Scuttlebutt - W.C. Mepham High School Alumni … · 2015-04-15 · Scuttlebutt W. C. Mepham High...

Summer 2014 Volume 35 1

Mepham’s Amazing Students and StaffJones Beach Rejuvenation Plans

ScuttlebuttW. C. Mepham High School Alumni Association • Summer 2014

2 Scuttlebutt

ScuttlebuttVolume 35 — Summer 2014

PublisherW. C. Mepham High School

Alumni Association, Inc.2401 Camp Ave.

North Bellmore, New York 11710

Editorial Board & StaffCarol Farina Kilgallin ’72, Chairman

Clare Eastwood Worthing ’46, Editor

Jerry Worthing ’41, ProductionGloria Dinger Chapman ’43Mikki Hannan Wilbert ’51

Margaret Hennessy ’45Brian Levy ’60

Elaine McLachlan Sanders ’41Vincent Proto ‘70

Frank Setteducati ’70

OfficersCarol Farina Kilgallin ’72

PresidentKevin Gallagher ’79

Vice PresidentMargaret Hennessy ’45

TreasurerDoris M. Christmann ’65

Co-TreasurerDoris Kane Johnson ’49

Recording Secretary Frank Setteducati ’70

Corresponding SecretaryJoanne Spitale Herlihy ’72

HistorianVincent Proto ’70

Past President Advisor

Board of DirectorsGloria Dinger Chapman ’43

Clare Eastwood Worthing ’46Mikki Hannan Wilbert ’51

Gail Hochberg ’67Katherine Irving Costello ’75

David Krinsky ’67Brian Levy ’60

Jane Randall ’64Elaine McLachlan Sanders ’41

Lynn Setteducati Bible ’65Jerry Worthing ’41

Flashbacks

FROM MARY SETTANNI KING’S PHOTO ALBUM:

Ted King ’47, Mary Settanni King ’47, Jinny Polek Brown ’49, Bob Brown ’50

Lillian Walsh Sarrapede ’48 and Jimmy Sarrapede ’48 (dec. 12/19/13). The

Kings and Sarrapedes both celebrated their 63rd anniversaries last summer.

JOLLY ROGERS 1955: back: Bart Kaplow, Bill Joel, George Duberstein, Bill Seigel, Barbara Clukies, Ralph Schmoller; middle: Gary Schechter,

Carl Strommen, Pete Gridley, Joe Bartow; front: Gayelord Wi-ley, Richie Ward, Art Pritchard, Bob Parada, Steve Jacobs

MOTHERS AND CHILDREN:Back: Lillian Walsh Sarrapede ’48 & Chris-sie, Phyllis Yoxall Dunphy ’50 & Jimmy. Front: Joan Smith Swensen ’48 & Steven,

Janet Rock Smith ’47 & Donel, Mary Settanni King & Charlie

Tree on Circle Drive—where the Kings lived 1955–1960, enjoying the Christmas carols

MEPHAM FOOTBALL TEAM, 1940 (photo sent by Jack Nuding ’41)Front row: Egan, O`Shaughnessy, Banta, Schaaf, Nuding, Dubick, Clausen, Caward. Second row: Mr. Almstead, Canini, Ogden, Tickner, Sisler, Hall, Rowley, Wessman, Coach Gardner. Rear: Mulcahy—manager, Finnerty, Winter, Lockman, Beyer, Hughes, Mr. Versocki.

circa 1939

Mary Lou Schadt Burges ‘53

(cousin) Louise (Lois Schadt Meyer ‘52 (dec.)

Donald Schadt ‘53

Coach Mike Lurel 1955See a story about him

on page 23.

We appreciate and thank you for the photos

you send for the Flashback page.


Mepham Alumni President .................. [email protected] Queries ................................... [email protected] changes (web) ............. Mepham.Org/register.htmlAddress changes (e-mail) ............ [email protected] Articles/Editorial comments ............ [email protected] ..................................... [email protected] Yearbooks [email protected] ..................................... [email protected]’s Who Applications ........... [email protected] Site ............................................... www.Mepham.OrgWebmaster ................................ [email protected]

Alumni Association Contacts

Special FeaturesMepham’s Amazing studentsThe programs they participate inJones Beach RejuvenationIdeas for Future Ex-Crew QuestionsExplosion of Technology Terrence Breidenbach ‘42Important Message from the BoardIn MemoriamA Short Story Arthur Tauber ‘54Response about (Nick)namesBook Reviews: Teachers to ApplaudMepham’s Sport’s Stories and Stars

Regular FeaturesFlashbacksPresident’s Message Carol Farina Kilgallen ’72Editor’s NoteMepham Today, Principal’s Message Michael HarringtonStudent AwardsEx-Crew SpeaksWho’s Who Awards and BrunchPoopdeckIn the WakePieces of EightReunions, Past and UpcomingAnniversaries and Weddings Scrapbook

President’s MessageIIIIn This Issuee

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”

Edward Everett Hale

Editor’s Note I have had such joy and satisfaction, putting this issue together, such wonderful information from membership forms, from Mepham, from re-search—I only hope you receive joy reading its content. There are more pictures than ever, keeping Jerry very busy, perfecting them for you. Incoming information gets tabbed (color-coded) and filed. Everything looks so well-organized and beautiful. As I work through, things get dis-placed and my desk is one huge mess! This time there was more stuff than I could use. There are times I walk away from the desk very groggy indeed. If something of yours got misplaced and not used, please forgive me. I real-ly, really try. And I thank you for the things you send. [To meet deadlines, for printer and mailing, I cut off collecting membership forms in May.] They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I like to use as many pictures as I can. I have thanks to hand out for some of those sources we use. For more about that, go to page 30.

Clare Eastwood Worthing ‘46

4 5 61213

202121

22 232526

2 3

3 8

91014162223283031

Winning Cover Photoby Jasmine Sultan

This Spring, members of the Mepham H.S. Alumni Board of Directors will join me in attending the Me-pham Senior Awards Night. It is an annual event that I thoroughly enjoy. We will have the pleasure of pre-senting scholarships - made possible by our generous alumni - to approximately twenty graduating seniors. In addition, I will be welcoming Mary Ann Zoltko Carlson, Marhsall Hardy and their classmates (Class of ‘63) who have raised $9,000 for the Joseph Mancuso Awards that they will present to five deserving students of the Class of 2014. Mepham Pride certainly does span the decades.

Speaking of spanning the decades, I would like to initiate, in the fu-ture, some events that appeal to our alumni of the more recent decades. Perhaps we can start with a gathering at a local bar/restaurant after the Homecoming football game. Please feel free to offer suggestions of ac-tivities and/or events that you would like to see happen. My e-mail ad-dress is [email protected].

As always, I’d like to thank you for your very generous contribu-tions that allow us to support the Mepham High School community. Although this wonderful organization is “chugging along,” we need new faces and ideas to keep it going. Please consider contacting me and getting involved, either in person or from a remote location. You, too, can be a part of Mepham High School.

I hope you enjoy this issue of The Scuttlebutt which highlights not only the memories of years past, but also provides wonderful stories about the students and activities at our alma mater today. Thank you to Clare Worthing, our editor, who creates such a fine publication, and Jerry Worthing who helps in production.

Best Regards, Carol Farina Kilgallin ‘72

4 Scuttlebutt

Mepham’s Amazing Students Brian Keohane is the 2014 valedictorian. He is a Na-

tional Merit Scholarship Program semifinalist [see right] and was named a candidate in the prestigious U.S. Presidential Scholars pro-gram. He was named a News 12/Capital One Scholar Athlete of the Week—an honor given to only 30 Long Island students a year that

recognizes seniors who excel in athletics, leadership, and scholarship, have an unweighted average of 90 or above, SAT scores of 1,950 or higher, outstanding participation in at least two sports, and examples of solid leadership skills. Brian is the first Mepham student to receive this honor. . He is a volunteer tutor through the Peer Tutors program and makes presentations at the elementary schools with Athletes Helping Athletes. Brian is a three-season athlete in cross-country, basketball, and spring track, serving as captain on all three teams this year. Outside of athletics, he is a member of the math team, Science Club, Physics Olympiad Team [see page 5] and takes a challenging roster of classes, including Advanced Place-ment U.S. History, English, Macroeconomics, Calculus BC, Physics C, Italian and psychology. Brian is interested in studying engineering next year at Duke. His future career plans include going to graduate school and obtaining his doctorate.

Matthew Waldmann is the 2014 Salutatorian. He is committed to his studies in mathematics and science, He is an active member of the Mepham commu-nity. Academically, he challenges himself with a rigorous course load, including such classes as Advanced Placement Statistics, Chemistry, Physics and Calculus BC. A member of the school’s Physics Olympics team, Math team and Athletes Helping Athletes program, he’s also a dedicated member to several other Mepham activities. He’s played for the varsity Bulldogs ice hockey team for the past four years, serving as captain for the past two, and played three years of varsity soccer, being named captain as a senior. Matthew gives back to the community with his involve-ment in the Wounded Warrior Project and Make-A-Wish Foundation. He plans to study aerospace engineering at the University of Michigan and hopes to become a successful engineer.

2014 National Merit Semifinalists Brian Keohane is an unassuming, humble powerhouse with an innate thirst for life and one of the school‘s most successful students. Brian’s passion for science is evident in his successes as a member of the Science Olympiad team. Last year, he was the winner of the 2013 Long Island Physics Olympics and was named a U.S. National Chemistry Olym-piad National Finalist. A leader both inside and outside of the classroom, he acts as a tutor through the peer tutor program, is a member of Athletes Helping Athletes, and is a three-season varsity ath-lete on the basketball, track and cross-country teams, serv-ing this year as captain of the latter two. He has devoted countless hours to community service within his school and community.

Aaron Goldstein is an articulate, com-passionate and principled young man of great integrity. Throughout his high school career, Aaron has challenged himself with the most rigorous courses available to him, earning induction into the Science, Spanish, English, Mathe-matics and National honor societies and being named an AP Scholar with Distinc-tion. He has actively developed and conducted oncology research at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in the Immunology Program, where he worked for the last two summers. Aaron has also participated in the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad Competition. Always giving back, he‘s an active participant in SADD, the literary magazine and Peer Leaders, as well as a mentor and tutor in the school‘s peer tutor and Student Network of Cooperative Science programs. He will go to Williams Col-lege in Massachusetts.

Commended Students in the National Merit program Receiving letter of commendation for their participation, making it to the semi-finalist stage: Mepham students, Shire Kongstein and Matthew Panzarino.

Honored in National Writing Contest Jaime Marvin, junior, has been selected as a winner in the 2014 National Council of Teach-ers of English Achievement Awards in writing. The award was established in 1957 to encour-age high school students in their writing, and to recognize outstanding writers throughout the country. National judges evaluated students’ compositions on content, purpose, audience, tone, word choice, organization, development, and style; also for writing that demonstrated effective and imaginative use of language to inform and move an audience. Jaime submitted a themed piece and one that represented her best work.

Aaron and Brian

Brian and Matthew

National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholar David Kormos [see also Night on Broadway, page 5] is the 2013-2014 National Hispanic Recogni-tion Program Scholar, a program established in 1983 to identify outstanding Hispanic and Latino students. 5,300 students from an ap-plicant pool of more the 259,000, have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.

Students continued on page 27


And the programs they participate in...

programs continued on page 24

Mepham Physics Team Wins Big Students competed at the 26th annual Physics Olympics, sponsored by the Long Island Physics Teachers Association, on March 28 at SUNY Farmingdale. Mepham’s team, com-posed of Chris Juchem, Brian Keohane, Jane Kogan, Kevin Mendez, Matt Waldmann, and their coach, Bill Leacock, had their best year ever at the competition, taking four out of five first-place trophies and taking first place overall, earn-ing 63.5 points with the second, third and four place teams earning 50, 49 and 48, respectively.

The events that Mepham won were: Collision Course – An event where the team calculated the point of collision of two toy cars along an initially un-known distance. The team’s cars met at a point 0.3 cm away from their predicted point over a distance of 2.7 meters, for a remarkable 0.11 percent error. Fermi Event – Students use their knowledge of physics and mathematics to estimate an unknown value. For exam-ple, they were asked how many African elephants would have the mass as the sun. Out of five questions, the Mepham team was perfect on four and only off by one order of mag-nitude on the fifth question. Pendulum of Doom – The students had to predict the hor-izontal range of a pendulum mounted on a table, released from a given height and cut at the bottom of the swing, be-coming a horizontally fired projectile. Mepham’s projectile landed 0.6 cm away from their predicted point, so close that the judges were surprised by their accuracy. Physics Bowl – A game show event based upon the stu-dent’s physics knowledge. Mepham dominated with a score of 20 when the second-place team had only reached a score of 12.

Mr. Mepham ContestThe senior class collected more than $2,000 from ticket sales for the “Mr. Mepham” male beauty pageant to see students and faculty show why they “embody the spirit of an ideal Mepham pirate.” Chris Durkin was named “Mr. Mepham” in the student contest; English teacher Bill Morris in the faculty competition.

A Night on Broadway Members of the Skull and Bones Drama Club brought Broadway to the school’s stage in January with their an-nual revue show—A Night on Broadway—under the direc-tion of English teacher and Skull and Bones adviser Edward Grosskreuz Jr., and hosted by students Sabrina Mastrangelo and Eric Selzter. Normally the revue raises money for the drama program, However,this year all proceeds ($1,651) were donated to the Lymphoma Research Foundation. The students selected, staged, and rehearsed their own scenes from Wicked’s “The Wizard and I,” Alad-din’s “A Whole New World,” Rent’s “Seasons of Love,” Pippin’s “With You,” and Peter Pan’s “I’ve Gotta Crow.” Musical performances, with the performers were all dressed in black, spanned a variety of famous musicals, genres, and eras, with each student demonstrating his or her unique talents in the performances. Grosskreuz said, “This is just a real love of theater,putting on a show for the audience and having our own version of Broadway right here in Bellmore.”

Sound of MusicIn March, the Skull and Bones Drama Club performed the family friendly classic, The Sound of Music under the direc-tion of Edward Grosskreuz Jr., Kevin Burns as assistant director, Brie Piccirillo as choreog-rapher, Michael Mitchell giving vo-cal music direction, and Brian Nei-derman with instrumental musical direction, Added to the Mepham students, three North Bellmore El-ementary School students played the younger von Trapps.

St. Baldrick’s Chop Your LocksOn March 19 students, faculty and community members participated in the annual “Chop Your Locks” fundraiser, which seeks to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors healthy lives. This year honored Giuliana Geller, the daughter of social studies teacher, Jackie Geller. One and a half year-old Giuliana, known as Gigi, has been undergoing chemotherapy for un-differentiated small round cell sarcoma. In addition to the money raised by donat-ing eight or more inches of hair or by shav-ing their heads, there were raffles sold. The event raised over an amazing $76,000. Last November Mepham’s Battle of the Classes raised $3,815.31 for the St. Bal-drick’s Foundation.

David Kormos and Kassandra McAdam, singing the Disney

classic “A Whole New World.”

Jane Kogan, Matt Waldmann, Brian Keohane, Kevin Mendez, Chris Juchem, Coach Bill Leacock

Gigi, dancing around the gym at the fundraiser.

