The Wheatley
School Alumni Association Newsletter # 279
Steve Nelson; Barbara Nocito Peluso; Howard
Grindlinger, MD; William Nocito; Leonard Palazzo; Claude Lévy; Marta Pesa,
MBDE; Shep Messing; Dolly Parton; Scott Frishman; Amy Pastarnack; Roger
Gimbel
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Dear Wheatley Wildcats and Other
Interested Persons,
Welcome to the Wheatley School
Alumni Association Newsletter # 279
What
Is the Purpose of the Newsletter?
1971 - Dale Ilsley Goldberg - “Hi Art
I find myself wondering
what the purpose of the Newsletter is supposed to be. I thought it was to
catch up with news about classmates - however, it seems to me it has
sometimes drifted in a political direction, and recently, nasty.
Art, in the most current
issue of the Newsletter, there was an exchange between Alan Littman and you.
I found Alan’s opinion about security to be presented in a thoughtful and
respectful way. Your response, however, was to insult him with the use of the
word “obeisance,” and to double down on the use of that word to describe him.
Help me understand why you found it necessary to insult Alan. This exchange,
to me, falls outside of what I understood the purpose of the Newsletter to be
- a safe place for people to express themselves.
When I read the
Newsletter, I want to hear about classmates’ lives, what has gone on in their
lives since graduating from Wheatley, and news directly pertaining to North
Side, Willets Road and Wheatley.
Perhaps a different venue
can be created (perhaps on Facebook) for those who want to discuss politics,
and have arguments with other people. I just don’t want to read it in our
high school Newsletter.
I would be interested in
other people’s thoughts and feelings about this. Do people want the focus of
this Newsletter to be catching up with former classmates and hearing about
their lives? Do people believe the Newsletter should be a forum for disrespectful
exchanges with one another? If someone does express an opinion, is it
unreasonable to expect a respectful response? I really hope others respond to
this.
Dale Ilsley Goldberg,
Class of 1971”
(((Art Responds - Dale,
thanks for the feedback. (1) - I am just as interested in what graduates are
thinking, including their opinions, political and otherwise, as I am in
whether they are playing pickle ball and how many grandchildren they have.
(2) I believe in robust debate about issues. If Jane calls John “wrong,” I
print it; if Jane calls John “stupid,” I don’t. (3) I also look forward to
feedback on this issue, but whatever it is, I’m not going censor views, only
personal attacks (narrowly construed).”)))
North Side Safety
1965 - Michele Parker Ross - “I went to the North Side School. I have fond memories
of a time long gone and long lost. Preventive safety is the issue today.
Build the fence around North Side. My grandaughter went to the Village School
in Syosset not that long ago (10 years), and at that time they already had
armed retired police officers on guard at the front door, and a fence around
school grounds was eventually put in place.” (((Art responds - How very
sad.)))
1967 - Jill Simon Forte - “Art, Your take on the fence around North Side is
correct!
The amount of years that no one crashed into the school should alert everyone
that odds are it won’t happen again. As the odds-makers in Vegas would put
it, VERY low, so, no fence needed. The houses that are right across the
street from the school do not have fences around the front of their homes, so
clearly they aren’t worried about someone crashing into their homes either.
Well, that’s a long way to say you are correct. “
1970 - David Packer - “Hi Art, In response to Matt Smith’s (1980) comments,
I for one do not want the Newsletter to be ‘guided’ in any direction, while
‘balanced and respectful’ discussions are up to our classmates, not the
Newsletter. I don’t detect any effort on your part to promote a point of
view, except to the extent that your personal position is persuasive and a
source of interest and respect.
In response to Alan
Littman’s (1981) contribution, two points concern me. One is
that every community in America must contend with low probability events, and
determine whether or not the risk warrants the cost and other consequences of
taking preemptive action. This is risk assessment, for which there are also
many ‘professionals’ who at least try to assess a situation objectively.
These professionals deal in probabilities. In some cases, medical doctors do
as well, but more often there is personal experience, an extensive
literature, patient trials, etc. to reduce the specific uncertainty of a
diagnosis or treatment, as well as the potential consequences of leaving an
ailment untreated. To compare security and medical professionals is another
one of the many false analogies to which humans fall prey, and the word
‘professionals’ can become a rubric or semantic trap that masks the great
diversity of problems, required expertise, and levels of uncertainty subsumed
under this term.”
Anonymous - “The school fence debate is just weird.
First, there are many
ways to do school security these days that do not consist of an unwanted
fence. Here is an example: https://www.edweek.org/leadership/see-which-safety-technologies-schools-are-betting-on/2026/05
Second, as was said by
you, Art, law enforcement makes all sorts of recommendations. Some good, some
not. There are non-law enforcement organizations that may make the same or
different recommendations. Where are they on this? Education organizations.
Schools. Safety organizations.
