Bonnie Robinson

Never heard of either one of them. Who are they?

Susan Spiegel (Pastin)

I recommend watching the video - they're great.  I find it romantic that they are husband and wife.  Sounds like a great entertainment!  She grew up in Evanston - apparently that's the ETHS angle.  Much younger than we are, though.  :)

Bonnie Robinson

Thanks, Susan.

Lincoln Krochmal

Never heard of them eirher! 
I guess a search of other yearbooks than 1964 might shed light on when she attended ETHS.

Nancy Schroeder

This past weekend my oldest niece , Pam, her son got married to a beautiful  lady named Beth. It was a beautiful gorgeous wedding. This picture has some of our family there to witness this grand occasion. Look forward to seeing everyone at the reunion.

Barry Marshall

A memory that bears sharing:

In 12^thgrade I had Ms. Keuhner for English.   We were reading Great Expectationsby Dickens—well  some of us were reading….I was skipping.   But when she assigned each of us to lead a class discussion on a few chapters, I read the chapters and probably looked at the Cliff’s Notes.  When it came to be my turn, I stepped up to the “lecturn” and peppered the class with a swift stream of questions.  I called on anybody I felt like, and the flow never abated.  I was rather surprised at how fearlessly I launched into the task considering how poorly prepared I really was.  Truth is I was modeling myself  after Ms. Keuhner, who kind of did the same with us….when she asked a question and no hands raised to answer, she pressed herself on anyone in the room….without mercy.  So that’s what I did, and the half a class period passed quickly and my energy was churned up by the whole experience.  After class (I was the last to leave the room that day, having to gather my books and calm myself down) Ms. Keuhner without looking at me, spoke, catching my attention.  “Nice job today, Marshall,” she offered in her off handed  sharp, bright slightly mordant tone.  I listened.  “You ever think about becoming a teacher?”  I might have answered (but certainly thought) “No maam.”  And then she said, “Because you have something that tells me you could be a good teacher.”  And then I left the room posthaste.  But I never forgot that little gem, that seed she planted in my imagination.  And I think her words were there when I decided in my senior year at U of I to take some education courses to avoid the draft, and once I got into the classroom, I, understood what she meant.  I liked the work.   And though I have since travelled lots of different places in my learnings and discoveries, I always found myself connecting to, answering the call of, teaching.   I’m telling you all this story, because I can’t tell Ms. Keuhner how a few moments in her class influenced my life, and because you all are the only other folks who might have had Ms. Keuhner (or someone like her at ETHS) and might understand what I’m talking about.  

Sherwin "Jay" Siegall

Thanks for share Barry. I can relate but not so specifically. ETHS as a whole had a profound effect on who I am and not from effort I put into school. I am Recalling  now with some smiles a few things I do recall being said to me by teachers at ETHS!   Are you going to make the reunion?????

Alice Rosengard

I so appreciate your story, Barry. In a way you learned something ineffable beyond--and perhaps more important than--the immediate task of reading and understanding "Great Expectations." Some might say you had figured out how to game the system. But it seems that you had absorbed from your teacher a type of behavior that would stimulate and challenge the minds of students. Your anecdote is an example of the extra something that many of our teachers at ETHS had to offer: a true interest in, and respect for, their students.

Terry Levine (Rose)

Karen Kuehnerr was our neighbor and friend of our family.  Barry, you can tell her yourself if you are on Linkedin because...she is!

Ruth Gross

Kuehner was one of the best and toughest English teachers at ETHS and I, too, had her as a senior. Back in the day when we could request teachers, my Mom made sure I had Kuehner (my sister had had her 4 years before), because Mom knew I would learn how to think and write well with "Miss" Kuehner as my teacher. I think it worked!

Arlene Avery (Burke)

I too had Ms. Kuehner for English and loved every minute of it. She prepared us well for college.

Kathy Dalgety (Miehls)

Karen Kuehner is/was in an ETHS faculty lunch bunch I'm in. She is in a memory facilty with very advanced dementia, so she's not reachable. I'm sorry to say this because she was one of my favorites, too.

Jeffrey M Liebman

Karen. Keuhner was the first ETHS teacher to make me feel that I had potential as a writer.  I felt fortunate that   I was able to talk with her again at what I think was our 10th reunion.  Sory to learn of her current health status.

