We have lots of news to share in this edition. Thank you to all who contributed to making this a successful blog. Following the news from our classmates there is some 'business' to take care of so please follow the blog to the end.
Let's get started!
Congratulations to TJ Wilks and Debbie Demeduk!
They tied the knot in August. Best wishes to the happy couple!
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Congrats to Linda Swickle Everett and her husband Mark who celebrated their 15th anniversary in October!
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Debbi Karpowich O'Connor shares this news, it's been a great year for her and her family;
here's what she has to say....
"2014
has been a very busy year for Debbi (Karpowich) O'Connor's family. Both
of her kids graduated in the spring, Melissa from Swarthmore College in PA and
Kyle from Morris Hills High School, in Rockaway, NJ. Along with pitching
for the Swarthmore College softball team for four years, Melissa earned her
degree in Computer Science and two weeks later started working at FactSet in
New York City as a computer software engineer. She truly loves her job and
coworkers, and is "living the life" of an independent wage earner.
The day
before Kyle began his studies at The University of Delaware, he passed his
private aviation exam and obtained his private pilots license. At UD,
Kyle is enrolled in their AFROTC program, and is hoping to study Mechanical
Engineering with an emphasis on aerospace. He is loving UD and AFROTC,
and his parents couldn't be happier (although mom is stressed about the whole
future military thing!). Kyle's grandpa, Joe Karpowich, would have been
so proud of the path that his grandson is taking!
Debbi and
Brian have been keeping busy with their "empty next," both at work
and at play. Hiking, biking, and geocaching are still their shared
hobbies. Debbi recently spent the day with a group of her geocaching
friends hunting for caches in Central Park. If any classmates enjoy the
outdoors and want to try this very cool hobby, just contact Debbi! She is
an active member of the Northern New Jersey Cachers, as well as their past
secretary. There are caching events that occur monthly in the area,
including a "Caching Through the Snow" event in early December.
Just let Deb know if you are interested!"
The O'Connor Family -
Kyle, Brian, Melissa and Debbi
Debbi posing at the Engineers' Gate in Central Park.
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| Kyle has wings! Congrats! Here he is in the Cessna. |
Debbi and Melissa relax on the Swarthmore College "beach" Adirondack chair.
Congrats on Melissa's graduation!
Melissa was a valued pitcher on the Swarthmore College team!
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Classmates Lynn Savino and Bill Jackson had a chance to connect when Lynn went to California on business.
Here they are enjoying a dinner out in San Francisco at Pier 39.
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Matt McDonald shares this news about his son Devin:
" My son, a very accomplished guitar
player, played with his band "The Waves" at the House Of Blues in
Chicago. Now he is off at the University of Bradley on an Engineering
Scholarship."
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Cheryl Pikaard Foster is shown with her daughter Amber and new son-in-law Zack as they celebrated the couple's wedding in August.
The happy couple is now living in Kentucky.
Congratulations to Cheryl and her family!
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Here are classmates Jeff Reisel, Lynn Savino and John Baker
as they take a break for a
photo op while enjoying a golf game in July.
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Steve Lamoreaux and his family had a nice reason to celebrate in October....Steve says:
"My oldest daughter, Nicole, was married on Sunday, 10/12/14.
My youngest daughter, Julia, was a bridesmaid.
Also in attendance from MHS were Glenn Kaplan, Mike Grattini, Randy Swickle,
Phil Lamoreaux and Rick Lamoreaux."
Please enjoy these photos taken by Mike Grattini and Randy Swickle.
Bridesmaid Julia.
The bride Nicole and her uncles.
Mike Grattini, Glenn Kaplan, Steve Lamoreaux, Randy Swickle.
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Teacher News
MHS teacher Barbara Croucher Fernicola is now enjoying retirement. We wish her well!
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Sad news for those who hadn't heard -
Mrs. Marion Eddy passed away in June at the age of 94.
Our condolences to her family, she was a beloved teacher at MHS.
