Linda Shanes (Garber)

Yep, that's where the pool was!               

Gary Shulberg

Back in the day, you could purchase a combined elevator / swimming pool pass at a bargain rate - but only if you were a freshman and the salesperson was a senior.

Sadly today, ALL of the staircases in the school appear to lead to nowhere.

John Scheer

Art Link

It's only the privileged few who had passes to the pool. I remember decorating it like New Orleans to coordinate with Mardi Gras.

Ivan Taub

Brenda and All---Are we going to have a graduation name and picture tag we can wear? Most of us have gone through many transformations. I know pictures with names will help jog my memory circuits (get my brain in sync).

Ivan Taub

Mar 12, 2015 at 11:19 AM

Louise Costuma (Schuman)

Hi Ivan,

So happy to see you will joining us on May 2nd.

Yes, we are making nametags from your yearbook photos.  If we used anything else, no one would have a clue who we are.  So many have changed but I think I still look the same (my mirror is broken )

Everyday we get more reservations.  Should be a great turnout.

Take Care,

Louise Costuma Schuman

Reunion committee.

Ivan Taub

I think it's important to celebrate life. So a Happy Birthday to all whether you be rich, poor, happy or sad ... Let's keep getting the word out: Everyone who can should come to this milestone reunion. The world we grew up in only exists in our collective minds. I remember standing next to a water ice truck parked next to Olney and learning from a distraught girl (can't remember who) that JFK had been shot. If you were at Olney on that Friday afternoon the meaning of your life changed (whether you realized or or not). However, to bring things back to earth -- as I do my two-finger peck and hunt keyboarding I can't help but envy and endorse Louise's mom's practical wisdom.

Ira Brogin

Hi Ivan. It's Ira Brogin who fondly remembers you. I was on the football team and we were getting ready for a game when we heard the Kennedy news. I don't remember if we played the game or not. I'm looking forward to see you at the reunion. Take dare

Duane Wallace (Bitting)

Hi Ivan.  It's Duane Wallace.  I remember I was in Mr. Stone's history class when he announced it.  He spoke very eloquently; however, I knew he was shaken by the news.  Looking forward to the reunion.

Eileen Joseph

Hi All,

I'm honored to be one of your EM's on the 2nd and so excited!  It'd be great if you could get your memory working to recall old stories, good ones, bad ones, keep in mind even the bad ones are good ones by now.  It would be so much fun to have everyone share their memories of a time gone by.  So get those brain cells cooking and let's hear about those times from long ago.  I'm sure everyone has them.

Looking forward to seeing everyone, those I know, those I don't and those I'll get to know.

See you all soon.

Eileen

Linda Shanes (Garber)

Hi Eileen!

Even though I cannot come to the reunion on the 2nd, I do have a memory that you may want to share with everyone.  No doubt, female alumni remember the infamous blue gym suits!  We had to embroider our names on them.  I recall fire drills in the dead of winter during gym class when we had to brave the freezing cold in our bloomers and wait for the signal to return to warmth!  Ah, the good old days!    :-)

Art Link

Thank you to all the good people on the reunion committee for putting together such a great event.  I wish I could have been there, but have not figured out a way yet to be in two places at the same time.  Maybe the idea of cloning people will work some time soon.  Not sure if I'm having a "senior moment" but after looking at the pics from the reunion, I don't recognize any of the faces.  Have we changed that much, or am I in the wrong Olney HS January '65 class?  Will we do this again in another 50 years?

Mark Blass

This is the photographer.

We will caption the pics as soon as the Committee girls pull themselves out from under the table. 

MB
Olney Class of January 1961
 

Mark Blass

Reunion pictures at 

https://picasaweb.google.com/107598952682065283324/OlneyClassOfJanuary196550thReunion?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Don't try to download and print from this photo set; website images are too small for good printing. Contact me if you wish me to send you a printable file.
 

MB
Olney Class of January 1961

Mark Blass

Same Reunion photos were uploaded as a YouTube video at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPBozj3om4w

Save your arthritic thumbs by viewing the video instead of clicking through the entire picture set.
 

MB
Olney Class of January 1961

Gary Shulberg

There hasn’t been much input at this site about our collective memories of the many teachers we encountered during our four year - and sometimes longer -  passages through high school.  There were many I remember fondly, for their teaching expertise and/or for their outright kindness and caring (and in a few cases I didn’t realize how good they were until later in my life).  

At the top of my list would be George Zampetti, whose influence on me turned out to be life changing. Until I took “Algebra III,” math was one of my least favorite subjects. His classes were interactive, lively and often very funny.  He did a stand-up routine as prelude to most of his lectures, but none of that levity ever got in the way of his passion for teaching his subject.  I encountered him again years later, when I was a “big shot” professor (of mathematics) at Penn State (in Media) and he was hired as a part-time instructor.  He didn’t remember me, but I still got much joy in telling him how inspiring he was – and I think he got pleasure in hearing that.  He passed away, about two years ago, at age 88.

