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BOOMER REUNION RAISES $2,049.09
Boomer Reunion Treasurer Cindy Cumming '67 has announced that last June's inaugural Boomer Reunion successfully raised $2,049.09 as our first contribution to the Amherst Central Alumni Foundation (ACAF). Cindy, a member of the ACAF Board of Directors, will formally present this contribution to the ACAF later this month.
STAY TUNED FOR NEW WEB SITE "ALUMNI SPOTLIGHTS" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
BOOMER ALUMNI HONOR
Brown, Klayman, Demmin, Friedrich & McAllister
Left to right: Peter Demmin (Chemistry),
TO TRUMAN BECKLEY BROWN
FROM YOUR DEEPLY THANKFUL FORMER STUDENTS
ALUMNI OF THE AMHERST CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL “BOOMER” CLASSES OF ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69 & ‘70
IN RECOGNITION OF YOUR TREMENDOUS DEDICATION & COMMITMENT TO PROVIDING
OUR GENERATION OF AMHERST STUDENTS WITH THE FINEST HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION EVER OFFERED IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK & IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
“WE HAVE NEVER FORGOTTEN YOU … & WE NEVER WILL”
Presented on our behalf at Amherst, New York this 24th day of June, 2011 ____________________________________ To see video of the faculty award presentations & our teachers' wonderful words of wisdom & wit in response, click here [starting at 8:42] & also click here! _____________________________________ Read short bios of some of the faculty honorees! Click Here * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Watch Boomer Reunion Videos
We're delighted to provide this memorable video "free of charge" to all members of the Boomer Reunion web site ... however:
SO IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE ON THESE VIDEOTAPES,
AMHERST CENTRAL in the spirit of
It's TAX-DEDUCTIBLE!
* * * * * * * * * SO NOW...
ENJOY THE VIDEO & PHOTOS OF THE
Click here for video & photos! * * * * * * * * *
ALUMNI-STUDENT The ACHS Class of '67 is developing a new Boomer Alumni Student Mentor & Tutoring Project to help Amherst High School students who are increasingly struggling with reading & learning difficulties. A recent article in the Buffalo News highlights the growing academic challenges faced by many Amherst students ("Amherst Schools Wrestle With Diversity Issues," February 8, 2011). Several Amherst alumni (including an assistant principal & teacher) have already enthusiastically indicated that they would welcome the opportunity to contribute to -- and participate in -- a program that matches interested Amherst students with alumni & college students who volunteer to provide guidance & encouragement as "mentors" and "tutors."
PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR SUCH IMPORTANT INITIATIVES
CHECK OUT THE LATEST
From the Chair of the Boomer Reunion:
GROWING UP IN THE SIXTIES AT AMHERST
"Neath your towers facing northward we will always be ... by Steve Raikin (Greenfield) ('67) They say that "a picture is worth a thousand words..." You can see photos of some of the Amherst Boomer Alumni who have reunited over the past year -- many of whom are helping to organize the Boomer Reuion -- by clicking on Steve's Classmate Profile.
