Faculty

Diana Noble Rubinger (1966) Writes - Joanna Faber’s (1978) memory of Mrs. Gunderson brought tears to my eyes.  How blessed were we to have such a beautiful person for a teacher. I do believe that many of us teachers out there could benefit from some of those life lessons. Thank you, Joana, for the memories.”

Laurence Schiller (1968) Writes - “I went to Willets Road, and in 1^st Grade I had Mrs. Visco. I remember her as a wonderful teacher, always bright and friendly. I also remember that we had a Halloween Parade in the school every year, and she dressed as a witch in a big black conical hat. Mrs. Gunderson, 2^nd grade, was great as well. Thanks for all the memories, folks.”

Glenn Gerstner (1977) Writes - “Mrs. Gunderson had a great impact on me as well.”

JFK & LBJ

Dan Wolf (1971) Writes - “Arthur, I agree totally with Jesse Samberg (1964) - ‘An Untold Love Story’ is a fabulously written book with tremendous insight into the the workings of JFK and LBJ.”

‘Hood Food History

Howard Senft (1967) Writes - “Ricky's had the best Veal parmesan and baked clams...I went there all the time with the Shechtman family (Bill, 1968; Roberta 1970)!

Jo Anne Newman Abraskin (1969) Writes - “I would like to comment on restaurants in the ‘hood. I remember very clearly every Sunday night. My family and I would go for dinner to Chung on Café, a Chinese restaurant. As a family, we would go there to get our favorite meal and have a wonderful time with the waiters and the owner, who helped us. One time the owner came over and invited us to come back and see the kitchen and how they prepared food. My sister, Margie Newman Tversky, Class of 1964, and myself with our parents went to the back and saw the kitchen. Such big woks that were used to make the food. We were amazed and thrilled that we had this opportunity. I must’ve been about seven and Margie, being 3 1/2 years older than me, was probably 10 1/2. Another favorite restaurant of ours was McGinnis’s seafood restaurant. It had a large sail structure in the front of the restaurant. We would sit at the raw bar where my parents would happily get clams on the half shell - my sister joining them, and I, because I would not eat raw fish, a shrimp cocktail! This was a weekly encounter, too. 

My father sold meat from the Meat District in Manhattan, and he would often bring home things we could use for biology class, such as cow hearts and eyeballs for us to dissect. I recall one day as I was bringing cow hearts into the school, Ms. Wilson, the Physical Education teacher, took the bag as we walked into school. It weighed a ton! I recall her asking me what was in the bag, and when I told her, she was appalled!  Mr. Tierney, the science teacher, was delighted that I could bring the cow parts for us to investigate. Ah, how the memories surface today as if it was only a week ago!”

Graduates

1958 and 1962 - Steve Nelson and Bob Freiman - Country Clubbers in New England Writes Steve - I was sitting at an outdoor table at a coffee shop in Williamstown, Mass., sipping an iced coffee, when I noticed a guy coming down the street pushing a stroller. As he got closer I realized it was not a child in the stroller but a small dog. As he was passing me I noticed that the dog’s eyes were gray, and I asked him if the dog was blind. ‘Yes,’ he said, adding that it was named ‘Willie.’ We introduced ourselves, and he said he had moved to town recently from New York. As we chatted further, it turned out we both grew up on Long Island, and when I asked where he went to high school, I was astounded when he said ‘Wheatley.’ ‘So did I,’ I said, Class of ‘58. He was in the Class of ‘62, when he lived on Percheron Lane, a few blocks from me on Pebble Lane. Here’s a selfie I took with Bob Freiman.

L-R - Steve Nelson 1958, Bob Freiman 1962

I’m wondering if there are more Wheatleyites around this part of the world: western Mass, the Albany area, NW Connecticut and southern Vermont. My good old friend Julien Hennefeld, Class of ’58, is in Bennington, VT, and I worked with Bob Gross ’67, of Becket, MA, on a project to build fiber-optic networks to provide high-speed internet in our towns. Anyone else out there nearby?

1961 - Carol Jalonack Blum - “James Wallach wrote about Joe Draizen.  Joe was an amazing guy, with boundless energy.   He ran a group on Sunday mornings for the teenagers at Temple Beth Sholom.  I believe he called us the Minyanaires. We would have a short service, and then brunch.  When I attended (1956 -61), we met in the back of the auditorium.  He worked very hard to keep us involved and engaged with Temple.

