Rick Ferran Hendra's Comments

Rick
Sad to hear the site closing
Let's organize a 55th Reunion
Do you have all the emails!
Richard

Dear Rick: This website is closing--what a shame. Although I rarely use it, I feel very sad that it will die. I am hoping my classmates will start an email and phone list, so we can contact each other (even if mostly in our dreams). We would also include people from other 164 classes wha have been friends (even if only cyber-friends) of class members. Would you like to do this?

Hope you are doing well.

Best,

Bonnie

bsk1@cumc.columbia.edu

212 928-8111 (H)

212 874-3966 (W)

Hello Rick -- I vaguely remember you tho I clearly remember you name. I suspect we were in several classes together if we garduated in 1961 and had same teachers. I had mrs rosenberg in 4th grade and vividly remember going on a field trip to alley pond park to bird watch and stopping in Mrs. Rosenbergs house which was near the park. I also had Mrs Schmitdt in 3rd grade, Mrs Bromberg in 5th and Mrs Giordano in 6th grade. I was in the glee club and was in South Pacific - Eddie Siegal was Honey Bun. I was a "monitor" and wore that stupid white strap with the badge. I hope you're well. I lived on Long Island til 5 years ago, sold our home and moved to Riverdale. Married 42 years years, have two married sons and 4 grandchildren. I lived on 71st road just off Main streer, across the street from KGH Jewish Center, Hope you are well.

Rick-

What a pleasant surprise after all these years. I remember you well--we both developed a life-long love of opera thanks to Mrs. Rosenberg. Do I also remember that you played the lead in our class production of "Pirates of Penzance" and that Rona Hershkowitz was Little Buttercup?

I tracked down Robert Harris (f/k/a Heimowitz) through his father's name. Ironically, one of my associates at work was his college room-mate at Clark. Robert and I always traded charges about who had the worst handwriting. Years later, he confessed he had to take special penmanship lessons.

I had  lunch with Gave Taussig a few years ago--we had a great time reminiscing.

My favorite teachers were Belle Simon (Paul's mother) and Florence Bromberg. I left the class just before graduation because my family moved to Tenafly, NJ. Just recovered one of my treasured possessions, a Golden Book World History signed by every student in Mrs. Bromberg's class.

My direct email is richard.m.warshauer@gmail.com.

Best regards,

Richard

Hi Rick, Thanks for checking in. I signed up with this site several months ago, and yours is the first message I received. I seemed to have missed out on the original enthusiasm it generated and now it seems that many people have given up on it. Anyway, I see that the message you received from Sandy Weinberg brought you somewhat up to date with where I am and what I am doing. Sandy and I reconnected about ten years ago when her sister tracked me down as she was looking for pictures for an album to celebrate Sandy's 50th birthday (we went to the Jamaica HS prom together). We have kept in touch since then and get together when she visits NYC. Reading your post, it seems that you have found quite a comfortable and stimulating niche in life. Sometimes, at the end of those days that seem just a little too harried, I wonder how I would fare in what I perceive to be a somewhat less frantic life in academia (or are my perceptions of that life wrong?). As the prospect of retirement from my current job approaches, and I try to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life, teaching frequently comes to mind. We'll see. Anyway, it was good to hear from you.
Gabe

hey Rick,
Wish I was inspired to geologize with Mrs. Rosenberg. I came to it late (second career), But love coming to the museum everyday. Let me know when yr in town. I'll get you tix. btw- my kid attends Berklee. Freshman bass player.
take care,
Jamie

