Part 4: The ultimate "You know you're from Long Island when . . ." list

The Natives hanging out at the North Village Green in 1961. Included are Bobby Lombardi, Tommy Byrne, Doug Duffy, Artie Reiersen, Ira Nerzig and George Vine.

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By Dan Chapman and Phil Ebel IV

From Hey Long Island... Do U Remember....?

151. You know what diners stay open all night long.

152. Theodore Roosevelt lived here.

153. You've walked along the beach from Robert Moses to Kismet.

154. You've been on both the North and South Shelter Island ferries.

155. You know Southampton is EAST of Westhampton and WEST of Easthampton because SOUTH is the Ocean.

156. You know several Yiddish words even if you are not Jewish.

157. You've been in a trailer or at the beach at Hither Hills.

158. If you haven't used the Spa at Guerney's, at least you know where Guerney's is.

159. You've people-watched at Ocean Beach.

160. You know Blue Oyster Cult and Soft White Underbelly were the same band.

161. You know that BROOKLYN is part of Long Island, even though Brooklynites think they're part of The City and everyone else is "Out on the Island".

162. You've driven from Bridgeport, Connecticut to your home faster than it would have taken to sit on line and take the Port Jefferson Ferry.

163. You know someone who (at least claims) to have gone to high school with Billy Joel, Lou Reed, Sienfeld or one of the Baldwins.

164. You called in, not out, when you were sick.

165. You Miss Crazy Eddie’s "IN-SANE".

166. You shopped at TSS, Models & Genovese Drugs long before there were K-Marts, WalMarts and CVS Drugs.

167. You went to “General Admission” concerts at the Commack Arena.

168. You shopped at Mays and Grants.

169. You have seen empty Billy Blake Stores but may never have seen one open.

170. You remember when 7-Eleven opened at 7 and closed at 11.

171. You know someone who went to Hicksville High School.

172. You know a jock who went to Hicksville High School.

173. You know how to catch a crab from the docks with a line a flashlight and a crab net.

174. You know what a "Buttered Roll" and a "Breakfast Special" is and get pissed when the waitress does not.

175. You know that "Shirley and The Mastics" is not a bar band!

176. You refer to anywhere west of Riverhead as "Up Island".

177. We look out the winda and sleep on a pilla.

178. You plan all your trips around the traffic on the LIE.

179. What the %uck is a "Freeway"?

180. You remember when 7-Elevens used to be staffed by Americans? Don't read the magazines! "Touch it, you buy it!"

181. You cut out of school, drove 90 miles per hour up River Road with the top down and spent the day at Short Beach or Little Africa.

182. At the bank you stand "on" line, not "in" line. (dead giveaway for spotting a NYer who thinks he/she lost their accent).

183. You NEVER EVER EVER EVER EEEVVVVEEERRRR put Mustard on a Hamburger!

184. You know where the "BULL" is.

185. We drink SODA, Not POP!

186. Asking for pizza, you just say "I'll have a 'Slice'", or "I'll have a 'slice wit......'"

187. If you ever went fishing on the Great South Bay, no matter what you were trying to catch, you caught at least one Sea-Robin (and freaked over the legs).

188. You know (hopefully) that Routes 107, 110, 111 and 112 only travel North & South.

189. You know better than to speed in Asharoken. Ever. Not even a couple of miles. You'd probably get a ticket for even THINKING of speeding!

190. Chickens ran around the Maine Maid Inn. Yes. Real chickens.

191. You roll your pizza before you eat it.

192. Cheddar cheese on pizza? Why? Why? Worse - Pineapple?

193. You miss walking around on a harbor dock and looking out on the water at sunset.

194. You know where the rocky beaches are and where the sandy beaches are.

195. You actually do remember "those days hanging out at the village green".

_____

Photo courtesy of Jackie Bernstein Karp

THEN AND NOW: The Kelly residence at 34 Honeysuckle Lane

The Honeysuckle Lane house in the 1950s.

Teenage Sandy in front of the house. The family name is behind her.

Photo of the house taken by Marilyn Monsrud Frese in late March 2012.

