The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 177
Welcome to the Wheatley School
Alumni Association Newsletter # 177,
Class of 1974
50th-Year Reunion - 10/19
|
|
Please note that
people from other classes are welcome to attend. After all, siblings
got to know the same friends!
Class of 2004
20th-Year Reunion - 10/26
|
|
Wheatley Class of 2004 20th-Year Reunion Registration
(click and click again)
‘Hood History
Lucy Mullman (1960) Writes - “HI Art, Growing up at 8 Barnyard Lane, my house's
backyard abutted the Old Motor Parkway!! I always wondered where it went. I
remember seeing some of the old cement road amidst the forest of trees. That
our backyard led to a woods and not another house was cool. Now there is a
genuine monstrosity there!!”
Ed Roman (1961) Writes - “Art, I read with interest the comments from you
and classmate Jerry Mintz on the Long Island Motor
Parkway. It was called “the Old Motor Parkway,” as we knew it some seventy
years ago. In the early 1950's, in my section of Mineola, we could walk one
block down the street to a wooded section just east of Betty Lane (which runs
between Arlington and Roselle Streets) that had a section of an old surfaced
road, overgrown with shrubs and trees. It extended from Hillside Avenue to
Jericho Turnpike, and through an overpass extending a bit south of Jericho
Turnpike. A neighbor and I used to spend many summer days going south through
the tunnel and investigating the woods there. BTW, we were not supposed to
venture on that side of Jericho, so we didn't talk about it too much. I think
there was approximately a 1,000 foot stretch of the OMP from Hillside Avenue
to the other side of Jericho Turnpike.
It was the only wooded
area in the vicinity, and east of the road was an old unused potato field
that extended toward the Northern State Parkway. That potato field was later
developed into a subdivision that housed many Northside and Wheatley
students. The wooded areas are also, apparently, 100% developed.
For an eight year old
kid, it was fantasy land, nestled on the edge of suburbia. It was a place
where a young kid carrying a slingshot and a hatchet could find trouble just
around the corner, literally. Not a good place to ride a bike however, as it
was littered with rocks, and other debris, not to mention an occasional
homeless guy sleeping in the woods. The older kids would tell us how it was
once a road that had no speed limits, which created visions of race cars. It
was interesting to research the history of the road, as you and Jerry did.
And for me, it has childhood memories that are clear in my mind to this day.
Donna Kenton (1963) writes - “Hi Art, As a very little girl, I played War with some
of the neighborhood kids on what we knew as the Old Motor
Parkway, which ran in the area between Charles Street and Shortridge Drive.
It must have been just a little piece of the original, and I remember
it as being pretty overgrown even then.”
Art Engoron (1967) writes - Heading east from Roslyn Road, the Old Motor Parkway
(more formally known as “the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway” and “The Long Island
Motor Parkway”) veered 90 degrees to the right, southward, through where the
Wheatley Hills Golf Club golf course now is. By the time it crossed East
Williston Avenue, the Parkway was on a north/south axis. It ran between
Charles Street and Shortridge Drive, crossed Jericho Turnpike, crossed
Westbury Avenue, crossed Old Country Road, and then started veering eastward,
diagonally across Clinton Road (the southern extension of Glen Cove Road),
after which it crossed Stewart Avenue, after which it resumed heading east
(more precisely, north-east, but towards Eastern Long Island). At or near
where it crossed Old Country Road, there currently is a “Vanderbilt Drive
North,” the name of which cannot just be a coincidence. Anyone looking to
trace the route through these areas and on eastward would do well to follow
the high metal towers carrying transmission lines that were built over the
parkway when it was decommissioned……like this one (apparently near where the
OMP went under Jericho Turnpike):
|
|
In his
magisterial “The Power Broker,” about Robert Moses, Robert Caro dissects the
sharp turn south of the Northern State Parkway, at around this same area,
which he attributes to the power of the owners of the North Shore/Gold Coast
country estates in Westbury and beyond. The same forces were probably at work
when William K. Vanderbilt plotted his Parkway.
