The trials and tribulations of moving from Levittown during high school; Plainedge did not measure up and in fact there is no such place as Plainedge

By Kathy Stahlman Zinn '63

I moved to Levittown in 1952, a few months before my seventh birthday, from a third story walk-up apartment in Queens. At that point, my good Catholic family already had four children, of which I was the eldest. My father was a WW II vet, a B-17 bomber - turned airline pilot for Eastern Airlines. My mother had lived all her life in apartments, and she was thrilled with her Levitt house at 99 Butternut Lane.

I started second grade at Summit Lane school, had the same wonderful teacher, Ben Murphy, for fifth and sixth grades, (along with Marilyn Monsrud Jo Ann Leib, Noreen Donlin, Bobby Leporati, and lots of other kids). In seventh grade I walked across the playing field to start Junior/Senior High at Division Avenue. We knew the 10th graders would become the first graduating class of the school, the Class of 1960, and we all looked up to them.

I had a wonderful time growing up in Levittown at both my schools. I was tracked into advanced classes starting in fifth grade, with many of my best friends, and this continued into DAHS. I joined chorus and band, and loved our unusually "preppy" looking uniforms - a blue blazer with gray pants or skirt - with a beanie.

I was very involved in school activities, although basically a shy person. My parents went on to have three more children, and my Dad did what many others have documented about their fathers - he started modifying and adding on to our basic Levitt Cape Cod. Largely by himself, Dad finished both rooms upstairs, expanded them with a large dormer, added a patio, dining room, fence and garage.

Then in early 1961, when I was in my sophomore year, my mother was expecting her eighth (and last!) child. Dad felt there was nowhere else to go with expanding the house, (although I tried to convince him to add on a two story addition!). He felt the wiser choice was to find a larger house - elsewhere. My sister, Chris and I, a year apart, were devastated. How could he do this to us, rip us away from our community, our school, our friends, at such a crucial time in our young lives. But it happened.

They found a split level house in the Plainedge School district, five miles away, and we moved the summer before my junior year. The irony was, our street, just off Hicksville Road, one block south of Southern State Parkway, was literally the dividing line between the Levittown and Plainedge School Districts. I would have fought hard to still attend school in District 5 - but I would have had to go to MacArthur High School.

No one could have driven me back to DAHS, even if the school district had allowed it. So I started at Plainedge. The school was similar in many ways, especially in terms of the student population, the teachers and the facilities. I was, for the most part, welcomed by my fellow students and new teachers. Being in band really helped me to connect with people right away.

I decided to join the yearbook staff, and that cemented my new friendships. Having been in the advanced classes at DAHS, they placed me in equivalent ones at Plainedge. That also helped. However, one class was a problem. My cohorts at DAHS had been pushed a year ahead in math from seventh grade on. So, when I entered 11th grade in Plainedge , I had already completed 11th grade math, and the only math class I could take was calculus. The 12th graders at Plainedge definitely did not welcome an upstart 11th grader from Levittown in their seniors-only class. The teacher was not my beloved Mr. Erath, and calculus is in another category from advanced algebra, and was very difficult for me.

Other than that, I enjoyed my classes and friends. Some of my new girl friends, learning my 16th birthday was October 6th, just weeks after starting at my new school, even threw me a surprise party and invited my old Levittown friends, for which I was extremely grateful.

Of course, it was my old friends I missed the most - especially Jo Ann and Noreen. I kept in touch with them, and we visited back and forth. But I didn't drive, and had to depend on rides from my already overburdened parents. However, I was even able to go back to Summit Lane, on occasion, and with my friend Jo Ann, visited my old mentor, Mr. Murphy. He guided us through making choices in high school and about college.

The house we moved to was in a "development", and that really describes the difference between Levittown and my new home. The houses were somewhat larger and slightly more expensive. However, the school district was more of a collection of "developments" than a real community.

Although we were the Plainedge School District, there was no actual place called "Plainedge". The high school and homes near it had an address in North Massapequa -definitely not the Massapequa of Jerry Seinfeld fame. Our neighborhood had a Seaford address, although we were as far from Seaford as you could be. Some kids lived in Bethpage. There was no such thing as village greens or public swimming pools.

I lived there only two years before I left for college in Washington, D. C., so it never really felt like my home. My parents and siblings continued to live there until 1985, when my parents retired and made what I jokingly call the "mandatory New Yorkers' move to Florida". At my Plainedge 20th class reunion , most people forgot I had only moved there in my junior year.

When I talk with old Levittown friends, most of them forget I ever moved away before graduation. To my children, that house in Plainedge/Seaford was Grandma and Grandpa's old house. As for me, I have always told people I was raised in Levittown, because that was where I lived my most formative years. And today, I am truly proud of that fact.

Windy Levittown NY and the Hempstead Plains, a history lesson

click on photos to enlarge

By Frank Barning

Walking to school in Levittown in the winter was often an unpleasant experience because of the chilling wind. I often encountered the same phenomenon while attending Hofstra, walking from my car to a classroom building, or between classes.

Much of Levittown and Hofstra are situated on the Hempstead Plains. According to Wikipedia, "The Hempstead Plains is a region of central Long Island in New York State in what is now Nassau County. It was once an open expanse of native grassland estimated to once extend to about 60,000 acres. It was separated from the North Shore of Long Island by the Harbor Hill Morraine, later approximately the route of Route 25.

"The modern Hempstead Turnpike approximately traces the separation of the plain from the South Shore of Long Island. The east-west extent was from somewhat west of the modern Queens, New York City border to slightly beyond the Suffolk County border.

"The township of Hempstead, now America's most populous civil township, was first settled by Europeans around 1644. Although the settlers were from the English colony of Connecticut, a patent was issued by Dutch New Amsterdam after the settlers had purchased land from the local Native Americans. The town may have been named for either Hemel Hempstead, England or the city of Heemstede in North Holland.

"In early US history, the Hempstead Plains region was cited as one of the few natural prairies east of the Allegheny Mountains. Long Island historians George Dade and Frank Strand wrote that it was created by an outwash of glacial sediment more than ten thousand years ago. The result was vast, flat open land."

The Barning family moved to the prairie of Nassau County, Levittown, in late 1954 and it was a few years before dad installed an air conditioner. We suffered through many hot, sticky summer nights but that was somewhat alleviated when a "breezeway" was installed between our house and garage.

We had an oversized corner lot, at the intersection of Hyacinth Road and Primrose Lane, not far from Newbridge Road. The breezeway featured Florida window (jalousies) that could be cranked open to allows the zephyrs from the Hempstead Plains to provide nature's air conditioning. Quite often I slept on a couch out there, plus is was a fine place to entertain friends Bob Castro, John Koehler and Mal Karman when we played a baseball board game called APBA.

The attached photo, from 2009, shows the breezeway at 10 Hyacinth Road. The house was sold by my parents more than 40 years ago, but is still providing a cool Hempstead Plains zephyr to its owners.
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According to Wikipedia, "The last remaining few acres of untouched Hempstead Plains ground are thought to exist near Nassau Community College and in Eisenhower Park. The plains stretched east to the Suffolk County border. There are several acres of plains remaining in Plainview. The existing area was originally slated to be an extension of the Bethpage State Parkway, the proposed extension never came to be and the land was never developed."

Q & A with Sandy Kelly Mincher, class of 1961; enjoyed her teachers and taught for 34 years

Where did you live in Levittown, when did you move there and where had you lived before:

I was born in Everett, MA and lived there till my dad got a job as a cameraman at NBC in NYC. I believe it was 1951. I was seven years old and going into third grade. We first rented a house on Cornflower Lane. After a year we bought a house on Honeysuckle Lane. We lived there till I was in ninth or 10th grade (I have no memory for dates or numbers). We then bought a house on Haymaker Lane.

What were some of your earliest memories of Levittown:

My earliest memories are of catching fireflies in the backyard on hot summer nights, rides along the parkway to look for rabbits and enjoy nature (we came from a city environment), spending all day at Jones Beach, climbing the tree in our front yard, the smell of honeysuckle and roses, playing in the neighbors backyards, walking to the movies, pool, and Village Green, and sledding at Bethpage Park.

