The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 239
Generational Divide; Mr. Wathey; Motorcycles; Shower Curtains; Deceased 1968 Classmate; Many More Archive Identifications.
Welcome to The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 239.
Generational Divide?
Jared Goldstein (1985) Writes - “Were members of classes from the early 1970s so radicalized by the war in Vietnam that they had Yearbook quotes like:
‘I would rather be a chunk of concrete than a rifle used in war.’?
When I was in art class in the early 1980s, I saw tiles on the studio walls that were hippy. Also, there was psychedelic art in the cafeteria*.
I’m not sure if I heard the quote from a beloved art teacher who would know, or if I imagined it.
‘Mr. Glennon, the Principal of the 1980s, in both senses of the word, had that mural painted over. He described it as Freudian.’
He also brought back school dances, which stopped in the late 1960s or during the 1970s because they were too 1950s.
Me and my friends were doing The Gator, Slam Dancing, and The Pogo to New Wave hits like the B-52s’ Rock Lobster.
Best regards,
Jared Goldstein 1985”
Administration
The Legendary Walter Wesley (“Wes”) Wathey, Principal
Janet Gohlke Dyer (1962) Writes - “I am glad that someone finally mentioned that Mr. Wathey was a gym teacher at North Side. I was beginning to think that I imagined that I had him as a gym teacher. I was so glad when he was Principal at Wheatley. Great guy.”
Graduates
1967 - Bruce Orosz - “Hey Art ! After reading about Howard Kirchick’s (1967) motorcycling near-disaster moment, I decided to send you mine!
Flashing back to summer 1968, a friend and I each bought a 250 BSA motorcycle in London, and we drove them across Europe and landed on the Greek island of Mykonos! It was a life changing experience in many positive ways!
On the way there, I wiped out on the Autobahn when my engine seized up and the rear wheel locked up just outside of Frankfurt. Luckily, rain had just fallen, so although I skidded on my arms and saw sparks coming off the zippers on my sleeve, I suffered no injuries; I was just a bit rattled . It could have been a total disaster, but both my bike and I survived, and we continued the journey for months …..
‘Stayin alive’ 58 years later ……
Cheers”
1967 - Daniel Silver - Banner Day Backstory - As I recall, our winning banner was painted on an old shower curtain liner that during our pre-suburbia days had hung in the bathroom of my family’s old Manhattan apartment (just a few blocks from the Polo Grounds: & despite its proximity to the Say Hey Kid, in those days not at all an upscale address), where the old-style tub had a wrap-around curtain rod that required an extra-wide curtain & liner, more or less like this:
So the shower curtain & liner were each probably about 72” x 144” — which strikes me now as just about the measurements of the banner the three of us struggled to keep unfurled — you & Mitch Stephens (1967) at each end, respectively, and I in the middle, using all of my nearly 6 feet of body to keep my forehead just barely above the banner’s top edge — as we paraded around the Shea Stadium field that day.
Once my family had moved to Roslyn, William Levitt’s modern bathrooms did not require the old-fashioned, wrap-around curtain & liner; nonetheless, my Mom had stored it away out of her concern that our family’s financial situation was so tenuous that one day we might be forced to decamp back to the Polo Grounds neighborhood, & so need it again.
In later years, she used to tell us that when we first moved out to “The Country Club,” the family (3 young kids) survived on canned tuna fish & noodles most days (filling, good protein source, years before the mercury scares), & she was so afraid that the stores would come repossess the furniture that she refused to remove the plastic coverings, much less sit on it.
She tended to hang onto to anything that she feared she might need again sometime in the future.
(And mirabile dictu, 10 years later, in August 1964, the need her premonition had foreseen in fact did arise, though not at all as she had feared.)
–dhs”
1968 - Sally Felton - Deceased - Email received 11/15/2025
“First, I am not an alumnus of the Wheatley School; rather, I am the dreaded ‘someone else’ referred to in the final sentences of your latest Alumni Newsletter (# 238), sending an obituary instead of an autobiography.
