Update 4-14-15

 

Hi,

 

First, from Evelyn Roedel Read:  My all-time favorite teacher was Mr. Saffrin.  He always reminded me of Jack Webb from Dragnet.  As some of you have remembered, he had us keep meticulous notebooks which he collected periodically and graded.  Many of us kept them as "Bibles."  He was dedicated and thorough, an outstanding teacher, and my mentor.
    When I taught first grade, which I did for 34 years, the children had three fat black-and-white composition notebooks.  The one for handwriting didn't have any sections, but the other two did:  Color Words, Number Words, Spelling Words, Phonics, Reading Words, Contractions, etc.  By the end of the year, every page was filled.  Parents kept these books, and I always told the children about my high school biology notebook with sections.  I also mentioned Mr. Saffrin.  I hope he’s doing well.
    I was also wondering if we could establish a scholarship in his honor, much like the two the class of ‘65 administers now.  I know the Alumni Association dedicated one of its scholarships to Mr. Saffrin one year, but this would be more lasting.  I would be willing to start an ongoing scholarship with $1,000.  Unfortunately, I’ve had lung cancer for over 6 years now and have reached an incredible 41 months at stage 4.  The disease took the life of my brother, Walter, class of '61, after less than a year at Stage 4.  So I couldn't do more than donate this money if your class would take care of the later, yearly fundraising.  If this is possible, please let me know.  It would be an honor and a pleasure to do this for Mr. Saffrin.  He made me the dedicated teacher I was.

 

[Rich – This is a terrific and amazingly generous of Evelyn.  Presently, the Booker Gibson and Vince Tampio scholarships are going year-to-year, and we have about a dozen-and-a-half people regularly supporting them, with one-time contributors joining in.  These scholarships aren’t endowed, and they’ll unfortunately end when our annual support finally does.
    I suspect South will be willing to take an additional scholarship, honoring Irving Saffrin, on the same year-to-year terms, but it would be nice to have some people to back up Evelyn.  Her contribution alone would carry a $500 scholarship – the same size as the others – for two years, and it would be nice to guarantee at least five years.  At the start of the other scholarships, we promised 10 years, and this will be the 11th.  But we were all younger then.]

 

Next, from Booker Gibson to Rich Wyeroski:  Around your class year, a student – it might have  been Joan Haimes – warned me that some kinds of Coke and Pepsi can take the paint off your car.  So I haven’t touched a Coke or Pepsi since.

 

Third, from Valerie Nelson Gillen:  My husband, George, and I are traveling in Europe, taking a Viking Cruise down the Danube.  We arrive home on the 20th, which gives me a few days to recover before reunion.  Do you think I can lose 100 pounds before then?  Oh, well, it is what it is.  I may have been popular back in the day, but long gone are any slim days I may have had.
    Looking forward to seeing you all. 

 

Fourth, from Roz Minsky Hahn:  I am sorry to say that my husband and I will not be attending the reunion.  I just finished yet another hospital and rehab stay, and oxygen dependency at night just makes travel too complicated.  I had hoped we could do the reunion as a day trip, but we will be unable to do that, either.
    Please send my warmest regards to all.  And have a great reunion!

 

[Rich – Of course, I’m sorry to hear that, Roz, as I’m sure other people will be, and I hope your life gets less complicated very soon.]

 

Balancing that news, from Robin Singer Taylor:  As it happens, my cousin's son is celebrating his bar mitzvah in New York the same weekend as our reunion, so I’ve decided to attend both.  I’ll come out to the reunion on Saturday afternoon and will stay until Sunday.  Looking forward to seeing everyone.

