• The primary memory I have taken away from Our Reunion on July 25^th was the absolute glowing smiles on everyone's faces. We didn't need lights with all the glistening teeth. Spouses were equally impressive (and impressed). I guess all the the attendee spouses married some pretty good people! Everyone was Cheshire Cat smiling, boys, girls and spouses! (Sorry, I may be all grown up, but my classmates will always be boys and girls.)


• Easily my greatest regret was not taking more time to sit down and just talk with my old long-time friends from high school. I should have taken fewer pictures and made the time to talk with everyone. Every person I did speak with was a real treat, every person looked so good, every person was just so happy.

• Just recently (8/16/2015), cable channel INSP broadcast the Walt Disney classic, "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier." Wow! From 1954, this REALLY brought back the warm and fuzzy memories. I was only seven years old (I don't know how old you were, my math wasn't that good at age seven), black and white tiny TV screen, cheap speaker. Never mind, I was in Heaven. Actually, I was in Tennessee, along with Davy, George Russell, Mike Fink (and the Keelboat). Of course, I died at the Alamo, too, along with Davy . How could they do that? Kill Davy Crockett? I was fortunate that that was the greatest tragedy in my life for years to come. I did get over it.

  Eventually. (Sob)

• I really can't say I remember much about the graduation ceremony. But my dad was president of the school board that year and handed me (and everyone else) their diplomas. A precious memory.

  Being a "school board kid", as Jean Bragg called us, meant no riding around at night to all the cool places others got to go. Perhaps for the best?

  Peg



• Carol Balsamel (Beaver) Peg, how wonderful that your father handed you your diploma!

  My memories are hazy about the graduation ceremony itself, but one point stands out (still, after 50 years!) - my friends and I had waited so long for this moment! Then, all at once we realized - "It's never going to be the same again!" Some tears, nostalgia (already!), laughter, and excitement at whatever life had in store for us! And sure enough, life was never the same!

• One of my favorite outfits was a mohair sweater, a kilt, and knee socks. Skirt length was a big issue, and I took many trips to the Guidance Office, where Mrs. Hull conducted her skirt length check (you had to kneel down and the skirt had to touch the floor).


• Millie Ciba (Hahn) Yes, like other girls, I was a regular visitor to Ms. Hull's office, but not necessarily for guidance. Her yardstick measured the length of my skirt, and usually I failed her test! Too short! I still cannot part with a few of those beautiful plaid kilts, and of course my daughter had no interest in wearing them. Maybe my granddaughters will!


• Barbara Moore (Eder) I remember having to kneel down, if your skirt touched the floor then it was OK,if it didn't, bye bye, go home, and change ...really!!!???

  Because everyone's height was different, if the hem of the skirt touched the floor when kneeling you passed their test, never had mine measured, just had to kneel :)

  That would be knee length.

• Meg Ryder (Franks) Millie, I also remember the kneeling rule for skirt length and hearing the announcement about JFK being shot while I was in Mr. King's Geometry class.


• Candis Crater (Berge) Hmmm.... I have no recollection of ever having to have my skirt length checked like that, and I did have a few that were short, including a kilt that I still own!! Perhaps being so short, they didn't notice if my skirts were short????.

  See you all soon!

  Candis/Candy

• Judi Logan (Welch) Well, I was short, too, Candy, but I do remember being sent home once when my kilt didn't touch the floor when I was kneeling. The funny thing is, we always wore knee-highs with those skirts. The top part of the outfit was a matching sweater over a blouse that was buttoned right up to the neck. The only "exposed" part of our body was our face, hands and knees! How bold!

  (Oh the times they have definitely changed!)

• Candis Crater (Berge) Clearly I was one of the "good" girls... This was no where as short as I remembered!


• Leslie Dennis (Behrle) Wow Candis! That’s cool.

  I remember being told by Mrs. Hull to put a belt on a beautiful baby blue woolen Mumu jumper I had made in home ec. I loved that jumper and hated it with a belt on.

  (She said I looked pregnant. I was not.)

• Liz DeBlock (Duckrow) Yeah Candis! Now kneel down and see if it touches the floor!! xoxo


• Penny Pitt (Scheer) A riot, Candy!

  How well I remember that kilt! (Not really,) but we all had them, didn't we, and yes, with the crew neck or cardigan and those knee high socks. And let me not forget the circle pin, maybe a little silk scarf around the neck. But I bet you are the only one of us who still has hers! And could find it too! Bravo...

• Thank you all who have contributed so far! I am so enjoying each of the emails about people you know or have met — Bravo! I must say I am still laughing about Meg’s wonderful memory of Captain Kangaroo, and now learning that Pam has met "The Lone Ranger" has made me laugh again! Everyone mentioned in all emails is a delight but those two are just fun.


• I don’t have any actors or singers or bands or athletes, but I have a few people I have known who are internationally well-known at the top of their professions and a few brief encounters or comments about others I think would be okay to include since our personal and professional spectrum and interests must be broad and eclectic: as Alan says, We are the Class of 1965!


• Relatives
  I am related to Virgil Thomson. From an early age I remember family visits with him in NY at his apartment in the Chelsea Hotel and especially loved the times his mother, Aunt May, was there (my dad’s mother’s sister). The Chelsea Hotel is avant-garde itself with its rich history of notables who have lived there (Among the hotel's most famous guests are Andy Warhol, Mark Twain, Arthur Miller, Bob Dylan, Eugene O’Neil, Dylan Thomas, Sid Vicious, Sam Shepard, Patti Smith and Jim Morrison). As children my sisters and I were given rein to play and look at his art collection in whatever rooms we wanted while the adults talked in his salon (you never knew who else would be a guest there). Virgil also visited us from time to time at our home in Basking Ridge. He was so quick and bright and humorous and played the piano for us. He was always happy to hear from us or see us in New York. My dad attended many rehearsals and performances plus Virgil gave him passes to musical events and plays when he was single and then dating my mother. We as a family attended a number of his performances or in honor of him. As an adult I continued to visit Virgil from time to time when I lived in or visited NJ and kept up with him by letters until his death in 1989. When I was studying poetry in college in the 1980's he was enthusiastic and encouraging about my work and published poems.

  Who was Virgil Thomson? He was a many faceted American composer of great originality composing music in every genre, an orchestra conductor, writer, and a music critic of singular brilliance. He studied at Harvard and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and became friends with Cocteau, Stravinsky, and the artists of Les Six. He also had long friendships and was greatly influenced by Erik Satie and Maurice Grosser. As the Paris correspondent for the Boston Transcript in 1921 he sent home news of French cultural life. Eventually he saved enough money to fulfill his dream to live, breathe, and work in Paris. He said, "I prefer to starve where the food is good."

  He graduated from Harvard in 1923, and with a grant from the Juilliard Graduate School he studied conducting with Chalmers Clifton and counterpoint with Rosario Scalero in New York. In 1924, his career as a professional writer was initiated by H. L. Mencken, editor of the prestigious American Mercury who suggested Virgil write an article on jazz; it was the first serious discussion of the subject to appear in print. From then on he wrote pieces for Vanity Fair and other fashionable, quality magazines of the 1920s. In 1925, Thomson returned to Paris, where he lived until 1940. In 1926, he composed four organ pieces and his first symphony. He met Gertrude Stein and started composing music for her texts. Their friendship produced many collaborations. One of these is Virgil’s most famous composition, an opera titled “Four Saints in Three Acts” (1934), the first to use an all-black cast. Working with Gertrude Stein he met Alice B. Toklas and became close friends. He told us Alice’s famous recipe for marijuana brownies was really for “high” fudge, not brownies!

  He wrote for string instruments and produced about 100 pieces. In the late 1930s, his music took a nationalistic turn with his film scores, The Plow that Broke the Plains and The River, and the dance score, Filling Station. In 1940, he became the chief music critic of the New York Herald-Tribune, a position he held for 14 years. His newspaper stories were the basis for four anthologies: The Musical Scene, The Art of Judging Music, Music Right and Left, and Music Reviewed, 1940 - 1954. His reviews were also collected in four books: his autobiography, Virgil Thomson (1966); American Music Since 1910 (1971); The Virgil Thomson Reader (1981), which won the National Book Critic Circles Award; and Selected Letters (1988). While serving as a music critic, Thomson continued to compose. He wrote another opera to a Stein piece, The Mother of Us All (1947), as well as the score to another documentary film, Louisiana Story, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. He resigned from his position at the New York Herald Tribune in 1954, but continued to write music critiques primarily for the New York Review of Books, conduct, and lecture. He won many honors and awards including the Pulitzer Prize, a Brandeis Award, the gold medal for music from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Book Critics Circle Award, Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Award, election to the National Institute of Arts and Letters, French Legion of Honor, the National Music Council Award, and 20 honorary doctorates. I remember watching the Kennedy Center Honors and seeing Virgil given his Lifetime Achievement Award.

  Pam Jones visited Virgil at the Chelsea with me and my husband while we were on holiday in NJ/NY in 1988.

• Engineering
  My dad was an electrical engineer who was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering honored for leadership in the art and science of power system protection and for educating and inspiring generations of power system relay engineers. Unfortunately, he was inducted posthumously (though he knew of the honor). My mother could not travel, so my sister Susan and I were invited to the ceremonies in Washington DC and I went up on stage to receive his Award. In his bio in the National Academics 2015, National Academy of Sciences, it says he was “one of the most respected and warmly received engineering lecturers of his time and taught tens of thousands of relaying specialists in their craft. In 1955 he became engineering section manager of all high-speed relaying. His responsibilities included the development of devices for transmission line protection capable of identifying the location of a short circuit and opening a giant circuit breaker in 1/60th of a second. The success of this group of devices has not been surpassed by any modern-day apparatus, even though we have all of the power of the microprocessor and its associated technology at our disposal. His long-term contribution to protective relaying goes far beyond, as any of his thousands of students, colleagues, and friends all over the world will attest.” He was a Professional Engineer, a consulting engineer, lecturer, and author of several premier engineering text books. He was an adjunct professor teaching courses on relaying and on symmetrical components and systems analysis at Brooklyn Polytech, Stevens University, Newark College of Engineering, University of Iowa, and University of Washington, Seattle. From the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) he received the Fellow Award, the Distinguished Service Award, The Outstanding Teaching Award, The Centennial Medal from for his long-term contributions to the industry and the high honor of the Westinghouse Order of Merit and the Lewis Blackburn Room was dedicated in his name at the Coral Springs, Florida plant. He served ten years on the Power System Relaying Committee of the Power Engineering Society as chair, co-chair and secretary. He gave lectures and consulted throughout the world from Brazil, the Far East, Venezuela, Central America, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and Russia. He wrote two textbooks Applied Protective Relaying and its successor, Protective Relaying Theory and Applications, which are accepted internationally as premier texts on the subject. In retirement he wrote two more textbooks that have become classroom classics, Protective Relaying and Symmetrical Components for Power Systems Engineering, that cover electrical concepts and problem solutions, not only relating specifically to the application of relays, but this time to the entire power system. He was encouraged to write more books, because of the clarity and simplicity he brought to complex subjects, and he continued teaching and consulting until his death at age 83.

