Division Avenue's class of 1960 was at the right school at the right time

BY DEWAIN LANFEAR

Something about mowing the lawn causes my mind to drift to earlier times, maybe the repetitive walking behind the mower making a pattern in the grass - I don't know.

I was thinking further about our place in time at the threshold of the 1960s. I remember living in the Bronx and wanting to play basketball in the playground. Since I left the Bronx when I was just 12, I always had to wait for my turn after "the big guys" were through. "The big guys" might only have been 14 or 15, but they were "the big guys" and we weren't, so we waited.

I first became a catcher because that was the only position "the big guys" would let me play in their game - permanent catcher. They needed someone to throw the ball back to the pitcher and I would do anything to play. I just remembered this. Maybe it was the first time that I realized it too.

When I came to Levittown in 1954 from the City it was unimaginable that real baseball fields with infield cut outs, backstops and home plates, and home run fences were sitting unused, waiting for us to play if we chose. In my life in the Bronx, I couldn't dream of a basketball court being available and unoccupied, there for the using. In my piece in yesterday's blog, I concentrated on our role as the four-year seniors in high school. We were always "the big guys" and we didn't have to wait for our turns.

I remember going to a party of mostly Levittown Memorial High School students and how different they were. Their dress was more "preppy" and at least one boy was smoking a pipe. These might have been the influences of an older crowd on these people. I didn't know any group of Division people who dressed or acted like this. I know we weren't all the same, but this didn't seem to represent one of our varieties.

I'm going back to the theme that while we certainly did not all follow the same path, the majority of us followed a path of our own making. In fact I like this theme so much I'm going to beat this horse until it gets up and carries a banner around the field. Like Popeye, we were who we were, not a copy of someone else. We were lucky in so many ways, but especially lucky in our timing, or better, the timing of our parents. We were at the right school at the right time, in the right decade of the right century. It was a unique coming together of many factors and we won the prize.

Division Avenue High School principal James Reilly's letter in our first yearbook messed up the pioneer metaphor

Click on photos to enlarge

BY DEWAIN LANFEAR

I was looking through our Division Avenue High School's class of 1960 yearbook the other day and got as far as Mr. Reilly's letter. There was something about the letter that troubled me. He messes up the pioneer metaphor by first calling us pioneers and then calling the faculty pioneers and mixing their legacy with ours.

As much as I hold our teachers in high regard, they were for the most part not rookies, and Levittown was not a new place in 1960, and they didn't go on from there as we did to start new lives. So, I'm not a fan of the letter written by our principal. That's not to say that I don't feel we owe a great debt to the faculty, but we were the pioneers.

It is a rare circumstance to be "seniors" for four years. We set our own styles, helped along by American Bandstand, and followed a course that we set. We didn't "pay our dues" as freshman or any other underclass. We grew into a varsity sports program, we planned the proms, the newspaper, the yearbook, etc. the way we, with the help and advice of faculty advisers, wanted to do these things. There weren't any traditions until we did something.

I believe that this very unusual situation and opportunity shaped most of us in subtle but lasting ways throughout our lives. I think that a lot of us on many occasions in life chose our own paths rather than following established patterns, and that, to quote my most favorite poem, "has made all the difference". It's not a matter of being headstrong or obstinate, it's just a way of looking at the world - seeing not just the wellworn paths, but seeing the chance to make a new path. I think of Bobby Kennedy's quote about "seeing things that never were and saying why not".

Personally, I did so many things my way in college, the Army, teaching and coaching that I never even thought about it after a while. The results weren't always good and the creativity wasn't always appreciated, but I was who I was, and I attribute it to the unique position the class of 1960 occupied in the history of DAHS.

The incredibly creative people that our class produced, Woodstock, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Tony Awards, Oscars, Emmys, etc make it seem obvious to me that something extraordinary happened with our class. These awards are just the tip of the iceberg as anyone who's been following this blog will know. Our class includes many remarkable people who haven't been recognized with these high profile awards, but who nevertheless were outstanding in their field.

Being in the pioneer class of 1960 was a wonderful gift that many of us have used well.
______________________

Dewain Lanfear, a frequent contributor to this blog, was the editor of Division Avenue High School's first yearbook. Now retired, he taught English at Division for 18 years and a total of 32 in Levittown.

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2011 when . . .

1. You accidentally enter your PIN on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have an e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't even have the first 30 or 40 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it .

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.

1952 Northside School: Mrs. Hans' first grade class

Click on photo to enlarge

First row: x, Michelle Fromm

Second row: Charles Drakos, x, Linda Bishop, x

Third row: x, x, x, x

Fourth row: Tom Filiberto, Steve McNally, x, x

Fifth row: Michael Sullivan: x, Barbara Bordini, x

Standing: Jerry Gippetti, x, Ron Area, Dennis Ditto, Joe Imparato, Dick Marcella

Tom Filiberto from the class of 1963 has provided our blog with his first through sixth grade class photos from Northside School. Also, he has posted them on Facebook. As you can see, many of the students are not identified. Filiberto consulted with some classmates from back then and although a few names were added, many blanks remain. We are uncertain if the teacher in this photo is Mrs. Hans or Mrs. Hands.

Levittown was a somewhat transient community because many houses were rentals and families, for various reasons, would move away. So there was a coming and going of students, which is probably why so many youngsters in this photo are unidentified. The same will be true of other class photos from Filiberto's collection.

Any help with names would be appreciated.

A LONG-GONE EARLY LEVITTOWNER MISSES EVERYTHING ABOUT HER OLD HOME TOWN

A 1951 photo of Lillian Smith in front of her 17 Brook Lane home.
Click on picture to enlarge

By LILLIAN SMITH

It's been 46 years since I've lived on Long Island and yet it remains the most pervasive memory of my past. There is something so special about the Island for me--particularly Levittown, a town that absorbs you and keeps you in its grasp forever.

When you return for even a short while, it's like no time has elapsed at all--as if the life you lived back then was an alternate life. Perhaps everyone has that same nostalgia for the place where they grew up, and maybe that eerie suspension of time is just a universal longing to return to an era where everything seemed safe and possibilities were endless.

I remember Levittown now, more in the abstract than in the opaque reality of movie theaters, beaches and childhood friends. Although all of those things comprise the water-colored memories of the way we were (to borrow the corny lyrics of a Barbra Streisand song), I see Levittown more as a painting where the colors merge into the image of my past as a whole. And I miss everything about it.
_____

Lillian Smith is a 1962 graduate of Division Avenue High School and a long-time resident of Connecticut. She is a regular contributor to our blog.

REMEMBERING THE MEADOWBROOK THEATRE

By FRANK BARNING

Our recent blog post about the demise of the Meadowbrook Theatre received many comments. Here is a sample:

Roslyn Haberman '61: "I enjoyed the Meadowbrook like it was part of my home."

