Click here for a two-picture remembrance of the World Trade Center.
We're getting old? Bah humbug! Richard Warnke belies that rumor as he takes a photo,
balances his vino, and dances - all at once. And think, when he graduated from high school,
all he could do was wrestle.
For three days, at Sidekicks, the Huntington Town House, and finally Marjorie Post Park,
115 of us...
Where We Came From. California, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Colorado, Florida, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Ohio, Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and many, many from NY, LI, and Massapequa. Did I leave anyone out? Anyone from Yaphank?
The Weather Gods Smiled On Us. The two days before the reunion saw the temperature in NY rise over 100 degrees. Not nice.
But, but, the weatherman said that relief was on the way - and he was right!. A "cold" front blew across the area Friday afternoon with artillery like thunder and lightning and torrential rain in lower Manhattan. This was to continue periodically over the weekend. A mixed blessing, to be sure.
But someone, somewhere, was looking over our reunion. Friday night was clear as a bell and in the 70s. Saturday was perfect and, despite much rain Sunday morning, hardly a drop fell on the picnic (ask Pat LaRose and her daughter Kit, who, expecting a washout, headed from their Woodbury, LI motel to NY City, switched LIRR trains in Jamaica, and came back to Massapequa).
Friday: Sidekicks. This opening event at a downtown Massapequa Park bistro would give us a taste for our enthusiasm for the reunion. It was cheek-to-jowl in no time. What a start!!!
Saturday: The Huntington Town House. Barbara was absolutely right: a little formality was perfectly fitting on our second night. Each classmate was pinned with a high school picture ID. Look for them in the photos of the reunion.
Sunday: Marjorie Post Park, picnic area B. Though wiped out by rain in the morning, the Park saw a surprising crowd after noontime. Never underestimate the power of a frankfurter? It was humid, but the wind was refreshing and this final event didn't break up until after 6PM.
A Reunion Thank You. Barbara sums it all up.
What Will Happen to the Website? I was asked this many times during the reunion. The answer is simple:
No matter who runs it, it belongs to us. It is our name on it, and it is registered. Whenever you want to find out what is happening with our class or what the plans are for the next reunion, just go to your internet browser, enter
hit enter, and you should have your question answered. If not, it will be time for yet another classmate to step up and grab the reins. Bookmark it - FOREVER. Holly Horton will appreciate it.
Photos. Did we take photos or did we take photos? I got about 60 myself, and still missed
some of our classmates. However, with a few thousand more out there, we should be able to include
just about everyone before too long. We did assemble for a class picture and I do have much of the
panorama, but not all yet. If you have a complete set,
please let me know. Completing this panorama is my
destiny. Click the following links to see four of the panoramic photos.
PANORAMA1 (60K)
PANORAMA2 (59K)
PANORAMA3 (79K)
PANORAMA4 (78K)
Terry Giovennelli has certainly wasted no time. Her photos are already online.
Click here to see Terry's photos.
To Do List.
A Last Thought...for now. Toward the end of the night, my wife, Cynthia Mangels, leans over and says, "Do you know that I only saw one guy in your class wearing an ear ring." I think she really meant to say, "Aren't you guys a little fuddy, duddy?" However, I take this as a massive compliment that we are, in fact, real people, who have had real accomplishments, and are proud of the families we have raised and the lives we have led! As products of the 1950s, fads are just not our thing. And thank goodness, WE CAN NEVER BE CALLED BABY BOOMERS.
A Tribute to Holly Horton (Aug6). Holly Horton began organizing our 40th Reunion in the Spring of 2000 and died suddenly in September 2000. Click here for some thoughts about Holly and her efforts in our behalf.
Who's Coming to the Reunion (as of Aug6). The Classmates page now highlights the name of each classmate who is attending the 40th reunion with two red asteriks (**). 112 in all! Check it out.
NOTE: As has been done in the past, at the Reunion we plan to distribute a list of contact information for all the classmates we have located. If anyone objects to his or her information being on this list, please let us know.
40% of our Class Located (Jul29). With the addition of four more classmates we have located 250 out of 625 in the yearbook - exactly 40% of the class. Given that the search has gone on for more than a year, this feels like crossing the continental divide.
The Masters of Cut and Paste (Jul29).
Eight members of our class met at Barbara
Winkleston's house on July 22. The Mission: turn 51 yearbook pages, with 625 photos into photo IDs to be
worn by classmates attending the 40th Reunion. Why you ask? That's because the face you see in the
yearbook probably looks a little different after 40 years. OK, OK, I was trying to be diplomatic.
"Probably" is actually, "you better believe!"
Attending were Gail Cesario, Maureen McCarthy, Barbara Winkleston, Dolores Hund, Art Schweithelm, Ed Pesce, Pat Mahoney, and Paul Mangels (behind the camera). In order to manage this task it was decided to divide into teams - Cutters (Gail, Dolores, Paul, and Maureen) and Pasters (Ed and Art). Pat supervised matching while Barbara assembled the pictures and ID cards. In addition, Barbara finessed the most critical job of all - refreshments.
What was the greatest difficulty? Well, all those pictures brought back so many memories and stories that concentrating on work was difficult. This diversion is expected continue in earnest on August 10 at Sidekicks, go ballistic on the 11th at the Huntington Town House, and finally settle back to Earth on the 12th at Marjorie Post Park.
Music (Aug7). Finally, the Finale is here! These seven selections have no common source. They're just all good! Two of them, on the Home and News pages, were big hits in 1960-1961.
Music introduced on July 14 included classical selections from: Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody #2, Rossini's William Tell Overture, Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, Johann Strauss' Blue Danube Waltz, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, and Massenet's Meditation. Janet (Colfer)Carlsen guessed 5 of 7 and Sam Mascia got 6 of 7 including, incredibly, the last one. I didn't expect anyone to guess that. Congrats Sam. While Sam loves cars of the 50s, his radio is obviously tuned to more than the Rock & Roll stations we knew back then.
You can listen to these any time on the Music page, where there is a complete history of tunes that have appeared on the site.
No Contest this time. The tunes all appear in the table on the Music Page. Just hold the mouse pointer over the links for Aug7 and the names will appear at the bottom of the window. Winners of past "Name that Tune" contests are listed on the Music Page.
Photos of the 1950s (and Beyond) (Jun25). Our photo collection is finally getting to look like what I'd hoped to have. Today we have six more photos - three of Massapequa Park and three more class photos. Go to 50sPix to see them. I guarantee you will NOT be able to find your house in the aerial photo of the Park. And see if you can identify some of our classmates in the 5th and 6th grade photos.
I owe a great deal of thanks to Peggy Caltabiano, the Deputy Village Clerk, who took me seriously as I walked around Village Hall muttering things like, "Nice pictures you have on the wall; Can I borrow a few, make copies, and return them in a couple weeks?"
Please search your memories and your attics as more pictures of the 1950s would be great to have on the web site. You know what I'd really like to have? A picture of the Massapequa Market - yes, our premier supermarket of the 1950s. Pedaled there many a time. BTW, it's a CVS now. Please click here to contact me about any pictures you'd be willing to share with everyone. Thanks.