The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter #280
The 25th Anniversary of 9/11; What is the Purpose of the Newsletter?; North Side Safety; Anyone Living in Morocco?; Claude Lévy and Marta Pesa; Mary Ann Young; WildCat Pet Corner
Dear Wheatley Wildcats and Other Interested Persons,
Welcome to the Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter #280
9/11
David Kurman (1971) Writes — This morning, 9/11/26, a photograph of classmate Tom Kuveikis was on my backpack as I answered the Stair Climb Challenge: 110 floors while wearing a 40-pound backpack. Tom was one of the 343 New York City firefighters who gave their lives 25 years ago while responding to the attacks on the World Trade Center. The twin towers were 110-stories high, and firefighters like Tom typically carried 40 pounds of gear.
What My 9/11 Was Like
By Arthur Engoron
Here is a response to a query in the Writing About Our Generation Weekly Newsletter: “where were you when 9/11 happened?”
Even 25 years later, writing about 9/11 is easy because I remember the day vividly.
It being Primary Day, I was waiting to vote in a community room near my Upper West Side apartment when a TV monitor showed a WTC tower burning. Talk quickly turned to whether the plane struck intentionally or by accident. I proclaimed, “You don’t fly an airplane into the World Trade Center by accident.”
I headed downtown on an IRT express train, intending to exit at Chambers Street and walk the rest of the way to the site. Over the public address system came a loud “Bypass the station; bypass the station.”
I shouted out loud, to nobody in particular, “No, don’t bypass the station.”
Sure enough, we bypassed the station, and after cruising through a couple of local stations, the train stopped dead in its tracks (pun intended), the lights still on. Some guy was writing furiously in what seemed to be a reporter’s notepad. I started chatting with him, and he turned out to be journalist George Stephanopoulos.
The train resumed forward motion; we pulled into the Fulton Street Station; and the doors opened. George and I intrepidly headed out together, but split up when we hit the streets. A blizzard of thick particles was falling; the sensation was akin to a warm hailstorm. I realized that the particles were pulverized WTC, including, sadly, organic material.
I headed north and stumbled upon what is now awkwardly called “New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital Emergency Department” (but then was simply called “New York Downtown Hospital”). The staff cleaned all the dust particles and organic material off of me.
I headed west, aiming to walk down the bank of the Hudson River to Battery Park City to check on a friend. Of course, emergency personnel blocked any such foolhardy idea, and I later learned that the friend had been evacuated by ferry to New Jersey.
I somehow bummed a long, slow, bumpy ride on the floor of the back of a commercial van heading uptown, in the front of which two fellows were talking in a strange tongue. I arrived back in my apartment in perfect sunny weather and spent the rest of the afternoon watching newsreels of the chaos downtown.
In numerous subsequent conversations, I opined that what the United States should do is ask the world, “Who are you? Why did you do this? What do you want?” Well, it wasn’t the first time that nobody listened to me.
Given the futility of the wars that followed, I feel vindicated.
What Is the Purpose of the Newsletter?
1968 — Wendy Woods — I look forward to hearing about Wheatley alumni, travels, accomplishments, their families, and their shared memories of our community and schools. I also find it interesting to learn of their opinions on matters. We were all fortunate to have a quality education that challenged us to think, share ideas, analyze and question, while being respectful. I’m sure we are capable of continuing that.
North Side Safety — Concrete Barriers?
Jill Simon Forte (1967) Writes — “OK, Arthur, I won’t remark on the dumb fence 😉, even though you probably know me enough to realize that I would still like to remind those silly letter writers that the security is at the doors (if they are worried about security). How strong and ugly would a fence have to be to stop a car 😆? Anyway,
I LOVED seeing my friends Amy Pastarnack Hughes and Shep Messing (both 1967). It’s so good to have several friends that I still communicate with after all these years 😊😁💙☮️. Stay healthy and happy .. Jill”
Gerry Gersh (1969) Writes — “Wow, Art. What an eyesore!!”
Bill Meyn (1974) Writes — “It may be of minor interest to know that the barriers around North Side School are “Jersey Barriers”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_barrier. Who knew that we would adopt a New Jersey cultural artifact at Wheatley?!”
Travel Query
An intrepid Wildcat will be in Morocco the first week of November (2026) and is wondering whether there are any Wildcats living there who might want to share a meal in Fez or Rabat. Please let me (Art) know, and I will convey the information.
Graduates
1966 — Claude Lévy and Marta Pesa
The tickets at the top of the photo (above the newspaper articles) are to the Spanish Pavilion of the New York World’s Fair. Claude kept every souvenir in his scrapbook.
1967 — Mary Ann Young — “Hi, Art, I was happy to receive your email about the Class of 1967 reunion in 2027. Here’s a little about my life these past years.
My husband (Michael) and I sold our dream home in Sedona, Arizona, in 2020 after Covid and traveled. We spent most of our time in Europe — France, Spain and Switzerland — but also Egypt and the South Seas. In March of 2021, Egypt was one of the only countries where we didn’t have to quarantine in a hotel for two weeks. The photo below is from that trip — we were the only tourists at the Pyramids. We spent six weeks in Egypt. That was the beginning of our nomadic adventure.
That adventure has been wonderful. We still do not have a permanent home, but right now we are in Asheville, North Carolina, visiting my daughter. We’ll go from here to Sedona; we stay in Airbnbs, as neither Michael nor I want to ‘settle down’ - buy furniture and household goods, obtain utilities, etc. We like being able to move when we want to. We each have two 25” suitcases that contain all of our possessions. I love this life.
We use transatlantic cruises to go back and forth between Europe and the USA. We have a granddaughter who is a chef living in Galway, Ireland and another granddaughter who is married and living in Switzerland, where she is an assistant principal in an international baccalaureate school.
With Covid and not going out – I realized how little I needed to enjoy my life. With all that happened with Covid and continues to happen around the world – it became clear to us that we didn’t know how much longer we would be alive ….. so let’s enjoy it. 😊”
The WildCat Pet Corner
Fan Mail
1960 (Joanne Festa) — “Please continue this very-well-written Newsletter 👏” ❤️
1961 (Michael Jablon) — “Thanks for all you do for us (the young and older alums)!!!!”
1963 (Donna Harmelin Rivkin) — ❤️ “Keep up the good work.”
1964 (Steven Morris) — ❤️
1965 (Phyllis Galella Luckey) — ❤️
1966 (Claude Lévy) — ❤️
1967 (Barbara Smith Stanisic) — ❤️
1977 (Maryann Donnelly Kreischer) — ❤️
1978 (William Haft) — ❤️
1991 (David Sakhai) — “Art, I commend you for building a great community of Wheatley-ites, and for Newsletters that we have all grown to enjoy reading. I appreciate what you do.”
Non-Wheatley (MBDE) — ❤️
The Usual Words of Wisdom
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.
Thanks to our fabulous Webmaster, Keith Aufhauser (Class of 1963), you can regale yourself with the first 279 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 #280. Please send me your autobiography before someone else sends me your obituary.
Art