Welcome Back, Wren Rogers!

Wren Rogers writes: I'm sorry that I won't be able to make it to the upcoming reunion, but you asked what I've been doing-- so here it is:

I graduated from Yale with a degree in architecture and headed out to Rice University to pursue a Masters. However, before I finished my studies I ran off to Bogota, Colombia, with my former husband, Mario Noriega, a Colombian architect and urban planner. I lived there for 24 very exciting years. During that time my husband and I started what continues to be a successful design and planning firm. I also became a professor at the University of Los Andes, a wonderful, magical school high on the slopes of the Andes. I taught design and the history of architecture there for several years, and then moved on to be the Curator of Architecture at the Bogota Museum of Modern Art. I returned to Los Andes as Dean of the School of Architecture and Design in 1996. In 2000 I came back to the United States with my sons, Thomas and David Noriega. I got a PhD in the History of Architecture from Binghamton University (SUNY) in 2005, and then moved briefly to New Mexico as a resident scholar at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Research Center. In 2007 I moved to Alabama, where I am now Associate Dean at the College of Architecture, Design and Construction at Auburn University. My son Thomas graduated from Harvard in 2006 and is now in San Francisco pursuing a doctorate in biochemistry at USF. David graduated from Brown in 2007 and is in Manhattan working for the Civilian Complaint Review Board of the City of New York; he plans to start law school next fall.

That's it in a nutshell. I'm happy as a sand clam in Alabama, where I live in a house with a world-class back porch and a huge, venerable white oak in the back yard. I am privileged to work at a wonderful school surrounded by remarkable, accomplished colleagues and smart, creative young men and women. My sons are awesome. All in all, very satisfactory.

Jerry Coleman?? Jr.? Sr.?

So? Did you have fun?

We all send out a tremendous Thank You to Rick Bowe, Irene Nagy and Brian Corcoran for executing a 40th RHS reunion that was a smashing success!! Please add additional thoughts and comments here as we recall the events and bask in the fun memories!

Hello! John Poor!!!!

Several of you have tracked down my email and sent me a note. Actually, you have been sending notes to my wife who has sent them on to me. It's about time I finally get to responding. Going back a few years, I went to BU and started out as a teacher in Hanover, NH. And, in no time got married, changed my last name, bought a house, bought a station wagon and had my first of 3 sons! That house in Plainfield, NH, is still our home, but very quiet now with the boys all on their own. Occasionally, the activity level kicks up around here when some of our 3 grandsons (with another on the way) pay us a visit. Now that is fun!
I moved on from teaching and spent 26 exciting years helping to grow a computer company up here. 10 years ago, it was time to move on and I changed careers to be a financial advisor with Merrill Lynch that will see me into retirement. My wife, Jeanne, is still a teacher in the same school now teaching her 2nd generation of families!
Great memories of you all from the WIllard days. Stan Brown and I have stayed in touch all these years so he can fill you in on any disparaging details about me if you need. Otherwise, I look forward to hearing from or seeing some of you at some point. The best email to use for my contact is j_woodward-poor@ml.com - I don't really use this gmail account much.
Take care and have a great time!
John Woodward-Poor

"Mrs. Belmore, You've Got a Lovely Daughter!"

A few words from Charlee Belmore!!

Lots of laughs reading the blogs and I'm impressed by everyone's recall. I suppose we're not actually that old just yet, at least that's what I'd prefer to think....we all remember something!

Anyway, without boring you all too much I'll try to provide a very brief top line on my life. Here goes:

Moved to Milwaukee my junior year at RHS, and graduated from Valparaiso University. Spent the next several decades working the corporate side with GE in marketing and sales management and also the agency side in client services and consulting. Lots of transferring around the country but all in all a very good time. Got married somewhere in the middle to a nice guy from GE, just not the one for me. I left after about 8 years, and we divorced in '89. Nope... no kids. Children would have been nice but only with the right person for me. Anyway, a few more transfers, some quality people in my life, and then things changed again with aging parents. About eight years ago I moved to the Baltimore area and re-invented my work life to accommodate the family situation. It all turned out to be pretty amazing and life changing in lots of ways. Now life is less hectic, and I can appreciate the pace and travel for fun instead of just for work. Recently left a very small start-up company after several years, and now helping to find a potential buyer...we'll see how that pans out.

So there you have it in an instant replay format. I'm very lucky, life continues to be wonderful, perhaps not what I had anticipated when I was sixteen--- but I'm sure glad to be here!

Looking forward to seeing some taller, once upon a time 6th graders, on Friday.

