Update 5-7-13

 

Hi,

 

First, some good news about the present.

From Booker Gibson:  Hello, everybody in the the great class of '65 and the as-great surrounding classes.  I try to visit the monthly alumni meetings.  My wife, Frances, kindly drives me.  By now, you all know about the changing demographics of Valley Stream.  When I enter the school, I find the students and parents staring at me and my wife.  The last time, the gym was packed and very noisy due to some very loud game between 7th graders up to older kids, I think.  Many parents were there cheering them on.  As usual, some dramatic activity might have been going on in South Hall, along with some other stuff, so the school was very busy.

    Also, I have already told people that I won't be at the South awards this year because my wife and I are driving down to Atlanta for our annual family reunion.  When I return, I'll ask Emily Kleinman Schreiber and Linda Tobin Kettering about it.  Meanwhile, love to all of you.

Next, from Allen Moss:  Moss in Maine here.  Hope all is well with everyone.  Just a quick retirement report.  It has been about two months since I finished my employment with the State of Maine in Human Resources and Training.  Amazing how fast the time has gone, but things seem to be going according to some basic plans I had developed.  Almost finished with my Spring semester class at Bowdoin College down the street.  It is "Introduction to Greek Theater," and I am most fortunate to have a very bright and passionate professor who obviously loves teaching the class.  She and the students clearly enjoy the subject.  I must admit I was a bit hesitant walking into a class of all 19-22 year olds, but they seemed to have accepted the "old geezer" who is auditing the class.  I cracked a few jokes after a while, and I think I now have been accepted.

    Have already gotten the Film Studies professor's okay to take a class on "The History of Film Through the Silent Era" for the Fall, and then it's back to Classics department for "Greek Mythology" in the Spring of 2014.  Met with the Director of Human Resources at Bowdoin, and it looks like I will be brought on as a consultant in the Fall to do some projects related to training.  Can do some of the work at home and then make presentations at the college.  Sounds great, so I hope it all works out.

    With more free time, I am really enjoying work on my long-term HO train layout.  Nice to not have to rush things only on the weekends or evenings.  Gives me more time to think through the individual tasks related to landscaping and electrical work.  With warmer weather will come my favorite Maine past-time -- eating seafood at wharf side.  Now that I am not limited to Saturdays and Sundays, I think the crowd factor might be a bit less.  So with all of this, yoga classes, and regular breakfast with friends and former work colleagues, I am enjoying the big "R."  Remember there's "lobstah and chowdah" and beautiful Maine scenery if anyone would like to visit.

 

[Rich -- Also, I did finally find the 1957 photo of Cub Scout Pack 267's dinner at the Valley Stream Park Inn, and I sent copies to Ira Mitzner, as promised, to Steve Gootzeit as scout roll call keeper, and to Stu Borman to post.  I also sent Stu a copy of the Lord's Wood map that Amy Miller sent some years back.  It was on the same disappearing disk as the scout photo.

    Ira thanked me, Stu noted that both the scout photo and the Lord's Woods map have long been posted on the class photo page -- the first in Amy Miller's album and the second in Marc Jonas' -- and Steve mentioned that he can't find himself in the photo, which Stu confirmed.  Now, if I can just locate my memory, I might be able to help.]

 

Fourth, some comments about our pair of ongoing drowning mysteries in the 60s.  We keep learning more about the first drowning, of John Cairns, but we don't seem to be discovering more about the death of the young man who lived on Flower Road.  And that's what started this whole thing.

The one note about that, from Larry Rugen:  The young man's name unfortunately eludes me, but I do recall the event.  I was working at Frank's Deli on Cochran, I think on a Saturday morning.  A policeman came by and asked if anyone saw the young man.  "Yes," I said.  "I did, last night.  He was walking on Mill Road, crossing over the bridge by Mill Pond, and heading north."  Soon after that, they discovered his body.  Oddly, I could still remember his name not too many years ago, but now, it's just a blank.
    By the way, did anyone ever swim in that creek?

 

[Rich -- Yeah, Mort Jacobs.  But Mort always was adventuresome.]

About John Cairns, from Robert Buchsbaum:  My recollection is that one of the unfortunate drowning victims was the brother of Bob Cairns, who was in our class.  I think his name was John Cairns but unfortunately I don’t know that for sure.  He was a year-or-two behind our class, and I have this image of him being very outdoorsy -- fishing and hanging out in the water works woodland. for example.  The Cairns family lived in our neighborhood.  We were on Rosedale Road, and the Cairns’ lived on Brookfield Road.  That was really the same street because it underwent a name change at Hungry Harbor Road.

    The creek in our neighborhood was Mott Creek.  As it flowed passed our houses, the creek was very shallow, and you could easily wade across it.  As you moved downstream, it formed the border with the water works on one side and the new development that was North Woodmere on the other.  Eventually. Mott Creek got deeper and reached Jamaica Bay.

    The woods around the water works were the only thing that I can recall that passed for natural woodlands in our part of Valley Stream.  Looking at the most recent Google Earth image, it looks like there still is a remnant woodland there.  It was once part of the Lord’s Woods, as captured by the book of that title.

 

[Rich -- Yep, Mott Creek and the Lord's Woods water works more completely connect with the comments posted on Facebook that were copied here earlier.]

From Eric Hilton:  I hope this helps.  I spoke to a few friends, asking if they remembered the drowning incident, and received this from my friend Linda.

    About the Mill Pond drowning in the 60s:  One boy drowned.  The three boys involved were from our class, '67. They were Mike DuBeau, John -- known as Jack -- Drumm, and the boy who drowned.  Unfortunately, I can't remember his name, but I can see his face.  He wore glasses.

    They were all on a raft, and the boy who drowned fell off and could not swim.  This happened when we were in sixth grade, so that would have been 1960 or 61.  The boy who drowned came from a large family with other brothers and sisters.  Mike and Jack took his death hard, and it was hard on everyone at the time to lose someone so young.  I think his name was Bobby, but I honestly can't remember.

 

[Rich -- Again, as we've already established, the boy with Mike DuBeau and Jack Drumm was John Cairns, brother to Vera Ann, class of ?, and Robert, class of '65.

    Now, about the unfortunate young man from Flower Road...]

 

Almost last, a note from Amy Lieberman to the folks who read this in LA:  Sorry to tell you, but Billy Valentine's evening on Saturday, May 11, at the House of Music and Entertainment in Beverly Hills, has been canceled and will be rescheduled.  But there's still the Wednesday, May 15, evening at the Catalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood, at 8:30.  There's now also a Sunday, May 12, Mothers Day Brunch at Preston's Restaurant on the second floor of the Loew's Hollywood Hotel.  That will be from 11 AM to 2 PM.

 

Finally, from Amy Miller:  I was delighted to learn that someone else from South High carefully reads the wedding announcements in the Sunday New York Times -- at our age reading the obituaries is also important. Yes, Irwin Chanin was in fact the developer of Green Acres.  As I've mentioned before, my memory of him was that for the annual July 4th party, each of us kids got a toy, game, or present.  But who knew that he was not only a developer but also an architect of some renown?

 

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

 

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

 

 

Rich