My classmate Scott Geery
and I once bicycled the road at least as far as Westbury Avenue (a sump and
its fence blocked us from going further). Remember that, Scottie?
Wikipedia has a great
article: The Vanderbilt Motor Parkway
And here’s a classic OMP
bridge, probably in Queens:
|
|
Ted Rothstein (1964)
Writes - “I also used to bicycle
on the ‘The Old Motor Parkway,’ but only just a mile or two. I may have
even taken one of my motorcycles on that road, which was very near my home on
Bengeyfield Drive.”
Graduates
1959 - Stuart Sanderson - “‘Anything Goes’ was also performed at Wheatley (to
good reviews, if I recall correctly) in 1958 or 1959.”
1964 - Marilyn Bardo - “Unfortunately, I will be away on a trip to the Baltics
when our class reunion (1964) takes place, so I am forwarding a recent
picture in order for people to know that I am still here.
Nancy (Gittleson Hodson), Meryl Moritz, and I get together several times a
year. One of those times takes place in the summer at Nancy’s gorgeous
home on the water in Northport. Below are photos of the view from
Nancy’s deck and of the three of us enjoying lunch at the new Northport
Hotel.
I send warm regards to my fellow classmates, especially those going to the
reunion. I will miss being there!”
|
|
|
|
L-R - Meryl
Moritz, Marilyn Bardo, and Nancy Gittleson Hodson, all 1964
1969 - Basketball Team - ID Help
Wanted
|
|
Front Row -
Michael Janowitz (1969), ???, ???, ???, Rob Rosenthal (1969), ???, ???
Back Row - ???, Doug
Terris (1970), Robert Abramowitz (1970), Steven Rosengarten (1970), ???, ???,
Robert Bush (1970), ???, Paul Seeth (1970) (?)
1970s - Jill Simon Forte (1967) - “Wow, I never realized how many kids enjoyed being in
the musicals that we had at Wheatley. Fun to see the names of siblings of
people I remember.”
1970 - Nina Galerstein - “I was so excited to see the program for “Guys and
Dolls” as performed in 1970. I played flute in the orchestra
and had a wonderful time! I believe I had the great privilege of sharing a
stand with Mr. Pane! It was awesome! Seeing all those names brought back
great memories. I forgot that my dear friend Naomi Goodman (1971) was
involved. Naomi passed away in her mid 20's (leukemia).....I still miss her.”
1978 - Joanna Faber - Interesting to me that there are several alumni
accounts of Mrs. Gunderson telling students to look for her window display so
we could wave out the car window as our parents drove by. That little
detail really stuck in our brains over all these decades. I think for a lot
of kids, it was a real thrill. It was like a teacher sharing an
important part of her life, outside of the classroom, with us. She lived
right THERE!
But unbeknownst to me,
Mrs. G apparently kept changing the display. One alumnus, from an earlier
class than mine, wrote that it was a rooster in the window. Another, from a
later class, wrote that it was doves. For our class of 1978, it was ducks,
definitely ducks! I thought that was because she lived near the Roslyn Duck
Pond.
The RDP was a magical
spot, with a waterwheel and hungry ducks who would swim right up to you, and
where as a little girl, I once leaned over and dropped my expensive
eyeglasses in the water. My mom told two older boys that she would pay
a $5 prize to either one of them if they could get in there and fish the
glasses out of the muck. The two boys eagerly jumped into the very shallow
water, and one soon came up with the glasses. The other one looked so
disappointed that my mom gave each of them $5.
But I digress! I wonder
if any other of Mrs. G’s alumni remember a different winged statue in her
window. Did she graduate from ducks and doves to dodos and dragons?
