CELEBRATING 60 YEARS
To: The Members of the HGHS Class of 1960, Spouses, Significant Others and Friends
From: Allan Campbell, Class President
Greetings to all,
It’s my honor as the president of the Class of 1960 to introduce the “Celebrate 60 Newsletter.” Sixty years since graduation is a significant milestone for us--- something not even imaginable when we gathered in June of 1960 for our graduation ceremony. We were told then that we were a truly special class. We have proven that assessment to be true over the years.
The experiences we have had and the wisdom we have gained in the sixty years since high school give us a unique perspective. As I noted at an earlier reunion, we have witnessed fourteen presidents, at least five foreign wars, space flight, peace and prosperity, civil unrest and amazing advances in technology, science and medicine. Let us use the legacy of what we have observed, experienced and learned to enhance the lives of those who will follow us.
Please enjoy the thoughts, memories and reminiscences in this newsletter. I hope you will find it thought-provoking, amusing, poignant and fun. We were a class that didn’t have deep divisions. We were respectful of each other. I think we are a class that has become closer over the years. We have each gained new respect for classmates we did not know well in those four short years of high school.
Lastly, we all owe a huge debt of gratitude to Dave Williams, Gay Mayer, and Beth Porter. Over all the years since graduation with no small effort, they have been the people who kept the class connected and informed. I’m pretty sure it’s been a labor of love, but a labor nonetheless. On behalf of all of us I want to say how grateful we are to them all, and especially to Dave for the 20-plus years of newsletters.
Thank you all!
Enjoy the newsletter!
All the best,
Allan
WELCOME FRIENDS AND CLASSMATES TO OUR SPECIAL NEWSLETTER EDITION OBSERVING 60 YEARS SINCE OUR GRADUATION FROM HORACE GREELEY HIGH SCHOOL!
WE HAVE SO MANY WONDERFUL STORIES AND MEMORIES FROM SO MANY PEOPLE THAT WE HAVE FOUR WEB PAGES DEVOTED TO CLASSMATE INPUTS. THERE ARE ALSO MANY OLD PHOTOS FROM ELEMENTARY DAYS, JUNIOR AND SENIOR HIGH, AND OF CHAPPAQUA, THAT THERE'S A "PICTURES FROM THE PAST"
PAGE AS WELL.
AND FINALLY YOU'LL SEE THE "IN MEMORIUM" PAGE WITH PICTURES OF THOSE WHO HAVE GONE AHEAD.
But first, we have a letter ofgreeting from Andrew Corsilia, the current principal, telling us about how Greeley has changed, and how it has stayed the same.
We have so many inputs from so many people. Some long, some short, some about Greeley, some about Chappaqua, but all about things we share as classmates. Presented here in no particular order and without a lot of comment or introduction. I hope everyone enjoys them!
Lynne Dennison Fitzhugh sets the stage for us:
Some hastily assembled recollections of a Chappaqua education: The early years
5/30/20
Since Chappaqua was the only home I ever knew, my experiences in the school system began with nursery schools in people’s homes. One was down the street south of the Greeley Statue that ran parallel with the Parkway. I was probably 3 or 4 so don’t remember the other kids. Another was on Douglas Rd. I think it was at Mrs. Holsapple’s and liked it better and remember Tommy Eller but am not sure the other names that come to mind were from that nursery school. There was also the Kipp Street School where most of the kids went then, but I never did.
Kindergarten with Miss Snell was in the “Chicken Coop,” a temporary building behind the old stone HGHS in town because already the first waves of baby boomers were hitting the school system. It’s possible we spent part of the year at the King Street School as well. There was a lot of shuffling of locations to accommodate the growing population of kids before “Double Sessions” were instituted.
