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Lingering teacher tales:
Elias Roochvarg (67)
To Jacqueline Kaufer Klein (66) my classmate Herman Rosenfeld, I also have very fond memories of Mrs. Schwartz. By the way, Mrs. Klayman was a totally different person, an Art teacher or substitute. Among the other songs we learned from Mrs. Schwartz were the Maple Avenue School Song, Hymn to the United Nations and Funiculi Funicula. One of her exercises in Music Appreciation was playing an unidentified piece of classical music and asking us to write what we thought it “was about,” or what it made us think of. I heard that her son Theodore went on to become a professional violinist. If he is reading this, Ted, your mom was a fantastic teacher! Elias
Dennis Estis (65)
Please let Susan Lazar Katz (68) know that the 6th grade teacher, who she said was one of her best was Meyer Korbman. Both my brother and I had him for sixth grade at Hawthorne. He went on to become our rabbi at Temple Israel in Union on Morris Avenue. The other sixth grade teacher, I believe, was Mrs. Noble. Dennis
Robert Kreiser (1/60)
I attended Peshine Avenue School in the 1950s and remember performing at assemblies in two different years, "Mr. Taptoe" (with canes and top hats) and "Eh, Cumpari" (with toy instruments) along with David and Michael Kessler (both WHS 1/60) and one or two other boys whose names I can't recall. I am hoping that David or Michael will recall those memorable performances and might also remember who else sang and performed with us. Alas, our performances did not launch any of us into musical careers. Robert
David Cohen (6/56)
To answer Jacqueline Kaufer Klein (66), it was Miss Klayman who taught the songs. I attended ten years before you at Maple Avenue School. She was very cute, perky, had an excellent singing voice and played a great violin. I took her advice and stayed out of music; she said I was a “perfect monotone.” However, I did play a mean flute-o-phone. David
Joan Frieder Smith (67)
To Susan Lazar Katz (64), the sixth-grade teacher you remember from Hawthorne Avenue School was Mr. Meyer Korbman (not Korbin). He was a phenomenal teacher and an inspiration for me to become a teacher myself. He was actually an ordained rabbi who left teaching and became the religious leader of a congregation in Union, I believe. When he retired, he moved to Lakewood. He passed away several years ago at the age of 90. I have always regretted not reaching out to him, as I lived “next door” in Bricktown.
Memory Bonds to the W-District:
Ira Megdal (Union 64)
Many thanks to Bill Pollak (1/53) for his kind note about my grandparents’ bakery, Migdal’s on Bergen Street. When he was a boy in Warsaw, my grandfather learned how to bake from his father. My grandmother also came from a bakery family in Lublin, Poland. They lived in an apartment above the bakery between Renner and Scheerer Avenues. More specifically, between Hy’s Grocery Store (big pickle barrel out front with tongs and wax paper bags) and Wong’s Chinese restaurant.
My grandfather would awaken at 3:00 AM to make rye bread. He told me that by 5:00 AM brewery workers (from Kruger’s Brewery?) would return from their shifts with pails of beer. He would meet them out front and Hy would bring salami. That was the true “Breakfast of Champions.”
My family lived around the corner on Scheerer Avenue on one floor (5 of us in two bedrooms) and my aunt, uncle and cousins lived one floor up. Another uncle, aunt and two cousins were two blocks away. In the summer we would all be in Bradley Beach and similarly close to family. Ira
Susan Lazar Katz (64)
Responding to Bill Pollak (53), thanks for reminding me of the name of Megdal’s Bakery on Bergen Street, a few doors from the corner. They made wonderful rye bread and Kaiser rolls. I think it was next to Hy’s Dairy where you came in with a list and Hy or a clerk would gather all the items for you.
There was either a candy store or pharmacy on the corner of Renner Avenue and Bergen Street that had a cooler filled with icy water to keep soda cold. Just retrieving a drink was a frigid experience! Does anyone remember Silver’s Bakery on Hawthorne Avenue? It was known for its Victory Cake; layers of chocolate cake and whipped cream.
Responding to Anita Wasserman Banks (55), I spent the summer of 1966 waiting tables at the Sinclair Hotel in Bethlehem N.H. Wayne Chen, our Weequahic class president (64), helped me get the job and he worked there too. By that time, it was one of the last hotels operating in Bethlehem and most patrons were from the Boston area. Susan
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