Donovan Berthoud/Herald Life

(With thanks to Julie Mansmann/Herald Life)

Photo by Donovan Berthoud

6 Scuttlebutt

Jones Beach—Now and Then

The Water TowerAerial View

West Bathhouse Heated salt water pool, West Bathhouse

Princess Rosebud and the Indian Village “Castles In the Sand” Museum

at the East Bathhouse

Paddle Boats in Zach’s Bay

Central Mall, Flag Pole, and Boardwalk

Band Shell (for dances and concerts)

Lifeguard tower on the beach

Sand sculpture for Jones Beach’s 75th anniversary (courtesy Doug Mills, Printing Emporium)

Pictures and (excerpted) text from the 2006 issue of Scuttlebutt:

Jones Beach was named after Major Thomas Jones, who owned land on the outer beach. It was the nautical vision of master builder and first head of the Long Island State Park Commission, Robert Moses, who built the causeway to reach it. It opened on August 4, 1929. A major land site was the massive tow-er, which contained 315,000 gallons of water, modeled after the campanile in St. Mark’s Square in Venice. The 2,413 acre state park featured swimming in the ocean, in a bay, and in heated pools. There also was a vast array of other ways to spend one’s time in the sun: shuffleboard, handball, deck ten-nis, roller skating, archery, softball, pitch-and-putt golf, dancing and con-certs in the band shell, solaria for nude bathing, and more. There were free water ballet and diving shows, water polo, and a marine stadium in the bay for musical productions and aquatic sports events. There was an Indian Vil-lage (1930-1950), where many a child learned about Indian lore. There were cafeterias, a beach shop, and even dia-per-changing rooms which Moses de-signed himself. The park didn’t close at night and, in the days before air con-ditioning, some families would “camp out” overnight to remain cool. When the original amphitheater in the bay became unsafe, it was demol-ished, replaced in 1952 by a new the-ater seating 8,200. Famed bandleader Guy Lombardo produced lavish mu-sical productions which took advan-tage of the moat that was between the stage and audience. In 1991 3000 more seats were added, 4,000 more in 1998... it [has become] one of the nation’s top concert stadiums. Over time many things were elimi-nated: handball courts, archery rang-es, roller skating rink, the free water shows, the beach chair and row boat rentals, water paddle boats, the dance shell concerts, nude sunbathing, and the Indian Village. A wonderful way to learn more about Jones Beach and its history is to go to the permanent exhibit in the East Bathhouse, “Castles in the Sand.”

Jones Beach—Origins and Significance


Note: It has been our experience that, whenever a question is asked about Jones Beach, the response has been tremen-dous. It was where we spent our summers, for recreation, social life, and employment. So, when we read about plans for a $65 million rejuvenation of Jones Beach (which is about to celebrate its 85th anniversary), it became obvious this would be a story of interest to our alumni:

On March 20, 2014 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the Jones Beach Revitalization Plan, to promote the restoration and transformation of this beloved state park. The aim is to “bolster the region’s tourism industry and enhance the qual-ity of life vital to attracting and retaining businesses on Long Island.”

Over the next 5 years the plan will consist of capital improve-ment projects funded primarily through the NY Works ini-tiative, and will have financial support from the Open Space Institute’s Alliance for New York State Parks program to cre-ate a study to reflect the needs on Jones Beach, the Office of State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP). First to be done, the West Bathhouse should be open by Me-morial Day weekend, with exterior refurbishment, and pool deck and filtrations system replaced. The plan consists of the following:

Adventure play area: will replace pitch-putt golf course between Central Mall and East Bathhouse with zip lines, rock-climbing walls, and multiple water-spray features. New picnic areas: adjacent to the boardwalk and open space for outdoor exercise classes, such as yoga and tai chi. Fee booths: rebuilt and automated to accept various types of payment, including credit cards and E-ZPass. Snack bar: on west side of Central Mall, renovated into a seasonal restaurant with historic roof terrace seating re-vived. A food marketplace will be operated under tents on the former Boardwalk Restaurant site. Catering space: West Bathhouse Historic Marine Dining Room on the second floor level will be created as catering space. Field 6 restaurant: Open year-round, the concession building will be renovated into a diner-type restaurant with a menu that changes by the season. Portable food vendors: will be right on the boardwalk for the first time. Between the East Bathhouse and Field 6 there will be a seasonal restaurant open on the beach as a pilot project. New recreational fields: for soccer, lacrosse, and other sports, new recreational fields to be installed between Field 3 and 4 parking areas with new beach-themed, seaside play-ground. Increased storm resiliency: to reduce coastal erosion, elevate new structures, raising the utilities of existing struc-ture, allow the natural accretion of dunes in select areas.

Jones Beach, breaking news...

First a bit of history: The text on page 8 gives its story. The memories of our alumni gives it depth. In the ’40s and ’50s at the West Bath-house the local high schools all had their “turf where class-mates could meet. Jones Beach offered a place where one could spend the day (most without expense), enjoying the many pleasures it had to offer: a clean beach with soft sand, lifeguards to watch when you swam, dancing and concerts, a pool show, the Indian Village where you learned crafts and heard sto-ries, places for sports, etc. Below is a description given by Jones Beach Rescue (sup-porting the enhancement of historic and natural resources, as well as recreation opportunities at Jones Beach through advocacy, edu-cation, and fund raising.)

The Plan:

ABOUT JBR (Jones Beach Rescue)

Jones Beach State Park is exceptional. There was noth-ing like it when the park opened in 1929 and it remains one of the greatest civic achievements of the twentieth century. Designed by Robert Moses for ordinary people, Jones Beach was far from ordinary. It provided a spec-tacular oceanfront setting, outstanding architecture, beautiful landscapes, and world-class recreational fa-cilities all for the price of a parking fee. In its heyday, Jones Beach was truly “a day at the beach.”

While the park continues to deliver a great seaside expe-rience, it has diminished significantly over the years due to deferred maintenance. As a premiere park in the State System, Jones Beach always demanded special attention and current fiscal realities indicate that the Parks De-partment simply cannot keep up with its needs. That’s where Jones Beach Rescue, an all-volunteer organiza-tion, comes in. We believe future generations deserve no less than the Jones Beach Robert Moses planned for us. We are committed to restoring and enhancing the park’s historic and natural resources. Project by project, through fundraising, education, and advocacy we will work with the Regional Office of the New York State Parks Department to recapture the greatness of Jones Beach. We invite you to help us make that mission real.

Jones Beach Rescue is fiscally sponsored by the Open Space Institute, Inc., as part of its Citizen Action Pro-gram.

Walter Feser ’46

News keeps coming in...There was a meeting held on May 6th to discuss the plan, which where there were mixed reviews: union members asking that local workers make the improvements, some wanting accommodations for boaters, some afraid of over development, etc. See more about Jones Beach son page 31.

8 Scuttlebutt

Mepham TodayFrom the Principal’s desk

Ms. Rosemary Steel, retiring English teacher, will be an incredible loss. She is a true scholar, and Me-pham H.S. has been very fortunate to house this encyclopedia for the past 22 years. She attended Swarthmore College for her undergraduate de-gree, completed her Master’ Degree and worked toward her doctorate at NYU. She started at

Mepham as a student teacher turned department intern, and became a permanent fixture in the English Department Sept. 1992. The close personal relationships she shares with students has students of every ability level flock to room 235, where she always gladly imparts her wisdom, light-hearted quips, and expert advice. She has won a number of awards, ranging from LIU’s

Preparing students for life after Mepham with a contin-ued emphasis on the importance of helping others remain top priorities of our caring and dedicated school communi-ty. Teachers continue to provide students with the tools and skills needed to be successful in the 21st century and instill in them the ability to express gratitude and show compas-sion. Academically, Mepham High School remains ranked among the best schools in Nassau County with more than one out of four students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses. Students were proficient on state assessments and worked diligently with their teachers to develop the neces-sary skills to be successful in college and/or careers. Our Science Research and Financial Literacy programs contin-ue to flourish and our Virtual Enterprise students opened a new school store this year named The Pirates Cove. The Class of 2014 garnered prestigious state and local awards, including a National Merit Finalist, a Channel 12 Scholar-Athlete and an NCTE Writing Award winner (nine winners in seven years). Students, staff, and parents were involved in a number of community-minded activities, such as our holiday toy and food drives and our building wide efforts in support of St. Baldrick’s. This year the Mepham commu-nity raised over $76,000 for childhood cancer research and treatment. This year, the School and Community Leadership stu-dents organized school-wide events and continued to en-hance our caring and compassionate culture. On April 25th, our Peer Leaders organized a most successful Pay it Forward Day. The hallways and classrooms were covered with “Pay it Forward” cards demonstrating the ripple effect that can take place as a result of giving. The 2013-14 school year was also highlighted by the start of Mepham’s new mentoring program, Mepham STRONG. Our department chair people and academic supervisors continue to work with teachers to provide Mepham stu-dents with unique educational opportunities and to best prepare them to be successful and active 21st century citi-zens. Teachers build upon each child’s unique strengths

and talents and then develop stimulating learning experiences to ensure success. Once again, in partnership with the Alumni Asso-ciation, Mepham’s afterschool ELITE (Enriching Learners in Tomorrows Education) program reflected the genuine com-mitment of the Mepham faculty. Over fifty different after-school learning activities were offered to students this year, allowing and encouraging students to follow their passions and explore topics of genuine interest while developing the skills necessary to be well rounded citizens and deep think-ers for life after Mepham. Overall the culture of Mepham continues to foster a love for learning and a love of school. “Battle of the Classes,” So They Think They Can Dance, “Open Mic Night,” and “Mr. Mepham” were all activities that re-sulted in a greater sense of pride for our school community and contributed to a true sense of school belonging. Our athletic program continues to offer student-athletes a wide variety of competitive, supportive, and healthy after-school options. More than half of our students participated in interscholastic sports during the course of the year and impressively, all of our athletic teams achieved the honor of being designated “scholar-athlete teams” by New York State. Similarly, the arts program at Mepham continues to grow and provides the school with a personality that natu-rally embraces culture through music and art. The improve-ments in instruction and professional collaboration made in both our music and art departments were significant, and students have truly benefitted from the talent and collabora-tion of the two departments. Thank you to Carol Kilgallin and the Association for their constant support and inspiration. The pride in Mepham High School demonstrated by the members of the Alumni Association continues to serve as a model for our students and staff, and the bond between Mepham’s past and present continues to grow stronger each year. The Alumni Associa-tion’s contributions to our school continue to be outstanding and I am very blessed to work with such wonderful people.

Michael Harrington

Secondary Teacher of the Year to the”Most Inspirational Teacher.” She is undoubtedly a Master Teacher, caring about the social, emotional, and metal well-being of her stu-dents. She has taught every grade level of English, Reading and Writing Applications, College Reading. She is known as THE Advanced Placement Literature teacher, and has de-veloped Mepham’s hugely successful Homework Support Program. Ms. Steel has been an adjunct professor at Adelphi Uni-versity, an SAT/college essay tutor, and a devoted and lov-ing wife to Peter and mother to Andrew and Jonathan. We wish her many years of health and happiness, filling her days reading and learning more, and satisfying her insa-tiable appetite for eclectic information.


Alumni Association Student Awards...With gratitude for our alumni’s generosity, we were able to give these awards on May 28, 2014 at the annual Mepham Awards Assembly. This year’s presenters were: Carol Farina Kilgallin ‘72, Brian Levy ‘60, Kathy Irving Costello ‘75, Dr. Robert Warkala ‘78, Marshall Hardy ‘63, and Mary Ann Zoltko Carlson ‘63

$28,000 presented to graduating seniors

Funds for scholarships and awards are de-rived from Alumni Association member-ships and contributions.

H. Walton Alderfer Award—$1,000 to a student for vocal achievement, intending to pursue a choral career. To Sabri-na Garone.

Alumni Wrestlers Scholar Award—$1,000 to a wrestler who demonstrated teamwork, scholarship, a dedication to wrestling, and overall hard work; must be enrolled in a col-lege. To Louis Hernandez.

Sanford H. Calhoun Memorial Award—$1,000 to a person of integrity who exhibits hard work and the courage to hold on to principles and inspires to do their best. To Brian Keo-hane.

Gangel Family Memorial Award—$1,000 each to a grad-uating boy and girl entering a science-related career. To James Ancona and Kiara Kaylor.

Jacob Gunther Memorial Award—$1,000 to “most choir-spirited” student. To Kevin Neira.

Hunte Memorial Award—$500 each for a graduating wres-tler and a graduating soccer player. (In memory of Ken Hunte, coach for wrestling and soccer). To Matthew Wald-mann for soccer. To John Sherlock for wrestling.

Klein Family Award—In memory of Viola Odenheimer: $500 awarded to a student desiring a career in medicine or dentistry. To Amreen Ghazi.

Mepham Pride Award—$1,000 in memory of our founder Richard Wilgenkamp, to a student who has exhibited pride in Mepham, its values and traditions. To Dominick Bove.

One Diverse Community Award—Two $1,000 awards to seniors who have contributed most to the understand-ing and acceptance of diversity in the school. To Laurel Gumpert and Juliana Dijkstra.

George L. Pritchard Award—$1,000 in tribute to Mepham’s first band director. To Nicholas Bragman.

John “Denny” Ryan ’59 Memorial Award—$1,000 given in memory of Denny Ryan to a student of integrity who has given outstanding service to Mepham and the community. To Maria Skidmore.

Nick Sabetto Athletic and Academic Achievement Award—$1,000 to the student with outstanding sportsman-ship and initiative, and at least a “B” average. To Christo-pher Durkin.

School Spirit Award—Two $1,000 awards to students showing the most “school spirit,” while maintaining high scholastic standards. To Steven Forte and Nicole Jacubovics.

Dr. Frederick H. Stunt Leadership Award—$1,000 to the student showing outstanding leadership. To Kellie Anne Gilroy.

Vietnam Era Veterans Award—$1,000 in memory of a stu-dent who passed away during the Vietnam War, to a “stu-dent with strong convictions, whatever they may be.” To Adam Wolin.

Matthew F. Warkala ’80 Memorial Award—$500 to a male or female member of the Cross Country and/or Track and Field team who has demonstrated the most improvement or best spirit over the course of his/her senior year. To Andrew Montalti.

Jasmine Sultan Aleksandra Zukoff Jackie Nuzzo

First prize winner in the photo contest this year was Jasmine Sultan. She wins $200 and the honor of having her photo as the cover of Scuttlebutt this year. Seen here, accepting the Alumni Association check, with photography teacher, Kelly Schiulaz

Most Improved Student—$1,000, given by the Class of 1962 for the student who has shown notable improvement since their freshman year. To Ashley Tynan.

Joseph Mancuso Scholarship— 5 awards of $1,800 each, given by the Class of 1963 in honor of their classmate. To Andrew Montalti, Tony Li, Erica Miller, Arianna Miller,

Miranda Balash

New Awards, one time only in 2014:

Mary Ann Zolto Carlson and Arnie Solomon to: Balash, Li, Miller, Montalti, and Miller

10 Scuttlebutt

Ex-Crew Speaks This year’s question: In the past decade there has been an explosion of technology. How has this affected your everyday life?

Faculty Like using the computer to a certain extent. Frances Branca

1940 You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, so not possible for this 93 year-old woman to want to learn new tricks; slowed down quite a bit since I broke my neck 4 years ago; still have my wits about me to keep up with the rest of the worlds doings. Doris Carey Gallo... Enjoy every aspect of it and especially enjoy my “Nook” downloading books from our local library. Patricia Ann Clyde Meyer... It hasn’t because I don’t have a computer; I’m from the dark ages. Dorothy Voaux Heuslein

1941 You bet there has,” most of it has gone past me; thank goodness for a grandson who can help me with the computer! Jack Nuding... It completely bypassed me. Hans Schneider... Tech-nology has been my life, from electric-ity in the 6th grade, radio class in high school, radio in the army, designing analog computers in the 1940s through the 1960s, digital computers since then, designing web sites since the 1990s; been my whole life! but I still use a phone connected to the wall! Jerry Worthing

1942 Technology an important com-ponent in the practice of law, particu-larly re communication, both internal and external; also preparation of docu-ments and their transmission (internal & external); legal research and ready availability of news and pertinent reg-ulatory publications, has made marked transformation in the modus operandi of jurisprudence. Jerry Fernandez... Too much phony information; I don’t give out my e-mail address any more. Fred Langdon... Tremendously, but I enjoy it; and use it as much as I can handle. Kathleen Smith Mancini... As an elec-tronics technician in the navy, on dis-charge applied at RCA, spent 25 years before becoming an electronics repre-sentative with a company that called on electronics user companies, selling components; then my own firm; re-

tired in ‘80s. Donald Miller

1943 Overwhelmed by a baffling in-finity of choices. Fred Breidenbach... Confused about all the devices. Em-mett Brown... My grandchildren don’t converse with me anymore; they text. Alberta Settanni Splescia.