First grade was also in the Chicken Coop, and I really liked Miss Kiley, our teacher, who was very kind. Second grade with Miss Colby was in the King Street School. I found Miss Colby mean, and I ran a “gang” of kids during recess. We would go through a hole in the chain link fence around the playground and hang out in the bushes on the other side. I recall feeling like a “tough kid” then. Anne Carter moved to my neighborhood that year and, both being tomboys and horse-lovers, we became great friends though she was a year older. We had adventures and got in a lot of trouble together during the next few years. These are very vivid memories for me, but when Bonnie Rae found her address for me after the last reunion, I was stunned to find Anne didn’t remember any of that. Except for a couple of sad events in my life at that time, elementary school years were wild and free.
Always, but especially during summer months, I did a lot of exploring on my bike and discovered kids in neighborhoods beyond the woods—Dave Williams, Paul Deignan, Nicky Bowen, Sue Warburton, Sumner Bogart, etc. in the Begg Drive neighborhood, and Tommy Stephens and Denny Joy way over on a street off Douglas Rd. where there was a big black cherry tree with amazing cherries. There were more kids on Hardscrabble Rd.
Third grade I was in the afternoon session with Miss Parmalee, who played an instrument (guitar? accordion?) and taught us songs. I liked her. Again, it began in the Chicken Coop. I recall missing school because I’d gone off exploring and having adventures in the morning and either forgot or didn’t get home in time to go. That spring we all moved to the new Roaring Brook School. In the summer after 3rd grade I discovered a new girl, Sandra Sherrick, way over by Quaker Rd. who I liked a lot because she was pretty but who shunned my overtures of friendship the first day of 4th grade. Funny how those little stings stay with you.
Fourth grade was Mr. Lindsay. My main memory of that year was being kicked off the playground baseball team by the boys I’d been playing ball with in and out of school for 2 years—just because I was a girl! I was one of the best hitters and fastest runners (won the 4th grade field day race) in the class. I was absolutely crushed! But that was the year boys started getting weird in general.
Fifth grade with Mr. Haigh was a great year. I was writing a lot then and some of the girls—I think Karen Turner, Karen Reagan, Bonny Camph?—and I acted out some of the silly plays I’d written for the class. I had a lot of energy and confidence then. That all came to a crashing halt with puberty, but not right away. Sixth grade with Mr. Cahill was back in the original stone HGHS building in town. The best part was the Pioneer Girl Scout troop with Mrs. Duncan. I had hated the regular girl scout troop because they only did girly things, so I was disruptive. Pioneer Scouts was more like boy scouts. We made a big canvas tent, learned to chop wood, and had some serious hikes and camping trips. I loved it. The friends I remember being in the troop with were Karen Turner, Karen Reagan, Bonnie Rae, Sally Coburn, and, I think, Sarah Holland. That fall most of the kids had to go to Mr. Richards’ dancing classes. That winter the school put on our first school dance. I went with Tommy Stephens. We were exceedingly shy and awkward. (Why did grown-ups make kids go through these things, anyway?) After that I missed a lot of school due to a series of respiratory infections and finally ended up in bed for 6 weeks with lobar pneumonia.
Seventh grade with Miss Cherry was when Bill Fitzhugh joined our class for a year or two before heading to Deerfield. An entry in my diary confirms what my mother claims I told her, namely that “I’d met the man I was going to marry.” This turned out to be true, but not until long after the Junior Musical and my first love, Buddy Ebert, and dating several of Bill’s roommates at Deerfield and Dartmouth while Bill dated Carol Fisher and some girls he knew from Cape Cod. This was the year puberty squelched the person I was in 5th grade and made me shy, awkward, very religious, sweet, and boring. I had Mr. Russo in 8th grade, Mr. Sweet in 9th, and Mr. Davis in 10th-12th grade. Mr. Davis was the most inspiring teacher I ever had, even in college. I remember how he would leave provocative quotes on the blackboard for us to mull over before he came into the classroom, and was prone to zinging the eraser over Dan G’s head when he was being “smart.” We all loved it, because he took literature and us seriously. I had also been inspired by Miss Kurson, and especially Mr. Gilson, who shook our naïve worldview to the core with a photo album of the atrocities committed by Nazis in the concentration camps.
