Your Stories
Have an interesting story about your South Brunswick education in elementary school, junior high school, or high school? A favorite teacher, a favorite class, a favorite class trip, or anything else you'd like to share? Please send them in any format to info@SBHS1969.com and we'll share them here!
These are presented in the order of the most recent submittals first.
From Claudia (Krause) Osinsk:
I thought you all might be interested to know. Betsy Elian (now Betsy Whitcraft) was living in N.C. when Hurricane Helene hit them. They were left with flooding and no power. She finally went back to work and left her disabled husband at home. Their house burned down from a burning candle, they think. Her husband and 2 cats perished in the fire. She is numb. She moved in with her sister.
This is a GoFundMe page to help her: https://gofund.me/eecb5084
Photos from the 2024 55th Reunion!
Photos by Mike Beltranena, Alan Peizer, Deborah Smith Cook, and Joe Berk!
From Jeff Seidenstein:
Joe,
I'm sharing some random memories of my youth, including our high school years. Feel free to post on the website. Sorry it took so long to send this.
I was born and raised in Dayton, at my parent's home on George's Road. We lived a few houses down the street from Butler's store. I attended Dayton School for kindergarten through 6th grade. My classmates included Lowell Sprague, Ann Visinski, Elaine Rosenstock, Carolyn Cook, Rich Fowler, Dana Ryan, Terry Kertesz, Tom Sheppard, Rich Larsen, among others. Some of the best students were moved to Monmouth Junction school for 6th grade. Not me, I finished 6th grade in Dayton.
I remember going with my brother and sister to the field across from Butler's store and picking potatoes that were left on the ground after the migrant farm workers had harvested the crop. Part of that field later became the site of the high school. We had fun watching the big earth movers prepare the site and then got to watch the school building emerge as it was built. My mother worked as the switchboard operator when the school opened in about 1960 or maybe it was a year later.
I entered the high school in grade 7. I don't have a lot of memories of that first year, but I remember meeting Gad Gartner. Gad and I have remained good friends all these years.
In 8th grade, I was the manager for the varsity basketball team, coached by Mr. Balcomb. In 9th grade, I joined the freshman basketball team, even though I wasn't particularly good. It didn't help that I was only 5 foot three inches tall. My teammates included Gad, Bob Beckley, Jay Brown, Ralph Farrow, Bill Bailey and a couple of other guys. We got along well but we lost all of our games. After some players quit or were asked to leave the team, our coach, Mr. Cook, decided to disband the team and forfeit all of our remaining games. We only had six guys left. We were so bad, I think we lost one game by a score of 112-42. It wasn't long after that that we we were done playing.
I was on the JV team as a sophomore, but rode the bench for most of the season. I remember being upset with our coach, Mr. Wentzel, for not letting me play very much, even when the game was pretty much over by half time. I think I only got to play twice all season.
I spent much of my free time outside of school doing 4-H projects and activities. (My father was club leader.) As I got older, most girls I dated were 4-H girls from other clubs in Central NJ. The only dates I had with girls who attended SBHS were Patty McDonald (8th grade graduation dance) and Gail Ibbott whom I took to see a movie. My prom date was a 4-H girl from Somerset. I think my mother drove us for all those dates.
I was a straight arrow. The first time I ever drank alcohol was the night of our graduation. I don’t remember too much about that night! (I think I ended up at a party at Jocelyn's house.)
After graduation, I enrolled at Rutgers where I roomed with Gary Abbamont first semester. We had become friends during high school. Gary and I visited his brother, Joe, in San Diego during the summer between 11th and 12th grade. While there, we visited Gail Ibbott who had moved to California a few years earlier.
Going back to my early years, I was very close with Elaine Rosenstock who lived around the corner from me, and Joe Berk. We went to Sunday school together at a small temple in the Deans area. Our mothers played mahjong together, along with Karen Schultz’s mother. I enjoyed many days with my siblings swimming at the Berk family pool in Deans.
I enjoyed growing up in Dayton and attending SBHS. It was a good time to be a kid. So much has changed in the 55 years since high school.