************
Glenn’s Gerstner’s (1977)
mention of Mr. Heroy brought back a long forgotten vision of a towering, bald
man with a big smile who would come to the lunch room and bend down to talk
and joke with us. He was an awesome and kindly figure. My best friend from
first grade, Julie King (who is still my best friend and writing partner!),
reminded me of Mr. Heroy’s fantastic trick. He would hold one of our empty
brown paper lunch sacks in one hand and toss an invisible object into the air
with the other. Then he would “catch it” in the bag by snapping his
fingers on the bag (thumb on the inside and fingers on the outside) to make
the sound effect of something dropping into the bag. He was “Heroy the Hero”
because of his extraordinary skills and beaming joyfulness.
*****************
Back in 1966, when I was
in first grade, the girls were supposed to wear dresses every day. Even when
it was bitterly cold out. (Sort of gives the lie to the idea that those
traditionalists were trying to protect us delicate females from…what?
Certainly not from freezing our butts off.) But to me the more important
issue was that you couldn’t climb on the monkey bars or do a skin-the-cat
while wearing a dress. Or rather, you could if you didn’t mind being
subjected to the humiliation of the boys yelling ‘I can see your underwear!’
Which you knew was a very, very bad thing even though it was unclear why. So,
boys get to climb and play freely while girls sit and shiver with their legs
crossed? How is that fair? I wore pants in spite of the rules. I do not remember
any discussions with my mom about this, but she wore pants and apparently did
not object to her daughter doing the same. One day a lunch lady told me that
if I didn’t wear a dress the next day, I would not get served any food. I
thought, Okay then I will not eat lunch. I wondered how hungry I
would be. The next day I came into the lunchroom wearing pants. I held out my
tray, braced for the confrontation. The lunch lady put food on it without
comment. I remember feeling proud that I won against an adult. I don’t know why
I never told my mom about it.
1978 - Joanna Faber and
Julie King - Co-Authors
|
|
L-R - Julie King and
Joanna Faber, Collaborating as Kids
Writes Julie - Joanna and I co-authored the popular books How To Talk
So Little Kids Will Listen and How To Talk When Kids Won’t Listen.
2021 and 2022 - Aarushi and
Siddhant Jain
|
|
L-R - Art (1967), Aarushi
(2021), and Siddhant (2022)
|
|
L-R - Sandeep
(dad), Aarushi, Priti (Mom), and Siddhant Jain, House of Dosas, Hicksville,
NY - August 28, 2024
Aarushi is entering
her senior year at Dartmouth, double majoring in “Politics, Philosophy and
Economics” as well as Psychology. Sid is going into his junior year at
Princeton and is majoring in “Operations Research and Financial Engineering”
with minors in Computer Science and Math. Older brother Arihant Jain
(2016) was in Philadelphia the night of the dinner.
Fan Mail
1959 (Stu Sanderson) - “Art, as always, I enjoyed the current Newsletter.”
1961 (Deborah Kerstein Brosowsky) -
❤️
1961 (Ed Roman) - “As usual, Art, you are doing a great job. For us
octogenarians, this site creates a welcome source of nostalgia. Thank you.
Ed”
1964 - (Marilyn Bardo) - “I join all the other Wheatleyites in praising your and
Keith’s efforts to keep us all close. Best, Marilyn”
1964 (Ted Rothstein) - “I’m loving the increased frequency of the
Newsletters. Thanks, Arthur!”
1965 (Jeffrey Orling) - “Art.….Wow, Another great read. Thank you so much
for awakening memories. Warm regards, Jeffrey Orling, 1965”
1968 (Leslie Wolowitz) - ”Art, I look forward to reading the notes about the
classes and the neighborhood.”
1972 (Jeffrey Kargman) - ❤️
1989 (Joseph Apicella) - “Thanks for the great Newsletter.”
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 # 176 was viewed 2.807
times, was liked five times and was commented on three times. In all, 4,719
email addresses received Newsletter # 176.
The Usual Words of
Wisdom
Thanks to our fabulous
Webmaster, Keith Aufhauser (Class of 1963), you can
regale yourself with the first 176 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 # 177. Please send me your autobiography
before someone else sends me your obituary.
Art
Arthur Fredericks Engoron, Class of 1967