First Day at Amherst High School After attending kindergarten and first grade at Eggert Road Elementary, and then Sweet Home Elementary and Junior High, I nervously entered Amherst High School as a sophomore "transfer student" -- where I immediately felt "at home" even though I was virtually brand new to the school district and hardly knew anyone when I walked through those imposing oak front doors on that anxious first day of class in September, 1964. When I "try to remember the kind of September" that was, I vividly recall my instant amazement at the incredible warmth and friendliness of my fellow students and the exceptionally high caliber of our faculty, many of whom had Ph.D's. Actually, my first thought was that I had taken the wrong bus and had mistakenly entered the University of Buffalo (just a couple miles down Main Street, where my parents and grandfather had gone)! As anxious as I was about "starting over" at a new school where I doubted that I would ever "fit in," my three years at Amherst turned out to be the happiest of my youth ... and among the most fulfilling of my life. I truly loved being part of the Amherst community. So many people reached out to me to make me feel welcome. Of course, at the same time -- as was true for many high school kids -- those teenage years also involved difficult challenges, particularly on the "home front." We all experienced our high school days in vastly different ways -- none more poignantly portrayed than by our talented classmate, best-selling author Catherine McClure Gildiner ('66), in her brilliant new memoir, "After the Falls: Coming of Age in the Sixties." Cathy's masterpiece simultaneously weaves together a hysterically entertaining and heartbreakingly painful description of her years at Amherst High School. She leaves many readers breathless. The emotional roller coaster Cathy reveals achingly resonates with our own painful adolescent experiences. Amherst's most fundamental lesson
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The yearning to return to our hometown "roots" & reconnect with classmates Everyone's life took a different turn after high school, and everybody's story is interesting and important. As for me, when I hit 60 -- after the tumultuous years that followed Amherst at the University of Wisconsin (during which National Guard troops frequently occupied our campus during anti-Vietnam War demonstrations), law school at Berkeley, and a career in Washington, D.C. -- I increasingly found myself longing to reconnect with my wonderful Amherst friends. So I finally picked up the phone. First, with my 19-year old son Danny in tow, I had an emotional reunion a year ago with my dear friends Bob Reitz ('67) and his wife Diane at their home in Pennsylvania. We hadn't seen each other in 43 years. It was amazing beyond words -- very special. Danny told me afterward that he couldn't believe how much more he now understood about my teenage years in Amherst. To top it all off, Diane treated us to the best roast beef on weck and home fries I ever ate! I was hooked! So in the following months, I had wonderful "mini-reunions" with Jane Dickerson ('67) and Dick Holloway ('67) in D.C., and Mark Winston ('67) in Maryland. We all had a great time seeing each other again. Loved it!
My next "Amherst alumni experience" was last summer's "All Class Reunion" at the ACHS 80th Anniversary Celebration -- including some informal events that I helped to organize at the Glen Park Tavern. My wife Pearl was with me and she had a great time too. My friends immediately made her feel like part of the Amherst Family, and bestowed upon her the title of "Honorary Tiger." It was thrilling to be reuniting and communicating once again with so many former classmates who were so important to me when I was in high school, and others who I was having a great time "meeting" for the first time. Several people -- myself included, purposefully sought out folks who weren't part of their "crowd" in high school, eager to finally get to know them better. Respect, courtesy, humility, openness, inclusivity & trust The "cliques" were gone! Really gone! Everyone was talking ... to everyone! As the weekend progressed, a small group of alums from the classes of '63 - '70 increasingly began to gravitate toward one another. Several showed up at our Class of '67 events at the Glen Park Tavern, and we were delighted they came. Everybody seemed genuinely thrilled to see each other again. We quickly discovered that even though each of us had "evolved" and "matured" and taken very different paths as adults, our shared experiences at Amherst created a strong bond amongst us that we discovered was still very important to us four decades later. People really seemed to listen to each other... and to genuinely care about each other. Everyone was respectful, kind and courteous. We were all genuinely interested in hearing and talking about the course our lives had taken over the past 40 years. I particularly liked that no one seemed judgmental, or came across as feeling "superior" or "inferior" to anyone else. It didn't seem to matter to any of us whether we had grown up poor or better off, or whether we had gone straight from high school to a factory floor, or to Vietnam, or to college, or to nowhere in particular. We all were, are and always will be Amherst Tigers. We had all loved those pre-football game bonfires, and wacky magazine drive skits, and kickin' the Billies' butts in athletics, and