Greetings FROM MR. SLICKER!!!!

Mr. Clyde Slicker, recognized earlier in this blog website, is well-known to many of us from fourth or sixth grade, or, in my case, both! On a whim, I invited him to attend our Willard reunion! I am thrilled that Mr. Slicker took the time to acknowledge the invitation and provide us with an update on his family. I have included the photo he sent of himself and Mrs. Slicker (I didn't realize she had taught at Somerville and Glen Schools as well!) and a copy of the note he wrote. Being the consummate teacher and professor that he is, we also have a suggested reading list that will "leave us thinking!" I am proud to say, Mr. Slicker (as I hope you continue to check this blog!), that I HAVE already read three of the books mentioned on your list!

FELLOW SLICKER SCHOLARS please add greetings here or find me at the reunion to write down memories and thoughts that I will send back to him along with "taller" pictures of us!

I will bring the card, photo and note to the reunion. You may be able to get a better view of the message by clicking on the image in the slide show below.

Meet the new MAYOR OF HONOLULU!!!!

"Congratulations, Peter, give that man a clap, class!" PETER CARLISLE, Willard Class of 1964

WILLARD SCHOOL '64 REUNION INVITATION!!!!!

YOU ARE INVITED TO A WILLARD SCHOOL REUNION!!!
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2010 4:30 P.M. TO 7:30 P.M.
HOME OF JUDY HALL SAYDAH
228 HAMILTON AVENUE
GLEN ROCK, NJ
201-447-6158
BUFFET DINNER
BEER, WINE AND SODA
COST AT DOOR $20.00

PLEASE JOIN US SO WE CAN REMINISCE BEFORE THE ELK’S CLUB EVENT AT 8: 00 P.M.

R.S.V.P. BY SEPTEMBER 16, 2010 and tell us if one or two of you are coming
Susan.flannery@verizon.net (Susan Main)

PLEASE ALSO R.S.V.P. BY SEPTEMBER 16, 2010 IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A TOUR OF WILLARD SCHOOL ARRANGED BY JUDY HALL AS A SEPARATE EVENT- STARTING AT THE SCHOOL AT 3 P.M.

Click here to view or rsvp through evite:

Hello to Don Gilbert!

Hi everyone! I’m alive and kicking in the Los Angeles area and am coming back for the reunion. ‘Can’t wait to see everyone. After graduation, I went to Colorado State U. graduating in forestry in ’74. Met my wife-to-be, Jane, (CSU Journalism, ’74) shortly after graduation. Worked as a forester, ranger, conservationist (commuted daily to the top of Pikes Peak on the Cog Railway) and fought forest fires. Went into the forest products/wood industry business and became president of the Colorado Forest Products Ass’n where I discovered I kinda liked association work.

Did a stint in the Catskill Mountains managing a forest association; moved to Omaha for 3 years where I managed two nature centers; and then moved on to LA where I have what is known as an association management firm – managing various non-profit professional organizations like the Structural Engineers Association of So. Cal. Moved here in 1993, just in time to experience the Northridge earthquake. Jane and our daughter, Lynn, work with me so we’ve made it quite a family business. Lynn’s still single but the boyfriends keep coming – I’ve taken to calling all of them Charlie until she settles on one.

Ann Larson? Hi! What have you been up to?

I think of my life as a braid that has three main strands -- ministry, music, and social justice. I seldom engage in one without at least one of the others.

I graduated from Yale ('74, psychology) with no clear idea of what to do when I grew up. So, I went to Harvard Divinity School -- a great place to explore oneself and the big questions. Refound my Lutheran roots and finished my M.Div. at the Lutheran seminary in Philadelphia. I was ordained 3/15/80-- and as far as I know, was the first woman ordained in a Catholic church--the Lutheran bldg was too small to accommodate the expected crowd.

My ministry has been nomadic -- campus ministry stints at MIT and Penn (while in seminary), and then Stanford, Indiana University , and Butler (which plagiarized Yale's colors, bulldog mascot and motto -- but does much better in basketball). I have an impressive beer mug collection. There were also a lot of interim positions in challenging Indiana congregations. Two of them completed major renovations started under my tenure -- after decades of starting and aborting projects. So I must have done something right--tho' I doubt they give me any credit :-)

After 9/11, I needed to come home to the east coast. I moved to Burlington Vermont area in 2002 for a parish position. (Chittenden County is practically a colony of the NYC region.) That put me close to family -- my sister and my twice-widowed mother -- for the first time in my adult life. After three years, the congregation's money and my health were depleted. So for the past five years I've pieced together p.t. and contract work and managed my mother's financial affairs. I do some fill-in preaching (I'm told I'm good -- the same congregations keep inviting me back.) I'm involved in Vermont's very active folk and classical music scenes and work on social justice issues, primarily domestic and sexual violence.