Who were some of your first friends:

I was a very shy and quiet child and did not make friends easily. My earliest friend was Sally Mann. We met in Girl Scouts, I believe. Her mother was our leader. Since I was a nature lover, I loved camping with the Scouts. Sally and I were also in band and chorus together. She did not live in my neighborhood, however, so we were limited to occasional visits. Her parents were very good to me and took me places I wouldn't have had the opportunity to go to otherwise.

The kids on my street were all younger as far as I could tell. I was the oldest child in my family. My mom went to work when I was 11 or 12 and I had a lot of responsibility after that. My brother, David, and sister Karen were frequently in my care.

When we moved to Haymaker Lane I lived next to Daria Marusevich who was also in the class of 1961. This was a lucky break for me. Since Daria is so outgoing and cheerful my experiences were broadened a bit. We had a lot of good times together listening to records, going to the beach, and spending time at each other's house. We went to football, basketball, and even wrestling matches a few times. I loved watching our teams play.

Was attending Division Avenue High School a good experience, any teachers you really enjoyed:

I have fond memories of Division Avenue. My teachers were good, at least for the most part. It was a shock to me that I could no longer get away with not studying or doing homework. My favorite math teacher was Mr. Simes. He taught geometry in a way that I, a weak math student, could master and even enjoy.

Mr. Reggio made biology interesting and he taught me how to organize information and take notes. I felt like he cared about me as an individual, something I needed as a student. Miss Eisenhauer intimidated me but I learned papers had to be turned in on time or you would pay dearly. She liked my papers so I didn't fail, as she had threatened, but I got a poor final mark.

I enjoyed Mr. Chapman's English class. That was my best subject and I liked the way he taught. My favorite teacher of all was Mr. Streb. Anyone who can make history enjoyable to me gets my approval. His classes were fun and sometimes funny. He made history relevant and allowed for good discussion.

Playing trumpet in the band and orchestra was my favorite activity. Not following through with that is something I have come to regret. I had a great trumpet teacher. I can't recall his name.

A highlight of your high school years:

Winning a top mark of A and a medal at the Music Association's competition was a highlight for me. I played "Bugler's Holiday" with Jeff Rasmussen and Bob Larson.

Did high school prepare you for the real world:

Probably not, but I'm not sure that is possible. I did a lot of maturing though, as well as learning better study habits.

What did you do immediately after high school (job, college):

Due to my parents separation and divorce my mom had no money to help me with college. A stroke of good luck came when someone did not use their Regents Scholarship and I got one. Some donations from my brother and grandfather bought my first books and I was able to attend Nassau Community College. I took a bus, train, then bus to get there. Afterwards I took another bus to Times Square Store and worked in stationery until 10 PM. This gave me a good work ethic. I finished my education at Oswego State College.

Is there anything you would like to mention about jobs you have had:

The most adventurous job I had was working at Schrafft's in New York City the summer after high school graduation. Daria and I lived in her grandparent's apartment and got jobs there as waitresses. We had some interesting adventures. I also learned I am not a good waitress.
I worked one year as a social worker before I began teaching elementary school. I taught for 34 years.

Where do you live now, and how long have you been there. Where else have you lived:

My husband and I moved to Palm Coast, Florida in 2004 after snowbirding here since 1999. Previously we lived in Oswego, NY.

Family--spouse, children, grandkids:

My family includes my husband, John, my daughter Kelly (my maiden name), and two step-daughters. We have no grandchildren.

If you are retired, what do you do keep busy:

Two things I love are my Tai Chi and organ classes. I also do some ministry at my church. John and I also square dance. We love to eat out and travel whenever we can. We go to performances of various kinds, especially theater, at the local auditorium. When it's in season, we go to Jackie Robinson Ball Park in Daytona Beach to watch the Cubs class-A team. We love to walk the town's many trails and along the beach. Visits from our northern friends are enjoyable as well.

Something that your old schoolmates would be surprised to learn about you:

I was divorced, then widowed by age 32. I have been married to my first college professor at Oswego State for 34 years.

Anything else you would like to add:

I find it interesting that I couldn't wait to leave Levittown and find a smaller place to live. Now we live in a place that has many similarities to Levittown and those are the things we love here. Palm Coast was all planned and laid out in the late 1970s. It is designed into neighborhoods and the streets are laid out like Levittown's. It is large with a small town feel.

Wally Linder's favorite Miss Eisenhauer stories; she was never the same after a field trip to the Museum of Natural History

By Wally Linder

I was in the class of 1961 and Miss Gladys Eisenhauer was a very popular citizenship education teacher. She drove a big, new, expensive, gigantic, light-green car Bonneville, I think. It was the kind of car that folks in Levittown just did not have. The trunk was as big as a queen-size bed. I suffer from CRS, and for the life of me, I don't understand how I can remember that. I think I was in love with her, and her car.

In the summer and fall of 1960, the presidential election race was hot and heavy. JFK debated Nixon on TV, and everyone watched. The difference between the two men seemed like the beginning of a new era. I was interested in politics for the first time in my life. I remember driving our 1954 Chevy out to the end of the earth, Port Jefferson, to see and hear JFK. We stayed up all night in John Fitzsimmons’ living room to hear the election results.

Before the election, Miss Eisenhauer told us that she could not vote for JFK. She went on to say that she thought that JFK was the best candidate, but she had a big problem with, and fear of, LBJ. She told us that according to the "Historical Time Table," JFK would die in office. She really believed that voting for JFK would make LBJ president, and she was sincerely afraid of LBJ becoming president. Everyone thought she was nuts.

Right after the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK said "do for your country," and I did. I was in the Navy “seeing the world" in Millington Tennessee, when Miss Eisenhauer's prediction came true. I had not thought of what she had said, until that day - Nov. 22, 1963. I've thought about Miss Eisenhauer, every November 22nd since.

We went to the Museum of Natural History with Miss Eisenhauer. I think that was our senior trip. The poor women, was never the same after that outing. I remember her, red complexioned and angry as hell (she was actually shaking), telling our class that Division Avenue High School had been banned from the Museum for all eternity, because of the behavior of its students. Something about mummies being disturbed. Because there was an outstanding invitation to her Old Westbury home, she still had a graduation party. We went, but things were never the same.
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It appears that Miss Eisenhauer left DAHS after 1961. Could you really blame her? Her photo does not appear in a yearbook after Wally Linder's class graduated. According to Donna Allison Cogswell '62, she left to pursue a Ph.D.

A senior citizen lost in the high-tech world: I don't tweet but I do toot a lot

When I bought my Blackberry I thought about the 30-year business I ran
with 1,800 employees, all without a cell phone that plays music, takes
videos, pictures, and communicates with Facebook and Twitter.

I signed up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their
spouses, 13 grandkids and two great grand kids could communicate with me
in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter
with only 140 characters of space.

That was before one of my grandkids hooked me up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie and Twittererific Tweetdeck, Twitpix, and something that sends every message to my cell phone and every other program within the texting world.

My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything
except the bowel movements of the entire next generation. I am not
ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my golf bag.

The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get
lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I
keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Bluetooth [it's red]
phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was
standing in line at Barnes and Noble talking to my wife and everyone in
the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. I had to take my hearing aid
out to use it, and I got a little loud.

I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside
that gadget was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into in a
long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say,
"Re-calc-ul-ating." You would think that she could be nicer. It was
like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh
and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then if I made a
right turn instead…well, it was not a good relationship.

When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the
cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me.

To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We have had them for four years, but I still haven't figured out how I can lose three phones all at once and have run around digging under chair cushions and checking bathrooms and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings.

The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up
every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle
on something themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time I
check out just knocks me for a loop. I bought some of those cloth
reusable bags to avoid looking confused, but I never remember to take
them in with me.

Now I toss it back to them. When they ask me, "Paper or Plastic?" I
just say, "Doesn't matter to me. I am bi-sacksual" Then it's their
turn to stare at me with a blank look.