• Pam Jones I remember meeting Virgil Thompson at the Chelsea Hotel way back then with Joan. He was very bright and witty with a great sense of humor. He told us wonderful stories - and I especially remember one he told of his experience on the Paris Metro during the blackout nights of WW II - with all of the actors and actresses returning home after a performance still in all of their make-up. Virgil said they looked like Jordan Almonds - all bright and colorful! Somewhere I have a picture of him taken that day. A few years ago I was doing my usual volunteer work at the Cornwall [CT] Library and talking to a young boy who told me his parents had just bought an apartment at the Chelsea Hotel and it included the one where Virgil once lived! What a coincidence!


• Alan Clapp I have two direct ancestors of some historical note: an assassin and a witch (maybe you shouldn't cross me, eh?).
  
  
  • Sir William de Tracy (21st great-grandfather): If you've ever seen the movie "Becket" with Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton, I need to say little more. But I will anyway. Henry II appointed Thomas Becket, old friend, to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury expecting Becket to do Henry's bidding. Instead, Becket became a rabid supporter of the Church. After an apparent reconciliation, Becket excommunicated another three supporters of Henry: the King was furious and infamously announced "What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and promoted in my household, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born clerk!" From Wikipedia: "In response, four knights (Reginald Fitzurse, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy, and Richard le Brey) made their way secretly to Canterbury, apparently with the intent of confronting and if necessary arresting Becket for breaking his agreement with Henry. The Archbishop refused to be arrested by relatively low-born knights, so they hacked him to death on 29 December 1170."

    "Before Becket died he put a curse on Tracey's family, a water curse. His family will always have too little or too much water." This part is definitely true. For the last two years, I've had water in my crawlspace and have had to run a sump pump 24/7 to keep it dry.

  • Elizabeth Jackson Howe (8th great-grandmother): Elizabeth Howe was one of 19 young women accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. From Wikipedia: "When Elizabeth Howe was brought in for examination Mercy Lewis and Mary Walcott, two of her main accusers, fell into a fit. She was accused by Mary of pinching and choking her in the month of May. Ann Putnam added her accusations to these by saying she had been hurt three times by Howe. Elizabeth Howe was hanged on July 19, 1692, along with Rebecca Nurse (her sister-in-law), Sarah Good, Sarah Wildes and Susanna Martin."

• Hi everyone...this is more for the ladies, I'm wondering what type of attire everyone will be wearing for the dinner....cocktail dress, casual, casual dress, basic black dress....well you get the idea. Thanks ladies in advance for your input.


• Judi Logan (Welch) The event will be held in the tent -- which is really more like a 'real' room with soft sides than a tent, but the events there tend to be a little more casual than evening events in the main catering venue. I'd say the attire would be "summer party" attitude. Certainly nothing real dressy/formal. Main goal: be comfortable!
  Hope that helps!
  (Wow! Not too long to wait now...)


• Alan Clapp To me it’s a choice between LBD and camouflage fatigues.
  Still undecided.


• Barbara Moore (Eder) Camouflage is always a good choice. ...it's SOOOOO macho! LOL!


• Alan Clapp True, but the LBD can be SOOOOO sexy! LOL!


• Barbara Moore (Eder) LOVE IT...I'M SURE YOU'LL ROCK IT !

So, I was thinking the 1950's and 1960's had very different eating patterns and menus that most of us have in 2015; however, we remember food our family ate and recipes our mom’s (or other family members) made that were either Yum or Yuck to us then and/or now. Would be wonderful to share.

A few examples:

• 1) I rediscovered Famous Chocolate Wafers passing by an aisle in the grocery store two weeks ago. The box had the recipe my mom made in the 1950s-60s, “Famous Chocolate Refrigerator Roll” so I bought the wafers on a whim and decided to make the recipe for a girls’ weekend my older sister Susan and I were having at our beach house with our nieces. Our nieces loved the dessert and reminded them of their Grammy (my mother) who had made it for them as kids. So that was such a hoot, I bought another box of the chocolate wafers and ended up making it for two couples that were Mike and my guests out at the beach last weekend. All four of them are in their 50s and had never heard of this dessert and also loved it. It may be the original cookies and cream! It is a no-brainer put together: one box Famous Chocolate Wafers, beat 2 cups heavy cream whipped with 1 teaspoon of Vanilla; spread whipped cream on each wafer and stack on edge on a platter. Frost with remaining whipped cream. Refrigerate 4 hours and serve. BINGO! I wonder how many of our classmates remember this dessert?


• 2) In looking through old recipes cards of my mother’s with my niece recently, I discovered a recipe my mom had typed with the following title: “Margo Dunham’s Delicious Orange Salad.” I remember my mom making the recipe and loving it. I think Debbie would get a kick out of it.


• 3) Sallie’s mom, Mrs. Utz, made wonderful pickled hard-boiled eggs. She also made wonderful soups, etc. Would love her recipes.


• 4) My mom made home-made pea soup that I hated. I would have to sit at the table until I ate my cup of soup and I couldn’t. My mom would sometimes eventually heat it back up, but in no circumstance was I allowed to leave the table until I ate most of that cup of soup. It was torture, but I ate it. I was at Debbie Dunham’s house one evening when her mom served peas. Her dad got wind that I didn’t like peas so he looked at me sternly and said gruffly “Joan, eat your peas!” And I DID and everyone else laughed. I actually like peas in my adulthood. Who knew!!


• 5) My dad was an electrical engineer consultant and professor and traveled worldwide. He loved eating exotic foods (monkey brains, sea urchins horror stuff) and I was either thrilled and repulsed at some of them he told us about but he gave me an interest in worldwide food and why people ate what they did—a culture respect and understanding). When he came home, however, he craved and loved simple food like pork beans and hot dogs and oh yuck chipped beef on the whitest white Carolina Rice (still can hear that advertising jingle in my head). He was solid Missouri boy/man at heart.

So Alan Everyone, what do you remember as your YUM and YUCKS of growing up?

With all the strange corners of Bernards Township life being discussed, I wonder if anyone else volunteered their time at Greystone? I remember going over there to volunteer at one point and since it was one of the old asylums, it was pretty hair-raising inside. People were yelling, walking around talking to themselves and banging their heads against the wall.

• I could not watch Jack Nicholson in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest" when it came out.

• Was I the only person who volunteered or did my classmates have me committed for a weekend?

Does anyone remember the Chad Mitchell Trio when they appeared at the high school on April 22, 1965? Well, we were somewhat disappointed because the leader of the group, Chad Mitchell, had left the group to go solo. A new, fresh-faced kid took his place. He wasn’t too bad and later went solo himself.

• Anyone know who he was?

• Barbara Moore (Eder) I believe it was John Denver.


• Alan Clapp CORRECT!


• Pat Murphy (Steege) I know who was in the Mitchell Trio. John Denver. He stayed on campus and ate dinner at my sorority house. A very "down to earth" guy. He asked people to bring their guitars and play with him at the student union. I had a guitar but wasn't very good and so I left it home.


• Alan Clapp When the “Chad Mitchell Trio” appeared in Basking Ridge, Chad had just left and they still used his name for the group. After a while, they became “The Mitchell Trio” for obvious reasons.

  I’m jealous that you had the chance to meet John Denver. He was one of the good guys who died too young. Many of the songs he wrote were filled with very honest emotions and they’re just good music at the same time.

• Pat Murphy (Steege) He was one of my favorites. He spent a week on our campus. John came solo, from Minnesota. I almost think it was senior year. Came to dinner with wet hair as he had overslept.

  Some of the gals took pictures. He wasn't well known at the time. I had a poster of The Mitchell Trio until recently.

  I saw him perform, a few years later, at Nassau Colosseum. He had 3 huge screens behind him. Eagles soaring, etc. Then I saw him at Carnegie Hall. John was so excited to be there! I was up in the box-seat. "Rubbed elbows" with either Peter or Paul of Peter, Paul, and Mary! He then went down on stage and sang a song with John. I can't remember which guy or the song?! ?? I wonder if it was "Jet Plane?"

  Yes, we lost him too soon.

• Alan Clapp Probably “Jet Plane” as John wrote it and PP&M made it a huge hit, of course. I like both versions.


• Pat Murphy (Steege) We had "Annie's Song" for our 1st dance at our wedding, over 40 years ago.


• Alan Clapp I understand that “Annie’s Song” and “Time in a Bottle” are the two favorite songs at weddings. Jim Croce is another terrific singer/writer who passed away too soon.

  John Denver has always been one of my favorites and certainly a legend in our time.

  I am so jealous of Pat.

• Joan Blackburn (Krist) Me too—so fun, Pat, that you met him, and you, Barbara, to remember!

  I love John Denver’s music and poetry and can probably still sing most all the lyrics to his songs. When the group performed at Ridge High my boyfriend had a part time job at the Ridge Liquor Store and he delivered the beverages (sodas) to the group back stage. I was in the audience and now I am thinking why didn’t I try to get back stage with him to meet them!

  So Alan, you have a guitar, you really like John Denver’s music, there are many of us who love to sing, on key, or off, so hey why don’t you add this to our Reunion events, say maybe Friday night, to have you and anyone else who plays to organize a little informal Sing Fest for us! It would be a fun “period piece” as that is what us kids did then, we sang! . Mememememe, ready?

  Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry
  Sunshine on the water looks so lovely
  Sunshine, almost always, makes me high
  If I had a day that I could give you
  I’d give to you a day just like today
  If I had a song that I could sing for you
  I'd sing a song to make you feel this way
  



• Carol Balsamel (Beaver) Joan- Great idea! Alan, you could bring sunshine to all of our eyes if you'd play for us!


• Alan Clapp Terrific idea, Carol. Now I have several months to work on my lip-syncing!


• Barbara Jackson (Hoffman) Who remembers Hootenanny on TV? The folk singers would go to all different college campuses and perform. Of course there was also Hullabaloo and Shindig for the rock 'n roll. My daughter and I saw John Denver at our local fair. I play his CD in my car a lot.

  Also Peter, Paul and Mary and Anne Murray among others.



• Judi Logan (Welch) Should I bring my mountain dulcimer? My Indian Buffalo drum??? My gourd xylophone?(Anything to keep me from actually SINGING would be a blessing for all !!!).

  Glad the girls suggested you bring the guitar. I may have Peg keep me sequestered in the kitchen!



• Joan Blackburn (Krist) Make a joyful noise, Judi, that's what it's all about!

  That and the Hokey Pokey.

  Cheers!



• Barbara Moore (Eder) I remember Hootenanny, but must admit never really watched it, I was more into Shindig and Hullabaloo. But I did enjoy John Denver's music.

  The 60's gave us some great music ...Beatles, Elvis, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, The Righteous Brothers ....Ahhh the memories!

  Gonna have to dust off my dancing shoes ( Ha ! Ha ! )



• Barbara Moore (Eder) Judi, those are excellent ideas. How about adding an Austrian Alp horn to the mix !!! LOL !

