MAY 24, 2024

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

Hi Keepers of the BOND to the Weequahic District,

Obits for WHS alumni:

Phil Yourish (6/64)

The NY Times link, below, provides access to the NY Times obituary entitled “David Shapiro, Who Gained Fame in Poetry and Protest, Dies at 77.” David graduated Weequahic in 1964. A renowned member of the New York School of poets, he also found accidental notoriety when he was photographed during the 1968 uprising at Columbia University; Obituary for David Shapiro. Phil  (Eliot Braun (1/64) also forwarded the NY Times Link)

Alan Brief (6/63)

Sadly, my younger brother Ira passed away last month after two years of battling leukemia. He went to Maple Avenue School and then Weequahic for two years. We moved to West Orange and he graduated from West Orange High in 1968 or 69. Ira was married to Cathie Kantorek (Union High), had three daughters and three grandchildren, and another on the way. I know he was in touch with many of his Maple and Weequahic classmates. Alan

Seeking support from readers of the “WHS Note:”

Thanks to the generosity of many of our weekly readers, almost $77,500 has been contributed over the last 24 years to the WHS Alumni Association to support the Weequahic Class of 1963 Scholarship Fund (The Fund). Because of your generosity, The Fund has made a difference in the educational and personal advancement of WHS graduates. Please lend your continued individual support by filling out the attached form (Link to PDF) and committing in 2024 to assisting The Fund and helping the “WHS Note” keep us connected every week.

You may have already made a 2024 contribution, via gift or membership, to the WHS Alumni Association. The “WHS Class of 63 Association” is a separate entity, but we do coordinate as to the mailing of the weekly WHS Alumni “WHS Note.” In their joint and separate ways, both support groups work to the benefit of WHS’s students and the school’s viability and are deserving of your support.

Good & Welfare:

Winston Brill, Class of January, 57 and Nancy Brill (nee Weisburd/59), just celebrated their 60^th Anniversary! They live in the State of Washington. Their Instagram, “breakfastfruitface,” focuses on one of their “secrets” to a great marriage. Good wishes notes can be sent to Winston and Nancy (wjnc64@comcast.net).

Michael Botnick (68) shares memento of recent mini reunion:

Stopped off to see my classmate Paul Abramson (blue shirt in pic, below) while on a visit to Madison, WI. Talked about all of our mutual friends that lived on Lehigh Avenue and went to Maple Avenue School and mourned the ones we recently lost. Seems like everyone lived on Lehigh at some point in their Newark life. I was born at 68 Lehigh, 74 years ago. Michael

Peshine Avenue School memories continue to be exchanged: 

Mel Rubin (56)

To Clark Lissner (6/63), I had the same shop teacher at Peshine. I believe his name was Devlin. Clearly, he was an imbiber. He kept his bottle under his lectern and, intermittingly, would visit it. As I was in his class in the low 1950s, he was well-preserved by the time you met him. One day he exclaimed, "Did you see that flash?" and we all cracked up.

I did learn from him. I remember making a lamp and fishing pole using the lathe, and a night table with a drawer. I also learned how to stain wood. I can't blame him for a few nips, especially, with all of the spoiled brats in his class, including me. Send my regards to your brother Mel (6/53). Mel

Bobbi Wigler Dinnerman (6/49)

To Jac Toporek (6/63) on a copy of his Peshine principal’s penmanship, I believe the circles you referred to were called ovals. I hated doing those! Recall the “push and pulls,” too.  Bobbi

Eliot Braun (1/64)

To Jac Toporek (6/63), Principal Cavicchia’s penmanship has gone the way of the Titanic. Today almost no one born in this millennium can read it, let alone write it. Eliot

Mel Rubin (56)

As a 1952 graduate, all of the discussion about Peshine brought back great memories. On one hot spring day, the boys wanted to remove our ties. Can you believe we wore ties? Mr. Fry, the portly principal, said that if he removed his vest, we could take our ties off. He never did. Also, most of the boys wore corduroy pants. When you walked down the hall all you could hear was the swishing of the pants.

We collected milk money for warm cardboard boxes of milk. They were stored on the radiators. Our Gym teacher was a former gymnast. We all learned forward and backward rolls. He stated that you could not pass his class if you couldn’t climb the rope. My lifelong friend Bruce Sternberg (Hillside 56) and I were never asked to climb. I couldn’t climb that rope with a rocket stuck up my butt. The same circumstances applied to Bruce. Somehow, we both passed anyway.  Mel

Of W-places, W-experiences, and W-memories:  

Jack Cobin (Peshine/Linden 60)

When I was born, my parents lived by Prince Street and probably worked at Lehrhoff’s since that was mom’s family. My maternal grandmother was Eva Lehrhoff and she and her cousins all have that surname, I do not remember her working there because my earliest memory was Hunterdon Street, our home in Newark. She always worked at bakeries on Bergen Street and Chancellor Avenue. Must have been in her blood. Jack

Harlene Gelman Horowitz (6/58)

I lived at 160 Renner Avenue. Can’t remember yesterday but my Newark years are never forgotten. I only leave my first name, “Harlene:” don’t think Peshine, Maple, and Weequahic ever had another one with the name. Weren’t we all lucky to live in those great years? There will never be years like our Weequahic years again. Harlene

Marc Little (69)

To Jac Toporek (6/63), I found it humorous that you never remember ever setting foot in Sears on Elizabeth Avenue. Many of my friends went to Sears regularly (in my case, mostly every Saturday morning with my father) to get tools and other supplies to do handyman work around the neighborhood. It was sort of a rite of passage. Sort of a "culture thing." Marc

Mady Bauman Barna (56)

I wanted to share as there were so few memories I had with my dad as he built the diner business. The only night he would come home early was Friday night for Shabbat. Mom would prepare a wonderful meal (great cook that she was), and lit the candles. Dad would have his shot of “schnapps” and we would have our dinner.

My dad was incredible coming here with nothing but the American dream. I lost him when he was 59; I was 21. His legacy was the Weequahic and Claremont Diners. Both are gone now, but oh the memories so often shared here in the “WHS Note.” He would be proud of his children, grandkids and great grandchildren; he loved kids. Mady