Staples 55

Comment from Don Freeman
Time: July 23, 2009, 10:00 am

I think Len Eskey has it close to right. For one thing, the kids in that picture look too small to be sixth-graders. For another, in the second row right is a boy with black hair named Sergei Givotovsky (phonetic spelling from memory, possibly wrong on the details). Sergei and his family emigrated to the US from the USSR right after the war, and I think they lived near us when my folks and I lived on Wilton Road from 1946 to 1948. During that period I was aged 7 to 10, an age range that includes the time I was in third grade at Bedford El, where this was taken. I don’t recall seeing Sergei at school after we moved to Hyatt Lane in 1948. This was the most affecting of all the pictures on the site for me, because I could identify practically every kid in that picture (including, alas, my insignificant self, first row left). Our teacher, if I’m right about this being third grade, was Mrs. Holle, pronounced “Holly.” Amazing. Geezer memory is clear as a bell, at least for long ago… )8-}…

Comment from Pat
Time: October 18, 2009, 4:05 pm

You guys are good. Isn’t that Betty Ann Clark in the back row? I think I also see Barbara Reuss, Betty Palmer, Mary Ann Butner, Tom Saviano, Muriel Burke, Connie Weber… I would guess it’s 5th grade, because the kids look so young. But were there two 5th grades at Bedford Elementary? I don’t think so, yet it’s way too many people to have been in a single class. Noel, you were in Annapolis and didn’t call me??? Do you have my (relatively) new address and phone #?

Greetings to all -

Pat

Comment from Gail
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:12 pm

Noel,

You’re right; then: Mary Ann Butner, Martin Casanova, Leanne Walker, Hilary Carpenter. I can name about 3/4s of them, If Cliff wants the names, you and I can work on it, and probably.get most of them.

But the question on the table is: What is the date? I’m thinking it is the sixth grade at Bedford Elementary. I don’t think a formal picture would have been taken in an earlier grade. Pat should be able to confirm because she moved to Wspt in 5th grade. She is 6th from the right in the back row.

Gail

Comment from Noel
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:16 pm

Gail..

I remember most of them .. but I am not sure of a few as well.. Which row are you interested in..??
I believe you are between Anthony Gilbertie and I and I think Donny Freeman is on the left end… ??

Noel

Comment from Gail
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:19 pm

The photo is one we’ve looked at before. Cliff has it on the website, questioning it’s date. When I saw Pat in the back row, I was pretty sure she would be able to date it.

Please send her the website address.

Jack and I were up on the Cape last week. We had dinner with Cliff and Ronnie. Fun talking about old times.

Gail

Comment from Noel
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:29 pm

Pat…

I’m send this to Cliff he may be good to ID some of the photo stuff..

If Gail sends me an email with photo since I went to Bedford from K thru 6th I may recognize some one..

Been to Annapolis lately to visit your brother.. lots of changes not far from his offices, I believe were on West Street..

All the Best Noel

Comment from Pat
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:31 pm

Thanks!

Just heard from Gail who wanted me to check our website (what is it?) to try to identify the date of some picture. I moved to Westport in 1947 (Bedford Elementary, 5th grade, Miss Sleep) if that helps.

Pat

Comment from cliff
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:35 pm

Hi Pat…

I’ve got your new address and phone in my class database. Thanks!

Re the photo: class size seems appropriate to me. We had nearly that many at GF, maybe 1/3 fewer. More significantly, I can recall nearly every one of these faces (from junior high). If they weren’t in our class, then I couldn’t do that.

Best!
Cliff

Comment from Noel
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:37 pm

Pat

Thanks for new address… mine is … in case your in the area.. Your right on with the photo ID’s good for us old folks..

Smile Noel

Comment from Len
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:40 pm

Another thing, Cliff…

There must have been two 5th grade classes because…where are Hub Feeney, Richard Finnegan, Tom Morgan, and Leonard Eskey…And, Mason Buddy was not in my 5th grade class with Mrs. Sleep.

