12/31/07 - below is an email received from Nona 2 weeks ago. Nona suggests we contribute war time memories. I have trouble remembering what happened last week but I do still retain some war related memories which I will try to post soon)
It would be interesting to hear more about others' memories of the "war years". We were a bit young, but amazing how much little people can understand. The war was over when we entered kindergarten, but I remember riding the little yellow school bus and singing "Bell Bottom Trousers" I still know the whole thing by heart. Nona
12/22/07 - email received from Judy
I can't find the list of addresses I got at the reunion. I really thought I would send everyone a Christmas card but then I discovered that my address wasn't on the list. To get a card from me you have to send one first..Read More
12/19/07 email from Susie to Bill with forwarded email from Nona to Susie
From: Susie Hoyt Holloway
To: Bill
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007
Hi Bill – this is an interesting email from Nona who has been in touch with
Judy Fay.
Bill . I enjoyed reading about your town but could not find the bumps over
the doors.
My Mom, the one who is 100, developed a rapid heart beat- passed out this am
and fell against a rather nice Hot Point stove with a glass front. It
shattered into a million pieces with her on top. I can not believe the bad
quality. Glass all over, She is in the hospital and things are stable. Back
to work tomorrow. Oh yes we had a little rain. That’s good news for CA.
Susie
From: Nona Emery
To: Susie Hoyt Holloway
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007
Hi Susie,
I am remiss in not thanking you sooner- it was so nice of you to think of
me. I have read many of the bios on the website which I check frequently- it
is great to have that means of communicating with old classmates.
I am still so "bummed" I could not attend.
Jane also sent me a HGHS hat! She is taking a Danube cruise right after
Christmas to see all the Christmas lights etc.
Our youngest son Leith and his wife and 3 and 6y.o.'s have been staying with
us for five days during house renovation. We have a small condo so pretty
chaotic but fun. You do feel your age in these situations! Fortunately they
found a rental place on the beach in Hermosa to stay for a month until house
is habitable.
Bill Miller has been after me to send photos- Clyde has a new camera and new
photo program, and being a perfectionist has been taking some time to get
all our photos for the past few years together. (I think Bill thinks I must
look like a freak or something- the longer I wait the wilder the imagination!)
Don't you think Bill has done a
exceptional job at the website and keeping everyone in touch? He seems like
such a kind guy, and I don't really remember that part of him when we were
growing up.
I have been in email communication with Judy Faye-Donahue as I have a
patient whose husband was hiding out in France during WWII at the same time
her father was there. She wanted to know every detail about this man. He was
more fortunate than her father and was liberated in 1944 when even his wife
had believed him dead. What a sadness to live with all your life- losing
your father to war at age five.
My uncle was in the trenches in Europe, and then came home to his wife who
had a brain tumor and died quickly after- as a result I almost had a brother
as we had Steve (our age) with us every weekend, holiday and summer until
his father remarried when he was 12. My uncle refused to talk about the war,
and always seemed so unjustifiably angry at my cousin.
WWII was certainly a dominant factor in our early childhoods, don't you
think?
We are going to New York for Christmas week to see our oldest son Ken and
family- girl (Payton who I adore and is 10) and Ryan(8) who I also adore but
for different reasons.
Do you have plans for the holidays? Did you cook a turkey?
Maybe we can get together after the holidays.
Thanks again for keeping in touch. Love Nona
The green star marks their home at the foot of Mt Abraham in Lincoln, Vermont
11/07/07 - email from Jane to Tim & Anne
From: Jane H. Kett
Date: Nov 7, 2007
Hi Anne & Tim,
No excuses for writing you so long after the fact, but I did want to say a
huge thanks and express my appreciation for the work you did to make our
Reunion such a success. It really was wonderful. In retrospect, one
only regrets that enough time wasn't spent with more people. So much to
catch up on and 3 days just wasn't enough. Wish we could have talked
more. I look back on all the details that needed attending to, all the
groundwork that had to be laid for the various Reunion activities, and I'm
amazed at how you and the committee did it all. Again, thanks a million
for a very special weekend. Best, Jane
We had an earthquake last week. Nothing like the Lomo Prieta Quake of 89, that shook down buildings and freeways. That was an 8.5 on the Richter scale. This was only a 5.2. The center was thirty miles away, east of San Jose in Alum Rock and five and a half miles down. I said to Kathryn that it had to go a long way around the bay to get here. And she pointed out the earthquake didn’t go around the bay, it went under the bay.