1944 I’m befuddled, amazed, brain-dead, and trying to learn; thanks for children and grandchildren. Frank Bar-ley...Love my computer; easy to keep in touch with friends and family! Pat Christy

1945 Has accelerated the toxicity that spews out of Washington and Holly-wood; medicine benefitted, but seems that greed and hunger for power have accelerated evil more rapidly; creativ-ity of the individual being squelched by the whims of the “group,” thus the world will suffer loss; freedom, the only spirit I knew, is disappear-ing; technology and man’s stupidity are co-perpetrators. Russell Randall... Very little; try to ignore it, preserved my marriage by keeping my hands off her computer and staying with the telephone and written word for com-munication; multitude of things being made available to me by the English lady hidden in my auto control panel is however beginning to get to me, and I may actually have to read the owners manual. William Steenson

46 Except for occasionally carrying a cellphone, have not been affected by the explosion of technology. Marilyn Hesse Weltz... With advent of cellphones and computers one finds maintaining relationships easier, information more accessible; web sites like “You Tube” allow opportunities to hear the great music we grew up with and view great movies of the past, and internet for up-to-date news and latest medical find-ings; never dreamed we would live long enough to enjoy this “great ex-plosion;” however the same technol-ogy has diminished the personal touch

that existed previously—no more hand written thank you’s or letters, just brief impersonal e-mail; no more eye con-tact, but that is progress! Charles Nas-tasi... Love progress; modern medicine has kept many alive long beyond our own hopes and expectations— but oh how I long for the days when you could leave the doors in your house unlocked and find all four tires on your car the next morning. Pascal Perri

47 It hasn’t—love a quiet life and still prefer the old ways! Helene Claire Sig-wart

48 Explosion of technology has made life much easier to touch base with anyone and everyone. Sam Cario

49 Left me in the dust; don’t own a lap top or cell phone. Al Graf... Recently purchased a WOW computer (1st one) to take the challenge in the world of computer activities at 82 yrs. Arlene Mayer

50 Thanks to internet can share pho-tos and texts with family, which is spread out from CT to FL to NC. Rich-ard and Carol Amari Milhaven... Actually not much at all; have a computer that comes with no operating instructions and a “Jitter Bug” cell phone that does have instructions! use my computer for e-mail, the cell phone as a safety device while traveling; other than that, no intrinsic value in “smart phones” and other portable devices; technology developed seems to be used for games or “social advertising” i.e. Face Book, Twitter, etc.—interesting but of no real value to the world; hence inclined to ignore it. Bud Pepitone

51 Had to get on facebook to see all the latest pics of my 7 great grandchildren who are scattered over the east coast. Joan Berlenbach Jewhurst

52 Like to go back in time when life was simpler; technology is mind bog-gling—can’t keep up with it; registered


with facebook and use it to see what my grandchildren are doing; regis-tered with twitter but don’t know how to tweet [need some instruction]; don’t know how to use Instagram or Pinter-est or Linked in; also find it a real time consumer, and sometimes inane; like to return to a way of life slower and more peaceful. Carol Ann Balz Wiesler... None at all; don’t have a computer nor know how to operate one; rather speak on phone; can tell by tone of voice if there is a problem; don’t have a private phone or texting; want my peace. Joan Cheslock...Made it more confusing! Dor-othy Gebert Sparke... Speed of informa-tion processing keeps increasing; aging process slows you down; now taught by my grandchildren. James Gobetz

53 You are right! has blown my mind; my grandchildren know a heck of a lot more than I! Emil Antonucci... Enjoyed learning to use computer and IPAD; e-mails to family and friends, infor-mation at the fingertips, etc; Skype of visual and verbal communication with those far away; awesome develop-ment. Elizabeth Goettel Beyer... Learned to use Apple computer when teach-ing high school {80s}; if we are to stay young and up-to-date, must keep up with new technology; how else would I see pictures if not for Facebook; tex-ting a way of life! feel sorry for friends who won’t text or use computer. Jan Johnston Kostolansky... E-mail allows me to keep in touch with family and friends. Maureen Milligan Hesse... Com-puter, iPhone, iPad, etc. have made my 16 grandchildren closer to me and me to them! Mary Lou Schadt Burgess... In our seventies, we could not live with-out our cell phones! however neither “text;” would be lost without our com-puter and love to e-mail, especially our daughter in Africa; use skype; Face-book not so much, Smartphone, not yet, too expensive! Les & Grace Camilleri ’55 Wittekind

54 Technology enriched and expand-ed my world in so many wonderful ways: communicating with friends and family, travel, news, genealogy, ad in-finitum. Judy Mohr Macias... Heavy in-vestor in tech stocks—very profitable. Harvey Poppel... Can’t be without my cell phone; never remember phone #’s

now;learned to text if I want an answer from grandchildren;gave in and have a Nook and computers; much busier than before; not much time for hobbies, takes more time to use everything! Car-olyn Summers Herrera

55 Who would have thought what we have seen! Edmond Menegaux... Held off for years, but a recently received iPad has become a “best friend.” Bill Schack

56 Been an extraordinary 50 years; if you consider cost, effort, and anxiety of making a long distance phone call 50 years ago and skyping with someone at the other end of the earth today, you know what I mean. Constance Adam Roustom...Made our lives and busi-ness better; brought us closer to our grandchildren who understand new technology a lot better than us. Thomas and Eugenia Essex ‘ 57 Blank... Opened and arsenal of knowledge, but taken away “quality of life;” find I’m “al-ways on;” the cell phone never stops; as real estate broker, must always an-swer the phone; years ago communi-cation was 9AM to 5 PM, now till 9 at night, weekends too; volume of unso-licited e-mails surpasses all the “junk” mail we always abhorred; result e-mail just another chore; 99% I never open. Mary Ryan Kuhlkin...I don’t do it—my large staff does it! William Wadsworth... Technology is certainly amazing; just bought my first color TV; had no idea that Howdy Doody had orange hair; what’s next! Jan Wilgenkamp

57 Got first computer two years ago & find I’m spending more time inside either checking things out, playing games, or sending e-mails; think some-time was enjoying myself more when I ignored the explosion of technol-ogy; love talking on the phone once in awhile instead of e-mailing or texting. Lillian Beebe... Have a cell phone (that’s my technology); my 5 grandkids af-fected far more than me. Roger Boily... Technology is everywhere, but I try to keep a “natural” non-technical life on the front burner; run almost everyday in the woods, with the birds and squir-rels and “smell the roses!” works for me. Thomas Ganley... Technology cer-tainly enhanced my everyday life and brought many changes, most notably

increase in rudeness and interruption; conclusion: can’t live without it and sometimes can’t live with it! Barbara Potter Sperry... Technology is terrorism. Margaret Ritterbusch Oliva

58 Makes communication and re-search wonderfully easy! On the other hand, hate doing business with ma-chines rather than people—having to listen over and over again to prompts that don’t pertain, and being made to discuss individual situations. Judith Lauer... No interest in getting educated about what technology can do for me; know that’s very old-fashioned, but I do just fine doing things my way. Ruth Lindlaw Leonard

59 Technology has exploded with-out me. Thank God for grandkids to show me the way. Kathleen Beales Mo-ench... Had to learn a lot; husband Paul just published his 1st novel Annuals, a novel of bioterror with a veterinary twist; an experience for us both getting this accomplished; sequel in second draft; computers can still be challeng-ing! Ruth Menchen Bromberg... It hasn’t; don’t know how to use any of it. John Ringel... My TV is out of control; never e-mailed anyone, so have no commu-nication; do have a cellphone that flips (in case I get lost); car is 20 years old and haven’t figured out how to use the radio; oh for the good old days when the family got around the radio and lis-tened to the Shadow; hope this gets to you before the post office goes away. Gary Sirota... Not very proficient with new technology, but can use my laptop and love to text. Elizabeth Wolters Cro-nin

60 It’s omnipresent in just about ev-ery facet of my working (library) world and home life; also overseas member-ship coordinator for the London-based Historical Novel Society, and have virtually instant communication and financial transfers with 1,000 mem-bers from Australia to Iceland and all points in-between. Georgine Ameling-meier Olson... Am excited about reunit-ing with former classmates, long lost friends and relatives, and 26 years of former students. Concetta Bruy Coyne... Everything nowadays is iPhone, iPad, and computer; very little written com-

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munication; still very nice to receive a written letter or note! Gale and Tom Jen-kins... As a retired writer, couldn’t do it without my computer) P.S. I failed Soph. English!) Ronald von Freymann

61 Made me want to go live on a mountain top well away from cell phone towers, computers, and the jerks who can’t keep their faces out of their “smart phones” for more than 15 seconds. Robert Blake...Remember lis-tening to the vacuum tube radio in the kitchen; now have 3 computers, 2 tab-lets, and a cellphone, and avoid social media. Pietro John Caporusso... Definite-ly helping with Web pages, blogs, and new business—private practice. Kath-erine Kruse Grant... Virtually eliminat-ed quiet time. Thomas McLaren...Have re-connected with former classmates and through e-mails and Facebook, have kept in touch and met in FL for mini-reunions. Lynn Randall Buttner

64 Never an efficient typist, embraced word processing in part due to hus-band’s career in IT as a programmer; and early adapter teaching composi-tion in a computer classroom in the early ‘90s; now my iPhone checks spelling! Carmela Belardi Arnoldt...Hus-band of 43 years was involved in aero-space since 1967; till his death 6/10 the spin offs from this industry have been fantastic—smaller computers, duck tape, Velcro, things made tiny to go up in space—we now enjoy as every-day household items. Linda Gruninger Jones... Am addicted to my iPad—and scramble with friends. Susan Lewis Fause

65 Mobile telephone, text, e-mails—all methods to track a person; never can you say could not find you; informa-tion is communicated; lots and lots of paper, very fast; but does not make all this anymore correct or smart. Sara Lawrence... Love technology! if you don’t stay current you soon become a “dinosaur.” Marsha Levine

66 Since I’m a tech-idiot, advances have complicated my life; prefer rotary phones and Polaroid cameras. George Poppe

67 Try to stay away from it as much as possible. Cassandra Elliot... Become addicted to my Smart phone; it can do almost anything. Susan Smith Michael... Would love to expound upon how technology has affected my daily life; however so busy responding to e-mails I don’t have time to write about it. Rob-ert Stein

68 Too much time spent responding to e-mails (though I do love e-mail...and technology). Jay Dubner

69 Love being able to get reconnected with former classmates on Facebook. Ellen Forrest Mitchell... As with most things, some good, some not so good: love being able to catch up with old classmates on Facebook; don’t like how much we’ve become slaves to our gadgets. Trudy Hustedt Lehner... Still terrible on the computer. Gail Lennox Kaiser... Outstanding Industrial Arts classes experienced as a 6th grader in Martin Ave. Elem. (being driven to Newbridge Elem, the I.A. experiences in Grand Ave and Jerusalem Jr. Highs, and finally the terrific IA courses at Mepham led me to become a teacher (HS Technology Ed teacher); bringing better understanding about technology has been a life-time passion—planted and nurtured by a great education. Jim O’Brien

70 have been able to connect with friends and classmates on social media; enjoy seeing what everybody is up to; also able to see what is currently going on in Bellmore and Merrick, and remi-nisce about things that have changed. Peggy Danz Kasdan... Work with a computer system 5 days a week; do e-mail and research online at home; car engine is computer controlled; eating and sleeping seem to be the only thing in life that is not computerized! Frank Setteducati

71 Facebook has made it possible to connect with friends and family that I would otherwise have little or no con-tact with. Cathy Jones Powers... Work with 40 IT architects that develop APPs for smart phones. Steven Rohrssen

73 Although technology has provided

for global connections, it has also de-tracted from the simpler life; at our B&B in CO realized people wanted somewhere to just “tell their story” at—not talk to anything automated or “chat” with the computer; art of com-munication, joy of speaking getting diluted; on the flip side, everything is instantaneous in our lives (sometimes too much so!) Wendy Goldstein

74 Cannot function without my cell-phone; get mesages from husband, stu-dents, son, and all persons I hold near and dear. Jacci Weisenberg King... Com-puters can be very imposing, but am getting by; never used a cash machine (want to keep the tellers employed); miss talking to a live person on the telephone; and, oh, how I miss my Me-pham typing class! Lawrence Wolff

77 Haven’t seen my niece’s face, or that of anyone in my family under 20, since the iPad. Aggie Cutrone

78 Good and Bad! Janet Nicosia

83 Has developed my career and in-tellectual life to a high degree! Thomas Durand

84 Work as a nurse practitioner in a large cardiology practice; perform stress tests which are entered into a computer; no longer write prescrip-tions (done electronically); in a few months there will be no more paper charts, be on an electronic Medical Re-cord. Ingrid Bloomfield

86 The ease if being able to reconnect with old friends. Dennis Hood

Every year we puzzle over what would be a good question, one that would make you want to respond. If you have something you would like to write about (Mepham experiences, friend-ships, teachers, etc. or something about the times when your were in school or later, or whatever), please share with us. It would help us, and give you a question you’d like to write about. Let’s hear from you!

Ideas for “Ex-Crew” Questions


The explosion of technology in the past ten years will not match the in-crease in the next ten years. Technol-ogy is progressing exponentially. The past ten years’ effect is more easily answered by more recent graduates. For what it’s worth, I can tell you how technology has progressively affected my everyday life from way back when. I was born during Prohibition and a few years before the Great Depres-sion. We had an Ice Box and every week the Iceman delivered ice to fill it. Usually the size of the ice was a 10 cent piece but if there was a party on the weekend, we used up all the ice. That’s when we bought a 15 cent piece. Soon the technology of home refrigera-tion came into being and the Refrigera-tor replaced both the Iceman and the Icebox. But it increased the amount of parties. The affordable radio and automobile were also developing technologies. They didn’t come together until much later. My father told me that the Auto-mobile will replace the horse. I could understand the Refrigerator replacing the Iceman and Ice Box but how could cars replace the horse? You could see a lot of horse and wagons every day but very few cars. Cars needed gas and oil. Horses did not. Cars broke down often. Horses did not. Cars got stuck in mud and sand. Horses did not. A horse and wagon would go by and you could see the horse inadvertently feed a following flock of birds. Cars could not do this—especially inadvertently.

But technology improved and we kept seeing more cars and less horses (and birds). Finally the Automobile replaced the Horse. Not quite. Out West during Spring Roundup, you might see a couple of Pickup trucks but it takes a Cowboy on a horse to single out a calf from the herd. So horses are numerous on the range—and birds. In the WWII cavalry, the tank re-placed the horse. This was another technology that affected the world. After peace was made, technology turned to Television. You could get a discernible picture if you adjusted the raster, the horizontal and vertical hold, the contrast and the rabbit ears. Then technology perfected the remote which replaced the TV aerobics and you could sit on the couch with potato chips with-out needing to adjust the picture. Following TV, was the new tech-nology of the personal computer. You didn’t need punch cards to run the com-puter. You used floppy disks. Every-one said, “floppy disks, floppy disks. You have to learn floppy disks.” So I bought a computer and floppy disks. The manual instructed you to “boot” the floppy disk. This means place it in the slot of the computer and turn it on. It’s intuitive. Nothing happened. I had to study the book some more. It was a book whose unit of information was a bite, spelled byte. I thought that was a typo, but no, they later went up to tera-bytes (pronounced terror bites). This technology was hard to learn with the obfuscation of boot and reboot mean-

ing something not related to a boot at all and bite spelled with a Y. By the time I learned floppy disks, the disks stopped flopping. Then technology developed the cell phone. You didn’t need wires for a cell phone. You could walk around outside and call. There was a commercial on TV that showed a chimpanzee walking in the zoo and asking, “Can you hear me now?” He finally got an answer. I thought I could learn to use a cell phone if even a chimpanzee can learn it. But then again, this chimp can speak English. It was not easy. The cell phone also uses bytes. The keys were so close and my fingers so wide, that I punched more numbers than I intended. The voice on the phone said, “Thank you for calling International Ladies,” thirty bucks per minute. My wife reminds me of this mistake now and then. Technology poses a daunting chal-lenge for me but its results are mostly positive. President Bush from Texas, inadvertently gave me an encouraging word when in a speech, he had a mes-sage for the “C” students. The message was that they too could be President: maybe even a Republican President? Long before that speech was spoken, I was already a “C” student. Some may speak of “The good old days” before modern technology’s bytes and boots but I believe the best days are now and in the future. “The good old days” are for the birds.

