The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 235
North Side; Mr. Wathey; Graduates; an Elephant, Golfers; and Reunion Photos;
Welcome to The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 235,
East Williston Union Free School District
For what it’s worth, here is this year’s U.S. News list of the top 25 elementary schools in New York State. Northside is #17
P.S. 77 Lower Lab School (1700 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10128)
New Explorations Into Sciencetech and Math High School (111 Columbia St, New York, NY 10002)
P.S. 196 Grand Central Parkway (71-25 113Th St, Forest Hills, NY 11375)
30th Avenue School (28-37 29th St, Astoria, NY 11102)
The Anderson School (100 W 77Th St, New York, NY 10024)
Ps 172 Beacon School of Excellence (825 4Th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11232)
Success Academy Charter School-Bushwick (139 Menahan St, Brooklyn, NY 11221)
The Academy for Excellence Through the Arts (68-60 110Th St, Forest Hills, NY 11375)
Tag Young Scholars (240 E 109Th St, New York, NY 10029)
Success Academy Charter School - Bensonhurst (99 Ave P-4Th Fl, Brooklyn, NY 11204)
South Bronx Classical Charter School III (3458 Third Ave, Bronx, NY 10456)
Lakeville Elementary School (47-27 Jayson Ave, Great Neck, NY 11020)
South Bronx Classical Charter School IV (757 Concourse Village West, Bronx, NY 10451)
P.S. 5 Huguenot (348 Deisius St, Staten Island, NY 10312)
Naples Street Elementary School (1055 Targee St, Staten Island, NY 10304)
Success Academy Charter School-Hell’s Kitchen (439 W 49Th St-2Nd Fl, New York, NY 10019)
North Side School (110 E Williston Ave, East Williston, NY 11596)
P.S. 6 Lillie D Blake (45 E 81St St, New York, NY 10028)
George A Jackson School (58 Maytime Dr, Jericho, NY 11753)
South Bronx Classical Charter School (977 Fox St, Bronx, NY 10459)
Jeffrey Ratner-Robert Seaman Elementary School (137 Leahy St, Jericho, NY 11753) tied with
West Side School (1597 Laurel Hollow Rd, Syosset, NY 11791)
P.S. 94 David D Porter (41-77 Little Neck Pkwy, Little Neck, NY 11363)
P.S. 188 Kingsbury (218-12 Hartland Ave, Flushing, NY 11364)
Brooklyn School of Inquiry (50 Ave P, Brooklyn, NY 11204)
The report includes about 47,000 public elementary schools ranked at the state and district levels based on publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Education.
Administration
Walter Wesley “Wes” Wathey, Wheatley Principal 1961-1979, in the hallowed halls of Wheatley.
Graduates
1967 - Linda Caterino - “I saw Billy Joel in the Village as an opening act for Kinky Friedman in the 70’s. Billy was booed off the stage after singing Piano Man. (I didn’t boo.) Right after that, my brother, Anthony Caterino (1960) (who was the head attorney for the record division of CBS, where he negotiated contracts for Barbra Streisand, Janis Ian, Minnie Riperton and others), informed me that he had negotiated Billy’s contract for CBS. I told him I had misgivings, but Billy’s talents prevailed. I’ve seen him in concert since and loved him, especially when he toured with Elton John. The miniseries about Billy is very interesting.”
1967 - Art Engoron - At Lawyer Event - October 30, 2025
1968 - Stephen A. Orlins|欧伦斯 “Greetings from Beijing, where I am catching up on my Wheatley reading. The October 15, 2016 photo of the Class of 1968 is lovely. Unfortunately, I am not in it. Best to all, Steve Orlins”
President会长
National Committee on U.S.-China Relations
美中关系全国委员会
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
212.645.3537 direct | 212.645.9677 main
sorlins@ncuscr.org |www.ncuscr.org
1968 - Just for fun:
L-R - Eric Reuben and Andy Forstenzer (both 1968). That might be Norman Resnicow (1965) in the far background between them.
1969 - Roger Gimbel:
1973 - Gail Gimbel - Engage360 - Orlando
Gail Gimbel, Executive Director of Gimbel & Associates successfully hosted the first-ever Engage360 Print Industry Inaugural Event. The event brought together key industry leaders. Pictured with Gail is Randy Bradley, Financial Services Industry Executive Sponsor at Amazon, who emphasized Amazon’s philosophy to “start with the customer and work backwards.”
1972 - Howard Davidson - At a tourist stop on a mountain in norther Thailand
1984 + 1985 - James Shifren, James Rothstein, Mike Masters, and Peter Schnur
L-R - James Shifren (‘84), Mike Masters (‘85), James Rothstein (‘84), Peter Schnur (‘85)
James Rothstein (1984) Writes - “The above crew were on Wheatley’s New York State Soccer Championship Team in 1983. Recently we had a terrific mini-reunion as Shifren’s guests at the Scarsdale Country Club. Great to see my teammates. Although we were part of an amazing soccer team - the golf was questionable, and the course record at Scarsdale CC is definitely still intact🤣
After Wheatley, Mike went on to be an All-American in soccer at Williams and played basketball as well. He had a professional career in Europe and the US and was the first American to score a goal in Wembley Stadium.
