The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 170
OMG, Another One?! And with a New Look that a Subsriber Suggested!

ARTHUR ENGORON
Luly 31, 2024

Welcome to The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 170.

Wildcat Musical Performance

Takemi Ueno (Class of 1983) will play with the Litha Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, August 24, at 7 pm, at the Church of the Holy Apostles (296 Ninth Ave., at 28th St.). The program consists of Mahler's Sixth Symphony. Tickets ($25) are available at The Sounds of Destiny: Tragedy Unbound

John Fitzgerald Kennedy - November 22, 1963

The President’s Been Shot!

The passing bell rang at 1:35 on Friday afternoon. The halls at Wheatley were packed with teenagers opening their lockers and slamming them shut. Pretty girls with practiced smiles called out, "Hi Jan” or “Sue” or “Barb” from across the corridor. There was an assembly that day, so we were returning to homeroom to check in before going to the auditorium.

As I inched my way through the crowded hall, I heard a boy from my Honors English class shout, "The president's been shot!" "The president of the school?" I called back.
But he was gone. Then, I heard it again. "Kennedy's been shot! The president's been SHOT!" By the time I got to homeroom, Mr. Witt was trying to calm everyone down.

"We have no details yet," he told us. "But the president's been shot in Dallas. Let's move quietly to the assembly, and I'm sure we'll find out more."

Mr. Loring, affectionately called "Boring Loring" by his students, was at the podium. He quieted us down and addressed all 800 students at once.

"We just got word that President Kennedy has been shot on a motorcade in Texas,” he said. “He's been taken to the hospital in critical condition."

We all looked at each other in shock and disbelief as we started asking questions. “Is he dead?” “Who shot him?” “Was Jackie with him?” “What hospital?”

"The school busses are outside waiting. You will be dismissed now and taken home. May God be with you."

We scrambled to the busses and I made my way home. The house was empty. My mother had died two years earlier, my sister was already married, and my father was at work in Manhattan.

It was 2 p.m. I turned on the TV in the den of our cookie cutter home on Long Island. The headlines splashed across the small screen: "John F. Kennedy has been shot dead." "The 35th president of the United States has been assassinated." Walter Cronkite, the stalwart of network broadcasting, was crying as he quietly reported the news.

My heart skips a beat. I'm no stranger to bad news, but I'm alone in the house and have no way to process it. The TV flashes with images of Jackie leaning over her husband in an open convertible. Her hands and face are covered in blood as she tries to hold onto him. Cut to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, showing Jackie in tears with her husband’s blood all over her dress. Then back again to the motorcade with the president sitting on top of the back seat smiling broadly as he waved to his adoring fans. Who could predict that in two minutes’ time, he would suffer the most brutal of fates? The images keep playing on a continuous loop.

I've always known that life was fragile, but at 16 I was reminded again. Kennedy was the hope of a new generation. We rallied around him and held tight to his words of inspiration.

The TV screen flashes again as it cuts to Lyndon B. Johnson, that tired old senator who became VP so he could rally the southern vote for JFK. Jackie is in the picture, and her husband's blood has still not been washed off. She stands opposite LBJ as he's sworn in as the 36th president of the United States.

I'm in shock. How quickly a new leader has been put in place. Will the memory of JFK be abandoned the same way my mother's was?

I rock back and forth on the green tweed couch in the den. I've forgotten how to cry so I just stare in disbelief.”

PS: “I know everyone is saying Dr. Wells made the announcement, and he may well have. But Mr. Loring was at the microphone when we first assembled.”

'Hood Restaurant History

Steven Rushmore (1963) Writes - “Another notable eatery was Mahoney’s!!!! I dined there often with my parents, because we could walk there from our house. It was a little more upscale than some of the other bar and grills in Williston Park. The food was delicious; the French fries were exceptional. A little farther away, White Tower Hamburgers (not to be confused with White Castle) was located at Jericho Turnpike and Herricks Rd. When my mother wanted to give me a special treat, she would pick up four White Tower hamburgers and keep them warm in the oven. When I came home from school at lunch time, I could immediately smell them the moment I walked into the house. I sure wish they were around - the best!

After Wheatley I went to the Hotel School at Cornell, where I became a foodie. I actually ran several restaurants in Rochester and Syracuse.”

Bill Rutenberg (1964) Writes - “Snow White bakery had the absolute best chocolate babka! I haven’t found one nearly as good, and I’ve lived in D.C., Palo Alto, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Palm Desert, and I regularly visit my son in LA.”

Howard Johnson’s for Fish and chicken fries. They never made money when the Lipskys came in.

Umberto II Pizzeria near Sheridan Bowling for pizza, heroes and calzones after bowling.