Terrence Breidenbach ’42

Note: This was too long to put in the “Ex-crew” section without severe editing, and I thought you would enjoy reading it all.Explosion of Technology

Update on Plans for Mepham’s Radio StationThings are in the early stages. Construction is the first step, not yet begun, so patience is required.

It will be set up as a sequential course for those going into broadcasting communication. Initially it will be TV-based, with a Mepham news/talk show that goes throughout the building, potentially covering: Good Morning Mepham, Sportscasts, Pirate of the Month, Math Minds, Mepham Mu-sic TV, Pirates Presidential Campaign, etc.

We’ll let you know how things progress. It should be in ser-vice 2015 or 2016

Come to the All-Class Pirates’ PicnicNote the date: Saturday, September 6th (early this year).The place: Wantagh Park (next to the ramp for Jones Beach)The time: 11 am to 3 pmYou bring your food. We supply the ice for beverages (no hard liquor) and charcoal for the grill.

It’s a great opportunity to get together with those you remember from your high school years. You don’t have your own class reunion every year. But this is for all. Invite your friends and come and enjoy!

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Spring Luncheon and Who’s Who Awards 2014

Clare has spent her adult life as a volunteer, from the local Levittown PTAs she moved to the Nassau District PTA. where, as Legislation Chairman, she visited with Nassau County’s state legislators, presenting PTA’s legislative agenda. As Juvenile Protection Chairman, un-der the policy of National PTA, she devised

a program for volunteers to mentor juveniles who were in the Nassau County Children’s Shelter. After trying vari-ous approaches, this program was eventually adopted by Big Brothers and Sisters of Nassau County for use in high schools and implemented nationally. She also prepared workshops held at Fall and Spring Conferences; testified at hearings, particularly on juvenile justice issues; represented PTA on the boards of other local non-profit organizations; including sitting on committees for Nassau Co. Dept. of So-cial Services, Nassau County Youth Board, etc. After a panel at a 1978 seminar on “The Juvenile Justice System is a Re-volving Door, Fact or Myth” Newsday requested an opinion article which they printed. Moving on to the New York State PTA, she served as chairman of the Juvenile Protection Committee and then as Chairman of the Legislation Committee. She prepared work-shops held at state conventions, wrote numerous articles for State PTA publications, and testified at many hearings. She served on the School Bus Construction Standards Commit-tee in the NYS Dept. of Transportation and was instrumen-tal in having the Commissioner hold to the agreement to require roof hatches over the objection of the School Boards Association and School Bus Manufacturers. For the National PTA, in December 1979, Clare testified in Washington D.C. at a Public Hearing sponsored by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, on Child Transpor-tation Safety. Clare served on the Boards of Directors for numerous child oriented organizations, including the Center for Fam-ily Resources, the NYS Citizens Council for Children, Youth, and Their Families, Nassau Coalition for Safety and Justice, and Big Brothers and Sisters of Nassau County. She was also a licensed mediator for the Education and Assistance Cor-poration (EAC). Then Clare became the Class Representative for the Class of 1946, joined the Mepham Alumni Association Board of Directors, was its Historian, and in 2002 became Editor of its publications. Clare lives in Wantagh, and is the wife of Jerry Worthing ‘41, mother of Joan and Cathleen, and grandmother of David and Amanda.

Stephen Sinatra is a board certified cardi-ologist, nutritionist, and anti-aging specialist, also a certified bioenergetic psychotherapist. He graduated from New York’s Albany Med-ical College in 1972, and earned his certifica-tion in internal medicine from the American Board of Internal Medicine in 1975. He is board-certified by the American College of Cardiology, where he has been a fellow since 1977. His additional credentials include certi-fications from the Massachusetts Society for Bioenergetic Analysis (1992), the American Board of Anti-Aging Medi-cine (1998), and the Certification Board for Nutrition Spe-cialists (2000). He is also a fellow of the American College of Nutrition. He has published many articles in scientific journals on topics such as cholesterol and coenzyme Q10, where he pio-neered its use in the prevention and treatment of heart dis-ease. His experience with CoQ10 led him to develop a new branch of cardiology in the United States: “metabolic car-diology,” He has appeared on national radio and television broadcasts, including The Dr Oz Show, The Doctors, PBS’s Body & Soul,and more. He is also the author of the monthly newsletter Heart, Health & Nutrition and founder of Heart MD Institute. Dr. Sinatra lectures nationwide about energy medicine, focusing on the use of electroceuticals. In his books, news-letter, and interviews, he advocates treatment approaches, combining conventional medical therapies with nutritional and mind-body therapies to enhance the body’s natural bioenergetics. He promotes five specific pillars of cardiac health: (1) an anti-inflammatory diet; (2) nutritional supple-mentation (3) regular exercise; (4) detoxification; and (5) stress reduction. He is particularly aware of the impact one’s emotions have on overall health, stating that “whenever you confront a person with an illness, you have to involve ev-erything, including the spiritual...every illness has a psycho-logical and a physical component.” Dr. Sinatra has been critical of an over-emphasis on cho-lesterol as an independent risk factor for heart disease and of refined sugar, which he believes is linked to the proliferation of cancer cells. Steve lives in Manchester, CT. with his wife Jan (Jo-Anne) three children, Marchann, Stephen, and Drew.

On Sunday, May 4th the Mepham Alumni Association held its annual Spring Lunch, where it honored two recipients for Who’s Who Awards and two for Meritorious Service. Fifty-five attended the occasion, which was held in Mepham’s lovely library. Unfortunately, Stephen Sinatra could not attend, so his award was accepted in his place by his sister.

Who’s Who AwardsClare Eastwood Worthing, 1946Professional Volunteer

Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D., 1964Medicine—Cardiology


The Who’s Who program was originally instituted by the Bell-more-Merrick Central High School Board of Education. In 1987, the Alumni Association reestablished this program, which recognizes and honors graduates who have made significant accomplish-ments in their fields of work, and service to their communities.

Meritorious Service Awards

In a short space of time Michael Harrington has transformed the atmosphere in Mepham into a compassionate and caring school com-munity, where every student has at least one adult they can go to, confide in, or get sup-port from. He knows all the students by name

and takes a genuine interest in them. The immense “pirate pride” can be felt throughout the building on a daily basis. Every week is “spirit week.” He initiates new activities and events. He has not only helped ensure a caring learning en-vironment for his students, he has created a home for them as well. For the teachers, Mr. Harrington’s support gives ev-ery teacher at Mepham the opportunity to provide their students with incredible learning experiences and lasting memories. He is seldom in his office, popping his head into classrooms asking teachers “do you need anything?” No task is too big or too small. He continually supports their ideas and encourages them to “dream big.” For his secretary he brought his youthful attitude, his de-termination to continue the unparalleled reputation of this great institution and the vision to create a student-centered environment. She finds him to be one of the most genuine people she knows. He constantly attends all of the vari-ous athletic, academic, and extra-curricular events which are forever happening. He is extremely encouraging and brings a special “new millennium” feel to the building. In the words of the students who have consistently voted him “Most Inspirational faculty member—”he gets it.” For the Alumni Association, we feel Mike is a true partner in keeping Mepham as special as it was to us when we at-tended this school. Mike is a proud family man to his wife Michelle and his children Thomas James and Kelly Ryan. Contributions to this included Kerry Dennis, social studies teacher, and Donna Schmitt, principal’s secretary.

Michael Harrington, Principal, 2008—

During his 12+ years of service for the Alumni Association, Kevin brings the ice and sets up the grills for the All-Class Pirates’ Picnic, coordinates our table at the Bellmore Street Fair, handles the sales of yearbooks to alumni requesting them, sells alumni mer-chandise (tee shirts, sweat shirts, caps, etc) at

various functions (the picnic, street fair, reunions, and other alumni events), and reports to the board regarding upcom-ing reunions. When we have our “mailing party” to put labels on Scut-tlebutt, Kevin brings the boxes of copies to the Post Office, stocks extra copies of Quarterdeck and Scuttlebutt in order to send them out to newly found alumni and members, and is currently serving as Vice President. Kevin has certainly performed a wide variety of services over the years for the Alumni Association. Kevin holds a Bachelor of Science (Aeronoutics), Dowling College and Master of Science (Education), NYIT. He is a certified New York State teacher in Technology and Avia-tion Maintenance. He is currently employed by the Depart-ment of Defense as a Quality Assurance Auditor. He lives in North Bellmore in the house he grew up in with his wife Karen, daughter Kerry (a 2009 alumna), step-daughter Kerri, and their two black Labradors, Daisy and Gunner.

The Meritorious Service Award, established in 1998, is given with appreciation and recognition of thos who have given outstanding service and dedication to the Alumni Association and W.C. Mepham High School.

Kevin J. Gallagher, 1979

Who’s Who CommitteeBrian Levy, chairman, Clare Eastwood Worthing, Mikki

Hannan Wilbert, Doris Kane Johnson, David Krinsky

Donna and Kerry

Clare Eastwood Worthing and,

accepting for her brother, Pamela

Sinatra Robinson ’59

Kevin and Mike

Committee: Dave, Clare, Brian, Doris. Mikki missing

Principal and President:Michael Harrington and

Carol Farina Kilgallin

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PoopdeckNote: If you have been in Poopdeck in the past two years, you won’t be in this time; and I usually do not re-port on non-Mepham kids.

Faculty Frances Branca (North Bell-more NY)— Worked at Mepham 34 years; both sons Mepham graduates; belongs to Library Book Club; Secre-tary, North Bellmore Civic Assoc.

39 Mary Steppan Watras (Larchmont NY)—What a wonderful life! Great memories and Mepham is on the top of the list!

40 Doris Carey Gallo (Walhalla SC)— Hi! to fellow graduates. Fred Noa has nothing on me; was 92 last July, with children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and 2 great, great grandchildren; married 66 years when Ray passed away in a hospice house 2008; daughter Gale also Mepham grad 1960; now in assisted living; would like to hear from Dorothy Heuslin and oth-ers, including Fred Noa... Patricia Ann Clyde Meyer (Leesburg FL)— In a Re-tirement Community ([email protected]) and member of their photography club; works the camera in our closed Circuit TV station one week a month and does interviews twice a month; play social and dupli-cate bridge; travel abroad at least once a year; on the Sat. Nite Dance Committee (ball-room dance); has bragged about Mepham’s State of the Art building and won-derful young teachers that so inspired us; few years ago [escorted by fellow alumna Elaine McLaughlan Sanders] took son to visit Mepham; he was impressed; will always be grateful for the educational foundation... Wil-liam F. McCormick suffered a massive stroke and died 10 days later July ’13 in Hancock NH; was a Marine in WWII in the Pacific. (reported by his brother Tom ’44)

41 Alma Hattenbach Langevin Westminster MD)— Moved from Ven-ice FL [lived there 13 years] to a com-plete care facility; still in good health so we can travel.

42 George Duffy sent in the follow-ing last July. Unfortunately he passed away in October. Here are his words, referring to the last issue of Scuttlebutt: I was a great friend of Bill Mulcahy and “Red” Tickner and a good fiend of Cal Guest and Denny Dugan. All great guys. I have just re-read the Scuttlebutt for 1992, fifty years after my gradua-tion. What memories!! I found it in an old cabinet! Unfortunately many of them have passed on... Mepham was, and is today, great... Fred Langdon Aiken SC)—Graduated from Mepham 72 years ago; the years since have been gratifying and I’ve accomplished most of my goals; Mepham gave me a great start; I’m very thankful... Donald Mill-er (Berkley Hts. NJ)— WWII US Navy discharged 1946 in NYC; from Saipan to Guam, then on the old luxury ship Manhattan, along with 6300 veterans who were all from the NY area.

44 Frank Barley (Homosassa FL)— After graduation enlisted in Army; while serving with the 1st Inf. Division took leave to visit relatives in London, via Paris; in Paris I approached a ki-osk and, in high school French, asked “Avez vous une “Life” magazine?” He responded in English, “Yes, I do.” It was the international issue, with W.C. Mepham wrestling triumph. Wow!! Unfortunately I didn’t save the issue... Tom McCormick (New London NH)— Continue to remain active as volunteer with US Alliance Fed. Credit Union, having begun in the 1970s; continue to wonder at the massive changes in our American culture that have occurred since our days at Mepham; changes in society, politics, economics, world de-velopments massive... Lorraine Moli-nari (Salem OR)— Moved 7 times after “Sandy” the hurricane; finally found a home in Oregon near friends and family; miss NY and my friends there; without Quarterdeck and Scuttlebutt I’d be heartsick.

45 Aldo and Catherine Ellingsen Caperna (Wantagh NY)— Chairman of the Town of Hempstead Civil Service Commission (Aldo)... Russell Ran-dall (Woodbury CT)— “Retired” but may go back to work; profession be-ing destroyed by government’s abuse of philosophy and doubt we have any

recourse; we had the best years, at Me-pham and with the development of new cures; many more problems to conquer if the controllling forces would just let us alone; teach landscape paint-ing; play bridge; and stay dismayed at what is happening to our marvelous country... William Rockwell (Sarasota FL)— Still here laughing and scratch-ing.

46 Carolyn Cooks Naujoks (Wilns-dorf, Germany)—Not having been on LI since the 1960’s and some weeks in the early ‘70’s, only recollections are really vague; brother Ted Cook lives in Roanoke VA; granddaughter and great granddaughter in Salem MA; no longer a good traveller, happy being at home; had a very light winter and en-joying an early spring; husband still ac-tive doing Eastern Europe relief trans-ports; greetings to anyone who might recall knowing me... George Johnson (Amityville NY)— After our house and two cars burned up during “Sandy,” family came to the rescue and got us through a very difficult time; now in a very nice first floor condo; one good thing, we didn’t have to clean out all the “stuff” accumulated in the house which nobody else wanted!... Marilyn Hesse Weltz (San Antonio TX)— Still enjoying life, travel, reading, golf, ping pong, and family...Al Neimeth (Mel-bourne FL)—Had heart surgery in Feb., followed by a stroke; hopefully will recover; only time will tell; keep him in your prayers... Carl and Jane MacDonald ’50 Paladino (Cary NC)— After spending entire lives on LI, will miss the proximity to Mepham, but not the snowy winters and outrageous taxes!.. Robert Phelps (Merrick NY)— Retired 1990 after 38 years in Bellmore-Merrick School System.

47 Alan Reiter (Lake City FL)— Did not graduate with class; attended an electronic vocational school, enlisted in USNR in 1947; switched to USAF in 1948 and made a career; upon retire-ment got AS, BS, MS degrees in Edu-cation; although leaving H.S., entire working life spent in education in the military and civilian world.

48 Peggy Clark Venuti (Tucson AZ) — Moved to AZ in 1948, fell in love


with Tucson and then in love with Joe... Margaret Gangel (Bow Mar CO) — Jan. ‘12 tripped on electric blanket wire and “couldn’t get up;” daughter sum-moned help; got a new hip; after sev-eral weeks of recuperation and rehabil-itation was almost active; planning to water some petunias, dragging a hose, tripped on an uneven brick, falling on other hip. Same procedure: wonderful EMTs, ambulance to ER, surgery next morning; but this time doctor said it would take longer and hurt worse; he was right; in addition couldn’t step on involved foot, so in rehab six weeks; things have a way of getting out of con-trol, home to lots of household chores and a ton of mail.

49 Allen and Edith Baum ’53 Ash-down (Pinehurst NC)— Retired USN after 32 years, 7 years Submarine Ser-vice; still playing softball with Greg Maushart on an 80+ softball team... Al Graf (Massapequa Park NY)— Retired from LIRR where worked as carpenter; enjoy shooting sports (skeet and trap) and building bird houses as hobby... Walter H. Johnson (Hendersonville NC)—Just completed 25 years as vol-unteer for NC Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP); selected best counselor in the state 3 times in those years.