I was recently asked if I tweet. I answered, "No, but I do toot a lot."
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Email forwarded by a friend.

Q & A with Marti Traystman, class of 1960, who has built a career in the horse racing industry

Where did you live in Levittown, when did you move there and where had you lived before:
I lived in Albertson, NY and moved to Boat Lane, Levittown when I was seven, in 1949.

What were some of your earliest memories of Levittown:
I remember having lots of other children around to play with, we ran and played all day long. Each year our family put on a circus in the back yard to raise money for the March of Dimes.

Who were some of your first friends:
I grew up down the street from Corrine Norgren Burns and around the corner from Penny Stone Stumler.

Was attending Division Avenue High School a good experience, any teachers you really enjoyed:
I was in Division Avenue from the sixth grade until graduation. Actually, I was also in Division Avenue for the second grade too. Mr. Keating is a teacher I really enjoyed. He made English fun and interesting. I remember that in either the 11th or 12th grade, the counselors wanted me to become a teacher. I didn’t even consider it as I did not think that I would have the patience the current teachers had.

A highlight of your high school years:
I cannot remember very many highlights. I do remember that I worked in the library during lunch hours and got out of being in the cafeteria most of the time. I have a recollection of being pretty quiet and not too involved in the goings on. I’m not sure I remember correctly.

Did high school prepare you for the real world:
Well, I thought I was going to go to work right out of high school, so I dressed up each day and wore heels for the last two years of school to prepare for the world of work.

What did you do immediately after high school (job, college):
I ended up going to college for two years and majoring in accounting. The deal was an Associate degree which I unfortunately didn’t get.

You've been involved in the thoroughbred horse racing industry for many years. How did you get into this field:
In 1997 a friend in the Frankfort Business and Professional Women’s organization (BPW), who worked as a mutual teller at Keeneland Raceway in Lexington KY, said that she thought I might like the job. She got me an application and the rest, as they say is history. I have worked at Keeneland during the spring meet (first 3 weeks in April) and the fall meet (first 3 weeks in October) since 1997. I began working at Belmont Raceway in 2007, after returning to live on Long Island. Beginning in 2010 I am a supervisor of Mutual Tellers at Belmont from May through October and then work as a Mutual Teller at Keeneland in April.

Tell us about the jobs you have had and some of the places you have worked:
In the late 1960s I was the assistant to the president of a small printing company in Westbury, NY. I did everything from taking the printing orders to writing the checks and keeping the books. I moved to KY in 1972. In 1975 I started working for the Commonwealth of KY. My career began as an Eligibility Worker for Food Stamps and later for AFDC and Medical Assistance. This consisted of determining whether people were eligible for benefits. After working in “the field” for 2 1/2 years, I got a promotion and moved to Frankfort (KY’s Capital) to work in the central office writing policy for the programs in which I worked in the local office.

I would take the Federal Regulation (CFR) and put them into English for the Eligibility Workers to process cases. In 1989 I made another move and began working with the Job Training Program in KY. I dealt with the Federally mandated performance requirements for the Job Training Programs (JTPA). I did this until retirement in August of 2001.

Where do you live now, and how long have you been there. Where else have you lived:
I currently summer on Eastern Long Island near Riverhead and winter in Wildwood, Florida.

Something that your old schoolmates would be surprised to learn about you:
Something about me, that surprises even me, is that I am now very outgoing and acquire friends easily. I thought I would be a loner all my life.

Anything else you would like to add:
It is so great that Frank has taken the time to put this blog together and that some of us are connecting after 50 years. Wow, hard to believe it has been that long. Reading the comments makes high school feel like yesterday.

The dads of Levittown's Daisy Lane were teamwork personified

By Dewain Lanfear '60

Levittown was built primarily to provide affordable single family homes for the men returning from World War 2. My dad and many of the men on our block, Daisy Lane, fit this description. They had “served for the duration” and were ready for the home ownership that Levittown offered. The habits they formed during their service carried over to the way they worked with each other on the block.

I remember one particularly heavy snow fall. Our street was just off Orchid Road, a “major” thoroughfare in Levittown. My how it has shrunk since I was 13-years old. Anyway, the town plows would work to clear the major streets first and then get to the side streets eventually.

This timetable didn't suit the men of the block, and after each had cleared his own driveway (if he had one – more on this later) or walkway, there was the street itself keeping them from getting out to the plowed network of roads. Their solution? A bottle of Schenley's whiskey stuck in the snow a few feet from the intersection with Orchid Road, some shovels and a lot of military style teamwork. With that bottle as incentive, the street was soon cleared and they all enjoyed a well earned reward.

I mentioned the driveways earlier. These same ex-GI's pooled their resources to build driveways and walkways for their houses. Remember that the original package came with a flagstone path from the front door to the sidewalk. Well when it was time to upgrade to concrete, the men of the block agreed on a time table and each dug out (or assigned the job to an offspring) his own path and on the agreed upon Saturday they had a cement truck make a drop to each house; they helped each other finish the walks and driveways. They saved a lot of money by ordering an entire truckload of concrete, and of course, being part of the team gave them motivation to finish the job.

Do you recall that the upstairs area, with its counterbalanced trap door, was unfinished? A popular project was to finish that space into living space. First the area needed electrical wiring. Enter the team concept again. The school district offered an Adult Ed class on wiring a Levittown attic. Twelve weeks, 12 enrollees. Each week the class was held at another class member's home. Wives were assigned the task of providing coffee and cake, while the class went upstairs and, under the guidance of the licensed electrician/teacher, installed the wiring on that house according to code. I remember this because that's how my dad wired my upstairs bedroom.

Our garage was built using the same team concept. After I finished digging out the footing, which was not a team job, Dad hired a carpenter and ordered the lumber and other things he needed to build his garage. One weekend, the carpenter arrived along with the rest of the men on the block and, with the carpenter's directions, they put the garage up in two days. I guess that this was what on old-time barn raising was like.

Dad had a strong sense of community pride. Do you remember the hedges at the foot of the main entrance to DAHS? Well, the weekend they were planted, some vandals came by on Saturday night and pulled them out. Dad saw this on his way to church the next morning and came back after church and replanted them. They might still be there. That's the way a lot of the Levittown dads felt about their town.

I want to name these men because they were such a good example and because so many of them had children who went to Division. There was my dad, Dewain, and Gene Sherman, Irv Weiner, Noel Heineke, Dick McCarthy, Bob Waddle and Bill Condon. These men and many of our teachers were veterans who developed some worthwhile values during their service. Let's remember them.

Little boxes made of ticky-tacky and they all looked just the same

A recent photo of 117 Brook Lane....Lillian Smith's old home.

By Lillian Smith Handleman '62

In 1962, the year I graduated from Division Avenue High School, the cozy enclave of Levittown homes on eastern Long Island was rhapsodized by Malvina Reynolds, who described this post-war community of mass-produced houses in the lyrics of her song, Little Boxes:

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

That song may well describe the outward façade of Levitt homes constructed in the late 1940s with the box-like simplicity of a child’s drawing. There was a tiny Bendix washing machine off in the corner of the little kitchen studded with metal cabinets. Everything was miniature, like living in a snow globe. There was one small bathroom and two bedrooms off the living room with a window that overlooked a treeless view of a thousand other houses--just like the song described.

We didn’t know it then but that remarkable touchstone of modern suburbia was just the embryo of an era that would explode like a canon in so many different ways. And the nostalgic influence of those days would be felt years later, like a heartache.

But our community of little houses was so much more than just the superficial underpinnings of mortar and sheetrock. It was a symbol of our parents' security following the great depression of the 1930s and 1940s, and signified a certain upward mobility for them in an age of new prosperity. Despite the cold war that often had us hunkering under our school desks in preparation for an air raid, mostly we were the benefactors of an age of optimism where the hope and promise of a burgeoning economy took form in ways we couldn’t predict. It’s no wonder we look back in awe at the paradoxical simplicity of an era where the race for nuclear arms and outer space collided comet-like, smack onto the birth of Rock and Roll.

