Bronxville Class of 1955 Gathers for 60th High School Reunion September 9 and 10
By Claudia Dole, Class of 1955, Bronxville High School
Sep. 16, 2015: "Why, you haven't changed a bit!"
That was the cheery (if demonstrably untrue) cry of greeting that was frequently heard amid a cascade of hugs and smiles on September 9 and 10 when the Bronxville High School Class of 1955 gathered to celebrate its 60th reunion.
The event, graciously organized by Darwin Brown and Perry (Hugill) Kurtz, attracted 17 classmates, who, along with their significant others, journeyed to their old scholastic haunts from nine states, including Kentucky, Florida, Illinois, and California (the home state of Perry and Dick Kurtz, who won the prize—a handsome pair of inflatable balloons emblazoned with the numeral 60—for having traveled the greatest distance).
The festivities began on Wednesday evening in the bar at the Crown Plaza Hotel in White Plains, where most of the revelers had booked rooms, and where no one could quite believe that six full decades had passed since they last gazed upon some of these mostly well-remembered faces.
There, the classmates, adorned with name tags thoughtfully printed in large type to accommodate geezer eyesight, enjoyed a drink (or maybe two) before moving on to a private dining room, where the glacial service was scarcely noticed, obscured by the rekindled camaraderie and good, often hilarious, conversation about long-ago teachers and freshly remembered pranks and all those pizzas consumed at Annabelle's Diner after football games.
Mostly, the talk involved plain old-fashioned catching up on all their divergent lives, which included those of an airline pilot, a college professor, a bus driver, an entrepreneur, a high school teacher, an aeronautical engineer, and assorted Jacks and Jills of many trades. Some of the talk extended into the wee hours.
On Thursday, though the heavens occasionally wept, the rain couldn't dampen spirits as the group reconvened for a loud and gala lunch at the Bronxville Field Club, where savory chicken and salmon and a sinful dessert were happily consumed. The mood grew more solemn at the conclusion of the meal when class spokespersons arose to talk of what the school had meant to them and to commemorate those classmates who were no longer there.
First, John O'Ryan read a moving email sent by Stan Yasuda, who was unable to attend because of ill health. His message began, "Time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years. It seems just yesterday that I was young, just married, and embarking on my new life with my mate. Yet in a way it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went. I know that I lived them all. I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams. But, here it is—the winter of my life and it catches me by surprise. How did I get here so fast? Where did all the years go and where did my youth go?"
In his email, Stan included some wry aphorisms about what it's like to grow old: "You sleep better in a chair with the TV blaring than in bed—it's called 'pre-sleep.'" "Now that you can afford expensive jewelry, it's not safe to wear it anywhere." "You tend to use more four-letter words: 'What?' 'When?' 'What?'" He ended with these sage observations: "Today is the oldest you've ever been, yet the youngest you'll ever be, so enjoy this day while it lasts. Do what you can today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember. It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived."
The room fell totally silent while Dick Kurtz read the names of the 47 classmates who are now deceased. Darwin Brown then handed out copies of the obituaries of three of the most illustrious members of the Class of '55: Fischer Black (1938-1995), a partner at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and a celebrated economist whose groundbreaking work in financial theory helped revolutionize modern Wall Street (a Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously but had he lived, Fischer would undoubtedly have been a joint winner of the 1997 Prize in Economics awarded to his colleagues in the development of the valuation of stock options); Robert L. Helmreich (1937-2012), a psychology professor at the University of Texas whose many published research articles dealt with airline and medical safety and who was recognized in the aviation and health care industries as a brilliant thinker who paved the way for countless advances in the field of human performance management; and Eva (Augenblick) Neer (1937-2001), a physician, biochemist, and cell biology scientist at Harvard University whose research concepts made her a world leader in G-protein studies and widely influenced the general understanding of cell behavior.
Next, unofficial class cheerleader Patsy Lee Roess, who had bravely driven all the way up from Florida, arose to deliver an emotional tribute to The Bronxville School and to the lifelong friendships she formed there. She concluded by calling upon Yvonne (Emmons) Duvall to brief the group on the failing health of another classmate; Yvonne did so and urged everyone to send the patient messages of support and encouragement.
The "reunionists" then proceeded to the high school, where we were given a tour of the facilities by Peggy Williams, the engaging executive director of The Bronxville School Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization with the sole purpose of supporting the school and educational excellence in the village. The highlight of the tour proved to be an exclusive peek into the not-quite-finished state-of-the-art auditorium, a sight so stirring that it caused the group to break into an enthusiastic if somewhat ragged chorus of "Onward Bronxville."
The reunion came to an end after the school visit, with classmates and their camp followers either heading home or lingering in the immediate vicinity for a day or two or heading into New York City for a taste of Big Apple entertainment.
As farewell hugs were delivered, it was agreed that the reunion had been all too brief. Perhaps Patsy Roess best summed up the feelings of her classmates when she told them, "I love you all. You have been the foundation of my life." As she later added, "The emotional dust which came from everywhere hit me squarely, not between the eyes, but straight into my heart. It's going to be difficult to shake loose."
Will there be a 65th reunion of the Class of '55? Given the infectious spirit of this group, and despite the relentless march of time, it does seem like a sure thing.
To see photos, click here: BHS Class of '55 60th Reunion 2015.
Attendees from the BHS Class of '55
Joann (Morell) Alfredo
Putsie (Barber) Ritchey
Len Berry
Darwin Brown
Ingrid (Brown) Ehrle
Pat (Chapman) Ritter
Yvonne (Emmons) Duvall
Claudia (Frost) Dole
Brenda (Gill) Nelson
Perry (Hugill) Kurtz
Mary (Schaefer) Mundy
John O'Ryan
Meredith (Riggs) Spangler
Patsy (Lee) Roess
George Russell
Bill Trimble
Carol Walsh
Pictured here: Members of the Bronxville High School Class of 1955.
Photo above by A. Warner; photos in link by Jerry Dole
