The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 243

East Williston School District Admin. (back when); Rick Simon and 9/11; Tom Cautela; Matt Haig; Michael and Patti Garin; Mitch Stephens; Wayne and Russ Simon; Rod Stewart; Lionel Richie; and a Beatle

Welcome to the Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 243

Administration

Sitting - L-R - Joan Wathey (Walter’s wife); Walter Wesley (“Wes”) Wathey; ???; ???

Standing - Dr. James Erviti; James’s Wife(?); Sylvia Stern Harman; Sidney Harman; Wife of Colin Bentley(?); Colin Bentley

Looks like some Board of Education meeting in the late 1950s or the 1960s. Walter Wathey was Wheatley’s Principal 1961-1979. In 1967 (at least) James Erviti was the District Superintendent; Sidney Harman was President of the Board of Education (and did a few other things in his life); Colin Bentley was Wheatley’s Assistant Principal.

Walter Wathey at the Microphone

Rick Simon - Principal 1995-2008 - “I was downtown Thanksgiving weekend with my camera taking some photographs, and I was drawn to the 9/11 Memorial. I sought out the names of the two Wheatley grads who we lost that day: Thomas Kuveikis, Class of 1971, a firefighter; and Glenn Kirwin, Class of 1978, a vice-president at Cantor Fitzgerald. May their memories be a blessing.”

Faculty

Thomas (“Tom”) Cautela - Deceased (in 2021) - “Thomas J. Cautela, age 90, of Levittown, NY, passed away on November 18, 2021 at Good Shepherd hospice at Mercy Hospital. Born in Brooklyn, our dad was a husband, father, teacher, woodworker, gardener, and winemaker. He was a loving husband to our mother, Joan, for 63 years and father to Joe (Debra), Liz, Vicki (Kevin) and Tony (Debbie). Tom was a ‘big brother’ to nephews Vincent Mercuri and Tom Rubino growing up in a tight Italian family in the Bronx. Tom leaves behind six grandchildren, along with nieces and nephews. Tom served in the army in South Korea and Japan at the end of the Korean war. Additionally, he taught metal shop, woodshop, auto shop, and drafting, and retired as Assistant Principal at The Wheatley School in East Williston, coaching baseball earlier in his career and initiating a school farm. He was an avid baseball fan and followed the New York Yankees his entire life. After honeymooning at Stinson Lake, NH, he and the family vacationed there for many years while visiting the Lawson family (Bill Lawson introduced Tom and Joan), the Bears family, and others that he met over the years. He touched many lives, earned the respect of many, loved strongly, and was loved. If you were a friend of Tom’s, he was your friend forever. He loved socializing; discussing politics, whether he agreed with you or not; and keeping up on current events. He had a good long life and will be missed. Interment at St. Charles Cemetery, Farmingdale.”

Matthew Haig - Found on Facebook (with his daughters)

L-R - Curly, Curly, Matt, Curly

Graduates

1964 and 1968 - Michael and Patti Garin

L-R - Patti and Michael, with the iconic art-deco Chrysler Building in the background

1967 - Mitchell Stephens - Mitch dug out the pajama shirt he wore (complete with elbow hole) on his blind date--54 years ago--with the woman who became and remains his wife. (It must have been that anti-materialist allure!)

1971 - Wayne Simon - Deceased (in June, 2023)

1973 - Russ Simon - Fun in Los Angeles - “I have been in Los Angeles since graduating from SUNY Oneonta. For 45 years I have worked in the television industry on countless shows. My last 27 years were at Entertainment Tonight for CBS. I recently retired, and my wife and I moved to Palm Desert, just past Palm Springs CA. I have always loved photography, and I took many photos for the Wheatley yearbooks back then. It’s sad that we are now losing people of our generation.”

L-R - Rod Stewart and Russ Simon

L-R - Russ Simon and Lionel Richie

L-R - Russ Simon and a famous English drummer

Russ Simon

Ditto

From the Archives - Several ‘50s-’60s Classes in 2016 - Two MIA’s; One Ambiguity

L-R - Floor - Marcia Friedman Mayer (1963), Leslie Schiller Fisher (1963), Marianne Lamitola Downey (1963), Nancy Kurshan (1961), Jeanne Messing (1961), Deborah Crane (formerly “Krane”) (1963), Kathy Chaikin (1963), Leonard (“Lenny”) Symons (1961)

Chairs - Linda Erdmann Brody (1963), Susan Gross (1963), Maida Holzman (1963), Arthur Brody (1962), ???, Nan Bauer-Maglin (1959), Carol Jalonack Blum (1961), Janet Cohen Eder (1960), Ellen Litwin Fingerman (1963)