Our house, which we call Cinder Block Hall, was built of cinder blocks by a schoolteacher and her boyfriend in 1946. They filled the cinder blocks with poured concrete and re-bar so it is as solid as a brick. Our brick of a house started in to rock and roll while I was watching a football game.
I had no idea what was going to happen next. No idea. The earth stops being solid and you are in a building that could suddenly explode in violence, shake the roof loose and fall on your head. Or it could stop. You just don’t know. Feeling a touch sea sick, I got up and walked though the wobbling dining room into my office where Kathryn was on the internet. "We’re having an earthquake," I said.
"I know," Kathryn said, peering into the computer screen. (She's lived here since she was fourteen. When the quake of 89 hit, she commanded her staff to "dive under your desks,") She knew this was nothing to worry about. But I didn’t. The house continued gently rocking for what seemed like a long time. Around 15-30 seconds the newspapers said, depending on where you were.
Earlier that week forest fires bloomed around LA. We saw it on the papers and on the internet. And the smoke from houses burning 350 miles away was a long plume of smog over the San Francisco basin.
Now the sky is sunny and blue, and the weather is mild, high 72, low 52 in the evening as if nothing will ever go wrong
11/02/07 - Some email twixt Tom & Abby
From:
Thomas Aveni
To: 'Abby LePage'
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2007 7:35 AM
Subject: RE: Hi
Have a great time. We are off to Fl. For 10 days this month. The 8th till
the 18th.Very busy at our company .We are putting together the bids for the
Freedom tower and the three other towers at the WTC site. We have a good
shot at a few of the towers. Keep you advised. Stay safe. Love Tom
From: Abby
LePage [mailto:abbylepage@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 8:22 PM
To: Thomas Aveni
Subject: Re: Hi
Hope you will periodically send such little notes. Now that the 50th is
over, I miss communicating with you and looking forward to seeing you. If
you are up in Ct. , come see us. We are off to Mass. next weekend to see one
son and then off to Texas on the 18th to spend a week with our other son.
Happy November, Love,Abby
From: Thomas Aveni
To: 'Abby LePage'
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 7:19 PM
Subject: Hi
Just thinking about you guys. Hope everything is well Tom
10/29/07 - email from Bob Judd
Hi Bill,
Judy Fay's email is a hoot.
Could we, should we change the name of Forum to Homeroom?
And can we post pics with the email? Like this terrible shot of Betty Ann
and John at the Judd camp in Maine wondering if they were gonna get anything
to eat.
I was thinking Forum/Homeroom could take on a life of its own if we keep
sending in news of fresh disasters and wacky stunts.
To answer Claire ("do we even like these people?"); that's the great thing
about old friends, you don't have to like them.
cheers, Bob
10/28/07 - Email from Nona
The reason I have been slow in responding is that my computer died- Clyde loves analyzing and correcting computers- but at the present time I am unable to email photos etc... Read More
Subject: Judy Fay Wilson Hamilton Gwinn Wilson Donahue's address - Click Here
10/24/07 - Recent Emails from Susie
Oct 21, 2007
Check the news tonight. 30-40 foot flames leaping over Pacific Coast Hway in
Malibu and we are on fire watch. The choppers get water from a reservoir
down the street. Wind wind wind is the problem. We have had very dry weather
with the wind so there are quite a few fires in the southland. So far so
good right here. Do you know where Pepperdine Univ. is? That is the command
post. Susie
Oct 24, 2007
The reason I love CA is that there is a spirit here that is wonderful.