  See you at the reunion!

  Barb

• Inge Storberg Wow...if you guys go on throwing forward all these creative ideas about a Friday night song & music happening, I might consider to bring along my ACCORDION!.....just kidding, I wouldn't dream of doing you any harm!

  If it wasn't for John Denver's tragic plane crash, I'm sure he would have liked to appear at out Friday night arrangement.

  What about inviting Meryl and Bruce....they grew up in the neighbourhood, didn't they? Mmmmmm

  Inge, counting days..

• Alan Clapp For the true masochists out there, I can bring my banjo, too!


• Candis Crater (Berge) Oh, perhaps hula HOOPS!


• Joan Blackburn (Krist) Please do, Alan! If I wasn't leaving on a jet plane I'd bring my husband's banjo--the happy instrument.

  Maybe I'll pack my uke.

  Anyone hula?

• Arthur Ubbens Arlo Guthrie attended the college I attended. He carried his guitar wherever he went. I never saw him without his guitar. Then one night during the first semester without notice he packed up his belongings and left. He briefly mentioned this on the back of his "Alice's Restaurant" album.


• Judi Logan (Welch) Wow! I am so awed by the up-close encounters so many of you had!


• Margo Burhans (Lewis) I measured football player Johnny Unitas for crutches for one of his several knee surgeries at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore where I worked as a Physical Therapist - my first full-time job. He was a real “heart stopper” (even though I was married at the time).

  Was at the top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in 1979 watching the sunset at the same time as "I’ve Got a Secret" and "To Tell the Truth" game show host, Garry Moore (game shows from the 50s and 60s)

  Also, we live in the NW corner of CT, Meryl Streep's “stomping grounds”. See her often out and about – but, I confess I have never had the nerve or inclination to walk up and say “hey, we were both cheerleaders at the same time in H.S., one town apart and both in our H.S. musicals at the same time!”. And she was two years behind us in school. But clearly she went on to make something out of her H.S. musical experience – mama mia!!! Next generation - one of Meryl's daughter, Mamie Gummer, now also a movie personality, was great buddies with my daughter-in-law and later my son, while the girls were at Kent School in nearby Kent, CT and all during college years. Mamie visited here and enjoyed our gardens!

• Tom DiBella I had two encounters, both with politicians! The first was while sitting on a airplane waiting to depart. We were delayed for a while without explanation. Soon thereafter Jimmy Carter walked down the aisle (in coach) and apologized to everyone for the delay he caused. His shook hands with everyone before he went to his first class seat. A nice gesture, I thought.

  The second encounter was after I retired and was working Physical Therapy at Andrews Air Force Base in the golf pro shop. George W. Bush stopped by for a round of golf and I had an opportunity to have a picture with him. He was very gracious and respectful to everyone. The story goes that on the first tee, where everyone usually discloses what ball they are playing, such as a Titleist 1 or Callaway 2, that day everyone was playing a commemorative Bush #43! That made it a bit confusing to know whose ball was whose on the fairway. I’m sure they figured it out. Anyway, as we now know, Mr. Bush stopped playing golf after 9/11 in deference to the seriousness of the situation.

  BTW, has anyone else ridden a Segway? What fun!

• Barbara Moore (Eder) When I lived in Vermont, I worked at Stratton Mt. Ski Resort. I met Mayor John Lindsay of NYC, Dick Van Dyke, and Ted Kennedy...with him was Jackie and Caroline and John Jr. The slopes had to be cleared when they skied down. Secret Service cleaned the slopes (many lift ticket owners were very upset). I also met my husband up there, he was a ski instructor (yes, I married my ski instructor).

  But before that, my cousin Doug went to BHS and was dating Meryl Streep We double dated!

  In the 80's (early) I was good friends with someone who was very good friends with Southside Johnnie and the Ashbury Jukes. We went to see them play at the Stone Pony. After their set was done, they came and sat at our table and brought a surprise guest with them...yup, Bruce Springsteen. He sat with us for about an hour...I, for once in my life, was speechless !!!

• Leslie Dennis (Behrle) I didn’t think I had much to contribute until I began to look back. Many of us attended grammar school with Meryl Streep in Liberty Corner. My children used to ask me if she would remember me. My answer always was, “Why not, I remember her!”. She was in my sister, Elaine’s class.

  My first year of college was spent in North Carolina, at Montreat, the home of the Billy Graham family. His wife, Ruth Bell Graham, was my Sunday School teacher. His son, Franklin, aged about 13, used to terrorize the students whipping around campus on his moped. And, Dr. Bill, as he was called, often spoke at our chapel meetings, which were every day at 10 am.

  I missed New Jersey, so headed back the following year to Bloomfield College. Worked in the college bookstore. Nipsy Russell appeared one night at the college and needed a hat and scarf for his act. I had the key to the bookstore, so ran over and gave him the items he needed. Kissed me on the cheek! The following year, we sponsored a concert in Atlantic City by Sammy Davis, Jr. Boyfriend at the time was student body president. I stood about 10 feet away from Sammy while he got my autograph. I swear he stood only up to my shoulder (I might have had heels on). A few years later, I was working at The Governor Morris Inn in Morristown. William Shatner was appearing at The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, but wanted to stay at the Governor Morris. Don’t know if this is still so, but celebrities often stayed free for the advertising that they stayed there. My bosses did not let him off the hook that easily. They required that he give back in some way. So, he appeared one night in the bar and read poetry like in a coffee house. I was his secretary for a week while he prepared the performance. We were so busy, never got a picture or his autograph! Lucky enough also to have met several writers. Ernest Gordon, writer of Through the Valley of the Kwai, spoke to us in college. He was a professor at Princeton. I was so homesick I asked him to put me in his suitcase! (Sometimes it’s just silly what we remember!) And, John Grisham spoke to a Junior Auxiliary convention in Memphis a few years back. All these married, dolled-up women, acting a little bit like Elvis fans! Living in Arkansas, I’ve sighted Bill Clinton and his family members several times (we’re a small, cozy state).

  Lastly, we cannot forget the writers in our class – Judith Logan Lehne (Welch), the famous children’s book writer. And, I’m sure my old friend Rae Jean Braunmuller Goodman has been published (am also sure I would not have understood any of it!) Perhaps there are more.

• Bill Lytle Since I worked in the film and TV industry in LA for a number of years, I had the opportunity to meet some interesting and wonderful people.

  I had a chance to drink Jack Daniels with Lucille Ball one afternoon during film school, had lunch on the set with Jimmy Stewart and Bette Davis (Right of Way - 1983), John Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands on "Opening Night" - 1977, worked with Dick Clark (which is how I met my wife) on "Elvis" - 1979, with Kurt Russell, worked on "Raging Bull" - 1980 with Scorsese and DeNiro, "Revenge of the Jedi" - 1983, as US location casting and the Sand Barge Captain and flew with Harrison Ford, Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher on "Under the Rainbow" - 1981, Gary Busey on "Buddy Holly Story" - 1978, Barbra Striesand on "Main Event" - 1979, played cards with Omar Sharif in Vegas, caught a pass from Joe Namath on the set of Fantasy Island, had a basketball signed by Wilt Chamberlain, Kirk Douglas (my childhood idol) at Du-par's, Barry Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller in DC, and LBJ with Inge at the National Cathedral.

  I can say, in all honesty, that none of those still living may remember meeting me, though.

• Meg Ryder (Franks) I certainly can't compete with all these connections but I did share a dentist with Captain Kangaroo and spent time in the waiting room with him.


• Judi Logan (Welch) I can't compete with these amazing interactions with the famous, either. (Bill, your experiences blow me away!) The only "famous" people I connected with were children's authors -- some Newbery winners -- but you'd only know of them if you were into children's literature. (Lois Lowry, Jane Yolen, Patricia MacLachlan, Walter Dean Myers...etc.)

  Oh! My step brother played in Jeannie C. Riley's road band, so I did meet her!

  Keep the fun coming, folks!

• Inge Storberg Brother Bill's loooooong list of encounters with celebrities truly is impressive, and I am proud to say that I took part in one of them: We both shook hands and produced a whispering "HI" when we met Lyndon B. Johnson in a cathedral in Washington, DC, and both Bill and I are still convinced that LBJ went several days without washing his hands!

  But I have experienced a far greater encounter than just saying a brief hello for a minute or two. I am talking about a lifelong relationship with a well known Norwegian woman. Ok....she never went to Hollywood, she never took cocaine, she never married more than one man...and still she used to be on national Television on a regular basis , I am talking about my WIFE!

  See you in July!

  Inge

• Barbara Jackson (Hoffman) I would say Bill takes the prize so far. My sister and I saw the Beatles at Shea stadium in summer of 1965.

  At the Bloomsburg Fair I have seen John Denver, Ann Murray , Kenny Rogers and all in one show The Monkees, Herman's Hermits and Paul Revere and the Raiders, I was at a meet & greet with Jim Brickman and Donnie Osmond.

  Had my picture taken with Donnie. Sat across the aisle from Jack Palance and my brother played little league with Meryl's brother, Thirty Streep.

  Saw Peter, Paul and Mary at Bucknell University.

• Barbara Moore (Eder) My son reminded me that when I worked at Herman's World Sporting Goods as head bookkeeper, I met Stephen Baker and Mark Bavaro of the NY Giants, Bill Guerin and Scott Stevens of the NJ Devils and Phil Rizzuto.

  Before I worked at Herman's, I was the manager of a jewelry store and we did ear piercing...I pierced Mackenzie Phillips' ears.

  In the early 1960's I met Pat Boone.

  I've seen Glenn Frey in concert and had backstage passes.

  I love music. I've seen The Eagles, Phil Collins, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Elton John, Bon Jovi (6 times), Bruce Springsteen (4times), Van Halen, and The Grateful Dead...Rock On classmates !!

• Randy Pratt   Hi Bill: Is this the "A" list? I remember sitting in a Sushi Bar in Studio City about 1982 as you point out a seemingly endless string of people in the entertainment world - the names of which I have forgotten.


• Randy Pratt I am a bit late to this activity but would still like to contribute.

  When I lived in Detroit, Mark Fidrych (The Bird), a pitcher for the Tigers, was a celebrity spokesperson for Ford's Motorcraft brand. He came around the office a few times and I was able to chat with him once.

  I was at a wedding in Detroit where Dave Debusschere was a guest as the cousin of the bride.

  My apartment complex in Farmington Hills, MI, rented units to members of the Tigers for 2 seasons. I remember meeting and talking with Pat Underwood, Lance Parrish and Champ Summers (at the time he held the record as the oldest rookie in the majors).

  In Viet Nam, a friend and I were on a work detail to build a nice white wooden fence around the Sergeant Majors quarters on a day Charleton Heston visited to raise morale. I think because we were by ourselves he stopped and talked with us for a few minutes mostly on morale boosting subjects.

