Update 6-5-07

Hi,

Unfortunately, we start with some sad news:

From Barbara Endy Ianniello:  We lost our dear Jerrie Clamp Rachoi on Friday, May 25, 2007.  She was 59, and her funeral was this morning.  Jerrie fought a long battle with leukemia.  In the end it took her, but I won't say it won.
        Jerrie was the bravest person I have ever met.  She fought so valiantly and endured so very much.  Before her latest bone marrow transplant in November, Jerrie told me, "Don't worry, Barbara.  If it works, I will have more time with Mickey" -- her husband of forty years.  "And if it doesn't work, I will see Karen and the baby.  I can't lose."  Jerrie lost her only daughter Karen to leukemia almost two years ago, and Karen was carrying Jerrie's first grandchild.
        I will miss Jerrie always.  She entered South High in tenth grade, but I met her when we entered kindergarten, and she was always a true friend.  Along with Linda Viscenanza Calise Marrs, our friendships have spanned fifty years.
        Please say a prayer for Jerrie.  If you would like to send a card to Mickey, his address is: 145 Canterbury Gate, Lynbrook, New York 11563.
   
    To balance that just a little, some happier news from Mary Ferranti Khan:  Imagine my surprise when a Google search on "Valley Stream South High" brought up a class of '65 website as the fourth item  I also found my name was on the "People We're Still Looking For" page.
        I realize it is much too late, and that I have missed the reunion by more than two years, but it was certainly nice to see updates about so many people.  I just wanted to note that I have been found, and that  I am married with two children -- boys, ages 23 and 19.  I have been working in the computer industry for more than thirty years and live in Forest Hills, Queens.  My e-mail address is: khan.mary@gmail.com
   
    Some party news, from Claire Brush Reinhardt:  An update from your Alumni Association meeting last night at South High School.  One of the things decided upon was a social evening of dining and having the great pleasure of listening to Booker Gibson play the piano.  We are sending this out to all of you, near and far, in case anyone may be traveling to Long Island this summer.  On Wednesday and Saturday evenings, Booker plays piano at a restaurant in East Islip, New York, called the Irish Coffee Pub.  It actually a very fine restaurant.  You can Google it and see.  Many of us will be going for dinner on Wednesday, August 1st.  Booker suggested a Wednesday as the restaurant is less crowded.  He suggests that we meet there at about 6:15, as he does not begin to play till 7:00, so he can spend some time with us.  Several of the classes from the Alumni Association will be reserving tables, and I will be happy to make a reservation for any of you who would like to come.  If you are interested, please let me know at:  reino@optonline.net   It promises to be a wonderful night of dining and visiting, with Booker and each other.  Until then, best to all of you.
   
    Other news, first from Neil Guberman to Booker Gibson:  Just a little anecdote about Eva Cassidy.  A few years ago, my daughter the dancer came home and shared the new songs she would be performing for her competition dances.  One was "I Know You By Heart," a duet she was performing with her closest dance friend.  When I told her that I knew the song and even had the CD, she was amazed and impressed.  Of course, the reason I had that CD and knew the song was because of the original mention by Booker in the newsletter.  So not only did I have the wonderful experience of getting to know Eva Cassidy's work, but I even got a little move up the respect ladder in my daughter's eyes, both incredibly special experiences.  Thanks again, Booker.
   
    From Barbara Blitfield Pech, also to Booker Gibson:  Thank you so much for the kind update and notes on the late Eva Cassidy.  I will cut and paste them into an e-mail for the new fan who brought her up.  Apparently, Cassidy's name and great talent are becoming better known, as her music is now available on Internet clips via many Google web sites dedicated to her memory.  And, yes, as always, your music suggestions were the best of her vocals for a new listener to hear.
        Also, thanks to Pete Rosen for the validation that Eula Smith was just plain old mean.  Somehow, I had either forgotten or mentally blocked the "Write on the board 3000 times" punishment that always began "I will not .........."  Shades of early Bart Simpson.  Do you suppose Matt Groening might have been one of Smith's unfortunate students?
   