From Joe Berk:
When I was 12 years old and in the 7th grade, our science teacher (Peter Herrington) owned a Morgan. It was 1953 Morgan, to be specific, and it was unrestored and magnificently original. I was just getting interested in cars and motorcycles back then, and that Morgan was riveting. It was one of the most interesting things I’d ever seen. I couldn't quite figure it out, but I knew I liked it. In an age when everything was trying to look like a fighter jet, Mr. Herrington's Morgan was a combination of an old car, a sports car, and attitude. It had sweeping fenders (like an old Model A Ford), it was low slung and a two-seater (like a Corvette), and it had huge louvers and a big leather belt to hold the hood down. Its appearance said I don't care what I look like, I'm tough, and I'm built to perform. It was cool. To a 12-year-old kid like me, it was beyond cool.
A 1953 Morgan Similar To Mr. Herrington's
To dive a bit deeper into this story, I was a bit of a problem, you see, when I was 12 years old. Actually, I was a pain in the ass, and I got detention a lot. You might say I was a confirmed detention recidivist, and as such, I spent more time in detention than any other class I had in those days.
Normally, detention would be a bad thing, but our principal rotated detention duty and one day Mr. Herrington drew the short straw. I guess it was inevitable that Peter Herrington would be the detention duty warden one day when I had detention, and this day was that day. I lived about a mile and a half from school, and after cleaning blackboards and doing the other kinds of things kids in 7th grade had to do in detention, I started to walk home when my detention ended. Mr. Herrington was in the parking lot, he fired up the Morgan, and he offered me a ride. In his Morgan. The one I described above. A ride. In the Morgan. This was punishment?
Now, I won’t tell you that I tried to time my recidivism to coincide with Mr. Herrington's detention duty, but I will tell you that was not the last time I ever got a ride home after detention in the ’53 Morgan. That car was just so cool. It was a convertible, the door waistline was incredibly low, and it looked and felt like you sat above the pavement at a distance more appropriate for a valve gap than an automobile’s ground clearance. The effect was intoxicating.
Many years later (50 years later, to be specific), I received an email from good buddy Chief Mike (who lives in New Jersey, where I sort of grew up) with an interesting message. Mike had bumped into Mr. Herrington at a local mall. It seems our former 7th grade science teacher (still a gearhead and now long retired) had shoehorned an LS-2 Chevy Corvette engine into his Mazda RX-7. He had some questions about the care and maintenance of Corvette motors, and everyone in New Jersey knows Mike is the guy to see if you have a Corvette question.
As Mike was telling this story to me, a lot of memories flooded back. All of us have had great teachers, and Mr. Herrington was mine. Like I said above, I was a first-class problem child in junior high school (and in high school, too, for that matter), but my 7th grade science class held my interest. Science was cool and so was my teacher. It's probably why I became an engineer.
To make a long story a little less long, I Googled Mr. Herrington’s name. Yep, there he was. There's his address. A quick 411 call and a few minutes later I had Mr. Herrington on the phone. How about that? Fifty years since I’ve seen this guy, and now I’ve got him on the phone.
You know, a voice is a funny thing. Mr. Herrington, then well into his 80s, sounded exactly as I remembered him. Strong, firm, and focused on gearhead stuff. He told me that the RX-7 was a good car, but the original rotary piston engines were only good for about 75,000 miles (he’d been through several of them, he said). Dropping a Corvette engine into an RX-7 was the way to go, and that’s what he had done. He spoke about it like it was changing tires (a classic Peter Herrington trait).
We had a great conversation. He told me he remembered me, which I kind of doubted until he asked me a question about my father. “Your Dad was the guy who designed and built his own swimming pool, including the filtration system, right? He made the filter tank out of an old wine vat?” That was so long ago I had forgotten about the wine vat, but Mr. Herrington had not. Wow!
I told Mr. Herrington I felt bad about being such a bad kid back in the 7th grade, and he said, “Ah, don’t worry about it. That’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re that age...” Just like that, years of guilt evaporated. It was a good feeling.
Peter Herrington, from my 7th Grade Yearbook
We had a couple of great conversations after that touching on cars, motorcycles, careers, health, life, and other topics. And then one day his wife wrote to tell me he had passed away. That was a tough email to read, but I felt incredibly fortunate to have reconnected with Mr. Herrington, and I think he enjoyed it, too.
