Update 5-30-06

Hello,

I just had to explain to a student the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans' Day, adding the first once was Decoration Day and the second Armistice Day.  Of course, the kid is only fifteen and can't remember the first Gulf War let alone the first World War.  But he quickly understood the reason to honor both the dead and the living.
   
    On more ordinary matters, from Liz King Giordano at South:  The recipients of the scholarship awards whose names will be announced on the night of June 7, 2006 are as follows:  The Vince Tampio Theater Award:  Jenny Weinbloom.  The Booker Gibson Music Award:  Abigail Fabro.
         Also, thank you for taking care of the award checks in such a timely fashion.  Everything is going smoothly.  I worked most of last Saturday on the program and feel organized enough to enjoy the Memorial Day weekend.  I'm excited to have Emily Kleinman Schreiber and Joe Anfora at the awards presentation this year, joining Booker Gibson and Linda Tobin Kettering.  Joe Anfora, an alumnus, is awarding a one-time $500 scholarship this year in honor of the reactivation of the Valley Stream Alumni Association.  This award will make a deserving young lady very happy.  In addition, I will be sure to get the information back to you about your class's award recipients.  Since you felt the information from the students was slim last year, perhaps I can ask the guidance counselors for their recommendation letters, which elaborate on the students' accomplishments.
   
    [Rich -- As Liz mentions, this year's checks have been sent.  That leaves eighty-three bucks in the Booker Gibson fund and fifty in the Vince Tampio account.  I was trying to get these amounts to zero, but there was a late, unsolicited donation.  It just means less to raise next year, though more for me to baby-sit.]
   
    From Barbara Blitfield Pech:  In my defense, apparently I have hidden issues with anyone younger.  I guess I didn't want Mike Fiveson and Joanne Bellucci to be any younger than they really are, so I painlessly advanced their graduation date.  (Hey, forty years ago, looking older was cool.)  "Sorry, kids," exclaimed the dottering, older-now-wiser alumnus.
   
    [Rich -- Amy Lieberman also mentioned that she was in the class of '69, not '68 as I wrote last week.  I keep trying to make people older, too.]
   
    And directly from Amy Lieberman:  Hopefully you'll see this and mark it in your address books.  My newest, new e-mail address is:  amylieberman@adelphia.net   Thanks and best of luck finding me with all these changes.
   
    From Eric Hilton:  We just returned from a wonderful wedding in the Bahamas.  And, in answer to your question from last week, Chum is fish heads, fish blood, and all their guts ground up into a gooey substance which is ladled into the ocean to attract fish and sharks.
   
    [Rich -- I'm assuming you want to attract sharks to catch them.  Unless you're swimming and trying to win the Darwin Award.]
   
    From Joanne Shapiro Polner:  Thanks ever so much to John Willow '60 for sharing his updated list of classmates.  So many of the people were dear to me in high school.  When I read a good many names, I could picture the people right away.  Some, yes, from high school.  Others, I was very pleased to meet at the 1993 and 2000 reunions.  From the moment I reconnected with Hilda Bruendl early this past winter, only to learn that her brother, my classmate, had passed away, I was intimately connected to the class of '60 again.  My heart stops when I read each and every familiar name of the classmates who have died.
        Our class lost Ira Kinder, a beloved theater teacher in Florida.  I located his brother Jay, listed on the class of 65 website.  Jay lives in Wayne, the next town from me, here in New Jersey.  I thought, oh, New Jersey isn't that big.  We might meet by happenstance one day to share in reality the hugs we shared through e-mail over wonderful Ira.  And wouldn't you know it?  Because I had sent Jay a picture of Alex and me, the day we were at a Chinese restaurant in the large shopping center in Wayne, who was there, but Jay!  He thought he recognized Alex from the photo, because he was facing Alex across his table next to ours.  My back was to Jay, and if I had been looking at him, I would never know who he was.  His appearance does not remind me of high school Ira.  Until Jay left with his several dinnermates and headed for the door, he wasn't sure about Alex, he said.  But he turned to check me out, and then he returned immediately to our table and introduced himself.  We were both astonished.  The hugs were shared.  I had never met him before in my life, but we had bonded from the first e-mail about Ira.
        I have also reconnected with Dave Herbek and Bob Baldauf, both of '60.  They are still dear, now former, neighbors.  Their families and ours deeply respected of each other, and we were all truly caring.  In phone conversations, Laurie Baldauf '62 and I, and the men as well, were all recalling our parents' relationships and our childhood interactions.  Just like yesterday, with all the warmth and friendliness, each asking about the other's siblings, too!  Our parents were always doing things for each other.  If one wants to be nostalgic, these are the memories to raise and the people to honor.
        I will keep in touch.  I hope to extend my research for my own classmates through many names on the class of '60 list when I get revved up to work harder than I have in the last month.  Last month was "Find My Neighbor" month, and I found three -- the two men above, and Mimi Connelly from '58.
   
    From Emily Kleinman Schreiber:  Just a reminder that the June Alumni Association will be on the 15th, not the 5th as previously scheduled.  Also, since it's Regents' week --
    remember those tests -- we won't be able to meet in the library.  But Dr. Lando said we'll be able to meet in the faculty cafeteria.
        About the Memory Journals:  I had one-hundred-and-forty left, and that was enough to fulfill my promise to mail one to each association member who didn't pick one up on March 11th.  At this time, I don't know if we'll be doing a second printing, so please understand that I don't have any more.  But if anyone knows a printer who might want to help us out, please don't keep it a secret.  Also, several people who've received their copies have already sent me e-mail letting me know that they enjoyed reading them.  That's so good to hear.
   
    [Rich -- People who weren't fortunate enough to get a copy of the journal will get a taste of its contents as I use the stories to fill out the summer newsletters.]
   
    From Claire Brush Reinhardt:  During the summer, and after I retire at the end of June, a
    group of us will be meeting to get the "1-2-3" reunion together for October 28, 2006.  I hope some of you are planning to attend.  It should be a really great party.  Best to all of you.]

[Rich -- And congratulations on your retirement, Claire.]

Finally, along with my copy of the Memory Journal, Emily also sent a CD of photos from South's March 11th birthday party.  They were unlabeled, but I was able to zoom in on name tags and identify a man who looked suspiciously like Ralph Foster.  I'll try to post the photo soon, along with one of Amy Miller and the latest, bright red, Freddy Falcon.