Click on pix to enlarge

By SANDRA KELLY MINCHER

Class of 1961

Our house on Honeysuckle Lane holds many fond memories. We moved there in the summer of 1952 after renting a house on Cornflower Road for a year. By the time we moved to Honeysuckle the house had already been altered a bit. The second bedroom wall had been removed to make a large living/dining room area. The attic had a large finished bedroom and a small partially finished one. My sister and I shared the large bedroom and my brother had the smaller one. The house was cozy and bright, at least compared to our home in Everett, Massachusetts.

Outside I remember the forsythia bushes and the trees along the road. The yards were all connected, which made our play space seem large and open. The walk to the front door was just flagstones set in the lawn. Although originally gray, we eventually painted our house a blue-gray and the shutters pink. It seemed a bold choice to me but I loved it.

I especially enjoyed that everything was so convenient to our home and we could walk almost everywhere we wanted to go. If the weather was good we were usually outdoors. When I look back the thing that strikes me most is a sense of freedom.

In the summer of 1958 we moved, this time to Haymaker Lane. One of the main reasons was space. I was going into 10th grade and my sister into 4th and I really wanted my own room. Our new home was beautiful and much larger, but I will always remember the Honeysuckle house with great fondness.

Part 3: The ultimate "You know you're from Long Island when . . ." list

By Dan Chapman and Phil Ebel IV

From Hey Long Island... Do U Remember....?

101. Billy Joel said it best, "Either you date a rich girl from the North Shore, or a cool girl from the South Shore."

102. You know White Castle is terrible for you and it gives you a stomach ache, but you periodically "Get the Crave".

103. You've missed that "Drunk Train," the 2:42 out of Penn Station, and had the dreaded wait until 5:30.

104. You've never taken an MTA bus.

105. Grucci Fireworks. …The best.

106. The Long Island Expressway isn't really as bad as everybody thinks.

107. You don't associate Fire Island with gay men.

108. You know which parts of the Godfather were filmed on Long Island.

109. You've paid a $10 cover charge to get into a bar, but got nothing for it.

110. You think that somehow the Jets and Giants still play in New York.

111. "Either you have, or someone you know has fallen asleep on the LIRR and ended up in one of these places: Babylon, Port Washington, Hicksville or Ronkonkoma.

112. You know that there is a big difference between any of the other Hamptons and Hampton Bays.

113. You've been stuck in a traffic jam for more than two hours (without moving).

114. Your parents took you to All American, Nathan's or Carvel on the way home from the beach.

115. You remember Grumman and knew somebody who worked there.

116. You know the color of the water at Jones Beach is not blue.

117. You know which beach at Moses is the Family Beach, and which one is the Cool Beach.

118. You were upset when all the Roy Rogers turned into Wendy's and Arby's closed for good.

119. You can spout off all the LIRR stops between Penn Station and Ronkonkoma.

120. When you went strawberry picking, you ate more strawberrys in the field than you brought back to pay for in your basket.

121. The movie theaters with the biggest screens were in Bay Shore and Patchogue.

122. You know you can’t eat pizza on the sidewalk in Ocean Beach.

123. Some people “Axe” questions rather than “Ask” questions.

124. You think the people from Brooklyn are "da wunz dat tawk wit a accent."

125. You went sledding in the sumps.

126. You knew of Massapequa before the Amy Fisher-Joey Buttafuoco nightmare.

127. You think going to Queens is a hike.

128. You always take the long way to Sag Harbor.

129. The first time you heard the term "Long Island Iced Tea" you were somewhere else and you laughed.

130. The first time you ate Long Island duckling, you weren’t on Long Island.

131. When you live somewhere else, you’re astounded to see that people actually stop at yellow lights.

132. It’s rare to get really bad bagels or pizza on Long Island, almost as rare as it is to get good bagels and pizza anywhere else.

133. You’ve been to Adventureland in Farmingdale.

134. You’ve never been to the Statue of Liberty.

135. Gene Wilder wrote “Blazing Saddles” in Easthampton.

136. You can name at least three bands that came from Long Island.

137. You've partied in the woods at least once in your life.

138. You know what Pilgrim State and Sweet Hollow Road are ... and you are NEVER going again.

139. You are never more than 20 minutes away from the water.

140. You have been to at least one concert at Jones Beach.

141. Steven Spielberg lives here.

142. When you hear "the end", you think Montauk. Orient Point never crosses your mind.

143. You know who Robert Moses was.

144. You’ve seen an albino deer near the Westhampton Airport.

145. The Town of Orient hasn’t changed in over 40 years.

146. You have a friend who swears they saw Billy Joel somewhere in Oyster Bay.

147. When people ask "where are you from?" you answer Long Island and automatically assume everyone in the world knows that answer means New York.