engaging in masterful pranks, and putting on those fantastic musicals, plays, and concerts, and gazing at that beautiful, majestic ivy that once graced the front of our school when we "boomers" were at Amherst. Throughout the weekend, everyone just seemed so truly happy to just be with each other again. We didn't want it to end! We were reminded that there's something very special about being with former classmates with whom we grew up during our formative years. We share a very special familiarity with each other -- a bond that can last a lifetime, if we let it. Seeing each other again was at once an exhilarating and an amazingly relaxing experience. Everyone seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief ... and relax. It was as if our conversations seamlessly picked up from where we had left off over four decades before. Sure, we had matured and changed in some ways. But happily, we also had fun noticing those little imperceptible quirks and unique mannerisms that we still remembered so well from back in the day. Everyone seemed to have a great sense of humor about it. The mood was delightfully lighthearted, carefree, exciting, uipbeat and fun. There was laughter and jubiliation everywhere! And then, as the time grew late, something else totally unexpected and decidedly welcome started to happen ... * * *
The "Glen Park Tavern Summit" As some of our friends started heading off to other 80th Anniversary events or their homes or hotels, a small group of us "Boomer Alumni" -- representing many of the Amherst classes that had graduated between 1963 and 1970 -- stayed behind and gathered around a long table at the Glen Park Tavern. In quieter and more philosophical tones, we suddenly began asking each other if we ever thought much about what it really meant to be part of the historic decade in which we "Children of the Sixties" had come of age. There was a long silence. And then it began. Random, spontaneous thoughts were exchanged about the difficulties and tragedies that we had experienced alongside the electric excitement of that decade. The conversation gradually morphed into something that felt just as important and profound as the exhilaration that we all experienced earlier in the evening. It involved alums who had very different outlooks on "the Sixties." For many of us, once we graduated from high school, the primary focus of our lives immediately shifted to working long hours to provide for our families. Some of us went to 'Nam. Some of us were anti-war activists. Some of us were hard hat conservatives, some of us were independents, some of us were liberals and progressives ... we ran the gamut from one end of the political spectrum to the other. But unlike the way we were "back then," now ... we just wanted to talk to each other about it. "What the heck happened to us," someone asked? There was another -- longer -- moment of silence. Someone then quietly observed that it all seemed to begin with the nightmare that hit ALL of us -- our country, our society, our people, and indeed, the entire world -- on November 22, 1963 -- in a moment that will be forever frozen in the memories of everyone of us. 48 years later, EVERY ONE OF US still remembers -- as clearly as if it happened a minute ago -- exactly where we were, what we were doing, who we were with, and whose familiar voice uttered the words that hit us like a thunderbolt ... the very moment when we first heard the shocking news, signalling that NOTHING would ever again be the same. Indeed, for us "boomers," the major "bookends" and "mileposts" of those years of our collective "loss of innocence" -- 1963 to 1970 -- encompassed the assassination of President Kennedy, and with it, the destruction of "Camelot" (1963); the massive escalation of the Vietnam War, and both the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements (1963-1970); the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy (1968); Woodstock and the first lunar landing (1969); the "Chicago 7" trial (1969-1970); and the shooting deaths of six students at Kent State and Jackson State (May, 1970). Increasingly during those turbulent and chaotic eight years, our country was torn apart ... split right down the middle -- politically, socially, and otherwise. And of course, we "boomers" split right down the middle as well.
Amherst Alumni in their 60's ... Contemplating "The Sixties" So there we were ... a handful of folks in their 60's and late 50's, who'd all gone to the same high school, though at different times ... including those of us who ultimately were on opposite sides of those battle lines ... beginning to ponder and discuss "what did it mean to grow up during the Sixties?" We began to re-visit that period in our lives in greater depth than perhaps many of us had ever done before. On the cusp of the next chapter in our lives, we could finally talk about it as friends who see those years from very diverse perspectives, philosophies and beliefs -- without getting self-righteous or sanctimonious about it. What was so special about the Sixties? What were our generation's accomplishments and shortcomings? To what extent did we "change the world" for the better, as so many of us earnestly believed we could (and as many of us still believe we, our children, and our childrens' children can)? What problems did we help to address, and which ones did we exacerbate? Can we find common ground with each other today, notwithstanding our many differing