Kathy Stahlman Zinn '63: "I saw it being torn down and almost cried."

Tom Filiberto '63: "I remember going to mass at the Meadowbrook Theater, before St Bernard's was built. It was good because you didn’t have to kneel down."

Another nameless person wrote: "I remember those ushers with flashlights would come around just in case your face got stuck to someone else's."

For me, the Meadowbrook was a great place to go immediately following my final class of the day when I had no after-school activities. If I walked really fast south on Division Avenue and then turned right on Hempstead Turnpike, I could make it in time for a matinee. In addition, it wasn't a long stroll home, north on Newbridge Road, past the fire house and then a few blocks to our house on Hyacinth Road.

When I saw the address of the Meadowbrook State Parkway along with the information about its history, I found it surprising that the building was in East Meadow, not Levittown. The Wantagh State Parkway separates Levittown from East Meadow. Looking at a map, I see that I obviously crossed the Wantagh State to get to the theatre. That was so long ago.

In those days (choosing 1958 as a base year), television was broadcast in black and white and the picture tubes were small. Many of us had 12-inch screens. So going to any movie theatre was a big upgrade from television. I don't recall seeing TV in color until 1963 when a college friend, Mickey Sherwin, invited me to see a World Series game between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers at his home.

Elvis Presley records were played at Division Avenue's dances while I was in junior high school, 1954-56. They were great to dance to and many of us were huge fans. When his first motion picture, "Love Me Tender", opened in 1956, Levittowners flocked to see it at the Meadowbrook Theatre.

The Meadowbrook was also on the way home from Hofstra. I clearly remember seeing Bye Bye Birdie and The Pink Panther there because both had incredible opening sequences. The Birdie opening had a very young Ann-Margret singing the title song. At the time, it was the hottest thing I had ever seen, so it is still memorable.

Where did the name Meadowbrook come from? I don't really know but my wife (Vivian) conjectures that it is a combination of East Meadow and Brooklyn. Why not! Lynbrook is the syllables of Brooklyn transposed.

Old Levittowners have bid a tearful bye bye to the Meadowbrook Theatre, but thanks for keeping us in the dark.

What do you miss about Long Island now that you live elsewhere?

Since you no longer live on Long Island, what do you miss, if anything? Where do you live now and how long has it been since you lived on the Island?

Jack Jacobsen, class of 1962
I miss the community feeling we had growing up in Levittown. I walked everywhere and never had a fear of being in harm's way; plus the convenience of Jones Beach and NYC. I now live in Millersville, Maryland which is between several major cities, Baltimore, Annapolis and Washington DC. We have been living in Millersville for the past 40-plus years. It still doesn't feel like my "home" although I have been here since 1966.

Of most importance, is the food. Every time I eat a pizza, bagel, or go to a deli (mainly in a food chain) I miss the food. In defense of Maryland I do love steamed crabs which is a must when you live near the Chesapeake Bay.

Louise Nicolosi Hayn, class of 1960
Since leaving the Island, I miss my old high school friends who have remained. I miss seeing "the changing face of Levittown". It was a great place to grow up. I do not miss the cold, icy, snowy winters. I never really liked snow even as a child.

I left Levittown in 1962 when I married but I didn't leave the Island until 1966. I lived in New Jersey for several years before moving to the Hudson Valley in New York where I lived until my move to Florida in 2008. I love everything about Florida - the sun, the warmth, the clean air, and the lack of snow. It was the best move ever and I've made nine moves total. This is where I will spend the rest of my life - Paradise!

Karen Biro Hewson, class of 1960
I haven't lived on Long Island now for about 32 years - there are things I miss about L.I -1) being close to my old friends, most of whom still live on L.I. or nearby, i.e. upstate NY. 2) being close to NYC, the restaurants, shows, stores and activities, and 3) believe it or not the weather - I still miss the four seasons, although in the last two years Florida has delivered some reasonable winter weather. Reasonable being I can wear jeans and a pullover without passing out.

What I really miss though is not something I can get back by moving back - it's a time and a feeling, it's youth and innocence. In my mind I travel back every once in a while, re-visit places, events, people, but I know that's the only way I can go back to what I loved - in my mind - I think I would probably be very disappointed with L.I. now, a lot has changed and I really don't want to mess with my memories, so I'll just keep my memories of L.I. and make new memories here or wherever the next place is that I hang my hat.

Kathy Stahlman Zinn, class of 1963
Left Long Island in '63 to attend college and have never truly lived there since, although I did get married on L. I. What I miss, besides some family, is the ocean. I have never lived closer than three hours to the ocean ever since. How I took for granted all those trips to Jones Beach.

I also miss the access to The City. I lived 14 years in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, and I do love D.C. very much, but it is not NYC. We lived in central, rural Virginia for 28 years, (Culpeper, north of Charlottesville), and moved to Pittsboro, NC, near Chapel Hill, 1-1/2 years ago. Lots of Yankees down here. P.S. I do not miss L. I. traffic.

Howard Whidden, class of 1962
Immediately after being released from active duty service, Nancy Raynor ('66) and I married in 1970 and moved to New Jersey where I had my first teaching job in Paterson. After the second of our three children was born we bought our first/current house in Vernon Twp., up in the beautiful mountains of northern NJ (home of the old Playboy Club, Action Park and now Mountain Creek ski areas).

During the first couple years of child rearing Nancy had very severe 'cabin fever' or 'suburban withdrawal,' missing the closeness of everything nearby. We still travel 30-45 minutes to reach a movie theatre or shopping mall, and even the supermarket is 5-10 miles away. We have many friends but barely know our neighbors. We're surrounded by wooded areas, full of bears, turkeys, coyotes and especially deer. My eldest son has a school record for hitting the most deer in one year (five).

So, what do we miss about Levittown? How about the many pools (we always resented that they closed on Labor Day), the close proximity to the beach (called 'the shore' here in NJ), the real sense of community on each block where you did know everyone and everyone knew you and your kids. We miss the easy day trip out to the Hamptons or Orient's wine country, and the major arteries that will get you anywhere quickly (as long as it's not rush hour).

And then there's the huge variety of restaurants, shopping malls, and theatres to choose from, as well as specialty stores for just about anything you can think of, all reasonably close by. And if not, then there's always 'the city,' also reasonably close, great for Broadway plays, museums, stadiums, etc.

We still return to visit Nancy's sister, Pat Raynor ('62), who still lives in the same house she and her parents moved into in 1949, but since their mom passed away last year our visits are becoming less frequent. Fortunately, our oldest son and his partner bought a beautiful home in Huntington so we still get over to the Island fairly often. We miss Levittown, but not the Island's huge number of cars and trucks which make it seem like rush hour all the time. And we surely don't miss the property taxes and the sky high price tags of most homes.

