Friday, November 22, 2013

Deja Vu All Over Again

I had a surreal experience today, the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK.

As some of you may know, I've been doing some substitute teaching lately at a local high school, as much to keep myself busy as provide an income supplement to offset the cost of my exorbitant health insurance until Medicare sets in. Plus, I have always enjoyed teaching.

Anyway, I usually have no idea of what subject I will be teaching, nor the material I will be covering until about 15 minutes before the first period. I actually enjoy that so far I am able to shift gears on the spot and use that time to remember what I know about the subject and how I might be able to shed some perspective on the material. As long as it's not calculus. I remember taking it at WVHS. I also remember not having a clue either then nor now.

For those of you who shared junior high classes with me at Anthony Wayne Junior High School, you all remember exactly where we were on this day 50 years ago. We were in Ms. Falco's History class listening to a radio brought in from another room (Ms. Falco Ranaletti remembers it came from Mr. Ancora's room) and we all have remembered so distinctly on that day how we felt and the sheer uncertainty of what would come next. Who was responsible; would the Russians press the button, taking advantage of the confusion and disarray?

And so, on this day, 50 years later, what manner of irony was at work to find me teaching a US history class of high school juniors who know of JFK only from old videos and photos in a textbook. They are too young to remember that day, since they were not even gleams in their parents' eyes at the time. How do I convey the significance of this event to these kids who to my continuing dismay know so little about what has come before and yet are fated to be the ones who will ultimately determine our destinies.

All I could do was to tell the story of where I was, where we were, on that day. I told the story in every detail I could remember, about the tears that were shed, about the horror as we lived it for months to follow. I described the emotions, the fears we felt about the Cold War going hot, how the whole world held its breath for one moment in time.

And when I was done 20 minutes later, there was nothing but silence. I think they understood. I hope they did. I hope I did my part in offering a proper memorial for a fallen President on the 50th anniversary of his death and the death of our innocence.


Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Back to the Future

July finds me in Wayne, on a quick trip to celebrate my mother's birthday. For one lunch, we ended up at Burger Deluxe, which for those of you who haven't been by there lately, used to be the Spindletop Diner on Route 23 north. So there I was with my parents and my wife, Linda, and suddenly I time warped to 1966 and I was sitting in approximately the same place in the building as I did 45 years ago, listening to the same music and eating the same menu fare: burgers and fries. I looked to my right and noticed that there were two large photo enlargements of the building in its Spindletop garb.  I remember thinking of taking a photo to post for this blog but promptly forgot as I starting munching down on my excellent mushroom swiss burger.

I have been particularly fortunate in that both my parents are still with me and my sister, and it provides me with a window on my future and I always enjoy being back in Wayne, if not long enough to visit with all of you who are still in New Jersey and especially those of you in Wayne. Each planned get together, such as the one for AWJHS 7-3/8-4 next spring is just a cross ruff method of getting extra trips to see my folks and vice versa. I am coming to appreciate the time I spend with my folks as they age IMHO very gracefully.

As ever though, there is always a reminder of our mortality. I just received a note from Bob Tomlin letting me know that John Bradley passed away recently:


Our condolences go out to the family of John Bradley, who passed away on July 8, 2013.
  
John, "The Man, The Myth, The Legend," was a high school geography teacher at Wayne Hills for four decades until he retired in 2000. He was a wonderful teacher who was passionate about making a difference in the lives of his students. Not only was John the "voice of the Patriots" for many years, he was an iconic track official, he also coached cross country for 20 years and girls basketball for 30 years. His combined successes in these two sports made him the winningest coach in Wayne Hills' history.

John was an active member of the adult cooking scene, teaching multiple cooking classes for over thirty years. He also loved to travel, and sponsored many school-based trips to Europe.