From Carol Kady Luck:
Looking forward to our 55th in just a couple of days! I grew up on Beekman Road, the cape cod is still there, next to Veterans Park. I went to Monmouth Junction school through the 6th Grade. After that I jumped right into the high school on Major Road and continued there until we graduated. Seventh graders mixed in with Seniors, imagine that! I fondly remember meeting Kathy Leary, one of the closest neighbors across the field! Anyway, always remember those crazy bus rides with Mr. Therrian, he seemed to be ancient at that time. I still see several classmates, married the love of my life who I began dating when I was only 16! We raised two very successful children and 4 beautiful grandchildren, still reside in Kingston and the best is yet to come. I am still very good friends with Jan (Route) Guthrie as she was my 9th grade General Business Teacher! Wishing you all the best of health, happiness and fond memories of the Class of '69!
Carol
From Philip Oppenheim:
Here is another Miss Ritzenthaler story.
The class had complained that she always had us do essays instead of a multiple choice test. So she relented and gave the class such a test much to the collective dismay of everyone. We were going the stories in the 2 books of Russian short stories we had purchased for the class. The test consisted of questions concerning what I would call the minutiae of the respective Russian stories in question. That plus the fact it usually regarded what happened between characters with typically long Russian names. In short it was a disaster! Except for the fact that I had a very good memory for stories in general and scored fairly well on the test. It was suggested that the test be graded on a curve which my score blew away. So that didn't work. The next suggestion was the entire test be an exercise in futility and be dropped all together. There went my only chance to get a high grade in her class as I did not do well at all on her essay questions. So rather fittingly for the first time I felt like the protagonist in a Kafka novel.
Mr. Elko was another favorite teacher.
He had what I would call a very unique sense of humor and it seemed to me one of the few teacher that showed any sense of humor. Once during a class discussion he commented that perfect relationship ( marriage, etc..) would be between a Sadist and a Masochist. That remark went over most of classes heads. I guess it would make for very short arguments. Fortunately no one ever complained and he did not get canceled as he would have been in today's world.
Another example of his sense of humor happened during an assembly just before Christmas. We were being forced to sing one of the very Christmassy song of the day. And it just so happened we got our row to start swaying side to side in time with the music. We were in the process of getting some of the other rows to do the same thing and along comes Mr. Elko. I though for sure we were going to get a weeks detention but that was not to be the case. He was laughing his ass off and told just to stop it guys. Whew dodged another bullet there.
Well that is all I have now and got to go away now.
From Philip Oppenheim:
My favorite teacher was Miss Ritzenthaler (Miss Ritz for short). She may had a stern exterior but she really cared about her students. High School was a rough time in my life (my parents were divorcing). She would take the time out to talk to her students. She would take the time out to talk with me about Russian Literature (which she was teaching), philosophy/religion, and even some of the books I liked. She even read a J.G Ballard short story I recommended. Being heard helped steer me onto a better course in my life (if you can believe that). Sometimes being a role guide can make a big difference in other peoples' lives.
I may have another story in the next few days. Hopefully before the deadline.
Philip
From Elaine Peizer:
Here is an article from the Central Post about the first class at our high school to graduate in 1962. Please include it on the website.
Thanks.
Here is another article I found from the New York Times about Don Fagan from Steely Dan, one of our notable high school graduates!
Please include this article on the website.
Thanks.
From K.O. Decker:
Dear Class of 1969,
Unfortunately, I am not able to come to the reunion due to prior commitments, but I thought I’d pass on some of my thoughts to you.
First, I am totally convinced that young people’s minutes are longer than old people’s minutes. What used to take me a half hour can stretch into hours! But we are getting older, but not old. Everyone get older, but I refuse to get old! My goal in life is to die young as late as possible!
We are so blessed to have made it to see 55 years since we graduated and I count it a privilege to have been born in the 50’s, grow up in the 60’s, venture out in the 70’s and now, having made it to 2024! We had the best of times. The best music (the kids are still listening to it), the best cars (worth a fortune today), sock hops and Woodstock, and a McDonald’s cheeseburger, fries and a large coke for 45 cents! We are the generation that paved the way for women in business and for racial justice for all. We were, and still are, the groundbreakers in American culture.
I also have discovered what I believe are the 5 keys to true happiness, and since I’m unable to come to the reunion, I’d like to share them with you.