Frank Barning, class of 1960
We left Long Island in 1982 and now live in Las Vegas. I miss diners, Jones Beach, the north shore around Glen Cove and Bayville, New Yawk accents and seeing old friends. It hurts when I miss the funeral of someone on Long Island I cared about.

Roberta Landry Bremmer, class of 1961
Living in Vermont, I miss the ocean and I miss N.Y. pizza. I live in Guilford, a small town, with mostly dirt roads (thankfully we're getting near the end of mud season) in southern Vermont. After graduating from DAHS in 1961 I went to Mt Sinai Hospital School of Nursing in NYC.

After graduating from nursing school, I worked in the city for a few years and then moved to a tiny village called Birdham in Sussex, England. While there I worked at St. Richard's Hospital in Chichester. From there I headed to Vermont in 1968 and have been here ever since. So, since I left Long Island in 1961, in September (September 5th to be exact) it'll be 50 years since I lived there.

Len Sandok, class of 1963
I left Long Island immediately after graduating from high school when I went to college out of state. That was September, 1963. I came home for vacations and the summers. After high school, we lived in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan and finally settled here in Minnesota in 1979.
As happy as we are here, there is much we miss about New York in general and Levittown in particular. Certainly we miss many of our old friends. During the early years we missed good bagels. All the bagels here looked and tasted like white bread. Now we have all the chain store bagels and if my memory is still good, they come very close to New York standards.

However, we miss real Jewish deli. I saw a pastrami sandwich on a local menu when we first got here and decided to try it. The waitress asked what kind of bread I wanted that on. “White or rye?” she asked. The rye bread had a soft crust and no seeds. Yuk! I should have ordered milk with it. We also miss a good bakery. There is nothing like Levittown’s Peter Pan Bakery here.

The last thing we miss is the Broadway shows. The local theater just does not compare, and I miss the American Museum of Natural History. I used to love the planetarium.
I don’t miss the crowds, crime and pollution. Now we consider New York to be a good place to visit, but we would not like to live there.

Wally Linder, class of 1961
Leaving Long Island was not hard for me. The company I worked for promoted me and sent me to its home office in the Chicago area. This move led to a successful 30-year career, with a major corporation. It was the summer of 1974, and I had been in the Navy, and graduated Hofstra.

I had started a family and bought a Levitt house, in Medford, LI, NY, and thought I'd be there for the rest of my life. I had literally set down roots. My wife and I planted grass, trees, and a vegetable garden.

Leaving Long Island was hard for my wife, Annemarie. She had lived there all her life. She went along with the move because of the opportunity for my career advancement. After 43 years of marriage the resentment is finally subsiding, a little.

We moved to Illinois, and bought a Levitt house in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Do you see a pattern here with the Levitt houses? Every house I had ever lived in was a Levitt house, not counting the Brooklyn rentals. All that was happenstance, and was not planned.

As it turned out, the midwest was a great place to work and raise a family. We are currently retired and NOT living in a Levitt house in Myrtle Beach, SC.

The 1959-60 Division Avenue High School wrestling team photo; sons of Toby Rutner and Jim McGrath are standouts in their dads' sport

Front row: Jay Citrin, Jim McGrath, Toby Rutner, John Phillips, Bob Gifford, Mike Connelly

Middle row: Bob Bonacci, the late Ralph Del Piano, Al Williams, George Fox, Richie Humbert, coach Richard Wright

Back row: Tom Lux, Ed Gifford, Thom Dubose, Bill Stanley, Pete Henaghan, Don Farrell

Toby Rutner and Jim McGrath were key members of the Blue Dragons' wrestling team. Jim was one of the best in Nassau County. Both have sons who recently completed outstanding wrestling seasons. Here is what the proud fathers had to say:

TOBY WROTE ABOUT HIS SON CALEB
Caleb was undefeated this year winning the Manitoba Provincial Championships for the third straight year. The highlight of his season was winning the 2011 Canadian National Championship and being named Most Outstanding Wrestler. There is nothing more I can teach Caleb. I am now learning from him.

JIM McGRATH WROTE ABOUT HIS SON NICHOLAS
I retired from teaching and coaching in June of 2005. Nicholas was ending his 5th grade year at that time. I did help coach him in 7th and 8th grade, but once he got to high school I could no longer be his coach.

Much emphasis in wrestling in Nebraska is placed on wrestling many matches at an early age. Early on, I only allowed Nicholas to wrestle in a few tournaments trying to avoid burning him out. He had to catch up in high school

Nicholas made the Varsity team as a freshman at 103 pounds, my high school weight. He had a fantastic year winning 32 matches and qualifying for the state meet. Thirty wins in a season in Nebraska is fantastic.

His sophomore year he moved up to 112 pounds and again won 30 matches. He was rated first in his district but lost and did not qualify for state. A tremendous disappointment which weighed on Nicholas all year.

He worked and worked during the off season and came back at 112 pounds for this his junior year. All of his hard work and dedication paid off with a 6th place medal in the Nebraska State Championships. He led the team with 35 wins which puts him on target for 100+ career wins. Each of his three years he cut 20-plus pounds to make weight. He begins his weight management three months before the season.

Nicholas is lifting every day getting ready for his senior year. His goal is a state championship. Nicholas also runs track, cross country and plays baseball at the high school. He is also an honor student carrying a 4.2 grade point, second in his class.

Photo from 1960 yearbook
___________________________________________

Note from Frank Barning:
This is the 300th post (story) on the Early Levittown blog. When it premiered in July 2010, I never expected it to last this long.

The best way to see previous posts is via the "Labels" section on the upper right of this page. Various story topics are listed. Pick a topic and click on the orange letters. The number is parenthesis is the total stories under that topic.

Oh no! Here is what they've done to our beloved Meadowbrook Theatre

The Meadowbrook Theatre prior to a Saturday matinee in 1953

High school memories were made at the Meadowbrook Theatre located at 2549 Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow. It was where many a romance began for Division Avenue High School students. Maybe your first kiss was experienced in its darkness. A movie and then ice cream at nearby Jahn's was as good as it got for early Levittowners.

But those days are gone and so is our beloved Meadowbrook Theatre.

Here is some history:

The Meadowbrook was once a sizeable single-screen cinema with a balcony, which was opened in 1949. Later three additional screens were built at the rear, making it a quad.

Sometime later, the original screen was split down the middle and the balcony was sealed off, due to licensing requirements. In the 1980's, the largest of the additional screens was also split in two, making it a 6-screen operation.

The theater has been demolished and a bank constructed on the site.

We didn't recycle in the good old days because we didn't have the green thing

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day." The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right, that generation didn't have the green thing in its day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.

So they really were recycled. But they didn't have the green thing back in that customer's day.

In her day, they walked upstairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.