And at the heart of it all were those ticky-tacky houses we came home to every day after school, or at night after catching fireflies in the moonlight. They provided the warm comfort of radiant heat under tile floors on a cold winter’s day, and the feeling of safety despite the ever-present specter of political tension. Somehow, those houses blanketed us in the comfort of home and gave us our sense of belonging to something bigger than ourselves.

My parents died a few years apart leaving me orphaned at 18, and my house on 17 Brook Lane was sold a few years later. But the events of those years are embedded like a memory chip, so vivid are they to this day. They say that we tend to romanticize the past, yet there was something patently romantic about that whole era. I yearn to return to it, if only briefly, to taste again the sweetness of a time that remains, somehow, timeless.

Photo by Marilyn Monsrud Frese '63

Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds, YouTube Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_2lGkEU4X

Recollections of Division Avenue High's 1960 football season

It was a memorable year for coach Jerry Jewell and his Blue Dragons team

John Kinstrey 1961 wrote the following as a comment on one of our blog posts.

There were several of us who played football for the Levittown Bears - a so-so town team - during our freshman year when the ninth grade (class of 1961) boys team went undefeated. Our sophomore and junior years showed some improvement but it was the magical summer preceding our senior year when we realized we would be playing the same teams our freshman whacked three years earlier in the coming season.

We were psyched. Wrote a song about coach Jewell to the Maverick tune. Mohican haircuts. Borrowed dad's car and cruised the turnpike. Al Baldwin and Carl Kielbasa led illegal conditioning drills throughout July and August and we all showed. We'd "pig out" at a new place called McDonald's near Island Trees High School. We just knew it was going to happen. Everything seemed right. We felt like champions. And at season's end, we were.

Jim Urban 1961 wrote the following as a comment on one of our blog posts.

Jewell was a tyrant who knew very little about football at that time. DAHS history shows that he was a good learner. John Kinstrey's right. The 1960 football season was a great one. Most of the guys had played together for four years, running the same offense. There were no real individual standouts, but what a team!

Frank Barning asked Jim if he had additional memories of that season and this is his reply:

I absolutely love football. In my mind, no other sport even compares. I am not sure why I feel this strongly, but I assuredly do.

When I was a kid in elementary school and junior high, I would play football from the end of baseball season until the beginning of baseball season. I never played basketball. Baseball, then football, then baseball. I'm sure this accounts for why I was such a horrific basketball player.

I never played organized football - no Red Devils or Levittown Bears for me. Probably, because there was some financial aspect associated with playing for those teams. Hell, I never even had a Tonette in elementary school because it cost 25 cents.

In frosh year, I broke my ankle early in the practice season and never got to play on that great freshman team. In sophomore year, I was attending Clarke High School on a scholarship that I was talked into accepting. So, I didn't get the opportunity to have my butt kicked by the varsity teams Division played that year.

In my junior year, I won the starting quarterback position on the varsity team. Gary Parker was my backup. I had a slight problem holding onto the ball however, and following the first snap in the first game of the season, I became Gary's backup.

Then came senior year. We knew that we would be good. We had toughness, speed, power and desire. We held voluntary, but illegal, summer conditioning drills without our coaches. I don’t know if these drills had any impact on our performance, but the attendance indicated that we all were thirsting for the season to begin.

One thing I recall with a smile. I smoked even then. Jewell saw me several times and warned me that we would have to complete a 3-mile run before we would be able to join the team. On a beastly hot day in August, we began our mandatory run. It was so hot and humid that Jewell cancelled the run after a short while. But, Ernie Villatore and I had already gotten our second wind and were successfully pacing each other around the track. Jewell stood with his jaw agape as we completed that run with ease. I never heard any more about smoking.

Our record that year was (I believe) 7-1. We lost our first game. This was a huge shock and disappointment. Great Neck South no less. We were truly dumbfounded. But oh how we rebounded.

Several of us played both offense and defense. As I recall, John Dilberger, Al Baldwin, Bob Bonacci, Carl Kielbasa, Bill Goldhammer, and I. Perhaps Jim Judson and Ed Thomas also played both ways. Then there was Ernie Villatore, Jerry Labie, Corky Cybriwsky and Mike Gurr going one way or the other. That’s it for my memory folks. Help! Anyone?

We played Plainview, Oyster Bay, Wheatley, Floral Park (I think), Herricks, Levittown Memorial (first time ever), and one more team that I can’t recall. Except for one game, we kicked the crap out of them all. And, we trounced Memorial 37-6.

I met my beautiful wife at a party following the Memorial game. If ever there was a case of love at first sight, this was it. I wondered why we had never met before until I discovered, several months later, that she had just turned 15!

I can recall with total clarity several of the successful plays we ran during that season and can even feel some of the “hits.” It was a wonderful time in a life filled with wonderful times. Perhaps I have answered my own question about football.

Checking in with wandering Warren Zaretsky, class of 1960

My classmate Warren Zaretsky is one of my favorite people. You have to know him to understand his offbeat sense of humor. If your sense of humor is limited, you may consider Warren over the top, obnoxious, irreverent and at times obscene. I am a big fan of George Carlin, Lewis Black, Susan Silverman and Robin Williams. Like Warren, their edginess is a comedic buffet with wisdom between the lines.

Warren retired a year or so ago and we have shared many emails as he roams the globe looking for a suitable, inexpensive place to hang his hat. The photos he sends are worthy of a coffee table book.

He is back in New York City for awhile, figuring out where next to visit. The following are two of his emails and a postscript.

Written in July 2010:

I've spent most of my 67 years wandering, creating and absorbing experiences -- east coast, west coast, three business careers, more than 30 countries, two marriages, a potpourri of multi-cultural amorous adventures of varying duration, two known children, three grandkids, a wonderful 89 year-old Mother, two loving sisters, a supportive and best-friend kind of cousin, a handful of close friends, and a comfortable bank account. The bank account buys continued freedom to wander. The accumulated material possessions have been kept minimal and are expendable.

If I go quickly with my boots on, it's been fun. If I linger a bit, I have my stock of memories to replay until I pull the plug. In the end, other than perhaps a few warm moments during visiting hours, all you've got is a silly backless hospital gown and your memories. So, to all I've encountered in my wanderings, I say thanks for the memories.

On Jan. 5, 2011 he wrote:

I leave tomorrow heading back to NY. Though San Miguel de Allende is a charming, historic and quaint Mexican town, it is as I thought it would be -- too many gringos. Why leave the US to be with the same Americans you don't care about hanging out with when you're there in the US?

I think mainly just because it's cheaper, and if you have little or no money, you can have other people around you who are even poorer than you, that you can look down on and feel superior to... so it makes you feel better about being not sooo poor and not at the bottom. To be sure, there are also a few wealthy folk and celebs with million dollar mansions who spend a few weeks a year, but what does that mean for the price of frijoles?

Also, why live someplace that's a six or seven hour drive to the nearest beach or horse race track?

Lastly, I enjoy seeing antiquity and history, but I don't want to live in history; to me "quaint" is nice to visit, but it's mostly just another word for old, non-functioning, inconvenient and dirty.

WARREN GETS THE LAST WORD
Just a few days ago, at age 67, I had my first Colonoscopy. The procedure itself, since it's done under anesthetic, was a non-event; not even worthy of a "Kodak moment" and certainly the video wouldn't get a top-10 listing in TV Guide.

The prior day's preparation, however, is a vile and torturous experience. Drinking two liters of something called "MoviPrep" would have turned John McCain into a blabbering traitor... and I'd have rather they inserted a dozen dung beetles up my ass.

In the end, I was hoping I could look at the positive side and learn some profound life-lessons from having been totally cleared of 68 years of accumulated crap, but I just couldn't get my head into it.

Q&A with Gary Parker, 1962 grad, has wonderful memories of his high school years; he starred in three sports and played at Hofstra

1962 senior prom photo with Marilyn Monsrud '63; Gary with his daughter Deana and three grandsons.