148. You run to get a seat on the train leaving Penn Station, and then you get up and stand by a door five stops prior to yours.

149. Last Call is at 3:50AM.

150 You can curse in Italian even if you don't have an ounce of Italian blood.

SOME RECENT PHOTOS OF EARLY DIVISION AVENUE HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES

Phyllis Cotter Atchison (class of 1960) lives in Rockledge, Florida.

Proud grandmother Marilyn Monsrud Frese (class of 1963) with Samm prior to her senior prom. They are Long Island residents.

Pat Stanley Share (class of 1962) with her friend Bob standing on Mt. McKinley in Alaska. They are Florida residents.

Karen Biro Hewson (class of 1960) and husband Brian in Aruba. They reside in Florida.

Frank Barning (class of 1960) blows out the candles on his 70th birthday cake on June 9. He lives in Las Vegas.

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Levittown Cape Cod houses from Pergola Real Estate for only $8,490 in the early 1950s

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The Crescenzo kitchen on Kingfisher Road was flooded with good aromas and a mother's love

Please click on photos to enlarge

By TONI CRESCENZO GELFER

Class of 1968

I have a large collection of early Levittown photos, mostly of our house at 203 Kingfisher Road plus my friends and extensive Italian-American family. Frank Barning, our blogger, asked me to provide kitchen pictures because they can trigger a trunk-load of memories.

On this page you can see some of my kitchen shots. The 1965 Thanksgiving black and white one is important to me because it shows how close I was to my Dad, always leaning on him without being mushy. Also, the fact that we brought a picnic table in the kitchen, added it to our large table and ate in front of the sink is so Crescenzo. There was no fancy china and no cloth napkins.

The color shot was taken on Weaver Lane in 1972 at my in-laws' house. I love it because of so many observations: the painted two-tone green cabinets, the "earl" burner and painted white fireplace which were so early Levittown.

Another favorite of mine is the shot of my mother in an apron at the kitchen table. It was a simple time, a modest home and a mother who felt the reason for her being was her children's welfare and comfort. She never wore makeup or perfume, but hugging her carried the faint aroma of meatballs and gravy.

My Mom passed last December. I assembled her treasured recipes in a bound cookbook which I gave to my family. My oldest son Zachary called me after a short time and said "The food turned out great and the whole house smelled like Nana". Thanks Mom, what a legacy of love you left.

Part 2: The ultimate "You know you're from Long Island when . . ." list

Click on postcard to enlarge

By Dan Chapman and Phil Ebel IV

From Hey Long Island... Do U Remember....?

51. As much as you try not to … you still curse … a lot.

52. It's called a "Hero" … end of story.

53. You remember the "Bar Car" on the LIRR.

54. You know someone what an egg cream is.

55. You know what to do with a lacrosse stick.

56. You know you CANNOT take a bus from the Port Authority in New York to Long Island, but you can go anywhere else in the United States.

57. You can't say "Hot Dog Beach" without giggling from the memories.

58. You remember sharing a Kitchen Sink at Jahn's.

59. Hawaiian Tropic was your first form of "sunscreen".

60. It took you several summers, but you actually visited the OBI South, East & North.

61. My Father's Place" was not your parents' house.

62. You saw the Stray Cats before they were famous.

63. "The Long Island Press" was a newspaper, second in popularity only to Newsday.

64. You or an older relative hate Walter O'Malley for moving the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles after the 1957 season.

65. You leave your money on the bar.

66. You know the difference between the “Miracle Mile” (Manhasset) and the “Nautical Mile” (Freeport).

67. You could name the bartenders and bouncers at The Salty Dog, Ryan's, Zolie's, Hammerheads, Speaks, Solomon Grundy's, Mad Hatter, Chaucer's Ale House, Hutley’s, Right Track Inn, Max's of Wantagh, Ed's Bay Pub, Maracash, Malibu, 1890's Club, Ubies OTJ, etc …

68. Coffee – Regular doesn't mean "caffeinated".

69. You still get sick to your stomach not seeing the World Trade Towers off in the distance.

70. Flip-flops are normal, even in January.

71. You drive down Dune Road to shake your head at the strange houses, and try to figure out how people could live in them.