But she was right. They didn't have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts - wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right, they didn't have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house - not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right, they didn't have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But they didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks
were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?
______________

Received in an email. Author unknown to your blogger.

Strike up the band - Levittown's schools offered excellent music training and it was free

By Kathy Stahlman Zinn '63

I started playing the clarinet in the second half of the 4th grade. That was in 1955. During the first half, I as well as all other 4th graders, was taught basic music skills on an inexpensive plastic instrument, a cross between an ocarina and a recorder, called a tonette. I wonder where mine went to - it probably got passed down and played with by my seven siblings. I hope they have one in the Levittown Historical Society's museum.

This was the beginning of what I think was a really excellent music training program, far better than my children received in Virginia in the 1970s and 1980s. Our parents were "treated" to our tonette band playing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", "Jingle Bells" and other hits. You had to love your kids to sit through a tonette band concert. This prepared us to choose instruments, which the school, Summit Lane, in my case, provided.

Mr. Title taught us tonette, group lessons in the instruments we chose, and led the Summit Lane School band. He was not a man who fostered great affection in his pupils, but he did teach us well. I chose the clarinet for one reason only. My father, a great Benny Goodman fan, had played it in high school. I may have even been using his old instrument. Coming a year after me, my sister Chris played the flute, brother Phil the clarinet as did the next sibling, Elaine.

My other four siblings were products of different school systems. I used free music education and the band as one of several reasons to fend off my mother's attempts to send me to Catholic school. At Summit Lane, I was also in the orchestra (the difference being the presence of stringed instruments) and the chorus. I loved the seasonal concerts and felt very proud running back and forth between the different performing groups.

At Division Avenue High School, I decided to stay with the band. Mr. East was our director, a sweet man, who, however, often looked as if he were on the verge of a heart attack. Leading student bands is not for sissies. The variation in both talent and diligence could be great.

We had both marching band and concert band. I remember when we received what I think were DAHS's first uniforms. They were unusual, not the military style with funny hats that most schools had. Ours had grey pants or skirts (the girls were happy as most female forms don't fit well into those typical uniforms), and blue blazers. We were supposed to wear white shoes, preferably white bucks, but some cheated and whitened up their tennis shoes extra specially on performance days.

I remember beanies, but my classmate Marilyn Monsrud does not. I preferred concert band, myself, and loved learning new pieces. It was a wonderful way to get to know music from the inside out. I still have an appreciation for many of the pieces we played. I tend to mix up what I learned at DAHS and what I played at Plainedge High School. But I know for sure that I first learned many of the John Philip Sousa marches at Division. They were great fun, even though I couldn't play half the notes. I never was a great player, and hoped Mr. East wouldn't hear all my clunker notes.

I remember Marilyn on the Glockenspiel, especially in marching band, when she had to carry it in front of her. She said she chose it because she already knew the piano, and it was easy to pick up the notes on the Glock. Sally Mann (class of 1962) was on the flute - I remember Jeff Harriton '63 playing the sax, and I hope some other former band members will check in to aid my poor memory. Being in band also helped my transition to my new school, Plainedge. It would have been harder to get to know people as an entering junior without that experience.

I did not continue clarinet in college. I was not good enough and ended up going with my first love, singing in the university choir. Then I discovered that my father, for whom I thought I was playing the clarinet (my projection on him - he never forced anything on us) - also loved singing the best and sang in community and church choirs until his death at 84.

But band gave me wonderful gifts, and taught me about classical music in ways that can only be appreciated when you have played a piece with others - no matter how badly!

Dewain Lanfear was at Division Avenue High School for 22 years, 18 as a history teacher

Two members of Division Avenue High School's class of 1960 returned to their alma mater as teachers. Yesterday we featured Jack Ellerkamp, today we get a glimpse of Dewain Lanfear, including a recent picture and photos from the 1960 and 1975 yearbooks.

ABOUT DEWAIN LANFEAR, CLASS OF 1960
Graduated from Boston College. Had a "President's" scholarship from BC for full tuition.

Served in the United States Army and was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. from ROTC when he graduated. Served on active duty from May 1967 to April 1969, the last year as a Captain in Viet Nam.

Taught English at Division Avenue High School for 18 years and a total of 32 in Levittown.

Retired, does volunteer work, walks the dog, spends time with his grandkids and plays golf.

Lives in Anderson, South Carolina with his wife of 43 years, the former Marti Gold, who also taught at Division Avenue.

Quote from Dewain: WTF just happened?

Division Avenue student Jack Ellerkamp returned as a social studies teacher

Two members of Division Avenue High School's class of 1960 returned to their alma mater as teachers, at least as far as your blogger knows. Today we get a glimpse of Jack Ellerkamp, including a recent picture and photos from the 1960 and 1975 yearbooks. The next blog post will feature his classmate, Dewain Lanfear.

ABOUT JACK ELLERKAMP, CLASS OF 1960
Went to St. John’s University and carpooled with Dotty Caggiano, Jerry Reichert and Tom Mitchko for a while.

Taught social studies at Division from 1972-75.

Still working…Brookhaven National Laboratory…Project Engineer…having too much fun to retire.

Lives in Remsenburg, New York with his wife of 41 years, Ulla.

Quote from Jack: "It seems like only yesterday when Frank Barning, Bob Castro, Pete Cybriwsky, others whom I can’t recall, and I met near Hofstra for a few beers while I was going for my masters." It was nearly 40 years ago.
__________________

Yearbook photo from 1975 courtesy of Larry Loewy.

Division Avenue High School band members nearly froze while marching in the 1961 St. Patrick's Day Parade in Manhattan

Click on photo to enlarge

On a bitterly cold day in 1961, the Division Avenue senior marching band appeared in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Manhattan. Recently, Marilyn Monsrud '63 posted the above photo from the 1961 yearbook on Facebook. The comments that followed tell the story.

Linc Binninger '63
Very cool (literally). I remember that my trombone mouthpiece froze to my lips and had to be painfully removed.

Marilyn Monsrud Frese
Do you remember how cold it was, waiting for the parade to start, huddled on one of the side streets with that awful freezing cold wind blowing through it like a hurricane! And no sun...just dark and cold. I remember the sound of the wind- ...it was howling down that narrow street. I had never heard anything like that before. We huddled together to try to keep a little warmer. And wearing skirts sure didn't help. I don't know how you guys ever managed to defrost your lips to get any sound out of your horns. That bus, waiting for us at the parade finish point, never looked so good.

Linc Binninger
Oh, I'll never forget. In 15 years in Syracuse and six in Vermont, I was never as cold as I was that day. Sure am glad I didn't have to wear a skirt, too.

Frank Barning '60
What were some of the songs you played?

Linc Binninger
We must have played some Irish songs. We probably played the Colonel Bogey March, too, which we seemed to always play, as I believe it was one of Band Director Mr. East's favorites.