All in all, I remember my Chappaqua childhood fondly, but especially the terrible-magical-free-range years of elementary school, and I feel very fortunate to have had such an excellent education.
Bob Burch shares his perspective, and also gives us a nice current picture!
Where to begin? Like some of our classmates I was late to the party. We moved to Chappaqua when I was twelve, so only joined the rest of you in the seventh grade. Assimilating was not always the easiest thing, though as the years passed, I made many friends.
What do I most remember of HGHS in those days? After a year of double sessions in the old high school, now Robert E. Bell middle school I believe, arriving at the new open plan campus was a revelation, and a bit of a shock – you mean we have to walk from one building to another, in the winter!!
Can anyone who sat in their classes ever forget Sylvia Kurzon, the hard-smoking Alice Barry, Harold Bischoff, or everyone’s nightmare “Blackie” Barlow? Miss Kurzon taught me to appreciate writing effectively, Miss Barry taught me to look at history in judging current events, Mr. Bischoff taught me to appreciate the magic of calculus, and the fearsome “Blackie” taught me that physics is actually fun.
And what of our classmates? First, I think an enormous vote of gratitude is due to Gay Mayer, Dave Williams and Beth Porter who have kept the newsletter alive though all these years. It has always been a treat to read what folks are up to and how they are doing. I have not been particularly good about contributing as I spent a lot of years overseas where it was not an option, and then I guess, only plain laziness. I have been greatly saddened to hear that some of our classmates; Ken Nye, Steve Walsh, Kathy Shanahan, and Doug Hoeft come to mind, will no more join us in these remembrances. They were teammates and friends I will not forget.
I find it a real tragedy that, because of today’s situation, we could not find a way to meet for this, our 60th anniversary. Maybe our 61st??
If any of you are ever in Arizona, Jane and I have lived in Tucson for some 17 years and have a summer place in Flagstaff. You’re always welcome. Speaking of Jane, as she is 100% Irish, we have spent a lot of time there in the past few years. A link to a little remembrance of all that is below.
Bob Burch
H: (520) 529-4232
C: (520) 591-8068
Carol Fisher Post-Pfaelzer recalls...
I remember feeling warm and cozy leaving for lunch at the Robert E. Bell school to get a hamburger in town. If I was really hungry I’d order two cheeseburgers and a coke. Loved getting ready for football games on Saturday with hair curled and hoping to see Bruce Mygatt, Kenny Nye and Gordon White etc. etc. I didn’t realize the the friendships of the girl classmates came first and most important as the years rolled on. Everyone was very civil to one another I remember. Mary Ellen gave me a surprise 16th birthday party. I called her to remind her of this as Dariana, my granddaughter celebrated hers yesterday in Moscow…Wonder what happened to Betsy Smith, red head and full of fun. Left to go to Brearley in NYC I believe. I liked Mr.Vion-English-and others who I can’t remember. Miss Gorman completely did over the skirt I was making poorly on her own time for me. A Heroine to me!!!!! Mr. and Mrs Thrasher were lovely people and kind to me.
Love to all,
Carol Fisher Post-Pfaelzer
Peter Kilburn's warm memories --
While my sister Sally, my brother Tony and I were born in NYC, we pretty much were raised on Roaring Brook Road, adjacent to the high school. My father, an architect, designed our home and we moved into our new house in December 1951. My first memorable friendship was with Mary Ellen Necarsulmer - we were in Miss Radley's third grade at Roaring Brook School. Miss Sliker, Mr. McGuire, Miss Joslyn and Mr. Thrasher- I was a thorn in his side for certain- are the most memorable teachers for me. Among my early Chappaqua friends were Steve Walsh, Bruce Mygatt, Johnny Maloney and Dick Lynch. Steve turned out to be a lifelong dear friend. Mary Ellen and I still like to tell people we jointly encounter that "we've been best friends since third grade". Mary Ellen is married to my wife Natalie's brother Larry, so we see each other at least annually and talk/email every few weeks.
