Karl Morthole

A full week later and I am still trying to understand what happened last weekend.  It was very special.  It must have happened to everyone -- I would walk five or ten steps and run into someone I was really glad to see and I wanted to talk to, and I would and genuinely enjoyed it, and I think the other person or persons did, too!  Then, after five to fifteen minutes, we would say, "See you later (which we often did)," and take another five to ten steps and the same thing would happen.  This happened with so many people, some I knew very well in high school, others I knew only fairly well, some I knew only in passing but I knew them, and some I knew then not at all, but have since come to know.  Definitely, reading the website often over the past year really helped.  There was enough free time to rest, to meet up in smaller groups and even visit Mrs. Hovnanian.  Anyway, . . . . what happened last weekend is something I need to think more about.  But one thing I know is how much we owe to Judy and Pat and the entire committee.  Thanks to all of you!  -- Karl

Alison Van Swearingen (Brown)

Karl Morthole is so right in saying that last weekend was very special.  Talking with old friends, acquaintences and others not really known except by sight was a wonderful thing.  We are very fortunate as a class to have a cohesiveness and genuine desire to want to see one another again even if it was the very first time for some.  Fifty years is such a milestone for all of us that it seems almost impossible to grasp.  Fifty years???  What a number!  We are also very fortunate as a class to have people like Judy, Pat & Phil as well as Sue Blumenfeld Zipkoff, Fred Brostoff and all the other commitee members who took on the enormous task and responsibility for such a wonderful, continuous party.  An army of volunteers complimented their efforts.  I would be very happy to be part of that army again.  The website made available to us has been an invaluable tool to reconnect before and after the reunion and will continue to be so for as long as possible, I hope!

Francine Glasberg (Navakas)

Let me add my thanks to the planners and hosts of our reunion.  What a great series of events!  What a group of engaging, accomplished, caring,  service and family-oriented classmates.  Whatever we experienced in those formative years launched us in ways that we could never have imagined.  Glad to re-connect and to have this website--thanks again, Fred!--to continue the conversations!

Fran

Lynn Eitzen (Shaffer)

I agree, Karl articulated it so well!  I've always been an introvert and was a bit terrified of going to the reunion, but what a great weekend!  I'm am so glad I didn't miss it.  I'll add my great thanks to all who worked so hard to make it happen.  You guys are the BEST!

Judith Sheahan (Lindgren)

This weekend is not nearly as memorable as last! It has been wonderful to learn that so many of you experienced the same delight as I when reconnecting with old friends and meeting those we never knew in high school. As others expressed, I deeply appreciate the enormous time and effort that members of the committee put forth to make our reunion very, very special. 

Some memories, long dormant, came flooding back when I saw classmates I had not seen since high school. The same occurred as we toured the building. Seeing the lobby fireplaces and remembering how the staff lit these in the weeks leading up to winter vacation is a good example of the unique traditions we enjoyed. Standing in the large auditorium theater, one could almost hear the music from King and I performed in March of our freshman year, along with YAMO performances and other musicals/concerts over the next four. Walking into Beardsley and singing the fight song made those 50 years almost disappear. Peeking into N112, what had been North Hall homeroom, I remembered the principal announcing Kennedy's assassination as we sat in what we thought was a typical Friday homeroom session, but turned out to be one of those pivotal historical moments.

We were very lucky to attend a school that prepared us in ways we never understood at the time. I also remember the last day of school our senior year when many met in a local park on Church Street so we could walk into the lobby together. Then, with hundreds of us standing under the clock and before the fireplaces outside of Dr. Michael's office, we sang the fight song. Some may also remember that the administration panicked and came out of their offices to holler at us to disperse and go to class. As the first of the baby boomers, we probably did look like a mob and perhaps we were also beginning to sense the power of our generation along with our emerging place in the world.

Other memories shock my 67 year old sensibility and who I am today! One of my favorites is when Sherrie Igoe and I challenged each other as to who could remove a piece of underwear in class undetected! Sherrie denies that ever happened, but it did. (Girls did wear a lot more underwear in those days, so maybe it was not as bad as it sounds!) 

