Update 7-5-05

Okay,

Some teacher invitations went out, by phone from helpful Terri Donohue Calamari, and by e-mail from me. And some responses came in. In the order received:

From Helen David: This is Mrs. David, and I thank you for your invitation to your reunion. However, at the time of your party, we will be in northern Europe, escaping from the three-digit temperatures of the Sonoran Desert of Arizona.
   After 51 years of living in the shadow of South High School, and after 10 years of commuting between Valley Stream and Sun City West (in the northwest valley of the Phoenix area), we have made this our permanent home and only home. Unfortunately, it was just in time to miss you.
Pasted on the wall, in front of me, is a photograph of South High School which Mr. Baker laminated for me. This photograph was made before the addition of the full first floor, when one of the entrances to the ground floor library was directly from the campus. It is possible that you were all in the junior high school division at that time.
   Best wishes to you all (and I did bring your yearbook with me). And thank you again.

[Rich -- I asked Helen David if I could pass this letter onto the class, and add her to our weekly mailing list. At the same time, I also told her about our website. She wrote back:
   "Yes, definitely, to both. You have a terrific website, which has already given me an hour of pleasure. I shall return to it shortly, and enjoy it some more.
   Although it is 20 years since I retired from South High School, my heart will always be with it, and the whole bunch of you when you were part of the student body."]

From Bernie O'Brien: Thank you very much for your kind invite to your 40th reunion (it can't be that long, can it?) I plan to attend on Friday night to see you wonderful people. They were some of the best days of my life, back at South High School with all of you, and it will be wonderful to see you all again and share some "tall-tales." You are so very thoughtful to remember the "young old-guys." Unfortunately, my "bride" has to baby-sit -- we now have 22 grandchildren, so we are on "duty" quite often. With love and God's blessings for all of you.

From Hy Rosov: Reva and I are most honored to have received your thoughtful invitation. The Class of '65 was one of my favorites, and I would love to see you all again. Among the people I miss are: Fran Bellucci, Jerry Bittman, Barbara Blitfeld, Ed Bonlarron, Joan Bouza, Bill Brady, Barbara Brill, Ken Brown, Tom Calise, Barry Cohen, Tom Connelly, Larry Coleman, Terri Donohue, Ellen Epstein, Carol Ewig, Alan Feldman, Linda Felton, Emily Ferber, Judy Fingerhut, Bob Fiveson, Mike Florio, Roberta Freeman, Diane Fruzetti, Zelda Genin, Andrea Gladstone, Marc Goldberg, John Hubbard, Beverly Hendreich, Kathy Hyland, Antonette Joerger, Mark Jonas, Stu Kandel, Greg Kaplan, Jimmy Karl, Barnet Kellman, Jimmy Lachere, Laura Littner, Rich Lobell, Bea Massa, Valerie Nelson, The Nudelman triplets, Dennis Pizzimenti, Pete Rosen, Jane Ruzow, Bernie Scheidt, Danny Stellabotte, Tom Velardi, Paul Zegler, and Barnet Zinger.
   How many of the gang I listed will be at the reunion? I would love to have the addresses or E-mail addresses of all of the above, if you have them.
   Reva will be having surgery in late July, with a long recuperative time to follow. At this point in time, I doubt that I will be able to make it; however, if enough people I'd like to see sign up, I will make a sincere effort to be there Saturday night. Meanwhile, please send my most heartfelt greetings to one of South's greatest classes, and I wish all a wonderful reunion -- that is if you still recognize one another.
   Please let me know who will be attending so I can send them a personal message of my recollections.

From Bill Linkner: As I mentioned to Ira Mitzner, we just returned from Long Island this week. We have to be back up there for a few days in late July and back on Hilton Head August 4th. There is no way we could return again on the 6th. As I also told Ira, please say "Hi" to everyone. Those were the best teaching years of my life.

From Booker Gibson: Please pass this along to Paul Zegler: I'll never forget your father, who brought his bassoon to my junior high music class (or classes). What a treat that was, to have someone from the New York Philharmonic in our room. Everything went so well as he demonstrated the complicated instrument, but then he took out some music for me to accompany him on a short piece. He was so relaxed that I played it without fainting. The South High band director Bob Leist knew him as "Manny," but I was too young to stretch it that far. Paul, he was a great person.

From someone outside our class who reads these updates: That Paul Zegler piece was beautiful. What a story.

From Linda Tobin Kettering '69, who introduced Booker Gibson at the South High awards this year and presented the Vince Tampio award: Although my daughter's birthday is August 5th, I will try to come to your reunion. I'll let you know as soon as possible if I can definitely make it. And yes, it will be good to finally meet many of you.

From Robert Fiveson: The complaints about The Island being unethically adapted from Clonus are actually gathering a head of steam.

From Emily Kleinman Schreiber: Last night, I was at a movie theater in Merrick, and there were also 3 former South High alumni there -- the Fisher twins (Rita & Diane), class of '64 and a woman named Pat, class of '66. One of them had seen the reunion ad and mentioned it. I told them we should all go. One of the twins gave me her e-mail address, and I promised to send her your information about the big weekend. I will do that. I'm also going to send out another bulk mailing to my classmates. Who knows, a few may have gotten interested.

Some business news, from Paul DeMartino: Dennis Shapiro told me yesterday that there are 45 paid so far, and we likely can expect another 5 from a few people that have told us over the phone that they will be attending, That still leaves us $3540 in the hole ($500 for the DJ and $3040 for the money contracted to the hotel).