I've managed not to have any serious long-term relationships, nor children. But I'm a doting aunt, even if I don't see much of my brother's kids in California and Arizona--or even my sister's kids in Vermont (they're very busy teens). And I'm known as the pastor who likes to sing with kids. I'm a two-time cancer survivor (1990 and 2001 -- caught early, no chemo). I love living in a state where I am toward the middle of the political spectrum instead of on the far left. And I love having visitors for mini-reunions.

Welcome, Susan Shaffner!

Here's 40 yrs in 7 sentences:
I went to Oberlin College, but dropped out to change the world after a year. I didn't like the classist system of expensive colleges turning out the next generation of power-brokers. I visited some communes, and volunteered as a teaching assistant in Harlem, and then landed a job in Oberlin Public Schools for a couple years.. I followed a boyfriend to Boston, (short-lived romance) and settled there for 9 years, getting married, had my one son, and started Snake and Snake Productions, my cards and t-shirt business, which I still operate http://snakeandsnake.com. We moved to a backwoods cabin in the Blue Ridge Mtns in 1981, and after divorcing, moved the Durham NC in 1986, where we all still live. I started my second biz a few years ago, Pathway to English. Tutoring Korean school children is much more fun than printing t-shirts, and with the economy hurting my retail biz, I had to do something.

MarySue Moses says HI!

This is me in a nutshell: Majored in Theatre Arts in college (Case Western Reserve U., Cleveland), promptly became a waitress, then joined a Children's Theatre company in Vermont, went to drama school in London (transformative, hooked on Shakespeare ever since), joined Illusion Theater in Minneapolis (I have lived in St. Paul now for two decades), worked there for 17 years, then co-founded Theatre at Work (we do theatre-based training for businesses, the company still exists as a back-burner operation for me) after that. Oh yeah. I got married at age 33, but it was a dismal failure in most respects, and I stayed too long, but had a daughter, Eliza, who is a very bright light, now 23. Got divorced in 1995 and thought life couldn't be happier. Reconnected with my old high school best friend and boyfriend (well, the romantic phase lasted 3 weeks after we graduated from RHS) Phil Kilbourne (cousin of Ed) and we got married in 1997. Much happiness (and laughter, the guy is funnier than ever) ever since. He's an actor (fabulous), and I now work full time with persons with Alzheimer's and dementia at an assisted-living, doing activities, and coaching and training resident assistants. My mom had dementia (she lived with it for over a decade) and that inspired my career change. I got my Master's in Gerontology in 2008 and am now finding training opportunities for myself outside of my regular job when I can. Busy! I love working with memory care residents, it's a great joy. Sometimes I teach them Shakespeare. They can learn it, cause it's like music.

Say "Hi!" to Bob Thompson!

Greetings to Dr. Ed Kilbourne!

Like most everyone else here, I was RHS ’70, and then (like my father and uncle) went to Cornell for my undergraduate degree and for medical school. Then, I went south to Birmingham, AL for my internship & residency, where I met a beautiful young nurse on the wards, now my wife Barbara. We met in ’78, but didn’t marry until ’82—which Barbara thought was FAR too long a courtship—but I was young and … well … whatever … you know how men are. We married when I finally realized that there was just no way I could even contemplate living my life without her.

After residency in internal medicine and an additional two years of epidemiology training at the CDC, I joined the CDC staff where I worked, primarily in environmental health and toxicology, for the next 22 years. A real life changer was CDC assigning me to live and work in Spain for two years 1985-1987 to assist the Spanish government with a large toxic epidemic (20,000 cases). I loved it (the work, of course, not the epidemic). I worked in a Spanish-only environment, so I got to learn Spanish, I was in great shape, and I had the most scientifically productive period of my career. But when I was asked to stay longer, Barbara said it was time to “get serious,” that is, we needed to go back to the States (Atlanta), buy a house and have a bunch of kids.

She, of course, was right, and we did. Davey (born with Down’s syndrome) is about to turn 22 and will get a Special Education “completion” diploma from our local high school. Despite expected difficulties, Davey flourishes, and looks astonishingly like me. Mikey, is 20 and is finishing his second of four years at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America, near Poughkeepsie, NY) which trains high-end chefs. I was worried about Mikey finding a vocation he liked, but he’s really latched on to cooking and is really good. We also have two daughters: Becka (17), is a great student and truly a star high school athlete. Katie (14) is the most studious of the four, kind of like me in that regard. Both girls are gorgeous, and consequently, “boyfriend issues” arise frequently.