Chappaqua was such a small village when we grew up. Squires, Cadman's, Viscomi's for lunch, The Little Store, Sheridan's, Cartizano's, The Kitchenette, Elman's all were part of growing up. Steve (the Dodgers and Duke Snider), Johnny Maloney and Dave (the Giants and Willie Mays) and me (the Yankees and Mickey Mantle) spent hours arguing who was the best. Ivy League football on fall Saturday mornings. Kenny Nye the leading quarterback. Boy Scouts with Mr. Hoeft. I was a pathetic scout! Marching in the Memorial Day Parade. All superb memories for me.
It was a good time to be growing up in Chappaqua. Our small hometown was not so well known then, but now known widely as the home of president Clinton. We saw many early "technology" breakthroughs as we grew up. How about Mary Ellen's RCA color TV in the early 1950s? Automatic transmissions vs stick shifts, power steering, VW Bugs, turn signals, the new language labs at HGHS, electric typewriters, IBM world headquarters in Armonk. All new to us then and now things we take for granted. I am grateful for the foundation that Chappaqua and Horace Greeley High School provided for my family and our many friends: Mary Ellen, Steve, Swede Murphy, Kathy Shanahan and of course my loving wife, Natalie - 60 years as friends and 55 years of marriage.
Peter
From John Rutherfoord, with a nice photo. (The words "scholarly" and " distinguished" come to mind.)
I'm one of those who left Chappaqua before graduation, actually at the end of our junior year. My family left for Massachusetts in the middle of our junior year and I stayed behind until summer with my uncle and aunt who
lived just over the border in Mt Kisco.
I stayed behind because of Ed Barlow. I never took a class with Mr. Barlow (although he filled in for our science teacher for a week or two in 9th grade and I still clearly remember what he taught us). Mr. Barlow was my homeroom teacher in our sophomore year and I came to understand that he knew a lot of math and that he was the physics teacher. I was trying to understand satellite orbits at the time. That led to meetings following afternoon classes where he introduced me to calculus. I vaguely remember that Archie Allen also joined us. One day Mr. Barlow told me privately that Archie was brighter than I. I already knew that.
(ed. Note: Archie was smarter than everybody!)
Nevertheless I learned a lot from Mr. Barlow and I credit him with launching me in the direction where I find myself today, as a professor of physics at the University of Arizona. I was hired away from the University of Washington in 1988 to start a new research group in Experimental Elementary Particle Physics. Our group of five faculty now works on the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN
laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. We discovered the Higgs Boson in 2012 and we're now looking for Dark Matter, among other hypothetical phenomena.
(I recommend the movie "Particle Fever" for those who are interested in such stuff. You can find it on youtube.)
My biggest regret is that I never wrote to Mr. Barlow to tell him what a huge influence he had on my life. Kirby Oak must have known my debt to him because Kirby forwarded newspaper articles when Mr. Barlow died.
I graduated from high school in Wellesley, Mass along with Mary Wegner, who became Gay Mayer's wife. And Gay's mother spent her last years in Tucson where I now live. Small world.
Yes, it's true. I'm not retired. And I'm still playing tennis, not well, but better than in high school.
Keep well. Best regards, John Rutherfoord
Old Buddy Nick Bowen's summary --
We moved to Chappaqua from Long Island when I was around 5, and lived on Mill River Road, off the statue and paralleling the parkway. That house had like 64 steps! From there we moved to Spring Road, where I lived through high school.
So I went through the Chappaqua school system from Kipp Street kindergarten and Roaring Brook to both the old and new HGHS.
I enjoyed ice skating at Milbank and the Duck Pond and various ponds out in the woods during winters.