Len

Comment from cliff
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:42 pm

Len…

Hub is last row, 3rd from left. Finnegan is Saugatuck. You’d know better than me, but the guy you’re pointing to as Buddy (last row, 3rd from right), I would have ID’d as Tom Morgan.

C

P.S. Are you sure you weren’t absent the day of the photo?

Comment from Len
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:44 pm

No, that doesn’t look like Hub to me (Hub was tougher looking)and that is definitely Mason Buddy AND Finnegan was with me in Mrs. Sleep’s 5th grade class he was taller than I, Buddy was not with me in 5th although he was with me in Mrs. Stevenson’s 6th grade class. Mrs. Stevenson was always having the two of us stand up in front of class to see who was tallest, embarassing!

Tom Morgan might be first on right bottom row. The answer appears to be that there was a second class?

Btw, where is Richard Massiello? I used to play ball with him at lunch time.

Comment from cliff
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:46 pm

Higher res photo, attached. Easier to distinguish facial detail. Definitely Hub, back row, 3rd from left. I have no visual memory of Mason Buddy whatsoever and not a good one of Tom Morgan. Finnegan is in the Saugatuck El graduating class so maybe he changed schools.

Cliff

Comment from cliff
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:47 pm

Len…

Bottom row, 1st on right is Sandy Frey, is it not…?

Also, Richard Massiello went to GF El.

Cliff

P.S. Who is the guy, 4th from right, back row, in Ms. Comer’s dance class (attached). Is that Morgan perchance…?

Comment from Len
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:49 pm

Yes, it is and looks like Morgan with Tuack on his left in the back. I don’t know about Greens Farms, but I played ball with Massiello in 5th/6th grades at lunch time. And, I think I spy Gail front row left next to Judy Gault.

Comment from cliff
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:50 pm

Len…

Don’t doubt your word about Masiello, Len. But he was always a classmate of mine at GF El to my knowledge. Did you see the 6th grade pic on the website under Milestones?

Yep, that’s Gail next to Judy on one side and guess who on her other side…:O)?

Comment from Len
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:52 pm

Found Finnegan in Saugatuck graduating class 1949. Guess he wasn’t at Bedford. Now, where is my old girlfriend Mary Field?

Comment from cliff
Time: October 19, 2009, 6:53 pm

I was wondering the same. And what about Stan Zweckbronner…?

Maybe there were two “classes”…?

C

Comment from noel
Time: October 19, 2009, 8:25 pm

I contacted Dr. Kenny Caselnova who told me he and Marty moved to Westport in 1944.. Which is earlier then I remembered.. I do remember Marty’s Mom inviting Don, Vince and I to a dinner at the mansion. They lived mostly in the caretakers cottage then. Who had frescoed ceilings in their dining room??

Comment from cliff
Time: October 21, 2009, 11:51 pm

Hi Noel…Yes, that’s Donnie at the far left. He remembers all of us with keen interest. I’ll tell you about our visit if we ever get together…:O). And yes, Gail and Jack were in S. Yarmouth last week and we had a nice, fun dinner together at a local restaurant.

Btw, Gail’s of the same opinion as I am about a 55th reunion: if we do anything at all, it probably only merits a dinner at a local restaurant organized by a classmate resident like Judy or Vinnie or Tom or one of the other members of the 50th reunion committee.

Best,
Cliff

Comment from cliff
Time: October 21, 2009, 11:53 pm

OK, this piece of info from Pat and/or Gail–that she didn’t arrive until 5th grade–should nail it. It’s a class photo either of 5th or 6th grade. And then, can we not assume the answer about which grade? Wasn’t it the custom back then to take a class photo in the graduating (6th) year, right? I don’t recall a 5th grade photo at GF.

Thanks, guys. No, I don’t need the names, just a question about the year the photo was taken, and I forget exactly why now…:O)! Come to think of it, I think the year Shirley scribbled on the back was wrong. Should have read: 1949.)