points of view about what the Sixties had meant to us? What kind of "generational legacy" are we now passing along to our children and grandchildren? Our conversations lasted long into the night. It was very emotional. It was important to us. And it was clear that this was a conversation that we hoped could continue. Before we slowly began filing out of the Glen Park Tavern in the wee small hours of the morning, we decided that we wanted this conversation to resume at Amherst in the summer of 2011 -- hopefully with the participation of a lot more folks than the handful of us who sat around the tavern table that night. Research & writing about "The Sixties" On the plane back to D.C. last July, I started to jot down everything I could remember about what we had discussed at the Glen Park Tavern. I began doing some research and writing about the lasting affects of "The Sixties" upon the tens of millions of us "Boomers" who came of age in that era. Meanwhile, the Glen Park Tavern folks have continued talking about all of this ("online" through Facebook and its "I Grew Up in Amherst, NY" group, and via other channels). We've discovered that many of us can't stop thinking about it. We realize that we've barely scratched the surface thus far -- and we're looking forward to engaging other interested Amherst alumni in this important discussion in June! Perhaps a tiny piece of the "puzzle" goes something like the following, but it's definitely a work in progress, and we invite and encourage the input of others, preferably from as many different perspectives and points of view as possible ------>
1963 - 1970: Many of us still have the values and beliefs -- as well as bear the "scars" -- that we acquired by virtue of having grown up and "come of age" during the 1960's. Many of us are still trying to make sense of it all, and we want or need to bring our feelings out into the open and to talk about it, in the hope that we can somehow gain some important insights, or at least so that others will understand some of the issues with which we "Children of the Sixties" are still trying to cope as we become senior citizens. The tenor of the music of our youth -- as exemplified by the contrasting "sound tracks" on this web site -- changed from reflecting the joyful and carefree innocence of Camelot -- such as Elvis Presley's "It's Now or Never" (1960); Ricky Nelson's "Travelin' Man" (1961); Shelly Fabres' "Johnny Angel" (1962); the Beach Boy's "Surfin' USA," Peter, Paul & Mary's "Puff the Magic Dragon," and Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want to Be With You" (1963) ---> to the increasingly more serious, dark, somber, militant, angry and revolutionary tones that followed the assasination of President Kennedy and accompanied the nightmarishly rising body count in Vietnam and the protracted stuggle for civil rights -- such as Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A Changing" (1964); The Who's "My Generation" (1965); Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction" and Sgt. Barry Sadler's "Ballad of the Green Berets" (1966); Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" and Buffalo Springfield's "Hey Now What's That Sound" (1967); Mick Jagger's & Keith Richards' "Street Fighting Man" & "Sympathy for the Devil" (recorded on the day Robert Kennedy was assassinated) and Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart" (1968); Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son," Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock," and Richie Havens' "Freedom," presented during the very first set at Woodstock (1969); and Neil Young's "Four Dead in Ohio" and Edwin Starr's "War" (1970). Indeed, as the 60's progressed, clearly "the times they were a changing." "Something was happening here." "What it was ain't exactly clear." Societal "battle lines were being drawn." "Nobody was right if everybody was wrong." The diversity of our Sixties experiences fuels an ongoing, lively conversation. Some of us became "hard hats" and were largely motived by patriotism and a deep abiding love our our country, and we proudly wore our beloved American flags on our sleeves. Some of us regarded anyone who didn't agree with us as "unpatriotic traitors," and worse. Some of us became "Age of Aquarius" idealists, counterculturalists, or anti-war, civil rights, womens' rights or human rights activists. Some of us regarded anyone who didn't agree with us as "the establishment," and worse. Some of us worried (and still worry) about President Eisenhower's warning about what he regarded as the dangerous rise of the "Military-Industrial Complex." Many of us marched and protested, got tear-gassed, got our heads bashed, were arrested, went to prison, were condemned by many others of us as "Commies," and worse. Some of us stayed safely in the middle. Some of us tried not to notice what was happening. Meanwhile, some of us got married right out of high school or became parents during or shortly after high school, or whenever. Some of us stayed home to raise our children, while others avoided marriage and parenthood like the plague. Some of us excelled in athletics or music or anthropology or science or theater. Some us turned to psychedelic drugs for answers (or to try to "escape" or whatever), and some of us lost all or part of our mental faculties as a result, while many others of us didn't. Some of us took blue collar jobs or government jobs or went into business or entered one of