Where did you live in Levittown, when did you move there and where had you lived before:

We moved to Levittown in 1951 from Oceanside and resided at 35 Church Road just a block away from Division Avenue High School and three blocks away from the North Village Green.

What were some of your earliest memories of Levittown:

I started grammar school at Summit Lane and then middle and high school at Division. Every chance I got I would be playing sports behind DAHS and the North Green (touch football, stick ball, baseball etc.) and organized baseball.

In Little League I played for the Lions Club. Pete Cybriwsky was our pitcher and I played third base and we were the champions. During the years of 1953 through 1962 I played against and with a great group of athletes and friends. I would name them all but I don’t want to leave anybody off the list. Anybody from that era who you can think of who played sports, I had the honor of playing with or against.

Was attending Division Avenue High School a good experience, any teachers you really enjoyed: The best teachers were Mr. Langdon, Mr. Reggio, Mr. Peyton, Mr. Jewell and Mr. Amen. I know I’ve left many a good teacher off but unfortunately with age my memory isn’t so sharp.

You had quite a sports career at Division, three sports (football, basketball and baseball), always a starting player. How did you have time for all this and school too. Was it a burden or just a lot of fun and glory:

It kept me out of trouble because I had just enough time to do my homework. I tell anybody who has children going to school to get them involved in sports and this will do two things; they will be too tired to get into trouble and they will develop character by associating with fellow athletes.

Any particular Division sports memories that stands out in your mind:

I’m a freshman playing varsity baseball game against Great Neck North and I'm on second base and we get a hit up the middle and I take off and round third base and am heading home, but the catcher has the plate blocked. I go with an airborne slide at the catcher's glove, kick the baseball loose, and the next thing I know he is beating on my back. A teammate of mine pulled that catcher off me, and that player was the late Pete Cybriwsky! He was taking care of the freshman. Pete was a great athlete and person.

Tell us a non-sports highlight of your high school years:

At that time my girl friend was Marilyn Monsrud, class of 1963. Her mother, Ruth, was the best thing that could happen to a teenage boy. Ruth and my mother became best friends and Ruth was like my second mother.

After high school you attended Hofstra where you played varsity football and baseball. Did you have a scholarship and did you enjoy the experience:

I had a full scholarship except school books. My freshman coaches were great and it was down hill from there, a lot of politics even at that level of play.

Is there anything you would like to mention about jobs you have had:

I spent 30 years with Federation Department Stores as a suit (manager) and 10 years at Sears as a sales associate.

Is it true that Wolfman Jack was your half brother? Anything you want to tell us about this relationship that would be of interest:

Even though he was my half brother (same mother) we always were 100 percent brother to brother! He was a very talented and loving person and a great disc jockey. He was elected to the Radio Hall of Fame, and is the only disc jockey to have various songs about him including “Clap for the Wolfman". He played himself in American Graffiti and the sequel.

Where do you live now, and how long have you been there:

I live in Marietta, Ga. I’ve been here over 30 years. For awhile, I lived in California.

In semi-retirement, what do you do keep busy? I recall you telling me that you have been a school crossing guard in recent years:

A great job, no bosses around you, just wonderful children and parents who appreciate you for looking after their children. I play golf, take care of our property and my wife’s family farm.

Division Avenue High School's dress code did not permit female students to wear slacks even on cold days

By Sandy Adams '60

Something in one of the blog stories by Dewain Lanfear triggered a memory about snowy school days in young Levittown.

There was a dress code at Division Avenue High School, and slacks were not permitted to be worn by female students. Slacks were not in style yet during our early high school years. The slacks that we young ladies owned were mostly ‘dungarees’ – ‘jeans’ were not yet in our vocabulary.

I don’t believe that any of us were bused to DAHS after ninth grade, so many of us had quite a hike in bad weather. On snowy, very cold days, we would wear our slacks underneath our skirts or dresses. We were permitted to enter the building, but we had to use the ladies room immediately to remove the slacks and put them into our locker for the day.

I don’t remember if this dress code changed before our senior year. Perhaps someone else has another recollection of this practice.
_____________________________________________

Send comments about the dress code to fbarning@cox.net or post directly to the blog in the confusing comments area directly below. Should you choose to use the confusing comments area, include your name with what you write if out of frustration you post anonymously.

Q & A with Diane McDonnell, Class of 1960; guidance people told her to not take an academic course in high school

Where did you live in Levittown, when did you move there and where had you lived before:

I lived on Sycamore and Locustwood, just a block off Summit Lane, very close to the school, which helped when I was racing down to the side door, late as usual. Mr. Hennelly, my junior or senior year home room teacher, would look out the window and mark me as present.

We had lived in a fourth floor walkup apartment in the Fordham section of the Bronx. We moved to Levittown in June of 1955, and stayed until December 1960, five very important and memorable years.

What were some of your earliest memories of Levittown:

In the Bronx, everyone clamored to mind my sister (10 years younger than I). I was shocked to learn that too many cohorts on Sycamore had their own younger siblings to care for and were not a whit interested in that chore.

Who were some of your first friends:

Gads, there are so many, At first I was friends with Susan Kenny, John Gentleman, Jackie Ellerkamp and Gary DeCastillia (they all lived on Sycamore Lane). This group wound up including Terry Tagano and Judy Bowen. Then I became tight with Linda Kenley and the friends I still see from time to time to this day, most notably, Kathy O’Brien, along with Phyllis Hirsch, Marian Wetzel and Jackie Lamb. The whole group was quite large and included many others, if I listed them it would be at least 25 percent of our yearbook and a decent percentage from the class of 1959 at Levittown Memorial.

Was attending Division Avenue High School a good experience, any teachers you really enjoyed:

I was initially afraid of Division since I was coming from a parochial school, but I liked Division, even when I was going there (not just the memories). I remember many of the teachers: Mr. Keating (what co-ed didn’t have a teeny crush on him?); Mr. Hennelly (from above, not counting me late daily); George Smith, (I hated his World History class, but always liked him); Mrs. Sileo (I was a business major); Mrs. Drumm (I was her “secretary” for a couple of years); I also always got a big kick out of Mr. Graf. I felt sorry, even as a high school student, for poor Mr. Sullins. He was so sweet, but not an effective math teacher.

Diane, I remember you writing to me a few years ago that you were discouraged by school administrators (guidance department) from taking academic courses. I even remember the reason given, "You will get married and have kids and will not finish college anyway." What are you thoughts about this and tell us how it worked out in the long run:

They told me not to spend six years getting my MSW (Masters in Social Work) and then wind up getting married. So I took business courses and became a secretary. Did office work for many years, at many different levels, and never wound up getting married after all. Then a friend convinced me I should go to school and become a social worker. And the rest is history. At age 50, I started six-years-in-four: undergrad at Lehman College (which turned out to be a pretty good school) and my graduate work at Fordham University. Did social work until I retired last June. Really enjoyed those years.

A highlight of your high school years:

Many memorable moments, for example, Mr. Aiello turning down our request to get an afternoon off from school to go to American Bandstand; the volunteer work a bunch of us did with Johnny Cochran (not O.J. Simpson's attorney) with the mentally retarded at Laurel Lane School and the boys orphanage in Syosset; the senior prom of course; Azalea Road pool and Jones Beach; the roller rink; recreation in the gym(s) after school and/or in the evenings; sock hops; all the parties we all walked to and from without any fear; the friends; romances, (some continue to this day); the zillion crushes, the unrequited love; the suitor I couldn’t get away from fast enough.

What did you do immediately after high school?

As suggested by my guidance counselors, I became a secretary at IBM. I got bored easily and changed jobs often. Worked at a TV ad agency, a consultant firm (Booz, Allen), Bide-a-Wee (loved that job), Blythedale Children’s Hospital, to name a few that were full-time permanent. Now if I started listing the temporary jobs I had – just mention a business – I probably did a stint there. Maybe I had Adult ADD – if I did – not any more! Retirement is wonderful.