Visitation: Thursday, July 11, 2013 2-4 & 7-9 PM at
Moore's Home For Funerals, Wayne, NJ
Mass: Friday, July 12, 2013 10:30 AM St. Mary's R.C. Church,
Pompton Lakes, NJ
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be made to: Wayne Scholarship and Honors Board- In memory of John Steven Bradley. Mail to Wayne Hills
HS, c/o Ed Zambrano, 272 Berdan Ave., Wayne, NJ 07470 
For more information: Mooreshomeforfunerals.com


Wednesday, June 26, 2013

On the Edge

On the eve of my 64th year, I finally have some good news for a change. It was getting overwhelmingly sad to continue reporting bad news (you all know what I mean) and it really weighed heavy when I compared the sad news with the great memories I had of one classmate after the other.

The news is that Rolf Youngquist, our football QB, has been inducted into the Wayne Valley Football Hall of Fame. Now during high school, my best view of Rolf was the back of his head since educators still arranged seating alphabetically. I also recall the WXYZs doing our fair share of cutting up in the back of homeroom. (It also calls to mind the late Kevin Walsh, spending so much time before his untimely death, standing in homeroom with chewing gum stuck to his nose.)

Please join me in congratulating Rolf joining the historically and outrageously successfully WV67 football squad members who have already been inducted, and also those yet to be (and there are still many many deserving members) who collectively gave us such great memories. That's another one of those photo opportunities like the 3 shepherds, which I almost got last year. Keep that in mind fellas, come next reunion.

For me, a birthday is an opportunity to celebrate the defeat of the ravages of time for yet another year. So far, I seem to be standing up to it much like my Dodge Dakota pickup truck - looks okay but getting creaky. I must admit to finding myself spending more and more time grousing about the ignorance and temerity of my grandchildren's generation. ("Hey Nineteen", if you know what I mean.) Those kids better keep away at least one cane's length when that becomes necessary because I'll be swinging wide and far, at least till I fall over. Thanks for the birthday wishes from the FB set. I apologize for not being more a presence on that venue. I enjoy hearing of our exploits and remote vacation destinations and retirement activities and enjoying the kids and grand kids, and generally doing a good job of managing their spare time. I do not enjoy the background static of diatribe, invective and drama (What is it about young teenage mothers photographing their bellies?) that is also part of FB though. I mainly rely on Linda to keep up, and do get notifications in a very selective way and must admit checking once a day, which I consider to be the minimum necessary to keep up with all of you.

I also want to encourage you all to take every opportunity possible to see each other outside of the context of reunions as you travel about the countryside. I recently trekked to Seattle on the way to a cruise to visit with Keith and Liz Schneider who graciously took us on a tour of that lovely city and his incredible shop of antique toys and the troll under the bridge. I also know that Anthony Wayne 7-3 / 8-4 has at least two get to gethers planned for the upcoming year with our block teachers attending (Tunis/Piaget). I also saw an FB post from Karen Perkins about a visit paid her by Chris Ellicott in Wayne this year. I just love to hear of these kinds of events.

So fill my inbox and FB page with good news to help me celebrate my birthday. For my part, I'll be checking in tomorrow from Moonlite BarBQ in nearby Owensboro, KY, the home of barbecue for Presidents and me. For those of you who attended WKU and know the place, eat your hearts out.


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Reunion Everyday

The month of May finds us traveling again. Seems my step daughter who manages a well known fast food fish restaurant is enjoined from vacationing during Lent, their heaviest volume period. That also prevented her from going with us on the Cruise to Somewhere back in February of 2013. It doesn't take much convincing to get me to travel. This time we were being travel guides on a cruise to Alaska's Inner Passage.

This time we were porting out of Seattle, home of the Space Needle, Microsoft and Gasoline Alley Antiques and its owner, my old Anthony Wayne buddy, Keith Schneider.
Seattle's Bridge Troll
Keith and his wife Liz very graciously arranged with us to arrive a day early so he could give us a whirlwind tour of his hometown of over 40 years. It's one thing to see someone for a few hours after an extended period  (try 40 years!) It's another too see them in their home environment comfortable in their own skin. It turns out that Seattle and Keith were a great fit.