 

That brings the count to:  38 class members, 7 spouses, and at least one guest.  The current list:

 

Joan Aires Cleven                       Friday to Sunday             Hotel 
Alison Altman                            Saturday to Sunday         Hotel 
Jay Berliner                               Saturday night 
Stu Borman                               Friday & Saturday                             and wife Elize 
Barbara Brill Frohman                 Saturday & Sunday 
Carol Bunim Okin                       Friday &/or Saturday       Hotel          and husband Bob 
Peggy Cooper Schwartz             Friday to Sunday             Hotel          and husband Les
Rich Eisbrouch                          Friday to Sunday             Hotel

Ellen Epstein Silver                    Friday to Sunday             Hotel
Mary Ferranti Khan                    Friday & maybe Saturday Hotel          and husband Bashir
Alan Finder                               Saturday & Sunday          Hotel 
Henry Gabbay                           Friday & Saturday night 
Peggy Galinger Menaker            Saturday to Sunday          Hotel 
Les Glasser                              Friday & late Saturday 
Neil Guberman                          Friday to Sunday              Hotel 
Art Halprin                                Friday to Sunday              Hotel 
Marilyn Horowitz Goldhammer    Friday to Sunday              Hotel 
Stu Kandel                               Friday & Saturday 
Barnet Kellman                         Friday to Sunday              Hotel

Ira Levy                                    Saturday & Sunday           Hotel
Laura Littner Fulton                   Friday & maybe Saturday

Martha Morenstein                    Saturday to Sunday          Hotel

Jeryl Monsees DeNoie               Saturday                                        and husband Bayard
Allen Moss                               Friday to Sunday              Hotel 
Valerie Nelson Gillen                 Friday to Sunday
Dennis Pizzimenti                     Saturday & Sunday          Hotel        and wife Benette

Peter Rosen                             Friday to Sunday              Hotel 
Larry Rugen                              Friday & Saturday 
Irene Saunders Goldstein           Friday to Sunday              Hotel       and fiancé Jerry
Bernie Scheidt                          Friday to Sunday              Hotel 
Dennis Shapiro                         Friday to Sunday 
Ray Sinatra                              Friday (maybe) & Saturday

Robin Singer Taylor                   Saturday & Sunday           Hotel

Mary Sipp Green                      Saturday & Sunday 
Danny Stellabotte                     Friday to Sunday

Jay Tuerk                                 Saturday to Sunday           Hotel

Jane Wolff Katz                        Friday to Sunday               Hotel

Mark Yetman                           Friday or Saturday

 

[Rich – Keeping track of earlier notes:  it seems that no one besides Barnet Kellman is interested in packing a tennis racket on a plane, and no one has said a temporary web page listing cell phones numbers of reunion goers sounds like a good idea.  So Barnet may have to stick to arm wrestling across restaurant tables for exercise, and I’ll use an old-fashioned clipboard for tracking people’s phone numbers.]

 

Finally, from Zelda White Nichols:  My husband and I, and another couple, went to Cirque De La Symphonie in Greensboro, North Carolina, yesterday afternoon.  The main event was Saturday night, but yesterday was an add-on so parents could bring their kids.  It was actually wonderful, and it’s amazing how many symphonic numbers were in our cartoons when we were young.

    What a great way to introduce children to different musical instruments and to explain what classical music is all about.  Acrobatic artists from Cirque De Soleil performed along with various orchestral arrangements, so the performances were beautiful to watch as well as to listen to.  Because it was for children, during intermission, many of the musicians mingled with the audience to answer questions.  We arrived early and were entertained in the main hall by high wire acrobatics before the show began.  During intermission, I was telling our friends about Mr. Gibson’s classes and how influential he was.  I always took it for granted that all schools offered courses like his, but my friends said they’d never had that opportunity.  How lucky we were back then to have Mr. Gibson.
    Also, Cirque De La Symphonie is on a national tour, using local symphonies along with the touring performers.  If it comes to an area near you, grab your grandchildren and go.  In fact, go even if you don’t have kids.  I had a smile on my face through the entire performance.

 

[Rich – we’ll get back to more of that Green Acres history article yet.]

 

The class of '65 50th Reunion:  Friday, April 24 through Sunday, April 26, 2015, Hyatt Regency, Hauppauge.

To make a hotel reservation:  Go online to hyatt.com, click on reservations, choose Hauppauge, and enter the reunion dates.  With an AAA card, an AARP membership, or using several other organizational connections, you can get the lowest price.  You can also cancel some reservations if you need to.

The South '65 e-mail addresses:  reunionclass65 . blogspot . com  (please remove the spaces)

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


Rich