Sadly, Sally Felton, a member of the 1968 Wheatley Class, passed away in Costa Rica on 24 July 2018. A mutual acquaintance, googling her name just a few hours ago, chanced to come upon a link to Issue # 82 of your Newsletter, wherein an unidentified classmate of Sally lamented having lost contact with her. Although I had not previously been aware that Sally attended Wheatley, the information provided by the classmate (that Sally was an artist, had trained in Italy, married a Costa Rican lawyer, and later settled in Costa Rica) leaves no doubt that the same person is involved. My wife, in particular, was very close to Sally (they were both into horses), beginning in 1984, when we rented a house from her in San José. We left Costa Rica in 1990, but we returned for regular visits until 2013, when last we saw Sally. Sally’s daughter informed us of her mother’s death.”
1972 - Judith Oppenheim Darrah - New and Improved (Reprint, With Reaction)
Judith Now (2025)
Joanne Festa (1960) Writes - “Congrats, Judith. You look stunning.”
Jo Ann Bregman Miles (1972) Writes - “Congratulations on all of your accomplishments Judy Oppenheim Darrah! You look stunning!”
From the Archives - Miscellaneous Classes in 2016 - Help Wanted
L-R - Floor - Marcia Friedman Mayer (1963), Leslie Schiller Fisher (1963), Marianne Lamitola Downey (1963) (?), ???, Jeanne Messing (1961), ???, ???, ???
Chairs - ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, Carol Jalonack Blum (1961), ???, ???
Standing - Donna Kenton (1963), ???, ???, ???, Jerry Mintz (1961) (?), ???, Tim Jerome (1961) (?), ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, Liz Stone (1963), ???, ???, ???
From the Archives - Class of ‘65 In 2016 - Everyone Finally Identified
L-R - Sitting - Louise Kampa Triano, Donna Hegyi Gillman, Sally Jablon, Ellen “Ellie” Senft Kochek, Jane Goldenberg Fire
Standing - Saleem Pernath (then known as “Gibb Geery”), Eliot “Ike” Evans, Richard Rogers, Neil Firetog, Robert “Bobby” Bland, Norman Resnicow, Mark Bagdon, Lanning “Lanny” Schiller, Ken Katz
From the Archives - Class of ‘76 in 2016 - One Correction in Bold
L-R Standing - Greg Linde, Laurie Paisner, Donald Spininger, Larry Copeland, Nancy Weissman, Charley Cassely, Bruce King, Robin Firetog Glanzberg, Seth Rosenberg
Seated - Amy Herbst, Felice Greenbaum Berger, Robin Hegyi Sisskind, Cathy or Carol Drew, Kathy Kuveikis, Debra Clarke, Mary Costello.
From the Archives - Class of ‘79 in 2016 - Everyone Identified
L-R - Floor - Suzanne “Suzie” DeVries, Barbara Silber Signorelli, Janette Knowles
Sitting - Janet King, Wendy McClure, Julie Hoffman Fensterheim, Alisa Schuckman Dultz, Pam Kalish, Amy Gould, Eileen Weiss Nelson, Beth Malsky Peisic, Irena Jug
Standing - Ronald Bookbinder, Sharon Lazar, David Greenapple, Scott Lewis, David Chin, David Sigman, Peter Weinstein, Adam Abeshouse, Tracy Klestadt, Joseph Milana, Wayne Cutler, Lloyd Rosler
Fan Mail
1960 (Elaine Kent Abrams) - “Thank you for your outreach to all of Wheatley’s classes.”
1960 (John Moncure) - “Thanks for all you do.”
1961 (Camille Napoli Cannizzo) ❤️
1964 (Richard Ilsley) - ❤️
1965 (Elizabeth “Libby” McCambridge) - ❤️
1965 (Richard Strauss) - “Great job with the Newsletters - thank you for all you do.”
1966 (Claude Levy) - ❤️
1967 (Doug Brautigam) - ❤️
1968 (Leslie Wolowitz) - “I love reading the Newsletters.”
1969 (Sookey Rosenberg Aldag) - ❤️
1972 (Jeffrey Kargman) - ❤️
???? (Libby ???) - ❤️
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 238 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 # 239. Please send me your autobiography before someone else sends me your obituary.
Art
Arthur Fredericks Engoron, Class of 1967
646-872-4833
I love my Wheatley Newsletter. Just to see the names is special. Thanks,Art. Steve Ehre
Great thanks to Art and everyone else who submits their Wheatley anecdotes. They really do weave the Wheatley tapestry together.
No wonder I’m hearing rumors that CBS CEO David Ellison wants to add the Wheatley alumni chronicle to his media portfolio!