Carol Binninger Mondello '64
To this day...every single St. Patrick's Day...I reflect on that day... I still have a discoloration on my bottom lip from where my saxophone reed froze and stuck...we wore thin blazers and gray pleated skirts...Marilyn...how did we ever play? We were all frozen...but so proud to be chosen to be there!

Linc Binninger
Apparently it was Mr. Reilly's being a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians that got us there, no?

Kathy Stahlman Zinn '63
That was my understanding. I think we missed getting on the TV due to ads. When I got home, my mother was still watching the parade, and wondering whether we had actually been there. She never saw us. What classical pieces do people remember our playing in concert band? Rhapsody in Blue?

Linc Binninger
I'm sticking with Colonel Bogey March. It was, after all, a "classic" march.

Frank Barning
What, no Seventy-Six Trombones by Meredith Willson?

Linc Binninger
Actually, I think we did, and the trombone section, of course, played all the solos.

Part 3: "What do you remember about your religious education growing up in early Levittown?"

Click on photo to enlarge
Levittown Community Church in 1958, not far from the Azalea Road pool.

By Frank Barning, class of 1960

This is the third and probably final story concerning religious education in early Levittown. So it's time to summarize what we've learned.

It strikes me that many of us couldn't wait to sneak out of church, that we were bored and wanted to be elsewhere. Many Catholic kids got out of school early to attend religious instruction, but often never made it there, falling prey to distractions along the way.

Some Protestants as well as Catholics still smart from the memory that their parents made them go to church while mom and dad stayed home, preferring to spend Sunday morning at St. Mattress.

Dewain Lanfear '60 observed that "The mix of religions in Levittown schools has been a source of tolerance throughout my life. It was something our parents who came from a more "ghettoized" city didn't experience."

Your blogger was not aware of much intolerance in early Levittown between fellow students, but when it came to dating, many parents wanted us to stick to our own kind. Unlike today, mixed marriages were rare.

We were touched that Catholic Jimmy Anton '61 helped his best friend, Jay Citrin '60, prepare for his bar mitzvah. That jogged the memory of John Kinstrey '61 who wrote, "I was reminded by Jimmy's comment about sharing one's faith with another how important that was to me as a then Catholic. So I took the Jewish holidays off too."

From Linc Binninger '63: "I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the comments. Very brave of you, Frank, to wade into these possibly treacherous waters." Your blogger was impressed with those willing to share their memories, some of which were painful.

The final group of comments follows:

Tom Murphy, class of 1975
I went to St Bernard's. I remember getting in big trouble with sister Catherine who pulled me by her little clicker out of the class for asking if Christ was Jesus's last name.

Maureen Montoro
Saturday morning catechism classes. I went to Holy Family in Hicksville. Lived in Levittown close to the Hicksville border and would walk most days. I loved the nuns. I remember being so frightened at first from hearing horror stories from some of the kids that went to Catholic school but never had any problems. Remember being so proud making my first communion. Every time I smell carnations it brings me right back to that day. After, when I would receive communion on Sunday mornings Father Donavan would make a funny face at me to try to make me laugh.

Susan Weldon, class of 1960
my father being a jewish athiest and my mother a jewish agnostic did not foster much religiosity in the weldon household, even after my 'bubby' moved in with us. she kept a tiny kosher kitchen upstairs, but was perfectly happy to come down and eat chinese food with the rest of the family.

for some reason, my mother thought we should join the temple (beth el i think) and my brother should be bar mitzvahed. he never forgave my parents for this torture. as we had to pay to join the temple, i was 'encouraged' to take 'confirmation' classes taught by rabbi zion. he was smart and funny and we spent time studying catholicism and protestantism and went to services at churches on the occasional sunday.

when it was time for formal confirmation, rabbi zion told us if we weren't sure we wanted to be confirmed as jews, he would prefer that we not partake in the ceremony and perhaps continued study of various religions would be the right way to proceed. probably the 'continued study' part was what convinced me to declare myself a confirmed jew. as a matter of fact, i was chosen to read my essay aloud at the ceremony.

i cannot remember which of my dahs classmates went to that temple , but i clearly remember leaving some temple on yom kippur with arnie mark, richie bernhardt, warren zaretsky and perhaps perry bernstein to sneak out to eat ---what else---chinese food from the place accross the street.

by the way, when parents found out that rabbi zion thought it was okay not to get confirmed, he got fired.

Larry Bory, class of 1960
My folks were Presbyterians and unfortunately the only church was on Wantagh Avenue in south Levittown. It was a part of my life that no one at school knew about since no DAHS friends went to that church.

Warren Zaretsky, class of 1960
I learned early on that there is no god and that religion is "the opiate of the masses." I also learned that religion is the root cause and irrational justification of personal irresponsibility, authoritarianism, intolerance, hatred, greed, torture, murder, wars, genocide and mass murder. The only good thing to come out of thousands of years of organized religion is Friday night Bingo.

John Kinstrey, class of 1961
Hanging by my ear in the talon grip of Sister Mildred during a catechism class at Holy Family Church. That’s one of my most vivid memories of my religious education. That, and realizing that Latin was the reason No-Doz was invented.

Tom Mitchko and I would ride our bikes on Wednesdays so we could go all the way to HFC which was in Hicksville. As I recall, it wasn’t cool to ride a bike or to have a book bag back then, but we each had a paper route and Wednesdays were always crazy: Butt chewing by “Millie” for being late for catechism; butt chewing by Freddie Jenkins for being late picking up the papers; butt chewing for being late for supper. All this to skip Mr. Fitzpatrick’s Cit Ed class. Go figure.

I realized later in life that I was probably a good Catholic but I was a lousy Christian. I’m glad I realized it before it was too late.

Lillian Smith, class of 1962
We Catholics knew next to nothing about other faiths because there was the threat of going straight to Hell if we so much as entered the church/temple of another religion. I see now, as an adult, how easy it is to be brainwashed, especially when you are young and vulnerable, into believing certain things without actually giving them thought.

We accepted certain doctrines back then, without question. It makes me wonder if I had been a young person living during the years of slavery and black oppression, if I would have been a follower. Or if I would have been a trailblazer, despite the risks, like Harriet Beecher Stowe. It takes a really independent, and strong thinker to row against the tide, especially when you are young and malleable and so very impressionable.

Marti Traystman Welch, class of 1960
I read what was previously written about being from a mixed faith family. My dad was Jewish (non-practicing) and my mother was of some Protestant denomination (also non-practicing.) While I know that there must have been many of us, I didn't know that there were any other families in the area that had the same situation.

The Jewish side of me was the love of some of the food, attending the bar mitzvah of my cousin and knowing some of the traditions associated with the "other side of me."