Peter and his brother Frank Schnur (1984) had successful collegiate soccer careers at Columbia.
I look forward to a full reunion to come - the entire team is a tremendous group of people. I was fortunate enough to be part of a great achievement that has stayed with me my entire life. I had great experiences at, and I have great memories of, Wheatley.”
Class of ‘68 In 2016 - Correction
L-R - Bottom Row - Susan Goldfeder, Eva Resnicow, Joan Edelstein, Janice Buckner, Jill Silvering
Middle Row - Ilene “Cookie” Levine, Joan Filler-Varty, Arlene Rappaport, Kathy Kram, Ricki Spier, Lois Hegyi, Patricia Garin, Linda Kapinos, Lisa Mintz
Top Row - Howard Suss, Steven Skolnik, David Hechler, Tom Glaser, Jackie Walsh, Gary Matthesen, Laurence “Laurie” Schiller, Gary Kenton, John Mok, Andrew Forstenzer, Eric Reuben
Correction: “Steve Orlins(?)” is actually Gary Matthesen (top row, 6th from right and 6th from left)
From the Archives - Class of ‘65 In 2016
L-R - Sitting - ???, ???, ???, Ellen “Ellie” Senft Kochek, Jane Goldenberg Fire
Standing - ??? Gibb “Saleem Pernath” Geery, ???, ???, Neil Firetog, ???, Norman Resnicow, ???, ???, Ken Katz(?)
From the Archives - Class of ‘72 in 2016
Front Row - Elizabeth Diamond, ???, ???, Arlene “Ally” Acker, Jean Walsh, Richard Frishman, Bonnie Greenberg; ???, Ellen Kandell
Middle Row - ???, ???, ???, ???, Jill Gaines, Maris Dobrow, Seth Katz, Ilene Kent, James Vincze, Richard Weissman, Phil Wild, ???, Steven Krakauer(?)
From the Archives - Class of 1977 in 2016
Fan Mail
1967 (Linda Caterino) - “Keep up the good work, Mr. Wheatley.”
1967 (Jill Simon Forte) - “Love it 😍 😁💙☮️”
1969 (Maddy Nathanson) - ❤️
Non-Wheatley (Anonymous) - “I am a fan of the ‘Real Estate’ section! The Newsletter grows in practical utility every day!”
Real Estate Section
EAST WILLISTON HOUSE FOR SALE - OPEN HOUSE TODAY, SUNDAY, 10/26/25
Ryuko Ueno (mother of Takemi ‘83 and Kohta ‘88) Ueno, is selling the family home at 58 Meritoria Drive in East Williston. If you know anyone who is interested in buying (you know what a great school district East Williston is), the brokers are David Hyland and Kazuko Santinelli of Howard Hanna Coach. Mr. Hyland’s cell is 631-946-0711, and his email is david@thehylandsantinelliteam.com. Mrs. Santinelli’s cell is 516-361-2664, and her email is kaz@thehylandsantinelliteam.com. The office phone for both is 631-427-9100. If your native language is Japanese, you should call Mrs. Santinelli; if it is English, you should call Mr. Hyland.
MANHASSET APARTMENT FOR RENT
Living room, two bedrooms, one full bath, kitchen - On Plandome Road - Available approximately 12/15/2025 - Rent $2,500 monthly. Contact Art Engoron, 646-872-4833.
The Official Notices
All underlined text is a link-to-a-link or a link-to-an-email-address. Clicking anywhere on underlined text, and then clicking on the text that pops up, will get you to your on-line destination or will address an email.
The Usual Words of Wisdom
Thanks to our fabulous Webmaster, Keith Aufhauser (Class of 1963), you can regale yourself with the first 234 or so Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletters (and much other Wheatley data and arcana) at
The Wheatley School Alumni Association Website
Also thanks to Keith is our search engine, prominently displayed on our home page: type in a word or phrase and, wow!, you’ll find every place it exists in all previous Newsletters and other on-site material.
I edit all submissions, even material in quotes, for clarity and concision, without any indication thereof. I cannot and do not vouch for the accuracy of what people tell me, as TWSAA does not have a New Yorker type fact-checking department.
We welcome any and all text and photos relevant to The Wheatley School, 11 Bacon Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568, and the people who administered, taught, worked, and/or studied there. Art Engoron, Class of 1967
Closing
That’s it for The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 235. Please send me your autobiography before someone else sends me your obituary.
Art
Arthur Fredericks Engoron, Class of 1967
646-872-4833
Who did Mike Masters play for professionally in Europe? What was the match (date and teams) where he became the first American goal scorer at Wembley?
Class of 1965, 2016 photo. I can tell you for sure that’s seated is Louise Kampa Triano, Donna Heygi Gillman and Sally Jablon. Ken Katz is correct(last at far right)