Class of 1960 grads make Las Vegas a travel destination - Part 2

Click on pix to enlarge

* Dewain Lanfear at the golf outing.

* Cliff Fromm at Harrah's.

* Ken Plass, Frank Barning and Bob Castro were among the guys at Frank's home course, the Siena Golf Club. Bob commented, "Believe it or not, all of us were still smiling even after we recorded our scores."

* All the class of 1960 people at the reunion were men except Heidi Perlmutter. Heidi was at Division for a couple years, but graduated from Levittown Memorial High School.

* Lou Kuhlman, still a swinging character after all these years.

As I mentioned in a recent post, one of the many advantages of living in Las Vegas is that old friends come to town. In April 2010, the class of 1960 held an informal reunion here and it was an opportunity for me to show old classmates the sights, dine together, take pictures and hang out.

Destination reunions are becoming popular for early DAHS grads since it is difficult to find someone to run a huge class reunion on Long Island. Barbara Wittenberg Taylor put together a gigantic 50th class of 1960 reunion last summer but a 60th reunion in 2020 is doubtful. And anyway, we should live so long. There will be a class of 1963 destination reunion in New Mexico in October.

The story behind the Class of 1960's first reunion in 1980, the first of five conducted by Barbara and Ken Taylor

Barbara and Ken at the class of 1960's 50th reunion last summer

By BARBARA WITTENBERG TAYLOR

In January of 1979, my husband Ken Taylor received an invitation for his 20 year class reunion for Memorial High School Class of 1959.

Ken’s first thought was “No Thanks”. His memories of Levittown Memorial were not pleasant. The class was broken basically into 2 sections.

There were the “jocks, cheerleaders and snobby “I’m better than you” students. They drove their cars to school, and wore the best clothes. You know what I mean.

Ken said, “Then there was our side. Kids that walked to school in “hand me down” clothes, brought their own lunches, and stayed away from the other side, or risked being beaten and bloodied at the whim of some bully for no reason at all. It was called High School survival, and there were many of us that went through High School that way.”

A month later, there was a phone call to Ken asking if he was planning on attending, and he asked if Jimmy Guetteruiz or Vic Lawson were coming? Jimmy, Vic and Ken were close friends through the four years at Memorial. The answer was yes, so we decided that we would attend his 20 year reunion.

Ken said, “There were a very large number of graduating members at Memorial in 1959, over 400, and when we walked into the reunion hall at the Hilton Hotel on Route 110, we were part of about 50 former classmates to attend. About 40 of the group were the “Jocks”. It wasn’t what we expected.

And only Jimmy showed up but the “Magic” of our youth and growing up together was not there. After less than 15 minutes of conversation, we said our goodbyes and Barbara and I were walking out the door. It was disappointing and sad.”

As we were driving home to Pinetree Lane, Ken explained to me how school life was at Memorial, and I said “Well that was not how it was at Division. We were all one big family.” Ken then said the magic words that started a 50 year adventure that sometimes took over our lives.

Ken said to me, “Well, if someone in your class decides to put a 20 year class reunion together, I hope they do a better job than the one we just went to.”

The next morning Ken found me sitting at our kitchen table, with my yearbook, the white and yellow pages, note pads, and the phone in my hand, talking to Linda Kenley (Gurr) who also graduated DAHS in 1960. Linda had married Mike Gurr from DAHS, 1961. They lived on Elmtreee lane.

Barbara and Linda formed the original committee that consisted of Barbara Almquist, Midge Bollinger (Finck), Arlene Holmes and Sue Eisenberg (Zwerling)

The next day, the first meeting was held at our dining room table. We formed the foundation of finding as many graduates as possible, after 19 years of almost no correspondence among the classmates and less than one year to do it all.

Each member was given a few names to gather any information she could find, and bring it back to the next weekly meeting. As one member added a tidbit on a classmate, another would pull out a paper with more information on them, and the circle tightened around the missing classmate.

The committee became obsessed with finding everyone.