  At an auto race in Lime Rock, CT, where I was a corner worker, I was walking in the paddock . I stopped to admire a very nicely but subtly modified VW Beetle. As I was admiring it a voice asked if I liked it, I said yes and turned to meet Paul Newman. We talked about the car for a few minutes.

  In Newark airport, Peter Lawford tripped over my feet and we exchanged unpleasantries.

  Bill Anders, Apollo 8 Pilot, was chairman where I worked. He and I had a few meetings on mergers and acquisitions. Later Jim Lovell, Apollo 13, was a board member of a small company I worked at. He was at loose ends one day near my office and stepped in to pass the time.

  I met Warren Buffet when he stopped to talk with the Investor Relations manager whose office was next to mine.

  I drag raced Malcolm Forbes on the incomplete I-287 at Maple Ave. He had just bought part of Slegers Motorcycles in, I think, Whippany.

  At a Porsche Club event about 1960 in NYC I shook hands with Ferry Porsche - son of the founder.

  I attended a dancing school in Far Hills where Steve Forbes was also a participant and as Pam Jones suggested he may have exchanged fists with Clinton DeWitt, although Steve may not have been the only one. (from other attendees what was Steve like to dance with?)

  When I was in college one of my suite mates chaired a student committee that brought in interesting speakers. Sometimes we had small receptions for them in our suite where we could talk with them. I remember John Froines of the Chicago 7 and also John Barth a novelist of interest in the 60's. My suite mate had been recruited because of his work in cell biology. He had a independent study class each semester. One afternoon we ran into each other on campus and he asked if I'd like to see his lab, which I did. While we were there his recruiter and mentor stopped by and asked us to join here for coffee. She was Rita Levi-Montalcini who later won a Nobel prize in medicine.

  At school I kept trying to get into a writing class with Stanley Elkin that required a short story and personal interview. In the last one he said he was glad I was graduating. I also took a class from an awarding winning novelist and philosophy professor William Gass. He regularly invited groups of students to his house which were really fun outings.

• Jim Rickey A final tale to tell - one that harkens back to my sad KINDERGARTEN story of young love that went "poof!" on the playground, a far happier tale that left a man and woman alone together for all eternity in their shared blissful memory - - - -

  Upon a bright and brisk fall morning, I was wending my way on foot up a wooded hillside, following a narrow, twisting, lightly-trodden bridal path. As I rounded a particularly sharp (horseshoe) bend, I came face-to-face, nose-to-nose with a very large, gleaming chestnut-brown horse, a horse of a breeding and bearing that commoners but seldom see. In a gesture of advice clearly directed at me, he threw his great head over his right shoulder, encouraging me to check out the woman astride his broad, muscled back. As I lifted my gaze, I was greeted by an ethereal, otherworldly female voice, a gentle wisp of a voice that caressed my ear like down, yet conveyed very refined diction, the most delicate of precisely formed words. Before my eyes met hers, there was no doubt as to whom I was about to meet, alone, in the woods, with no one else around, on that fine fall day. As our eyes met (hers behind over-sized, lightly-tinted glasses, mine fully exposed), we instantaneously felt an upwelling, a heaving of sensation both spiritual and corporal that left no doubt that the earth had just moved. A bit later, as Jacqueline rode off, she gave her steed an extra tweak, a jaunty little kick in the . . . . .

  And then----- A couple of years ago I attended a symposium at Princeton with Nobel Literature Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa. I swelled with a trace of pride when he judged a question I had just asked him an "excellent" one. Then he proceeded to provide an answer that, in no way I could decipher, had anything to do with my question. ANYWAY----READ HIS STUFF; THERE'S NOTHING BETTER.

  As I fade off, I want you to know that I've known TWO men who made it up to the summit of Mt. Everest (a bit over 29,000 ft. high). -- both more than once - - - .
  One is a guy named Skip Horner. I hiked with him in Chile. There is no better guide to some of the wildest, most remote, untraveled, beautiful places on God's earth. PERIOD. Look him up @"Skip Horner Worldwide." You should all try to plan an adventure with him - SOON!

  Scott Fischer grew up in Basking Ridge, lived on N. Maple across from what we used to call "Kiwanis Pond," graduated from RHS, went off to Colorado as a young teen to learn how to climb mountains. He ran his own expedition company ("Mountain Madness") out of Seattle, and was on Everest in May, 1996 when everything went to hell. He and eight others died that day. If you haven't already, read "Into Thin Air" by John Krakauer, you should.

• Judi Logan (Welch) Well, well! Not only does Jim have some fascinating encounters, he also has a gifted means of presenting them!


• Pam Jones I remember dancing with Steve Forbes, but quite honestly do not recall how he was as a dance partner. I was probably such a novice dancer that I couldn't tell a good partner from a bad one!

  As many of you probably know, I was a flight attendant for 30 years, so have met numerous celebrities, politicians, sports figures, CEO's, and royalty, not only on the airplane, but also on many trips abroad as well as many years spent in New York and the northwest corner of Connecticut! I never even saw Meryl Streep who had a house there, but my brother and her brother were best of friends and her father, Harry and my father, were co-coaches of the Little League team they played on. However, I did meet and talk to Sam Waterston and Tom Brokaw, who both had houses in the northwest corner. They were always so helpful in fundraising events we had for the local Library, and very nice and down to earth! Tom even gave a few of us a private tour of NBC and let us sit in on his nightly news - that was memorable!

  As to the many others, too many to name or even remember, but standing out in my mind were Robert Redford, Tom Jones, Brooke Shields, Ricky Nelson, The Lone Ranger, Claudine Longet, and Tony Randall. A few others were Mohammad Ali, Larry Holmes, General Omar Bradley, Coretta Scott King, John Lindsay, The Duke of Gloucester, and Crown Princess Mette Marit of Norway. I have also seen the British Royal Family on a few occasions, but have never had the pleasure of meeting them - or getting close!

• Rich Elwell    Hi Bill , what was that movie you were in, on the front porch as I recall.


• Joan Blackburn (Krist)

  Anglophiles: Queen for a Day
  The event attracted media from around the world. Preparations were made with Scotland Yard and the Secret Service. The CIA gave a two-week training course to UWPD officers. Even in the waters surrounding her 412-foot yacht in Elliot Bay, divers made certain there was no threat of danger. The demand for tickets was extraordinary but my sister Susan, as a professor at the University of Washington, managed to obtain four tickets to attend the convocation with Queen Elizabeth on March 7, 1983 at the UW. I attended this event with Susan and our parents along with 8,500 other spectators. Hec Edmundson (UW basketball stadium) was transformed with red carpeting, mammoth British and U.S. flags, white chrysanthemums, and numerous living trees native to the Pacific Northwest. My sister, along with some 500 faculty, dressed in their alma mater’s robes and entered the pavilion followed by the sound of trumpets announcing the much-anticipated Queen Elizabeth, her husband Prince Philip, and escort UW President William Gerberding. It was a gorgeous sight to see the colors of so many universities represented in the faculty robes. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip walked down the aisle close enough to me I could have reached out to touch her. Her glance and smile in our direction were fun to see even though we knew she wasn’t making any personal contact with us or anyone else! The Queen spoke to students, faculty, guests and the presidents of the state’s four-year colleges and universities about the lasting ties between the U.S. and Great Britain. I know it doesn’t count for actually meeting someone famous, but it was great fun being so close to her and in the audience for her address.

  Biomedical:
  I have known and worked with Seymour J. Klebanoff for over 30 year at the University of Washington. Seymour was our Division Head, Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He was a warm and accessible person, and is considered to be the pioneer and a continuing leader in studies of the body’s infection-fighting immune system. This recognition is the result of his initial discovery of the production and action of myeloperoxidase followed by 40 years of other seminal contributions to uncovering the body’s chemical weapons against bacteria and viruses. He authored more than 200 research papers and his work led to new insights and approaches in the study of cancer, viruses (including HIV), and other infectious diseases. He was honored for his lifetime of research excellence and his important findings by the Association of American Medical Colleges receiving the association’s Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences. He was a nominee for the Nobel Prize. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine and has received the MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health, the Marie T. Bonazinga Award of the Society for Leukocyte Biology, the Alexander Fleming Award of the Infectious Disease Society, and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Infectious Disease Research. I have also met Anthony Fauci, Head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) who periodically is on the national news. His seminal work is in understanding of how HIV destroys the body's defenses leading to its susceptibility to deadly infections and has been instrumental in developing the HIV vaccine.

  U.S. President: Harry Truman
  In the 1950s while visiting our Grammy in Kansas City, Missouri, my dad took us to the Truman Library in Independence. President Harry Truman was there that day and he played the piano, talked to us (the audience that day was mostly a visiting high school group) and greeted us afterwards.

  NBC News, Los Angeles
  I lived in Redondo Beach, California in the late 1960s-early 1970s and once met NBC news anchors Tom Brokaw, Tom Snyder, and Bob Abernethy and followed them in their gallery during an El Camino College Annual Golf Classic.

  Poetry
  I studied Poetry under an independent learning contract with Professor Craig Carlson at the Evergreen State College in the 1980s. Craig had done some study with Ted Hughes, the Poet Laureate of England (who was married to Sylvia Plath) and both his influence and Hughes’ influence on Craig helped shape my work.

  LBJ
  I have never met or seen President Johnson in person but I know some of his relatives from the Hill Country in Texas and have heard some fun and wild family inside stories about him!

  Bruce Springsteen
  Again have never met or seen him in person but a close friend of mine, whom I will be visiting in Berkeley Heights after the reunion, was Assistant Director for the Food Bank of New Jersey and Springsteen would drive up in his truck about once a year to volunteer at the Food Bank for the day. My friend said he was really nice and was there to work. He did however allow the workers to have their photo taken with him but otherwise he did not want any notoriety. A good guy!



• Gwen Foldy (Bartlett-Palmer) It is really wonderful to see a lot of us were out there trying to make a difference in the world and we did. We were the driving force of the 60's and we made a big difference when we worked at it. We lost a lot with the Vietnam War and those were the days upheaval for the world. I think our generation was an inspiration for a lot of people and great annoyance to the elected officials. We are largest group of people in the country and we made Love and Fought a War and still had time to be us. Not bad.


• Ed McGlynn
  • FRANK ZAPPA AND THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION
    After being in The Shadows since 1964, I left that band in 1968 to form a new group called Wintergreen with two other musicians from Morristown. We had played a number of fraternity events at Drew University in Madison and, because of that relationship, we were booked to be the opening act for two concerts, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention in October and Jethro Tull in November. I had seen Jethro Tull earlier in the year at the Fillmore East in NYC and was blown away by their performance, so I was quite excited about getting to meet them.

    The Mothers of Invention (MOI) concert was an amazing experience for us since it was our first time to perform with an established recording artist. As usual, we arrived at Drew well in advance of the show to set up our gear and run sound checks. The MOI and their entourage arrived while we were running down a few songs and a couple of them started dancing around the stage while we were playing. Since there were 8 members in their band, it was total chaos while they were setting up and running their sound checks. Once they were finished with the sound check, I was surprised at how friendly they all were (except Zappa) and we talked with the group for an hour before the show started.