Among the others whom I recollect with especially good feelings : George Hoffman and Isadore Briskin (Mathematics); Albert Hoffman, Ruth Brill and Ellen Brown (English); Robert Smith, Bella Heiman and Lydia Roberts (French); Jerome Ruderman, Mark Stone and Bernard Epstein (History); Earlina Dales (Biology).  And there are other names entitled to “honorable mention.”

There could also be a second list comprised of those teachers whom I remember as being “characters,” or “eccentrics,” or outright “wackos.”  Sometimes these were intentional “put-ons,” and I liked a few of them anyway.   But there also could be a third list, thankfully a shorter one, of “forgettables” (I’m being kind with that appellation), those who seemed, even in retrospect, to have been generally incompetent as educators (and maybe even as people). For me, there was one person, in particular, who would stand out on that list – other names would merely be distant runners-up.

But, I suppose, the sum total of all of them gave us some experience toward getting through our lives.

Marilyn Goldfarb

I can add a few names to Gary's list of amazing teachers - Fred Josephson (history), Joan Goldstein (art), Judy Goldberg (English), Marty Isadore (theatre coach and author of some of my stand-up routines) - they all influenced my desire to become a teacher.

David Laughlin

Two of my favorites: 

Frank ("by name and by nature") Sadker:  Physics

Robert Sehl  head of math dept. and head coach of soccer

David

Judith Goldstein (Pliner)

I remember Spanish & home room teacher Ms   Mersh  also English teacher Minnie Rugg

Gary Shulberg

There were two in Olney’s science department who specialized in teaching physics : (Dr.) Wolf Goldberg and Frank Sadker.  But both had retired by the time I was ready for those courses. No new physics teachers were hired and they drafted others in the department to teach those classes.  I had Ray Fay (who was “chemistry”) and Joe Provenzano (who, I think, was “biology”).  Neither seemed particularly comfortable fronting physics classes.

Mr. Fay resembled a mad doctor in a horror film (not KING KONG – that was “Fay Wray”) and was famous, in part, for wearing the worst neckties.  His exams were mostly “plugging into formulas” or short-answer questions. I discovered later that he was a bit of a movie and theater buff – I used to see him at screenings in libraries and museums and always meant to “say hi” but never got around to it. The only evidence of that pastime he ever showed in (chemistry) class was when he recommended Fellini’s “8 ½” because it “had a great sodium spa in one scene.”

Mr. Provenzano, I recall, had a high-pitched voice that didn’t quite match the way he looked.  For his exams, you had to memorize paragraphs from the textbook and just re-write them, almost word-for-word. So your test results depended more on what you retained and how quickly you could write, not understanding of the material.  About a year-and-a-half after graduation I was about to take my first exam in college physics.  Ironically, that morning when I stepped out of the subway station to cross Broad Street, I noticed Provenzano in the first car that was stopped at the light. We waved at each other – no conversation.  At no time during the test did I actually feel the need for him to come in and help me.

Minnie Rugg (English) deserves a few paragraphs of reminiscence, but if she found out (from beyond) that more than one sentence was written about her, she would complain that the “essay” was too wordy.

David Laughlin

Thanks Gary for the comments on the science teachers.

I was told that Mr. Sadker was going to retire, so I took summer school chemistry (at Lincoln!) and was able to have Mr. Sadker's last classes when  I was in 10th or 11th grade.  From your description of the Mr. F and Mr. P  I am glad that I did!.  Mr. Sadker really knew his stuff and was a master at in class demonstrations of electricity and mechanics.

David Laughlin

Fred Allendorf

I can barely remember any of my teachers.  But, I really liked Dr. Carl Marzacco, who I had for homeroom, chemistry, and physics.  He was a good chemistry teacher, and OK in physcis.  I remember Mr. Horvath who taught wood shop.  He was a bit crazy; I remember us all hiding under our benches as he threw chunks of wood around the room for some reason or another.

Frank Snyder

HI DOT THANKS FOR THE BIRTHDAY WISH GETTING OLDER BY THE DAY.HAD A STROKE LAST YEAR ,NOT OVER IT YET LOTS OF PILLS, DR VISITS AND SO ON. HAVE YOU WRITTEN TO ANY OF THE OTHERS? TATA FOR NOW                                                            FRANK SNYDER

Joel Lachman

I finally got it together to get a password and log in!

Reading Ivan's message regarding the oxfords brought back a flood of great memories.. Very cool that there will be a new recording released..

Very saddened to see Debbie Wasserman's recent passing...As Ira said, she made a few of our hearts beat a touch faster.. Was a sweet person.. 

I hope everyone's well and being as safe as possible.. I was out of the city during the summer but am back in NYC and being careful as well.

Thank you for organizing this site as I just went through lots of various emotions reflecting back on those years..

All the best,

Joel Lachman

Ivan Taub

Your classmates, Ivan Taub & Joel Naselow, and their band, THE PHILLY OXFORDS, have 2 new releases: "Harley-Davidson Cool" and "The Promise," featuring Koko (the Gorilla) who communicated with us in sign language as the Voice of Nature, and her friend Robin Willams (taken when he visited Koko in 2002). You can see and hear both at: