The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 149
Reunions, Sports, Glad News, and Sad News
Dear Wheatley Wildcats and Other Interested Persons,
Welcome to The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 149.
According to Substack, in the first 24 hours after publication, Newsletter # 148 was viewed 3,173 times, was “liked” 11 times, and received five comments. In all, 4,732 email addresses received Newsletter # 148.
All underlined text is a link-to-a-link (or, occasionally, an email address). Clicking anywhere on underlined text, and then clicking on the link that pops up, will get you to your on-line destination (or 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 148 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 use it frequently; it works usually!
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
The Class of 1974 50th-Year Reunion
Writes Debra Copeland - “The Wheatley School Class of 1974 50th-Year Reunion will be held on October 19, 2024. We had an approximately 70-person positive response rate when testing the waters for attendance. Siblings and graduates from other years are welcome.
Southern California Wheatley Reunion Contemplated
Writes Sydell Howoritz Weiner (1964) - “I see that there are many Wheatley alums in and around San Francisco. I’ll bet that that’s true of Los Angeles, too. So I’m calling on SoCal Wheatley Alums to get our act together. I’m in Beverly Hills and I’d love to plan a reunion! sydellweiner@gmail.com
Wheatley Alumni Softball Game - Memorial Day Weekend
Details of Wheatley Alumni Softball Game, Saturday, May 25, 10:00 AM, at Wheatley
Saturday, May 25th 10:00a (Memorial Day Weekend)
Where: The Brandon Lustig Memorial Field - 11 Bacon Road Old Westbury, NY 11568
Contact Bernadette McCrave at 516 297-8147 or Coach David Burke at BURKED@EWSDMAIL.ORG.
SOCCER, TOO
Please note - Link currently unavailable in this forum.
Free Concert, Saturday, 5/18, In Greenwich Village
“Sheli Nan” is our own Shelley Nan Hershcopf, Class of 1968
Wheatley Fight Song
William (“Billy”) Kirchick (1969) version:
We are the Wildcats, Wildcats are we
We never lose our pep ability
So you do your best boys (I know chauvinistic, but no one was woke back then)
And we’ll do the rest boys
We are the Wheatley Wildcats!
Art Engoron (1967) version:
We are the Wildcats, Wildcats are we,
We never lose our pep-a-bility.
You do your best boys,
We’ll do the rest boys,
We are the Wildcats!
Writes Peter Siegel (1966) - “Arthur, The lyrics to the Wheatley Fight Song, which may be identical to “On Wisconsin,” are as follows:
“Onward Wheatley, onward Wheatley
Break right through that line
Winners all will heed the call
A touchdown sure this time, you rah-rah
Onward Wheatley, onward Wheatley
Fight on for her fame
Fight fellas, fight, fight, fight we’ll win this game”
Unfortunately, in my senior year, 1965-66, the song did not sufficiently inspire the team, which lost all of its games and scored only one touchdown. Best, Peter”
Graduates
1965 - Richard Goldfeder - Deceased
Writes daughter Christy Goldfeder Ingkavet (1991) - “Hi Art, I’ve been meaning to send this to you, but it has been hard for me to write it.
Richard Goldfeder - 8/19/1947 - 3/3/2024
My father, Richard Goldfeder (Wheatley Class of 1965), passed away on March 3, 2024, from complications of Parkinson’s Disease. He is survived by:
Brother James/Jim Goldfeder (now Jim Pahz) - Wheatley 1961
Sister Susan Goldfeder Weiss - Wheatley 1968
Daughter Christy Goldfeder Ingkavet - Wheatley 1991
Daughter Leslie Goldfeder Chaikin - Wheatley 1994
Dad was born in Brooklyn, NY to Abraham and Katherine Goldfeder on August 19, 1947. He lived in Hollis, Queens before the family moved to the East Williston School District.
The Goldfeders lived in Roslyn Heights on Dogleg Lane when Jim and Dad were in high school. Then, in Dad’s junior or senior year, they moved to Bengeyfield Drive in East Williston.
Dad liked sports, and he played football in high school. He was friends with classmates Randy Seibel and Marshall Serwitz.