the "professions" or became Peace Corps Volunteers or policemen or members of the clergy or nurses or social workers or journalists or teachers or real estate salespersons or novelists or advisors to politicians or filmmakers ... or soldiers ... or Canadians. Vietnam Most of us survived, but too many of us died, far too young -- including, all at the age of 21 -- SP4 Robert Gapinski (Amherst '66) on July 8, 1969 in Tay Ninh Province ("drowned or suffocated"); WO1 David Erenstoft (Amherst '67) on March 8, 1970, while co-piloting a Huey Helicopter that crashed in a dense fog on a dangerous mission carrying South Vietnamese troops to Duc Lap to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail resupply line during the invasion of Laos; one of my closest childhood friends, 2nd Lieut. Ronald Stetter (Sweet Home '64) on April 25, 1968 near Hue during the "Tet Offensive" ("gun or small arms fire"); and SP4 George Ross, Jr. (Amherst & George Junior Republic, Freeville, NY '63) on March 20, 1967 in An Khe Province ("small arms fire"), while serving with the 1st Cavalry Division after first joining the Green Berets -- along with so many others of our generation who are no longer with us. They made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Their names are now among the 58,267 inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in our Nation's Capitol. May they rest in peace. In addition, hundreds of thousands of veterans still suffer from horrible physical and psychological wounds. They too deserve our ongoing appreciation. We honor and revere all of our nation's veterans, and we owe them all a huge debt of gratitude. The death of my friend Ron Stetter had a particularly significant impact on me because I knew him well. It played a major role in shaping the prism through which I came to view the 60's. As a college student, on November 15, 1969 -- during the Vietnam Moratorium March on Washington -- I carried Ron's name on a hand-made sign, illumnated by a flickering candle, as I slowly and peacefully marched past the White House. With a quivering voice tinged by painful grief, I announced his name when I reached a spot directly in front of the main entrance (North Portico) of the White House. It was a bitterly cold day. More than 500,000 Americans participated in this solemn event, and I remember my tears freezing as they fell, in slow motion. During Vietnam, many of us believed that it was every young man's patriotic duty to serve his country in the military. Others of us asked Why? For what? Many of us believed that Bob, Dave, Ron and George -- and the 58,263 others who lost their lives bravely serving in Vietnam -- died for a good cause. Others of us believed -- and still believe -- that they died for "absolutely nothing." Many of us also mourn the millions of civilian casualties -- who some regard as "collateral damage" -- which always accompany the ravages of war. Many of us enlisted, and considered it our duty as a citizen to do so. Many of us were subjected to the draft "lottery." Some of us who served in Vietnam, and survived, saw or did things while we were there that still haunt our dreams with frightening nightmares. Some of us still suffer from psychological wounds like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and/or physical wounds and disabilities of every sort imaginable. Some of us became conscientious objectors, fled to Canada, kept our college deferments, maimed ourselves, "pulled strings," or did whatever else we thought was necessary to avoid fighting in a war that we regarded as wrong, or even immoral. Some of us avoided military service out of fear. Some of us regarded such men as cowards. None of us -- whether or not we were sent to Vietnam -- wanted to die so young. Many of us who somehow avoided the horrors of Vietnam are still trying to cope with ongoing feelings of guilt over the obvious implications of our actions. After all, if we avoided military service, another one of us was always called upon to take our place in the line of fire -- frequently someone who was poor, or who didn't want or couldn't afford to go to college, or who didn't have the "connections" to influence their local draft board, or who was an African-American or a Chicano or a Native American ... and many of those Americans were among those who were killed or wounded in Vietnam. Resolution and closure As we move through our 60's, many of us still want -- and need -- to talk with our contemporaries (including our fellow Amherst Alumni) about all of this ... to try to help each other cope with what is still -- more than 40 years later -- very much on the minds of many of us, regardless of the choices that we made back in the day. For many of us, there hasn't yet been sufficient "resolution" about what happened to us during the Sixties. I believe that such "closure" is possible. I do not think that we are destined to remain "hostages" to the Eagles' haunting image in "Hotel California" ("you can check out anytime you like ... but you can never leave"). There are no easy answers, but I'm convinced that we can make tremendous progress if we continue to discuss these lingering issues -- particularly with our peers. I realize that some boomers don't want to think about it ... but I believe that many of us could be a lot more at peace with ourselves -- and could achieve a much higher degree of tranquility in our lives -- if we continue to discuss these important issues with each other.