72. You know that “Amity” was a fictional place in “Jaws”, and when they filmed the movie, they filmed it in Connecticut.

73. You know exactly what they mean when they say "Don't change at Jamaica."

74. You know that The Drift Inn and Neptune’s are in the same building, but you also know that they are NOTHING alike.

75. You keep saying that, “One of these times, when we’re driving out to Montauk, we’re going to stop and eat at the Lobster Inn”, but you’re always in a hurry and you never do.

76. The exact pronunciation is: Commack: “Com-Mack” and “Co-Mack” are both OK; Hauppauge: “Hop-Pog”; Islandia: “Eye-Landia” not “Is-Landia”; Islip: “Eye-Slip” not “Is-Slip”: Massapequa: “Mass-a-Pee-kwa” Mattituck: “Matt-ti-Tuck” (There is no wrong way) Mineola: “Minnie-Ola” Patchogue: “Patch-og” not “Patch-a-goo” Quogue: “Kwog” or “Kwoge” Ronkonkoma: “Ron-Konk-oma” not “Ron, Con, Coma”; Shinnecock: “Shin-ehcock” Wantagh: “Wan-Taw” not “Wan-Tough”

77. You and your friends are going to the beach, but the word beach never comes up in the conversation. Instead, it sounds something like this..."Well, we could go to Jones, but Moses is closer, the North Shore’s too rocky...whatever, let’s go to the Hamptons."

78. You’ve skated or square danced at Jones Beach.

79. You’ve gotten a face full of melted butter eating Roasted Corn.

80. You’ve made the mistake of trying to drive on Sound Avenue on a weekend in October.

81. You know that it's possible to take Jericho Turnpike all the way to Queens...but you would never, ever do it.

82. Lake Ronkonkoma was formed from glacier water.

83. Parallel parking in your drivers ed class was pointless...you only had to do it next to one car.

84. You live in the shadow of the greatest city in the world, but you almost never go there.

85. When you're away from Long Island, you love it and when you're home, you don't.

86. You think if you're not from Long Island or NYC, you're not really from New York.

87. You know the exact point at which Queens turns into Nassau simply on intuition.

88. You don't go to Manhattan, you go to "The City."

89. You never realized you had an accent until you left.

90. Everything north of the Bronx is "upstate."

91. At some point in your life you've gone clamming.

92. You’ve eaten hot dogs from a van on the side of the road.

93. Either your parents or your grandparents lived in "The City."

94. You know there’s only one “H” in Southampton.

95. You know where the Commack Motor Inn is. (Just leave it at that).

96. Your distant future might involve Florida.

97. You know the location of six malls and a dozen McDonalds and 36 7-Elevens.

98. You've tried to find the Amityville Horror house.

99. You can't understand why a diner would ever close.

100. You know that Long Island is not pronounced “Long-Guyland”.

MY TALENTED LEVITTOWN MOTHER, OUT OF NECESSITY, STARTED A BUSINESS AT HOME

By Leslie Sands Bell

Class of 1968

The concept of working or starting a business at home is touted as the latest idea, born of necessity in today’s difficult economic times. There’s nothing new about it. My grandfather was doing it in the 1920’s, and so were many Levittown residents in the 1950’s and 1960’s when I was growing up there.

In those days, very few women with children worked outside of the home. My mother, Elinor Sands (Malis) was raising two children under the age of six and keeping house in

our newly purchased Cape Cod in the mid-1950‘s when my father hit tough financial times. She used her considerable courage and talent to supplement his income with her first home-based business. She decorated vinegar and oil cruet sets at our kitchen table and sold them to as many housewives in the neighborhood as she could walk to.

Then she bought a home party kit from Sarah Coventry and sold costume jewelry at customers’ homes while my father babysat. My sister and I helped her prepare her kit after dinner while she got dressed to go out to work. She prepared paperwork and made business phone calls from home during the day.