However, my big regret is that I did not take full advantage of all that ETHS had to offer and that includes getting to know more classmates. Reading the many postings on this website is giving us each the opportunity to do that now; so thank you, Fred, for keeping this going.  

Thank you to those who planned our events, to those who took the trouble to come and to the many who continue to post comments. We did have a great time and I hope that we stay connected!

Holly Romans (Green)

All I can say is that it was simply "magic" - so much love, so many open hearts, so much joy!  Older, wiser, grateful seemed part of the potion that created this atmosphere. Judy, Pat, Fred, Phil, Kathy, Janet, Jim, Sue, Preston, Donna, Jerri, Mark, Pauline, Bob, Jack, Phoebe, Steve, and Arlene, you put together an event that will resonate with us for the rest of our lives.  Thank you just doesn't seem enough for all the many memories recalled and created from this gathering.  I loved every minute and loved seeing all of you and wish I had connected with more of you, but I was trying!  Five of us continued this adventure to Montana where we spent four days non-stop talking (I am not exaggerating!) about the wonder of it all and I continue to ponder it.  Congratulations Committee and to the ETHS class of '64 whose warmth and kindness permeated and defined the incredible success of this reunion.  XO Holly

Ruth Gross

First of all, ditto--another big thanks to the amazing committee who put these and past reunion events together, created the website, and made it possible for so many of us to connect, reconnect, and take in memories and also stories that we didn't quite remember but are excavating to find again.  And second, a question--are you all finding that the reunion has invaded your dreams?  Since returning home on Sunday, I haven't been sleeping well because of a lot of undefined dreams that I can't remember in the morning but that I know all center on friends from high school days.  They are both disturbing and stimulating at the same time. The reunion was absolutely fantastic, and I love this website for the way it keeps me connected to the past by establishing our present.  Like, Karl, I am still trying to sort all this out, but I am happy to do so. I do hope we all will have a chance for another reunion  and thank anyone in advance who is willing to take on the challenge of being part of the next reunion committee.

Wendy (Wynn) Garber

I, too, want to add my voice to the stream of tributes and heartfelt thanks to Judy, Phil, Pat, Sue and everyone else on the committee who helped make this reunion happen. I never dreamed that getting together, after 50 years, with my ETHS classmates would be so much fun. This opportunity to renew old connections (that stretch back a lifetime!) and make new connections (with classmates I scarcely knew) has been wonderful. I'm still basking in the memory of sharing this time together. And I have to thank Fred (again) for this amazing website, which has allowed us to connect with each other and grow closer as a class. I never realized before that we had--and have--so much spirit.

Lucille Goulet

I also want to thank everyone who came or did not come, and wrote something about themselves on our reunion site. And I especially appreciate the reunion committee. Like so many others I have lived far away from Evanston for so many years (Boston in '73, and then Maine since '77), and had lost touch with most people. I debated going at all, however something kept nudging me and I just knew I had to go. And I'm so glad I did. It was so great to see my old, good friends(Sue Sands, Donna Salamon, and Dorothy Griffin) and then to talk to so many others. I was surprised that so many people actually remembered me. And, The warmth and caring was palpable in most every meeting. Although I was only there Friday night I just loved it. I wish I could have stayed longer. I'm still processing it, taking it in.

Whew what an experience!  

Lucy Goulet

Paula Massey

I also want to say a huge thank you to all who worked to make the reuinion what it was. I really appreciated all the effort that went into bringing it off. It was good to see so many of us and don't you think we look pretty good for all our years!  Paula Massey

Robert Lindner

Thanks For The Memories

On The Autumnal Equinox 2014

On the Equinox, they say, day and night

Are equal in time, but sun’s morning light

Keeps coming up later so when I rise,

The sun no longer will be in my eyes,

But today I’ll walk east to catch the train,

That takes me south past Central and past Main,

It passes Brummel street, where I lived when,

On a past Equinox, when we were ten,

And I wonder what I was thinking then,

I try to take my mind back there again,

But it’s not that clear in my memory,

So I think perhaps if you could tell me,

What you can remember about then, now,

Perhaps I might remember more somehow

But it all seems so distant, it’s a blur

I wonder what my joys and worries were,

I wonder how much of life I knew then,

That Equinox when I was almost ten,

This Equinox, we’ve met, so I know you

Are thinking of some things, I wish I knew,

About when we were young, and when we’d climb,

On jungle gyms and flirt and pass the time,

There was Oakton School and the Grove Street ‘Y’

Then Nichols School became my Junior High,

But that was later, and later still when

High school came, with an equinox again.