Here is the link to the obituary if you would like further information:
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I asked Joe Cuhaj to contribute something for the blog, of course you know it would be entertaining.....so here is a little something he put together for our enjoyment.
Well, I finally did it. I bit the bullet and my collection
of short stories about growing up in a couple of not-so-cleverly-disguised
towns hit the eBook-shelves. It's called "Living in a Banana Dream" a
book that was years in the making but so much fun to write. It's always great
looking back at that era when we had imaginations as big as the universe and
every day was an adventure.
With Halloween here I started thinking back again to those
days and how things have changed since then. Today, movies leave nothing to the
imagination. You can't even sit down during the "family hour", if
there is such a thing anymore, to watch TV without an arm being hacked off
right there in glorious high definition. Back in the day the simplest things
would give us a fright.
Do you remember "Famous Monster Magazine"? I
religiously bought that fish wrapper month after month, intrigued by the
gruesome full cover covers of Lon Chaney in full "Phantom of the
Opera" makeup from the 1920s movie. Whoa, still sends shivers up my spine.
But for the life of me I can't remember leafing through the pages. I was too
scared to go any farther.
Then there were the horror movies themselves where the
simple lighting and makeup of Boris Karloff or Glen Strange as Frankenstein's
monster or Bela Lugosi as Dracula (you remember, back when vampires weren't
heart throbs and didn't sparkle with glitter) was enough to make us all jump
out of our skins. No graphic horror here, it was all implied and that was
enough.
The best way and honestly the only way to see those great,
and granted not so great, movies was on our local television channels, not the
three big network channels out of New York City but the two independents, WPIX
(channel 11) and WNEW (channel 5).
The show on WPIX was called "Chiller Theater", a
Saturday night fright fest with its Gumby-like title credits - a claymation arm
coming out of the ground and the classic six fingers on the hand. It was hosted
by a ghoulish figure named Zacherley, the Cool Ghoul.
Chiller Intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok6uzndOmPA
Meanwhile on WNEW there was "Creature Features".
The title credits was a bizarre close up image of Frankenstein's monster with
psychedelic lighting and music bed from an obscure "B" sci-fi movie.
The show was hosted by Lou Steele better known as the "Creep" and
also better known for his famous voice over, "It's 10 o'clock. Do you know
where your children are?" There was no makeup like Zacherley. The Creep's
costume was a groovy polyester suit and sunglasses.
Creature Feature Intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_qE7g9nq3A
Then there were the movies, oh the movies - trite by today's
standards but creepy for small kids back in the day. Friends would gather
around our television set, still black and white in my house, and flip between
the two shows when they played opposite one another eventually landing on one.
With lights down low the movie began and before the "Monster from Piedreas
Blancas" could examine another head of a local he had ripped off, we were
under the couch shivering in fright waiting for daylight.
Happy Halloween, everyone!
Here is the link to our Facebook class group page...
feel free to post messages and news and reconnect with classmates!
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Ok, time for some business.
If you have moved since our last reunion please contact me with your new address and information.
In 2016 we hope to celebrate our 40th reunion and I would like to keep the database updated regularly to make it easier to contact everyone. Kindly send your info to;
Thank you in advance.
Are you in touch with someone who hasn't been receiving the class news or information? If you know the whereabouts or contact information for fellow classmates that we have been able to reach, please have them contact me at the email address above so I can be sure they are on the list. I plan to make a new 'missing' list to post in the future and would appreciate any help I can get in making sure we can be in touch with everyone.
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Now a blast from the past for your enjoyment!
Student Council
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Thank you for reading the blog. Remember if there is any news you wish to share please let me know and I will include it in the blog. If you have anything of the urgent nature to pass along to classmates, contact me and I can do a mass email to everyone.
I can be reached at mahwahhighschool1976@yahoo.com
or
by replying to my personal email address when I send an email to you all.
Have a wonderful autumn, the next edition will be in March 2015.
Thanks!
Sue Montgomery Lane