Bonnie Robinson

Yes, Ms. Kuehneer was a fantastic English teacher and was so advanced that she allowed me to write a book review of one of James Baldwin's books! She was very inspirational and funnily enough, I became a high school English teacher at Hinsdale Central High School right out of the University of Iowa. However, as way leads on to way (a line from my favorite Robert Frost poem -- The Road Not Taken--) I left after two years and had many other experiences and landed at PLAYBOY Magazine for 7 plus years and eventually became an internationally published journalist and frequent on-camera Entertainment Journalist on many national TV shows.

So sorry to hear about Ms. Kuehnerr's current health status. She was amazingly inspirational and very challenging. I think I learned how to actually "think" from her expert teaching skills.

Robert Lindner

I got formed into my mold by

The teachers at Evamston High

Mostly science Anspaugh, Hall, Larkin

And math Koss, Gerlach, May

And English since that's the current thread

And I recall Marie Clair Davis and Barbara Pannwitt

Who encouraged my poetry and so here's one

^{Songs Of Memory}

^{I try to remember that ancient time}

^{When I was young. But I’d say it’s a blur.}

^{Though some things stand out, usually I’m}

^{Stuck and I’m singing “Try to Remember”}

^{From the “Fantasticks” or “Memory” from}

^{“Cats.”  Neither of which helps to find something}

^{Specific from my past. Since we had come}

^{From Salzburg, where I was born, I will sing}

^{“The hills are alive” now when I think of my}

^{Childhood and remember climbing those hills}

^{With our German shepherd Hari. But I}

^{Remember him and his memory fills}

^{Me with the joys of childhood. But then}

^{We came over to New York on a boat,}

^{Which brings to mind the memory of when}

^{I was seasick and wearing a poor coat}

^{Because we were refugees from a war}

^{And we were lucky to have survived it.}

^{But I knew nothing of what came before.}

^{Just scary stories that no longer fit}

^{The time I was growing up in though they}

^{Opened the door to monsters that frightened}

^{Me. But fortunately they stayed away}

^{While I grew up and became enlightened}

^{In the schools that I’m trying to recall}

^{Because there’s an anniversary and}

^{A time for sharing memories this fall.}

^{I was there and listened to the band}

^{That sometimes played and marched. I’d sing along.}

^{I liked to sing and had a high pitched voice}

^{And I sang “Mother, oh mother,” a song}

^{From “Amahl” till my hormones made their choice}

^{And I became a baritone and went}

^{To high school to sing the school songs “Rise, rise}

^{And the fight song. As for teachers, I spent}

^{The most time in math and science with wise}

^{Guys, who loved their little jokes, which sent me}

^{Off on my career in science and in}

^{Medicine which fill up my memory}

^{With stuff you don’t really want to begin}

^{To think about because if you are not}

^{Sick, it will make you ill. But since English}

^{Teachers began this thread that stirred my pot,}

^{There’s this tale of an old man and a fish}

^{And other great books we read including}

^{Some great poetry which has stuck with me.}

^{In fact, it’s become my game, the rhyming}

^{Thing I like to play with my poetry.}

^{Who were the teachers? I remember two.}

^{Ms. “Marie Clair” Davis and Ms. Pannwitt}

^{Made an impression on me and I knew}

^{That they liked my poetry, such as it}

^{Was, when I was young, experimenting}

^{With many different styles that still fill}

^{My shelves with pages of both non-rhyming}

^{And rhyming poems. But I can and will}

^{“Try to Remember” more teachers and more}

^{Songs for our anniversary and I}

^{Will miss seeing Ms. Morton at the door}

^{She opened before I went to our high}

^{School. But this about four years I spent}

^{Between sixty and sixty-four with all}

^{Of you and our teachers before I went}

^{To college. It’s fifty-five years this fall}

^{But I can still recall some of our high}

^{School days and many teachers who were there}

^{Like Don Koss, who I met long after I}

^{Had finished with college. He was somewhere}

^{I did not expect as the timpanist}

^{For the Chicago Symphony when my}

^{Wife played with them. She’s a violinist}

^{That I met up in “Rocky Mountain High.”}

^{Another song of memory that goes}

^{Into my poetry that tends to roam}

^{Waiting for an ending like Cyrano’s}

^{Poem “As I end the refrain – thrust home.”}

Wendy (Wynn) Garber