All the best,
Cliff

Comment from Len
Time: October 21, 2009, 11:54 pm

It can’t be 6th grade because Mason Buddy(last row third from right) and I were the tallest in the class(Mrs. Stevenson) and I’m not in the picture. And, I arrived in the 5th grade (Mrs. Sleep). It seems to me that Mason is much too short for 5th grade. I am able to identify a number of persons, too. SO THERE!

Comment from cliff
Time: October 21, 2009, 11:59 pm

Hi Len…It can’t be earlier than 5th grade because Pat Ellis is in the pic. Agreed? You’re saying that this is a 5th grade class photo then. Yes?

Cliff

Comment from Noel
Time: October 22, 2009, 12:01 am

And the mystery deepens…

Smile Noel

Comment from Gail
Time: October 22, 2009, 12:03 am

I am certainly glad that we all are still able to recognize those faces. What fun!

Len, your argument is valid, but it does not make sense that a picture would have been taken at the end of fifth grade. Could you have been absent that day? (Or do you have a perfect attendance award stashed in your attic?):-*

Cliff, You could write Circa: 1948-49.

Noel, I would love to see that movie. There was a pyramid at the end, and I (being one of the smallest THEN) was on top.

Gail

Comment from Noel
Time: October 22, 2009, 12:05 am

Gail..

It may well be 5th grade if one considers the possibility the photo of 5th graders was included in a 6th grade package like the two classes in our year book behind us.. How’s that for complicating the issue.. Smile

Noel

Comment from Gail
Time: October 22, 2009, 12:07 am

Hi Len,

Sorry to be so long in replying; waited for Cliff to resend the clearer photo.

Mary Field is in the third row, fifth from the left, next to Betty Palmer. Isn’t that Hub in the fourth row, three from the left? Any chance that’s Richard Massiello in the top row, between Pat and Dutchess?

Now I’m going to throw a wrench in the whole thing — look at the girl in the second row, third from the right, next to Tommy Saviano. Is that Marilyn Carrera? She lived across the street from us, became very ill, was confined to a wheel chair, and dropped out of school. I’m not sure when, but I thought earlier than sixth grade.

I wrote to Cliff, that we four have had fun trying to identify people. He might be able to get more people involved in looking at the web site, by sending an e-mail and asking them not only to date the photo, but to help identify the kids.

Gail

Comment from cliff
Time: October 22, 2009, 12:11 am

Gail,

I always try to be valid. You know, as hard as I’ve looked, I haven’t been able to find that award, but tell me, where is Finnegan and McDowel and Feeney and Mason and Massiello and Mary Field Sadler. I believe with a little music… So, I still believe there may have been TWO classes. I’m going to go workout until we have some answers.
Will enjoy hearing more.

Best to everyone,

Len

Comment from cliff
Time: October 22, 2009, 12:13 am

Gail…

Bingo on Mary Field. I wrote earlier to Len that Richard Massiello went to GF El and can be seen in our graduation photo, last row, 4th from right, here. He was in every grade w/ me from 3rd grade on.

I recognize the face between Pat and Dutchess, but it’s not RM. I can’t recall his name right now but I remember him from junior high.

Btw, we should continue this thread in the Comments field on the website…:O)! I have now put nearly 20 such emails there. Laboriously…:O)

Cliff

Comment from Don Freeman
Time: October 22, 2009, 12:15 am

Hello, all.

FWIW, I have the following comments on this exchange.

I think the face between Pat and Dutchess is Richie Palmer (whether any kin to Betty Palmer I dunno). I’m pretty sure Gail is right (Hi, Gail!) about the memorable Mary Field Sadtler (sp? Sadler?) being third row, fifth from left, and about Hub Feeney in the fourth row, three from the left. Also about Marilyn Carrera. I remember her being rather sickly, but also very smart. I’m pretty sure that Tommy McDowell and Rick Finnegan went to Saugatuck (I had two iterations of acquaintance with Rick, one in second grade, when I went to Saugatuck but moved in mid-year to the Bedford El district, one at BJHS).