You are retired, so what do you do keep busy:

I don’t have to “keep busy,” I just am. I wonder how I worked and did these things and can only figure that a lot of them I just didn’t do. I take things easy, spread chores out, socialize more, talk on the phone more, I’m on the computer more (love Spider and Scrabble). I still have my ‘to do’ list and will eventually get to that, for example, organizing my on-line photos, volunteer work and vacations.

Something that your old schoolmates would be surprised to learn about you:

That I did very well in college, probably because I went back as an adult and enjoyed the learning process. That would probably shock some of my teachers and a few fellow students who understandably thought I was a big ditz. One thing hasn’t changed. I’m still a chatterbox.

Elementary school friends share childhood memories and common interests dating back to 1948 in Forest Hills, New York

By Frank Barning

I can't think of anyone with whom I am still in touch on a regular basis who has known me as long as John Sterbenz. We met in the first grade at P.S. 101 in Forest Hills, New York in 1948 and were in the same class every year through sixth grade.

Our bond was a mutual passion for playing softball in the cement school yard and our love for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Gil Hodges. We both played in the initial season of the Forest Hills Little League in 1954. He is the only person I have ever known who batted cross handed. Hank Aaron reportedly began his baseball career batting that way but never did so in the major leagues.

John has saved just about everything that has been important in his life. Recently he emailed me a scan of an autograph book page (see above) that I had written on 56-years ago. Amazingly, my handwriting hasn't changed according to my wife.

My family moved to Levittown in late 1954. And over the years, John became a distant memory most easily recalled when I looked at the annual class pictures in the Barning family album.

In 1981, I received a letter postmarked in Michigan from Sterbenz. He was a baseball card collector and I was editor of Baseball Hobby News, a national publication that he had picked up at a sports memorabilia show in the Detroit area.

John asked if I was the same Frank Barning who went to P.S. 101. After a gap of nearly four decades, we were back in touch. At least five times we have seen each other since then, including twice in the past few years here in Las Vegas. We share so many memories of our childhood and our discussions have awakened much of the joy of my pre-Levittown days.

In 1954 I wrote that I hoped he would make the Dodgers. Well, that didn't happen but he graduated from New York Tech, became a successful engineer, worked at the Kennedy Space Center for NASA on the Apollo Program (1966-69) until the United States landed a man on the moon.

Then he moved to Michigan to work for the Ford Motor Company Safety Laboratory as a Test Engineer (1969-1999). Even at age 68, John is still an active participant in sports, including the Senior Olympics.

“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart”. I found this quote online. John Sterbenz has left a big footprint.

What readers are saying about our Levittown, New York blog

Frank Barning hasn't lived in Levittown since 1966 but still calls it home.

This is the 200th post since we started the Early Levittown blog on July 13, 2010. It has received more than 16,000 hits and has been read around the globe. Here are some encouraging comments:

Polly Dwyer, President of the Levittown Historical Society
You are keeping that time (early Levittown) alive.

Annajoy Herman Romdalvik 1960
Just love your blog. It is so nice to go down memory lane. I break out into a smile with each post.

Franne Newman Lee 1960
You are a blast from the past!

Marilyn Monsrud Frese 1963
I'm learning more from your blog than I learned in four years at Division Avenue High School.

Arnie Galeota 1961
You always manage to come up with something new and interesting.

Jim Urban 1961
Love your blog, love your comments. Keep up the fabulous work.

Damon Solomon 1960
I can’t begin to tell you how much I enjoy and look forward to receiving your blog. You are “The Memory Keeper “of our lives.

Don Davidson, 1960
Your blog has the feeling for me of the movie "Play It Forward". The emotion it evokes, the feeling and thoughts that have been dormant for five decades.

Perry Berns 1960
Thanks for bringing us all together.

Jackie Bernstein Karp
I am so glad that I get to reminisce every day with Frank’s blog.

Ed Gifford 1960
I think your blog is great - I read it every day.

Phil Spector, an old friend from Philly, not the song writer
I love your stories.

Pat Henry Gehrmann 1963
A very "big" thank you for all your time and effort in making it possible for us to walk down memory lane.

Kathy Donlin Eisenbarth 1960
I just love your stuff... You should put all these great stories into a book.

Ginger Hollenstein DelGaudio DiCicco 1963
It's so great to go back and recall all the things that were so good back then.

Terri Morse Klein 1962
I love reading your blog. Thanks for refreshing such good memories.

Matthew Adamic, a friend for many years
I love what you are doing with your blog.....you've become an archivist/librarian for a part of your past, which I think is an admirable service.

Part 2 of Dewain Lanfear's Levittown memories

By Dewain Lanfear

There was a lot about high school that I enjoyed other than baseball. Mostly I liked the people I was in class with. Most of my class time was spent with the honors group students. We were so diverse: liberal and conservative, various faiths, outspoken and quiet, shy and confident. We were all friends and classes were lively. When I taught, I always wanted and usually was assigned to teach honors classes. A lot of teachers found them difficult, but I really liked them and saw them as our own group.

Probably the high school experience that has had the most lasting effect on me happened way at the end when I was chosen Most Likely to Succeed. Despite kidding from friends to this day, I have reflected on this honor at times of distress and found comfort and strength in knowing that people from that time had a good opinion of me. With my teaching and my family I feel I have succeeded, but in a class that has had so many successful people I know I'm not the most successful, and that's not important. So thank you for your faith in me.

Why did I choose Boston College? Because my guidance counselor told me to. Seriously, I never saw the school until I had my suitcase in hand walking to the freshman dorms. In those days there weren't the endless campus visits that kids go through today. I heard a rumor that the school had a good reputation and they gave me a scholarship and that was enough for me.

I received a good education there, but was shocked that just about everyone else there was in the top 10 percent of their class too. I worked pretty hard (well, sometimes) to keep a B average. I learned what it was like not to be so hot. I played freshman baseball and wrestled my junior year when they started the program, but a shoulder dislocation my senior year marked the end of my athletic "career". I graduated with an ROTC commission in the Army. I stayed at BC for a year of graduate work and then substituted at Division for a year and a half.

While I was substituting, and learning to teach I coached junior high wrestling and was advisor on a senior project, a full length spy movie "For Whom the Torch Burns". The movie, the brainchild of Kerry MacDonald ('67) was filmed in and around New York City during week days and weekends. It was a blast for me and the kids. While this was happening, I started dating Miss Gold (appearing later as my wife) and the Army said "It's time to go".

Since this is not a biography, I'll skip the details of the early days of our courtship and marriage except to say that we were together for about four months of our first two-plus years together, thanks to timing and the Army. I was a Company Commander in Fort Polk, LA for the first year, was promoted to Captain and sent to Pleiku, Viet Nam for my second and last year in the Army.

I value my time in the Army for teaching me many lessons including how to write clearly and that my loyalty is to those under me, not to those above me. Some people reverse these loyalties - they are called successful. Me, I stuck up for my men and my students first. I was never sorry.

When I came home, I taught at Division for 15 years. A number of my students were children of classmates and that was fun. Working with Jimmy Amen, Jerry Jewell and Gene Aiello was a real kick. Knowing them as coworkers and golf partners after knowing them as my teachers was a great experience.

After a while I was transferred to MacArthur, Wisdom Lane, Salk Middle School (as English Department chairman) and finally back to MacArthur, where I finished up. There are so many teaching highlights - some of them still happen as when I get an e mail from a former student who just found me on Facebook, but the best, maybe, was the group of honors students I had as freshmen, sophomores, and seniors. I had always wanted a class like that and it was as good an experience as I'd imagined. The interaction in the classroom was electric and we were like friends discussing a book or poem, not like a class. The cherry on top was they chose me as teacher of the year when they graduated.

As I mentioned, my wife Marti and I were married as I started my military service and when I got out in '69 we bought a house in Baldwin and started our family three years later. I was just back from Viet Nam in August '69 when my classmate Artie Kornfeld had his little gig in Woodstock, and we were ready to go until I heard the traffic report and thought otherwise. Sorry, Artie, I've regretted that decision ever since.

