School Story
I've lived all over the world, but Paris remains the most wonderful place I've ever lived! I have the greatest memories of my life there. Hemingway nailed it when he described it as a moveable feast.
I enrolled at ASP in the class of 1972, but wanted to graduate earlier. By taking 2 correspondence courses from the University of Nebraska, I was able to graduate a year earlier, and was allowed to participate in the graduating ceremonies of the class of 1971.
My favorite class became Mr. Kingsley's art history class where he talked with animation about the "large marshmallow" women in many of the classical paintings. When I entered his class, I didn't know a Van Gogh from a Monet, but he made art come alive for me. I remember the titles we read in Ida Passamonte's class, Mr. Pollicott's wonderful accent, and Mrs. Pollicott's patience and sweet spirit in teaching us to speak french. I remember Simon O'Hanlon eating Thanksgiving dinner with my family in our tiny apartment in Boulogne, while talking about who might win that year's Heisman trophy.
The bus ride to school was never boring. The only 2 people I remember on my bus are Nadia & Alexa Beiser. I don't remember why, but for some reason, whenever I hear George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord", I flash back to riding the bus to ASP.
My first day at school, Frances Rawlins befriended me and introduced me to many of my classmates as well as showing me around Paris. I made some good friends and enjoyed my year at ASP. Frances and Debbie Nielsen became my best friends, and we kept in touch over all these years. Tragically, Debbie passed away in the early 1990's, but we remained friends until then. I remember eating lunches with Teri Lassetter and Shannon Gillespie. There were lots of conversations with Greg Smith, Mike Avari, Ted Lassetter, Marc Maubry Gross, John & Paul Foecke, Bill Brungart, Nadia Beiser, Marcia Hertz, Eadie Kelly, Brian Goudi, Cherie Smith, Lars Bjork, Jerry Frank, Chuck Cosgrove, Steve Giradi, Bill Malouche, Debbie Sammons...just to name a few. Although I didn't know him as well during the school year, I later became good friends with Lloyd Davis during the summer of 1972 while Lloyd was on summer break from Middlebury College.
One of my favorite memories occurred a couple of months after graduation. I took a trip to Florence, Italy with a family whose children I babysat. While having lunch in cafe, I glanced across the room to see Francis Di Tommaso also having lunch. Although we were never friends at ASP, we recognized each other, and he came over to talk to us. Since he was living in Florence, he offered to show me the city on his motorbike. We drove around Florence and then had a wonderful dinner at the home of his parents or grandparents--I can't recall which family members, but they were absolutely charming to me. We were supposed to do some more touring around the city the next day, but I caught a stomach virus and couldn't leave my hotel room. We left Florence the following day, so I never saw Francis again.
I would love to attend one of the reunions and find out what my old friends have been doing these past years.