The first key to happiness is Faith, and I have a risen Savior that is with me always and I hope you have that too.
The second key is Family. Your family should be your utmost priority, and my family has been my most ardent supporter and also my ankle grabber to pull me back down to earth when necessary.
The third key is friends. I have been fortunate to have made so many wonderful and lifelong trusted friends that I know I can call on them when in need, and they know I’m ready to come to their call.
The fourth key is service, service to your fellow man. Success is directly proportional to the service you provide to others, whether in business or for family or for your community. Community is built by people who work to serve other people.
Lastly, the fifth key to happiness is being content at where you are. That doesn’t mean you can’t be ambitious. It means that if you have the first four keys in place, contentment will come. I hope that you are all in a good place in your lives. May God bless you all.
I hope to see you at the 60th reunion!
K.O. Decker
KO and grandson Sam with Maude and her puppies. Doesn’t get better than a lap full of a kid and labrador puppies!
From Katherine Leary Alsdorf and Ric Stang:
Ric messaged me this on facebook; he said we could post it on our web site. I hope people are looking at the web site. When Ric Stang was asked if he was still making beautiful bowls, he responded:
Thx for asking. After high school I was a carpenter for 50+ years. Working mostly in Princeton,l was fortunate enough to work for wealthy families who also had homes in different parts of the country and abroad. During that time I always had side projects going on. Those included bathroom and kitchen renovations, furniture repair, turning balusters, porch columns, newel posts, candle sticks and bowls. Having had undiagnosed learning issues in school, I spent most of my time in the wood shop. Mr’s Logan, Franklin, Roberts and particularly Mr Walsh were great influences in my career of woodworking. Years later Mr. Walsh was nice enough to attend a few of my wood turning meetings and classes that I taught in the ‘90’s. After my body told me to retire from carpentry I started doing craft/art shows in which I was able to make extra money selling 100s of bowls. I currently have a studio/shop in a complex of artists, in the Sourland Mountains of Hopewell.
In 2012 I was honored to turn Lance Lemli’s final resting place. Made out of maple burl, cocobolo rosewood and a chrome acorn nut from his Harley.
From Deborah Smith Cook:
Hi all,
I got a letter from Mr. Morrison today in response to the snail mail letter I sent him to see if he might attend the reunion. He will not, but he sent a nice letter and a picture. He doesn't look a bit different.
Deborah
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From Katherine Leary Alsdorf:
Barbara Evans didn’t come to SBHS until our Junior year, but we became lifelong friends. We first met to really talk on the bus to see the State Championship Basketball game in Atlantic City. She bravely entered our high school world as a newcomer, but so quickly got involved in plays and choir and friendships that I had to remind myself she hadn’t always been there. She became a role model and inspiration for me professionally - her years working in London gave me lots of new adventures and her a charming husband. I admired and enjoyed her in so many ways. She was a creator of beauty - in style and her home. She helped me shop for my wedding dress and fixed my hair on that special day. She was a creator of memories - activities and meals and conversations for each visit. And I loved her laugh! We were supposed to get old together…
Barbara Evans: December 30, 1950 - January 11, 2019
Photo from my 50th birthday in Santa Barbara, 2001
From Deborah Smith Cook
Hi Joe,
Here's the PDF from the 50th reunion yearbook (click on the image below).
Thanks
Deb
From Elaine Phelps Nieberding:
Here are photo collections from SBHS Class of 1969 reunions - 20th, 25th, 30th, 40th, 50th! That's a lot (and I think there was even one earlier one!) Some collections have videos, too!
SBHS Class of 1969 50th Reunion
1) 50th Reunion FRIDAY at the Doubletree
2) 50th Reunion SATURDAY at the High School and Community Visits
Videos in this collection include boarding the Mike Beltranena bus, Richard Fiore and Tad Wacker recalling Marshall Logan's dictums, and Tad Wacker motorcycling through Kendall Park with Elaine!
3) 50th Reunion BANQUET (the entire evening)
4) 50th Reunion BANQUET Table Groups
5) 50th Reunion SUNDAY Goodbyes
PREVIOUS SBHS Class of 1969 Reunions (mostly photos from Elaine Phelps Nieberding)
30th Reunion 1999 (Churchill Clark and wife Sheila, Donald Sheluga pictures included)
25th Reunion, 1994 (Gad, Gary, Mike B., Donna, Mike N. doing Karaoke in 1994!)