    We opened the show and we were well received by the Drew crowd since they were very familiar with us. When it was the Mothers’ turn, Zappa did not fraternize with anyone prior to the show and barely acknowledged us as he came out to perform. He spent much of the show ridiculing New Jersey and told the audience they were “phony hippies” as was his trademark but the kids seemed to love the abuse. Their performance was flawless and I was impressed at how well they could duplicate some of the very intricate music on their albums. They had just released “We’re Only In It For The Money” and they pulled it off without a hitch.

  • JETHRO TULL
    On the night of the Jethro Tull concert, weather played a factor. Jethro Tull was the headliner and we were the opener. The middle group was a new band called The Flock who had an album out on Columbia Records. They were coming in from out of state where the weather had delayed them. We got there early to set up and, surprisingly, in walked all four members of Jethro Tull. Since I was a fan of their drummer, Clive Bunker, my drum kit looked exactly like his, right down to the bass drum heads having our name broken into two parts, “Winter” and “Green” on each head in a horizontal pattern bordered by black semi-circles. When Bunker saw my kit set up, he came over and introduced himself and said with his British accent, “Do you mind if I have a bash at your kit”? I said “sure” and enjoyed watching him play the pattern to “Nothing Is Easy.” If I only had a camera! Ian Anderson was munching on some fried chicken and was friendly and outgoing, nothing like Zappa. The other group members, guitarist Martin Barre and bassist Glenn Cornick spent quite a bit of time comparing their instruments with Dave and Joe, our guitarist and bassist.

    At 7PM it was time to start the show and The Flock were apparently still a few hours away. Ian Anderson said that they were tired and were not going to wait to go on last but they would follow us and the Flock could play whenever they got there. We opened the show and Tull stayed and watched our entire set from the wings. Bunker gave me a “thumbs up” signal at one point which put me into euphoria. When Tull came on, we watched their set from the wings and they were amazing. The Flock arrived just as they were finishing, but most of the auditorium vacated after they were done so The Flock played to a half empty hall. We went backstage with the four of them and enjoyed refreshments provided by the university.

  • MOUNTAIN (LESLIE WEST AND FELIX PAPPALARDI)
    In the fall, we were hired to play at a fraternity dance at Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, NJ. The Bloomfield students liked Wintergreen and we were asked to be the opening act for an upcoming concert at the college in December with Mountain as the headliner. They had just released their second LP and were promoting the hit single “Mississippi Queen”. Our bassist, Joe Longo, was particularly excited to meet Mountain bassist, Felix Pappalardi, who was a legend in the music industry. Of course, “Mountain” referred to the band’s iconic lead guitarist, Leslie West, whose physical presence had earned him that nickname.

    Like most everything with Wintergreen, this would prove to be another night to remember. The concert was on December 14 and the northeast was experiencing a pretty severe winter storm. Mountain was coming to Bloomfield from upstate New York and, along the way, their equipment truck went off the road and down a ravine. When they got to Bloomfield, they only had their guitars with them. They needed a full set of equipment to play so they asked us if they could use our stuff. There is an unwritten rule among musicians that you help one another out when there is a problem so we were glad to let them.

    Anyway, when Mountain arrived, we got a chance to hang backstage with them and they were extremely friendly and talkative guys. Joe got to talk a lot to Felix and Dave and I were chatting with Leslie West and keyboardist Steve Knight. Corky Laing, their drummer, came out a little later and checked out my drum kit.

    We went on and the Bloomfield students gave us a great response. When it was time for Mountain to play, Laing completely modified the way my kit was set up but I didn’t care. Since they had lost their PA in the accident, the drums couldn’t be amplified, so Laing had to compete with their incredible volume acoustically. Within the first minute of the first song, he busted the snare head but I always carried a spare. We quickly swapped out the snare and before long he cracked my crash cymbal and had gone through most of the drumsticks. In spite of it all, they sounded great and they were very grateful afterwards for the use of the equipment. Since the weather was still bad, we spent a few more hours talking with them backstage before they left.

    The memories are bittersweet since, as of 2015, five members of the Mothers we met that night have died, Glenn Cornick of Jethro Tull has passed and Felix Pappalardi and Steve Knight of Mountain have also left us.

  • H.R. “BOB” HALDEMAN
    After I stopped playing music in 1970 and returned to the “real world” I had a 40 year career in residential real estate development and marketing with a number of multi-national builders such as Centex Homes, Kaufman & Broad, Arlen Realty and Murdock Development. In the 1980’s, while with Murdock Development, we were marketing two high rise condominiums in Fort Lee.

    In 1980, after he had been released on parole for his role in the Watergate scandal when he was Chief of Staff in the Nixon White House, Bob Haldeman was hired by David Murdock at the corporate headquarters in Los Angeles. In my position as VP of Marketing, I attended monthly staff meetings with the ad agency and general contractor and Bob Haldeman would fly out from LA to attend. To my surprise, he was a very genial and self-effacing guy with a great sense of humor. He would frequently ask during a meeting, “Is this meeting being recorded?” which would crack everyone up and keep things loose. Sadly, Bob passed away in 1993.

• Jim Ross I really have had very few brushes with celebrity, especially when compared to my classmates.
  
  
  • In 1997 I got to see President Bill Clinton give a speech at the National Boy Scout Jamboree in Virginia. It was a very good speech - he talked about being a Cub Scout and the influence it had on his life. It impressed me that he took the time to give the speech when he would not be running for public office again.
    
    
  • My mom saw Jackie Kennedy in a clothing store in Far Hills in the early '70s.
    
    
  • That's about as close as I get to celebrities.

• Karen Jones (Potts) When I moved back from FL to PA, I went to a concert to benefit Sing Out Magazine and Pete Seeger was president at the time. Of course he was one of the performers along with Anne Hills, Kathy Fink, and others. After the show we all went back into the lobby to hang out and buy various CD's. I wanted to meet Pete so when no one was looking I slipped back into the auditorium and went up on the stage where Pete was talking with several other people. I was able to to have a nice chat and have my picture taken with him.

  There is a coffee house in Bethlehem, PA, called Godfrey Daniels where many of the great folk singers perform including Tom Paxton. After the show they usually sign CD's in the lobby. We go there frequently and have seen Tom several times. One night we stayed later than usual and most of the people had left so we had the opportunity to talk and joke the Tom and had our picture taken with him.

  Ramblin' Jack Elliot is truly an icon in the folk world. He travelled with Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston around the country in the 50's and 60's singing about the dust bowl out west and supporting the unions. I went to a concert of his in Sellersville, PA, and had a note for him from a friend who said he was his cousin. I sent the note back stage and during the intermisson some one came out on stage and said that Ramblin' Jack wanted to see me backstage. I spent the entire intermission talking to him in his dressing room.

  Karen



• Martha Scarano (Dolfi) To add to the ever growing list of memorable meetings, I was privileged to have been presented with the Pennsylvania Teacher Of The Year Recognition for Excellence In Teaching by, then, Governor Dick Thornburgh, who later, under President Bush, became the Undersecretary General of the United Nations.

  Through my competitive Amateur Alpine Ski Racing, I was provided the opportunity to meet many Olympian Alpine Ski Racers: Body Miller, Doug Lewis, Steve and Phil Mahre, Billy Kidd, Ted Ligety, and a New Member, Chip Knight, who was my son's roommate while both attended Burke Mountain Ski Academy. However, my all-time favorite was Picabo Street. Such a beautiful woman, a fabulous athlete, yet an even better individual. She awarded me my Gold Medal at the NASTAR Championships...

  Eager to see everyone in July,

  Hugs,

  Marti (Martha Scarano Dolfi)

• Alan Clapp I must add my brush with the "glitterati" thanks due to my sister's artistic ability. In the summer of 1959, Warner Brothers Records ran a contest about the lyrics from the then popular song "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb" by Edd "Kookie" Byrnes. The contest was to interpret the jive-talk lyrics. Judy did this, translating into other jive talk with illustrations and crafts. She won the all-expenses paid trip to Hollywood and a visit to the Warner Brothers Studios where "77 Sunset Strip" was filmed.

  First, we flew out to the west coast aboard the noisiest and shakiest contraption I'd ever experienced in my life, a Lockheed Constellation 4-engined propeller airplane. We were limo'd to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel where we stayed during our visit. Such luxury! We saw Johnny Crawford of "The Rifleman" swimming in the hotel pool.

  We visited the set of "77 Sunset Strip" and watched the filming of a few scenes with Roger Smith, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr, and Connie Stevens. I'm sure they were thrilled to meet us, although they managed to disguise it very well.

  We went to the Warner's Commissary for lunch and there we shook hands with Tab Hunter and Roger Moore (he was filming a short-lived, new series, the "Alaskans"). Of course, this was way before he became James Bond.

  Judy wrote up the events shortly after we returned home, probably for the Bernardsville News. She and I remember things a bit differently. Her story was written a week after the events, mine 56 years after. I still think mine is more "accurate." Whichever, it was the experience of a lifetime!

• Karen Jones (Potts) My brother just reminded me that I knew Amanda Seyfried. She is from Allentown and when she was little she used to take piano lessons on my mom's piano. It never even dawned on me since I knew so many kids that were at his house playing with my niece. My grandson was in high school with her and my daughter knows her from the restaurant she works at. Whenever Amanda comes home she immediately has to go to the Brass Rail to eat. I have no idea why Allentonians think it is a great place but the restaurant is one of those icons and everyone that moves always flocks to it when they are in town.

  Just thought I would throw in that little tidbit.

  Karen


• Pete Strauss I had the very good fortune to do many different things in my life (some might call that "instability" I call it being itchy). But in the course of the last 50 years I've been in Sales and Marketing, bartended on and off for 43 years, did stand-up comedy for 5 years, was involved in Pro Sports having worked for the Philadelphia Fury of the North American Soccer League, and Admiral Sporting Goods, I did on-air and voice-over Radio and TV commercials for years, opened my own bar and restaurant in Costa Rica (and consequently lost it all) just to name a few things, trust me the list goes on.

  During my many endeavors I've had the pleasure of Deep Sea Fishing with Guy Harvey, having drinks with and enjoying the company of Mick Jagger, Rick Wakeman (Yes), Carly and Paul Simon, Peter Frampton and more in the musical field...I opened or middled on stage for Ray Romano, Kevin James, Gary Valentine, Jimmy Schubert and many, many more. In sports I had occasion to either meet or be very friendly with Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Georgio Chinaglia, George Best, Allan Ball, Ron Jaworski, Joe Pisarcik, Bill Bergey, Wilbert Montgomery, Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton (great anecdote about him), Bobby Clarke, Pelle Lindbergh (I was with him 45 minutes before he died), and a very good friend Dave Schultz ("the enforcer") (another great story)! Vitas Gerulaitis, Steffie Graf, Chris Evert, Janet Jones/hmmmm! (talk about stories)!