Newsletter Appreciation

Daniel Weiss (1975) Writes - “Dear Art: Reading the three Newsletters this week, as I do whenever they arrive (no matter how often), I realize that what you have created is no longer simply a Newsletter, but something far more meaningful. Reading each issue, with so many voices from across the years and generations, feels a little like it did when I spent time hanging out at the wooden benches by the Study Center (why wasn’t it called “the Library”?). I always enjoyed stopping by the benches to talk with whoever was there, from every grade, whether I knew the person or not. Sometimes, those conversations required that I miss my next class. It was a great way to stay connected to classmates and the community. The Newsletter is even better, because the room is much larger. Thanks to you, we probably have the most well-connected high school in the country. With thanks, Dan Weiss, 1975

Daniel H. Weiss
Homewood Professor of the Humanities
Johns Hopkins University”

Graduates

1961 - Peter Calderon - “Art and Keith, I feel privileged to be published alongside the sparkling smiles of my beautiful female classmates. I only regret being too shy 64 years ago to let them know how much I liked them.”

1963 - Steven Rushmore - “After my grandfather sold the family farm to William Levitt, who then built the Roslyn Country Club, we moved to 24 Atlanta Avenue in East Williston. I went to North Side, then Wheatley, until my junior year, when I transferred to Proctor Academy in Andover, New Hampshire to get away from the ultra-competitive environment of Wheatley. It worked because I flourished and got into Cornell. It was a little tough on my mother, however, because she was on the Board of Education of the East Williston School District and the Board of Friends Academy.”

Paula Panzeca Foresto Writes - “My husband Dom passed away unexpectedly 2 1/2 years ago. I miss him every day. He was not only a good, honest hardworking husband, father and grandfather, but a friend to so many. He took part in football and wrestling at Wheatley, and was a great athlete. Dom later took up golf and found great enjoyment in that, too. R.I.P. Dom❤️"

The caption, lightly edited, reads “Before the March: Dissatisfaction with America’s war policies brought Roslyn residents to the Duck Pond to prepare for a march in support of Moratorium Day. At its height, the demonstration massed approximately 1,500 people, mostly students from Roslyn and Wheatley High Schools. Students heard speeches by political candidates before a march to Manhasset began.”

L-R - Michael Weiss, Jonathan Frank, Daniel Wolf, “Don’t Remember,” Eve Malsky (all 1971).

Writes Dan Wolf - “The top photo is the front page of the Roslyn News of Oct. 23, 1969. The two photos taken at the Roslyn Duck pond are of a march against the Vietnam War.

Fan Mail

1964 (John Corwin) - “Hi Art, I much appreciated the photograph of the five Engoron boys. The last time I had seen them together was certainly more than 60 years ago. Malcolm (1964) was one of my closest friends and a political and intellectual mentor to boot. Thanks.”

1964 (Bill Rutenberg) - “Art, thank you for the Herculean job you do producing the Newsletter.”

1965 (Louise Kampa Triano) - “Great set of Newsletters, which shook loose some incredible memories. ❤️”

1966 (Amy Gruskin Gerstein) - “I just read the latest newsletter and was pleased to see all the responses you inspire by tweaking our memory bank. Sharing all these stories and reaching such a wide audience is like a warm fuzzy comforting gift each publication!”

1967 (Jill Simon Forte) - "Oh my, another one 😂😂😂😂😂! Nice photo of you and your brothers 😊. I remember names and places, such as Paula Panzeca (1969) with Dominick Foresto (1967), whom I remember well. And all those restaurants 😋😀. So many newsletters, I can barely keep up 😆😆😆😆.”

1968 (Laurence “Laurie” Schiller) - “Art – the memories the Newsletters are stimulating are amazing to me. I haven’t thought about some of these things in decades. Thank you for doing this. Warmly, Laurie Schiller (1968)

1969 (Paula Panzeca Foresto) - “We are all so fortunate to reap the rewards of your energy and love of our Alma Mater. Receiving the Newsletter is always fun. It makes us feel like teens again for a fleeting moment.”

All underlined text is a link-to-a-link or a link-to-an-email-address. Clicking anywhere on underlined text, and then clicking on the text that pops up, will get you to your on-line destination or will address an email.

The Usual Words of Wisdom

Thanks to our fabulous Webmaster, Keith Aufhauser (Class of 1963), you can regale yourself with the first 169 or so Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletters (and much other Wheatley data and arcana) at

Also thanks to Keith is our search engine, prominently displayed on our home page: type in a word or phrase and, wow!, you’ll find every place it exists in all previous Newsletters and other on-site material.

I edit all submissions, even material in quotes, for clarity and concision, without any indication thereof. I cannot and do not vouch for the accuracy of what people tell me, as TWSAA does not have a fact-checking department.

We welcome any and all text and photos relevant to The Wheatley School, 11 Bacon Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568, and the people who administered, taught, worked, and/or studied there. Art Engoron, Class of 1967

Closing

That’s it for The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 170. Please send me your autobiography before someone else sends me your obituary.