There were 202 members of the first graduating class of 1960.

The main goal was to simply find them, let them know about the planned reunion in 1980 and let them decide to attend or not. The committee never expected the end result of their search and dedication. More on this later.

It was actually easier in 1980 to hunt the classmates down. The parents of many classmates stilled lived in the same house as in 1960. But the first break to the original reunion search was found on almost every street in Levittown. Somewhere on the block, was the “little old lady” who was the historian of the block. She knew how, what and where about every family. This wealth of information led us to a good part of the class.

Then the committee hit a stumbling block, as the little old lady list dried up. Along came Principal Robert Graham. He opened the school to us. He gave us access to printers, a mimeograph machine (Remember the smell of the purple ink?), phones and old records. Barbara, Linda and I combed through old records that were stored in the basement. We found 3 X 5 index cards that every student had filled out over the years at Division, listing their information, but more importantly with the girls, they also listed their date of birth and the names and birth dates of their brothers who followed them in later years at DAHS. This was the final key into completing the reunion “Have to find” list.

There were no cell phones, smart phones or other gadgets that are so common today. We had a house phone and an old used Commodore 64 computer that we set up for storing classmate information, and we found a new website called “Peoplefind” and with those little 3 X 5 index cards we slowly but surely tracked the classmates down across the country.

We would find a brother who would fill in the blanks. (most of the girl’s now had unknown married names). The committee found most of the girls through an older or younger brother from DAHS. Thank God their parents had a bunch of kids, which seemed to be a Levittown tradition.

The committee worked almost daily and had charts, tons of paperwork, a bulletin board in our living room and hundreds of scraps of paper with bits of information with a “lead” on someone. Our living room looked like the set of “Criminal Minds” on the TV. In fact, the last classmate to be found was Ronald Schubert in Queens, New York, the day before the reunion, who wanted so badly to attend, but was flying to California on business that couldn’t be re-scheduled.

The committee had also contracted a catering hall in Syosset and a motel right behind the hall for the classmates to “stumble” to after the dinner/dance. The motel was almost filled exclusively by DAHS members that night. There was also a nice barbecue picnic at Eisenhower Park (Salisbury Park) the next day.

So after it all was said and done, and all of the preparations were put in place, the 20 year class reunion results were:

There were 202 graduating classmates in 1960

194 classmates were found and notified

182 out of 202 classmates attended

28 teachers from 1960 attended

83 classmates attended the barbecue on Saturday

And it was a complete success.

Over the years we have had about five reunions, and a reunion cruise.

But it all was topped by our 50th year reunion held in 2010. That reunion ran beautifully from start to the finish at the barbecue in Seaford.

But the most fun and satisfaction was the very first reunion, 20th.

From Levittown to England and beyond, Karen Biro Hewson tells her story

Karen's yearbook photo and a recent shot with husband Brian while on a cruise

By Karen Biro Hewson, class of 1960

My classmate Carol Ackley Rosebery's wonderfully detailed story posted on February 23rd reminded me of things long forgotten. It was great growing up in Levittown, they were innocent times and I was soooo naive.

I came to Division Avenue High School in the seventh grade and always felt not really part of the crowd. Everyone seemed to know each other -- it seemed like from kindergarten -- I always felt like the “new” kid, which was mostly my fault, as I was kind of quiet and not very outgoing, which made it all the harder for me to fit in.

I hung out mostly with Loretta Fountain (’61) who was a neighbor and the first person I met when I moved to Levittown. My first recollection of Levittown (I think I lived there only about two days) was going “Trick or Treating” and winding up at Renee Gordon’s house, leaving there and getting lost in the winding streets. Loretta introduced me to most of the girls I hung out with, all of whom were in the Class of ’61, Ginny Castle, Mary Birney, Ann Crescenzo and Rita Cataldo. Two of the girls in our class that I was friendly with moved before graduation – Carol Vasser and Dorothy Whittaker.

