The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 195

Dear Wheatley Wildcats and Other Interested Persons,

Welcome to The Wheatley School Alumni Association (“TWSAA”) Newsletter # 195.

SECOND AND FINAL SCAM WARNING - Recently, a Wheatley graduate received an email addressed to “Wheatley Alumni” and advertising $35 “lifetime memberships” in a supposed organization calling itself “AlumniClass,” allegedly located in “Spokane Valley, WA.” None of that has any connection to The Wheatley School Alumni Association. At best, such “membership” is probably totally worthless; at worst, it is probably a dangerous scam. TWSAA has never taken a penny for what we do, and we don’t intend to.

Adds Webmaster Keith Aufhauser (1963) - “AlumniClass.com is a real business, but it is not affiliated with The Wheatley School in any way. Caveat Emptor.

Wheatley in Los Angeles

Vera Kaltinick (1973) and Nancy Dreyer (1973) were thrilled to be present when Bonnie Greenberg (1972) was honored by the Guild of Music Supervisors last month. Bonnie received the Legacy Award for her career in film, and she's got some terrific projects ahead. A bonus was seeing Winnie Holzman (1972), who was at the awards ceremony celebrating her Wicked stage and screen partner, Stephen Schwartz.

L-R - Bonnie, Nancy, Vera

L-R - Winnie, Bonnie

A Wheatley Presenter

Beatles Exploitation Albums in 1964 - Presented by Bob Koenig (1980)

Saturday, Apr. 26, 2025 - 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

The Shelter Rock Library Community Room, 165 Searingtown Road, Albertson, NY

“Join us for an exciting exploration of the Beatles’ 1964 Exploitation Albums, a fascinating chapter in music history! Discover the rare, lesser-known albums that capitalized on the Beatles’ global fame, and learn how these records captured the frenzy of Beatlemania. Perfect for music enthusiasts and Beatles fans looking to dive deeper into this unique era of the Fab Four’s impact on pop culture!”

CONTACT: (516) 248-7363 x 233

Faculty - Edward Ouchi Revisited

Steve Rushmore (1963) Writes - Growing up, I had learning disabilities and was never a good reader or writer. I found Mr. Ouchi’s class very stressful, and I could never follow his teaching method. I vividly remember, after turning in a writing assignment, him saying to me, “Rushmore, this is the worst paper I have ever read - you will never be a writer!” I was scarred for life.

But life has a way of forcing you to adapt. It led me to hotel consulting, where my product was a 100+ page appraisal report, which at the time required me to write every word. Through a lot of effort, I became a fairly good writer, which enabled me to author eight textbooks and over 350 articles - not bad for a “never be a writer.” A number of years ago, Mr. Ouchi came to our Class of ’63 Wheatley reunion, where I presented him with an autographed copy of one of my textbooks. I’m not sure that he actually remembered the ‘encouragement’ he gave me many years before.”

Ellen Solow Holzman (1964) Writes - “I've been interested in the messages about Ed Ouchi, whom I knew as both my teacher and, later, as my colleague, I thought I would add to the story. He team-taught my 10^th grade class with Peter Witt, and they were a good pairing, as they had differing strengths. This was before Ed started teaching Transformational Grammar (the official name), but I do remember doing some rather unusual grammatical exercises, and I now wonder whether they were part of the work he was doing on his PhD (never attained, so he was, like a number of Wheatley teachers, what they call ‘ABD’—all but dissertation).

When I returned to Wheatley in 1989 as a teacher, he was the head of the English Department, and he still looked just the same. Here are a few notes on him as a boss and colleague: he was a firm believer in mentoring, and he assigned a member of the department, Jackie Hennelly (a great choice) to mentor me; and he had me paid to spend a week at Wheatley the summer before I started teaching, so that he could teach me (sigh) Transformational Grammar, which I was required to teach to ninth graders. When I handed in my first quarter grades early, he said, ‘You bum!’ with a smile—English teachers are notorious for waiting until the last minute to hand in grades, because essays take longer to grade than other types of work. He taught me by example to put students first. For instance, any time a student entered the English Department office, he would immediately put aside whatever he was working on to listen to his or her questions and help them in any way that he could. As to Transformational Grammar—there were a couple of true believers on the faculty, but soon after he retired, I happily dropped it. It had some interesting features, but, like most grammatical instruction, was not useful in improving student writing. Re-writing, I came to believe, was the only way to do that.”