Dad and I had some of the same teachers, namely Mr. Platt and Mr. Ouchi, and Stephen Ehre taught my Aunt Susan and me. Dad told me that he was not the greatest student, and sometimes he and his friends would cause trouble in class.
Dad met Sallie Crick (our mom) at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Mom was also from Long Island, but much further east, in Westhampton. They got married halfway through school in 1967 and had their wedding reception at the Bengeyfield Drive house.
After graduating, my parents lived and worked in NYC. Later, they moved back to East Williston.
We eventually moved to a house on Howard Street in which my aunt Susan’s high school friend, Randy Rosenblatt (1968), had grown up. And my classmate, Jodi Fingerman (1991), lived in the Bengeyfield Drive house in which my grandparents had lived.
In his career, dad was a retail marketing sales executive. He worked with creative teams to develop custom point-of-purchase displays for beauty and consumer packaged goods brands. Besides working at other agencies, he also founded Display Equation, an agency startup with two business partners. He was an environmental pioneer in his industry, starting the “Recycle at Retail” initiative to reduce plastic waste.
In his free time, dad enjoyed running, skiing, playing drums along to his favorite music, watching movies, and dining out. He loved driving, fast cars, traveling, and spending time at the beaches on Long Island.
My parents divorced after 38 years together, and they both found love again. Dad got remarried, to Danielle Slanovec, and they lived in Blue Point and then Bayport (both in Suffolk County) — where Dad spent his last days.
He’s lovingly remembered by his wife of 11 years, Danielle Slanovec Goldfeder, brother James and sister Susan, daughters Leslie Chaikin of West Islip, NY, and Christy Ingkavet (Stephen) of Austin, TX.
He will be remembered by his stepchildren Cody Miller (Katie), Breanne Miller, and Renee O’Shaunessey (Ru). And he is remembered by his 3 granddaughters Sarah, Leah, and Anna Chaikin of West Islip, NY and 4 step-granddaughters: Riley, Kayla, and Bridget of Midland Park, NJ and Kailani of Bayport, LI.
Richard with wife Danielle
Richard with daughter Christy
Richard with daughter Leslie
1967 - Robert (“Bobby”) Jacobs - Family Facts
Writes Bobby - “I was inspired to write a bio by Art’s admonition closing each newsletter and recently reading Gary Briefel”s recent post. He lived two houses away from me. I lived on the shortest street in the Roslyn Country Club: Hummock Lane; four houses on the corners of I.U. Willets Road and Percheron Lane.
When Kenny Lang, Howie Kirchick, Phil Kane and I formed our optimistic but destined-to-go-nowhere band, The NuTones (name taken from the stove vent in Howard’s kitchen!), Ernie Briefel took us to his warehouse and was able to get the guitars wholesale to launch our careers. We had our share of gigs; happy to see that Kenny went on to play music to this day.
The members of the Class of 1967 are celebrating turning 75, and I celebrated with my three kids, their spouses, and 7 grandchildren! My father’s business had a season box at the “new” Shea Stadium for the Mets, and I took my kids out of school for opening day as soon as they knew about baseball. I figured they would remember going to the Met’s opener with their father long after they forgot what they didn’t learn in school!
My wife and I; three kids and spouses; 6 of 7 grandchildren
After graduating NYU in the Bronx (no longer there), I started my “graduate” education as a management trainee for the Aetna Insurance Company in Richmond Va. On my first day at work the receptionist greeted me with “I heard you were Jewish,” in a long southern drawl. When I confirmed it to be so, she replied, “Where did you put your horns?” (I learned about that long before, at Temple Sinai in Roslyn Heights). So started my career in the insurance business.
After a year with that program with a promotion to their Home Office in Hartford in the offing, I decided I was moving in the wrong direction, and I joined my father's insurance business, Jacobs & Jacobs Inc. Many will remember the office building on the Long Island Expressway Service Road in Roslyn Heights. We had a sign outside with a clock, and we received calls and letters from people complaining that they were late for work and to please correct it!
We worked together successfully until his retirement in 1990. Subsequently, my 20 or so employees and I continued to grow the business. However, in 2007, recognizing the era of Family Insurance agencies would soon prove challenging, I sold the business to Hub International, currently the largest privately held Insurance Brokers in the U.S. I am still working for them as a Senior Vice President in the area of Food Processors, Restaurants, Condominiums, and Co-op's, along with personal clients I have known for 30+ years.