My favorite teacher was Señora Gallas. I was a mediocre student, but got all A's in Spanish. Guess it's a left brain thing. I took to it like a duck takes to water. That was my major in college
I appreciated Mr. Allard in 5th grade, who took a personal interest in me. I remember him reading "The Oregon Trail" to our class.
Chappaqua was a nice little town to grow up in. Two barber shops, one shoe store, one five and dime.
Good friends, good times.
Sue Grafflin, with great memories and nice insights.
Hi All,
As I thought about growing up in Chappaqua, I’ve been struck by how strong are some vignettes of my youngest years. The first thing that came to mind was that I’d been to every school extent at that time: Kipp Street for a few weeks before I was transferred, Miss Parmelee in the portable behind the high school, King Street, opening Roaring Brook, Horace Greeley, and finally opening the new HGHS.
Mrs. Kiley seemed like a mother figure for first grade, although I also remember being terrified hanging upside down on the jungle gym on the playground. And hearing the peacocks screaming from the next street over. For second grade, it was so exciting to have Miss Stobo, who was from Scotland. She showed us a movie of Princess Elizabeth’s wedding (I hope I learned to multiply and subtract somewhere in there too). Warm milk for snacks and lying down on the mats for our “rest time” comes back for third grade. The hill behind Miss Parmelee’s portable classroom had jack-in-the pulpits, which I had never seen before, and seemed a little too close to our building.
Roaring Brook was so bright and sunny after that, and what fun to make volcanos for our science project. Mr. Lindsey’s ruler down my back to make me sit up straight just when my father came through for an inspection was mortifying! And dancing class with the “clicker lady,” when I was taller than almost all the boys.
In those days the town sponsored a huge Halloween bonfire (it must have been near the station parking lot) and a fun house at Greeley school, with wavy mirrors and dunking for apples. And during the winter we had roller skating in the auditorium.
Jump a few years, and I can still spell Michael J. Siczewicz. I remember marching down King Street in those hot wool band uniforms, the new high school, soccer being introduced as a new boys’ sport, and almost failing Latin.
While I don’t want to sweep under the rug the many difficulties some had through their childhood, I think we were lucky in so many ways. For better or worse we were much more innocent and isolated than kids are today.
I hope everyone is keeping well and safe.
Susan Grafflin Leete
Here is Andy Adams special memory:
The only thing that really stands out is that I wasn’t a really good student. I didn’t really fit with the other people in my class. I was sort of a loner. I came as a son of a local electrical contractor. We were not a very well-off family. In my senior year I drove a 1941 International pick up truck that I parked as far away as possible in the parking lot as it was not as nice as the Buick convertibles or fancy “school” cars. To say the least I was shy and not really into the dating thing. My grades were barely passing and I had some serious problems studying. If I were to have a vehicle to drive to school I had to work. I was the assistant frozen food manager at the Grand Union food store at the top of King street. I worked there my junior and senior years at Greeley. I struggled with school studies. The only real classes I liked were Mr. Starks mechanical drawing and Mr. Keepers Shop.
In my senior year I failed Dr. Cantrell’s English class 3 quarters out of four. How could that happen you ask? Well here is the story. For some reason nothing in the English class made any sense to me. Sentence structure, spelling? (to this day I still struggle with all of this) I couldn’t have cared less. This was until a really quiet and unsuspecting young classmate by the name of Beth Porter came to me. She said that if I didn’t pass my English state Regents exam, I would not be able to graduate. I barley knew who Beth was, nor why would she would care. But for some reason she did and took pity on me. She offered to tutor me till exam time. We were not an item. We did not date. We were just friends? Not sure what we were, but out of the blue she offered help me. I agreed, and we worked together for nearly a month and a half in the spring. Each week we met and I began to study for the exam.
The Miracle: What happened next was to me a miracle. At exam time I was frightened and worried about what the exam was going to entail.
We all packed into the gym and began the timed and to me difficult inquisition.