By 1958, she decided that she needed a more lucrative way to earn money and stay at home. She sent me off to my third grade Show and Tell Day with strict instructions to write her name and our phone number on the blackboard and to tell my classmates that she was giving piano lessons after school at our house on Carnation Road. Her first students came from that Show and Tell.

She hung a shingle on the signpost on the front lawn that simply stated “Piano Lessons” and our phone number. Her roster grew and her students’ addresses spread geographically. In 1960 she bought a used car and drove to their homes all over Levittown, Hicksville, Westbury, Wantagh, the Merricks, East Meadow and later, to the North Shore’s Gold Coast. She taught a number of siblings in several families as they came of age (seven years), and later taught their mothers who finally had time for themselves.

My sister and I became adept at taking students’ messages and referrals over our home phone. She showed us how to start simple dinner preparations and left a daily prep list for us to follow. We became two of the earliest latchkey kids of the 1960‘s. She was always home to complete and eat dinner with the family. She taught piano for more than 40 years, long after money was no longer an issue, because she had fallen in love with her career.

My mother was encouraged to start teaching piano by Celso Ferrari, an accomplished accordianist who lived in our neighborhood and supported his family by playing in a house band at a dinner and dancing club at night, and teaching the instrument in the afternoons at his home.

There were many more home businesses that I remember in just my immediate Levittown neighborhood in the 1950-1960’s. Levittowners were true pioneers - brave, resourceful, and in my opinion, examples of The Greatest Generation.

Part 1: The ultimate "You know you're from Long Island when" list

Click on postcard to enlarge

By Dan Chapman and Phil Ebel IV

From Hey Long Island... Do U Remember....?

1. You don't live IN Long Island. You live ON Long Island.

2. You know that Route 110 separates Nassau and Suffolk.

3. You get proofed, not carded.

4. You can tell the guys or girls on the other side of the bar are from Queens.

5. You don't brush the sand off your feet before you get in the car.

6. You don't know what the hell they're talking about when someone says "Let's go to the shore" .

7. You know when someone says "The Forks", they don't mean silverware.

8. You've used a clam shell for an ash tray.

9. When you close your eyes you can still smell the boardwalk.

10. Wandering around Fire Island trashed is an acceptable plan for any night.

11. Doing 90 over the Robert Moses Bridge or on Ocean Parkway is perfectly fine.

12. You know which beaches allow surfing.

13. You know what low tide smells like.

14. You’ve missed your ferry.

15. You know who Guy Lombardo was.

16. You had to worry about "Son of Sam".

17. You tried to "Save the Oak Beach Inn".

18. You know which way the winds blowing by looking at the seagulls.

19. You know the difference between a "Parkway" and an "Expressway".

20. You've driven the stretch of Ocean Parkway in the winter without passing another car.

21. You can name the bars that Twisted Sister played in.

22. You know where the GOOD RATS are playing.

23. There is another meaning to "SOB".

24. You know where Eisenhower Park is.

25. You know where "The Big Duck" is.

26. You know where the Vietnam Memorial is.

27. You remember when the Beach at Smiths Point was as wide as the beach at Jones.

28. You’ve partied at the Kismet Inn, and you’ve been to the “Out”.

29. You've refused to use the bathroom on the LIRR because it was the right thing to do.

30. You shopped at A&P or Bohack's.

31. You still scream in the tunnel going from the parking lot to Central Mall at Jones Beach.

32. You miss Nunley's.

33. WLIR and WBAB were your only source of information.

34. French fries from the concession stand at the beach was considered health food.

35. You have more pro sports to root for than anywhere else in the country (Jets, Giants, Mets, Yankees, Knicks, Nets, Rangers, Islanders, and Ducks).

36. You worry when someone says "full moon" and "Nor' Easter" in the same sentence.

37. Your parents told you they moved to East Northport because it was “Out in the Country”.

38. You know you're not supposed to climb on the jetty but you still do because … you're from Long Island.

39. You're from one of 4 places: North Shore – Nassau , South Shore – Nassau , North Shore - Suffolk, South Shore - Suffolk.