51 George Boulukos (Freeport NY)— Actively in-volved in the Boy Scouts of America for over 60 years, received the Sil-ver Buffalo Award, the highest award attain-able to individuals who have worked on behalf o scouting throughout the country and even the world. It is the culmination of many other rewards received over the years, including the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, and the Silver Antelope... Joan Robins Siedman (Titusvile FL)— Lost my home due to Sandy [2012]; with breathing problems could no lon-ger walk 2 flights of stairs and could no longer afford the rents in Nassau Co., so moved to a community where sister, Frances Robins Birnbaum ’54 is; rents much less; also “technology” messed me up after surgery 2/12 the lab doing

my lab work had computers hacked, freezing everyone’s credit; so here I am in FL, missing NY and wishing I was back there!

52 Carol Ann Balz Wieser (Chesa-peake City MD)— Thanks for putting me in touch with Valerie Priger, who graciously sent me copies of her mem-oir; shared them with my sisters Win-nie ’55 and Marie ’61 who are passing them to other classmates to enjoy... Carol Gibbons Wallace (Garner NC)— Married 59 years to Donald... James Gobetz (Mt. Sinai NY)— Attributes success in life to Mepham (Keeping me on track), US Navy (discipline),and wife of 54 years for everything else.

53 Elaine Burney Hazell died in Brat-tleboro VT 11/18/13; after Mepham worked for Allstate Insurance as accident processor; then for Grumman Aircraft; moving to VT, worked as cook for many area restaurants, and was a school bus driver; loved playing bingo, work-ing on crossword puzzles, knitting and crocheting; an avid Boston Red Sox fan; in earlier years enjoyed motorcycles, water skiing, riding horses; loved birds and wildlife; survived by husband Ed-ward, whom she married in Bellmore... Janet Johnston Kostolansky (Corning NY)— Graduated Cortland ’57; mar-ried and raised family; continued sub-stituting, finally teaching H.S. History; after 52 year marriage, John passed away 3/11; now enjoy grandchildren, quilt, and volunteer... Madeline Mati-lotta Vakos (Knott Island NC)— En-joying the view!; grandchildren keep her busy with activities and soccer games... Charles Soldner (Jacksonville FL)— Turned 80 years young and just enjoying life... Ralph Scheuermann (Locust Grove VA)— After playing accor-dion 68 years (much maligned but becom-ing popular again), still active in an Okto-berfest band in Fred-ericksburg [online at www.lownbrows.com.]... Frank Smith (Kent OH)— Re-tired, Professor of Mathematics at Kent

State Univ.; Past President and Chief Negotiator, American Assoc. of Uni-versity Professors, Kent State Chapter.

55 Les ‘53 and Grace Camilleri Wit-tekind (Aurora IL)— Met in youth group (Merrick Baptist Church and married 5/4/57; made the decision to move from Levittown in 1998; love liv-ing in the mid-west! Les’ brother Ed ’48 moved there before us; enjoy many fam-ily reunions; both retired 1995, Grace after 20 years as RN at Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre; Les after 40 years with Northrop Grumman, also retired from other career— after heart attack in 2009 (quadruple bypass in 2001 and radical surgery for prostate cancer in 1997)— refereeing 4 sports; a two-time survivor and doing very well; Grace volunteers at Rush Copley Medical Center, earning 2,000+ hour pin; still loves gardening (Les assist-ing), specializing in beautiful display of flowers each summer; Les enjoys doing magic programs, a Member of SAM (Society of American Magicians), also Fellowship of Christian Magicians; was honored with a plaque and Life-time Membership for over 50 years of service in FCM; Grace now his as-sistant; honored to be featured on cover on The Voice Magazine of FCM... Patricia White Bock (Orlando FL) — Looks back on years at Mepham, in the band with George Pritchard, taking long walks with A Capella choir friends, singing The Lord’s Prayer, Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor in eight part harmony, and other pieces; folks would come out of their homes to listen; such wonderful times, beautiful memories, filled with parents caring, great morals, and re-spect; I’d relive the fifties if I could; still love Mepham... Richard Van Wicklen (Freeport NY)— Hurricane Sandy beat up our bay house, but it survived, and we are working on it; some classmates camped out as part of our 50th reunion.

56 Arlaine Arnott Niclas (Raleigh NC)— Moved again; got restless; great way to clean out the closets... John Cas-cino (Old Westbury NY)— Worked for National Grid 57 years; was honored

18 Scuttlebutt

along with 2 other men for being the 3 longest employees...Thomas and Eugenia Essex ’57 Blank (Garden City Beach SC)— After 75 wonderful years on LI, lucky enough to have sons take over busi-ness and retired to Myrtle Beach; mar-ried to Genie 56 years... Ed Hawthorne (Greensboro NC)— Retired 1979 af-ter 27 years with Johnson & Johnson Corporate in NJ visit family in NJ 3,4 times a year; served 4 years on HOA (Homeowners Assoc.), 3 as President; lowered monthly assessment by $37. to $150 a bargain!.. Al Hillman (Scotts-dale AZ)— From Mepham to Franklin and Marshall College, then to US Navy flight program and MBA Long Beach State U; semi-retired, commercial real estate; still doing some real estate proj-ects and managing properties in AZ; spending hot summers in Durango CO mountains; still playing baseball, not softball, at this age... Bob Ravera (Beth-lehem PA)— After 40 years in Wash-ington DC and VA area, now closer to family, NYC, and LI; spent 7 years in Bethlehem as grad student, instructor and professor at Lehigh Univ. dur-ing 1960s... Nancy Shumaker Flamer (Savannah GA)— Heavily involved with “Wounded Warriors;” youngest son, 8½ years in service, came home body intact, but not mind; will suppot Wounded Warriers and VA as they help son; loved Mepham... William Wadsworth (Wallingford CT)— Avid tennis and golf; snowbird in Light-house Point FL... Helene Seiden Wool-sey (La Selva Beach CA)— Sailed her model sailboat in US–UK International Model boat regatta, June 2113, in the UK; Brits won, but all had a great time.

57 Lillian Beebe (Belmar NJ)— At 75 still in pretty good health; went on pub crawl in Ireland 10/13 with group from

my Elks l o d g e ; beautiful country, nice peo-ple, great food, and

many, many pubs; keeping active at the

Jersey Shore; belong to golf, bowling, and shuffleboard leagues; attend and sing at Karaoke nights... Bob and Doris Edelstein ’58 Hirschhorn (Larchmont NY)— Bob plays golf and tennis with Andy Scerbo ’54 and Jerry (Burke? ’53) at Hunters Run in Boynton Beach FL; at least 6 alumni in the community... Thomas Ganley (Hilton NY)— “Life is good!” How time flies and how college costs soar [4 grandchildren in college]; son paying $122,000/yr; graduated SUNY Brockport ‘61 or 1,000/yr!.. Her-bert Ploch (Green Valley AZ)— Still enjoying retirement and traveling... Fred Leich Colorado Springs CO)— Celebrating 46th anniversary with Bar-bara; love living in Colorado Springs (29 years), but plan moving to VA after 20 years in Air Force, 15 in private in-dustry, and 10 as a small business own-er; have started writing; while working on 2 novels, write history articles for a local magazine Peregrine Life.

58 Barry Glunts (Burlington MA)— Traveled (with wife Penny) on freight-er to Marquesas Islands in So. Pacific... Jay Robert Gordon (Boca Raton FL)— Florida’s public citizen o the year; man with a Caring Heart Award, Dis-tinguished Gold Medal from the US Marine Cops for community service... Martin Kleinwald (New York NY)— RuthRosen Manyin ’58 and I been en-joying life together since 1997; life is good!

59 Martin Altholtz (Seaford NY)— Owner, Harley-Davidson Nassau County, Bellmore... Charles Blake (Ft. Pierce FL)— Began draw-ing at an early age (sketches from comic book heroes, Batman, Superman, and Mickey Mouse); received art degree NYSU; as Vice Presi-dent & Director of Design at NBC TV, created on-air NBC TV promotions, receiving numerous art and design awards for their creativity and design;

was responsible for supervising the cre-ation of the current NBC Peacock logo and its implemen-

tation for NBC’s own affiliate TV sta-tions; was an Adjunct professor SUNY teaching Art & Design; served in US

Navy Seabees; was commissioned to paint life-size murals depicting Navy historical battle scene; google Charles Blake Artist for views of his work... Ruth Menchen Bromberg (Punta Gorda FL)— Busy on several local boards: Port Charlotte Library Bd., lo-cal Sierra Club Exec. Committee, and others; enjoy traveling; past 2 years went to England, Italy, & Germany, more planned; son, Thomas E. Johan-son ’79 died Jan. 2012... Fran Monaco (West Babylon NY)— Certified Life Coach at Monaco Consulting, Charles Rutenberg Realty, Inc.; MBA in Mar-keting; chose non-profit arena because am interested in people and helping them move forward in their lives;am helping them either sell their homes in order to move forward,or buy the home of their dreams to enhance their lives... Alan Nierenberg (Albany OR)— Relocated from Wilton CT with wife Marsha Goldman, Calhoun ’60 to be near daughter... Bill Savoia (Litch-field CT)— Retired marketing repre-sentative in the IT consulting field for 23 years; now real estate sales agent, Coldwell Banker in Avon CT; still need to be active and have a purpose each day. Celebrated 51st anniversary with Ellen last year, with family all within 25 miles in CT.

60 Georgine Amelingmeier Olson (Fairbanks AK)— Outreach Services Manager, Fairbanks, North Star Bor-ough Public Libraries, working 10+ years to have new branch building in North Pole and a new Bookmobile 8 years; both now to open in Fall ‘14; new bookmobile by summer of ’14; it’s hectic but wonderful!... Vincent P. Daley (Wayne PA)— Retired, teaches economics and business courses as an adjunct at local colleges; see a review of D. O. R., his memoir on page 22... Larry Rooney (Bellmore NY)— Retired Suffolk County Police Dept. 1965-99, Detective/Sgt rank; married to Donna-Jo Boucher, Calhoun ’62; proud par-ents and grandparents... Bill Wallace (Steamboat Springs, CO)— Enjoying a short moment of celebrity, was select-ed by the editors of Engineering News-Record ENR (national engineering de-sign and construction magazine owned by McGraw-Hill) as one of the top 25

Lillian with friends at a pub 10/13

Jack Cascino on left


Lynn and Ronald playing The Music You Remember

Linda with Darren Jones, youngest of 3 grandchildren

newsmakers of 2013; recognition for work in designing the Envision™ sus-tainable infrastructure rating system.

61 Lynn Randall Buttner (New-town CT)— Since retir-ing spends 6 months each year in Pom-pano Beach FL; perform-ing again with working husband, rein-vented ourselves and feel so blessed to have music continue as such a big part of our lives; check at MusicYouRe-member.com... Dan Weber (Lady Lake FL)— Founded AMAC (Assoc. of Ma-ture American Citizens) see AMAC/US, 1.1 million members and growing!

62 Edward Kineke (Alva FL)— Re-tired 1999, with wife Almira now have “K & K Tax Accounting Services” to keep busy.

63 John Clukies (Westbury NY)— Working as employee of John P. Picone Inc. and president of JPP Plumbing, LLC... Bernie Hubert (Morristown

NY)— Received award as Artist of the Month 2/13 from the “National Art Mu-seum of Sports.” Influenced by the great Giant, Dodger,

and Yankee teams of the 50s, his art is a prism reflecting the nostalgic sense of those days, a magical time for baseball enthusiasts; #2 member of the first Wil-lie Mays fan club in 1951, done 10 paint-ings of him; also paintings of Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider, and more contemporary Yankees: Jeter, A-Rod, and Clemens; retired from successful career as executive of a world-wide computer consulting company, has reacquainted with his boyhood love of painting; won a place in the SABR Jerry Malloy Negro League Black He-roes Art Competion; chosen to exhibit in the 2nd Anual International Commt-ment to Excellence in Art & Sport; had paintings grace the cover of Black Ball Journal; visit his website: www.ber-niehubert.com... Tina Huth Peterson (Lincoln NE)— Retired from teaching physics part-time at age 55; husband Al loves teaching and math research at U. of NE and wants to work till 80...

Barry Imber passed away 7/14/13; had been in a nursing rehab, Toms River NJ about 1½ years, in the hospi-tal about 6 weeks with a serious wound that would not heal and became septic; kept his love for music, from playing in the Mepham band to playing in any philharmonic in whatever town he lived in; also in some small commer-cials, sang in operas, and had a bit part in Serendipity and A Beautiful Mind, us-ing the stage name Ned Stuart... Ken-neth Levy (Matthews NC)— Retired as Branch Manager, Waddell and Feed Fi-nancial, Inc.; graduate Penn State U ‘63; single; shout out to classmates, Come on down to the South.

64 Linda G r u n n i n g e r Jones (Dicken-son TX)— Our daughter’s sons loved to go be-hind the scenes with Ken to his offices and see what the public wasn’t privy to; also to hear Ken preach at his church. Betty Kennedy Austin (Wales ME)— How does the time move so fast? Semi-retiring to part time; hope to make it to the reunion; married 40 years... Rose-marie Lemma Haberman (Roseland NJ)— Retired after teaching 33 years... Steven Ratiner (West Bloomfield MI)— SUNY Stonybrook grad 1968. Univ. of Detroit School of Dentistry 1972,

USN LT. 1972-74; pri-vate prac-tice 1974 to present; song writer for the “Out of Tuners.”.. Valerie Torone Lacroix

(Olathe KS)— Retired last year; pres-ently a caregiver working for a local agency part time, most rewarding for me and so wonderful for my clients to have someone who cares about them in their nursing home... Marc Silver-man (White Plains NY)— Law prac-tice as labor and employment lawyer 41 years; wife high-end shoe designer; Father Bruce Neili ‘64 presided at step-daughter’s wedding in July...Marvin Willner (New York NY)— Sick since

2011, but hopes to attend the 1964 re-union this year.

65 Richard Glasser (Toms River NJ)— Retired after 40 years in educa-tion; living the good life down the Jer-sey shore... Sara Lawrence (North Mi-ami FL)— After 24 years [1989–2013]moved law office from large to small; downsizing makes for more stuff in storage.

66 Merryl Falk Fittipaldi (Egg Har-bor Township NJ)— Retired; married to Vincent 43 years; live in a 55+ ac-tive adult community; life is wonder-ful; going into next stage, Medicare... Charlotte Vizzi Weirich (Swan Point MD)— Continue to enjoy “blended family” with Tom in residences in Swan Point Country Club MD and Two Rivers Country Club VA; hope to retire next year; Tom just did after 50 years of service in public education; “Thomas Weirich Scholar Athlete” award estab-lished in his honor.

67 Robert Stein (West Orange NJ)— Univ. of Pennsylvania grad 1971; CPA and senior partner, Stein deVisser & Mintz PC, located in midtown Manhat-tan.

68 Jay Dubner (Scarsdale NY)— Rre-tired last year after 40 years in educa-tion; now doing some consulting work but enjoying retirement and lots of traveling... William Schuster (Hous-ton TX)— Retired architect; registered (handicap) accessibility specialist.

69 Joan Ebtinger Fielding (Louisville KY)— Turning 70 adds a whole new meaning to “Age is just a number;” still teaching tennis and loving it... Ronnie Edelman (Rockville MD)— Re-tired 2008 after 30+ years in Criminal and National Security Divisions of US Dept. of Justice; currently splitting time between Rockville and Maryland’s Eastern Shore where involved in vol-unteer work and the arts community.

70 Peggy Danz Kazdan (Monroe NY)— Been a member of the Theatri-cal Wardrobe Union 35 years; work in theater (on Broadway and on tour), television, and film; am currently on the crew of “Matilda” on Broadway...

Steve and Ester

with granddaugh-ter Naomi

20 Scuttlebutt

Robert Kliegerman (Brick NJ)— A grandfather, am finally going to college in NJ... Robert Lehman (Seattle WA)— Af-ter voters of Washington State allowed us to be legal, mar-ried Christopher Mathews, partner of 26 years.

