I’m getting ready to attend my first Brookline High School class of ’58 reunion, and I’ve written this in anticipation of the event. My brain can’t wrap itself around the concept of 50 years. I don’t really have any notion of how long that is. I’ve been married to the second Mrs. Yaffe, Adrianne, for over twenty years and I don’t remember not being married, so 50 years is way too long to try to grasp.
I look at my 1958 graduation picture and recognize myself only because that’s my name next to it. This is a color version of the Murivian picture. There are some pictures in family albums that look pretty similar, but there’s no way I would have been able to pick myself at 18 out of a line-up if I hadn’t seen those pictures. So I don’t expect to be able to identify very many of my classmates. Please wear your name tags prominently. Thanks.
I think I was the only member of my BHS class to go to Carnegie Tech, known since the mid-60s as Carnegie Mellon University. If anyone else went there with me, please pull me aside at the reunion and remind me quietly, or send email. I wasn’t the only person from the Greater Boston area in my Carnegie class, but I don’t remember anyone else from Brookline.
Since I haven’t attended any reunions before this I have had contact with almost none of my classmates since graduation. I can probably list the exceptions. I went through high school in a daze. I didn’t get into MIT because they deemed me not yet mature enough to attend. My dad disagreed. I probably shared his opinion, but I wasn’t heartbroken by their rejection. I got to go away to college, free from the relentless demands my dad was so good at making. Don’t get me wrong – I loved my dad. I miss him. He always wanted me to do my best. When I left BHS in 1958 I wasn’t ready to deliver my best. Carnegie Tech figured that out after a couple of years and suggested that I take a year off to get my head together. After 18 months I went back to Pittsburgh to finish my degree and begin grad school, having firmly established that computers were the direction I was going in.
During that 18 month hiatus I associated with a few of my BHS classmate friends. I only had a few BHS classmate friends, and most of them were away from Boston finishing their undergraduate education. I was pretty much a geek during my high school years. My friends were my AP Math classmates, my AP Chemistry classmates and my AP Physics classmates. Those of you who were in those classes will correctly remember that those classes all had the same dozen students.
Gene Ring went to Harvard, and I spent a little time hanging out with him in the early 60s while he was still an undergraduate and I was on hiatus. We had some fun, but he was still a student and I was working. I must have met and socialized with another classmate or two during those 18 months. I remember vaguely somebody in our class disparaging another classmate over his education and career choices. I don’t know if the person he named ever finished his degree – I think he did, but I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. I do know that he was considered one of the finest motorcycle mechanics in the Boston area in the early 60s. I respect accomplishment, so I respect the individual. I can’t remember who made the remarks. His face, his voice, and when and where we talked – that’s all gone now, expunged from my altogether too fragile memory.
Richard August, was it your guppies I tried to tend for a while? I apologize for screwing that up. …and I apologize if it was someone other than Richard August.
I returned to the Boston area in 1967 with my first wife and my son in tow. We wound up in Dedham and I worked along the 128 corridor, then eventually in Hopkinton before I took a downtown Boston high-tech job with Teradyne. They’ve moved out to Burlington now, but I’d retired in 2000, long before they did that. Until two or three years ago their facilities were in the South Station and Chinatown area, in space that is now far too valuable as residential space to be used for manufacturing.
I look at my 1958 graduation picture and recognize myself only because that’s my name next to it. This is a color version of the Murivian picture. There are some pictures in family albums that look pretty similar, but there’s no way I would have been able to pick myself at 18 out of a line-up if I hadn’t seen those pictures. So I don’t expect to be able to identify very many of my classmates. Please wear your name tags prominently. Thanks.
I think I was the only member of my BHS class to go to Carnegie Tech, known since the mid-60s as Carnegie Mellon University. If anyone else went there with me, please pull me aside at the reunion and remind me quietly, or send email. I wasn’t the only person from the Greater Boston area in my Carnegie class, but I don’t remember anyone else from Brookline.
Since I haven’t attended any reunions before this I have had contact with almost none of my classmates since graduation. I can probably list the exceptions. I went through high school in a daze. I didn’t get into MIT because they deemed me not yet mature enough to attend. My dad disagreed. I probably shared his opinion, but I wasn’t heartbroken by their rejection. I got to go away to college, free from the relentless demands my dad was so good at making. Don’t get me wrong – I loved my dad. I miss him. He always wanted me to do my best. When I left BHS in 1958 I wasn’t ready to deliver my best. Carnegie Tech figured that out after a couple of years and suggested that I take a year off to get my head together. After 18 months I went back to Pittsburgh to finish my degree and begin grad school, having firmly established that computers were the direction I was going in.
During that 18 month hiatus I associated with a few of my BHS classmate friends. I only had a few BHS classmate friends, and most of them were away from Boston finishing their undergraduate education. I was pretty much a geek during my high school years. My friends were my AP Math classmates, my AP Chemistry classmates and my AP Physics classmates. Those of you who were in those classes will correctly remember that those classes all had the same dozen students.