I was not raised with the synagogue as part of my life and my Christian religious education was provided by a neighbor who took me and my sister to the Levittown Community Church where I learned about religion and the associated traditions. I attended Sunday School until I was about 16 and then church, occasionally.

Thanks for the opportunity to bring up memories.

Send comments to fbarning@yahoo.com

1957 Summit Lane School: Mr. Ben Murphy's sixth grade class

Click on photo to make it larger

First row: Marilyn Monsrud, Tyler Asdorian, Peter Barnett

Second row: Noreen Donlin, the late Bob Benn, Leslie Wohl, Judy Lewis

Third row: Aaron Gurwitz, John McCormick, Leslie Wohl, Brian Williams, Joanne Leib

Fourth row: Darrae Cabre, Richie Ligouri, Kathy Stahlman, Bob Leporati, Jeff Harriton

Back row: Charlie Kawada, x, x, Mr. Ben Murphy, David Lounsberry, Ricky Hofer

MARILYN MONSRUD'S MEMORIES

Remember how all the girls had to wear skirts to school, pants were not allowed? With those stupid garter belts to hold up our stockings. And fixing 'runs' with clear nail polish. And we still had stockings with seams up the backs, while now it seems that only the ladies of the evenings wear.

Imagine how great it would have been to wear jeans and sneakers to school every day instead of skirts and stockings? Tough riding a bike to school in those skirts...either tightly fitted slim skirts or full skirts with lots of crinolines, as many as we could get under the full skirts. And remember the socks we wore? The more pairs of socks you could get on your feet, the better. We all looked like we had casts on our ankles, and they made our shoes so tight. And our quilted full skirts and poodle skirts.

Our styles in Levittown were so influenced by American Bandstand. I remember ironing only my collars on my white cotton shirts, because we only showed our collars under a crew neck sweater. So why iron the whole thing? And the backward cardigans, buttoned up the back with a scarf tied around our necks? Hey, the kids today have nothing on us.
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Many of these kids eventually graduated in Division Avenue High School's class of 1963. Photo courtesy of Marilyn Monsrud Frese. We could use help with the names of kids marked with an x.

More vintage photos from Blogger Frank's files

click on photos to enlarge

1962 junior prom photo provided by Skip McCarthy

Seated: Mary Ann Bagley, Cathy Burner, the late Jimmy Cain, Terri Morse

Standing: Skip McCarthy, Tommy Moriarity, Adrianne Carlino, Denise McCarthy, Al Echezuria, Jim Heyward

Most of the photos posted above did not come with any or much information, but they are interesting enough to be taken from our archives to be included here. The 1962 junior prom shot, in living color, captures the styles of the time.

The football team is the 1955 Levittown Red Devils. The two girls sitting together (Debbie Cooper and Susan Kilbride '62) is from 1958. And also from 1958 is a photo of Diane Sexton '61 and the late Bruce Garabrant '60. And the oldest picture, from 1949, is of Perry Bernstein '60 and his kid sister Jackie.

This picture, provided by John Tanner '60, is a mystery because many students have not been identified

click on photo to enlarge

1952 Northside School, Mr. X fourth grade class

Front row: x, Jay Citrin, x, x

Second row: Phyllis Hirsch, Larry Bory, Mike LaPaglia, x

Third row: x, x, x, x

Fourth row: x, Tom Young, x, Margie Merle

Back row: Arnie Mark, John Tanner, x, x

Teacher: x

Above is another classic early Levittown class photo. But there is a problem. Do you see all those blanks in the caption? As hard as we've tried by contacting people who might remember, many of the students remain unidentified. The teacher is also a mystery.

The picture was provided by John Tanner, class of 1960, who only remembers that he and Arnie Mark are in the back row because they tended to disrupt the class.

If you can identify any of these bright looking youngsters, drop a note to fbarning@yahoo.com

Vintage Levittown photos that tell their own story

There are hundreds of early Levittown photos in my files, a treasure chest of images. Many have been used to compliment stories that have been posted in our blog, and others will lend themselves to articles yet to be written.

At the same time there are many that don't seem to have a fit, often because there is no information for a caption. Old Levittown photos that I find especially pleasing have Levitt houses in them and were shot long before the humble abodes of our youth were pumped up on steroids, making them look like mansions.

The black and white photos posted above are part of our town's amazing history.

Part 2: "What do you remember about your religious education growing up in Levittown?"

Vermont resident Roberta Landry still has her first communion veil

By Frank Barning
It has been enlightening to receive replies to our "religious education" question. Mostly, it has been memories of interesting times rather than serious theological discourse, with a lively mix of good spirit and humor.

I remember a Levittown boy asking me why the Catholic church that many of our friends attended was named after a breed of dog. I explained patiently that "The church and the dog were named after a saint named Bernard." A Google search of St. Bernard yielded far more items about the dog breed than St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

Jim Anton, class of 1961, and Jay Citrin '60 were neighbors and best friends. Jim, a Catholic, helped Jay prepare for his bar mitzvah. Over lunch a few months ago, Jim told me about his working with his buddy. Here we were about 55 years later and Jim proudly rattled off in Hebrew the Bible passages (haftorah) that he coached.

According to Jim, "I got to tell Jay after many years that the greatest gift he gave me, besides our friendship, was the sharing of our faiths. I will always remember the last day of Chanukah and his family around the table including me for a special celebration. On Christmas day there was always a present under our tree for Jay.

"For many years my wife and I both taught religious instruction and I was teaching Catholic faith from a Jewish perspective. I always professed if your going to be an educated Catholic then you need to also be educated in the Jewish faith and tradition. As a now departed Jewish friend use to remind me, 'Jesus was one ours before he was one of yours'."

Here is what some early Division Avenue High School students remember:

Robert Cotter, class of 1966
I dropped out of the Sunday School program at Levittown Community Church. In my class was Paul Adrian, who was also in my class at Division. It was, I think, grade seven. He passed this bit of info on to me at school: the Sunday School teacher, after telling the class that I would no longer be with them added that my leaving was a shame because "Robert needs it more than all of us". I rather liked that.

My friends represented a cross section of the religious spectrum so I went to midnight mass at Christmas, celebrated Chanukah, Easter and Passover, and my parents made sure that I had an understanding of what these holidays all meant.

Dewain Lanfear, class of 1960
I remember that we were dismissed from our last class of the day for religious instructions. Eventually, periods 1, 2 3,7, 8 were rotated to that "last" slot so that we didn't miss the same class all the time. Sometimes we didn't get to the church at all after we left school. The mix of religions in Levittown schools has been a source of tolerance throughout my life. It was something our parents who came from a more "ghetto-ized" city didn't experience.

Linc Binninger, class of 1963
I remember that my mother, my sisters (Carol - DAHS '64 and Kim - DAHS '73) and I were members of the Levittown Community Church by the Azalea Pool. My father, called "Big Bob" and dubbed "The Mayor of Quiet Lane", did not attend.