71 Steven Rohrssen (Poughkeepsie NY)— Retired from Navy Reserve after 32 years as Capt. (equivalent to Colonel).

72 Rick Orlando (Oceanside CA)— Retired high school AP Poli Sci teacher (6/13); 34th wedding anniversary (2/14); avid boater/fisherman, road cyclist, wood sculptor.

73 Wendy Goldstein (Manitou Spring CO)— Sorry to miss 40th reunion, but bad timing; after 24 years of running award winning B&B in CO, (the Two Sisters Inn”—longest running B&B in CO history without additional staff), have decided to retire from innkeeping and write a cookbook; the world came to see us for all those years and now we are go-ing to see the world!.

74 Lawrence Wolff (Islip NY)— Retired after 34 years with NYS Tax Dept. and has taken a position with the Fed-eral Govt. working for the Defense Contract Audit Agency; also giving lectures in libraries about comedy teams, acting and writing in his murder mystery group, Murder4U, and is recording secretary for the Ancient Order of Hiberians in East Islip; also the Grand Shiek of the LI “Sons of the Des-ert.” (too busy to retire!)

75 Anthony LaVecchio (Amityville NY)— The recipient of the U.F.T. Eli Trackenberg Award for outstanding chapter and chapter leader.

79 Dean Montevago (Massapequa NY)— Recently hired by Con Edison as Systems Specialist in Information Resourc-es Dept.; daughter Michelle, junior at Mepham, member of cheerleading team took 1st place in NYS. [see page 26]

81 Jill Skelly Williams (Baldwin NY)— At the USA Track and Field LI Brunch 2/16/14 accepted the Long Distance Running Masters award. With her are Alec Cuozzo ’76 and Paul Limmer, her Mepham track coach.

84 Angela Morales Virginia Beach VA)—Promoted to Captain in US Navy; haven’t regretted a day since enlisting after HS graduation in 1984; Go Navy!

92 Joseph Calderone (Victoria MN)— B.S. in Atmospheric Science, Univ. at Albany 1996; M.A. in Geography, Ohio Univ. 1998; worked at Weather or Not in Shawnee KS as me-teorologist, 11/98–7/99; at Surface Systems Inc. in Maryland Heights MO, meteorologist 8/99–11/02 at National Weather Service Forecast Office in Charleston SC, General Forecaster 11/02–5/11; currently at National Weather Service Forecast Ofice in Chanhassen MN (Twin Cities) as Senior Forecaster; divorced and living with 4 year-old son.

Alex, Jill, and Paul

01 Annemarie Proto (North Bellmore NY)—Inducted into Great Northeast Athletic Conference Hall of Fame, Aug. 2012, and into Johnson and Wales Athletic Hall of Fame, May 2010; a two-time GNAC volleyball player of the year, she was the first player in GNAC history to record over 1,500 kills and 1,500 digs.

08 Wesley Ambrecht (Bellmore NY) — Produced a short film for the 2013 Sprite Films contest with some fellow TFT (School of Theater, Film and Television) students, created, entitled “No Doubt About It” which made it to the finals.

Important Message from the Board We want the Alumni Association to thrive and flour-ish. We know we need to reach out and attract people with younger, fresher thoughts in order do that.

We want our younger alumni to find the deep satisfac-tion we get from participation in the Alumni Association. Times and technologies have changed and we need to keep current. So, we are asking you for your ideas. For instance: • Something after Homecoming, such as gathering at bar to continue the activity; • A way to make the Annual All-Class Pirates’ Picnic more attractive; • A new way to communicate with alumni utilizing social-media approaches now available.• An activity that could be held at Mepham, in conjunction with a planned event there or not.• Establishing a “turf” location to meet at Jones Beach.

So, please let us know how the Alumni Association can better meet your interest, and help us keep up with these changing times. We really want to hear from you. You can reach us by using the Alumni Association Contacts list on page 3, or by writing it on the membership form.

With parents Mary and Vin ‘70

Update on Mikki Hannan Wilbert ‘51: As reported in Quarterdeck 2014, Mikki has been faced with medical challenges. After a long series of tests (complicated by her medical history), she was finally approved for hip replacement surgery to remove the pain she had been faced with. We are happy now to state that she is back home, trying to get back to normal. She is definitely on the road back to recovery.


Anatole “Tony” Kurdsjuk ’54 passed away July 26, 2013 in North Fort Myers FL at age 78. In the 2006 issue of Scuttlebutt there was a review of his book The Long Walk Home with Mir-

acles Along the Way. Born in Mariupol, USSR, Anatole and his parents were survivors of the Nazi labor camps in Germany during WWII, immigrating to Bellmore in 1948. He fulfilled the promise to his father decades earlier, writing the story of his family’s strug-gles in Stalin’s Russia and Hitler’s Ger-many, and of the miracles that allowed them to survive and come to the Unit-ed States. He spoke at schools, univer-sities, clubs, and Holocaust gatherings,

Anna Erleman Platz ’39 of Richmond VA was reported by the family to have died June 26, 2013 in the house where she had lived for 57 years; at age 16 she graduated as vale-dictorian. She fondly

remembered her high school, where she returned to teach English (life-long teacher and translator of German, English, and Spanish, correcting gram-mar to the end). Her husband Adolph died in 2009; she loved and was very proud of her family, and is survived by four children, four grandchildren, two stepgrandchildren, and one great-grandchild. She was a lover of music, art, nature, and travel.

With Toby

In Memoriam In filling in the Poopdeck section, there were some obituaries that seemed likely to be of interest to more than just their classmates. So, They have been placed here:

Harry Smith ’53, poet, editor, and founder of the American small press movement of the later twentieth century, died in Portland, Maine 11/23/12 of com-plications from treatment of lung cancer. There was a memorial honor-ing him May 30, 2013 with read-ings from his poetry, reminiscences, and music-making. Representing Me-pham were Jeanette Paladino Antin, Dan Vassallo, and Catherine Mayo Mansell (Roger Mansell’s daughter). Smith was the author of 13 published books of poetry and three books of col-lected essays; he received the Medwich Award from PEN “for his poetry, his commitment to human values, and his achievements as an editor.” His epic poem Trinity published in 1975 is ee-rily set at the time of the building of the World Trade Center towers. In 1993 he received the Small Press Center’s Poor Richard Award for lifetime achieve-ment. His screenplay for Chinese Check-ers won a Solvay Prize.

sharing the tales of his family so that fu-ture generations would “never forget” the things that happened during those times. He is sur-vived by his wife, sons, and grandchildren.

I was asked to do an interview of a college grad for a job here at Avanti as my people were not sure of the young man, and they wanted my opinion...I looked at his resume and saw where he went to school. The young gentleman went to Sanford H. Calhoun H.S.. I said, “by the way, WHO WAS STAMFORD H. CAL-HOUN?” He looked at me for a second and then he said he was a president of the United States. I said, “no, he was not because I am an EXPERT on presidents and there was no Calhoun named president.” He then said, “well he then for sure he was the vice president of the United States, and I said, “no, I’m afraid not. I am an EXPERT on vice presi-dents, and there was no Sanford H. Calhoun who was vice president.” The poor young college graduate then said to me, “I do not know.” I then said, “I don’t understand; you went to the school for four complete years and you never questioned

A Short StoryArthur Tauber ‘54 owns Avanti Linens, manu-facturer of decorative bath towels, kitchen and bath accessories, shower curtains, etc

Who Was Stamford [sic] H. Calhoun?who was Stanford H. Calhoun.” Of course he answered me and said no. I said, well for your information I know who he was because when I went to Wellington C. Mepham high school, and my principal was Stanford H. Calhoun. He be-gan there as principal in 1935 and retired in 1960. When they built the new high school in town they named it after Mr. Calhoun. Personally, I just feel if you attended something for four years and never questioned the name of the person of your high school, then you are not going to be for me. He did not get the job.

Arthur Tauber ‘54

P.S. Art wondered if we asked a group of students WHO WAS WELLINGON C. MEPHAM? what result we would get. Well, perhaps it would be of interest to know that every year at Mepham Mr. Mepham’s birthday is celebrated.

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget

what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou 1928–2014

22 Scuttlebutt

In the Wake... Follow-ups on previous items, or those that were overlooked for the last issue.

Martha, second from right

Martha Laeske Campanile ’63 (E. Patchogue NY) sent the following last year, and I missed it. [Sorry.] She mentioned the Bay Area Concert, 3/24/13 at the United Methodist Church and the Gilbert and Sulli-van Celebration “Trial By Jury”by Playcrafters that May. For the Ex-Crew answer about “What makes you most proud of Mepham, she responded “the music program, to be able to be in orchestra band and a Capella Choir was a blessing; music became my life after my father’s death in 10th grade.

Sue Irwin ’76: That’s funny! Coach Bineares gave me the nickname “Twinkle Toes” because I ran down the basketball court on my toes.

Bob Stenhouse ’83: Where I worked as a lifeguard at Point Lookout one of the senior guards “taught” me to surf, making me ride his surfboards all week, killing myself. Eventually got the hang of it. The “Duke” refers to a legendary surfer from Hawaii.

Albert Hoehn ’44: “Dutz” was given to me by my aunt (father’s sister), who was my godmother. So far as I know, it is just a term of endearment and has no meaning I know of. It might be a take off on a German term?

Roy Probeyahn ‘56: Some of my best buddies at Mepham, Joe Horan and Ted Kimer ‘55, were lifting weights one night with others. At some point I made a com-ment attempting to be funny and called Bob Semple “Simple.” Everybody laughed and retorted calling me “Plum.” Thus my nickname was born. Ted and

Joe began to call me that at school and elsewhere. Fellow stu-

dents, who didn’t know me well were perplexed, thinking it was short for Plumber, thought it to be my last name. When our Social Athletic club, “Jenasens” bought jackets, I had Plum embroidered as my name on the front. My legal name is Thomas LeRoy Probeyahn, named af-ter my Uncle Roy. As a Catholic had to have a saint’s name [there’s no St. LeRoy]; was called Roy all during school, my first nickname.

Bill Muhlbauer ‘43 loved to create nicknames for his friends, such as: “Sub” Marino for Bob Marino; “Deezie” DeFonso for Bob DeFonso; “Fifi”Ferraro for Bob Ferraro; “The Witzes” for the Haack twins, and Walter Haack was called “Haackowitz.” Bill served as a Navy Dentist in the USMC in Korea;

one day walking down the street in Seoul he met one of the Haack twins and called out “Hey, Witz,” and what a won-derful reunion they had. (Submitted by Jane Muhlbauer Hurley ‘46; Bill died at age 46 in 1971.) Well, this was fun as long as it lasted. But, I’d like to hear more stories. There were so many nicknames... Tell us about yours!

Response about (Nick)names

This was on the Scrapbook page last year with no names now have answers: Taken in Bay Shore, May 21, 2003: Dick Dietz ‘54, Vinny Pacent ‘55, Ben Brucia ‘55, Jack Hingher ‘54, Bill Sandie ‘55, Don Lyons ‘54. Photographer was Bob Bell ‘55

Joe Metzger ‘56 had a pleasant visit in Bethesda MD with Coach Mike and Gladys Lurel last fall. They have been very close over the years, Joe owing him much going back to H.S. years. Mike now 95 years young.

Here is an edited version of comments Miles Portman ‘55 sent on the article about Joe Metzger in the last Scuttle-butt: Thoroughly enjoyed the story about big Joe. He was and is an accomplished individual in sports as well as in life...Basketball is a team game and when Joe played center my brother, Steve Portman—a pure shooter, won the Carl Maluski award in his senior year as the MVP in Nassau County, holding all the scoring records for the school—over 90% from the foul line...I think if you asked Joe what role Steve played in leading Mepham to whatever glory they achieved he would give a lot of credit to my brother and the other cast of great guys that made up what was probably the best achieving basketball team Mepham has ever had. Steve passed away 15 years ago—playing basketball...The ball used in one of the championship games won by Me-pham was put in his casket—he truly loved the game and his glory days playing for Mepham and coach Mike Lurel.


Pieces of EightFor those pieces that it’s hard to find the proper category for—a mixture of items

Book Reviews D.O.R. deals with the two tumultuous and somewhat comedic years that Vince Daley ‘60 spent as an enlisted man in the Marine Corps from 1968 to 1970. Although draft-de-ferred at the time, he enlists in the Marine Corps as an Avia-tion Officer Candidate only to find himself seriously injured six weeks into his training in the Officers Candidate School at Quan-tico, Virginia. He is initially assigned to a Casual Company for three months before voluntarily dropping from the program and accepting an assignment as an enlisted man in the Infantry Training Regiment at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Upon completion of his training in ITR, he will spend the next nineteen months at Camp Lejeune among some unique individuals and amidst chaotic events. Throughout his ex-periences the Viet Nam War continues to rage and provide a strange backdrop for his story. Some of his experiences will make you laugh and some will make you cry as you shake your head in disbelief, as his story unfolds. The book certainly provides a unique perspective on the Marine Corps and on the plight of the young men called upon to serve during a very tragic period in our history. “D. O. R.” stands for “dropped on request.” A comment on the back cover states: “Vince Daley’s D.O.R. is an uproarious, scatological and insightful account of his two years of “Hell” in the USMC.

Christopher Jordan ’70 is the author of In the Shadow of Power. Comments about the book are: Are America’s constitution and core prin-ciples – freedom and liberty, still intact and secure? Find out in Chris Jordan’s adrenaline-pumping new novel, In the Shadow of Power. A twisting tale of murder, secrecy, and jus-tice; readers quickly learn that nothing is as it seems in the dark world of international terrorism. Zack Garrett is the no-nonsense head of a private security firm who has dedicated his life to bringing down the bad guys. Days after the bombing of New York City’s Port Author-ity Bus Terminal, Garrett is hired to deal with the terrorist behind the attack, Mustafa Salim. Garrett charges head first into his assignment, tuning out lingering questions about the arrangement. As soon as he sets foot in Pakistan, however, Garrett’s mission and life come under fire. Targeted by mys-terious adversaries with enormous wealth and power, Gar-rett must stop at nothing to bring Salim to justice. The ter-rorist’s backers are determined to continue their agenda of global domination and Garrett is in their way. A fast-paced thriller of epic proportions, In the Shadow of Power shows ex-actly what happens when a justice-bound underdog is pit-ted against power hungry enemies.

At a time we are concerned about the treatment of our re-turning veterans, here is a story of a Mepham graduate:Kristofer Goldsmith ‘03, upon graduation, enlisted in the

Army As a U.S. Army sergeant in Iraq, in 2005 at age 18 he was given the assignment to take close-up photos of the faces of bodies of tor-tured, mutilated, and executed Iraqi civilians. The experience has since haunted him. Seeking treatment, he was misdiagnosed and

prescribed anti-depressant drugs, but remained deployable. He was told by his Army psychiatrist he had three options: “One, I could suck it up, be a man and deploy; two, I could go AWOL and get treatment at home; three, I could kill my-self.” A few days later he did, indeed, try to take his own life. For this he was kicked out of the Army and received a less-than-honorable discharge, preventing him from receiv-ing G. I. Bill benefits. Finally, he was properly diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by Department of Veteran’s Affairs doctors, and he appealed the Army Dis-charge Review Board’s decision; after a great deal of time and effort, he finally got it resolved and is receiving benefits. Goldsmith researched and found the problem was systemic. He has become an advocate for new legislation that would re-quire panels that review military discharges to have at least one mental health professional. U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, alerted by him to the situation, is a sponsor of the legislation. That legislation, inserted in the next year’s Defense Department spending package, now appears certain to become law. P.S. Kristofer’s father, Frank “Chip” Goldsmith ‘67 (now deceased) also went to Mepham.