Someone asked-well why would you live in Malibu when things like this happen
and the guy said- just look out to that ocean and the mountains and I wake
up to that every day! It is such amazing beautiful state with mts, ocean,
desert, lakes, rivers and more. We are fine now. I am next to Malibu-south.
When that was bad there was just one fire with lots of equipment. Now there
are too many fires. We are expecting water bombers from British Columbia.
Susie
10/12/07 - Note from Tom Powers to Van
Thanks for the well-wishes "on camera"
the other evening at the Mt. Kisco Country Club reunion dinner.
The video footage my kids (the singers and dancers) brought back
provided a priceless "visit" with old friends from the class of '57.
Clearly, a great time was being had by all. It was fun to join in, if
only indirectly. Again, thanks for the greeting, which I return with
gratitude.
Warm regards,
Tom
10/10/07 - We thank Bob for the following entry.
As those of you at the reunion dinner know, Bette Piller was named
Miss Greeley for
Life. We also named Roy Ruderman
Mr.
Greeley. And about time too.
Many of us like to think we are in good shape, but Roy can only be
described as outstanding. Last year he rode his bike over the French
Pyrenees, over a route that many have tried and few have succeeded, a 440
mile course up and down the French Alps with a total vertical climb of
36,000 feet. That's around seven miles straight up. To do that in just over
4 days is a feat at any age. To do it at age 67, you've got to be either
Superman or Mr. Greeley.
10/08/07 - This editor visited the two houses he lived in during his Chappaqua days and found them both extensively modified. Roy has the following to say about a revisit to his Millwood home.
My old house visit was an eye opener for me too. It had been about 40 years since I last saw the place and the footprint and interior walls were unchanged. My father built it in the late 40's. The bedroom which my brother and I shared was not much bigger than some of the walk in closets in today's homes. The current owners, a lesbian couple/retired NYPD police officers, were very interested to hear some of the history.
10/07/07 - Judy Donahue has sent the following message.
Do you read any David Grayson? I found this when I came up for air after
the reunion, can you use it on the site anywhere?
From Adventures in Understanding..."Do you ever have suddenly a hunger for old friends, a vast unappeasable appetite for the very look of them? Do you ever feel that nothing will satisfy you but the look, the voice, the very way of an old friend?"
I'm
sorry we didn't get to visit in NY. I was too busy trying to get Doug
Norton or Tom Aveni to come to a party. :) I came away from the reunion,
I think like we all did, not quite able to put into words at least right
enough to cover how I felt. Then I read the Grayson quote, and still a
Stone, I realize it was Satisfaction!
Congratulations to you all, I can’t be there for the 50th. I do hope you all have a wonderful reunion. Thanks for the memories and best in the future! Horace Greeley was a great school!
Photo from Jim Kennedy's visit August 14-16, 2007 at Tom Powers's place in Hankins, (upstate) NY. Jim made the trip from his home in Etna, NH, and they spent two days in reminiscing, fishing, and music-making (Tom still sings and picks a guitar; Jim has become, of all things, a country fiddler). And -- highlight of the trip -- Jim worked his national champion English setter, Cleo, for Tom and for the kids in the East Ridge School. In the picture Cleo has just finished locating and holding a perfect point for the last of 4 pigeons/chukars that Jim hid in our various fields.
Westchester Curling Club 1957. My Mother Mildred Fay Vaughan (on left) curled while we lived in Chappaqua. Several women from Chappaqua were on her team. She loved it and I always wished I had a chance to follow in her footsteps. Found her plaid and gray curling hat with the button---- CHABAWAB... Can't Hit A Bulls Ass With A Broom. I looked up on the internet and the closest Curling Ass. is about a five hour drive from here. Maybe that will change. Was it Jimmy Warburtons Mom (in center) that curled with her?