I will not go into the reasons for his failure to accompany us but I will say that by the time I was in about the seventh or eighth grade, I had begun to share his disdain for church services. So I began to plead with my mother to allow me to attend a different service from her, which request, bless her, she began to grant. I would walk in the front door of the church and out the side door, whereupon I would proceed to the North Green to enjoy a Snickers or a milkshake.

Roberta Landry Bremmer, class of 1961
I really don't remember very much about it except for getting out of school early. I do still have the veil I wore when I made my first communion as well as two pins.

Art Dorrmann, class of 1960
Even prior to moving to Levittown I had been brought up in the Episcopal Church. Other names for it are 'The Church of England' and the 'Anglican Church'. The Anglican Church was formed in 1534 by Henry VIII of England for what might be called 'social reasons'. The differences between the Catholic and Anglican churches were mostly minor - only one was Roman Catholic.

Since both of my mother's parents had been born in England it was the church she knew and to which she introduced me. We attended Holy Trinity Church in Hicksville. Mass was at 9 AM and religious instruction took place at 10:30. By the time I was 11 or 12 I was serving as an altar boy and continued throughout high school.

I attended church infrequently while in college and occasionally in the service. Since my early 20s I have been to church only for my son's Christening and for a Christmas eve mass about five years ago. I must admit part of my Paleolithic background rejects both women and homosexual priests - though I personally have no antagonism toward either group and have been known to socialize with them.

Arnie Galeota, class of 1961
I was brought up Roman Catholic but my parents weren't practicing Catholics. They however made me go to catechism, I had all the sacraments, baptism, first communion, confirmation and I was expected to attend mass every Sunday morning, but by myself. I would meet up with Jim McGrath and sometimes Jim Heyward and Ralph DelPiano who were in the same boat as I was. We would stand at the back of St. Bernard's church 10 minutes after mass began and we would leave right after the second collection plate passed, making it a total of 20 minutes listening to the priest say mass in Latin. Being in the vestibule gave us an easy escape. We would go from there to Whalen's drug store or the Diplomat Cafeteria or home.

My two closest friends were the Albaum twins, Donnie and Ronnie, who are Jewish. I spent endless hours in their home where I managed to learn bits and pieces about their faith and traditions but not in a classroom-type learning session. I felt a strong connection to that family since our heritage, mine being Italian, and family traditions and values were so similar aside from the religious aspect.

I also learned to love corned beef and pastrami and Hebrew National hot dogs, knishes and so on. Naturally they also were starved to learn about my religion so we discussed it at Caruso's regularly, where they learned about Italian food there. By the way, the money I was given for the collection plate went into the collection plate. I didn't want to go to hell before graduating high school.

Part 1 .. "What do you remember about your religious education growing up in Levittown?"

Innocent looking Jim McGrath in his St. Bernard's first-communion garb.

By Frank Barning
A wide variety of topics and memories have been covered in our blog since it began last July. Carefully avoided have been politics, sex and religion. That changed with Kathy Stahlman Zinn's April 2 story, "Growing up Catholic in religiously diverse Levittown".

She wrote a fair and balanced account of her experiences and the story was well received. Then came an email from Howard Whidden '62 suggesting that we ask blog followers to reply to the question, "What do you remember about your religious education growing up in Levittown?"

I had doubts that this would work, but Kathy encouraged me to move ahead on the topic of religion. So I sent the question to a cross-section of people (Catholics, Jews and Protestants) who are active blog followers, old Levittowners who tend to comment on our stories.

Holy smoke! The replies have been large in number and strong, if not daring, in content. In fact, there will be two or more additional posts on the topic because so many replied. Oddly, only people who grew up as Catholics and Protestants participated. Most of what has been sent for publication would have offended the parents of the responders. My mother would not be pleased with what I wrote. But like most of the parents of the earliest Levittowners, she is deceased. My parents' ashes have been scattered in the Pacific Ocean, speaking of Holy Smoke.

See the bottom of this story for information on how to respond to the question about your religious education.
* * * * * * * * * *
Jim McGrath, class of 1960
We attended St. Bernard's Catholic Church and part of our ritual was mass on Sunday morning followed by a trip to the Peter Pan bakery for hard rolls to have with bacon and eggs. My grandmother would even feed our Irish Setter those eggs. I think he knew when Sunday came. I've never found hard rolls like those anywhere else.

No one wanted to go to the "mean priest" for confession, so we'd stand in a long line to get the "nice" one. I always avoided telling about the really bad stuff I did, but would own up to arguing with my brother and sister and disobeying my parents. I felt I covered everything else with "sorry for these and all the sins of my life, especially for the sin of disobedience."

Sometimes Joey Forte, Ralph DelPiano, my sister Gerri and I would stand in the back part of the church outside the closed interior doors and talk during mass. Looking back on it now I realize the talking must have been quite annoying to others around us. On a few occasions I remember being asked to leave by an angry usher. When my mother would find out she would become extremely angry. I, of course, always told her that the other three were responsible. She only bought it the first time.

Sandy Adams, class of 1960
I remember being jealous of the kids who got out of school early to go over to St. Bernard’s for religion classes – of course, many of them did NOT go to their classes. I wondered why our Community Church didn’t have the same type of schedule or if I should change religions to join my Catholic friends.

Lillian Smith, class of 1962
I remember St. Bernard's Catholic Church and the priests, Father Barnwell, Father O'Brien, and Father Minogue who wouldn't hesitate to interrupt their pedantic Sunday sermons with a reprimand to mothers with crying babies, summoning them to the "crying room".

I remember the nuns wearing bowling ball-sized rosary beads, and one particularly mean Sister Mary Mark, with her ever present white eye patch, who thought public humiliation was proper punishment for the smallest indiscretion.

I remember Sister Martin De Porres who taught private piano lessons and smacked your hands if you made a mistake. Holiness back then was associated with punishment and sacrifice with an emphasis on attending mass, prayer, and fasting.

God is love? Ha! We feared God back then. The fires of Hell beckoned at every catechism class where mortal sins could be as trivial as an impure thought. But we behaved! There were few discipline problems, and there was respect for authority. Catholicism was not for sissies back then. And there was real accountability for one's behavior. Today, with society's penchant for all things easy and convenient coupled with the permissiveness that exists on all levels, Catholicism has become but a shadow of itself, unrecognizable as the austere, yet somewhat mysterious religious role model it once was. It's just too hard.

The Catholicism I grew up with has lost its edge, its boundaries, its credibility, and inevitably, its respect. St. Peter must be turning over in his grave.

Frank Barning, class of 1960
My religious education in Levittown was boring, no juice. I could not feel the Holy Spirit that they were preaching about. To experience something that was inspiring, I tuned my radio to a church in Harlem on Sunday nights.