Valerie Priger Skelly ‘56 and Jack Skelly ‘54 took part in oral history interviews for the history of Bellmore. A grant allowed trained library staff and volunteers to preserve re-collections as part of an Oral History Archive from “Story Corps” (an independent non-profit organization whose mis-sion is to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of their lives). Long term residents shared their recollections of historic Bellmore. Since 2003 “Story Corps” has collected and archived more than 45,000 interviews with nearly 90,000 participants. The conversations were recorded on a CD to share as well as be preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. The Bellmore Memorial Library was selected by the American Library Association and “Sto-ry Corps” to be part of a national pilot program. Bellmore Library is one of only 10 pilot sites in the country to collect interviews throughout the community and host related pro-grams for public audiences. Valerie Priger Skelly ‘56

Gillibrand and Goldsmith at a news conference

24 Scuttlebutt

E.L.I.T.E.The ELITE Program (Enriching Learners in Tomorrow’s Education) is a promise to the future to enrich and inspire students by providing after school enrichment opportuni-ties designed to educate the whole student. The program encourages students to follow their passion and explore top-ics of genuine interest while developing the skills to be well rounded citizens and good thinkers for life after Mepham. The financial support from the Mepham Alumni Associa-tion helps make the ELITE Program possible.

Some of the events of this year include: Brainstorming for the College Essay; Freshwater Aquar-ium Setup and Care; Editing the College Essay; Presenta-tion and Discussion of the US economy; Magic and Math; Mepham Movie Club; Anatomy and Physiology: Fetal Pig Dissection; Field trip to the National Museum of Mathemat-ics; Speak up! Spoken Word Poetry Workshop; Meet the Author; Doubles Badminton Tournament, Literary Circle; Knot Your Ordinary Tie; Poetry Games. Quite the eclectic offering!

At the Spoken Word Poetry Workshop, Koromone Ko-roye, a Nigerian performance poet and current Master of Fine Arts in poetry at Hofstra, performed several pieces for more than 30 students, answered questions, and facilitated a workshop in which students were prompted to write their own spoken poetry. Koromone is just to the right of the poster

Italian Heritage NightThe Italian Honor society held its second annual Italian Her-itage Night, packed with students, teachers, administrators, parents, and community members, were provided authentic Italian food and listened to music and poetry. The evening, themed “Italian Holidays,” was hosted by Dominick Bove, Samantha Tierney, and Brian Zuelch, under the direction of advisor Betsy Siegelaub.

Programs, continued...SADD Hosts Senior Citizens Luau-Themed Prom

More than 140 Senior citizens attended a prom with a Ha-waiian theme. Students and guests donned colorful leis. Dozens of students served food, with members of the jazz band and soloists from the chorus en-tertaining guests with a variety of songs. The prom, a Me-pham tradition for 14 years, enables the students to give back to their community and show their appreciation for the seniors. SADD members work throughout the year to raise funds for the event.

Key Club Hosts Blood DriveEvery year the Key Club holds a blood drive, in fact twice a year for at least a decade. On November 30th 75 students signed up to donate blood. Nurses were there in case any-one felt faint. Drinks and snacks were available to increase blood sugar levels. 100 pints of blood were donated by stu-dents and community residents. Also, at the Brookside School on May 9 the Key Club, un-der the direction of advisers Jackie Rothschild and Desiree Zgoda and Kiwanis liaison John Scalesi ‘75 in conjunction with the Bellmore Kiwanis Club, dedicated a plaque in hon-or of all the Bellmore-Merrick residents who died on Sep-tember 11, 2001. The plaque sits in front of a piece of World Trade Center steel that was acquired by the Meadowbrook Alternative Program. The display is located at the front en-trance of the building.

The Key Club raised approximately $250 for the plaque through vari-ous fundraisers through-out the year, with the Bellmore Kiwanis Club donating another $100. The plaque reads: “The Meadowbrook Alter-native Program offers this relic of the World Trade Center to keep alive the memories of our Bellmore-Merrick loved ones whose lives ended on 9/11. And, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, ‘We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in

vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.’”

Author Kara Taylor (striped dress) met with 5 students who won the raffle for an autographed copy of her debut novel, Prep School Confidential.

Supt. John DeTommaso, Principal Michael Harrington, Legislator Dennis Denenberg,

John Scalesi’75


Mepham Ranked Among Top 100 Best W!SE High Schools in Teaching Personal Finance

Wellington C. Mepham High School has been recognized as one of the top 100 high schools in the nation for promotion of personal finance education by the Working in Support of Education (W!SE) Financial Literacy Certification Pro-gram. This ranking represents the top-performing schools nationwide in the program’s network. In its 11th year, the W!SE Financial Literacy Certification Program offers a set of requirements and a standardized certification test for students. Since its inception, the program has grown expo-nentially nationwide, with more than 500 high schools in 34 states now participating in the W!SE certification examina-tion. This is the second consecutive year that Mepham has been ranked in the top 100 schools.

The program at Mepham was started in 2006 by economics teacher Gregg Zogby, who was later joined by teacher Nicole Tschan. Zogby and Tschan, who created their own lesson plans, helped students gain the skills needed to be successful in a 21st-century environment. Concepts of personal finance are incorporated into the half-year required economics class for 12th-graders. Students are exposed to a variety of personal finance topics, including checking, banking, mortgages, and credit cards, among oth-ers.

“Life skills and personal finance have become an integral part of the economics course,” said Zogby. “It’s something that, as a department, we truly believe in and something we will continue to promote as long as we can.”

Mepham’s Shari Stack Honored as Librarian of the YearShari Stack, library media specialist at Wellington C. Me-pham High School, has been recognized as the 2013-2014 Nassau BOCES School Library System’s School Librarian of the Year. The Board of Education honored her achievement at its May 7 meeting.

The William S. Christy Memorial Library at Mepham has become a central hub of student life – attributed to the pro-fessionalism, warmth and excitement that Stack promotes. She has proven to Mepham’s students that the library can be a fun and safe environment before, during and after their school day. In addition to serving as the adviser for the Na-tional English Honor Society and the Computer Club, she is one of Mepham’s Technology Integration Mentors. Stack has also helped Mepham raise more than $125,000 for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation by shaving her head, on two different occasions, to help fight childhood cancer.

The NBSLS award is granted annually to a New York State-certified library media specialist whose work, with and for students, serves as a model for his or her peers and an inspi-ration to those entering the profession.

Teachers to Applaud

Supt. John DeTommaso, Principal Michael Harrington, Shari Schneiderman Stack ‘98, and Marie Netto, English Ch.

Nicole Tschan, Gregg Zogby, and Robyn Einbinder, Social studies Chairman

10th Annual Pirates’ Treasure Awards HonoreesPirates’ Treasure Awards was marked by laughter and tears as 14 honored stu-dents had the opportunity to speak about their chosen faculty member:

Team Dennis vs. Team GellerThe evening’s hosts were Chris Vento and Dom Bove. Celebrity Judges were Assistant Principals: Eric Caballero, Jennifer Carne, and Christopher Safina. The “Gold Diggers” (Team Dennis) were the champion of the eve-ning. All the rou-tines were c h o r e o -g r a p h e d by mem-bers of the Varsity Kickline team. It was a great night, and fun was had by all.

So They Think They Can Dance

Dominick Bove/William Murphy (Soc. St.) Alana DeGregorio/Ed Grosskreuz (Eng.) Sasha Deshuk/LorriLee Geraci (Sci.) Juliana Dijkstra/Jacqueline Geller (Soc. St.) Christopher Durkin/Michael Harrington (Prin.)Brian Keohane/Rich Wojcieski (Health) Arianna Miller/Nicole Marsca (Eng.)

The stories by our students and the lessons they learned are a tribute to the work all of the teachers at Mepham do each day. A special thanks to Robyn Einbinder, Liane Parker, and Kerry Dennis for organizing a night to remember!

Erica Miller/David Kommor (Sci.) Andrew Montalti/Melanie Sirof (Senior Experience) Emily Schmitt/Peter Steckle (Sci.)Elizabth Varsos/Betsy Siegelaub (Foreign Lang.) Matthew Waldmann/Christopher Patten (Soc. St.) Stephanie Warner/Kelly Schiulaz (Art)Brian Zuelch/Christine Kane (Art).

Some comments: She taught me to follow my dreams. He was not only a teacher, coach, and mentor, but also a friend. She taught me more than I can ever learn from a textbook. She has given me unconditional support and fueled my passion. She taught me how to believe in myself. He taught me how to stand up for what is right. She taught me how to overcome adversity. He is the person I strive to be like.

26 Scuttlebutt

Mepham’s Sports Teams Mepham Cheerleaders Go to the Top Again!

They just keep winning! The varsity coed cheerleading team was named the New York State Coed Champions for the second year in a row at the NYS Cheerleading Invita-tional in November. Competing with the top coed teams from across New York State, a team of 30 student-athletes, coached by Jayna Kyriacou and Nicole Kyriacou, with cap-tains Kelly Cates, Julie Dijkstra, and Brianna Frobosilo, dominated the mat with their stunts and tumbling.

The Board of Education honored their achievement and congratulated the team on a successful season during the March 12 meeting.

Varsity Kickline Team The Varsity Kickline team finished another great season earning their 6th consecutive Long Island Championship title in Pom. In addition, the girls traveled to the Nation-al Dance Alliance (NDA) National Dance Competition at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida in March and were awarded 3rd place in Small Varsity Jazz and 4th place in Large Varsity Pom. In addition, the girls were also award-ed the NDA Sportsmanship Award, an award that only 10 schools out of the 270 participating received.

In May they also hosted the “So They Think They Can Dance” program, which invited Senior Citizens to attend and en-joy the showcase of incredible dance talents,with “celebrity” judges to give humor and critiques.

Jaimie Kaefer is a junior, and this was her fifth year swimming for the Sharks, her second year qualifying for the State Championships. Jaimie qualified as All-Division and All-Conference in the 100 yard Freestyle, All-Conference in the 200 yard Freestyle, and was a member of both the 200 and 400 Freestyle Relays, both of which won County titles and qualified for the State Cham-pionships, as well as setting new county records. As a mem-ber of the 400 freestyle relay, Jaimie earned All-State honors. She is the granddaughter of Patricia Creighton Kenny ‘64, and great granddaughter of Norma Harse Creighton ’41. Jai-mie’s father, Robert Kaefer, has been the head coach of the Sharks for 17 years. Jaimie maintains a 96 overall average and is a member of the National Honor Society, as well as the English, Art, and Spanish Honor Societies.

Kerry Giovanniello, is a junior, and this was her third year swimming for the Sharks, as well as her third year qualifying for the State Championships. Kerry earned All-County honors in the 50 and 100 yard freestyle events; she was also a member of both the 200 and 400 yard freestyle relays which won county titles three years in a row. As well as qualifying for the State Championships on both relays, and earning All-State honors as a member of the county record-breaking 400 freestyle relay, Kerry qualified in the 50, 100, 200, and 500 yard freestyle events. At the State Championships Kerry placed 8th in the 200 yard freestyle and 7th in the 500 yard freestyle. She holds individual school records for the 100, 200, and 500 freestyle events. Kerry also swims for LIAC, a local club team, where she has earned USA Swimming Scholastic All-American status. Kerry has a 95 overall average and is a member of both the national Honor Society and the Spanish National Honor Society.

ToniMarie Valeriano, after throwing a no-hit-ter, got the nickname “ValeriniNO. She is not only an outstanding athlete, but an exceptional student as well, attaining a 95.50 GPA, enrolled in AP classes, including: English Literature, Psychology, and US Government and Politics. She takes college level courses in Spanish and Calculus, is a member of the National and Spanish Honor Societies, on the Honor Rolls since 7th grade, and has partic-ipated in writing contests throughout high school. In sports starting in her freshman year, she pitched 5 games and won 4 of them. She has won the All Conference award, Nassau County Pitcher of the Year [junior], the All-County Award (senior) and more. ToniMarie volunteers for the North Bell-more-North Merrick Little League, teaches fundamentals of softball at multiple clinics, and participates in the Breast Cancer Walk. She will attend Queens College on an athletic scholarship and pursue a career in Criminal Justice.

Swimming Athletes

RugbyUnfortunately, this sport failed to “make the grade”. Maybe some time in the future...


Emily Hagarty, a senior, was named the 2014 Coach Hughes Memorial Scholarship recipient at a special ceremony held at the Paul Limmer Invita-tional Track Meet on April 5. The Coach Hughes Memorial Scholarship is in memory of longtime track coach Gerry Hughes, who died from ALS – Lou Geh-

rig’s disease – in 2010, and was established to honor a senior track athlete. Hagarty, who has participated in track for four years, was selected from 11 finalists.

Trish Hughes, wife of the late Mepham coach, said her fam-ily began the scholarship fund because they felt it was im-portant to keep her husband’s name in the track community and to ensure that his legacy continued. She said that se-lecting the scholarship recipient is done by her entire fam-ily and is a very difficult decision. “We look for mentoring, leadership and someone who always tries to do their best,” she said.Mepham’s head track coach Anthony Serravite said the school is grateful to the Hughes family for the scholarship and that it’s a great way to keep Coach Hughes’ memory

Emily at the high jump

Nassau County “Golden Eleven” Scholar Athlete Chris Durkin, senior, truly exemplifies the term scholar athlete who is a positive role model for all to emulate. Most recently Chris received one of the most prestigious awards the county has to offer, as he was named to the “Golden Eleven” football team. This team is comprised of the best 11 student-athletes in Nassau County who play the game of football. Athletically, Chris capped off an outstanding football career with one of the finest seasons of any player in Nas-sau County. He led the Mepham Team with 97 unassisted tackles and three sacks on the defensive side and offensively Chris rushed for 709 yards and seven touchdowns with sev-en yards per attempt average. Chris’ accomplishments in-clude being selected to the Nassau All-County Team and the Academic All-Conference Team. Chris will be recognized by the National Football Foundation and his award will be displayed in the College Football Hall of Fame. His academic program demonstrates the height of rigor that our school district has to offer, consisting of a high con-centration of honors, advanced, and Advanced Placement courses. lt is no surprise that he has been inducted into sev-eral honor societies and has received countless accolades across the academic disciplines. He serves as a student rep-resentative on the site-based committee, volunteers with Habitat for Humanity, and is a constant fixture at school-wide events. And this year he was the student winner of the “Mr. Mepham Contest.” Despite all of his outstanding accomplishments, Chris remains a most humble and unas-suming young man. He will be continuing his education at the University of Connecticut.

Amazing Students, continued from page 5

alive. “He was a great coach,” he added. “He was very mo-tivational and a great teacher. This scholarship means a tre-mendous amount and shows the meaning of love for the sport.”

An annual tradition at Mepham, the Paul Lim-mer Invitational Track Meet draws thousands of students from Long Is-land and Westchester, in-cluding students from all three Bellmore-Merrick high schools, for a day of track and field competition.

Coach Hughes Memorial Scholarship

Star WrestlerLouis Hernandez, who has amassed an amazing record in his years at Mepham, has won his second consecutive NYS Wrestling Champion-ship by defeating Hilton’s Anthony Deprez, (8–4), dominating Deprez on top with a stifling ride. Louis earned his way to the finals by defeating Hillcrest’s Sha-quille Jones by technical fall (17–2), Fairport’s Anthony Bell by pin in 5:22, and North Rockland’s very tough Blaise Benderoth by decision (7–5).

Louis joins Alan Stock and Mike Arena as the only Mepham wrestlers to win multiple State titles,and this is Mepham’s 12th NYS Champion, most in Nassau County history. In ad-dition to his two State Championships, Louis was a three-time Nassau County Champion, and his 147 career wins is most in team history, as is his 24 individual tournament championships. Louis Hernandez is, without question, one of the greatest wrestlers in Mepham High School and Nas-sau County history. Congratulations on a marvelous career, Louis! Your coaches and your community are proud.

And now we wish you well as you go off with a full scholar-ship to the University of Maryland.

Donovan Berthoud

and Stars

Late Breaking News: Sal Ferro has enlisted in the US Navy, and the GI Bill gives the opportunity for an $180,000 education, check given to him at a Senior Awards Program on May 28 by Mr. Harrington, principal. Anchors Aweigh! Sal—make us proud, and study hard.