Jeff Orling’s sailing adventures paralleled my own. My wife (Ceil; married 49 years) and I, and our three kids, had a 37’ sailboat, and we spent summer weekends cruising Long Island Sound, up and down the Connecticut and Long Island harbors. With a little more practice and acquired skills, I spent four summers sailing from Glen Cove to Martha’s Vineyard, where we built a house in 2006. The second-best day in a boat owners life came after the 4th summer, when my family, too busy getting on with our lives, sold the boat.
So now I’m living in a Condo on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, summering on Martha’s Vineyard, taking piano lessons, and traveling the world. Visited Cuba, China, Moscow, St. Petersburg (one of the world’s great cities, which may not be viable for travel again), India, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Peru, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and throughout Europe. Our kids did junior year abroad and gave us the opportunity to visit Florence, Australia & New Zealand, and South Africa.
Jason, Jennifer, Ceil, Jamie, Bob
My Wheatley education started a valuable educational process that continues to this day. Staying curious turned out to be a valuable asset!
And who knew, pre-computer, that Mrs, Tegnell’s 8th grade typing class would be one of life’s great building blocks! All the best, Bob(by) Jacobs 1967”
1967 - Howard Kirchick and Phil Kane - Hitchhiking
Writes Howard - “Hi Art, I thank Ken Gallard (1968) for his gracious comments about my bio. His narrative also brought to mind a hitchhiking experience I had back in the day.
Classmate Phil Kane and I were hitchhiking along Glen Cove Road in front of the Carvel at which we worked. Along comes a Rolls Royce that passes us by. But then, the driver pulls over, stops, and starts backing up, and we notice the DPL (diplomat) plates on the car. He stops by us, rolls down the window, and tells us to hop in. Turns out he was the son of a UN diplomat. He told us he wasn’t going to pick us up, but then he remembered the days when he’d be hitchhiking and cursed out the drivers that zoomed by. We’d never been in a Rolls before, so that was pretty cool.”
Writes Art Engoron (1967) - While on the topic of hitchhiking…..during spring break of junior or senior (I’m having a senior moment) year, my classmates George Krauss, Mitch Stephens and I hitchhiked down to Washington D.C. We “crashed” with Antioch College friends of my older brother (Malcolm, 1964); and the next day we picketed the White House in favor of legalized hitchhiking. Mitch alerted the now-defunct-but-then-significant Washington Star, which sent a reporter to cover the “demonstration,” who interviewed Mitch and wrote a published article for the paper (copies are now collector’s items). Meanwhile (the timing is hazy), the three of us left our backpacks (or what passed for them in those days) right behind the US Capitol Building while we toured the inside. Of course, when we returned a few hours later, we found that our stuff had been ransacked. To this day, Mitch is convinced the ransackers were just vandals; I’m convinced it might have been the Capitol Police checking out three suspicious packages on the Capitol grounds. For some long-forgotten reason, I decided to hitchhike back to New York alone, and I ended up spending a night in the Centerville, Maryland jail, where I was sexually attacked by a much older inmate but escaped (by screaming bloody murder at the top of my lungs) unscathed.
1967 - Jill Simon Forte - Scott Frishman - Jack Wolf
Writes Jill - “I was sad to hear that Scott Frishman’s wife passed away…..too early to die. I remember Scott.
I loved reading Jack Wolf’s post, and I was also one of those Refuseniks 😁. There never was nor ever will be anything I would recite a pledge to, and being an Atheist that also holds true. I didn’t know Jack back then, but I think I would have liked him. Reading the rest of his post, I definitely like him now 😁☮️.”
1969 - Richard Abraham Frankfort - Tributes
Writes Barbara Frankfort Patrick (1960) - Art. Thank you for posting my sister LauRha’s memorial for our brother Ricky. She expresses everything that my little big brother was. As a much older sister, now I can say I didn’t really appreciate having to take him on my dates, and I am certain whoever I might have been with wasn’t thrilled to have a chaperone. But Rick was so special. Being weak and addicted made him stronger, and he found being sober gave him insight and helped others find their inner peace. Rick saw the best in everyone, and he was the best of all of them. My beautiful sister-in-law Toodie saved him, and he found his soul mate and best friend. They built a beautiful and fulfilling life together. For all who knew him, he is smiling down on you.
