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January 2002
Volume 2 Number 4

Another Reunion
Our Alumni
Editorial
Echoes

Another Reunion, by Bob Casale

We all think back to September of 2000 and the Hicksville High School mega reunion held in Huntington. It was a huge success, attended by many, and is talked about whenever alumni get together. I'm not sure what the final head count was, but it was at least 1500 and it was packed. I know there were people in from Florida and California and from points East and West. The major drawback was "IT WAS TOO SHORT!

We sure love getting together and talking about high school dances, football games, Homecomings and parties. We don't enjoy talking about those who have departed but we can embellish their memory as we recall things we've done together. There is a common bond amongst all classes because we, collectively, have shared much of the same things over the years. The dances were similar though the music has changed. The football games were similar though the players have changed. Our community is similar but a lot has changed. Many years have gone by, but we haven't changed!!

I can remember walking amongst throngs of people hoping to see the face of that one special person that, perhaps, influenced my life and that I really want to see. Perhaps it was to rekindle an old friendship or just to say thanks for helping make me the person I am today. My best friend from years ago could have been a guy or a gal. We might have done everything together and probably talked for hours about what we would do and where we would go. We talked about love life and school life and family. I sure hope you're here tonight, good friend.

We have a better chance at making it happen if we follow the advice of John Sherin and the reunion committee from the Class of '56. They recently had their 45th HHS reunion at the Knights of Columbus Hall behind the firehouse in Hicksville.Their reunion was successful and everyone had a pleasant evening. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond control, class sizes are dwindling. Their's is no exception, thus the turnout was decent but sparse. Throughout the evening, they discussed asking graduation classes from a few years prior and a few years after to join them when they have their 50th. This way, the amount of participants would increase and the common bond we all share would permit conversations that cover a genre of topic that is familiar to many.
Therefore, to stimulate interest in such a venture, the newsletter editors will post information about reunions in subsequent issues and we encourage other classes to follow a path similar to the Class of '56.

Choose a committee and have a spokesperson for your particular class. What probably will happen is someone that is interested will have to step forward and become the spokesperson, then they will create a committee. Once this has been accomplished, submit the committee list and the full name, address and phone number of the spokesperson and his or her email address. We will post the lists and the rest is up to the individual classes. Email amongst yourselves about what you would like to do. As information unfolds, it will be updated on a monthly basis and be included in the newsletter.

What happens after that is, we get together and do what we all did at the mega reunion. Walk around and when you see someone from another class, say, "that face is familiar, but...!

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Our Alumni

• Gene Nye, 1957 has completed another novel, "Robert Alexander Dean." It was available in time for Christmas giving but sadly the newsletter did not have the information in time for the December issue. You can read all about it along with his biography on http://1stbooks.com. It can be ordered through 1stbooks.com, amazon.com, Barnes & Noble or Borders.

  If you would like to see what Gene looked like in 1955, go to http://photos.yahoo.com/grandmagadget. If you would like to see what he looks now today, buy a copy of one of his novels!

• Bill Collins 1956 and his wife Barbara have recently moved to Florida. So many of us HHS grads are down here now that we ought to consider a multi year reunion in central Florida.

• Wendy Karen Stuart 1957 is searching for Carol Conroy, Brooke Nelson, Steve Goldsmith and Barbara Clark. Wendy said she spotted Louise Clark in the Mega Reunion pictures and wonders if anyone has contact with her.

• Our deepest sympathy to Arlene Andrade Kamen, 1957, whose husband passed away on Dec. 21, 2001.
  

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Editorial

You will notice that I am now using the Bcc: to address the newsletter. This takes a great deal more time and effort than just clicking on "select all" but several people have suggested this method to protect their privacy and cut down on SPAM. I really do not think that SPAM is coming from Netscape because of announcements I have heard on TV about increased amounts of junk mail on the Internet. I tried setting my computer to refuse cookies but then I could not get onto any sites! So, I just block senders and delete any mailings, which could be SPAMMING. I have reported chronic abusers to my ISP and I know of at least one who has lost his privilege.

70% of all my incoming phone calls are from unavailable or out of area telemarketers. My mailbox is filled with offers for credit cards and refinance my home deals each and every day. The computer age is wonderful but comes with a high price tag - loss of privacy! Yes, I am aware of the gadgets and services available to block telemarketers but Caller ID and an answering machine are cheaper.