I think last row third from right isn’t Mason Buddy [Hi, Len!] (with whom I roomed briefly and catastrophically) at Mount Hermon our freshman year there (he did not return for sophomore year, at whose initiative I don’t know; I saw him years later at a ski thing at Middlebury), but Tommy Morgan. A better candidate for Mason Buddy, I think, is the face between Bonnie MacGregor and Mary Anne Dennert (last row 7th from right, just about in the exact middle).

I agree with the general sentiments about the date of the pic. I noticed only when Cliff sent it to me and I was able to blow it up that it says “Bedford Elementary School Class of 1949” across the bottom, which argues for it being some kind of “graduation” pic and hence taken near the end of our sixth-grade year. Of course in those days not as much fuss was made of elementary and junior high “commencements” as became the case later on. My daughter had a mortarboard and tassel (admittedly, made out of construction paper) when she “graduated” from nursery school!

There were two classes, for sixth grade, at least. The classier one was with Mrs. Stevenson (I think that was the year they stopped calling them “A” and “B,” corresponding to the perceived ability and/or accomplishments of the students assigned to them; Mrs. S’s classes had always been 6-A). Mine was Miss Lumpkin, of whom the likewise memorable Kit Carson observed, in an unflattering but accurate cartoon he drew of her, “Our Miss Lumpkin. Not so plumpkin.” As I observed to Cliff, Miss L. was the third teacher in a row with a Dickensian name that I had at Bedford El: Miss Ethel Sniffen (4th), Miss (not Mrs.) Dorothy Sleep, Miss Iva Lumpkin. I will also observe that I lived off the intellectual capital instilled in me by those three incredibly devoted teachers for my entire academic career.

I know, I know, I keep promising Cliff that I’ll e-mail him identifying most of these people, but it seems that y’all are way ahead of me.

BTW we had a nice visit with Cliff and his aging Lab BJ here a week and a half ago. It would be great to see any of the rest of yez who are in this area — although, in fairness, “this area” (110 miles west of Boston 4 miles north of Route 2, on the VT border) isn’t a place that you’d stop by on the way to somewhere, because Heath, Mass. isn’t on the way to anywhere. But the place has its rustic virtues.

Best to all – Don Freeman

Comment from Don Freeman
Time: October 22, 2009, 12:18 am

Hi, Cliff.

Here (belatedly) as promised is my take on the identities of folks in the 1949 picture.

First row (l-r): Donnie (as he then was) Freeman (Ohanian, as he then was), Betty Lou Buttery, Noel Castiglia, Gail Armitage, Anthony Gilbertie, Mary Ann O’Hara (later to be Mary Ann Butner), Marty Casanova (full disclosure: at first I recognized only his face; the name was supplied by later correspondence), Leann Walker, Hilary Carpenter, Paul Abry, John Strachan (maybe, or maybe fourth row second from right), unknown.

Second row (l-r); Kit Carson, Tracy Goodsell, John Nazzaro, Mary Lynn [or maybe Mary Beth) something-or-other, unknown, Jack Ball, Clifford Garlick, unknown, Marilyn Carrera, Tom Saviano, unknown (but face is familiar — George Kunin?), unknown [at first thought to be Billy Tuach], Sergei Givotovsky.

Third (l-r): Franklin Sprague (later Serena, though maybe the timing is reversed), Billy Yost (tapdancer extraordinaire), Muriel Burke, Betty Palmer, Mary Field Sadtler, John Hansen (shaky), Connie Weber, unknown, Betty Clarke, Edwin Audley [I will consider Dutchess Norris to be in the last row).

Fourth (l-r):Face in between Franklin Sprague/Serena and Billy Yost is familiar but I can’t place him, Billy Edwards, Jack Higgins, Hub Feeney, George Call, Bernice Allen, Bonnie MacGregor, Mason Buddy (maybe), Mary Anne Dennert, Pat Ellis, Richie Palmer, Dutchess Norris, Tommy Morgan, John Strachan (maybe, or maybe he’s second from right, firont row), Bobby Frawley (maybe).