The results: I struggled with the exam. I heeded Beth’s instruction, and did the “easy” things first. Then began the written part. We had several topics that we could write about. The one I chose was the “environment” and I wrote what came to my head and heart. The text was about the waste and filth of our garbage collection. Plastic bottles and plates, Beer cans and bottles discarded to land fills and dumps.
I proposed recycling and using thing more than once. At Beth’s encouragement and instruction, I read and re-read the page until the buzzer went off. I did what I was taught to do.
Did It work? Well, a day or so later I was called to Dr. Cantrell’s office.
I was told to sit down. Dr. Cantrell was physically upset. I was asked to close the door to his office. He began by raising his voice to me and saying that I wasted his time for the past year. How dare me to sit in his class and not work to my fullest. I was now confused. This didn’t make any sense, until he said that I passed the regency exam with an 82%.
Well blow me away…. I was allowed to graduate!
So, what did this teach me about life, and why was it so important? Simple. All it took was a Beth Porter to care and encourage someone who just needed some help. Something Dr. Cantrell didn’t or couldn’t offer. Today the term is “Pay it Forward” whether its your kids or a friend or whomever. We all need help from time to time. I wish I had understood this wisdom earlier in life. Thank you Beth wherever you are.... You are remembered and cherished.
Andy
PS. On a different note: my father was told by Dr. Remaly at HGHS that I would never amount to anything but a grease monkey or gas station attendant. I did a lot better than that!
MARY ELLEN NECARSULMER WALSH with more warm memories for us.
I feel very lucky to have grown up and gone to school in Chappaqua. Starting in first grade and continuing through high school, we had great and inspiring teachers: Miss Barry, Miss Kurson, Mr. Gilligan, Mr. Maguire (for whom I named a cat, Mr. Renhack, and Miss Joslin, to name a few. The town of Chappaqua is filled with memories for me: buying lipstick and great ice cream at Cadman’s, groceries from Gristede’s, clothes from The Colony Shop, lunch from King’s Corner when we had double sessions our freshman year. All of the people who worked in town were so nice. I loved going to the Chappaqua Library also. Some of the policemen even came to our parties to make sure everyone stayed safe!
Can’t say enough about my friends. Some, like Carolyn Grieco, went through all twelve years with me. I met my best friend for life Peter Kilburn in third grade – he was my date for the senior prom and is now my brother-in-law. Carol Fisher Pfaelzer and I have been friends since fifth grade. We had so much fun going to games, to dancing class, on field trips, and to parties and dances. I salute my friends who are no longer with us – Kathy Shanahan, Sally Holland, and Penny Clark.
Joan Kather Henry
I moved to Chappaqua the summer after my freshman year in high school in upstate New York, so I only lived there for 3 years before going off to college. My parents moved to N.J. a couple of years later, and after that I lost most ties with Chappaqua.
When I was in high school, I remember arguing with my Dad that living in Chappaqua wasn’t real life: there was basically no ethnic mix, no poverty, no immigrants; just upper middle class white folks. I wanted to experience life in the ‘real world’ like in NYC where I would come in contact with all kinds of people. He explained to me that raising a family in the suburbs was a kinder, gentler place for children to grow up, and when I left home, I could live anywhere I wished. Ironically, I married a man I met in college who was a son of an Irish immigrant and grew up in NYC. During our married life, we have lived for some years in various cities: Seoul, S.F., Seattle, Shanghai – but we raised our children in suburban S.F. Although I love many things about city life, I found it a difficult place to raise and educate young children. As a parent and as an educator of young children, I came to better understand my Dad’s thinking.
One of the reasons my parents chose to move to Chappaqua was for its good schools. I am always proud when I see Horace Greeley listed in the top 50 high schools in the country. We had many outstanding teachers and were academically well-prepared for college and beyond. Senora Galas, my high school Spanish teacher, is one example. During my 3 years of Spanish, I never heard her speak a word of English. She emphasized communicating – listening and speaking – in Spanish. So many friends who studied Spanish in high school elsewhere can’t remember much of the language they once learned. Although I’ve forgotten more Spanish than I now know, I try to speak in Spanish with friends in Spain where I’ve lived, taught and visited. One of my friends in Bogota gave me a great compliment when he described me as the only American he knows who speaks Spanish in more than the present tense!
