DECEMBER 16, 2022

TO RESPOND WITH A COMMENT OF YOUR OWN, PLEASE WRITE TO OR CLICK ON WHSALUM63@AOL.COM. 

Hi Penners of the Ongoing W-Epic,  

TIME FOR A HOLIDAY SEASON HIATUS. THE “WHS NOTE” IS TAKING A RESPITE UNTIL THE NEW YEAR. NEXT EDITION OF THE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER WILL BE IN YOUR MAILBOX ON JANUARY 13, 2023. HAPPY HOLIDAY TO ALL AND MAY IT BE A GREAT 2023 FOR ALL OUR WEEQUAHIC FAMILY.

New to WHS Networking:

Koenigsberg, Larry (64)-- larryk@efn.org

Schnirman, Alan (1/63)-- ajs420@comcast.net

Stern, David(69)-- qacompliancestern@yahoo.com

Zimmerman, Steve(60)-- zimmy605@yahoo.com

Harriet Fischer Eidelman (6/56) and Mark Kraus (64) share sad news:

With a broken heart, I have to say my classmate and BFF Toni Bergman Bodner passed away on December 6th. Toni and I became friends when we were 14 years old and have stayed that way for seventy years. Toni was the kindest, sweetest person. It was my luck to be friends with her. She leaves behind her husband Marty Bodner, four children, eight grandchildren and one great granddaughter. Harriet

It is with a heavy heart that I write about the passing of Neal Schwartz Feld (64) at the age of 76. Neal was a lifelong friend since we were two-year olds. He was a Rutgers alum and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. Neal was a partner at a prestigious New York law firm litigating on behalf of many impressive clients, including victims of the World Trade Center after the first terrorist attack in 1993.

His family life was a great treasure to him with a wonderful wife of 50 years, three children and seven grandchildren. He lived in Pelham, NY until about 6 years ago when he and his wife moved to California to live near their daughter and two of the grandchildren. He will be much missed. Mark

CORRECTION:

Due to technical error, last week's “WHS Note” contained some duplication from the previous week. We are working with mailing and service provider to address the problem. But for the tech issue, the next two items were to be part of the newsletter of December 9^th.

More on lessons taught by W-District teachers:

Bob Lombardo (1/63)

I can relate to Steve Rhode’s (WHS 64; Early Adm NCE 63) comment about the excellent teachers at WHS back then. Mr. Seltzer’s Physics class really caused me to pursue an engineering degree at NCE graduated in 1966 in Civil Engineering. Mr. Martino was also an outstanding teacher and his Chemistry class was a big challenge for me and many others. That 1966 NCE graduation class included a number of WHS alumni including Jay Silverstein (1/63) and Fred Holub. (6/62).  Bob.

Hal Lipton (1/55)

Anita Wasserman Bank's (55) tribute to her dad, Isadore Wasserman, was really touching. He seemed to be an amazing athlete and leader and teacher. I would have liked to have known him. I think he would have inspired me to work more on my fundamentals, especially in baseball. It is true that one special coach or teacher cam bring out the best in a person. 

In graduate school, at the Columbia U School of Social, my best teacher was Bill Schwartz. He helped me to develop practice skills in individual and group. He helped me to be creative and take risks in difficult practice settings. His help enabled me to work well with street gang kids, paraplegics, emergency rooms and at the World Trade Center after the terrorist attacks. Anita's dad seemed to have what it takes to be great leader and teacher. Thanks for your writing about him. Hal

David Cohen (6/56) 

To Jacqueline Kaufer Klein (66), it was Miss Klayman, as you thought, who taught Music at maple Avenue School. I was 10 years ahead of you at Maple, but I recall that she was very cute, perky, had an excellent singing voice and played a great violin. I took her advice and stayed out of music because she said I was a perfect monotone. However, I did play a mean flute o phone.  David

Nate Himelstein (South Side 1/55)

Just a short note that Meyer Korbman was eventually a Vice Principal and also known as” Rabbi Meyer Korbman” with a congregation in Union. His brother Jack Korbman was a teacher at South Side High School; also known as “Cantor Korbman” at Congregation AABC in Irvington and then in Morris County.

While in Irvington, the cantor had as one of his students Jason Alexander.

Jason eventually moved to Livingston, NJ graduating from Livingston High School. He played George Costanza on Seinfeld where he was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards. Nate  

“Weequahic Singles Match” inquiry revisited:

Much appreciation to the 17 readers who responded to the inquiry in the weekly "WHS Note" as to interest among our readers in bringing together Weequahic alumni seeking socialization and dating opportunities. While all the responses were solely from women, after mulling the next steps with the goal of exploring possibilities further, once again the call is to all, both women and men (especially), with an interest in creating a communication Weequahic format for socialization and dating to respond to whsalum63@aol.com. Names will remain confidential until the program is launched.