From Gail Russell Austin:
It is so amazing to read the stories of people whom I did not meet until I began attending SBHS our freshman year in 1965. I wasn’t aware of these intricate back-stories you all have shared.
Our family moved to Kendall Park from Maplewood, NJ in 1957 where my father wanted to have his first house "in the country" (he and my mother were city kids, born and raised in NYC). My father went to NYU and was an electrical engineer at Western Electric and mother was a full time Mom/homemaker.
My brother Paul and I attended elementary school (K-8) at St. Paul’s School in Princeton - growing up with first generation Irish Catholic parents, there was no other option. And, there was no Catholic School in the community at that time (St. Augustine’s was built in time for our brother Dan to attend there), so Paul and I rode the Suburban Transit bus from Kendall Park to Princeton to go to school…talk about cold morning walks to the bus!!! Riding the bus to the high school later on seemed so easy, and more fun with all SBHS kids.
In Kendall Park, I had the good fortune to be a friend/neighbor with DeeDee Bednar and John Newton, who would become my classmates at SBHS. My brother Paul and I had many memorable times at SBHS, since we were so close in age and shared many friends, sports events, school dances, etc. through our high school years.
My brother Dan attended several years later, and a decade later, my sister Janet attended. Sadly, we lost our brother Paul in 1987 (way too soon). It was not until many years later that I returned to the area for our 25th SBHS reunion. I admit I’d lost contact with the high school community and was busy raising our family here in NC, but was so happy to be reconnected for our 50th. I guess as time goes on, the significance of the early years becomes clearer. With that, I look forward to seeing you all again in September to share time and stories together.
Many thanks to all who are making this reunion a reality.
Gail Russell Austin
From Ernie Singer:
Kindergarten. I can remember a lot from Deans grade school Kindergarten. The very first day of school, we were all told to sit around and give the teacher our full name, phone number, and address. I only had one before me. I stood up licked split and beat a hasty retreat towards the door. Little did I know that Joe Blauvelt was right on my heels. I ran out into the hall and entered what I believed to be my sister’s classroom. Lady Luck was with me that day, for as I entered, I happened to spot her right off the bat. I ran over to her and put my arms around her. Then, all of a sudden, all the other kids started to laugh. Next thing I knew, Mrs. Taylor was starting to escort me back to the classroom that I ran from. Shortly after Joe suffered the same horrible fate.
First Grade. We had a teacher named Mrs. Carlisle, or it might have been Miss, I don't remember, and quite frankly, don't really care to remember. The thing I remember most about her was her last name, because my Aunt Ann's last name was Carlisle, too. That scared the hell out of me. Then there was this looney line she used to say every time we had to head to what she called the “lavatory.” I figured out soon that it was a fancy way of saying the bathroom. But, Miss? Mrs.? whatever Carlisle had her own way of telling us it was time to pottie. She would say without hesitation, "now little people, it's time to go to the toilet.” I remember one horrible time there was this rather stout kid in our class, and as I was walking past the stall he was in, he had neglected to close the door, and all I saw was this this big round moon with red dots all over it. That image haunted me till 6th grade.
2nd Grade. We were the first class to get this brand spanking new woman teacher. She was kind of cute, too. Her name was Miss Kahny. The thing I remember most about her class was Bob Beckley bringing in his baby brother one time. The kid had all the girls oohing and ahhing. Plus, he recited a few choice curse words that really made the girls giggle I remember Dorothy Haleluk laughing the most. This is how i remember all this; I might not be 100 percent accurate, but I think I'm damn close.
3rd Grade. Good old horn rimmed Mrs. Allison. The lady taught us the Golden Rule with a wooden ruler to the top of our heads if we said anything or did anything contrary to her rules. Don't get upset with me, Joe, but I seem to recall the top of your head and that ruler got to know one another quite well.