40. You know that the Long Island Railroad doesn’t run North and South.

41. You've cursed out the Jack n' the Box drive thru clown at 3 am on a Tuesday.

42. You’ve looked for beach glass.

43. You remember the SST flying into JFK.

44. You remember the “Pickle Works” in Farmingdale.

45. You know that Montauk Hwy. and Merrick Rd. are the same road.

46. A restaurant on Hempstead Turnpike saved you from wetting your pants on many occasions.

47. You can see from one 7-Eleven to the next one.

48. You don't use a menu in a deli.

49. Every time you see Alec Baldwin on TV or in a movie, you tell yourself, “He’s from Long Island”.

50. You know what a "Buttered Roll" is.

From 1951: Levittown NY ranch model only $8,500 including a teleivision

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My memories of summer fun at Girl Scouts Camp Edey

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By MARILYN MONSRUD FRESE

Class of 1963

I recently found these pictures from 1956 and scanned them to send to Kathy Stahlman Zinn, who was in my grade. We were Girl Scouts together and often talk about it. This is the Girl Scout Camp Edey, out east on Long Island. So many of our old classmates were in Girl Scouts. My mom was a troop leader for the older girls.

The girl in the boat with me is my younger sister, Susan class of 1965, on visitors' day. We would go to camp for two weeks and the weekend in the middle of those weeks we could have visitors. The photo of the outhouse will bring back many memories and a few nightmares to those who spent their time at the camp. I'll never forget those trips to the latrine at night with only a flashlight and lurking spiders, and we had to sit on a board with a hole in it.

We had rotating 'jobs'. The best were camp fire builder and KP. The dreaded one was latrine duty. We had to wash the whole thing down with industrial strength cleaner that smelled as bad as the latrine. Notice the little basin to wash our hands after using the latrine. And the poor girl walking towards it. I just know how she was feeling.

The photo with the sign that says "BIG DIPPER" was at the swimming area of the lake for those who knew how to swim. We had to turn over our number when we went in. Then there was Little Dipper for those just learning to swim. And it was always the buddy system.

Camp Edey, which is still there, was always great fun. There were no creature comforts, so this was true camping. The best part of the day was Taps at sundown which gave me chills. As the sky was beginning to darken the campfire was lit and the night time fun began.

VERY EARLY LEVITTOWN AD - HOW COULD YOU BEAT THIS PRICE?

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A condensed history of Ed Thomas, class of 1961, after being a student at Division Avenue High School

By ED THOMAS

Class of 1961

A friend once asked me to pick one word to describe myself. I thought for a few seconds, and said “Lucky”. Every time I have needed something to happen in my life, something good happened.

1961 - Went off to Dartmouth. Freshman year was a disaster. I was hurt (concussion and retina) and couldn’t play football anymore. Also found that I couldn’t do calculus so I wasn’t going to be an engineer. My chronic depression appeared at this time. I was the right age for it and displayed classic symptoms. I would not be diagnosed, sort of, for not quite 20 years.

1961-65 - Muddled my way through school until I was asked to “take some time off” in the middle of senior year.

1965 - Enlisted in the Army. Went to Vietnam May 1967 and returned home July 4, 1968. In retrospect, this was the best year of my life. My daughters have asked me to write about it because they’ve heard bits and pieces over the years.

September 1968 - Took my messed up head (I had nightmares until February or March of 1969) back to Dartmouth to finish up. Biggest surprise was making Dean’s List after my less than brilliant earlier performance. Thought about going to grad school for Urban Planning but opted to take a job as a programmer with the Bank of Boston in April 1969.

Drank a lot. Started sailing in 1970 – made possible by the development of sunscreen which allowed me to do things outside. I have always burned easily which you may or may not have been aware of.

Summer 1971 met Carol Frost. Engaged in May 1972 with the agreement that I would do the laundry and we would buy a boat before a house. (I just fold the laundry now and we still have a boat so we have a sort of win/win/win /win here.

Married in January 1973. Bought our first boat, a Pearson 26, named Chantecleer in Jan 1974 and sailed it to South Freeport, Maine where we based it for four seasons.

Working, both of us, at Bank of Boston, and living in small town, Norwell, south of Boston. Sold the boat in September 1977. First child, Kerri, born in January 1978.

1978-79 - I went to an office automation conference in Chicago, I think, and had a few beers with the guy who invented the mouse!

1979 - Depression finally diagnosed when I went to see a shrink because I was thinking about suicide. Diagnosis was “asymmetric bi-polar”. I didn’t get manic, just depressed. I thought it was depression, but what did I know? I was a geography major.