Standing - Donna Kenton (1963), Robert Freiman (1962), Mike Jablon (1961), Bettina (guest of David Friedman), Jerry Mintz (1961), David Friedman (1962), Tim Jerome (1961), Joe Iannotti (1962), John Kapinos (1962), ???, Matthew Sanzone (1959), Margaret Russek (1962), Michael Carillo (1961), Lauren Jacobs (1963), Debby Kerstein Brosowsky (1961), Liz Stone (1963), Merry Orling (1961), Gary Krakauer (1963) or Richard “Dickie” Safft (1961), John Rigrod (1961)

From the Archives - Class of 1966 in 2016- Missing Only Two

L-R - Sitting - Gretchen Gersh, Adrienne Lagin, Deborah Davis, Marta Pesa, Leslie Goldstein Ossim, Karen Wattel Arenson, Jane Rosengarten, Dan Willard, Peter Siegel

Standing - ???, Robert Stange, Marc Swickle, Ricky Jalonack, Jeff Knetzer, Harold Whack, Linda Rignel, Jay Keillor, Alison Kent Bermant, Frank Lamitola, Andrea Ibanez, Robert Sarnoff, Susan Berger Jones, Kathy Walsh, Glen Greenbaum, Preston Winters, ???

From the Archives - Class of 1970 in 2016- Help Still Needed

L-R - Floor - Joanne Horowitz, Dana Seman, Susan Weiss, Stacey Moritz, Andrea Chock Carlin

Chairs - Doug Terris, Kenny Ruby, John R. Weiss, Jane Madison, Mindy Spier Cohen, Vicki Unger, Amy Jacoby Budish, Ellen David Friedman

Standing - Bob Bush, Jimmy Nordlinger, Walter McKenna, ???, Drew Tressler, Ken Levien, Karen Hurvitz, ???, Robert Abramowitz, Laverne Manning, Jane Roeder, ???, ???, ???, Nancy Reuben, George Nierenberg

Fan Mail - General

Administration (Rick Simon, Principal 1995-2008) - “Thanks for the amazing work you do for Wheatley graduates and faculty.”

1964 (Jerome Brownstein) - ❤️

1964 (Richard Ilsley) - ❤️

1966 (Claude Levy) - ❤️

1967 (Jill Simon Forte) - “Seeing another Newsletter in my E-mail inbox always makes me smile 🥰.”

1972 (Jeffrey Kargman) - ❤️

Teresa Kirsch (Widow of Jeffrey Kirsch, 1973) - “Art, I’m so glad that I subscribe to the Wheatley School Alumni Newsletter. Even as an outsider, I enjoy reading it!”

1973 (Russ Simon) - “I always enjoy reading The Wheatley School updates and news that you put together. Thank you for all your dedication and hard work.”

1977 (Peter Fitzpatrick) - ❤️

1987 (Sarah Steinbaum) - “I enjoy reading the Wheatley Alumni Newsletter that you so dedicatedly prepare and distribute. While I don’t know many of the folks that graduated in your era, reading about all of the accomplishments of our Wheatley schoolmates makes me smile. The group is impressive.”

Fan Mail - Thanksgiving Wishes

1961 (Theresa Frisina Levine) - ❤️

1961 (Leonard Symons) - ❤️

1963 (Donna Harmelin Rivkin) - “Dear Art, I hope you had a happy & wonderful Thanksgiving With your family!! 🦃🍁🧡”

1963 (Donna Kenton) - “Nice. Happy Thanksgiving!”

1964 (JoAnn Pedone Kiernan) - ❤️

1964 (Ellen Solow Holzman) - “Happy Thanksgiving to you and your clan! Nice to see the younger generation as well. Great kids!”

1964 (Davida Tunis Philips) - “Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving!”

1967 (Jill Simon Forte) - “Happy Thanksgiving to the ones that I remember from Wheatley and, also, to the ones that remember me 😉😁💙☮️.” ❤️

1968 (Patricia Garin Abelson) - ❤️

1969 (Cliff Deaner) - ❤️

1969 (John Savoy) - ❤️

1970 (Paul Stanton) - ❤️

1972 (Jeffrey Kargman) - ❤️

1972 (Ilene Kent) - ❤️

1973 (Daniel Engoron) - ❤️

1973 (Denise Paine) - “Happy Thanksgiving to all.”

1974 (Gregory Cave) - “Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours as well❤️❤️❤️.”

1974 (Bill Meyn) - “I am thankful for feeling connected to my past through your Alumni Newsletters.”

1975 (Laurie Asher) - “Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow alumni!!!”

“AJB” - ❤️

“Victoria” - ❤️

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 242 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 style 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 # 243. Please send me your autobiography before someone else sends me your obituary.

Art

Arthur Fredericks Engoron, Class of 1967

ARTENGORON@GMAIL.COM

WWW.WHEATLEYALUMNI.ORG

646-872-4833