    From Rich Sternhell:  Hope everyone is doing well.  I can't tell you how much I enjoy reading the weekly news notes, and, after all this time, I thought I should provide an update as well.
        While a year apart from the class of '65, I have fond memories of many members of your group.  Of course, the memories of Shore's, Wall's Bakery, Jahn's, and Molly's are the same, regardless of school year.  My wife and I now live in the Philadelphia suburbs.  I keep planning to retire, but somehow I just can't let go of the structure and challenge of the workplace.  Our kids are grown, and we're looking forward to becoming first-time grandparents later this year.  For those of you who were William Buck graduates, this week, I had the pleasure of talking to Jerry Hupert, a fondly remembered sixth grade teacher.  While retired now, he still leads student camping trips for the district and enjoys hearing from former students.  He can be reached through e-mail at:  trepuh@msn.com.  Again, thanks to all for sharing your memories.

    From Stu Borman:  AZA has caught up with me, more than forty years after I was a member.  For those who can't remember, AZA is a Jewish youth organization, the teen order of B'Nai B'rith Youth, and its acronym stands for Aleph Zadek Aleph.
        I am one of the world's most nonobservant Jews -- for example, I never had a bar mitzvah.  Nevertheless, for a short time while I was in South High School, I was a member of what was probably a Green Acres-based AZA group.  I only remember attending one meeting, at Bob Kelman's house, but I probably attended a few others as well.
        I haven't heard from AZA since then, but this week, I got a letter from the B'Nai B'rith Youth Organization greeting me as "Dear BBYO Alum."  At first, I thought it was some kind of mistake, but this organization actually seems to have tracked me down to Bethesda, Maryland.  How, exactly, they were able to do that after more than four decades, I have no idea, except that there probably aren't a hell of a lot Stuart Borman's in the world.
        The letter was accompanied by an April 2007 article which is available online, though registration is required to read it.  The article was published by a Jewish news service called JTA, and it notes that AZA and its sister organization, B'Nai B'rith Girls, fell into decline after the 1960s.  But the organizations received a funding infusion five years ago from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, and that is helping them revive.  Part of that revival is to find alumni, and they've done that successfully in my case.  If you're a former AZA or BBG member and would like to register as an alumnus, you can do so at: www.bbyo.org/alumni

    A quick reminder:  The South High School Awards Night is tomorrow, Wednesday, June 6th.  Along with many other people, Booker Gibson will be there to present the scholarship awarded in his name, and Linda Tobin Kettering will be presenting the scholarship awarded in Vince Tampio's name.  The evening starts around 6:30, Booker and Linda should be presenting near the beginning, and it's a long ceremony with some breaks for entertainment.

    Finally, a South High love story, forwarded by Emily Kleinman Schreiber from the June 3, 2007 Newsday:
    Christina Cantone and Kevin Mackay of Merrick rekindled a love after more than thirty years apart.  Christina tells how it happened.
        It all started when I was pledging for a sorority my freshman year at Valley Stream South High School in 1972.  I had to pen a mushy love letter and send it to someone.  I chose classmate Kevin Mackay.  I had a major crush on him and wrote that I adored him.  We started dating after that.  He was my first boyfriend, and I was his first girlfriend.  We were both fifteen.
        Kevin and I would go fishing, ride our bikes, walk home from school together, and I'd visit him at the Carvel ice cream stand where he worked.  On Kevin's birthday, I engraved our names on a seashell with the date, 7/12/73.  It was a very innocent time and a lot of fun.
        One day six months later, Kevin told me we had to break up.  His wrestling coach had drilled it into him that he didn't need a girlfriend while he was training for an event.  It was too distracting.  I was heartbroken and angry, but in time we again spoke to each other.  After graduation, we went our own ways.  I married, moved to Florida, and later divorced.  Then, in 1998, while I was with friends at a National Corvette Restorers Society event in Orlando, one of them mentioned a very talented Corvette restorer named Kevin Mackay, who was from Long Island.  Realizing it was my first boyfriend, I tried to find him, but he'd already returned to New York.  I didn't pursue it any further.
        Time flew by, and in 2005 I heard about our thirtieth high school reunion and signed up on the school's web site.  The next day, I received an e-mail titled, "My First Love."  It was from Kevin.  He, too, was single with no kids.
        Kevin came to visit me in Florida that March.  When I met him at the airport, he asked, "Do you remember this?" and he handed me the seashell I had given him for his sixteenth birthday.  He had kept every letter and little gift I had given him more than thirty years earlier.  We began a long-distance relationship, but I eventually moved back to Long Island and married my first love on April 14, 2007.  Kevin owns Corvette Repair Incorporated in Valley Stream now, and I'm an assistant director with the Sodexho, New York, Metropolitan Dietetic Internship Program.