Gene Ring went to Harvard, and I spent a little time hanging out with him in the early 60s while he was still an undergraduate and I was on hiatus. We had some fun, but he was still a student and I was working. I must have met and socialized with another classmate or two during those 18 months. I remember vaguely somebody in our class disparaging another classmate over his education and career choices. I don’t know if the person he named ever finished his degree – I think he did, but I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. I do know that he was considered one of the finest motorcycle mechanics in the Boston area in the early 60s. I respect accomplishment, so I respect the individual. I can’t remember who made the remarks. His face, his voice, and when and where we talked – that’s all gone now, expunged from my altogether too fragile memory.
Richard August, was it your guppies I tried to tend for a while? I apologize for screwing that up. …and I apologize if it was someone other than Richard August.
I returned to the Boston area in 1967 with my first wife and my son in tow. We wound up in Dedham and I worked along the 128 corridor, then eventually in Hopkinton before I took a downtown Boston high-tech job with Teradyne. They’ve moved out to Burlington now, but I’d retired in 2000, long before they did that. Until two or three years ago their facilities were in the South Station and Chinatown area, in space that is now far too valuable as residential space to be used for manufacturing.
During the late 60s Gene Ring and I with our wives got together on one or two occasions, and David Shikes spotted me in a restaurant one day quite by accident. David kept occasional contact with me for several years. He and I, with our wives, had fun one day exploring a long stretch of route 27 by car, much to the consternation of my first wife who never forgave me for wasting that entire afternoon. I didn’t think it was wasted. If nothing else I learned that route 27 is not the fas.jpg)
test way to get from Concord to Sharon.
I ran into Peter Gens on Federal Street in Boston one day in the late 70s, but he had no idea who I was and ran off before I could tell him. This is what I looked like in the 70s. Sorry I frightened you, Peter. It's no wonder you didn't want to stand around listening to my explanation of how we knew each other.
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test way to get from Concord to Sharon.I ran into Peter Gens on Federal Street in Boston one day in the late 70s, but he had no idea who I was and ran off before I could tell him. This is what I looked like in the 70s. Sorry I frightened you, Peter. It's no wonder you didn't want to stand around listening to my explanation of how we knew each other.
During the early 90’s I ran into Irene Yonkers Jennings. Well, actually I swam into her in the swimming pool at Dragon Bay in Port Antonio, Jamaica. We didn’t recognize each other right away, but we played the geography game until she realized that we’d had four years of homeroom together. I think Irene is the only BHS classmate who I’ve laid eyes on since I married my second wife, Adrianne. (Are you smiling, Irene?) I wasn’t as hirsuit in the 90s as I was in the 70s, but I did still have a beard (quite better trimmed than it was in the 70s) and I had some hair left then. It's almost all gone now.
I'm sure I ran into Roberta Taymore Lander now and again, especially during the late 60s and early 70s. Roberta and I spent a lot of time together during summers before we graduated because we summered within 100 yards of each other at a lake in New Hampshire. We hardly ever saw each other at BHS. (Some of my AP Math class may remember the lake, and the outing we had there. I can't remember what year that was - 1957)?
I'm sure I ran into Roberta Taymore Lander now and again, especially during the late 60s and early 70s. Roberta and I spent a lot of time together during summers before we graduated because we summered within 100 yards of each other at a lake in New Hampshire. We hardly ever saw each other at BHS. (Some of my AP Math class may remember the lake, and the outing we had there. I can't remember what year that was - 1957)?
Is there anyone else? Hey, if you remember running into me, remind me please. A good deal of the last 50 years is now hopelessly muddled and lost, and I’d like to retrieve any pleasant memories.
…and speaking of pleasant memories, I want to mention some of the people I’ve thought about over the years. Martha Birnbaum has popped up in my “What ever happened to” list from time to time. I remember a statue dance we won together, or perhaps we were runners up. Dancing with Martha was one of the highlights of my geeky high school career, and Marty, I don't mean that as an insult. I didn't dance with many other people. You actually seemed to like dancing with me. Did I miss a cue? Well, no surprise. I missed a lot of cues those days.
…and speaking of pleasant memories, I want to mention some of the people I’ve thought about over the years. Martha Birnbaum has popped up in my “What ever happened to” list from time to time. I remember a statue dance we won together, or perhaps we were runners up. Dancing with Martha was one of the highlights of my geeky high school career, and Marty, I don't mean that as an insult. I didn't dance with many other people. You actually seemed to like dancing with me. Did I miss a cue? Well, no surprise. I missed a lot of cues those days.
I have thought occasionally of June LoPorto Pickens - I can't possibly be the only '58 graduate who has thought of June LoPorto now and again. During graduation week way back in 1958 I was gratified to learn that June actually knew me by name. I'd gone through high school thinking I was invisible to most of the "in" crowd.