American Bandstand was what we watched every afternoon (does anyone remember Pat Molinari on Bandstand?) And, of course, we “just had” to watch Bandstand on Christmas Day to see what the girls were wearing.

I remember going to the Meadowbrook movie matinees and getting in for 25 cents because I looked like I was 12 until about age 16. In the winter, if we could get a ride, we’d go to Jones Beach and roller skate, then get coffee or hot chocolate at the only boardwalk restaurant that was open. I remember how cold and windy it was and enjoying every minute of it. In the spring we’d play Par 3 golf (badly). And of course in the summer we’d go to the beach or the East Village Green pool.

Loretta and I used to shop at Mays a lot, then go to Wilfred’s Coffee Shop and if we had enough money, get a cheeseburger platter -- huge cheeseburger, fries and coleslaw for $1, what a deal! We relied on a lot of people (mostly parents) to get rides, because none of us had cars until we were out of school. It was great fun even without the cars. When we got older we would go to the Bowlder Lounge at the North Village Green to bowl, then go and listen to the piano player in the lounge (no it wasn’t Billy Joel), also, Caruso’s and that infamous bar in Hempstead -- Ryan’s, The Coach House in West Hempstead and the Garden City Bowl.

I never went “steady” with anyone in high school, but dated Scott Cornell, Peter File and Terry Turner in my senior year.

There were a few teachers whose classes I enjoyed, Ms. Eisenhauer, Mr. Keating and (don’t laugh) Mr. Flynn – he scared the s--- out of me, but I never forget to cross my T’s and dot my I’s to this day.

After graduating from DAHS, I moved into New York City and worked for Mobil
Oil. After a particularly bad winter in New York I moved to Miami Springs, Florida. Moved back to New York in 1968 and stayed for 11 years, working at LILCO in Hicksville for 11 years. Moved again to Boca Raton, Florida where I worked for IBM for 10 years, until they decided it was better for their bottom line to manufacture and distribute their PC's from the Raleigh, NC area and closed the Boca site.

At that point, I decided to work temp for a while -- as IBM was very generous when they distributed their pink slips.

That's when I decided to go to England on vacation - a dream I always had was to go by ship. I did just that -- booked passage on the QEII and sailed to England for a month. Did all my sightseeing, went up to Scotland -- and met my future husband, Brian. We were married in Delray Beach, FL in 1991. After that I sold my house and moved to London, England where I lived and worked for three years. In England we had a conversion camper and traveled all over England and Scotland, also did quite a bit of traveling through Europe.

In 1994 we came back to Florida and now live in Stuart with our dog and cat and no children. I'm sure there will be another move in our future as we are looking to downsizing and getting free of having to mow the lawn, trim the bushes, etc. In the meantime my husband and I have both been retired now about four years and are loving it, although it took a bit of getting used to for me (after 47 years of working). Our days are busy and we don't know where the time goes but it's nice not having a 9 to 5 schedule and I still keep in touch (via telephone) with Loretta Fountain who lives in Babylon and I hope to visit maybe this year.

For Carol Ackley, it was fun, fun and more fun being a girl in 1950s Levittown; lots of kids to play with and the memories linger

Carol Ackley's 1960 yearbook photo and at the 50th class reunion in 2010

By Carol Ackley '60

It was fun being a girl in 1950s Levittown. There were lots of kids to play with and the warm memories linger.

I came to Levittown in February 1950 to 47 Blacksmith Road, the last part of Levittown, because my back yard was the Hicksville line. I moved there from Pittsburgh where I was born.

The move was full of excitement, because we were coming to live with my father in our new home. I had lived with my grandmother, aunt and two cousins, and my mother during the war and beyond because my father was already in the Army when the war broke out. My father had been living in New York since 1947 and now finally we were all going to be together.

Dad borrowed a car, we didn't have one until 1953, from our next door neighbors to pick us up at LaGuardia and bring us (my mother, grandmother, baby sister and me) to our new home. My father got lost and we drove all over the Long Island until we finally reached our destination. We were greeted by our neighbors, the Oswalds.