Of possible interest, I spent a year (2005-2006) away from my family as an employee of the State Department at our Embassy in Baghdad, where my job was to assist the smartest and most effective of Sadam’s weapons scientists to find productive civilian work. It was a tough job. I had to wear body armor, travel in helicopters, the armored “rhino” bus, military convoys, or with Blackwater, and things in Iraq were just not going very well right then. Since 2006, (back home) I’ve worked as a consultant in public health, epidemiology, and biodefense. Finally, if anyone actually cares to know more, they can see excruciating detail (and a few cute family photos) on my web site: http://kilbourne.net

Welcome Bob Marlow!

Hey Bob, tell me what you have been up to in the last 40 or so years so I can post it here! Welcome aboard!

Barbara (Tomkins) Melnick

I work as an accountant and consider it my third career. After graduating from Beloit College with a BS in biology I worked as a medical research assistant at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston . I married Jerry Melnick (also from Beloit ) after living together for 6 years and we had 3 kids who are now 21, 23 & 25 years old. So my second career (but first in my heart) was staying at home with the kids when they were young, and finally after becoming divorced I started doing part time bookkeeping which has evolved into my third career as I now work full time as an accountant. I’m currently open for ideas on what should come next – accounting has served me well but it is a tad dull!
I’ve lived in the Boston area (Wayland) for years now and for fun I hike, garden and travel as much as I can afford. I leave for France in 2 weeks!

Welcome Susan Main!

Coach Johnson - Maroon and White! Fight! Fight! Fight!

Charlee Belmore... Where are you?

Aloha Peter Carlisle...Your Honor, Sir

And we can say "We knew him when...". Click here to see what Peter is up to lately.

Mr. Filacy

Remember Gail Brightman Davis? We do!

Hello, Pam Simonsen Beaubien

Stan Brown! Hi!!

Stan writes:

With respect to Memory Lane topics, the mind boggles:

- Safety Patrol: eating lunch in the bookroom and telling 'dirty' jokes not realizing Ms. Blumquist was lurking in the stacks waiting to narc on us, for which we were demoted (does this episode ring a bell, Irene?);

- Troop Seven: countless moments of death defying lunacy with explosive devices all in the context of a paramilitary organization;

- Thanks for the Mammaries: remember the striking resemblance between Mrs. Duff's front end and the front bumper of her 1958 Cadillac?; and

- Times have Changed: back to Safety Patrol, can you imagine a parent today allowing their child to be responsible for crossing other people's children on a busy road?

Say Hi to Judy Hall Saydah

Hello, Judy Schoneman Beirne

Hi! My husband, Marty and I have four grown sons and two grandchildren. We live in Naperville, IL, a western suburb of Chicago. I am currently teaching second grade, maintaining our school's website and co-directing a Christian youth puppet ministry at our church. I am having a great time reconnecting with classmates that I never thought would remember "little 'ol me"! I am looking forward to seeing Ridgewood friends at the Willard and RHS reunion in October!

Welcome David Smith

David Writes:

I’m enjoying catching up with all these friends from the past. Here’s a short update of the past 40 years for me. My family moved to Tennessee the summer of 1970. I’ve barely seen RWD since. I went to Lafayette College, majored in English. Without a clear vision of life paths or goals, I moved to Michigan with friends to explore some possibilities. Three years later I decided to try medical school. So back to college for a year of sciences, then work for a year, then to Memphis for six years for med school, internship, and a year working ERs and general practice in rural west TN. In 1985 I moved to Nashville for a residency and fellowship in anesthesiology at Vanderbilt. What I might have been finished in 10 years after high school I stretched out to 18. By then I had worked in hospitals, year-round camps for school kids, at a book distributor, and helped with Peace Core Training. I stayed on the anesthesia faculty at Vanderbilt for over four years then joined a private anesthesia group in Nashville with whom I’ve worked for the past 18 years in several local hospitals.

In 1987 I married Denise O’Malley, a first generation American of, as you can guess, Irish parents. She grew up on Long Island and had lived most of her adult life in south FL. Her dad worked for Pan Am (then Delta) so she spent her summers with her grandparents and cousins in Dublin. Dublin is as much home for her as NY. We later benefited from airline stand-by passes and access to the back pages of Pan Am’s and Delta’s resevation systems for family vacations. We have raised two boys, Patrick and Aidan, now 22 and 18 years old and both with wide ranging interests. Both are in college this fall, Pat a senior and Aidan a freshman. How oddly sweet having all this RHS reunion business appear during my son’s senior year in high school. Both boys have been busy in a variety of activities: a bunch of sports, drumline, jazz band, travel. I’ve grown weaker in the bleachers watching my kids grow stronger on the fields.