Fourth Grade. Here is one of the most controversial years we had (the other two are yet to come). Miss Smith must have bought her bras from Two Guys from Harrison. About 60 times each day she would have to adjust the straps. Then there was the famous bird feeder incident with Larry Zito. She put a bird feeder out on the roof of the new addition and had kids take turns alphabetically go out and feed the birds. Well, it was winter and there was about a foot of snow on the roof when it was Larry's turn. Larry was great at going out, but he had a problem coming back in. Miss Smith, called him repeatedly, but he refused, and even hit her with a snowball. That was the final straw with Miss Smith. She asked for volunteers to go get him and haul his butt back inside. I think a few of them were Zeb Moser and Tim Fleckenstein. Then on another occasion, Larry came in early from recess and climbed up on the top of the coat closet. All year, up until that day, he used to fling milk carton lids up there , and now was his golden opportunity to retrieve all of them. However,. Miss Smith walked in on him before he completed his task and demanded he come down. Wouldn’t you know it, he refused, and started hurling the caps at her. When we all came in, she summoned a few boys to go get him. They had to climb up and wrestle him, and then lower him down, kicking and screaming. He got hauled feet first down the Principal’s office. We could hear him kick and scream all the way.
5th Grade. My aunt, Ruth Dvorak, was the teacher. One wild thing happened that year. One time after recess, Joey Blauvelt came into class before everyone else. He drew a rather descriptive picture of a man’s privates on the chalk board. A lot of the girls came in before my Aunt finally got there and saw this masterpiece. She made the girls leave the room, and her and Mrs. Leffel (the Principal) read us the riot act. Way to go, Joe Blauvelt.
6th Grade. This was my favorite year. Mr. Mahoney, our teacher, was a sports nut. He spent more time teaching us the sports of the season than he did actual schoolwork. But one fine day during recess a few of us boys (me included) had to miss recess because we failed to do something that day. I was sitting in the back row and so was Joe Blauvelt. Doug Lidy was sitting in the right corner of the front row. He ws kind of staring out into space and his head was turned slightly to the left. I remember looking over at Joe for some reason, and there he sat with this really big rubber band stretched to the limit, pointed toward Doug’s left cheek. Then I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye at the classroom door. It was Mr. Mahoney. He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw what was about to happen. Then Joe released the deadly missile of mass destruction. It hit dead on. Almost simultaneously, Doug jumped out of his seat. Mr. Mahoney had Joe by the collar and was lifting him out of his seat. I had a ringside seat on all the action that day.
Well, Joe, there you are, signed, sealed, and delivered, LOL. I know there are tons of mistakes and words misplaced, but it's all yours if you want it.
Your friend and classmate,
Ernie
From Anita Vann:
My brother Harold said that when the school opened in 1960, there were no seniors the first year. The first graduating class was in 1962. Harold graduated in 1964, the first class to go all 4 years. My sister, Carol, graduated in 1965. My mother worked in the high school cafeteria at one time and later drove the school buses, including driving for games and trips.
From Lynn Olmsted:
Marti, Christie and I were in the smoking lounge after lunch. (Can you believe we had a smoking lounge?) The bell rang to go to class, and we just didn't feel like it. So, we stayed in the smoking lounge for a while and then realized we had to go. We had no reason to be late so in the brilliance of a 17-year-olds mind, we decided to write our own pass. We walked into Mr. Guthrie's class and handed him the pass. He is up giving the class lesson and as he is talking, he is looking down at the pass. Finally, he says, what is this? We said it's a pass. He said, who wrote it? We said, we did. He yelled at us to get out. We didn't know what to do so we went down to see Mr. Sheluga. We explained what happened and he was not thrilled. He said, I will do this for you this one time, but don't ever ask me again. Thank you Mr. Sheluga!
From Deborah Smith Cook:
I love these stories and I was hoping we could use them on the website.So many connections and such history. I didn't know that the high school was that new or the history of the different high schools. Chris O'Connell says she's bringing her sister-in-law to the reunion. The sister-in-law's class was responsible for the mascot, the school song, the colors and she graduated a few years ahead of us. It's also interesting to hear about your parents and what they did. To actually have met Einstein -- wow. Joel and I went to the EinsteinHaus in Ulm and followed the Einstein walk around Ulm Germany.
I hope these stories will inspire others to share.
Thanks for writing them.