John Sullivan (1964) Writes - “I have read the various discussions re Mr. Ouchi. My scholastic interactions & recollections of him boil down to one item. The book “Gods, Heroes & Men,” and from that, The Rock of Sisyphus, which I have encountered many times trying to keep a homeless Ministry afloat. I don’t recall anything about linguistics. I last saw Mr. Ouchi in the early 1990s in the Wheatley lobby. He was with Mr. McCormack. I was showing my fiancé from the Midwest my high school. Mr. McCormack remembered me and was very gracious. Mr. Ouchi asked him if I was Roger (1961) or Michael (1963) Sullivan. I told him I was not, as I was a non-entity at Wheatley. Mr McCormack asked me how my life was and what I was doing. Very engaging man. I didn’t interact with Mr. Ouchi.”

Daniel Silver (1967) Writes - “Ed Ouchi taught my 10th (or 11th?) grade English class for only several weeks or units, as I recall (someone whose memory is less mottled than mine, please correct me as necessary). I know that he taught us writing in some aspects, though I can't recall any specifics. From this distance, I still recall mostly his fearsome reputation pumping tension into the classroom, and that generally it was a useful, enriching, if edgy, training regime.

Until reading dispatches from David Hechler (1968), Ronnie Lynn Moore (1965), and Eva Resnicow (1968) in Wheatley Alumni Newsletter # 194, I had not heard of his linguistic expertise or his Wheatley classroom explorations—which David, evidently, decisively resented, and which Ronnie and Eva manifestly enjoyed.

Interesting how smart, discerning individuals can emerge from similar (perhaps even identical: were David & Eva in the same Ouchi class?) learning experiences with such diametrically opposite reactions.

I wish that Mr. Ouchi had applied some of his exploratory techniques to my class. (Or maybe he did; & I long ago absorbed, assimilated and integrated his lessons so that now they are a part of me, my own nature.)

Anyone who took that same Ouchi class with me, please share some memories here—maybe your more detailed memories will spark more specifics of my own.

The Sports Section - Still More Football

Matt Sanzone adds a footnote to The Wildcats undefeated 8-0 1957 Season - “When the official season was over, a touch football game on the Willets Road School field on a Sunday morning was organized between the team members and the Wheatley faculty. Steve Perlin, Eddie Kritzler, Johnny Votano. Don Kleban, Mike Stapleton, Bob Oldoni, Matt Sanzone and others played for the team. Jack Davis, Mel Rosenstein, Howard Storm, Thomas Cautella, Joseph McCormack Woodrow Zaros and others played for the faculty. Result? The Faculty ‘waxed’ us very convincingly. Coach Jack Davis hit open receivers all day long. We, on the other hand, scored little, if at all😬”

COACH JACK DAVIS (1925-2008) - Newsday Obituary

John Gilbert Davis, 82, teacher who touched lives, dies

June 24, 2008

John Gilbert Davis, a physical education instructor for 30 years at The Wheatley School in East Williston, died of heart failure on June 19, 2008 at his Baldwin, according to his son Jay Davis. He was 82.

Davis was born Aug. 25, 1925, in Baldwin.

He met his late wife, Margaret LaBoria, while they served in the Navy in Hawaii during World War II. She was a WAVE (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service).

After the Navy, he attended Ithaca College and received a degree in health and physical education. The couple moved to Levittown, where they raised their six children.

Davis's popularity at Wheatley, where he coached varsity football and baseball for 30 years, earned him the nickname "Cat" after the school mascot, the Wheatley Wildcat.

"It was so a part of his life," said son Jay, a physical education teacher at Oyster Bay High School. "I've blueprinted my life after him." Four of Davis's six children became teachers.

After retiring from teaching, Davis was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame, an honor of which he was extremely proud. At a recent 50th-year class reunion at the school, he attended as an honored guest.

After his wife's passing in 1983, Davis married Margaret Long, and the couple returned to Baldwin, where they raised her four children.

Davis spent his retirement playing golf and traveling to Europe, Las Vegas, Florida and other destinations.

There was one activity that he enjoyed that didn't require physical exertion - bragging about his large family.

