Wizard, but not a Mr. T,

And Oprah couldn't talk yet, in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We had our share of heroes, we never thought they'd go,

At least not Bobby Darin, or Marilyn Monroe.

For youth was still eternal, and life was yet to be,

And Elvis ;was forever in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We'd never seen the rock band that was Grateful to be Dead,

And Airplanes weren't named Jefferson , and Zeppelins were not Led.

And Beatles lived in gardens then, and Monkees lived in trees,

Madonna was Mary in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We'd never heard of microwaves, or telephones in cars,

And babies might be bottle-fed, but they were not grown in jars.

And pumping iron got wrinkles out, and 'gay' meant fancy-free,

And dorms were never co-ed in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We hadn't seen enough of jets to talk about the lag,

And microchips were what was left at the bottom of the bag.

And hardware was a box of nails, and bytes came from a flea,

And rocket ships were fiction in the Land That Made Me, Me.

Buicks came with portholes, and side shows came with freaks,

And bathing suits came big enough to cover both your cheeks.

And Coke came just in bottles, and skirts below the knee,

And Castro came to power near the Land That Made Me, Me.

We had no Crest with Fluoride, we had no Hill Street Blues,

We had no patterned pantyhose or Lipton herbal tea

Or prime-time ads for those dysfunctions in the Land That Made Me, Me.

There were no golden arches, no Perrier to chill,

And fish were not called Wanda, and cats were not called Bill.

And middle-aged was 35 and old was forty-three,

And ancient were our parents in the Land That Made Me, Me.

But all things have a season, or so we've heard them say,

And now instead of Maybelline we swear by Retin-A.

They send us invitations to join AARP,

We've come a long way, baby, from the Land That

Made Me, Me.

So now we face a brave new world in slightly larger jeans,

And wonder why they're using smaller print in magazines.

And we tell our children's children of the way it used to be,

Long ago and far away in the Land That Made Me, Me.

From Steve and Steffi Waldenberg Weiss

Steffi and I are receiving your newsletters, and enjoying them. I haven't retired yet. We have ne earthshaking news, or even news of grandchildren. Our two boys are doing fine, having years ago moved back to the East Coast for college, and they stayed there. Jonathon lives in Arlington, MA and works for his (and my) Alma Mater, MIT. He's still a bachelor, but seriously dating a lovely girl. Jeremy is married and lives and works in Columbia, MD. All are well.

Steffi and I went to Italy last spring, and had a wonderful time. We both love traveling and plan to keep doing that sort of thing every year as long as we can.

From Chris Cusumano

I'm not sure this is news, but, I did finish an almost 33 year career as the Organist and Director of Chapel Music at the US Merchant Marine Academy, in January of 2010, just a year ago.

I also finished a 44 year career as a teacher, ending as an adjunct professor of English, ethics, and public speaking at the Academy.

I am now a volunteer at the North Shore Animal League in Port Washington, working with puppies, and loving every minute of it.

Lived in Huntington since 1967.

From Evy Waldes Epstein

Jerry and I are renting a lovely apartment in Sunny Isles Beach, FL for 2 months.

We drove down after Christmas, and will drive back to Framingham, MA the end of February.

A 50th reunion sounds good to me!

My sister just sold the GN house last year to become a full time Florida resident. I haven't been back to GN since. So this will be a good excuse to drive by the old house.

Jerry has two boys, married with 2 children each. One lives in CA, one in NJ

I have a son, married with 3 children. Lives in MA.

I love being a grandmother. I sing baritone in a Sweet Adeline Chorus. I gave up skiing for beaching.

Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

From Steve Wasserman

I retired two times. First at age 62. Then went back to work and retired officially at 65. Keep busy swimming, traveling, grandkids and back and forth between NYC apartment and my house in East Hampton. I am enjoying life, feel great and trying to make each day count.

Carol Norris Foord

The following was in answer to my question that Carol explain her rather interesting email address.

I happen to be passionate about NH's stonewalls and cellar holes (and other manmade stoneworks)...vocalizing the need to preserve them, so we can learn to read the stories in the rocks emplaced by our forefathers 170 years ago. I give walking tours to "Shawtown!"....an 1800s abandoned neighborhood of 10 families (known in the 1800s as School District #8), one school house and small graveyard, long abandoned, the cellars now hidden in the forests today...two of the cellar holes have been filled in the last five years. Shawtown is in Freedom, where I live.

It's become a part of my job as a teacher-naturalist with Tin Mountain Conservation Center in Albany, NH to teach history using the outdoors. I love my job! I get to take kids on field trips to these special places both in Maine and NH. Can you believe it? I hated social studies in high school...the books were so dry, fine print, black and white photos...and so much about battles and wars.

I've spent the last 20 years researching who the Shawtown farm folk were, and why they left their natal ground in the 1870s. Turns out to be a Civil War story...not only did the men return maimed, many of their children died of small pox in their absence.

And it all began one day in 1986 when I came upon several cellars in the woods and wondered what happened...and there was no one alive anymore who cared or remembered. These people left no records, no diaries, no photos. I was on my own to figure it out. Naturally, I overcame my distaste for history as their story unfolded in state and national archives.

Good luck with your own research: finding us all over the globe, having put our education to worthwhile, interesting purposes.

Thanks for your efforts...look forward to hearing the whereabouts and doings of '62 classmates!

Carol Norris Foord

Peggy Karlin Kroll – pkkroll@gmail.com

I just celebrated the 54^th anniversary of becoming a bat mitzvah by reading my haftarah at Temple Beth Torah in Wellington where I retired four years ago as the director of education. The hi-light of the service was being presented with a fountain pen by the rabbi at the conclusion of my reading! Tradition lives!