28 Scuttlebutt

Past ReunionsAll-Class Pirate’s Picnic Annual ReunionSat. Sept. 7th; there were 53 in at-tendance, representing the class-es 1941 to 1979. Lots of conver-sation, eating and enjoying the fellowship. We hope you join us to make this a regular event

Class of 1963—50th Reunion There’s a saying that growing old is not for the faint of heart. The same could be said of 50th reunions. Fortu-nately, members of Mepham’s Class of ‘63 put aside any concerns and turned out in droves for one of the biggest and busiest Golden Anniversaries in the school’s history. Well over 150 people attended the weekend’s events in September, 2013. The hardworking Reunion committee spent more than 2 years planning the activities, including a Friday Meet & Greet and a Saturday night gala dinner dance at the Mar-riott in Uniondale. Informal activities included outings to the high school building, the Bellmore Street Fair, Jones Beach, and the football game against arch rival Calhoun. Highlights of the dinner dance included a moving trib-ute to the class’s veterans and a silent auction featuring donations of artwork and other items by talented and generous members of the Class of ‘63. Proceeds from the auction and other fundraising efforts helped establish the Joseph Mancuso Scholarship Fund, named for our class-mate who died in Vietnam. On May 28 five Joseph Mancuso Scholarships were awarded to outstand-ing Mepham seniors. To help members of the Class of ‘63 re-connect, and stay connected, the Reunion featured a then-and-now portrait gallery, a commemorative DVD, and a class directory with 50-word autobiographies. The 50th Reunion was a congenial fun-filled gathering of involved, enthusiastic, reflective Mepham alumni. Many of them are already looking forward to the 60th.

Rob Streit

Our reunion was a huge success...everyone couldn’t say enough about what a wonderful time they had. At the meet’n greet there were 2 other schools having reunions. We had people from the other schools come over to our reception table to ask what our secret was for such a huge attendance, and they were in awe of what we had (ex. magnetic buttons with our photos, directories, a memorabilia table, etc.)

Ethel Jeschur Louis

Class of 1959Held a gathering at Le Nook in Wantagh on April 7, 2013 Thirty-five class members attended; food and refreshments were served, and a good time was enjoyed by all.

Sandy Rutkoski Jankoski ‘ 59

Class of 1968 — 45th ReunionAug 24, 2013 No report received.

Classes of 1973 & 74 — 40th ReunionOct. 12, 2013 No report received.

Reunion memorial for Joseph Mancuso. In 2014 the Class of ‘63 is awarding 5

Joseph Mancuso Scholarships to college-bound Mepham seniors. [see page 9]

“Squeeze In!”— Most, but not all, of the participants in the 1963 reunion.

Mini Reunion Class of 1967

Front: David Krinsky, David Simon, Don Brown, Bob Stein, Back: Glenn Corwin, Barry Goodman

Donovan Berthoud


Upcoming ReunionsEleventh Annual All-Class Pirates’ PicnicSat, Sept. 6th, Wantagh Park, (Merrick Rd next to Wantagh Pkwy ramp to Jones Beach), 11AM–3 PM; bring your own food, no hard liquor; ice for beverages & charcoal for the grill supplied. Celebrate with us!

Annual Mepham Wrestling Alumni Scholarship DinnerSaturday, December 12; after the Sprig Gardner Wrestling Tourney; Wantagh Inn, 3264 Railroad Ave. Wantagh, NY;contact Michael Barone, 516-456-9979, [email protected]

Annual Christmas CarolingUsually the second Friday in December, 7:30,at the tree on Circle Drive, Bellmore.

Class of 1954 — 60th ReunionOctober 10, 11, 12 weekend; October 11, Dinner Dance at LI Marriott and Convention Center, Uniondale, NY; plans are finalized and available on the web site: www.mepham54.com; contact Al Haggerty, [email protected], 480-315-9780

Class of 1959No formal reunion planned, but looking forward to the next gathering of classmates at the All-Class Annual Reunion on Sept. 6th. Sandy Rutkoski Jankoski, [email protected], 631-226-6213. (See report on Past Reunion page.)

Classes of 1960–1961 — 55th ReunionPlanning for a joint reunion to be held in the summer of 2015 is underway; expect to do another 4-class reunion,inviting our neighbors from Calhoun once again [had over 350 at-tendees at the 50th]. Contact Seth Poppel‘61, [email protected], or Brian Levy ‘60, Bellobl@aol. com

Class of 1964 — 50th ReunionSept. 19-21, 2014; Suggested hotel: LaQuinta, 821 Stewart Ave, Garden City; 516-705-9000; mention Mepham Reunion for special rate. (Sun. morning complimentary breakfast); Fri 19th, Meet & Greet at Borelli’s, 1580 Hempstead Tpke, East Meadow; 7:30 PM; Sat 20th, Meet at Mepham gym, 12 noon; many activities including school tour, Mepham/Calhoun football game, food & beverages, memorabilia, and lots of fun! Sat. evening party, City Cellar Wine Bar and Grill, 1080 Corporate Dr., Westbury, 7–11PM [but parties may contin-ue at the hotel]; Sunday breakfast at LaQuinta (included in your stay) and a free day to get together with family and friends; maybe go to Jones Beach as a group? $20 per person for Borelli’s on 9/19 includes a variety of appetizers (Cash bar with Happy Hour prices); on 9/20 $105 per person for food at Mepham and evening cocktail party with Hors d’ouvres and bar; mail checks made out to

“WC Mepham Class of 1964 Reunion” to Jane Randall, 100 Brooklyn Ave, Apt 2G, Freeport NY 11520; inquiries to Ro-berta Lohman Cabot, 516-672-1627/[email protected]; Lynne Guttilla Clarke, 562-433-6471/[email protected]; Jane Randall, 516-208-6405/[email protected]. We are on Facebook at “WC Mepham Class of ‘64—50th Re-union; website in the works. This will be the best reunion ever! Please encourage your classmates to attend, and, as The Tempos sang; “See You in September!”

Class of 1965-1966 — 50th ReunionPlanning for August 2015; Looking for local volunteers to help; contact: Lynn Setteducati Bible ‘65, [email protected]. 516-221-3673; Doris Christmann ‘65, [email protected]; 516-781-1910; Barbara Marklin Barnett ‘66, [email protected], 516-731-5208

Class of 1983 — 30th ReunionFor information or to volunteer your help contact:Lisa Sofia Terrizzi, [email protected], 516-582-8247

Merrick & Bellmore High Schools - Singles Mingles Event & Multi Year Reunions Classes 1966-1988To Run Simultaneously in New York and Florida, the Bell-more JFK Alumni Association is running two Single Mingles events simultaneously on August 3rd, 2014 in Lido Beach and Boca Raton and they are inviting Mepham and Calhoun alumni to join them; For more details see http://www.bell-morejfkalumni.org/reunions_reunion_planning

District-wide Activity for Alumni AssociationsCalhoun High School and Kennedy High School are in the process of setting up Alumni Associations. Calhoun is doing outreach:

For those who are interested or maybe married a Calhoun graduate, there is a Calhoun Alumni Association which you can reach on Facebook or at www. calhounalumni.com. The current co-pres-idents are Filomena (Phyllis) Bonanno Guttila ‘73 and Donovan Berthoud ‘75

Mike Harrington with daughter Kelly last year at the carolling

Donovan Berthoud

Planning a Reunion?We can help — with advice, “seed” money, class lists, help finding missing classmates, mailing labels, etc. You will have a better, more satisfying and cost-effi-cient reunion by arranging for it yourself rather than using one of those reunion organizers. Contact us at [email protected].

Guttila and Berthoud

30 Scuttlebutt

Anniversaries

Weddings

The Mehls—then and now

Peggy Clark Venuti ’48 and Joe with their 61 year-old yellow

double headed Amazon Pabllito and Japanese Chin, Banjo

** means there are pictures## means there is also something in Poopdeck

If your spouse’s name is not known, it won’t be here.Remember to include it on your form.

Note: Only anniversaries of significant year will be printed, plus all of 60 or over. Others may be mentioned in the Poopdeck section.

50th — Golden AnniversaryRalph Scheurmann ’53 and Elizabeth ##Billy Joel ’55 and Sandra **Robert Nufer ’54 and CarolynRoger Boily ‘57 and JudyRuth Lindlaw Leonard ‘58 and LeeBetty Cleary Coviello ‘59 and Dave **Alan Nierenberg ‘59 and Marsha ##John ‘60 and Lorraine Zambito ‘61 WasiakCharles ‘61 and Judy Breit ‘61 Woest Carol Ann Schweinsberger Fierst ‘61 and JohnJustine Huth Peterson ‘63 and Al ##

67thHans Schneider ‘41 and Mary **

65thGloria Dinger Chapman ‘43 and CharlesJerry ‘41 and Clare Eastwood ’46 Worthing

64thPeggy Clark Venuti ’48 and Joe ** ##

63rdTed ‘47 and Mary Settanni ,47 King

61stRichard ‘50 and Carol Amari ‘50 Milhaven Elizabeth Spear Boyd ‘48 and Robert

60thCarl ‘46 and Jane MacDonald ‘50 Paladino ##Hank Mehl ’47 and Joan [McCreery] **Elizabth Schreiber Ries ‘49 and DonaldAllen ’49 and Edith Baum ‘53 AshdownDorothy Gebert Sparke ’52 and Kenneth

55thJohn ‘56 and Carol Henning ‘57 CascinoBeverly Adams Wilson ‘57 and Bill

45thWilliam DeSario ‘64 to JoannPhillip ‘66 and Margaret Valentine ‘66 Kraft

40thRosemarie Lemma Haberman ‘64 and Gary ##Trudy Hustedt Lehaner ‘69 to John

35thMaxine Landesman Scheffler ‘64 and Ed

30thFred Quaderer ‘54 and Joan

The Joels

The Coviellos

Richard Adler ‘64 and David Purcell, April 12, 2014Robert Lehman’70 and Christopher Mathews 9/13 ##

The Schneider family

Thanks to Donovan Berthoud, Julie Mansmann, and the Bell-more Herald Life, plus the Bellmore-Merrick District for many of the photos in this issue. They help make the magazine shine. The first knowledge of many of the stories I use starts with the Bellmore Herald Life. If you like to keep up with what’s going on in town, may I suggest that you subscribe to it: Write to The Bellmore Herald Life, 2 Endo Blvd.,Garden City NY 11530, or call (516) 569-4000 and press “7.” The subscrip-tion rate is $36 for 1 year within Nassau County; out of Nassau County it is $52 for 1 year.

People are like stained glass windows;They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if their light is from within.

Elisabeth Kubler Ross


Scrapbook

Dorothy Vouaux Heuslin ’40

Vinny Pacent ‘55 and Stephen Jackowski ‘52, two ex-Mepham wrestlers getting together for lunch at

Fishy Fishy Cafe, Southport NC, May 2012

Update on Jones Beach

Barry Liston’60 sings to Pat at her 50th class reunion; will be married 49 years in August.

George Poppe ‘66

Nth Jazz Rock, Michael Napolillo ‘70, leader (left). Find them on Facebook

The Harrington Family at the Spring Brunch

Thomas James, Kelly Ryan, Michele, and Michael

In the library Kelly and Thomas share their computer skills with Social Studies teacher,

Chris Patten

Caesar Trunzo ‘51 was editor of class

newsletter The Chal-lenger for many years.

He died in 2012

David Ginberg ‘53, Eileen Freidberg Ginberg ‘54, Sandy Kaye Tauber’ 55, Arthur Tauber ‘54

The photographer who so generously shares his wonderful photos with us

(Thank you, thank you!) Donovan Berthoud with Jerry Worthing

‘41 at the 2013 Pirates’ Picnic

George Munnich ‘54, retired Math teacher, Grand Ave. Jr. High, father of Erika Munnich Harrington Erika Munnich Harrington ‘92, Math teacher, Cocoa Beach H.S.,FL, student of Art Smith Art Smith, retired Math teacher, Mepham H.S.

Mepham Math friends get together, PGA Village FL, 3/14:

On a sunny Memorial Day weekend, Jones Beach was jammed and excitement filled the air! On that Sunday the parking lots were all full, cars parked along the road as far east, probably to

Tobay, and down the Wantagh Parkway, with bikers and walk-ers on the bike path all along the way. We saw the Navy Blue An-gels put on a spectacular show, with announcements over a loud-speaker. Food stations were along the boardwalk with long lines waiting for service. We shared a tasty lobster roll. We hope this attendance is an omen for a successful season ahead.

Jerry ‘41 and Clare Eastwood ‘46 Worthing

Central Mall, where the former Boardwalk restaurant used to be, where Donald Trump wanted to make his “palace” — now covered with sand

32 Scuttlebutt

ScuttlebuttW. C. Mepham High School

Alumni Association, Inc.2401 Camp Ave

North Bellmore NY 11710

PLEASE HELP USTo the resident: If this addressee no longer lives at this address, please make the correction either by e-mail to: [email protected], or on the enclosed membership form and send it in the enclosed envelope. We thank you for your help.

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Upcoming EventsAll-Class Pirates’ Picnic Reunion: Sat. Sept. 6, Wantagh Park (Merrick Road, next to Wantagh Pkwy ramp), 11 AM–3 PM. We supply charcoal and ice; you bring food (no hard liquor). Cel-ebrate Alumni Board Meetings: 7:30 PM, Room 114, Sept. 17, Oct. 15, Nov. 19, Jan. 21, 2015 Feb. 25, 2015, Mar. 18, 2015, Apr. 15, 2015, May 20, 2015, June 17, 2015. Let us welcome you!Bellmore Street Festival: Sept. 20 & 21, 2014 (Sat. and Sun.) Mepham table on Bedford at Frederick. Visit us.Homecoming Game: Oct. 18, 2014 (tentative)Sprig Gardner Wrestling Tournament: Dec. 12, 2014, Mepham gymCaroling: Fri. Dec. 12 (rain or snow) 7:30 PM at the tree on Circle Drive, Bellmore

Moving?

Let us know.

We don’t want to lose you, and re-turned mail is very costly. So, keep in touch with us and we will keep in touch with you.

Mailing Label andMembership Year

See label above• Membership dues cover the calendar year. You can pay dues any time during this time frame.

• Your dues expiration date is indicated on the mailing label.

• “non memb” means you have not paid your dues in recent years, and may not receive fu-ture Scuttlebutt mailings.

• ? means we do not know your class year. Please tell us.

Mepham Pride is Still Alive !!

Jones Beach Boardwalk, Memorial Day Weekend, with food stalls

W. C. MephaM high SChool aluMni aSSoCiation, inC

Scuttlebutt 2014 - Membership Form

Join us! Fill out the form below to support the efforts of your Alumni Association and receive copies of our publications, Quarter-deck and annual magazine, Scuttlebutt. Mail the form and your contribution in the envelope provided to the W.C. Mepham High School Alumni Association, 2401 Camp Ave., North Bellmore, NY 11710.

Date ___________________________

Name___________________________________________________________________________________________________ first name) (last name at graduation) (current last name if different)

Address_________________________________________________________________________________________________ (street address) (post office) (state) (zip)

Class of ____________ Admin./Faculty Member (years) __________ Telephone __________________________________

E-Mail __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Membership Dues and Donations:

(1) January 1 marks the beginning of the membership year.(2) Check the mailing label on the back cover of our publications for your dues expiration date.(3) Dues may be paid anytime in the year and will be applied to that year’s dues, or to the next unpaid year, unless you specify otherwise.(4) Your check (made out to: W. C. Mepham alumni association) will be your receipt.(5) any donation of $15 ($20 per couple) or more makes you a paid member of the alumni association and you will receive our annual magazine Scuttlebutt.(6) individual donations of $25 or more and couples donations of $50 or more will be listed in Quarterdeck.

Membership Donation: $15 $20 $25 $50 $100 $250 $500 other ___________ Who’s Who nomination: Selections will be based on: (1) graduation date from Mepham 10 years or more before filing,(2) significant service to the community and (3) significant accomplishments in field of work. Check the box below to receive a nomination form. You may nominate yourself or another alumna/alumnus.

Please send me a Who’s Who Nomination Form. Completed applications must be received by oCtoBeR 31. Ap-plications received after the deadline will be considered the next year.

Send us: Newsworthy items on your occupation, education, organizations, honors, wedding anniversaries, and activities that you would like to share in our publications. Include photos too—with name(s) on the back! Photos may not be returned.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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the ex-Crew Speaks: What are your thoughts/suggestions regarding the plan for the rejuvenation of Jones Beach?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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