The worst thing that happened was when the Levittown Community Church changed bibles. It switched from the King James Version to the Revised Standard Edition. All the prayers and psalms that I had studied diligently for more than six years were no longer valid. According to Wikipedia, the Revised Standard Edition "aimed to be a readable and literally accurate modern English translation of the Bible."

I can understand why many Catholics were disappointed/shocked when the mass was no longer conducted in Latin.

On the positive side, the Levittown Community Church held dances opened to everyone regardless of their religion. And I was proud that our confirmation indoctrination included learning about Judaism and Roman Catholicism. As I recall, my Jewish and Catholic friends knew next to nothing about other faiths.

Karen Biro Hewson, class of 1960
Unfortunately, I really didn't have a religious education in Levittown. I tried the Levittown Community Church, but I never really found any kind of an attachment to it. Rather bland.

Before moving to Levittown I was a regular attendee of the Steinway Dutch Reformed Church in Astoria - I started going there when I was about six - Sunday school, then regular church services. I was pals with the pastor's daughter and much to his chagrin spent quite a bit of time at their home playing noisily on the front porch while he was trying to write Sunday's sermon, and running up and down the church aisles in off hours - there was plenty of room to run and no one usually bothered us.

It was quite a social church - trips to Lake Ronkonkoma, Christmas pageants, Strawberry Festivals, great fun. So all I can say about my Levittown religious education is - there wasn't any.

Jon Buller, class of 1961
What I remember about my religious education growing up in Levittown was that it was extremely confusing. The primary reason for this was that my mother was Christian (Methodist) while my father was Jewish. And to add to the confusion, my mother had some degree of real, if shallow, religious belief, while my father, although he was ethnically Jewish, was a hard-core atheist. So I not only had to reconcile my half-Christianity with my half-Jewishness, but my half-belief with my half-atheism.

Over the years, I think I have pretty well worked out the childhood conflicts that I felt about all of this. But I still utter a little “Aha!” of satisfaction when I read about someone and find out that they are, like me, half Jewish, and I immediately add them to my list. I’m not sure why I keep this list. Maybe it makes me feel less alone in this situation, as I often felt in high school.
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If you would like to respond to "What do you remember about your religious education growing up in Levittown?", send your comments to fbarning@gmail.com

Please limit it to under 150 words. The best replies will be posted. Deadline: April 14.

Poem for senior citizens: The Land that Made Me, Me

Long ago and far away, in a land that time forgot,
Before the days of Dylan, or the dawn of Camelot.
There lived a race of innocents, and they were you and me,

For Ike was in the White House in that land where we were born,
Where navels were for oranges, and Peyton Place was porn.
We learned to gut a muffler, we washed our hair at dawn,
We spread our crinolines to dry in circles on the lawn..

We longed for love and romance, and waited for our Prince,
And Eddie Fisher married Liz, and no one's seen him since.
We danced to 'Little Darlin,' and sang to 'Stagger Lee'
And cried for Buddy Holly in the Land That Made Me, Me.

Only girls wore earrings then, and three was one too many,
And only boys wore flat-top cuts, except for *Jean McKinney.
And only in our wildest dreams did we expect to see
A boy named George with Lipstick, in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We fell for Frankie Avalon, Annette was oh, so nice,
And when they made a movie, they never made it twice.
We didn't have a Star Trek Five, or Psycho Two and Three,
Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty in the Land That Made Me, Me.

Miss Kitty had a heart of gold, and Chester had a limp,
And Reagan was a Democrat whose co-star was a chimp.
We had a Mr. Wizard, but not a Mr. T,
And Oprah couldn't talk yet, in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We had our share of heroes, we never thought they'd go,
At least not Bobby Darin, or Marilyn Monroe.
For youth was still eternal, and life was yet to be,
And Elvis was forever in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We'd never seen the rock band that was Grateful to be Dead,
And Airplanes weren't named Jefferson, and Zeppelins were not Led.
And Beatles lived in gardens then, and Monkees lived in trees,
Madonna was Mary in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We'd never heard of microwaves, or telephones in cars,
And babies might be bottle-fed, but they were not grown in jars.
And pumping iron got wrinkles out, and 'gay' meant fancy-free,
And dorms were never co-ed in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We hadn't seen enough of jets to talk about the lag,
And microchips were what was left at the bottom of the bag.
And hardware was a box of nails, and bytes came from a flea,
And rocket ships were fiction in the Land That Made Me, Me.

Buicks came with portholes, and side shows came with freaks,
And bathing suits came big enough to cover both your cheeks.
And Coke came just in bottles, and skirts below the knee,
And Castro came to power near the Land That Made Me, Me.

We had no Crest with Fluoride, we had no Hill Street Blues,
We had no patterned pantyhose or Lipton herbal tea
Or prime-time ads for those dysfunctions in the Land That Made Me, Me.

There were no golden arches, no Perrier to chill,
And fish were not called Wanda, and cats were not called Bill,
And middle-aged was thirty five and old was forty three,
And ancient were our parents in the Land That Made Me, Me.

But all things have a season, or so we've heard them say,
And now instead of Maybelline we swear by Retin-A.
They send us invitations to join AARP,
We've come a long way, baby, from the Land That Made Me, Me.

So now we face a brave new world in slightly larger jeans,
And wonder why they're using smaller print in magazines.
And we tell our children's children of the way it used to be,
Long ago and far away in the Land That Made Me, Me.
________________________
The author is unknown to your blogger. This poem was received via an email forward.

*Jean McKinney was a mother of 10 shot dead as an informer by the IRA and buried in an unmarked grave. The IRA denied her abduction and murder for over 25 years. She is the most famous of The Disappeared, and many articles and poems have been written about her.

Back-to-the-past with a fabulous 1953 photo of Levittown boys enjoying the moment with their friends

CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE

Tim Lavey, class of 1963, has a marvelous collection of early Levittown pictures that he has generously shared with us. Of the 20 or so in my file, the shot posted here is my favorite.

It's from around 1953 and was snapped on the front lawn of the Lavey home at 173 Orchid Road. Tim's younger brothers Mitch and Robin Lavey are shown with some friends.

If you grew up in early Levittown, you may remember when the trees and shrubs were immature and the houses had not been expanded, except for the occasional finished attic with extra bedrooms for growing families. The Laveys lived in a Levitt ranch and across the street are basic Cape Cod models.

Viewing this picture, I can smell the grass and remember hanging out with boys who lived down the block from our home at 10 Hyacinth Road. Many pleasant junior high days were spent with neighbors Louie Pascale, Mike Gurr, Steve Zwerling and Artie Reiersen from Primrose Lane, and the Giffords (Ed and Bob) who lived across the street on Hyacinth. Those were carefree days.

Click on this photo to enlarge it and take some time to contemplate a spectacular back-to-the-past image.