I’ve happily spent much of my time and energy on family and work. With both boys now sort of out of the house (Pat is in college in Nashville this year), I’m gearing up to spend my time in other directions. I figure I’ll catch up on some old things like hiking and bird watching (thank you Jane Eliason), painting, and singing. Work on some new things like becoming proficient with my computer or build something bigger to sail in than my 14 foot dinghy (thanks for the inspiration John Poor.) Perhaps school or penny whistle. I know I’m an optimist from trying to grow flowers in Nashville’s muggy summers. Denise and I have worked a bit, actually Denise has made a small business out of it, with some cottages in NW Florida in an area known as the “red-neck riviera.” While necks are red from at least the sun, the beaches are snowy white and the water clear and green. No oil near us. We’ll likely spend more time there now that we are less constrained with school calendars.

I’m looking forward to being in RWD in October and seeing all who can make it there. I’m looking forward to the Willard ’64 part the most. For those who can’t make it to Ridgewood. I am enjoying catching up with all your messages. I think of our journeys as a great collective adventure.

Say Hi to Peggy Figlar

Hello, Irene Nagy Talerico

Never coming to a consensus with my parents about where I should go to college, they decided the only way to be rid of me was to retire and move to Florida, which left me homeless on the streets of Ridgewood. But I had bigger things in mind, so off to the city I went, hoping to find a nice warm cardboard box to set up house in. It was an especially cold winter, though, and so I migrated south to Ft. Lauderdale in 1971, figuring a blanket on the beach near my parents would be better than the box. Determined to get rid of me once again, they sent me off to FSU for a couple of years, where I majored first in art and ultimately, partying. Then landed a job with IBM, moved to Atlanta, got married, had two sons, divorced, remarried (now for 20 years). Now, I have my own business as a decorative artist. We are empty-nesters! Love the South, ya'll...love my life! Irene ;D

Hey there "Ricky Bowe"!

Say Hi to "Bobby" Elgin

After finishing high school I went off to Allegheny College in Meadville, PA and finished up 4 years later with a bachelor’s degree in math. And in the meantime (1972), the family pulled up stakes in Ridgewood and moved to Pittsburgh – the same town I’m living in now. My dad worked for US Steel and he finally got transferred to the corporate office.
After college I spent a year and a half in the Navy, and after that moved out to the SF bay area to find a job. I ended up working as a programmer, first on IBM machines, and then on Tandem systems. In 1988 I finally figured out women enough to marry one, and in 1990 we left CA and came back to Pittsburgh in order to start a family. And roughly at about this time I also converted from an employee to self-employed programming consultant. For the next 20 years, roughly, we lived in Pittsburgh while I traveled from city to city working as a contract programmer. We ended up having 2 boys, Tom-17 and Mike-14. Actually, they are both about to turn 18 and 15 respectively. Both are now in high school. Unfortunately, after 20 years my wife decided she needed to move on and filed for divorce. So consequently, I am now living in the former marital residence with my two boys. And of course, that implies that I’m now home fulltime, working in Pittsburgh. The money is not as good as it used to be, but being with my boys fulltime during their teenage years is definitely a joy that at one point I never thought I’d have. It’s the kind of thing that makes you wonder if there was a higher purpose behind all this upheaval after all.

Say Hi to John Millar

Miss Eliason

What are your memories of Miss Eliason? Apparently she took her bird-watching seriously! http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/e/Eliason,Jane_G.html

Mrs. Hay

Some of us had Mrs. Hay for second grade and we have the class picture to prove it! But some are saying they had Mrs. Hay for first grade! Could that be? Does anyone have the photo to prove it?

Mr. Slicker

Whether you had Mr. Slicker for fourth grade or sixth, or both, he was well loved and respected by his students! Click here to read about Mr. Slicker's life after Willard. What do you remember about Mr. Slicker?

Just for fun comments:)

Whatever happened to...?

Irene Nagy Talerico has a crystal ball that sometimes finds lost classmates. Who do you wonder about?

Conversation starters...

The Ho-Ho-Kus hill, Ben's 5&10, Cole's Pond, the Corner Store, bike inspections......

What memory from elementary age has stayed with you the most?

Who were your best buddies at Willard?

Who was your favorite teacher?