From Joe Berk:
Michael Welch was born on the same day as me in Saint Peter’s (in New Brunswick, of course). His family lived across the street from Tim Fleckenstein’s family. The Welch family home was a World War II era Quonset hut. I don’t know what happened to Michael Welch; he was no longer in our school system by the time we entered junior high.
Victor Paone’s family lived on Route 1 just south of Dean’s Lane. Dorothy Haleluk’s family lived on the other side of Route 1. Mitch Haleluk (Dorothy’s father) was in the vending machine business and ran his operation out of New Brunswick. My father bought a coin-operated pool table from him and converted it to normal operation (i.e., you didn’t have to put quarters into it to play pool). Jimmy Oughton's family lived near (or next to) Dorothy Haleluk’s family. Bobby Beckley lived on a short road off Route 1 in the same general area, if I remember correctly.
My Mom was indeed a substitute teacher in Dean’s School when we were in kindergarten. We went through five or six full time kindergarten teachers that year. I was acting up in kindergarten one day when Mom was substituting and she slapped me in front of everybody. Somebody remembered it at the 30th or 35th reunion (can’t remember who) and asked me about it. Mom later became a full-time teacher and taught special ed until she retired in Monroe Township.
I hated living right next to Deans School for a lot of reasons, one of which was I envied people who got to ride the bus. I felt that way until the 7th grade, when I had to wait outside on those freezing NJ mornings for the bus to appear to take us to junior high school. Our bus driver’s name was Pete.
Larry Zito was in our kindergarten class and his mother (a very nice lady) worked in the Deans School cafeteria. I reconnected with Larry a few years ago. He and I both were in the Army and served in Korea, and we were there at the same time in the mid-1970s (we did not know that at the time, though). His family lived on Deans Lane.
From Katherine Alsdorf:
This is awesome. What grade? maybe 2nd?
From Anita Vann:
Thanks to Joe and Kathy for your background stories. The Deans names of those kids on our bus are Tim Fleckenstein and Michael Welch. Also in our class were Dorothy Smith, Ellen Copp (sp?), I think Christie and Zeb Mosier joined us there. Here's a class photo. I have no shame if I post that photo of me! 😆
There's Bobby Tauber, Herby Eckert, Victoria Payone, Bill Hollywood, Linda McCue, Denise Bastek, Rose ???, that's the best I can do.
My dad grew up in North Brunswick. He met my mom in Vermont during the war while up there building shipping crates for the war effort. "An essential man in an essential industry." I was born in St Johnsbury Vermont. We lived on Beekman Lane then in a huge duplex on a farm on the corner of Finnegan's Lane and Route 27, then moved to the house on Roberts Street in "Midway Gardens" when I was 5.
From Lynn Olmsted:
I could be wrong, but I think there was something so special about Deans school. We all seem to have such a connection to it and to each other. I don't know if we just were lucky that we liked each other, or it was the teachers, or if there is something mystical about that place. When I was working at Buxtons, I was in the dining room and someone grabbed my arm as I walked through. It was Miss Smith (our 4th grade teacher) and she remembered me and my name, which I thought was quite remarkable given all the students she had taught through the years.
At the last reunion, I worked hard to make arrangements to get inside Deans and tour it and take pictures as most of you saw on the class FB page. It still seemed magical to me and I'm so happy that they have maintained it so well and are putting it to good use. I still have a letter from one of our Kindergarten teachers promoting me to first grade. My mom must have thought that was pretty special to have kept it all these years.
I also feel blessed that I went to Monmouth Junction in 6th grade for that "experimental" class. I met so many wonderful kids from the other schools-Elaine Rosenstock, Kevin Ryan, Carolyn Cook, and Suzanne Thigpen to name a few. It helped the next year when we had to go to that big scary SBHS.
From Katherine Alsdorf:
This is great, Joe!!
I didn’t know anything about your family, except your mom was our Kindergarten teacher for part of the year. What happened to the upholstery business? Where was it? Love the Einstein story! Elaine took me to the temple once, but I had no idea it was land donated by your family! I remember Jeffrey Segal (he may have been in our class in K-1…? Had no idea he was the child of George Segal - I’d recognize his sculpted figures anywhere! There are several in NYC. Funny that Robert Johnson, another famous sculptor is from our area too (although he came from the wealthy Johnson family). I love the image of all the moms playing Mah Jong!