1966 - Glen Greenbaum - “Like James Wallach (1969), I took ‘Uncle Joe Draizen's “Never Again” Judo class, from the age of 10 to 12. Joe taught me the basics of hand-to-hand combat, which led to my success as a wrestler. During the last 30 seconds of class we were authorized to go for blood using judo chops and hands to the face. That ended after the first month when the mothers got upset about all of the bloody noses.”

1967 - Howard Senft - “James Wallach (1969)…..Uncle Joe Draizen was at my bar mitzvah!”

1967 and 1972 - Art Engoron, Mitch Stephens and Beth Stephens - Happy Birthday

L-R - Art Engoron (1967) and Mitch Stephens (1967) in Putnam Valley on August 17, 2024, Celebrating Mitch’s 75th Birthday

L-R - Mitch Stephens, Beth Stephens (1972) (Brother and Sister), and Art Engoron - Going Up The Country

1974 - Bill Meyn - “Laurie Blumberg Schwartz  (1973) mentioned flipping baseball cards!   An early introduction to the nuances and pitfalls of gambling! Let a card fall face up or face down.  The next player then calls match or no match for his own card dropped to the ground,   If he calls it right, he wins.  Or,  one player tosses a card against a wall.  The other player tries to land a card on top of the first card.  Or, each turns up a card until two consecutive cards match (call colors or teams). The player who achieves the first match wins the stack below.  I'm sure there were other variations.  Much negotiation and haggling went on about what and how to play.  I did not like flipping cards so much.  There was a tendency for the loser to get mad and feel cheated, no matter how honest the game.  Trading cards was less controversial.  But then who wants to trade six Ed Kranepools for one Tom Seaver? Nobody I knew.  I collected from about 1965 to 1970. Indeed, I had the good fortune to find two boxfuls of discarded baseball cards, from the 1960 to 1963 time period, near the top of Roselle Hill. Then one sunny breezy day, when my collecting days were behind me.  I brought the whole lot to the Willets Road School yard and indulged in "throw ups"!  All the cards were tossed to the wind in the school yard for anyone else to pick up.  There went all the rookie cards for Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Gary Gentry and so many others.  There went all the cards for equally luminous players from 1960 (some of whom were still playing in 1970).  There went all the cards of countless less well known players whose career stats on the back of the card made them look like they could not have made the local little league team.  (e.g. pitcher Jesse Hudson - two innings in one game with the Mets in 1969.  4.5 ERA).   Dust in the wind.  All we are is dust in the wind. Bill Meyn (1974 ex pat)”

Fan Mail

1958 - Barbara Newman - “Hi Art, Does anyone but me remember taking tennis lessons from the legendary tennis coach John Nogrady or his son Donny Nogrady, at the beautiful old indoor tennis court in the tennis house of an estate in Old Westbury, where they were pros? It was magical, like stepping back into the grandeur of the Gilded Age.”

1960 (Joanne Festa) - ❤️

1965 (Arden Aibel Rothstein) - “I greatly enjoy the Newsletters. They delight so many of us.”

1965 (Kenneth Katz) - ❤️

1965 (Clifford Montgomery) - “Another memorable edition, Art. Thank you. Cliff”

1965 (Jeffrey Orling) - “Thanks Art & Keith... Always a hoot.”

1966 (Glen Greenbaum) - “Thanks for all you do. I look forward to these collections of the past.”

1967 (Jill Simon Forte) - “Another nice pick-me-up. Reading the Newsletter always gives me long ago memories…..the streets, restaurants, and names long-forgotten. Thanks again.”

1967 (Barbara Smith Stanisic) - “Great as always, Art. What happened to all the 1966 graduates? Never see any posts from them.” ❤️

1968 (Laurence Schiller) - “Hi Art – great issues, as always. I’m impressed with how much folks remember.”

1971 (Dan Wolf) - “Thanks again for all the work Keith and you put into the Newsletter. Its success seems to be snowballing.”

1977 (Glenn Gerstner) - “Thanks for keeping us all informed about all things Wheatley!”

The Official Notices

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.

In the first 24 or so hours after publication, Wheatley Alumni Newsletter # 173 was viewed 2.713 times, was liked nine times and was commented on twice. In all, 4,723 email addresses received Newsletter # 173.

The Usual Words of Wisdom

Thanks to our fabulous Webmaster, Keith Aufhauser (Class of 1963), you can regale yourself with the first 173 or so Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletters (and much other Wheatley data and arcana) at

The Wheatley School Alumni Association Website

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 # 174.  Please send me your autobiography before someone else sends me your obituary.

Art

  Arthur Fredericks Engoron, Class of 1967

  WHEATLEYALUMNI@AOL.COM

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  WWW.WHEATLEYALUMNI.ORG

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