No, I didn't knew either of the women you mentioned from Arlington. It was a small school system, but unless you taught in the same school with someone, there were no connections. To fill you in on a few people you asked about: Barbara remained one of my closest friends and still is. She married Jeff Rogoff, also from Parsons. She is a social worker and has her own practice. They have 2 children and never strayed too far, having bought a house near Main Street and 73rd. Gabe became a lawyer and works for the city. His wife is a computer teacher, and they, too, have 2 children. They have a house in Hollis Hills (?) near Union Tpke and 212th St. Dale Borrows didn't run for any office--her husband did. She was also a teacher--speech and drama. I just knew of her because she was very active in the temple that my mother belonged to, and that's how our paths wound up crossing again. Iris Earlbaum and I had no contact since high school graduation, but we really reconnected at the Parsons gathering and enjoyed each other tremendously. She and her husband live in Florida and own a business, what type I really don't remember. She has 2 children as well. Howie Ginsberg I think is a college professor. Although I would have assumed he'd be teaching entymology, I don't think that's what it is, but it is something science related. I agree--our class from 164, and I found the same about our class from Parsons, really did go on to do good things. I sometimes wonder about some of the students I had who had major problems and WERE major problems. Reading alumni notes from my school, I occasionally read about one of them and am delighted, but frankly astonished, that some of them became doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. I would have assumed I'd read about them being out on parole! So, one can never tell.
When my brother told me about this website and I signed on, the one person I sent a comment to was Allyn Cohen. We actually went out a little later on. I knew he was a radiologist because my mother and his mother knew each other I think. I never heard anything back from him, though. Do you have any word of him? Sandy

Rick--It sounds like you've had a really interesting and satisfying life. It's such fun to hear what folks you knew 50 years ago went on to do! I taught in Arlington, Massachusetts for 3 years before we moved to Colorado. Other Massachusetts highlights for me: college in Boston (Simmons), grad school in Medford (Tufts), apartments in Brookline, Somerville, and Arlington. I'm still friends with Barbara Tsao and Gabe Taussig, and we get together whenever I'm in NY, which isn't as often as it used to be since both my parents have passed away. A few years ago, somehow our group of kids from Parsons Junior High had our own informal reunion, with many of us traveling distances to attend. It was just fabulous. I'm sure that many of the people who showed up were also at 164 with us, but I don't really remember who. I think that Meryl Levine, Iris Earlbaum , Howard Ginsburg, and Ellen Greenberg were all 164 kids. It was great seeing everyone. We HAVE changed! I hadn't seen most of them since we graduated from Parsons in 1964! Take care. Sandy

Rick--How much fun to hear from people from way back when! Your comment made me laugh, because I am totally not artistic, and I don't really remember ever having been. And coloring people with yellow skin? If you say so! My husband and daughters are very artistic and musical--I'm glad they got his talent and not mine. I've been a great audience all these years. Where has life taken you?

are you going to the big reunion? if you are you can stay at my place in lower westchester. i live with my lovely wife and delightful 13 year old twins but be have a guest room. i only extend this offer because you went to UB and majored in philosophy

Hi, Rick: Thanks for your note. Now I definitely know where you lived. I am sorry to hear about Margot; she and Leon were lovely people. I was very good friends with Ellen in, maybe, 4th through 6th grades. I moved away after that and went to a different junior high and high school, and we lost touch.
Happy Easter, Passover, return of spring, whichever, if any, you celebrate.
Bonnie K.

Hey Rick: It still amazes me how much time we all spent playing cards. I remember marathon games of hearts and how everyone would go absolutely nuts when someone dropped the Queen of Spades on a poor unsuspecting victim. Hours and hours. Then the games of poker, with no money on the table, because Ed Flynn wouldn't allow it. Or more likely, hadn't figured out a way he could make money off of it himself. I knew how to shuffle and make a bridge with the cards by the time I was 8. My mom was of course, appalled.

Hi, Rick: Thanks for responding. I only remember seed pods which you could pull apart at one end and put them on your nose--polliwogs, we called them. I don't think those are what you mean. Did you know Ellen Breslaw--she lived in that last row of garden apartments where you were, in one of the houses that had a back door and a small terrace. Her parents were Margot and Leon. I think you must have been neighbors.
Yes, I was Eliza Doolittle; actually I shared the part with Dorothy Lerner. Those days were really fun.
I am not sure that I actually knew you in the 1950's, but I feel that I know you a little now.
Best,
Bonnie Kaufman

You truly have the best stories about some of the crazies we knew, though maybe didn't love. You never told me any of the Murphy brother stories. I never even knew there was a (more than one?) sister.