I’ve made email contact with Arlene Belkin Bernstein a couple of times. I remember trying to reach Alan Friedman by email a long time ago; I finally succeeded just a few weeks ago. I’ve thought of John Stayn and Berta Brooks Axelrad – Berta, I tried to email you but have had no success. Mark Robinson, if you think I was talking about you earlier … yes, that was you, and I have wondered about you now and again. I look forward to seeing you. At the last I knew Peter Goldfarb was running a B&B in Mount Vernon, Washington. The web site is still up, but the listed prices are for the 2003/2004 season. Peter, what do you charge now? Adrianne and I spent a couple of summers in the Seattle area, but never got to Mount Vernon to check out the White Swan Guest House
I traveled a lot when I lived on Beacon Hill – that was during my bachelor years, after my first marriage ended and before life as I now know it began. During that period I flew somewhere in the world at least once every month and when I was home I used taxis a lot. It doesn’t pay to own a car when you live on Beacon Hill, work downtown, and travel a lot. I’m sure I’m not the only member of our class who has, or at one time had, a charge account with Boston Cab. The late Arnold Deluty owned several taxi medallions and also drove a cab. He occasionally picked me up at my Beacon Hill apartment to take me to the airport, or sometimes the one mile to my office on cold, rainy days. I was shocked to find his name on the ‘In Memoriam’ page of the 1998 reunion book.
Adrianne and I moved to Sharon in 1987. When I wasn't in Singapore, Seoul, or Munich I took the train to work, and walked from Back Bay station to Chinatown every morning and back every evening. I developed a strong dislike for February. After a snowstorm the sidewalk on Herald Street looked like the surface of the moon, and one had to carefully dodge past the big puddles in the street to avoid being splashed by passing cars and trucks. In 1994 I'd had it with the snow and cold so I took an intra-company opportunity to move to Austin, Texas for a few years, then in 1998 to Manassas, Virginia. When my job in Manassas reached the end of it’s run late in 1999 I retired and we moved to West Palm Beach. We spend summers away from the Florida heat, though. Adrianne's has lots of friends in New Jersey and we have grandchildren in Westchester County, New York, (as well as Seattle).
I traveled a lot when I lived on Beacon Hill – that was during my bachelor years, after my first marriage ended and before life as I now know it began. During that period I flew somewhere in the world at least once every month and when I was home I used taxis a lot. It doesn’t pay to own a car when you live on Beacon Hill, work downtown, and travel a lot. I’m sure I’m not the only member of our class who has, or at one time had, a charge account with Boston Cab. The late Arnold Deluty owned several taxi medallions and also drove a cab. He occasionally picked me up at my Beacon Hill apartment to take me to the airport, or sometimes the one mile to my office on cold, rainy days. I was shocked to find his name on the ‘In Memoriam’ page of the 1998 reunion book.
Adrianne and I moved to Sharon in 1987. When I wasn't in Singapore, Seoul, or Munich I took the train to work, and walked from Back Bay station to Chinatown every morning and back every evening. I developed a strong dislike for February. After a snowstorm the sidewalk on Herald Street looked like the surface of the moon, and one had to carefully dodge past the big puddles in the street to avoid being splashed by passing cars and trucks. In 1994 I'd had it with the snow and cold so I took an intra-company opportunity to move to Austin, Texas for a few years, then in 1998 to Manassas, Virginia. When my job in Manassas reached the end of it’s run late in 1999 I retired and we moved to West Palm Beach. We spend summers away from the Florida heat, though. Adrianne's has lots of friends in New Jersey and we have grandchildren in Westchester County, New York, (as well as Seattle).
Adrianne and I spent a couple of summers in Seattle living in a travel trailer (long story – ask again later). We had the trailer moved (I never towed it anywhere) to New Jersey in 2005 to follow our Seattle grandchildren east (They're back in Seattle again!) and sold it toward the end of this last summer. It is possible for two people to live in less than 400 square feet day in and day out and not wind up committing mayhem. That we are still together attests to that. It helped that we only tried that for four months or so at a stretch. We will rent a house for the summer of 2009. I got tired of the repairs the trailer needed. A twelve year old trailer is like a twelve year old car. Something breaks every day, and some of the repairs take more than a day to fix. With each passing day I got further behind.
50 years! A lot has happened. Some of us will be together again in Brookline next weekend, and we are all quite a bit more seasoned than we were in 1958.. We are successes – all of us. Those few of us who don’t feel that they are successful probably won't be coming to the reunion. That’s not to say that everyone who doesn't show up is not successful - there are other reasons for missing the reunion. I’d have made it to the 40th reunion save for bad timing - I was just getting established in a new job and a new home. Somewhere between 1980, when I left my first wife, and 1986 when I met Adrianne, the daze that began before I ever entered Brookline High School lifted (It could, and did, take that long!) and I could finally focus on who I was, and I’m happy to say that I like what I found. I'm looking forward to introducing myself (and my wife, Adrianne) to my old friends.