* * * We look forward with great anticipation and excitement to a continuation of such discussions -- together with the sheer joy of reuniting again -- at the Boomer Reunion & Musical Fundraiser June 24th - 26th! Last August, when I posted a photo (taken by my wife) of our beloved alma mater on the "I Grew Up in Amherst, NY" and "Amherst Central High School Grads" Facebook group sites, several fellow alumni commented about how much they missed the gorgeous ivy that formerly covered the edifice of our beautiful school. For so many of us, the ivy seemed to symbolize the essence of what we cherished and missed most about our beloved alma mater. When he saw the photo of the "naked" edifice of Amherst High School, our classmate Terry Slaven ('67) spontaneously proposed that we promptly form a "committee" to restore the Tiger Ivy. The concept quickly captured our imaginations! Terry's idea has blossomed into a project to which many of our former classmates can contribute. The result will be something very tangible, visible, and symbolic for all Amherst Alumni. We hope that it will spark greater involvement in the important work of the Amherst Central Alumni Foundation.
An innovative new kind of reunion: as an entire generation of Amherst Alumni ... Thus was born the idea for this June's "Boomer Reunion & Musical Fundraiser" -- to restore the Tiger Ivy AND to support the other significant projects of the Amherst Central Alumni Foundation that directly benefit Amherst's students, faculty, and important community outreach initiatives!
A rapidly growing team of "Boomers" has been working hard to organize the Boomer Reunion with breakneck speed. Last December, we caught a huge break. We were absolutely thrilled when our dear friend and classmate Don Croll ('65) -- an amazingly tale At that point, Don, my good friends Cynthia Cumming ('67) & Linda Baumler Koziol ('67), I and others decided to kick our efforts into a MUCH higher gear.
Alumni Foundation quickly responds Last January, I flew up to Buffalo to join Boomer Alumni Cindy Cumming ('67), Linda Baumler Koziol ('67), Don Croll ('65) (by speakerphone from Dallas), Peter Hall ('67), and Sandy Cumming ('69) in presenting our proposal to the Board of Directors of the Amherst Central Alumni Foundation (ACAF). We're so grateful that -- with the help and encouragement of ACAF Co-President Ellen Marshall ('69), the Chair of the ACAF Class Directors Committee Clay Pasternack ('68), and Alumni Office Manager Christopher Byrd -- the ACAF board enthusiastically endorsed our idea on January 20th. * * *
HOPE WE SEE YOU JUNE 24th - 25th! In addition to the magnificent Opening Reception, Dinner & Cabaret Show on Friday, June 24th, there will be a scrumptious Picnic & Merriment on Saturday, June 25th, we're planning several other innovative social events & programs that respond to the various issues discussed above! This will be a markedly different "Multi-Year" Alumni Reunion -- unlike ANY which the Alumni Foundation has ever sponsored! It's really going to be AMAZING in every respect! Even if you can't participate in the Boomer Reunion, we would deeply appreciate your utilizing this web site to make a tax deductible donation to the Amherst Central Alumni Foundation. The ACAF sponsors several worthy and important programs that directly benefit our students, faculty, and public outreach programs. Your donation -- in whatever amount you can provide -- will make a huge difference!
WE CAN'T WAIT until that glorious weekend finally arrives -- June 24th -25th! It's going to be a FANTASTIC weekend of SPECTACULAR EVENTS! To say that we're looking forward to seeing you again is a huge understatement! An extraordinary and rapidly expanding team of energetic alumni -- which we encourage you to join by submitting one of the "Volunteer" forms on this site -- is working hard to make this "labor of love" an event that participants will never forget! So ... "C'mon people now, smile on your brother and sister, everybody get together, try to love one another right now."
GET READY TO HAVE A GREAT TIME! BOOMER TIGERS ROCK!
HOPE WE SEE YOU IN JUNE!
Steve Raikin (Greenfield)('67) P.S. I've posted a few photos on my "Classmate Profile" where you can see some of the many dedicated Boomer Alumni who are now diligently working to organize the June event. I thank them all from the bottom of my heart. I'd welcome your comments or feedback about this message ... & WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO START SOME NEW DISCUSSION TOPICS! Please click on "MESSAGE FORUM" or "USER FORUMS," and ...
GO FOR IT! We promise ... you'll be very glad you did!
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