[Rich -- One thing that will help this, and an explanation of how we were able to get all our former teachers comped, is a couple of our classmates have anonymously chipped in 2 grand to help defer expenses. That will pay for 10 teachers and their husbands, wives, or partners, but will still leave us $2500 bucks short. We could cut the DJ, though I remember everyone happily dancing to the juke box at the 37th reunion, so we won't cut the music until we hear from some of you. And if other people would like to send additional donations, obviously, these would be appreciated.]

Other news: The story on the Flower Road shooting in Green Acres / Mill Brook. Written by Nicole Falco, with help from Mike Schnitzel, from the online Long Island Herald:  A 20-year-old Far Rockaway man was fatally shot early Sunday morning in Valley Stream just down the street from his father's house, police said. A Laurelton man was arrested Tuesday and charged with the murder.
   Edward Donovan Nickerson Reese, who split time between his mother's home in Queens and his father and step-mother's house on Flower Road, was shot once in the face and once in the torso, police said. The shooting occurred at about 1:30 AM after an argument erupted between two groups.
"We feel that the incident grew out of long-standing animosity between one group of individuals and another group that included the victim, his brother and friends," said Detective Lieutenant Dennis Farrell of the Nassau County Homicide Squad. "We know that the two groups confronted each other in front of 47 Flower Road. There was a physical altercation. At some point the murder suspect took out a gun and fired three shots, two of which struck the victim."
   Nickerson Reese was transported to Mercy Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 3:25 AM, apparently from the torso wound, Farrell said. Marvin McKenzie, 20, of 131-78 226th Street, was charged with second-degree murder, second-degree murder with depraved indifference for firing a gun into a crowd, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. A press conference was held Wednesday morning at police headquarters. At the press conference, Farrell elaborated on the situation. Farrell said the confrontation resulted from a feud between one of Nickerson Reese's brothers and a neighbor. McKenzie is an acquaintance of the unidentified neighbor, Farrell explained. He also made it a point to say the incident was not drug- or gang-related.
   Roger Jorgensen, who lives at 47 Flower Road, said that he and his wife, Nancy Teufel, were awakened by the incident. "I saw what was happening [from my bedroom window], but you couldn't tell. It was dark," he said. "We had front row seats, sort of, to what was happening. We heard people arguing, then we heard three shots fired, then the police cars came and the ambulance." Police responded to the scene quickly after receiving numerous 911 calls from neighbors who either witnessed or heard the incident, Jorgensen said. Neighbors also reported seeing three men fleeing the scene in an unknown vehicle. Jorgensen, who moved to Valley Stream from Brooklyn eight years ago, said investigators spent much of the rest of that night combing his front yard for evidence and looking over his house for bullet holes. The incident, however, has not changed his view of the community. "There's no trouble here at all," Jorgensen said. "It's a nice neighborhood with good schools."
   Marc Tenzer, who lives nearby and is co-president of the Mill Brook Civic Association, said, "We know that this is an unfortunate, isolated incident and that we live in a beautiful community. I've lived here for 23 years, and I don't remember a shooting ever occurring in the neighborhood."
The victim had a promising future, according to his father Gregory Reese. Nickerson Reese had plans to enroll in a technical school in Virginia, to study to become an auto mechanic. While a student at South High School, he had taken classes in automotive technology through a high school district program offered at Central High School.
   "Edward started living with us when he was in the seventh-grade," his father said. "At first the transition was very difficult for him, but with all the support he had from me as well as my wife and his mother, he turned his life around and was working harder and getting better grades." Since high school, Nickerson Reese had been working as an aide at a Queens' nursing home. "He loved it," Gregory Reese said of his son's job. "He just recently bought a [red Nissan Maxima]. He was real proud of that, being able to purchase his vehicle on his own with the money that he earned the past year." According to his father, Nickerson Reese was loving and family oriented, especially for such a young man. "He was the type of guy that would inherit any burdens of yours," he said. "That was his way."
   Nickerson Reese is also survived by his mother, Debra Nickerson of Far Rockaway, his step-mother, Beloved Reese of Valley Stream, and siblings Maurice, Sophia, Thomas and Tiana. A funeral service is scheduled for Friday at 11:30 a.m. at J. Foster Phillips Funeral Home, 179-24 Linden Blvd., Jamaica.

The reunion information:
When: August 5th, 6th, 7th (Friday night through Sunday noon)
Where: Hilton Long Island/Huntington, 598 Broadhollow Road, Melville, New York, 11747
Cost: $100 per person
Reunion Package Includes:
Friday night cocktail party with snacks and cash bar (7:00 PM -- Midnight)
Saturday night buffet with open bar & DJ (7:00 PM -- Midnight; Dinner at 8:00)
Lobby area with cash bar available both nights to continue parties
Former teachers comped for both parties, and we're trying to attract as many of
our former teachers as possible.
NOTE: If you just want to come to the Friday night party, a $25 contribution per person is
requested.
SEND: Checks to Dennis Shapiro. 495 Wateredge Avenue, Baldwin, New York, 11510. Please make them out to: VSS 40th Reunion.
Also: Since there are a limited number of Friday night hotel rooms being held, please e-mail Dennis Shapiro when you've made your reservations so he can lobby for more. His e-mail address is: dshapiro@optonline.net The hotel's Phone Number is: 631-845-1000. Ask for the Reservations Desk and mention our class reunion discount. Hotel rooms should be $129/night.

The home page: http://hometown.aol.com/vssouth65

Rich