Other Deans kindergarten classmates (I’m going thru our bus route, Anita):
Dorothy Haleluk, Judy Williams, Joey Blauvelt, James Oughton, Larry Zito, Lee Knox, Lance Lemli, Marilyn Dey, and on Henderson Road: Tim Fletcher ?, someone Welch, … Strangely, Carol Kady Luck lived in walking distance from our house, but she went to Monmouth Junction! We didn’t meet til Junior High.
Your side of the township went to Jamesburg for high school; our side would go to Princeton. My dad got on the school board to help build the highschool and always talked about the partnership with Susie Rosenstock to keep the auditorium in the budget. Anita’s sister and brother were probably in the first classes there…?
We ended up in South Brunswick (actually Franklin Park) because my mother grew up in Hightstown and dad grew up in New Brunswick (we were in the middle) and they bought the first house on our street right before I was born in 1951. Unlike Joe Berk, who only had to cross his lawn to go to school, Anita and I had a 40 min bus ride (up and down Rt 1) on George Turner’s bus (I think Cindy’s father) which I think were owned by Wayne Conover’s family (Monmouth Junction). My dad went to Rutgers on the GI bill and my mom went to NJC (Douglass), and they met there. Dad was a mechanical engineer working at Hercules and then up in Elizabeth at GAF. Once Williams Street and Roberts Street were built on we had the best neighborhood in the world with tons of kids. It was so interesting that Anita and I had to start a newspaper to keep up with all the news 🤣
We were born in St. Peter’s Hospital - how about you all?
So many stories to tell…next?
From Joe Berk:
I am third generation South Brunswick. Deans, specifically. My grandparents came in through Ellis Island in 1911 and ultimately settled in Deans. My grandfather was an upholsterer and started a small shop there. My father (Martin Berk) and Marsha’s father (Herman Berk) each started upholstery shops in Deans.
I think most of us who knew each other pre K are the Jewish kids, and it was our mothers who had the Mah Jong group. We all knew each other from Sunday school. Karen Schulz, Elaine Rosenstock, Jeff Seidenstein, me, and I think that’s it. The other Jewish ladies in the group had no kids. There was one exception: Helen Segal, who’s son Jeffrey was a special needs student. Helen was married to George Segal, the famous sculptor/artist. Their daughter, Rena Segal, was a few years younger than us and I believe she still lives in the area. All our families were in the same temple in South Brunswick (Temple Shari Shalom, built on land donated by and adjacent to my grandparents on Georges Road in Deans). Most of the Jewish kids’ families (with the exception of mine, I believe) were poultry farmers, and most were on Davidson’s Mill Road. A tangential note to all of this: My grandfather’s upholstery work was mostly for families in Princeton. He once reupholstered a chair for Albert Einsten. My sister still has a handwritten note from Albert Einstein to my grandfather that reads:
Dear Sam:
Thank you for fixing my chair. I think of you when I sit in it.
A. Einstein.
I’ve spent some time in China. When I was in the more rural areas, I’d see older men playing Mah Jong in small groups in games that appeared to go on all day. How that game ever became a Jewish ladies’ game is something that would probably make a good story, but I do not know it.
Elaine and Jeff can probably add more to the South Brunswick pre-K stuff.
Before Kendall Park was built, there were three elementary schools (and no high school) in South Brunswick. Kids that graduated elementary school back then would go to high school in Jamesburg. The three elementary schools in South Brunswick were Deans (where I went, and where I met Kathy Leary, Ernie Singer, Anita Birch, Margie Rudek, Lynn Olmsted, and others in kindergarten), Dayton (which architecturally looked just like Deans School, and where Jeff and Elaine, and Lowell Sprague went to elementary school), and Monmouth Junction (if there were any Jewish families in Monmouth Junction, I did not know them and I don’t know that any were in our temple).
From Deborah Smith Cook:
Listening to you all talk at the meetings and seeing Lynn's birthday wishes to Julie and Anita, it really just dawned on me how long you all have known each other -- from kindergarten, mothers playing mahjong, having teachers who taught your parents. No wonder the bonds are so strong among you -- so many shared experiences. I wonder how many more of our classmates are in this group. And I wonder how many others there were like me -- I moved to KP in 7th grade. Just curious.