"Everybody that he touched he made feel important," said Jay Davis of Wantagh. "There was no better man. He touched the lives of many."

In addition to his son Jay, Davis is survived by his wife Margaret and children James, Terence, and Michael, all of Levittown; Laura Ennis and Lynda Faherty of Rockville Centre; Candace Thompsett of East Islip; Shelley Lavey of Huntington Station; James Long of Oceanside, and Robert Long of Lynbrook; 30 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

A funeral Mass was held in St. Christopher's Roman Catholic Church in Baldwin. Burial followed in St. Charles Cemetery.

Bob Holley (1958) Writes - Coach Jack Davis died on the eve of our 50th-year class reunion. That really makes you feel not only sad but very mortal. Strange that we spent so much of our banquet night time talking about him, Steve Perlin, and departeds, but I have a feeling now that Smilin’ Jack was right there listening in.

Thank you, Mr. Davis, for those great days, and our great team! You were someone very special to us all. We will not forget you.

Quarterback and team leader Steve Perlin was badly injured in the Second Quarter of the Half Hollow Hills Game (# 4 on our schedule), triggering a great fear that we might lose a game). Garrett “Zeke” Zebrowski took over as QB until sometime in the fourth quarter, after they got Steve sewed up.

Perlin's injury was to his face, around his lips, cheek and/or mouth; it was like flesh torn…..quite a bloody mess. To this day I am amazed that they found a way to get him stitched up to a ref's satisfaction, and that didn't happen until sometime in the fourth quarter. I have no idea where the "stitcher" came from, because as far as I know, we had no doctor onboard. I don’t remember how improved his face looked before he started to play again. The fact that there was even an attempt to get him back into the lineup shows how valuable they thought he was to our game and how resilient he seemed to be to trauma.

He had already half cut his face off in a horrible auto? crash near the school, on Bacon Road. I'm a bit puzzled now because his Aurora closeup senior photo doesn't show his distinctive pirate wreck scar; but it looks like he may well have it in the group photo of the football team. Several people know the details about the vehicle wreck and the Half Hollow Hills injury, and I am curious to see what others may remember.

Matt Sanzone (1959) referred to the wreck in a past e-mail as happening on Stan Wheeler's (1958) BMC (Switzerland) motorcycle; I was under the impression that it was a car accident involving three or four people. Whatever! Steve had an amazing flair for danger; we were regaled at a reunion dinner with Charlie Shapiro's (1958) mad accounts of their car theft / joy riding capers.

As I was the official game reporter for the Half Hollow Hills contest, I was surprised to read in the press that John Votano quarterbacked the game for Wheatley. Not surprisingly, Johnny did score both Wheatley goals on long runs, but I don't think he was ever the quarterback.

I don’t how much longer I am going to be around, and I am uncomfortable sitting on so much historical information about Wheatley, to which nobody else, except possibly Paul Giarmo (1976), has access. His great idea is that we (he?) set up a 56-57-58 Wildcat on-line museum that all Wheatley alumni could view. This might bolster interest in deservedly restoring football to the Wheatley scene. I just found eight 1957 Newsday stories about Wheatley football while I was looking for 1956 stories (which barely seem to exist online). There's no telling how much memorabilia might be out there in someone else's storage or mind -- clippings, photos, flyers, anecdotes, whatever.

Art Engoron (1967) Writes - I was told (I think by the man himself), and I always thought, that people called Jack Davis “Cat” because he moved so gracefully. There may be truth to both that and the “Wildcats” theory.

Paul Giarmo (1976) Writes - “I'm amazed at how close the relationship was between the faculty and the students, especially the football team, back then. Great school spirit.”

Claude Levy (1966) (an exchange student from France) Writes - “Too bad that the last Newsletter (# 194) had nothing about football😉”