In fall and spring an equinox must come,

And this time the equinox of autumn

Has brought back both memories and regrets,

And thoughts of other lives, that age forgets,

Though they’re not that clear in my memory,

I know you know things that you could tell me,

About what you remember about then,

To help me remember that world again,

That equinox when we were only ten,

I know it seems so long ago, but when

The night and day are paired as we are too,

With memories of distant times when you

And I dreamed of those futures that could be,

But now those dreams and thoughts are memory,

But this fall equinox, after we met,

Made a new memory, I can’t forget.

Robert Lindner September 22, 2014

Robert Lindner

Stephen Smith

Boruch (Robert) Lindner (are you a scribe?)

Me being a Christian and when I first became aware of the Jewish years and dates. So a couple of years ago, I asked a Rabbi , when was year zero, and he didn't seem real positive but suggested it was the year of the beginning of creation. Now there are speculations in Christian circles that between Geneis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 Satan was cast to the earth and that is why God's creation of earth was without form and void and that the following account of creation was actually a "re-creation". That would help line the bible up with so much discussion today , especially amongst geologist about the age of the earth, millions and billions? Your view?

Steve Smith

Robert Lindner

Well Steve -- Since you asked -- Here is my view. In a poem of course.

The Eternity Of Eternities

“The eternity of eternities,”

It’s said and it’s written here and there,

In books of promises meant to please

Those who seek to find a place that’s somewhere

Beyond this universe’s boundaries

Of time and space, this finite universe,

That’s expanding, as stars and galaxies

Fly apart, from some center they disperse,

Some center point of big bang theories,

That cosmologic mathematics shows,

With black holes and their singularities,

Points in a universe, which comes and goes

And billions of years ago, came to be,

Came from a single singularity,

With the big bang, it appeared, suddenly,

And then expanded universally,

As universes do, so this one grew,

Expanding for billions of years before

We came, and millions more before we knew,

What we know of black holes, but there’s still more,

More universal questions to explore,

Not infinite, but certainly immense,

Not eternal, but long enough to bore,

Those who wish for simple words to make sense,

For simple words in books of promises,

In books of promises meant to please,

Those who fear that the universe this is,

Begins and ends without eternities.

Though I know  when the universe begins,

Next week, I'll still have to repent my sins.

Boruch (Robert) Lindner

Stephen Smith

Boruch(Robert)

Thanks for the eloquent response, very interesting. 

Now, Isaiah had a scribe named Baruch, which I think means "book" in German. Any connection with Boruch?...loliJ...steve(Healing Song) smith

Robert Lindner

Steve:

Baruch and Boruch are transliterations of the same hebrew word which means blessed and begins many of the prayers, like: Blessed art thou oh Lord our God, King of the Universe who brought forth bread from the earth.

Boruch was my grandfather's name. It's my Hebrew name which was appropriate for use with the poem for the Jewish new year. I was named Robert because we were emigrating to the US.

Marty Campbell

one classmate here thoroughly enjoying the Healing Song - Blessed Art MessageForum-versation going on here.

Edward Boesel

...and I very much enjoyed getting to know people as they are now, particularly Marty!

Robert Lindner

Now that it's October, the September

Of our meeting's past, but I remember,

When a September of another kind,

Was the September, that would come to mind.

First days of fall

Try to remember the kind of September-When life was slow and oh, so mellow….

Try to remember when life was so tender-That love was an ember about to billow.
Try to remember, and if you remember, Then follow...