1980 - Changed jobs, went to Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC).

1981 - A few weeks after hostages came home from Iran all the guilt and anger from Vietnam came out one afternoon on the way home from work. I was carpooling with two women from my group that day. I just started crying. They stayed with me for a couple hours until I was able to drive home. I got hooked up with a Vets counseling group that met at our DEC facility. It took about two years, but that group saved my life.

October 1983 - Daughter Lindsay born. Still in Norwell, in our second house.

1983-1988 - DEC and Norwell. Played bridge, badly, at Newcomers and taught Sunday school at the Unitarian Church in Norwell.

1987 - Bought our third house in Norwell, an antique farmhouse that appeared on a map of the town from the 1760s. We bought it from the folks who had done all the renovations/modernizations.

1988 - Left DEC to go back to school to get my Massachusetts Teaching Certificate in Elementary Education. Mr. Mom during the day. Went to school at night.

May 1989 - I’m a teacher, no job but got my certificate. October - Talking to local school district about a position as a permanent sub. October - Carol’s recruited by Nationwide Bank in San Francisco

1990 - We’re off to California. Lived in a village named Alamo which is near Walnut Creek which is just east of Oakland. I become a full-time Mr. Mom because California didn’t recognize my Massachusetts certificate. AAARRRGGGHHH. My PTA buds find out I’m a techy and recruit me to open the computer lab at Lindsay’s elementary school. Recruited to run lab at a bigger school two years later. I’m having a ball.

1992 - I have to change shrinks because mine’s leaving the area. I find this new guy in Berkeley. I’m telling him my history and he says, “Sounds to me like you have depression. How ‘bout I put you on an antidepressant”. Three weeks later Carol says to me “The new meds seem to be working. You actually seem happy.” Seratonin reuptake inhibitors do the trick for me.

1997 - Carol’s recruited by Citizen’s Bank in Rhode Island. We move to historic district in Wickford Village in town of North Kingstown. Buy and renovate a 1888 Victorian.

1999 - Buy a Cal 29 sailboat. We sail locally, Naragansett Bay and cruise to Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Block Island, Montauk and eastern Connecticut.

2005 - Sold the Cal and got a Hunter 36 which ain't as pretty as the Cal but is a whole lot roomier.

Present - We’re both retired. Carol’s started re-learning to play the piano. We’ll spend our time this summer at the lake in Denville, New Jersey (near Morristown) and on the boat in Maine.

THANK YOU TO THE NEARLY 100 PEOPLE WHO WISHED ME A HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON FACEBOOK. BUT WHO'S COUNTING?

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The first Division Avenue High School yearbook was distributed 52 years ago

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"No wise man ever wished to be younger."

- Jonathan Swift

By FRANK BARNING

June 9, 1960 was a memorable day for me. It was my 18th birthday, so by law I could now be a patron of my favorite bars. Almost magically I was legal at the North Village Green bowling alley's (Bowlder Lounge) and the watering holes on Hempstead Turnpike near Hofstra College. Three months later, my freshman year at Hofstra began.

June 9, 1960 also stands out because it is inscribed in fountain pen on one of the first pages of my copy of Perspectum, the first ever Division Avenue High School yearbook. That day, yearbooks were distributed and there was much excitement in the halls of our school.

Dewain Lanfear was the editor-in-chief and I was co-sports editor with John General. Many of us on the staff had been involved in the planning of the yearbook, which was extensive because there wasn't a previous volume to use as a guide nor something upon which to improve.

Fifty-two years later, one of my favorite features of the "Pioneer" yearbook were the two pages for autographs. We did not request fellow seniors to sign here. Instead, we asked 1960 classmates to put an inscription next to their senior photos and looking at those in my copy sort of gives me an idea that people thought I might become a sports writer or announcer.

I filled up the first of the two "Autographs" pages with 43 signatures. Page two has only two. Most had great penmanship. After all these years, I am still in touch with several, mostly through Facebook. Many are on my "Early Levittown and Beyond" blog mailing list. Sadly, at least three are deceased. Many of the 43 are fresh in my mind, yet some I hardly knew.

So Happy Birthday to the first Division Avenue High School yearbook, a gift that keeps on giving. And thank you to those signees who are still in touch more than a half century later.