We moved to Oak Beach in '73, almost next door to Division Avenue teacher Dave Peyton, who moved there the same time we did. Our daughter Wendy knew him as "Uncle Dave" and we shared many good times together. I had been his paper boy when I was 12. Go figure. Marti and I enjoyed the life of teaching together and sharing vacation times and the beach was a wonderful place to live.

In 1989 in anticipation of retiring, we bought a house on the Maine coast in Penobscot. We spent 10 summers there and it was like being in witness protection - just a totally different lifestyle from Long Island. I gained tremendous insights into Robert Frost's poems from our experiences in Maine. Later we exchanged this house for one in Georgia on a lake. Warmer climate (duh) and year-round golf were the big factors.

We both retired in 1999 and moved to Georgia full time. Our daughter Wendy moved there also and the family has stayed together without having to travel all over for holidays, etc. We're all in Anderson, SC now; Marti and I live on a golf course and play frequently. We see the grandkids all the time and share holidays with Wendy and her husband. We found a small condo in Atlanta that we use when we go to concerts and shows. Sometimes I just need a "big" city fix.

The Division Avenue High reunions have been terrific. Seeing high school friends is just a joy. Being with Ira Selsky, Joan Lucas, Linda Votteler and Bill Stanley among others was like going back in time. We all owe much to Barbara Taylor and her helpers for organizing our 50th. The west coast/Vegas reunions with Russ Green, Rich Humbert, Larry Bory, Frank Barning, and Ken Plass were amazing. Heidi Perlmutter has been a life long friend and it was wonderful to spend time with her.

I am grateful to Frank for creating the framework that allows us all to stay in touch. Most of all I'm grateful for being part of our class. It's not over yet - see you at the reunion in Key West in February. Party on.

Part 1: Dewain Lanfear shares his priceless Levittown memories

Old Levittown golfing buddies were reunited in 2008. Left to right are Ken Plass, Dewain Lanfear, Richie Humbert and Russ Green.

By Dewain Lanfear '60

Living and teaching in Levittown were priceless experiences and I have fond memories of being a member of Division Avenue High School's pioneer class of 1960.

We moved to Levittown in January of the seventh grade, so that was 1955. I remember walking to school the first day in the snow. My first class was phys ed and Mr. Aiello was the teacher. Little did I know then that we would work together until he retired some 30 years later - that we would play golf in our teachers' league and share coffee in the faculty room and he would always be such a kind gentleman.

That first day in class, I was just lost. I came from a Catholic school in Parkchester in the Bronx. I had been trained to stand when I answered questions, and although it was obvious that this was not the rule at Division Avenue High School, it still took me a couple of weeks to break the habit. Talk about "training!"

I remember being thrilled at the sight of the baseball fields around town, especially the Jerusalem Avenue complex. In the Bronx, I played softball on an asphalt playground, and our Little League field was a backstop on a bare soccer field. Levittown was like heaven and I couldn't wait until spring to come and baseball season to arrive. I was astonished that the fields sat there empty and I could get some friends together and play anytime.

Mr. Reichert (Jerry's dad) and Mr. Greengold (Allie's dad) were my coaches in Little League. I don't recall the other players, I'm sorry to say, but it was a dream for me. The whole baseball program in the town was excellent, and is to this day, which is why Division and MacArthur are such powers.

Later on I played for Jack MacDonald who became a fantastic coach at Clarke HS, and of course Joe DiMaggio at Division. I played on the freshman team at Boston College and by then I could see that I had peaked baseball wise and I didn't play after that. That I stopped playing then is one of my few regrets. It led to my emphasizing to my students that their regrets ought to be things they did, not things left undone. Although it's early in this narrative, let me say that taking lessons learned in my own life into the classroom was my style throughout my teaching career.

I remember that Ken Plass was a very early friend and remains a friend to this day. The same can be said of Russ Green and Rich Humbert. Steve Tuck and I shared an interest in music. I played baseball on Jerusalem Avenue fields with Jerry Reichert, Jeff Swain (moved away early) and others along Blacksmith Road. There was a lot of table tennis (called "ping pong" then - now much classier) at Russ's house. Ken and I as we got older and he could drive, would play summer basketball in Massapequa. Ken got taller - me not so much. We were a good team though and played with some future college stars.

Ken himself went on to be a force in California and as an adult in national AAU circles. Rich and I lifted weights in my backyard using picnic benches for our bench presses and he was a very successful wrestler. The four of us "learned" to play golf at Bethpage State Park before it became famous as the US Open venue. We have played together the last few years and things haven't changed that much swing wise. I think that the formation of lifelong friendships is typical of our classmates. I am grateful to have these people in my life and others who haven't appeared yet in this narrative.

Baseball was my sport and I was lucky enough to be in Levittown, a place that had a great program. The youth leagues were well run and supported by adults in the community. They fed the high school programs and these programs were successful thanks to the stream of young talent. I remember lots of wins, a few losses, but mostly I remember the coaching of Jack MacDonald in the youth leagues and Joe DiMaggio at DAHS. They were good men who knew the game and liked their players.

I recall with fondness teammates: the late Pete Cybriwsky, Gary Parker, Mike Caldararo, John Shibilo, Jerry Reichert, John Koehler, Jim Urban, Ernie Villatore, Bill Stanley and Ron Albaum ( who went on to be a successful coach at Brentwood HS). We endured the miserable early season weather together and won a lot of games. I can't listen to Springsteen's "Glory Days" without thinking of Pete and tearing up a bit. What I took from baseball was a feeling that I could do something well, and that gave me confidence to do other things.
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YES, I'M A SENIOR CITIZEN!

I'm the life of the party...... even if it lasts until 8 p.m.

I'm very good at opening childproof caps..... with a hammer.

I'm awake many hours before my body allows me to get up.

I'm smiling all the time because I can't hear a thing you're saying.

I'm sure everything I can't find is in a safe secure place, somewhere.

I'm wrinkled, saggy, lumpy, and that's just my left leg.

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

I'm a walking storeroom of facts..... I've just lost the key to the storeroom door.

Yes, I'm a senior citizen and I think I am having the time of my life.

Now if I could only remember who sent this to me, I wouldn't send it back to them, but I would send it to many more too.
______________________________________________
Received in an email from Susan Weldon '60

Championship teams and individual award winners from 1957-58

Jim McGrath in 1958 as a sophomore with coach Floyd Kenyon. Jim wrestled at 106 lbs. and was one of Long Island's best.

By Frank Barning

Here is the fourth and final installment of stories based on the 1957-58 Division Avenue High School awards banquet program provided by Jim Anton '61. The previous story, about coaches, concluded that several of the teams from that year, particularly football and basketball, were weak because it was our sophomores against older students.

Division was a new high school and the class of 1960 students were, in effect, seniors for four years. Older kids were shipped to Levittown Memorial High School even if they lived on the north side of town.

Looking at the program, it strikes me that our best teams that school year were junior high squads, mostly stocked with those who hoped to graduate in 1961. In other words, help was on the way for the next sports season, with a mix of 1960 juniors and 1961 sophomores. It turned out that our teams improved markedly in 1958-59. The class of 1961 featured many fine athletes, with Carl Kielbasa, Ernie Villatore, Bill Goldhammer, Tom Toscano, Jerry Reichert, Bob Bonacci and Jim Urban quickly coming to mind.

A team that was not weak, despite being younger than opponents was baseball. There was talent on that first varsity baseball team as indicated by the three award winning players, Pete Cybriwsky, Joe Forte and Dewain Lanfear. Forte was only a freshman but was old enough, according to the rules, to play varsity baseball. He was at Levittown Memorial the next three years, taking the option to change to the high school closest to his home.

Baseball was king in Levittown in those days. There were sensational Little League and Pony League programs that gave hundreds of boys a chance to play the game in a structured environment. Plus some of the coaches were outstanding: for example Jack McDonald. As a result, this was a great feeder system to the schools, kind of like what minor league baseball is to the big leagues.

Mike Newton was all-league in basketball and Ken "Tiger" Ganim in football. Both were born with talent and deserved the honors, despite being on over-matched teams.