Enid Hinkes (60) report on WHS Alumni who served and died in defense of the USA continues:

Stanley Greenberg (pictured, below), WHS Class of 1938, died on October 7, 1944 while on a bombing mission to Magdeburg, Germany to bomb a diesel fuel depot. His full story can be read by clicking on this link (Link to downloadable Word document). Enid

Raymond Drake (1/50), Sharon Rous Feinsod (66) and Dave Blumgart (66) author more memories of Bergen Street:

Don Green's (61) recollections of Ben Price the furrier refreshed my memory of the Price family who lived on the first floor of 144 Shephard Avenue. My mother and I lived in the third-floor apartment and the Price family occupied the first-floor apartment. I recall that Mr. Price senior, on his days off from the fur shop in the summer, would sit on the front porch in a chair with his undershirt on reading the Jewish newspaper. He had a cup of tea and a bowl of sugar cubes on a table alongside the chair. Before he would sip the tea, he put a cube of sugar in his mouth.

Mr. Price had two sons and two daughters living with him. Bennie, as he was called, owned a Hudson car and took over the business when “pop” died. His brother went to dental school. Sylvia was the youngest daughter and she and her sister would sit in the backyard in chairs and work up a tan. 

From age 9 for three years, I worked as a delivery boy in Julius Kohn's butcher store on Bergen Street, next to an appliance shop. I remember Tabachnick’s and Wasserman’s delis and Red's News Shop across Bergen. My favorite bakery was the Bergen Street Bakery near Renner Avenue. On Sundays on my way home from church, I would buy their famous rye bread with seeds and their Danish pastry to bring home.  

There was a shul (synagogue) on the second floor of the building on the corner of Leigh and Bergen across from the firehouse. The drug store was on the ground floor. I was hired by the rabbi to turn on the lights on Saturday mornings on my way to work. I would get 25 cents which the rabbi paid me on Monday afternoon. In those days, the 8 Lyons, 48 Maple and the 9 Clifton buses ran on Bergen Street. Ray

On the corner of Bergen Street and Alton’s Avenue was Schmerel Brothers Furriers. The giant store windows were decorated with magnificent mannequins draped in fur stokes, jackets and coats. In those days, the furs remained on the mannequins until Monday morning instead of being removed. In contrast to the elegance of the furs, was the newspaper man selling his Newark Evening News editions and the Star Ledger copies after midnight. At the same corner was the #107 bus stop where the theatre-goers and shoppers waited for the ride past Newark Airport and the pig styles that reeked for miles. Tiny Town Toy Shop was located next to Schmerel before Berkeley Savings. Blaustein Furs also had fur storage on Bergen, but I don’t remember if the actual store was located there.

The street was filled with women’s shops; Sybil’s, Rennett’s (down from Kaye’s and Stein’s Dry Goods). Portnoff’s, near the fire house with the dalmatian, had the swankiest and most elegant sportswear. Tommy and his wife Bianca eventually moved it to South Orange by the “Bun and Burger.” Of course, all the girls got their first bra at Mildred’s, near Tabachnick’s. And we began purchasing Sweet Sixteen gifts at Frances Bressman, across the street and down the block from Madurai Jewelry. At Frances,’ we chipped in and bought friends monogrammed half-slips. I still have one in perfect condition in my drawer. I’m just not in perfect shape to climb into it, but that became a reality soon! So, instead of building someone in Minecraft, let’s rebuild Bergen block by block and see what we can construct! Sharon

Here’s another story to add to the growing collection of Bergen Street happenings. In 1965, my father, David Blumgart, had a motorcycle shop on Bergen just a few doors down from Lehigh Avenue selling mostly 50cc Benellis (an early Italian mini-cycle) and 250cc Pannonias, a Hungarian touring bike. The shop was only a going concern for a year or two because my father was, unfortunately, a few years ahead of what became a craze in the late 60s for small inexpensive motorcycles, the Hondas, Yamahas, etc.

However, this venture was not a complete failure for two reasons. First, my father was able, in time, to return to his main occupation as a sound engineer for TV news, movies and documentaries. Secondly, because of an amazing incident involving the shop that happened one day in the summer of 1965, I had a good racing model bicycle made from scratch by my dad and me. It had a custom-painted white and gold frame, racing handlebars, derailleur gearshift, topnotch handbrakes, sleek racing seat, etc. One day, I rode it up to Valley Fair on upper Chancellor Avenue to buy something. I locked my bike to the chain-link fence in the parking lot of Valley Fair, but when I came out the lock was cut and my bike was gone.

In my angry devastation, I returned as soon as I could, on foot probably, down to the Bergen Street Blumgart Motorcycle Shop. As I walked in, ready to say, “Hey dad, someone stole my bike,” my jaw dropped because standing there in the middle of the shop right between my father’s and his assistant Marty’s work-benches was my beautiful bike! It turns out that just a few minutes before my father had gone to the gas station on the corner of Lehigh and Bergen for something, and while he was there a kid rode up on a white racing bike and started to put air in the tires. My father recognized the bike immediately (he and I had built it after all). So, he approached this youth asking, “Hey kid, where’d you get that bike?” The kid dropped the bike and ran off like a shot. My father calmly took the bike back to his shop where I was reunited with it shortly, thereafter! Dave