Update 1-10-12

Hi,

If you didn't get two newsletters last week, one dated 12-27-11 and the other 1-3-12, please let me know.  Both were sent the same night, but one went almost entirely by g-mail.

To start, some happy news, from Peggy Galinger Menaker:  I am thrilled to let you know that my husband and I became grandparents when our daughter, Stephanie, gave birth on Thanksgiving Day.  The new parents and their beautiful daughter, Libby, are doing well.
    Best wishes to all for a very happy, healthy, and peaceful new year.

Then some less happy news, which started as a mystery:

From Barbara Blitfield Pech:  If you have been on Facebook, there is a cryptic message/invite from Chiam Rosov's granddaughter for Thursday at 1:30.  It mentions, "He is living out his last years, etc."  Do you have any idea what this is about?

Then from Barnet Kellman:  Barb, I expect you’ve already solved the mystery, but here is Tuesday’s Facebook posting:
    To anyone who knows Mr. Rosov (Chaim) such a wonderful dad, grandfather, husband, inspirational, smart, talented man, as either a teacher, yearbook advisor, or newspaper advisor:  he is now 82 and is peacefully living in hospice his last days in South Florida.  If anyone needs or wants any additional information, please feel free to respond to me, Jillian Menaged, his granddaughter, at: jillianmenaged23 @ yahoo . com
    There is no one date to visit my grandfather, but I had to put something in the invitation so Facebook would send it to everyone on my grandfather's mailing list.  If anyone would like to visit, please feel free to call me 561-245-0811 or to e-mail me.  We don't know how much longer we have with this wonderful man, and it would make him happy to have visitors.  He is at Hospice of the Sea in Boca Raton, Florida, on Palmetto Road next to the K-Mart.  Thanks.

Then from Barbara:  I am meeting Pam Levy -- Bari's sister -- and Sara Jane Cohen for a Jasmine Lane girls lunch in Broward City.  That's in the middle, between Sara in Palm Beach and me in Dade.  Pam is in Broward for lunch, and we are hoping to go to see Mr. R.
    I am devastated over this news.  We have been in touch and have shared many wonderful lunches, holidays, and conversations over these many years that Uncle Chiam has been in Florida.  I was long out of Hebrew school when he became the principal at Temple Gates of Zion.  He developed an easy and somewhat predictable friendship with my father, since Uncle Hy was the Valley Stream South Hebrew Club founder, and my dad was the igniter of the yiddush vinkel group at temple.  They shared many bilingual conversations over I'd like to say coffee, but it was Scotch, at our home.
    When my father very, very suddenly passed away, Uncle Chiam was still living in New York, and he called me long distance, which was still a big deal in 1978, to make sure that "Everything was in place" for the funeral arrangements, and "how could he help."  I still have the copy of the great American short story paperback book we used in his class room and have started rereading it from cover-to-cover to keep myself in touch with favorite moments from the classroom.

Then there was another Facebook posting from Jillian Menaged:
    Thank you all for writing to my grandpa.  I started to read a lot of messages and stories that are on here, and it made him so much happier and put a big smile on his face!  I appreciate all that you guys wrote, and so does he.  If anyone would like to see him, please let me know.  If you didn't know, he was diagnosed with a kidney disease, and, unfortunately, the doctors have done so much to try to help him, but he was in so much pain from the pricking of the needles and being nudged 24-7 at a hospital that he has moved to hospice to live his last peaceful days.  He would love to see some familiar faces.  Sadly, we don't know when he will be leaving us, so the sooner you visit, the better.  Thanks.

[Rich -- When I just checked, Facebook had several dozen notes in reply to Hy Rosov's granddaughter, many praising "Uncle Hy," his work at South, and his art.  There was also an indication that about twenty-five of the hundred-or-so people who'd been contacted from Mr. Rosov's address list were going to try to visit him.  Most of them didn't seem to be people from South, so I'm guessing they're friends from Florida.  In any case, I'm sure Hy Rosov would be happy to see almost anyone.]

Among the many notes to Mr. Rosov was this one, from Neil J Murphy:  Sad news.  Uncle Hy was my first publisher, making me the cartoonist at the Southern Bell in 1977, as well as printing my satirical "Letters to the Editor."  Even though I never had him as a teacher, he was one of those faculty members you never forget.  He encouraged me as a seventeen-year-old artist, and, later, as a middle-aged photographer.  I was just looking at a letter he sent me last New Year's, saying how much he looked forward to my annual holiday card.  (I'd misaddressed it, though he did finally get it.  He was afraid I'd forgotten -- as if!)  He also mentioned how much he enjoyed my web site.  I hope he had the chance to see this year's card.
    Here's a story I have to share, if for no other reason than none of us ever forgot it, and thirty-five years we later, we still talk about it.  As high school seniors, my friend Dan Pupke and I went through something of a slapstick period, pelting selected friends with lemon meringue pies.  One morning, we went to Mr. Rosov's classroom, walked in, and, under the pretense of Danny taking a picture of Hy and me for the yearbook -- we knew that he'd take his glasses off for a photo -- and in front of his class, we put a pie in his face.  How many teachers could you do that to, and not be suspended for two weeks at the least?  He was angry about it for one reason only -- there wasn't any film in the camera.  He really wanted a picture of that.  Eventually, we did get a picture, a few weeks later, that went into the yearbook:  Me handing him a pineapple, with the caption:  "Cartoonist Neil Murphy offers Mr. Rosov a gift of peace."  And I wish the gift of peace to him now, and to all his family.

A couple quick notes:

From Sara Cohen Harris, class of '69:  I would like to know if anyone knows of any Boca reunion parties.  I live in Wellington, 30 minutes north of Boca, and would love to reconnect with anyone living in this area.  My e-mail address is:  luvlit1 @ aol . com

And from Eric Hilton:  I ask one aviation question about Fred Lorey’s brave dad and get so many wonderful responses.  Being a disabled Vietnam Navy veteran myself, I go to the VA hospital in St Pete for my check-ups and treatments and meet many of our wonderful troops returning from the Gulf.  I just wanted to say to all my South classmates who might have family in the service that these new troops have brought so much respect and positive responses to us Vietnam vets.  Almost every time I wear my Vietnam vet hat or shirt, I get people walking up to me -- even the young service men -- saying "Thank you."  That truly brings a tear to my eye.  The young troops tell us that they get the respect they do because all of the Vietnam troops were neglected.
    Happy new year to all.

The South '65 e-mail addresses: reunionclass65 . blogspot . com

The South '65 photo site: picasaweb . google . com / SouthHS65

As usual, please delete the spaces.


Rich