When I went to that thing at Bedford El as they were turning it into town offices years ago, I went out onto what had been the playground, and was struck by how small it seemed now, compared to how large I thought it was during my student days. I’ve had that experience about lots of childhood landmarks that I revisit after many years — e. g., who knew how close Lyons Plains Road was to our house on Hyatt Lane? In my childhood it seemed like the other side of the earth.

Too bad I can’t remember all my internet passwords as well! You can share this with the group or online if you want.

Talk soon - Don

Comment from cliff
Time: October 22, 2009, 12:23 am

Donny

Good observation to pick out class of 49.. Gail was correct.. We have so many emails I need a list of who we do not know to go over it.

Glad all is well in Heath. I will see my cousins Marcia and Carla in Newtown for a family event this weekend, for my Aunt Virginia’s son Jeffery Wilkins. I know Marcia had a good visit with you..

Glad you remembered so well.. You definitely should hve been in Mrs. Stevenson’s class…I went into 1B transferred to 1A; then to 2B transferred to 2A; then they gave up trying to separate me from Larry Roberts.. We argued and we knew each other too well.

So in 3A I got my dream teacher Miss Holly.. who I enjoyed seeing on many trips to Westport over the last 40 years. She was by far, too me, the prettiest and she was younger then most of the rest.. She was just as nice at 80 as she was in her 20’s;

All the Best
Noel

Comment from Gail
Time: October 22, 2009, 12:25 am

Cliff,

This reminds me of my mistake about third grade (me leaving GF and you coming.) My teacher at GF was Mrs. Kaiser (I think her husband taught at Staples) and Mrs. Holle was my teacher at BE.

Gail

Comment from Don Freeman
Time: October 22, 2009, 12:27 am

Hi, Noel;

Thanks for getting back. Please give your cousins my very best. My mother (still kickin’ at 96) and I had a nice lunch with Marcia and her husband Peter (I think) in Lexington a while ago. I wrote her a thank you note but never heard back; I’m glad se enjoyed the visit.

I remember Mrs. Holle (I think she was married and that she spelled it that way). I never saw her again, but I did see Miss Sleep at that final assembly when they were closing Bedford El and invited all alumni, etc., to come. She remembered me, knew about my career, was very sharp. Wonderful lady. She and your Aunt Marion were the biggest influences on me until I got to college.

I sent Cliff a full identification, as much as I could, of the class of ‘49; maybe he’ll share it with you.

I hope our paths can cross some time soon. We love it here so much that we just don’t travel a lot, but you never know.

Best - Don

Comment from cliff
Time: October 22, 2009, 12:28 am

Don…

Great job! I am sorry to report that in these times staples55.com did not have the budget for its annual “Best Recollection of Who Gives a Crap” award…:O)! Clearly it would go to you!

Couple comments:

* Bingo re Richie Palmer (all my recollections are from BJH, but faces don’t change that much in 1 or 2 years).
* My first thought re last row, 3rd from right was Tom Morgan, as well. Len disagreed. Compare to Ms. Comer Tally Ho photo, last row, 4th from right.
* I confess: I am the culprit what inscribed the caption on that photo, but I did so based on a scribbled note on the back of the photo suggesting a 6th grade photo (hence the year, 1949). The photo came either from Mike Hyman (Shirley Rice “archives”) or Tom Saviano–both sent me a copy. Not sure at this point who wrote that original note.
* You are the 3rd Bedford El attendee to suggest a “two class” system at the school. Len and Pat or Gail also suggested same. So, other than Len Eskey, who would have been in that 2nd class? Or did Len have his own private class…?
* “Aging Lab…”!? How about “lovable”? “Sweet”? “Devoted, etc…:O)?”

Best,
Cliff