Update 10-15-13

Hi,

 

We got another 8 votes and an additional 8 notes with comments about last week's suggestions.  The votes first.  These are the totals, and we've now heard from 42 people, just under a third of those on the class of '65's mailing list.  Nice.

 

April 25 -- 17 votes

 

October 24 -- 9 votes

 

Either -- 16

 

One person said, "Please ask about the summer," and another asked, "What about May?"

 

If you remember, the reason we're following up someone' suggestion and looking at April and October is because those are less busy months than May or June for weddings, graduations, and proms.  We're not looking at November or December because of the holiday season, and we're not looking at summer because people like to travel then, and we've had 2 summer reunions with happy-but-small turnouts.  For the 50th, we're trying to gather as many people as possible -- again.

 

Next, a note about my suggestions last week:  Yep, I knew, even as I was typing them, that there were too many plans for too short a period of time.  But I'd gotten a number of suggestions from a number of people, and I was trying to assemble them all into something that might please everyone.

 

Emily Kleinman Schreiber, who mentioned that her class has had 9 reunions now, wrote to say that the least attended was in the Central Park Boathouse for a Saturday lunch.  She said it was fun, but only 30 people showed up.

 

Several people said "Pick a hotel where we just sit around for 3 days, talk with friends, eat, drink, and not have to worry about cars."

 

Several more people said, "Hauppauge has a great hotel, but please not that far out on Long Island again." 

 

The idea of staying closer to Kennedy or LaGuardia is great if we can factor out the blandness and the noise.  Perhaps the north shore, not too far out.  Or perhaps Long Beach.  We know Long Beach has at least one nice hotel.  But it's not exactly easy access to the airports or cheap.

 

A handful of people liked the idea of touring South again but not having a party there.  "Would we have to eat Ring Dings?" one asked.

 

And several people loved the idea of having a party in Manhattan and said it made us seem at least as sophisticated as the class of '63.  Well, they're more experienced.  In any case, again, let's hear some more comments and let's see if any more votes come in.  Presently, the difference between 17 for April and 9 for October isn't that big, seeing another 16 voters will happily go either way.  I just want to see all 42 people there, plus maybe another 25 people from our class, and any folks from other classes who want to celebrate with us.

 

Speaking of parties:  Amy Cohen Miller said the class of '63 had a great reunion on Saturday, and Emily Kleinman Schreiber said the class of 61's Big 70th Birthday Bash was terrific.

 

Here's some specific notes from Amy:  From all the reports I've gotten back, the 1963 50th Reunion went very, very well.  People wanted to talk and talk and talk...

    I made name tags by using a high school photos and mounting copies of these on small rectangles of colored mat board -- red and gray, of course. The spouses' name tags had their names but the photo of the classmates.  At the end of the party, we showed 2 wonderful DVDs made by Bill Zuckerman and part of Caryl Snapperman's Off-Broadway show.

    Toby Cogen made a North-South game on a  football field with wonderful animule players, and we had a silent auction to raise money for the Vince Tampio or Booker Gibson awards using the football field, the wire pumpkin centerpieces, and a Falcons Sophomore tee shirt.  We made a bit over 100 dollars from the auction, and someone donated $50.  We're also thinking about using this money to start an additional scholarship for South, to add to the 2 or 3 Alumni Association scholarships and the Gibson and Tampio awards.  So I'll have to get back to you once I hear more from my class.

    Also, we had a "rehearsal" dinner Friday night for 10 of us.  I just called it that as a joke.  And after the Saturday lunch, some of us had drinks and dinner at two tables at the first floor bar/restaurant at the Cornell Club.

 

[Rich -- As I wrote Amy, another scholarship sounds like a great idea.  Amy will also be sending me links to Bill Zuckerman's on-line videos and details about Caryl Snapperman Avery's Off-Broadway show.]

 

From Betsy Fels Pottruck:  There was a lovely article about David Lobell in the The Jewish Newspaper of Northern California, the J, as we call it.  It covers the Bay Area and Silicon Valley.  Again, congratulations to the entire Lobell-Nudelman families.  It's always so exciting to read about people I know or people whose parents I knew.

A sadder note from Carol Ewig Duran:  I had been in New York visiting my mom when she passed away.  Even though she was 93, it was somewhat unexpected.  She had so many health issues these past few years, but she still had good quality of life until the last couple of weeks.  She played bridge, had dinners out with friends, and spent Sundays with my brother and his family and friends.  Her mind was still sharp, but her body gave out.  She had a very full life, and it was just time.  93 is a pretty good number.

 

Another sad note from Ellen Epstein Silver, by way of Facebook:  My grandson was born last week and, unfortunately, died the same day.

 

[Rich -- I'm sure everyone will join me in sending our best wishes to Carol, Ellen, and their families.]

 

And just so I don't leave everyone crying, Zelda White Nichols wrote in and said, "What's this about there being NO drinking in the South?!  The South is FAMOUS for drinking!!"  Not The South, Zelda.  South -- as in "Like Valiant Falcons winging..."

 

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

 

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

 

 

Rich