Third, why enter this
debate at all? Not everyone agrees on whether there should be a school fence
and this debate is not going to change anyone’s mind. Is there such a desire
to get into an argument? This Alumni Newsletter should be a space for
pleasant conversation - perhaps we should have a fence around debates that go
nowhere.”
Art Engoron Follows Up - “How many therapists will tell you that you should not
be in therapy. (BTW, Here’s one - Not everyone should be in therapy.). (((And
for the record, I do not think that every conversation, in a Newsletter or in
life, has to be “pleasant.”)
Photos of North Side Today (from Adam Zaid 1977)
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Art Engoron
(1967) Writes - OMG, those barriers look like the World War II “Atlantic
Wall” that Nazi Germany (unsuccessfully) built to forestall the allies from
landing in Western Europe (think “D-Day”)……or maybe like a (typically) bad
installation by Christo (and his wife and partner, Jeanne Claude), the
Bulgarian conceptual artist.
Graduates
1958 - Steve Nelson - “Since announcing my Substack blog ‘Fire in a Wire’
three months ago in Newsletter Issue # 272, I’ve posted a dozen short weekly
articles about different topics related to how electricity is affecting human
evolution. Here are some recent ones:
‘The End Is Near’: The
human species, Homo sapiens, is inevitably going extinct. A new species
is living among us. Are you one of them?
‘Death of an Eagle’: What
a live video stream of two bald eagles in their nest in California showed us
about human evolution.
‘The Evolution of Music’:
From the Stone Age to The Rolling Stones, the beat goes on.
Check out my blog here. Subscribe for free and get a new post
in your email once a week.
Thanks for your support.”
1960 - Barbara Nocito Peluso -
Deceased in 2024 (not previously reported)
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1962 - Howard M.
Grindlinger, MD
Howard Writes - “After 2 ½ years of work, my friend and I just finished
writing a paper about Prions. It’s now ready for submission to an academic
journal.
My next project is
finishing a novel! It’s approximately three chapters from completion. I hope
that it will take only 2 ½ months, rather than 2 1/2 years.
I knew that Adm. Rickover
was NEVER Secretary of the Navy. He hated bureaucracies, and working with him
was too difficult. Barry Gordon (1965) was very
fortunate to have worked within Adm. Rickover’s sphere.
1966 William Victor Nocito, Jr. -
Deceased
William Nocito Obituary - Including Photo
1966 - Leonard Palazzo - Deceased
(in 2022; not previously reported):
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1966 - Claude Lévy + Marta
Pesa - Exchange Students - Photographed Back Then
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Mr. Wieler, a Roslyn
photographer who donated his services as a gift to AFS (American Field
Service) (which still runs student exchange programs) prepping Claude. The
result:
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Mr. Wieler also
photographed Marta:
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Claude is from France and
now lives in Manhattan. He stayed with the Gross family (Robert 1967 and Jean
1969). Marta is from Argentina and lives in Argentina. She stayed with the
Noble family (Diana 1966, Barbara 1968, and Henry 1972). Marta writes, “I am
proud to be from Tucumán, the city where Argentina declared its
independence.”
1966 and 1967 - Claude Lévy and Art
Engoron - In Academia
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L-R - Claude
Lévy, Art Engoron, and MBDE, at the Columbia University
Campus (undergoing construction), 116th Street and Broadway, New York City,
August 21, 2026
1967 - Shep Messing and Dolly
Parton
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1967 - Scott Frishman and
Amy Pastarnack Hughes
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Scott Writes - “Amy
Pasternack Hughes and I had a lovely dinner on Thursday, August 27, at Guilio
Cesare in Westbury. There was a lot of catching up and learning about each
others’ lives since Wheatley days. She is so nice and sweet, as you you well
know, being such good friends with her. She has had such an interesting life,
including having six children (four girls and two boys). I give her so much
credit for raising such a large brood .”
1969 - Roger Gimbel -
Featured in a Stroll Magaine Cover Article - Pages 17-21
Stroll Magazine With Roger Gimbel Cover Article
Fan Mail
1960 (Joanne Festa) - “Thanks again. I look forward to each Newsletter.” ❤️
1963 (Mark Friedman) - ❤️
1964 (Richard Ilsley) - ❤️
1965 (Sharon Neely Halm) - ❤️❤️
1972 (Debra Soffer Beilin) - “Keep up your good works; as you know, you’re much
appreciated!”
1974 (Melanie Artim) - ❤️
1978 (William Haft) - ❤️
Non-Wheatley (MBDE) - ❤️
The Usual Words of Wisdom
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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.
Thanks to our fabulous
Webmaster, Keith Aufhauser (Class of 1963), you can regale
yourself with the first 275 or so Wheatley School Alumni Association
Newsletters (and much other Wheatley data and arcana) at our website:
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 vouch for the accuracy of what people tell me, as TWSAA
does not have a New Yorker style 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,
performed, and/or studied there. Art Engoron, Class of 1967
Closing
That’s it for The
Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 279. Please send me your
autobiography before someone else sends me your obituary.
Art