What's New

Posted on: Jan 13, 2025 at 1:31 PM

Happy Birthday. I started intending that wish for Bob Biederman. Then I thought better of it. It works for Bob on January 14, 2025, when he turns 79. The more I thought about it, the more it dawned on me that for most of the class of NHS 1964, a Happy Birthday wish in 2025 would be in order. For all of you, Happy Birthday!

Many of you know the story about Bob and me—there really wasn't a story until we met on this website, I think, about ten years ago. A lot has happened in the passing years—some good things, some not so much, but we supported each other.

Bob and I haven't spent any physical time together during the last ten years except for the time we spent with Dave Bliss in San Diego. (As a passing note, Dave Bliss's birthday is on January 22.) Yet even though Bob and I communicate almost solely via email, we have grown closer together. Like many of us, we have had some thoughts and ideas that have not materialized. We regret that a few of those ideas didn't work out.

Hopefully, there are people in our lives who have stood by us when we need them most. Bob Biederman has been my leaning post. I have been blessed with people who have come into my life at just the right time, bringing with them exactly what I needed. Bob Biederman is one of those people.

A Jewish Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, titles one of his voluminous writings (well worth your time to read any of his writings), "Count your blessings and begin to change your life." Bob has been a blessing to me and has been a key contributor to many of the changes in my life over the passing years. We have challenged each other on many fronts, but two stand out—religion and politics. Shocked? Me too. We may not have always agreed, but it did not diminish our respect for each other or our friendship. To many of you who knew Bob, myself, or both of us, could you see that coming? Not me.

Bob, I wish you a happy birthday, but perhaps more importantly, I want our classmates to know how much our friendship has meant to me. You have put the friend back into friendship. It has taken fifty-plus years of fundamental ignorance of each other to come to a point today where I can call you my friend, my best friend. Bob, if I had to describe our relationship - "Iron sharpens Iron." Thanks for those 79 years that got you here, but be forewarned, I am not sure I could do another 79 years being friends with a Bigelow graduate!

Posted on: Nov 27, 2024 at 3:28 PM

Happy Thanksgiving to all our classmates and families. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season.

Looking forward to coming reunion in May. We will b staying in Hamden Inn . Marlboro.Hope others are making plans.

Posted on: Dec 18, 2023 at 2:34 PM

A Christmas Story

December 7, 1941, marks a day when the people in this country awoke to a tragedy that was multiple times greater than the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Both of those tragedies impacted us as a nation. Most of us felt the pain of those attacks collectively as a people, but not personally.

December 7, 2023, marked another day of tragedy. This day, it was a bit closer to home. At 10.04 a.m., a 15-month-old boy was struck by a train as he ran across the railroad tracks trying to catch a kitten.

This tragedy happened in the small community of Walnut Bottom, Pennsylvania. I live about 10 miles from where the accident occurred. One of my daughters lives next door to this young man and his family. The family is part of a large community of Mennonites living in the area. I have not witnessed anything like the support for this family, as shown by the Mennonite community.

You don't need to live here long to realize they are a close, tight-knit community. I cannot help but think this was what it must have been years ago in our country. I wish I could have lived then. Throughout our 34 years in this area, we have been fortunate to make many close friends and companions while being warmly welcomed into this community. It is something special.

You may be wondering where the Christmas or Festival of Lights is in this story. Eight days after this tragedy, on December 15, 2023, at approximately 6:30 p.m. on a chilly Friday night, there were more than 30 visitors from the church of the family who had so recently lost their son in our front yard. They were singing Christmas Carols, they were caroling. I cannot remember in my 77 years having anyone sing Christmas Carols to me or my family. It was even more extraordinary given the circumstances of their church and community.

I learned and felt the love of others shown to me and my family, even amid their suffering, grieving, and loss. What kind of strength does a person, a family, or a community possess that enables them to reach out to others, giving them something of themselves when they are in pain and grieving?

I question my strength and character to put others before myself when I am suffering from my losses. Yes, Christmas will be memorable for me this year. I saw and experienced what it means to put your pain aside and reach out to lift others up. The only thing better than this Christmas would be one where I had the strength to lift others up.

May you have a Merry Christmas, a Festival of Lights, and a great 2024.

Posted on: Nov 16, 2023 at 8:45 PM

Happy Birthday Eleanor. Hope you had a wonderful and fun day.

Happy Veteran's Day to all our classmates who served in the Military. On behalf of your reunion committee, we thank you all. Hope to see you at our 60th class reunion Saturday May 18th, 2024.

Posted on: Nov 08, 2023 at 2:30 PM

Happy Birthday dear Carolyn! Hope it’s a very special year for you!

Hi. I'm sorry to share the news, but my mother passed away a little over a week ago.
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/boston-ma/diane-dalmeida-11461892
feel free to reach out jdalmeida@gmail.com
Jaime

Posted on: Aug 02, 2023 at 4:42 PM

2023 has been a challenging year for the Newton High School Class of 1964. Counting the last day of December 2022 and the first seven months of 2023, we have lost three class stalwarts. Three strong men and three impactful leaders have impacted our class differently for different reasons. The first loss was David Bliss, the second Alan Crosby, and just recently, David Katseff.