Barry, thank you for sharing your remembrance of Ms. Kuehner. Your story captured her so well that I was instantly transported back into her classroom. I also had her for Senior year English, and like you, she had a lasting effect on me, too. Her writing assignments inspired me to dig a little deeper (go the extra mile) and write more skillfully than I might otherwise have done. She was an important influence in my decision to choose English as a major my freshman year in college.  After high school, we kept in touch by mail. I remember the extra energy I poured into those letters, enabling me to step back and observe my life with a certain degree of humor and poignancy. Without realizing it, she had turned me into an essayist, and eventually, a poet. 

It seems she inspired many of us! I am so sorry to hear of her health condition. Of all the classes I took at ETHS, without a doubt, hers was the most memorable.

Robert Lindner

I'm sorry I did not know Mrs K, so I can't comment aabout her.

But I accidentally ran into Don Koss at Plaza del Lago today and told him

I wrote a poem that included him as a teacher that inspired me.

He was trying to remember the others who were in the geometry class

We took in 1962 and remembered Rich Segal, who went to the

University of Michigan when I did. Don told me one of his kids

also went to the U of M and was living in Ann Arbor. I mentioned the reunion

but he told me he was going to Maine then to visit another one of his children.

It was a coinsidence that made more memories for me to put in my poetry.

Marty Campbell

is it possible Don Koss was also the teacher of our pivotal-to-me Algebra 2 - Trigonometry Honors class our junior year 62-63?  i have forever since regretted that i could not thank him properly for all i received from him in pedagogy and in rational non-memorizing knowing of math — giving me total recall in the only subject i have it in (even though i consider my self a poet).  and is this the same him?  https://www.stokowski.org/Chicago_Symphony_Musicians_List.htm 

my ole fuzzy memory remembers the name more like Ted Kauss, but it is so close.  can somebody set me straight?  and if there is a way to get ahold of our Algebra 2 - Trigonometry Honors teacher, and he still lives, please please please let me know how. 

i could name a few others in the class, if i thought deep a few weeks, but for now Rick Caldwell and John Ver Steg stand out (possibly wrongly).  almost everybody in the class but me was locked into the fast-track science-math track from our freshman year through all CL classes our senior year in both Science and math (Calculus with Mr. May?).  our teacher was also involved in development & writing problems for the national testing agencies like for SATs, etc..  hmmm.

big school.  lotta teachers.  probly every one of em great.  mine sure were.  i felt like a fish in the ocean.  a lucky fish, lucky ocean.  still there in both of em in a way. 

but that math teacher was thuh king of my education.  k through grad schools.  bless him.  n all us classmates too who made thuh school what it was.

please send me the link or show me that pome with Don Koss in it, Robert. — Oh, dummy, i see thuh pome rite there two rows up!  Thanks for honoring both.  math in poetry.

Rosanne Bass (Keynan)

I had forgotten his name until I saw Marty's post -- but, yes, Mr. Koss taught algebra and was a percussionist with the Chicago Symphony -- an accomplishment I have a far greater appreciation of now than I did then. I remember his 'flattop' haircut. He looks quite different in the thumbnail in the symphony roster.

Lincoln Krochmal

Marty,I did not know this teacher. Does anyone recall William Garnett, Spanish teacher?  I had Senor Garnett foe 4 years of Spanish and I never thanked him for  helping me with this language which has been immensely helpful yo me first on s honeymoon to Mexico and theon business to Spain, Pananama and Dominican Republic and Cost Rica. Finally living now in California where Spanish is almost the first language in the state and I use it everyday. Does anyone know where Garnett is these days if he is still with us? Thanks. Sorry to miss the reunion but my travel is very limited due to a stroke I suffered in 2010. Doing well but long plane rides very difficult for me. Wish I could be there in September, enjoy!

Kristine Masko (Fuller)

I had Mr. Garnett for spanish and he was a great teacher.  Hard to know if he is still around since I am in my 70"s and he would be in his ?'s.  But how fun to have past teachers brought back to mind.  Not sure I was his star pupil as my Spanish is still more rudimentry than useful.