And then there was wrestling. From the beginning, 1957-58, Division was outstanding in this sport. Jim McGrath, as you can see from the program, was voted "Outstanding Wrestler" in our section and battled his way to the League Championship in his weight class. This kid was born to wrestle. Now retired, he went on to success at Wayne State in Nebraska and is recognized as the greatest high school coach in the history of the Cornhusker State.

If there was a vote, some 50 years later, of who was the best athlete in the first graduating class from Division Avenue, the choice would not be anywhere near unanimous. Many would vote for the late Pete Cybriwsky, a great pitcher. I would support my high school pal John Koehler who was the best player on the football team the first couple of years and also the finest hitter on the baseball team. He was even a terrific varsity bowler. John was the first Division graduate to play varsity football in college, at Kings Point.

But considering his achievements in high school, college and as a long-time coach, Jim McGrath stands above the rest. No one ever kicked sand in this 106-pound high school wrestling champion's face.

Division Avenue's coaches in 1957-58; Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?

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By Frank Barning

Here's the third installment concerning pages from the 1958 Division Avenue High School sports awards banquet program. One chapter remains and I bet you just can't wait to see it. Control yourself, please. Let's deal with our coaches.

A few things jump out at me. The baseball coach was Joseph DiMaggio, and this was just six years after the real Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees had retired. The real Joe D had been married to Marilyn Monroe for much of 1954 and in the 1970s became known as Mr. Coffee when he became spokesman for that product.

Our coach had the same nickname, the Yankee Clipper. A couple of his players referred to him as "the little fat man from Richmond Hill." Not nice. Richmond Hill Joe was a real gentleman who would not have been distracted by Marilyn Monroe, perhaps.

Appearing three times on the page of coaches is James Amen, one of my all-time favorite people. I kid you not. It seems fitting that his last name comes at the end of most prayers. Eventually, he replaced our Joe DiMaggio as varsity baseball coach and had incredible success, including Nassau County championships. He took an early retirement because of a great pension situation and became an assistant coach at a couple of colleges. His son, Jim Amen Jr., followed in his dad's footsteps as a coach, mostly soccer, on both the high school and college levels.

Football was weak in the early days at Division Avenue. Al Tarney was the first varsity coach. Only boys from the class of 1960 were on that team and in our first varsity season got the living crap kicked out of them. To build a schedule, the Blue Dragons played teams with juniors and seniors. We only had sophomores and it was not a pretty sight. Don Davidson, a defensive lineman on that 1958 team said, "We were cannon fodder."

And yet, our guys were loyal to coach Tarney, who left after one year of varsity football. Some never played again, maybe out of loyalty to the coach, or perhaps because they did not want to endure another butt kicking. Players from the class of 1961 joined the team the next season and had more talent as a group than my 1960 classmates. Coach Jewell, listed above as the junior high football coach, took over the program from coach Tarney and by the time the 1960 guys had graduated, Division Avenue had some sensational football teams.

Floyd Kenyon started the wrestling team at Division and magically created some really great wrestlers, especially Jim McGrath. From the start, the wrestling team was successful and then Mr. Kenyon left. Richard Wright, his junior varsity coach, replaced him and the success continued.

Basketball was another weird situation in the early days. For a decade there was a carousel of coaching changes. The first varsity coach was Mr. Jewell. That was the 1957-58 season and the team was terrible, so terrible in fact that I was on the squad the second half of the season after replacements were needed when three or four players were dropped from the squad for academic reasons.

The team might have been okay except that Richie Glaski, who along with Mike Newton starred for an undefeated junior high squad, elected not to play. Newton and Glaski were a sensational tandem.

Except for a couple of freshman, Russ Mulroy being the best, most of the team was boys from the class of 1960. Again, we had to compete again older kids. And we got the stuffing kicked out of us, but at least there wasn't as much bleeding as our football buddies endured sophomore year. Mulroy became a star at Levittown Memorial High when he accepted the option to transfer to the school closer to his home. We lost Joe Forte, future National Basketball association referee, that way too.

The list of coaches includes Ann Smith for baton twirling. I have no memory of baton twirlers. It was difficult enough watching our teams during the 1957-58 school year.

By the class of 1960's senior year, Mr. Amen had became the varsity basketball coach. There was some success thanks to senior Newton and junior Ernie Villatore. I don't know much about the other coaches listed above, but for most teams it was a struggle in the early years. Success eventually came to many sports, but after the 1960 boys had graduated.

And I still wonder, where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?
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Jim Anton '61, provided the awards banquet program. The final installment will be about championship teams and individual award winners.

What Levittown, New York means to me after all these years

By David M. Phillips

Levittown's culture lives in me every day.
I had a home there for 21 years of my life where life was as stable as it got.
Levittown is featured in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Museum in Simi Valley, CA, north of Los Angeles.
ReAgan saw Levittown as a focus of 20th century culture and change.
Reagan knew Levittown well.
And all these many years later, I see Dewain Lanfear (class of 1960) on Facebook.
I knew him in high school.
How many people can say this, that they know an educator for so long, recalling the old days.
He is but one of many teachers and friends of the Levittown days.
We are a full culture, we of Levittown.
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Las Vegas Dave Phillips is a flight engineer who lives in Henderson, Nevada. He graduated from Division Avenue High School in 1970.

Prognosticators got it wrong about Levittown becoming a slum

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By Louise Cassano

How does a kid from Brooklyn deal with the prognostications that the community her parents are overjoyed about buying their first home in is destined to be a slum in 20 years?

Truth be told, it has no bearing on the excitement she feels. After all, she's allowed to wear dungarees (no one had "jeans" in those days), run and play in the street, sleep outdoors with her friends in makeshift tents until the "bogey man" comes and chases them all indoors before the moon has a chance to shine, and walk to the grocery store all by herself. What greater joys could life bring?

How could she know that dungarees would turn into designer jeans costing more than the $100 down payment her parents put on the house, that the "bogey man" was a figment of many children's imaginations cultivated by adults who wanted to keep them under control, or that the trip to the grocery store would become her given chore, racking up six to ten miles a week before diets and physical fitness were a fad?

With the innocence of a 1950's seven year-old, how could she understand the diversity of cultures her new community would bring to her life? Not having understood the significance of a community where everyone's last name ended in a vowel, she couldn't possibly comprehend the infusion of Monaghans, Zimmermans, Abels, Davis', Biedermans, Connahs and Mitchells in the new world into which she was thrust.

Two-story schools with desks without inkwells, without stair wells where dreams of sliding down an unending banister were never fulfilled, where teachers were young and vibrant, where gym, art and music were part of the curriculum, were a new experience.
Taxes, less than the cost of a computer today, provided services for schoolchildren like the first-time administered eye exam that diagnosed nearsightedness that explained the problem that had wrought many punishments for sitting too close to the 13-inch Philco television that soothsayers predicted would ruin our health.

A step backward from our Brooklyn days meant public phone booths on the corners of the block because lines were not yet brought to the individual homes. Later, we eavesdropped on neighbors' phone calls when party lines were installed in our homes.
Television shows, all live performances (Captain Video, Magic Cottage, Howdy Doody, Milton Berle, Suspense Theatre) were broadcast on no more than five stations until 9 p.m. and then dead air was noted by cross-sectioned circle signaling that the station had no other programs to show.

More than 60 years after its establishment in 1947, Levittown is a thriving community having survived its doomsday prognosis. Its business centers -- "the Turnpike" and village greens – still bustle with activity and small business is still the core of its commercial environment. Community and sports organizations abound. Its libraries, Levittown and Island Trees, are Meccas of information, culture and entertainment. Its Historical Society maintains a connection to the past through donations by an aging population and its volunteer service organizations like the ambulance corps and fire departments excel.

What would the prognosticators have to say? "Levittown, you proved us wrong!"
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Louise Cassano has been a Levittown resident for 59 years and counting, This article originally appeared in LevittownPatch. Check out its website: http://levittown-ny.patch.com/