I loved Levittown. There were so many girls (Carol Kosiewska, Beverly Corbin, Karen Balos, Sandy Gay, Penny Irwin, Janet Hellings, Patty Oswald and myself) in our area and we were all good friends and played all different games, from hopscotch to punch ball, kickball, ringaround the world, dolls and so forth. We had a great time!

Patty went to Wisdom Lane School, but I couldn't because it was full so I was bussed to Abbey Lane. First, the bus went to Wisdom Lane then the Little School House on Old Jerusalem Avenue and then to Abbey Lane and the reverse trip home. I went there two years, first with Mrs. Miller (who became principal) then with Mr. Karpman, my first man teacher, in third grade.

Finally, Northside School was finished and I went there through sixth grade. Some of the teachers I remember include Mr. Hollowell (what a handsome man), Mr. Lynch, I loved his sense of humor and he made learning fun, and finally Mr. Maloney, who had a band and used to play quite a bit at our dances that we had at Division Avenue High School.

Going to Northside was really exciting because we were no longer bussed. We rode our bikes, roller skated or walked in this giant cloud of friends and collected more as we eventually arrived at school. What fun.

We arrived at Division Avenue School in 1954 (it was not yet a high school) a little nervous. After all, we were the first kids out of Northside, a little cocky, because we were the oldest in that school, and into a school with older kids since there was an eighth grade.

It was exciting that we moved to different classes and got to meet new people. I loved being with different friends, although some moved away including Peggy McNeill, Maryann D'Agostino, and my boyfriend in eighth grade, Howie Haggerty. He really made me laugh. Patty Oswald was now going to Catholic school. A whole gang of us would go to the movies, or to the roller skating rink. What fun.

Does anyone remember going to the roller rink in Mineola? We used to go there before the one on Hempstead Turnpike near Jahn's in East Meadow was built. We would be real daring and jump over the third rail because the tracks were right next to the skating rink in Mineola.

In high school, I would much rather have fun than do a lot of learning so I paid for that by spending every summer going to summer school at Levittown Memorial High School and working. One summer I was working in Woolworth's, and the store was trying to get rid of hoola hoops, so I volunteered to sell them in front of the store. Needless to say, I saw just about everyone from school that day, and I could not make the hoop spin. Frank Barning and Russ Green thought that was the funniest thing.

I used to hang around with Sandy Adams and Linda Kenley. I remember sitting in science lab between John Koehler and Mal Karman. Mal was always telling off-color jokes, I would poke him in the ribs, and then go tell the jokes to the girls at lunch.

I dated a fellow from my church all through high school. He was from Hicksville. In senior year, I started to hang around with Joan Allibone and we still keep in touch today. It was great seeing her at the 50th reunion this month. She introduced me to my late husband, John, who I married in l961, have two children, Jack an architect on Long Island and Ellen. I have five grandchildren and am a great grandmother.

For 16 years, I was a stay-at-home mom most of the time, worked in the schools for a little while, then stopped. Later after the kids were in college I worked for Weight Watchers for 15 years and retired and now live in Kings Park.

Christmas Eve report from wandering Warren Zaretsky, class of 1960

By Warren Zaretsky

It was Christmas Eve and I felt like the last survivor of the Alamo. The neighborhood kids had me surrounded, I was under siege. Bombs bursting overhead outside the garden walls, gunshots, rapid fire machine gun blasts of firecrackers and whistling rockets split the night air.

A dozen dogs barked with a vengeance. Some wise-ass tossed a cherry bomb over the wall and into the yard, then another. It was legitimately scary and I wished I had a gun. Then suddenly it stopped. Either they were out of ammunition, reloading, or they had fixed bayonettes and were coming over the wall. I waited, just behind the patio door, a kitchen knife in each hand and one clenched between my teeth. The best I could hope for was a Mexican stand-off.

Remember the Alamo, Christmas in Mexico, and me.
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Yes, that's wandering Warren in the Santa suit.