News and Photos from the 75th Birthday Party
The Class of 1958's 75th Birthday Party has come, and gone. We had a wonderful time together at Aqua Terra swapping stories, memories, and renewing the strong ties that bind us. We missed our classmates who couldn't be with us this particular time, but there will be another time. It seems safe to predict that since we (we, who have dispersed) have such a wonderful core of friends still in the Pearl River area who are willing and admirably able to organize events such as today's communal 75th birthday celebration.
We started the afternoon outside - in perfect summer weather - in a small circle formed by the first few to arrive. That circle grew and multiplied into more circles as more classmates continued to show up. Eventually we all moved into a large room where we could enjoy a fabulous meal and look at a collection of old-time photos that Gene Cooper had put together and made into high-quality copies that circulated and generated lively, raucous discussion. At just the right moment, Gene stood up and someone went "ding ding" on a wine glass. Gene quickly put us at ease when he said he wasn't going to sing the Steven Sondheim song he'd discovered that described us to a T, but would read it instead. Big sigh of relief, interspersed with a few shouts of "Sing it, Sing it."
There were lots of people to thank, particularly Peggy, for their efforts to make this all happen. Lots of applause. Then came the cake. Did you know that, with the right baker, you can have a photo (like, of our High School ) put on a cake, and you can eat it? Well, it's true.
Lots more conversation and laughter, then the first goodbyes as people who had to drive longer distances began to leave. By 5 pm it was pretty much over, with only Peggy and Bev (plus me, the fly on the wall) to figure out how to distribute the rest of the cake that was left over. Big discussion, including a phone call from Peggy to Tommy (who said he wouldn't take it) and regrets that Gene (who funded the cake for us all) was already on the turnpike and probably wouldn't want to come back to get it. The solution: Bev took it home and will put in in her freezer. If you have an interest, her phone number is 845 359 0914.
There will be more info to come, and maybe a bit of video, so hang in there, and do let us all hear that you got back home safely, and if you couldn't make it this time, you hope to be there the next time.
Bob S.
If you've read this far, good for you. Now you get to see the
"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls." Simon and Garfunkel in The Sounds of Silence. How true, as the poem read by Gene at the 75th Bday party shows. He'd seen it while riding the subway in NY and made a visual record with his iPhone. Here it is.