Of the three, I knew David Bliss the best, then Alan Crosby, and then David Katseff. I recognize that this is becoming a common theme, but of the three, I was with David Katseff, both at Warren Jr High and the high school, yet I knew him least but not for lack of opportunity. Of the three, DK(sorry about the initials, but it's easier for me. Yes, I know it's always about me) was more intelligent because he spent the least time with me.

If you have read the comments of our classmates, you may have developed a sense that DK was a person worth knowing. DK was one of those people who had a gift for getting along with people. I never saw or heard of him being popular because he curried other people's favor. Instead, he drew people to him. People liked to be around him. They wanted to be around him.

If you look at the number of committees or groups he was associated with, you may think he was a joiner, but you'd be wrong. People wanted him involved because he always added something to the group or the project. When he owned his company, I doubt his employees felt mistreated, abused, or ignored. I expect it was the very opposite.

Ask the reunion committee members what it felt like to work with DK. Ask them if they would work for him or have him work for them. In a word, yes.

One of the things that makes DK stand out to me is that he was a man of integrity, faithful to his family and friends. If you have your yearbook go back and look at what David said was his fondest memory. He said S. If you go back and look at Sharon's fondest memory, it was her friends, and there was one in particular that seemed to stand out to her. There has been a lot of faithfulness and integrity for a long while in the Katseff family. Kids, I hope you have been taking notes because you have had some great teachers.

I quoted from a country and western song in an earlier writing about when we die "It's not what you take with you its what you leave behind that matters." That would work for DK, but I am doubtful he was much of a C&W fan, so I'll straighten it out a bit; well, not me but the author who penned these words.

"Blessed indeed that they rest from their labors for their deeds follow them." Rest easy, David. You have left a long line of deeds behind you.

The untimely passing of David is very sad.  As a member of our class reunion committee David was always very positive and would help in any and all ways to make our reunions successful. A very easy goin guy who enjoyed his friends and classmates and a wonderful husband and father.

RIP my dear friend.

Peg O'Brien

Posted on: Jun 23, 2023 at 5:44 PM

It's A Choice!

My wife and I went to a newly opened diner for breakfast recently. Our initial visit to the restaurant could have been more impressive. Allowing for the fact that the place had just opened, we felt that they deserved a second chance. The food was alright on our first visit, but the service was terrible. Our waitress had either not been trained or needed to seek a different occupation. What a difference a second visit made.

Our waitress looked like she just walked off the set of The Beverly Hills Hillbillies. No, not Ellie May but Grannie. She greeted us and professionally took our order, but she didn't look or speak like someone from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. I had caught a tinge of an accent in her voice and asked her if she lived around here. She responded, " yes and no." She told us she was visiting one of her daughters who lived here. Asking a few more questions, she said to us that she has five kids living in the States and is spending most of her time moving around to visit them. Picking up on the fact that she said, "In the States," I suspected she was not originally from the States. She said that she was from New Zealand but had lived in States for almost thirty years as she traveled around visiting her kids. I asked what her favorite state was - she replied Tenessee. Asking why, she told us she felt the people in the South were friendlier than in the North. She felt that Northerners were, for the most part, cold, rude, uncaring, and looked right through her. Yet when living in the South, things were different. She felt more accepted. As a Northerner, it wasn't exactly what I was happy to hear.

She mentioned she would go home to New Zealand every three or four years to visit with family and friends. Having spent so much time in the States, I asked where she liked living better. Surprise, surprise, she responded, without hesitation, "New Zealand." Why? "Friendlier, more manageable pace, and free to be yourself without people judging you and who they thought you were." Where's the Chamber of Commerce when you need them?

Oh, did I mention she was also a good waitress? I thanked her and hoped things here would become more like New Zealand. She loved her kids more, so she stayed but hoped to return to New Zealand soon. We tipped her and left.

She had brought more to our table than food. She showed me how much I am like those people with attitudes she didn't like. How many people have I looked through, failed to give a passing nod or smile, or made some gesture that let them know I saw them as a person? The mirror she handed me didn't make the reflection look very good.

Several weeks ago, my wife and I took a four-day vacation to one of this country's great vacation spots - Erie, Pennsylvania. Some may accuse me of using hyperbole with that statement - Eh, maybe they're right. We needed more time than four days to make the trip to the Outer Banks or Maine, and we had never spent any time around the Great Lakes. Erie was close, so why not?

Working out of an Erie Insurance Agency for the last twenty-two years, I got us a room at a Sheraton Hilton Hotel on the Lake for the grand total of 119 dollars a night. You gotta love those hometown discounts. Not precisely a hometown discount, but I wasn't going to quibble.

Erie perfectly describes a blue-collar city (the fifth-largest city in Pennsylvania). There are empty storefronts and deteriorating buildings, and there seem to be more bars than anything else. Poverty is not just another word here. It survives because of two businesses, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center(UPMC) and Erie Insurance.