In the last twenty years I’ve seen two high school friends in person: Izzy Miraco and Liz Lewis Usborne. I caught up with Izzy when we were living in Seattle. She set a wonderful standard to aim for in physical activities: enjoying hiking and kayaking while exploring nature in the great outdoors, and I’ve tried to follow her example. I’ve visited Liz in San Diego, and she’s visited me in WA several times. Liz, having lived in Spain, has been a great resource of information about that country, and we’ve enjoyed sharing the experiences we’ve had in Spain.
We learned a great deal – both academically and personally – during our high school years. Many of those memories will stay with us even longer than our 60th year after our high school graduation!
Karen Reagan has a lot of great comments...
Here’s my piece of Chappy memories. Mostly, I remember my friends/classmates fondly: our times visiting, talking, playing sports under Miss Irwin’s watchful eyes, and more.
In middle school, there was Miss Petrus for 7th grade English. Somehow, she managed to keep our class under control despite the boys, who made it hard for her. She was a young, pretty woman trying to teach a bunch of boys and girls how to diagram sentences. I loved it, so it was okay with me, but probably dull for most of the class.
I enjoyed Mr. Cahill’s 6th grade. Mr. Cahill encouraged me to write, and that stayed with me.
Dancing class with Mrs. Holsapple – I partly liked and partly disliked it. I liked the dancing, the piano music and getting dressed up (my first pair of nylons, I remember) but disliked wondering if I’d get asked to dance!
In High school, I loved many of the subjects, especially those I did well in: Mr. Pollock’s typing class, that helped me to get my first job as a secretary; Mr. Davis’ English class (11th grade ?) in which he introduced me to poetry. He took it seriously, read it aloud to us, so I began to gain interest. Latin was somewhere in there. I struggled with it, so completely foreign, and why were we learning it anyway?
So there you have it, many fond memories.
I look forwarding to reading others’ memories!
Let's close out this first page with a sweet poem by Debbie Moslander Baxter written just for the occasion ---
Memories of the Horace Greeley years in celebration of the 60th anniversary of our graduation
Covid 19 has made me an exile -
No meetings or dining out for a while!
So with time on my hands and an urge to create,
I will beg your patience as I pontificate.
As we traveled through those Greeley High years,
Never suspecting that friendships so dear —
Memories of parties, proms, and teachers and tests
Would remain warm in our hearts as some of the best.
What comes to mind when I think of those days?
The math classes I liked. I was amazed!
Mr. Bischoff was patient and always so kind.
I conquered those theorems and with angles I shined!
Dinner parties before the big dances,
Rose corsages our prom dress enhances.
The Twist, the Jitterbug, the Stroll and Bunny Hop -
Don’t you wonder why those strapless tops did not drop?
“Rambling with Gambling” on WOR
Announced snow days to kids near and far.
How we listened and prayed. Would it be as we hoped -
To spend the day in the snow, sledding down every slope?
Those were the days with blessings so mixed:
True love and heartbreak and those social clicques.
As teenagers we learned to sort through what is right.
We become better people because of hind sight!
Thank you, Greeley, for memories so dear,
For lessons that taught the right way to steer,
For friendships both distant and here to this day.
I feel content in spite of my hair silver gray.
Debbie Moslander Baxter
As I mentioned at the beginning of the newsletter, I've arranged the personal bios into three pages. It's strictly for me, to simplify site maintenance and make editing a little easier. The next page will feature lots of material about the Junior Musical, and of course more of these precious memories and stories. You can access the next pages from the menu at the top of the page, or just CLICK HERE.