  One encounter that's so memorable and makes me smile...let me preface by saying that for about the last 30 of my 67 years I've been known as or was nicknamed "Pete the Hat"...predilection to collecting and wearing hats 98% of my waking hours. There are people in Florida who have know me for 15 plus years who think "the" is my middle name... A GF and I went to a Crosby, Stills, and Nash concert in West Palm Beach where Jimmy Buffett happened to make a guest appearance. Well she knew the venue manager and got us back stage with CSN and the gang after the show where I was introduced to Jimmy Buffett and they told him everybody always says Pete the Hat looks like you Jimmy. To which he said " Hell no...{paused}... I look like Pete the Hat." Anyhow it was a charming and heartwarming encounter which went on for some time...we all partied for a while.

  Also one very fine and wonderful celebrity memory I have is of meeting and working with and traveling with Lou Piniella when he was with the Yankees...we had a lot of fun together (story to be told in private)!

  There are more but I think I may have bored you enough...but still my fondest memory of celebrities I have known dates back to June 19-20, 1965 where I had the great fortune to play with 19 other guys who held the World Record for the World's Longest Softball Game (albeit only for less than a week) and the wonderful girls who fed, aided, supported, cheered and bandaged us. Those are celebrities I really like to remember...I was going to try and name everyone but I know I couldn't do it justice (my "halfheimers" might set in).



• Rae Jean Braunmuller (Goodman) Attached are photos from two different graduations at U.S. Naval Academy. I am in both (!) and the famous (Famous Person #1) (Famous Person #2) should also be recognizable.

  Sorry that I am not going to make this reunion. All the plans sound fabulous.

  Rae Jean (Braunmuller) Goodman

Was there really a nudist camp in Liberty Corner? I think Ellie Pinson may have lived near there (not at the camp of course...).

• Barbara Moore (Eder) Yes there was a nudist colony in Liberty Corner, both Ellie Pinson and I lived near it, it was on Somerville Rd.....I lived on that road until kindergarten and then we moved to Spencer Rd. in Basking Ridge across from Joan Blackburn.


• Jeff Wilker Yes, Jim there was and is a nudist colony in Liberty Corner. It is just behind Fellowship Village. It is readily approachable but fences surround the perimeter.


• Liz DeBlock (Duckrow) Sky Farm, the nudist colony in Basking Ridge was founded in 1932 and is still thriving today! Amazing what you can discover when you look.


• Judi Logan (Welch) As for the nudist colony: I always wondered if they lived there year round. I mean, winter without 6 layers of clothing???


• Candis Crater (Berge) Oh, I agree with Judi... how enlightening! I sometimes think I missed a lot! But I did know about the nudist colony...


• Meg Ryder (Franks) I must have led a very sheltered life. The first time I heard about the nudist colony was 5 years ago at our last reunion when we took the bus tour around town.


• Martha (Marti) Scarano (Dolfi) Sky Farm, located on Allen Road, adjacent to The Pinson property, and across the road from Our Farm, is the first of its kind in America, and is indeed still in existence.


• Jeannie Halsey (Groat) I haven't thought about the nudist colony in years. As some of you may remember, my father was an architect. He was asked to consult with the colony about a building project they had in mind. A date was set for Monday. Needless to say he was intrigued to meet with the group. Alas,at the appointed hour, he was disappointed. And somewhat relieved, to find that Monday was dress up day!


• Pam Jones However I did find out about the nudist colony and the naked nun on my handy iPad sitting here in my hotel room in Bogota, Colombia! The nudist colony is called Sky Farm at 177 Allen Road in Basking Ridge - and they are still accepting applications for 2015! Check it out - maybe we could put that on our reunion list since it was there way back then!


• Carol Balsamel (Beaver) The first time I had thought about the nudist colony was last year during the warmer weather- Spring or Summer?- when they ran ad for an "open" weekend, looking for new members!!


• Barbara Block (Jocher) Meg, you said that you must have led a sheltered life, but I must admit that I knew nothing about a nudist colony until I read about it on our website.

I think there may have been some kind of Catholic convent over in Bernardsville off of Rt 202. There were rumors of an embalmed nun there. Anyone else recall that? I vaguely recall making a late-night drive over there to check it out during high school.

• Barbara Moore (Eder) There is a Catholic convent on Bernardsville Rd., "Sisters of Christian Charity," don't know about the embalmed nun, that's a new one for me.
• There seems to be lots of little secrets or urban legends about both Bernardsville and Basking Ridge.


• Liz DeBlock (Duckrow) Hehehe. I thought the embalmed nun was at St. Elizabeth's in Convent Station!


• Jeff Wilker There was a convent and school (Mount St. John's) but my sources can not confirm an embalmed nun. The school is gone; I do not know the status of the convent.


• Ken Ballinger There was an embalmed nun at the site, very spooky at night!


• Judi Logan (Welch) Well, hasn't this been an enlightening -- and amusing -- chain of emails! I am just really ticked that I never knew about the embalmed nun. I'll bet my brother didn't know either, or surely he'd have found a way to terrify me...and I'd likely still be wandering around the convent in now-tattered clothes, permanently scarred and talking to ghosts...


• Joan Blackburn (Krist) I remember, as well as Sallie and Pam Jones will, that we went to see the embalmed nun! It was a little scary there at night.


• Candis Crater (Berge) [...I did know about the nudist colony] but not about the dear little preserved nun.....


• Ken Ballinger I have to tell you, it was a great make out point because it was so scary. Please don’t tell anyone because I noted with interest how some did not seem to recall!!!!


• Pam Jones As to the naked nun - I know we tried to find her - and most probably did, but I do not remember the circumstances, but I am now at a high altitude so that puts a damper on my brain! The Nun can be found at The Sisters of Christian Charity in Mendham - I think, but not positive!


• Barbara Block (Jocher) Having visited the nun in Jocky Hollow several times in the Linnie Bug I do not believe that it was a real body, but instead a mannikin in a glass coffin.


• Ken Ballinger The mummy was a “secret” shared around my senior year as I remember. I thought only a few knew about it. Go north on 202 and before you get to Jockey Hollow, there was a dirt road on the left and the chapel was off into a woods, not near anything in particular. You could drive up the long driveway and park in the woods, turn off the lights and disappear. If you had the nerve, you could keep the lights on and open the unlocked door to the chapel and reveal the nun in a glass case…Oh Baby…really scary. The first time I saw her, we thought it was wax, but others continued to say she was embalmed.

  Just wait and see who knows the location, so far, two have admitted it. This should get fun.



• Joan Blackburn (Krist) The location of the chapel/shrine of St. Lucy Filippini is 455 Western Avenue in Morristown on the property of the Villa Walsh Academy, a college preparatory Catholic school at the Institute for the Religious Teachers founded by Lucy Filippini. See photo and map.


• Villa Walsh was originally called Tower Hill, owned by Louis Charles Gillespie, a multimillionaire businessman from Richmond, Virginia. In 1878, he built a summer home for his nine children and then remodeled the house into a Gilded Age mansion that became their permanent residence. He imported a variety of trees from Hamburg, Germany including the Laurel Oak and the Bur Oak. These trees are not indigenous to North Jersey and are located on the southwest lawn area near the mansion and add majesty to Tower Hill. In l894, “Gillespie’s Tower” was erected on the property over a 417 foot deep well. It is 26 square feet at the base, six stories high (70 feet) with a chimney at the top measuring 12 feet higher, and has 42 inch thick walls. A steam engine pumped water into a tank on the fourth floor. From its lookout on clear nights a panoramic view of New York City and the Brooklyn Bridge is visible. For ten years the mansion remained unoccupied, then in 1929 the Tower estate was erected by Bishop Thomas Joseph Walsh, and on February 16, 1930, the Religious Teachers Filippini transferred their mother-house from Trenton to Morristown. The estate was originally called 'Villa Lucia' and renamed 'Villa Walsh' a decade later.


• The roadside chapel/shrine is on the road going past the property. The front of the shrine faces the road and since a hill sloped up and away from the road, the one-story building actually went into the hillside. This resulted in the interior being cold and damp. From the road the other buildings couldn’t be seen. The chapel door was wrought iron with stained glass. It was dimly lit inside. There was a small altar and a glass partition evidently to keep on-lookers separated from the altar and the coffin. The nun was lying in an open coffin with a bluish light shining on her and seemed to be covered in a thin whitish substance, maybe wax.


• An email received today from Sr. Ascenza at Villa Walsh reads:
  
  Dear Joan,
  The body of Saint Lucy is no longer in the shrine because of vandalism. The little chapel is still there, and it is locked. The figure of Saint Lucy is no longer on our grounds.
  Blessings!
  Sr. Ascenza


• Pam Jones Thanks you, Joan - now the mystery is solved! I don't know why I thought it was someplace else - I only remember it being a bit out of town. Do you remember going there now? I still don't - but do remember trying to find it!


• Pam Jones As Joan just reminded me about the Naked Nun - she assures me that I did go with her - and it was very creepy - and even thought of taking her out for a drive! We ruled that idea out at once!

I remember...the creation of the S.S.S. Anyone remember what the letters stood for so long ago?

• Candy (Candis) Crater (Berge) Oh my, I can't stop reading all the wonderful and funny memories posted! Keep 'em coming! This is really the best. And Liz, I think SSS was "Senior Stag Society" ... perhaps? Can't trust my memory so much at our age....


• Margo Burhans (Lewis) I thought it was Secret Sisters' Sorority ??? A few people out there know for sure. I don't think I was one... I suppose that comes under the category of, "if you have to ask, then you were not."


• Judi Logan (Welch) I was not "in" either, Margo. Can't recall what the criteria were, but I do believe you're right that it was Secret Sisters Sorority. I =KNOW= some of the folks on this chain DO know the whole story... Probably something awful happens if they break the silence! :)


• Barbara Block (Jocher) As I recall, the SSS was Secret ????????? Society, and it may have been "Sister."


• Joan Blackburn (Krist) In looking through our yearbook I discovered 11 of us mentioned S.S.S. in our senior blurb under our photos: Joan Blackburn, Millie Ciba, Candis Crater, Liz DeBlock, Debbie Dunham, Lynn Jakobsen, Jean Kirkpatrick, and Mary Carol Moore. I cannot remember what the S.S.S. was all about though apparently I was part of it. There has to be more girls connected with it that didn’t include S.S.S. in their blurb. So, somebody, anyone out there: what was S.S.S.?


• Candy (Candis) Crater (Berge) SSS .... Senior Stag Society is what I remember. We were the girls who didn't have Friday night dates; boyfriend-less girls... had to make our own FUN. We did.

["SSS"] Sounds to me like the Turtle Society. Remember having to ask “are you a Turtle?” The answer was, “You bet your …………… I am.”

• Judi Logan (Welch) I think my brother still has his membership card!!!


• Jim McSkimin Judi & Ken, I actually do have my Turtles card, along with all the off-color riddles you had to answer correctly to join. It might be a little risqué for publication here... I also have another card called the Indoor Birdwatcher's Card which lists some rather suggestive birds to identify. I could not find any reference online so far. One of these was signed by Bruce Kemlitz (he must have been the Grand Poobah of the secret club). He was a couple years ahead of us.