I miss the old door-to-door salespeople because I could look them in the eye and see if they believed in their products. Avon ladies, Fuller Brush men and all the others are a thing of the past. They just drop off their catalogs on a desk or at the hairdresser and wait for you to call them.

Pat
P.S. Linda we miss you. Get well soon.

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Echoes

• SIGNS THAT YOU HAVE GROWN UP:
  Credit David Teitel for this, HHS class of 1968
  
  1. Your potted plants are alive. And you can't smoke a-one of them.
  2. Having sex in a twin-sized bed is absurd.
  3. You keep more food than beer in the fridge.
  4. 6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to sleep.
  5. You hear your favorite song on an elevator.
  6. You carry an umbrella. You watch the Weather Channel.
  7. Your friends marry and divorce instead of hookup and breakup.
  8. You go from 130 days of vacation time to 7.
  9. Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as 'dressed up'.
  10. You're the one calling the police because those darn kids next door don't know how to turn down the stereo.
  11. Older relatives feel comfortable telling sex jokes around you.
  12. You don't know what time Taco Bell closes anymore.
  13. Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up..
  14. You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonald's.
  15. Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt.
  16. You no longer take naps from noon to 6 p.m.
  17. Dinner and a movie - The whole date instead of the beginning of one.
  18. Eating a basket of chicken wings at 3 a.m. would severely upset, rather than settle, your stomach.
  19. You go to the drugstore for Ibuprofen and antacids,not condoms and pregnancy test kits.
  20. A $4.00 bottle of wine is no longer 'pretty good stuff.'
  21. You actually eat breakfast foods at breakfast time.
  22. "I just can't drink the way I used to," replaces "I'm never going to drink that much again."
  23. Over 90% of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work.
  24. You don't drink at home to save money before going to a bar.
  25. You read this entire list looking for one sign that doesn't apply to you.

• Some of you are too young to remember all of this, but I really think it was a time to live in. (Joyce Thornburn Jurgensen, 1967)
  
  REMEMBER WHEN:
  
  Mom was at home when the kids got home from school; when nobody owned a purebred dog; when a quarter was a decent allowance, and another quarter a huge bonus; when you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny; when all of your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done and wore high heels; when you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked and gas pumped without asking, all for free, every time, and you didn't pay for air, and you got trading stamps to boot. When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents; when the worst thing you could do at school was smoke in the bathrooms, flunk a test or chew gum; when a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car, to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races; and people went steady and girls wore a class ring with an inch of wrapped yarn so it would fit her finger. And no one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked.
  
  And you got in big trouble if you accidentally locked the doors at home, since no one ever had a key. Remember lying on your back on the grass with your friends and saying things like "That cloud looks like a ..." Remember jumping waves at the ocean (Gulf) for hours in that cold water; and playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game because baseball was not a psychological group learning experience, it was a game.
  
  Remember when stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger. And with all our progress, don't you wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace and share it with the children of today.
  
  Remember when being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home. Basically, we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat!
  
  But we all survived because their love was greater than the threat. Go back with me for a minute.... Before the Internet or the MAC... before semi automatics and crack ... before SEGA or Super Nintendo... Way back .... I'm talking about hide and go seek at dusk, red light, green light, kick the can, playing kickball & dodgeball until your porch light came on ... and mother may I? red rover, hula hoops, roller skating to music, running through the sprinkler...
  
  And... Catching lightning bugs in a jar; Christmas morning; your first day of school; bedtime prayers and goodnight kisses; climbing trees; getting an ice cream off the ice cream truck; a million mosquito bites and sticky fingers; jumping on the bed; pillow fights; running till you were out of breath' laughing so hard your stomach hurt; being tired from playing; your first crush...remember that?
  
  I'm not finished yet.... Kool-aid was the drink of summer; toting your friends on your handle bars; wearing your new shoes on the first day of school and class field trips. Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that! There's nothing like the good old days.
  
  They were good then, and they're good now when we think about them. I want to go back to the time when............ Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo" and mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do it over!" "Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest; money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly;" catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening; and it wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends. Being old referred to anyone over 20 and the worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.
  
  Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better; it was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at the amusement park; getting a foot of snow was a dream come true; abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare;" Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles; the worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team; water balloons were the ultimate weapon; and older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.
  

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