William Wanlund

Back to Karen Kuehner for a bit -- I'd like to join the chorus of praise for her.  She was a truly gifted teacher.  Linc, sorry to hear about your stroke but glad you're doing well.  As for air travel -- you're not missing much these days. 

Rosanne Bass (Keynan)

Until today, I had skipped opening several ETHS posts. Quick thoughts while having my morning coffee:

Barry Marshall -- I'm surprised that you never spoke (to me) about Mrs. Kuehner. I thought that we had talked about everything. For me, Barbara Panwitt was the sine qua non of English teachers and opened the world of literature and literary exegesis in a way that steered the course of my life. But apparently Mrs. K was also a phenomenon -- I wish I had studied under both of them!

Robert Lindner -- Your wife is a violinist--how wonderful! I consider myself so lucky that one of my circles of close friends is musician- and composer-heavy, and I have been so enriched by that good fortune, being the culture vulture that I am. That circle has dispersed somewhat these days, but I still benefit. And then there's the matter of my daughter having majored in classical voice and opera at the Thornton School of USC. We both became lovers of opera and choral music. (She pivoted toward songwriting and popular music, moving to Nashville seven years ago. Along the line, her passion became writing and performing original Jewish music. (For details and her latest album, see ellieflier.com)

For some reason, Google thinks I run an eponymous editing service that employs court reporters. Never did. True, I was an editor (and writer) at the Los Angeles Times (during its 'golden years' as a world class paper). Mostly I solicited writers on political, economic and social issues for the op-ed and Opinion section and worked closely with them. We used to do detailed editing a la New Yorker magazine's, which is legendary -- sometimes rewriting the essays wholesale but delicately, enabling the writers to express themselves better than they themselves could. During the times I sat with the editorial board, I met the leading newsmakers and opinion makers of the day -- and, this being L.A., celebrities. I especially treasure the friendship I had with Itzhak Rabin, which began after an editorial board meeting. As we were standing at the elevator, I spoke to him in my then accent-free Hebrew -- and, boom, scored an interview. In those days, he promoted an "iron fist" and "break their bones" policy, only later advocating a two-state solution. As an editor, I published the first dissenting pieces by Israelis and American Jews about the issue of the occupation. That broke a US-wide media tabu, and the NY Times and other outlets began airing a variety of opinions. Later, I cofounded with Casey Kasem and others the first Arab-Jewish dialogue group in Los Angeles.

 I left the paper and became a partner in Keynan-Goff Associates, a short-lived literary agency, where I briefly represented Shimon Peres among my otherwise American authors and screenwriters.

The famous longtime mayor of Jerusaelm, Teddy Kollek, hired me to be the first director of the West Coast office of his Jerusalem Foundation. (More celebrities and big donors.) At the NY fundraiser for Teddy's 75th (?) birthday, I was seated at the "young people's" table, with Paul Simon and Annie Leibovitz. Fun. But for me, the highlight was meeting one of my idols, Teddy's friend Dizzy Gillespie, whose band played the event. (I was stunned that no one paid particular attention and treated it as background music.)

I became the first director of the West Coast office of the organization now known as the Americans for Peace Now, the U.S. supporters of Shalom Achschav in Israel, the peace movement founded by combat soldiers and elite officers of the Israel Defence Forces. How bright the prospects seemed for peace in those days, and how dim now.