I have a special place for Jack in my heart/ or somewhere. We were playing 4-on-4. Very crowded. He's drivng to the hoop. I leave my man to help out and bump Jack who then runs into the pole. I turn away because the pole is out and its our ball. The next thing I know, I'm on the ground looking up. Jack sucker punched me and is standing over me waiting for me to get up and I guess do it again. He is finally pulled off me and the game is over. As I'm leaving the park he calls over to me and wants to shake my hand like it never happened. You can imagine what I told him. What a lunatic.

Hey Rick. Glad to hear the names I mentioned brought you back. I do remember the say nothing brothers. Weren't they named Paul and Phil? Here's a few more I thought of: Bobby Bucko; Neil Cumberland (prock); Allie (Oop) Stern; Arnie Sternheim and the Bloch brothers. I think there were 4, but I can only remember Lenny, Paulie and Ira.

Do you think Jack Prince is in prison where he belongs?

I can't believe you remember my Little Buttercup! It was in HMS Pinafore and I still remember every word of my two songs. At Bowne, I was voted Best Actress and performed in a play each year. After high school I was a drama counselor at several summer camps.
I think my love of theater helped me become a great teacher, because acting and teaching are so similar. I loved to read aloud to my high school students, and my Jim from Huck Finn was legendary. I considered each classroom my own personal stage, and my 24 year career just flew by. I had so much fun teaching. I now use my theatrics to entertain my 3 year old grandson, and 1 year old granddaughter.
Alan Brownstein was my neighbor and he went to Yeshiva for high school. His parents live in my father's apt building in Little Neck Queens.
Alan lives in Israel now.
I don't know if you remember Nancy Altstein. She came to 164 in grade 6 but she wasn't in our class. We stayed close friends all these years and we just got back from a girlfriends cruise, celebrating the big 6-0.

Hi Rick
I certainly remember you from PS 164. You had a sort of southern drawl which was refreshing change. I still remember my documents, and have fond memories of Mrs. Russell (grade 4) and Mrs Bromberg who I was lucky enough to have for both grades 5 & 6. Her love of opera and theater in general inspired me and that has stayed with me all these years.
I became a teacher because of her and some inspirational English teachers I had at Bowne H.S.
I still tell people about the trials and tribulations of being in Mrs. Emerick's 3rd grade glass. I swear she gave me math anxiety.

Rick: Your "Memories" page really moved me. I, too, was so engaged with Mr. Karow's teaching of the documents of American History; I still can recite Patrick Henry's speech by heart. Mrs. Bromberg was for me what Mrs. Rosenberg was for you; they were such good friends. I think you are absolutely right that in that era there were some extraordinarily gifted women, like those two, who would be doing other things today. Their lack of opportunity was our great good fortune; I hope our love for what they offered us made it up to them in some small way.
You seem to have lived in the same development I did. You described the archways between the courtyards--the Peekholes! Did you call them that? They were playhouses, forts, all kinds of things. They had circular "windows." I lived in the courtyard closest to the school. where the Epsteins, the Mercys, the Murphys, and the Kaplans lived. I don't recognize your name, but we must have known each other somehow.
Best, Bonnie Kaufman (Rothschild) Class of 1959

Hey Rick:

Don't know if you remember me, but you taught me how to pitch stickball. Do you remember some of the guys that hung out at the park that were maybe a few years older than you? These guys were real characters, contemporaries of Jack Prince and Kevin Tuhey, like Joe Krebs, the Murphy brothers (Bob and Terry), Herbie Doerr, Joe Cool, Johnny Isofano, Joey Tamborino, Paul Pellegrino. They tolerated me for a few summers as the official "little kid". Hope all is well with you.