Expectedly, the closer you get to the Lake, the more prosperous the area looks. Upscale hotels, classy restaurants, yes bars, museums, a convention center, and lots and lots of boats line the coastline. If you just stayed there, it would be nice, but then you would miss the heart of the city.

Upon our arrival, I went to the front desk to check in, wearing a t-shirt with a Marine Corps eagle, globe, and anchor emblazoned on the chest. Two young on the desk greeted me with a "thank you for your service." You may have read my note about the difference between service and sacrifice, so the following will be no surprise.

While I appreciated their thanks, I explained that the difference between sacrifice and service is that sacrifice is giving something that you could never get back. It wasn't only the servicemen or women but also their families that made a sacrifice. They were both choked up. One had a father and a brother that served in the Marine Corps. He wanted to but couldn't because of back issues. He said he couldn't wait to get home and share this simple message with them. The other young man's dad was KIA in Viet Nam. Knowing that it wasn't just his dad who had made the sacrifice but his mom and his siblings had also changed how he understood what sacrifice really meant. They were a big reason this trip became so important to me. They taught me the difference between service and sacrifice.

Everywhere we went, we ran into real people. I left my wallet in a restaurant where we ate our first evening. The following day I could only think about what I would have to go through to cancel my credit cards and restore my identity. (Shh, I was glad my wife had her credit card.) But this damper on our vacation had a happy ending. A seventeen-year-old busboy had found the wallet and given it to the manager with nothing missing. Surprise! There was a time that wouldn't have been a surprise but not today and not in a place with this city's struggles.

Everywhere we went, we met people who treated us not like tourists but as family. Be it a diner, Maritime museum, Zoo, dinner on board a paddle boat tour around LakeErie ( the captain invited me into the wheelhouse and gave me a brief of the history of the boat), and of course, restaurants.

On our second day, we went to breakfast without my wallet. We found the proverbial dive to have breakfast. Like most dives I have eaten in, the food was excellent. I had an enormous omelet. It was also close to being the best I have ever had. Yet, the real surprise wasn't the food.

The "regulars" and we carried on like family and friends on an outing. Laughter, joking, and barbs filled this dive. We didn't want to leave, but it was good we did.

We were returning to the hotel to wait until I could call to see if anyone had returned my lost wallet. On the other side of the four-lane street, we saw a man slumped over in a motorized wheelchair. My wife turned the car around, and I got out to check on him. He was out cold. I called 911, got the dispatcher, and told him the situation. He said he would get an ambulance there as soon as possible. Checking his breathing, frequency and depth, blood pressure, and his state of consciousness, I reported it back to the dispatcher. He gained consciousness several times, only to lose consciousness again. He was awake long enough to say he wanted to go to the VA hospital. The VA hospital was a few blocks away, but they do not take emergencies, so he would have to go to a nearby hospital.

I am no doctor, but it seemed to me that it might be a series of TIAs. But he wasn't looking good. The ambulance arrived and took over from there.
We turned back around, heading to the hotel. I felt different. My wallet seemed insignificant.

On Sunday morning, we left Erie in the rearview mirror heading home. The attractions, such as they were, were fine. The truth was, the most essential appeal we saw was the people. Erie will always have a special place in my heart. It was a "family" vacation.

Several days ago, after receiving word about Alan Crosby, I came across a picture of four impressive-looking men attending the 55th reunion. Forgive me, gentlemen, if this statement is incorrect. It is unintentional. Chalk it up to old age.

I looked at that picture of Henry Barr, Bill Goldstein, Steve Sussman, and Bernie Davidson. I didn't recognize any of them. Bluntly, I don't think I knew them. The irony of having left Erie after four days felt like I had left friends and family behind, and yet after spending 540 days (give or take) near these gentlemen, I didn't know them. If I could have attended the 55th, I would have walked right by them without a glance or a word. Sadly, Steve Sussman has died, and I will never be able to rectify my loss. The reflection in the mirror is still looking pretty ugly.

I would like you to think about the people that couldn't see my waitress and think about the people who not only saw my wife and me but went beyond and treated us like friends and family. Which are you?

One last thing. After explaining my understanding of the difference between service and sacrifice to the two young at the front desk, I realized that I had missed the mark and not by a little.

Please hear this. Everything I have said about the difference between service and sacrifice is valid, but I have missed the boat because sacrifice is not the exclusive property of servicemen and women, and their families. Let me repeat the difference. You do service as an obligation, and in many ways, it is self-serving. It may be your job. You are getting paid to do it or, in some way benefiting yourself.

Sacrifice is putting something of yours that means something to you on the Altar, knowing you will never get it back. Putting it simply: Service is all about you; Sacrifice is all about others.

Are you a taker or a giver? Are you willing to give of yourself and make a difference in the lives of others? We are running out of time. The last thing we will see is that mirror. What is the reflection going to look like? Whatever it is, we will take it to the grave with us. It is our choice!