Skipping backward in time, I lived in Israel for three years, from 1969-72. I was not politicized at that time, just a participant-observer of Israeli life. It was a developing country then -- I washed my laundry in the bathtub; very few people owned fancy appliances or cars; one had to wait on a list years--literally--to get a phone line. The first town I lived in, Arad, was in the Negev not far from the Dead Sea. The day after I arrived was the moon shot. I dashed to the display window of a store that sold televisions (another amenity that very few people owned) . . . and was flabbergasted and puzzled to see that the landing was not broadcast. How could that be, I thought. What kind of country could be so ignorant and backward? It turned out that Israel didn't have the technology or the budget to broadcast it live, so the whole country saw it the next day. It's hard to imagine that the "startup nation," as it's known today, was only 20 years old. Arad was a tiny town. The grocery store consisted of a few makeshift shelves in a small apartment in a prefab building. In those days a person could address a letter, as I later did, simply to Moshe Cohen, Arad, and it would be delivered. It was a completely planned town, with pedestrian areas and controlled vegetation for asthma sufferers. In fact, the noted writer, novelist and intellectual Amos built a house there because of allergies. I was at an "ulpan" for college grads to study Hebrew and Israeli history and culture. My fellow students were from all over the world. Not counting the students, some 63 languages were spoken in the tiny town; Israel is, after all, a country of refugees and immigrants. Despite the fact that we were all there to learn Hebrew, our lingua franca for social life became English.  Every once in a while, I would recruit a small group to take a walk into the desert. The prefab developments ended abruptly and the emptiness began. Walking in any direction for a short time, we woud encounter bedouin herders. In those days the bedouins were still nomadic; it didn't occur to me that their centuries old custom way of life would be forced to end. Like all Arabs, bedouins are known for their hospitality and so we would be invited to take tea in one of the tents with the men. To refuse was considered rude. Once the patriarch had introduced us to his wife, who prepared and brought the tea, she retreated to the women's tent.

After completing the institute, I lived in the Tel Aviv area, working at a crazyquilt of jobs. Does anyone remember Miss Grant, the redhaired and terrifyingly strict typing teacher? (She was extremely strict and referred to us pupils as "jackrabbits.") I owe her an enormous debt of gratitude, because she frightened me into becoming a 90 words/minute typist. Armed with superior typing skills and having become bilingual, I had no trouble finding jobs. I worked as a telex operator at the Israeli Government Press Office during the War of Attrition, served as assistant and co-screenwriter with the foremost movie director-producer in the country, secretary to the head of a textile company, etc. I also taught English classes at Tel-Aviv University, the army and a private school. At times I had to hold down 3 jobs at a time to make ends meet. (I enrolled in grad school to study linguistics but couldn't get from place to place efficiently enough without a car and eventually withdrew.) The bus situation was untenable. Hurrying to get from one job to another was difficult. Besides that, Israelis didn't use deodorant in those days and hung onto the high railings in the heat and humidity. A car was financially completely out of reach but I began shopping for a used motorcycle. That's how I met my first husband, but that's another story for another time. Suffice it to say that I remained a close friend of his and his extended family. We frequently have Shabbat and holiday meals together -- last Friday we dined al fresco in my courtyard. I was the only woman (we called ourselves girls in those days) in Israel who rode an actual motorcycle. Some rode little mopeds, the occasional vespa, or sat in their male partners' sidecars. I was actually on the TV news because I was such a novelty. And policemen would pull me over without really having a reason, just to look. Pretty funny.

Leapfrogging even further backward in time, college was another crazy quilt. I did freshman year at Grinnell, then transferred to Barnard (Columbia) and graduated from Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, though I wasn't there particularly longer than anywhere else. In between, I attended summer school at Northwestern, Roosevelt and another local school whose name I can't remember. Why? Because I had mono one semester and thought it would be a major life tragedy not to graduate in four years. (What was I thinking?) Actually, I stayed on a bit in Champaign because I had a teaching assistantship that paid amazingly well and I wasn't yet ready to say goodbye to my then boyfriend, a swashbuckling English grad student who taught me to ride a motorcycle.

Omigosh, there's lots more, but I've waxed nostalgic for too long today. One of my regrets is that, though I always loved receiving letters, I wasn't good at writing them. What with no email, no cell phones and the expensive, crackly long distance connections of days past, I haven't kept up with lots of people from many chapters of my life. Including high school friends. I won't be at the reunion, but I welcome word from you, and visits when you're in Southern California. My personal email is rosanne18@aol.com  I'm abysmally poor at navigating this ETHS site!

Sherwin "Jay" Siegall

Wow! Thanks for the update!!! Tho we have remained in touch over the years I sure missed a lot of your story. You always were my friend who I knew was special and your just revealed story proves that.  So sorry you aren’t making the reunion.  Been too long since I’ve seen you!!  I’ll call soon. And love following Elizabeth  accomplishments on FB. 

Rosanne Bass (Keynan)

Sherwin/Jay -- LOL, that's not the half of it. But then, at our venerable age, all of us have long and varied stories!