Deep in December, it's nice to remember-The fire of September that made us mellow.
Deep in December our hearts should remember, And follow... The Fantasticks-Tom Jones-1960

First days of fall, and leaves begin changing

On tops of maples and some smaller trees,

With many leaves streaked red, arranging

Their fall colors, waving in a light breeze,

Then days will gain more colors, more yellow

And orange-red, until the autumn peaks,

But now fall just begins its yearly show,

That will continue for several weeks,

As sun goes to bed earlier each day,

And wakes up later, as the colors fade,

But for now the colors are in display,

For picturesque autumn scenes to be made,

As time passes through September into

Another October and the leaves fall,

As carpets of yellow and red for you

To walk on memory, as do we all,

And “Try To Remember,” young autumn’s song,

A new September moon waxing mellow,

As we recall fall days that happened long

Ago when I was that “callow fellow,”

And you wore autumn’s garlands in your hair,

The lovely colors that I can’t forget,

The brilliant colors that are always there,

As our September sun begins to set,

And October rises with shorter days,

As September’s beginnings turn away,

And evening shadows cloud the sun’s bright rays,

As past is prologue to an earthly play,

We grew up in, when lives were tender shoots

On still young trees, finding their “Autumn Leaves,”

And learning the taste of summer’s sweet fruits,

As time passed into time, if one believes

In destinies, that will find November,

As October’s come, and September’s past,

Then winter comes and with it December,

And with it the verse that always comes last,

In our lives, as we try to remember,

When life was tender and first days of fall,

And leaves begin changing, it’s September

And we must follow its song after all.

Robert Lindner October 1, 2014

Helga Zirkel (Schwarten)

Robert, I'm enjoying your poem while looking out at the changing colors and falling leaves around me.....and remembering the many Septembers.   You write beautifully. Thanks.

Helga 

Marty Campbell

Edward, thank you.  And that is mutual.  it is amazing what wild blossoms we have each become from out of our h.s. beginnings.  i think our school offered us a whole slate of options/alternatives, and i'm glad we each took em, in our own dear ways.  it has added so much to my world, both directly and indirectly.  being able to share that in person is schere blessing, and at the same time is how it's spose to be i think.  including getting down personal, deeply, and sharing things that mightn't yet get shared on these public and electronic pages.  what a blessing the whole has been to me.  and each squeek along the way.  witness.  we have witnessed so much in our small time.  so much that must, naturally be shared.  

     and here's thanks to all, the organizers and the responders, each excellanté.  hoping for sustained health and energy for a nother round.

Robert Lindner

T'was warm today for October - Hazy Hot and Humid and my mind is elsewhere - so here's somthing I wrote about that --

Procrastinatin’ And Wastin’ Time

Strange days, hazy days, when smog’s settling in

Though a little time is all you can get

It’s time for my vacation to begin

As hot and humid days go by you’ll let

Them pass through time and watch the rising tide

Roll into the shore and roll out again

A waste of time, as if the time inside

These rooms are not, it’s all waiting for when

Now bell rings and we get out every day

Now school’s out for the summer, every year

Now bells ring, and it’s always a holiday

I can watch the tide as boats rise, appear

Above the horizon, then disappear

Below as tides roll out, just keepin’ time

And music of waves whispers in my ear

Just sitin’ on the dock of the bay, I’m

Just wasting time, then I’m wasting some more

But now I’m just looking for distraction

As the sun is rising over the shore

Maybe find some human interaction

Some better way to spend the time I’ve got

Though humans mean insanity, madness

And anger, so maybe I’d better not

A conundrum, though humans are a mess

There’s not much that I can do about it

And I might create a bigger problem

Looking for company, so I’ll just sit

And waste some time and stay away from them

I’ll watch the tides and the boats and the birds

Just wasting time on the dock of the bay

Listening to the music, singing the words,

I'll waste time, waitin’ for another day

When Ill see you again - Robert

Holly Underwood (Bisenius)

Beautiful!  I can relate to this.......................Holly B.

Joan Novinson (Nicholson)

I have been trying to think of the name of that musica based on Voltaire's "plant your own garden," where you remember that September, but where you "plant a carrot, get a carrot, not a brussel sprout," which has been my experience raising children.  But I must admit, IT IS ALL GOOD.  It was a real treat to be with with others, if for only a weekend, who felt the same.  Yeah, ETHS.  Yeah, Fred Bostroff.

Rosanne Bass (Keynan)

Candide! Great book, wonderful musical.