 Needless to say, we had a fabulous day, a terrific cruise and after a late night extended wait on I64 waiting for fire crews to clear a burning milk truck (no, they didn't serve warm milk before bedtime) we finally got home to a yard that befitted an abandoned house. Welcome home, traveler.

The lesson I took away from my visit with Keith is that if you're planning on traveling to a place where one of us lives, it's at least worth a phone call, if not a visit. Don't wait for another 5 or 10 years.

I got an interesting email from Diana Goovaerts, Erv's daughter. It seems that the photo we found of Erv wasn't him. Now I hadn't seen Erv since we graduated so I was just happy to find any photo of him other than his graduation photo. Turns out it wasn't him. Diana commented earlier with a little bio info as well, and while grateful that we had memorialized her dad, preferred that we use an actual picture of him l. Imagine that. She graciously sent it along to us and it is now posted both on his G listing but also on the memorial page. I couldn't help think that we all have aged pretty well and we all looked better with a few years on us than when we graduated.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

A Time for Renewal

This is the time of year that I start getting restless. Even more so this year when I went on the FJ Reitz Class of 67 Cruise to Somewhere a couple of weeks ago. 20 people from Linda's high school class on the RCL Freedom of the Seas. A shocking reminder that there really is warm climate somewhere. Even more shocking on our return home to an uncharacteristically chilly Florida. That combined with a previous short jaunt to St. Augustine in January has really got me started thinking about spring and unwrapping the Winnebago (that qualifies me as an official Hooser) and putting on my traveling shoes again. I am waiting for the renewal that I know is just a few weeks away. I'll know it's here when my Yoshino cherry trees start popping out.

It's also a reminder that I've been remiss in blogging. So much so that there was a post on the blog from Sue Mustaleski Eck about my holiday post that I hadn't even published. Apologies Sue. The impact of your thoughtful response was amplified further when I got an email from Cathy Labazetta Stalter who got an email from her sister in Jersey informing her of the passing of Millie Kneeland Umansky. I sadly posted the changes on the Class Directory website and posted a copy of the obituary there:

(http://www.waynevalley67.net/html/inmemoriam.html).

My heart goes out to the Umansky family for their loss, more keenly felt perhaps by those who have lost loved ones. My first wife passed last month 15 years ago after 24 years together. It is hard to believe that so much time has passed, and that life wasn't over, although it certainly felt that way at the time. I suppose the point is that you never forget the anguish, the loss, but that pain is dulled with time. It pops up in moments of repose and remembrance, but now I have another life upon which to fall back for support. I know I appreciate it more because of my previous loss and the coincidence of Linda's loss of her previous spouse less than a month's difference from mine. That is how we began, with that single concurrence as our bond. That is certainly no longer true now in so many ways and I believe that this beginning in sorrow has allowed us to build a fundamentally stronger marriage because we know what we lost; where we may have fallen short before; and how we are both determined not to suffer the same shortcomings again.

For my part, I am determined to stay in touch. Sometime later this year there will be another mini reunion of the Anthony Wayne 7-3/8-4 homerooms and we are scheduled to visit with my old Anthony Wayne buddy, Keith Schneider in Seattle in May.  I guess the point I'm making is for you all to make use of the Class Directory and reach out to that old high school friend you've been meaning to call. As Sue M Eck reminds us, life is short and the 3 Fates are cruel; they spin, measure and cut the strand of life without regard for "Should Haves" or "Wish I Hads" or all those other regrets that appear after it is too late. For those of you who have moved or changed email, please let me know your new contact information so that it can be posted. Knowing that the high school alumni directory is not normally part of the USPS moving kit, here's just a little reminder!

Yes, it is definitely time for spring and some renewal. Be a part of it.