• Pam Jones I do remember hearing about the Turtles - but was not asked to join.


• Art Ubbens Many good memories are brought back reading all of the e-mails. I feel fortunate and proud of the classmates that made up our class.
• Yes I remember the Turtle Society ... Speaking of turtles, upon graduation from Ridge I was in a small dorm in college and we were the Tyler Good Guys. Our dorm mascot was a turtle.... Seems turtles followed me....Now here in South Jersey turtles cross the road every spring. Is there not any escape from these slow moving reptiles?


• Jim McSkimin I managed to find my original International Association of Turtles card. I also had an Indoor Bird Watchers Society card - as entertaining as the Turtles card. As Ken Ballinger said, I doubt my parents knew I had these cards. And, no, I do not still have my high school wallet.

Just reading all these comments and also reading the memories of many of you has been such a delight. Thank you all and I certainly look forward to seeing you all in July! Keep those memories and postings coming!

• Judi Logan (Welch) What other secrets will be disclosed leading up to July 25th? It sets my mind to spinning...


• Martha (Marti) Scarano (Dolfi) So Interesting to read everyone's recollection of growing up!


• Candy (Candis) Crater (Berge) This mini-reunion of sorts that we are enjoying via technology is quite informative. Quite.


• Pam Jones Enough for now and I hope we can all make it to the reunion. Cheers and keep the memories coming.


• Art Ubbens Many good memories are brought back reading all of the e-mails. I feel fortunate and proud of the classmates that made up our class.


• Barbara Block (Jocher) You are making me a Ridge High School "Facebook junkie." I find myself so absorbed in everyone's comments that I do not get anything else accomplished.
  I am just loving being back in touch with all of you, my friends. See you in July.


• Ken Ballinger I can’t stand it. Pam Jones is looking for a naked nun, Jim McSkimin is also at high altitude but he forgot to carry his turtle card with him in his wallet and Joan is calling convents looking for mummies. I tell you, we better meet in a geriatric unit, I wonder if Camp Sunshine has a memory loss wing?


• Ken Ballinger This is a really funny string of conversation, Alan. We will now have a very different field trip for this reunion. More like a geriatric treasure hunt. I for one will bring one of those goofy periscope thingies that used to be seen all the time on the golf tournaments for the Camp Sunshine tour. God knows what to bring in search of the nun.


• Barbara Block (Jocher) I am reading classmate memories and experiences about which I knew nothing. I was in the school system from K-12 and did not know anything about a nudist colony (Ken's entry was so funny), never heard of the devil tree (but will surely visit it in July), never heard of the Dana estate. I will definitely do a tour of our area with new eyes and hope to see things that I have never seen. Another thing that I hope to make time for is to wander around the Presbyterian Church cemetery under the old oak and read the gravestones which date very far back. That is a very connecting moment with faith. I used to do that after church some Sundays. I know that you are having difficult times in the north with the cold (let's talk about Global Warming with people who live in MA), but I hope that you are all warm and well.

Does anyone remember the stories about THE DEVIL TREE ?? DID any of you ever go to see it ??

• Liz DeBlock (Duckrow) The Devil Tree??? Something else I missed out on during my formative years at RHS.


• Judi Logan (Welch) The Devil Tree??? If I was the devil, how come no one told me where my tree was??? Did my predecessor devil know? Shouldn't she have passed that info on to me? Now I am so despairing, knowing that I probably was supposed to tell the incoming devil about the tree, and --I failed! Miserably.


• Barbara Moore (Eder) The Devils Tree is located at the corner of Mountain Rd. and Long Rd. It sits in the middle of a huge field all by itself...the legend says that the KKK in the 1920's used it as a hanging tree, legend also claims that it can not be cut down and that many have tried, there are several more legends about it...Google it !!

Ever hear about the Dana estate?

• Judi Logan (Welch) Joan: No! (Did I really grow up in Basking Ridge or was that a figment of my imagination??? HaHaHa! Maybe I was too blonde back then ... or maybe I really was wandering in a state of terror in the convent!)
• I used to babysit for the Astors in Far Hills -- I think that was called an "estate" back then, and it was quite the amazing house on the hill. All glass on 4 sides! Mr. Astor/William had an amazing sports car, but when he'd take me home, he was always inebriated, so I worried that we'd go off a curve and I'd never get to spend the 50-cents an hour I'd been paid for the night! (I just learned from Jack's daughter that babysitters now get $12-$15/hr!!! When I started babysitting, the going rate was 25-cents/hr. No wonder my kids don't go out much!)
• So, more info on the Dana Estate. Where was it?


• Liz DeBlock (Duckrow) I did Google the Dana Estate and just got real estate for sale? I'm with Judi about thinking an alter ego was the one in high school. Any other tales /relics out there I missed?
• Judi, I am thinking of starting my own babysitting business if that is what they are charging these days!!


• Pam Jones I do remember the Dana Estate - I have been there many times - and yes it was scary at night! It was a fascinating find - and I must admit it was very intriguing to go through the attic and find a lot of old newspapers and other artifacts left over from another era. I think the owner was a Charles Dana, whom I believe had something to do with the building of The Brooklyn Bridge. I also remember downstairs in the living and/or dining room that the drapes were still hanging! I was saddened to hear a few years later that a fire had destroyed the old house - there were rumors that it had been set intentionally so the land could be used for a new housing development! It was in Bernardsville - but not sure exactly where. Does anyone know the past location?


• Jeannie Halsey (Groat) I think it was walking distance from the Somerset Hills Golf Club where the 4th of July fireworks were held. It captured my imagination so--I've never forgotten it but never knew the name--I'm guessing it's the same place.


• Ken Ballinger I can’t believe this stuff. I do not remember the Dana Estate at all.


• Joan Blackburn (Krist) Some of us knew about the Dana estate through kids from B’ville, one of whom had a friend who lived in the Dana estate carriage house and whose dad watched over the then deserted property. It had a long winding driveway up to the stately old mansion, an apple orchard, a large swimming pool and lovely vista. There was also a trail through the woods to get to the property if you knew where it was. As Pam remembers, downstairs in the living room (maybe dining room?) the huge windows still had the old velvet drapes. The rest of the house was empty of furniture and possessions except for the large attic that had lots of paper debris including old canceled (large size) checks and newspapers, and a pantry that had some old soup cans. It was quite exciting and fun exploring the grounds and house of this “secret” place.

  The New York Social Blue Book of 1930 lists Charles A. Dana and his wife on Mendham Road (Anderson Road), Bernardsville, NJ. This Charles Anderson Dana (1881-1975) married Agnes Ladson in 1912 (“Ladson-Dana marriage Brilliant Social Event,” Atlanta Constitution, April 11, 1912). One of their two children was Agnes Ladson Dana who married Morgan Cowperthwaite on June 17, 1939 at the family home in Bernardsville. Later Charles and Agnes Dana divorced.

  The house burned down in 1963. Here is a commentary:

  • A fire attributed to arson destroyed the vacant, 28-room Charles Anderson Dana mansion on land between Anderson Road, Chestnut Avenue and Seney Drive in Bernardsville on Saturday night, Sept. 14, 1963.
  • About 50 firefighters from Bernardsville and 40 from Basking Ridge responded shortly before 10 p.m., but the roof had already collapsed as flames hurtled at least 50 to 60 feet in the night sky.
  • Built before 1900, the mansion was “once one of the showplaces of the Somerset Hills,” The News said. It had been vacant since the death of Agnes Dana about four years earlier.
  • Charles Anderson Dana was the founder and Director of The Dana Foundation (Charles A. Dana Foundation) started in 1950 as a private philanthropic organization based in New York committed to advancing brain research and to educating the public in a responsible manner about research’s potential: (1) to develop a better understanding of the brain and its functions; (2) to speed the discovery of treatments for brain disorders; and (3) to combat the stigma of brain disorders through education. Dana had also been a legislator, CEO of the Spicer Manufacturing Company, which became the Dana Corporation in 1946 and one of the Board of Directors for the Schering Corporation.


• Liz DeBlock (Duckrow) Thanks, Joan! So interesting to hear the details about the Dana Estate. I was surprised to hear it burned down while we were still in high school. I never remember hearing about it.

Mr. King had unique talents in Math class (besides eraser batting coach). Board filled with equations and triangles? Need to write some new equations on the board? NO PROBLEM! Mr. King would simply erase with his right hand and write the new information with his left hand, right behind the rapidly gyrating eraser! Think rubbing your belly with one hand while circling the top of your head with the other is difficult? Try writing coherently with your left hand and erasing the board with the other. Truly amazing!

• Jim McSkimin Hey, I somehow remember Mr. King crossed his arms and erased with his left hand and wrote with his right hand. However, we were probably too busy with eraser fights to notice such details… He let us get away with just about anything.


• Randy Pratt Calculus was immediately after lunch for some of us while everyone came from other classes. Mr. King's room was at the end of a wing. So some of us got to the classroom long before the others. It was spring and someone was bored.

The eraser throwing didn't start as a wild melee but much slower. I have no idea how it started but somehow by those early arrivals from lunch, Porter and/or Macchiaverna and perhaps me or others marked one floor tile with a chalk "X". Whoever stepped on it was hit with an eraser. Since the arrival rate was spread out, time to reload was available. This remained so for a while but then more squares were added with safe entry into the room becoming more difficult. I remember the most graceful dance over and around the tiles was by Penny or Linda, the least graceful is unremembered. Eventually it got totally out of control at which time Mr. King ended the fun.


• Penny Pitt (Scheer) It had to be Linda because "graceful" and "dance" are two words that can never be applied to me.

  I loved "Mickey Mouse in Mathematicsland" though even after the 100th time - you boys would roll in that big old projector and we'd have another go at watching Mickey shoot pool etc, proving various math precepts. (Check out YouTube) Every once in a while Mr. King would teach us something but for the most part it seemed to be kids teaching each other with Mr. King in the back by the window to facilitate things. Which is actually terrific, when it works. For me, not so much but it was fun.

• Oops - the mind does play tricks - make that "Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land." And full confession - after 3 minutes on YouTube, I decided that was enough math for me 50 years later...

Mr. Ayers always impressed me with his calm in the face of impending danger. In addition to me, my car had 3 girls, 2 of whom didn't take naturally to driving. Once one of them making a left turn uphill from Henry St. to Finley avenue barely engaged the clutch with the engine racing we inched through the intersection. The car was full of the acrid smell of burning clutch back to the school.

• Barbara Block (Jocher) By the way, Meg, do you remember being in Mr. Greco's driving training course and all of us trying to learn to drive on a 3 speed standard shift, or when we had to change a tire? Run away!


• Meg Ryder (Franks) Barbara, I do remember being in Drivers Ed. When I was told I wasn't ready to get my license because I struggled with that manual transmission, I didn’t mention that I already had it.


