Update 10-30-12

 

Hi,

First, from Zelda White-Nichols:  I just want to send good thoughts and prayers to all our classmates who may be in Hurricane Sandy’s path.  I hope everyone stays safe.

[Rich -- Yep, that's pretty much my feeling about it.  I've been intermittently following the storm today, and, just now, there are about 750,000 Long Island Power Authority customers without electricity.  To put a more specific image on that, my mother's power -- in Green Acres / Millbrook -- went out around 9:30 Monday night.  She seems to be taking a casual attitude about it, telling my sister, "Well, the power's never stayed off for long."  As my sister wrote me, "I'd like to be on the same kind of drugs Mom's on."]

In less dramatic news, from Steve Cahn:  About the creek -- I lived on Brook Road, just a few houses away from the dead end where Valerie Nelson Gillen lived.  (I had such a crush on her!)  The house next to Valerie's had a dock with a diving board, and we used to swim in that creek.  I’m sure Valerie will remember that.  In the winter, sometimes the brackish water would freeze thick enough to skate on, but it was pretty dangerous over there.
    The creek formed a “V” surrounding the area bordered by Brook and Riverdale Roads on one side and Cloverfield Road on the other.  It’s the Cloverfield side that separated Green Acres from South High and was home to the famous footbridge, which sadly is no longer used.  That side of the creek went under Mill Road near Molly’s luncheonette and emptied into the Mill Pond, where we used to ice skate every winter.  I spent countless hours of every week exploring the shores of the creek and catching killies in a milk bottle, using crusts of stale bread as bait.

    In 1967, I was crossing the bridge from South when I spotted what seemed to be a sunken boat in the creek.  I ended up swimming up to it, tying a rope to the bow, and dragging it back to the vacant lot on Brook Road near where I lived.  The lot was between Gene Barkin’s house and Gary Sherwood’s house.  I pulled the boat up with the help of Wayne Shink and Alan Horowitz, both class of ’70.  We let the boat dry out and then, with the help and expertise of resident wizard Michael Golden (‘68?), patched it up with tar, fiberglass, and resin.  When we were done with repairs, we could bail faster than it could leak.  We got a small outboard engine and took the boat out, under the Rosedale Road bridge, through North Woodmere, under Rockaway Turnpike, through Meadowmere (in Queens), and then out to Jamaica Bay, next to then Idlewild Airport.  Living on the creek was an adventure.  As a little kid, it was the coolest thing about growing up in Green Acres.

 

A food note, from Amy Miller:  The challah French toast at Cooky's Steak Pub had to be the most delicious in the land -- or in France.  Especially when served with cherry preserves.

Amy also added a note on a book she's mentioned before:  For nature lovers and anyone interested in the land around Peninsula Boulevard before it was developed, I highly recommend the hardback version -- which has maps that are left out of the newer paperback version -- of The Lord's Woods by Robert S. Arbib.  "Lord" refers to the family that owned the land.  The book sells for $13 on Amazon . com.

 

From Steve Zuckerman in Puerto Rico:  Hi, there.  Has there been any more input as to holding the 50th class of '65 reunion three years from now?  So much walking down memory lane in these newsletters helps most of us to remember the town we grew up in, where we got our education, and where we began friendships, some of which lasted way past graduation for many of us. 

    I wonder if anyone recalls an after-school fight -- of which there were many -- but this one was between two girls from South High who really were out for blood and who fought it out at the footbridge across the creek.  Both of the participants eventually ended up falling into the water where they continued their combat.  I believe a few wise onlookers took it upon themselves to try and end this conflict before any one could get really hurt or possibly drown by slipping deeper into the deep, dark waters of the Mill Creek.  Surprisingly, not even one teacher showed up to try to end the fight if I'm remembering right, even though the whole school was aware of the upcoming conflict between these two.

[Rich -- I don't remember the fight, but through the last three years of South, after school, I was mainly building scenery.  As I've said before, I'm still trying to figure out how I missed the Cuban Missile Crisis.  And, as I've also mentioned, it seems a bit early to start thinking about a 2015 reunion.  But I suspect there'll be a gathering of the usual gang, somewhere on Long Island, some time that summer.  It's probably best to get through the rest of this year and the next two before we start thinking about it.]

 

Some additional October birthdays, from Barbara Blitfield Pech:  Ed Albrecht on the 30th and Sue Atkins on the 31st.  And the class of 65 is 65 -- for once, I'm speechless!

 

[Rich -- And I'd say Happy Halloween, but Hurricane Sandy might be scary enough.]

 

 

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

 

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

 

 

Rich