Jill Simon Forte (1965) Writes - “Wow, I never realized that football played such a big role at Wheatley. I guess that’s because my husband, Bob Forte (1965), didn’t play sports 😉🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Bill Meyn (1974) Writes - “I appreciate the nostalgia for Wheatley football. I even tried out for football in 9th grade - then moved around to three other high schools. I believe ties forged among academic teachers and students are as strong as you might get from a football team. I was in Mrs. Quigley's special class for shy students in 3rd or 4th grade. It made a difference. Somehow, Mrs. Rock and Mr. Diamond broke through and motivated me to love math in 5th and 6th grade. I aced math through Calc I, Calc II and Differential Equations at the Coast Guard Academy. I recall being in study groups at Wheatley in which I sat in with some very intelligent boys and girls. I may have already related the story of being on a 5th grade social studies team that developed a musical parody to portray Mao Zedong’s great leap forward. I do not pretend to have been a prodigy. I was Salieri to my classmates Mozarts. But it was great and memorable fun to be part of that team! I moved out not long before the school got a computer lab. I can only imagine the possibilities that opened up. In my retirement, I have taken up sketching - due in no small part to my 9th grade Art teacher, Mr. Aaron Kuriloff. This is no great shakes to the average Wheatleyite. I believe you all have had similar experiences, stories that could fill a book. Most of my teachers and many of my fellow students made me who I am today. Football is awesome. But so are academics.”

Parents

On the left is Anne Sklaire Wild, mother of Madeleine (1962), Jane (1965), and Phil (1972) Wild.

On the right is Lillian Sklaire Stephens, mother of Mitch (1967) and Beth (1972).

The twins were born on March 6, 1920, and are shown here in approximately 1941.

Their brother, Jack, was the father of Michele (1964) and Aline (1968) Sklaire.

Graduates

1958 - Ed Brown - “I was pleased to see several comments by, and mentions about, members of the Class of 1958 – "The First Class" - in the recent Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 194. There usually are not many, if any, such references to my class. Of course, as time goes by, there are obviously fewer of us still around. And yet, we were the group that established much of the ‘environment’ that made Wheatley the incredibly fine institution that it became, and that it remains to this day – often recognized as the No. 1 Public High School in our Nation!

I rarely get back to my original home area of Roslyn and Westbury, but on those rare occasions when I do, I invariably drive by Wheatley, and sometimes I even stop in to take a walk through the hallways there for a few minutes. It is an amazing place, of which I am extremely proud.

GO WILDCATS!!!!

Ed Brown

(Dr. Edward A. Brown)

1961 - Jerry Mintz - “All this talk about our great early football teams reminds me that Wheatley had another powerhouse sport team--tennis. Roslyn Country Clubber Larry Nagler 1958) led the team. He eventually became a top player on USA teams and played in the US Open at Forest Hills. I was an umpire there as a teenager, a job which was arranged by Anita Shukow, whose boys (Steven Shukow, 1970, and Allen Shukow, 1972) also played on the Wheatley team. I umpired Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King games. In my senior year at Wheatley, I was undefeated as a singles player.

Some 30 years ago, I switched my main sport to table tennis. I won the national men's over-seventy championship and still play and teach table tennis every week. One of my former students, Amy Wang, recently played for the USA in the Olympics.

But I still follow tennis avidly.

Art Engoron (1967) Writes - When I complimented Jerry for having the stamina to do all the things he does, like win table tennis championships, he responded, “I have stamina BECAUSE I keep doing these things!”

1961 - The Bengeyfield Band - New Material

Jim Paley (1964) Writes - “I enjoyed reading Peter Nelson’s (1961) and Jack Wolf's (1967) reminiscences of the music scene on Bengeyfield Drive in East Williston. When I first started playing the guitar in 1962 or 1963, I took a few lessons from Peter F. Wolf (1960), which started my appreciation for the instrument and also for the music that was prevalent in Greenwich Village in the early 1960s. I didn't know Woody Mann (1970) at that time, but imagine my surprise when I spent one of many weekends at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch in Pomeroy, Ohio and Woody was there as one of the instructors. We were both surprised by the Wheatley connection, and what followed was a weekend filled with stories of Woody’s lessons at the home of Reverend Gary Davis and playing some of the tape recordings that he had saved (and cherished) over the years. It was certainly a weekend to remember, and I was so saddened to learn of Woody's passing a few years ago. I know that I would still be playing the guitar now had I not lost the use of my right hand following a cerebral hemorrhage in 2016.

Thank you, Peter and Jack, for bringing these memories back to life!

1968 and 1970 - Bengeyfield Drive Musicians

David Pinter (1968) Writes - “Art, Speaking of Bengeyfield Drive musicians, Woody Mann & I both grew up on that storied strip of asphalt Some years ago we played at BB King’s with a certain news anchor.”