• Jim McSkimin Remember Drivers' Ed with Mr. Ayers? He would pile maybe 4 students onto this big old white Ford (?) 4-door sedan that had dual steering wheels and brakes. I remember being directed up this steep hill and being forced to manually downshift into 2nd gear. By some miracle I did it, to the great relief of Mr. Ayers and the whole back seat of students.

Who remembers the Sons of Liberty farm/property at corner of Allen and Somerville Roads next to the nudist colony?

No one seems to be writing about Archie's Resale Shop in Meyersville, NJ. Who bought their skates there? Remember his stagecoach and carriage? Books, magazines, antiques galore? Goats or sheep in the front yard? Any special memories there from other classmates?

• Pam Jones Yes, yes - I remember Archie's very well. I used to go there with my mother a few times - she was an artist and liked looking through all of "the junk" to see if there was anything she could incorporate into something. She once bought this old piece of twisted iron - put it on a block of wood - and that sat in our downstairs rec room forever! My parents also bought me my skates there - a few pairs over the years! I had totally forgotten about Archie's until John brought it up!

I do remember building a 6 foot kite out of clear plastic with Greg Jewell and flying it at the High School on a long heavy string. We got it all the way up and a plane was flying over the high school after taking off from the airport. We had painted a scary face on the thing and he suddenly swerved out of the way. Sirens were heard soon after that heading for the High School. Greg and I cut the string and took off for the woods. Cops never got us but I am sure that pilot’s report of the floating face in front of his plane must have been the cause of many free drinks after that.

When we were growing up, there were two working stone quarries nearby, one in Bernardsville and one on Stonehouse Road near Lyons. Did anyone ever ride down to the bottom to actually get a load of gravel or stone for their driveways? I did once, with my father in an old pick-up. We drove underneath a big chute and the operator opened it up and dumped stone right into the truck bed. Good thing we only asked for a little bit! Neither quarry is in operation today, and the one on Stonehouse is being filled in in places as part of a long-term plan for more homes and a lake, a pretty deep lake at that.

What about building something like this to launch from Ridge High for our reunion? They would never forget us and we might make the papers!
I know John Houtz would love it and maybe some of our classmates would like a space walk! They could use it to look for nudes and nuns.

• Alan Clapp Of course, we could rebuild the “Blue Streak”, add some firecrackers and call it a space effort…


• Ken Ballinger Perfect. Who wants to ride it? Can we make a committee decision? Just like NASA, we could put out a call for Blue Streakers and see who qualifies.


• Alan Clapp Qualifies as what? After certain foods, I most certainly qualify as the propellant!

Remember all the events around the Kiwanis Fair? All of us attended at some point. I remember I WON one event…the "go slow with your bike.” I remember wobbling and weaving my way to last place and won the thing. I seem to remember there were all sorts of crazy events held on the driveway to Oat Street School as well as on the fairgrounds. Do you remember any of this?

• Alan Clapp I agree, we all won something or other. Remember the pet competition? One of our cats won a ribbon. It think it was for being a cat in the cat competition. Standards weren’t that high. I also hit 6 out of 6 at the dunking machine the one and only time I tried it. I knew even then to quit while I was ahead!

  BTW, you look great as the King, although I thought your hair was a little too long.

• Ken Ballinger My hair was a compromise, I had to run hurdles against Bernardsville on Friday afternoon. King and I was Thursday night and Saturday night for me. I wanted to look cool at the biggest track event of the year and got a cigar to smoke on Saturday night during the performance with Coach Smith sitting in the front. I caught his eye during the performance and he was not pleased. Such a rebellious youth.

  By the way, we beat the crap out of them.

• Pam Jones I remember The Kiwanis Fair - it was one of the highlights/social event of the year! I don't think I participated in any of the events - but I did go for the fun!

Does anyone remember coming into NY to see The Spoon River Anthology - and leaving the play to walk around NY - and return just in time to get back on the bus home?
Oh well - I keep thinking of new things - with reminders!

• Joan Blackburn (Krist) Pam Jones: Yes I remember the English class trip to New York to see Spoon River Anthology and instead of watching the play spent the time walking around New York with other kids. And I think the attached photos were taken of some of us doing just that. Kids in photo 1: Joan Blackburn, Mike Tucker, Debbie Dunham and in Photo 2: Sallie Utz, (?), and Pam Jones. Anyone else remember this class trip?

As we finished up our senior year, someone came up with the idea of a Guinness World Record Softball game. As I remember it, we had 2 teams with no substitutes and we needed to play for more than 24 hours. It seems like we went 25 hours. I think the Fire Department loaned us some lights, so we could play through the night. I have no idea if there was a winner, what was the score. I do remember going home after the game and falling asleep in the tub as I tried to wash off all that infield dust. I don't think there was a winner per se, we all won, having set a record.

A New Jersey blog, written by a recent transplant to Basking Ridge from Hoboken, expresses an interesting viewpoint of "How to Drive in Basking Ridge."

I think we had the prettier cheerleaders, but Bernardsville in 1966 had one cheerleader you might even remember today. Know who she is? This should be easy, not as difficult as Sophie's Choice.

• Barbara Moore (Eder)  Meryl dated my cousin Doug who went to BHS. We actually double-dated a couple of times.


• Inge Storberg  I COULD NOT BELIEVE MY EYES when I was looking closely at something I found in my scrap book from my year at RHS. In the program booklet from the November 26 football game vs Bernardsville, I found a picture of the J.V. Cheerleaders from Bernards HS.

  One of them was named Meryl Streep, and looked a lot like her, too!! Wikipedia told me that the famous actress was born in 1949 and attended BHS. I bet all of you guys knew about this all the time, but never told me.....Never mind.

  I liked our own cheerleaders at RHS a lot better!!

• Thank you Jim Rickey for mentioning the kids from Bonnie Brae in your memories. Does anyone remember Ned Burnett from Bonnie Brae? He had such a fun sense of humor, smile, and personality. He always dressed so well and sometimes wore a beautiful cape and he liked to pass notes back and forth to kids in his classes. Does anyone remember him or have photos of other Bonnie Brae kids that came to our school at some point? Sure hope he and the other boys went onto long, productive, satisfying lives. Seeing him in a naval uniform makes me think of Viet Nam and that era that killed so many young men.


• A photo of Mr. Rodeman. He had such a fun grin. Can you see any of the photos above his head? Thimk!


• A photo attached of our Girl Scout camping in 1958 and thinking it might have been on the Inshaw’s property? Can you identify yourself and others in the photo?


• John Houtz: I remember the trip to the Hayden Planetarium and the attached photo that may have been taken on that trip? Can anyone say if this was the planetarium school trip, or what school trip it was? The kids in the picture starting back left going clockwise: Carol Balsamel, Barbara McArthur, Connie (?), Joan Blackburn, Sally Kolding. Were you also on that trip?


• In the memories I sent I mentioned that my dentist in Basking Ridge, Dr. Sachs, had his office above the Village Fountain and would after a dental visit give out free certificates for candy and ice cream cones at the Village Fountain—great marketing tool to keep those customers coming back for dentistry! Attached is a certificate. I apparently never cashed in and probably saved myself a drilling in his chair. Anyone else go to Dr. Sachs? Mrs. Garrabrant worked for him.


• Okay, this one I found in a childhood diary in an old suitcase in the garage: an original Good Humor ice cream wrapper! Wow, this is nuttiness! Those were the days, weren’t they, when the Good Humor trucks would slowly drive by your house with their jingle blaring and us kids would have one run towards the truck and one frantically run inside to get some coins from our moms to buy an ice cream treat. What was your favorite Good Humor ice cream treat? Apparently I liked Toasted Almond.


• Bill Lytle: I was in Mrs. Mills’ 4th grade class. See attached photo of some kids in that class. Maybe she taught 3rd grade one year and 4th grade the next? For everyone else, were you in Mrs. Mills’ 4th grade class? Do you recognize the kids in the photos? Photo 1: Mrs. Mills and Rory Moelter. Photo 2: Pam Jones, (?), Carol Balsamel, Sallie Utz, (George?), and Carol Meeker.


• Does anyone remember Mr. Stein? He died of a heart attack during the school year (sophomore or junior). Both he and his wife were Holocaust survivors being sent to different concentration camps then after the war and months of searching found each other. Dr. Stein was a physician but the Nazis burned all the records so when he came to the U.S. he could not practice medicine and instead ending up teaching and at Ridge High for a little bit. He taught us so much about life and he and his wife were so generous and loving. Does anymore remember how he would invite to the class for a tutorial at their home the night before a test and afterwards his wife served refreshments to us? What a jewel to have known people like them, who could have taught us much more about the world we lived than we could have imagined and with so much gentleness and kindness. They were heroes to me because they brought history literally to my face in our protective easy life in a little northern New Jersey village.

Best to all of you,
Joan

P.S. The photos were taken with an old Brownie camera popular at the time so the quality is iffy. Hope you get some laughs and fun out of the attached items and respond back to all of us with your memories. Remember: we were all in this together!

Not too long ago, someone vaguely remembered the Kuder Preference test. In a search for memorabilia, I found one of mine which is attached. I only do this as my raw score indicates "there is some reason for doubting the value of your answers." I always had trouble being constant with the tests choices. How can you fail this?

• Penny Pitt (Scheer)
  So funny, Randy! The things we save! This makes me laugh because Eleanor Hull administered the test to my class (maybe to everyone, who knows) and I was referring to it not long ago as the "Kudah" preference test. Remember her southern accent? So surprised to learn the real name of it. Silas "Mahna," anyone? Great novel, (not!)

An Off-Broadway show that opened before we started at RHS, will close this year on May 3rd after 55 years and 20,672 performances. The Fantasticks "tells the story of a young boy and girl who fall madly in love at the hands of their meddling fathers, but soon grow restless and stray from one another. The Fantasticks is a quintessential celebration of love in all its gorgeous simplicity and heartbreaking complexities." The Fantasticks originally opened at New York's Sullivan Street Playhouse on May 3, 1960, and played 17,162 performances before closing January 13, 2002, making it the world's longest-running musical. It will have played 3,510 performances at the Jerry Orbach Theater for a total of 20,672 performances.

Did anybody see it? Here's the signature song from the play sung by "Lennie Briscoe" of TV's "Law & Order," Jerry Orbach, an original cast member. One of my very favorites.

• Pam Jones
  I remember The Fantasticks - I went at least twice in the late 60's or early 70's - it was "the thing" to see when you came to NY. Jerry (Orbach) - I had forgotten he was in it - even went to the same dentist as I did! Small world!

Some of you may remember the Radical Raisin Party. Because of our efforts we were sternly lectured by Mr. Keeler and perhaps someone else. They were more concerned about the write-in voting campaign than the obvious offense of raisin possession and misused. Since this was a serious breach of conduct naturally our parents were called in. Unfortunately, my cause was not helped when my Dad laughed at them. In the end I don't think we were punished. I also learned that despite administration rules, votes for our campaign were secretly counted and we won. [You guys were so far ahead of your time -> Radical Raisin game - Editor]