There were five Frankfort Wildcats: Barbara 1960, William 1963, Richard 1969, Laura 1974, and Mollie 1974. How blessed we were!”
Writes Scott Frishman (1967) - “Art, I can’t believe that Richard Frankfort has passed away. Mike Cornfield, who lived next to Richard on Dogleg Lane, and I, who lived behind Richard on Pebble Lane, were all close friends growing up. His father, Jessie, turned our attic into a second floor with a playroom, crawl space, and housekeeper’s room; He was a master craftsman .
Richard certainly took after Jessie, as Richard’s sister, LauRha described in her Obituary of Richard in the Newsletter.
I am extremely saddened to hear of his death, as I am sure many others are as well.
May Richard Rest In Peace Forever.”
1971 and 1973 - Peter Orshan and Edward Ryder - Small World in Suffolk County
Writes Eddie - “A few Saturdays ago, a gent comes into the store where I work part-time. I’m seated on the floor stocking shelves when he asks: “where’s the Glass Plus?” I pull myself up off the floor while saying: “Let me show you,” off we go a few aisles.
On arrival I point out the item, and he says he needs multiple bottles and also about thirty, yes 30, rolls of paper towels. Inquisitive, I ask what’s he doing. “I’m cleaning shelving next door.” Next door is a shuttered Bed, Bath & Beyond location, and this gent is a principal of the incoming tenant.
He introduced himself as “Peter.” I posited: « As in Orshan, whose Mom taught as a substitute at North Side and then Wheatley when I was a kid there? »
Somewhat surprised no doubt at a small-world story a half century later, he replied in the affirmative. He, Class of 1971, and myself, Class of 1973.
We chatted for awhile longer that Saturday before respectively going back to work, but later sporadically texting until almost 10 PM.
We were reminiscing about teachers, and other former alumni/alumna, and sharing photos and sharing contact information for the children of deceased former teachers.
Having earlier that Saturday joked about French as taught at Wheatley, I would text Peter in the language that still graces my days, courtesy of Joan Feindler and Aline Desbonnet…..which language I still use daily about 40% of the day.
Yesterday, 1 May, Law Day, Peter/Andrews became our retail neighbor in East Northport with their grand opening at this new venue.
It was an event marked by a text sent by me to Peter: «Bienvenue à notre voisinage et bonne chance aujourd’hui » the reply to which was « merci beaucoup ! »
While Mr Orshan and I were working on 1 May, elsewhere more celestial than Suffolk County, Mesdames Desbonnet et Feindler were « sourient. »
They smiled while two Wheatley Wildcats didn’t roar so much as, at our current ages, meowed…as we worked conscious that a song from the 64/65 World’s Fair in Flushing remains true: « It’s a small world after all…a small, small world! »
Fan Mail
1960 (Barbara Frankfort Patrick) - “I love the Newsletters.”
1960 (Paul “Bick” Keister) - “Thanks for the ‘Shout Out’ about ‘Bickie.’”
1965 (Jeffrey Orling) - “Art, I hope you are aware of what value your newsletters are. ... immeasurable. With gratitude, Jeffrey”
1966 (Barry Newborn) - “Much thanks for your outstanding Newsletters.”
1967 (Jill Simon Forte) - I see that you are never too busy to keep us Wheatley-ites happy 😊.”
1967 (Barbara Smith Stanisic) - “Great as always, Art. Thank you for all your hard work.” ❤️
1970 (Mitch Shapiro - “Excellent! Issue # 148 of the Newsletter is exceptional, especially the heartfelt stories. Great Job putting this together.”
1971 (Merrie Sesskin) - “Art and Ken, Thanks for another great newsletter. I liked the format of the announcements, and I enjoyed all of the photos. Happy Spring!”
1989 (Erica Weisler Schierman) - “Thank you for all of your hard work.”
Closing
That’s it for The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 149. Please send me your autobiography before someone else sends me your obituary.
Art
Arthur Fredericks Engoron, Class of 1967
646-872-4833
Art...keep up the good fight! Really enjoy your Newsletter....