L-R - Lester Holt, Woody, David

1967 (mostly) - Several more people identified in photo of trip to Washington

Key - “(?)” means uncertain. “???” means unknown.

Left to Right:

Front Row - ???, Cheryl Clark (1967) (?), ???, Vicki Schwartz (1967) (?), ???, Rosalind Wald (1967), ???, Lauren Jacoby (1967), Linda Laurie (1967), Abbe Levine (1967), Lesley Falkoff (1967) (?), ???, Marcy Buzen (1967), Helen Sparks (1967)

Middle Row - Gilbert Katz (1967), George Dreier (1967), Dominick Foresto (1967), Robert Hecht (1967), Marty Cervellione (1967), Debbie Friedman or Lynn Robinson (1967) (?), Jane Colchamiro (1967) (?), Lois Ertel (1967), ???, Jimmy Bressman (1967), Steven Lax (1967), Tom Glaser (1968), Phil Mariani (1967) (?), Jay Peiser (1966)

Back Row - Marshall Jablon (1967), ???, Bobby Scandurra (1967), Doug Martin (1967), Paul Nissenfeld (1967), Paul Tankersley (1967), ???, ???, Peggy Meisel (faculty) (?), Joseph Goldwasser (faculty), Richard Schwarz (1967), Lee Fein (1967), Dennis Pensa (1967), Bruce McAllister (1968), Charles Bell (1967), Manny Casamassima (1967)

If, and only if, other people are identified, I will publish again next newsletter!

1973 - Todd Glickman - Charlie Nash (1973/72) writes - “Todd Glickman was one of the brightest members of the Class of 1973.”

1974 - Bill Meyn - “In 1979 I was on the Coast Guard Cutter Icebreaker Polar Star, coming back from the Antarctic, where we broke ice into McMurdo Station. We had a one-day liberty stop in Ushuaia, Argentina. It was there that I found a local record store where I purchased a copy of the Beatles LP ‘Submarino Amarillo,’ Yellow Submarine, with a Spanish language album cover. The songs on the LP are all the standard English Language Beatles songs. This was probably ‘marketing’ rather than ‘exploitation,’ but it was still a very interesting thing to find. You can google to see the cover. My copy is buried in my garage somewhere.”

1975 - David Bodkin - “Hi Art, I’m looking forward to my Class’s 50th-year reunion in this fall! The 1961 photo of The Bengeyfield Band is great! My family made the move from Queens to 68 Bengeyfield in 1968. I delivered the Long Island Press on my paper route to the entire block.”

Fan Mail

Bob Holley (1958) - “Thank you for your remarkable work in editing all the football material together into a "must read" for Wheatley Alumni Newsletter # 194.”

1960 (Paul Hennessy) - "Art, Great job editing all the undefeated 1957 Football Team information into a lively and interesting piece! My best to you and Keith for all you do to connect the Wildcat Community✌️.You do a brilliant job!”

1964 (Natalie Cobb Wentworth) - “I always enjoy reading the Wheatley Alumni Newsletter.”

1964 (John Sullivan) - “Art - thank you for your great work for all things Wheatley.”

1967 (Jill Simon Forte) - “Thanks for the photographs. I always enjoy seeing the people I remember (but we sure are a bit older 😜🤣).

1974 (Scott Stein) - “Thank you for the Newsletter and all you do.”

1975 (David Bodkin) - “The Newsletters are Wonderful.”

1976 (Paul Giarmo) - “BTW, Newsletter # 194 is one of my favorite issues, not surprisingly. Keep the football memories coming, Art.”

1996 (Sean Sedacca) - “The Newsletter is great, and the ‘younger’ crowd appreciates it, too.”

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.

In the first 24 or so hours after publication, Wheatley Alumni Newsletter # 194 was viewed 3,784 times and was liked three times. In all, 4,739 email addresses received Newsletter # 194.

The Usual Words of Wisdom

Thanks to our fabulous Webmaster, Keith Aufhauser (Class of 1963), you can regale yourself with the first 194 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 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 # 195. Please send me your autobiography before someone else sends me your obituary.

Art

Arthur Fredericks Engoron, Class of 1967

WHEATLEYALUMNI@AOL.COM

ARTENGORON@GMAIL.COM

WWW.WHEATLEYALUMNI.ORG

646-872-4833