As you all know, in February 2012, our own Wellesley High School will be torn down to make way for a new WHS that is being completed on the parking lot of the school we all knew.
In the words of Jeanie Goddard (retired English teacher): "So many of us discovered how to be, and how to think, and how to teach, and how to greet one another in the old building. Therefore, plans were made to take the opportunity to celebrate the corridors and the stage and the classrooms before the new versions take their places in future student and faculty hearts." The Town of Wellesley agreed to give us that opportunity this past week."
The event was called "Turn Out The Lights".
November 20, 2011, Sunday
Architectural History
It began on Sunday with the premier showing of a short 24-minute video of the architectural history of the l938 WHS building. Note: The video can be found on the www.wellesleycelebrateseducation.org website.
November 22, 2011, Tuesday
The Return to WHS
Tuesday, during the school day, 25 "famed and fabled" alums presented seminars to the current students. Included were actors, screenwriters, athletes, diplomats, political operatives, historians, physicians, human rights activists, a mountain climber, a chef, a former Saturday Night Live performer, writers, poets, and storytellers. The 1960’s were represented by Natalie Salatich Jacobsen ’61, Mary Duffy ’62 and Leo Boyle "64. Leo talked about the influence his high school English Teacher, Miss Alice Teed, had upon him as she drilled him in his presentation of our graduatrion speech. Her techniques are ones he uses today in the courtroom.
Panel: "U.S Foreign Policy: Making It, Executing It, Analyzing It and Covering It" Tuesday evening was a community event attended by 400 people. The panelists were Nick Burns, the former ambassador to Greece and to NATO, now a professor at the Kennedy School, and a frequent commentator in the news; Jeff Fager, former producer of 60 Minutes and the new producer of CBS news; and Aneesh Raman, former CNN reporter (he was the first American journalist in Teheran after the tension with Iran during 2007) who now works at the Pentagon. It was moderated by Alan Hendrickson of Tufts University. They were all asked about how WHS affected their lives and you would have been proud to have been a WHS graduate sitting in that audience. Note: The panel discussion can be found on the www.wellesleycelebrateseducation.org website.
November 24, 2011, Thursday
Thursday morning was the 124th football game between Needham and Wellesley. We were creamed, 42 to 18. Gerry Murphy was the sports announcer at the game.
November 25, 2011, Friday
Friday night was the Dance with Music of the Decades. Many of our classmates took our lead and came dressed for the prom. Sharon Chandler, Gail Harvey Donkin, Lisa Durrell, Bob Bouvier, Buddy Mear and I, as well as representatives from 1962, 1963, 1965 and 1966 and beyond were there. There were refreshments, lavish red and black streamers and balloons and a DJ.
November 26, 2011 Thursday
Saturday Open House:
There were literally THOUSANDS of people who streamed through the school on Saturday. There was food for sale by WHS vendors. Musical entertainment in the hallways. A room displaying artwork by grads and another room (appropriately, Mr. Crockett’s old room) displaying the works of WHS authors. Another room displayed old Bradfords, Tangents and yearbooks. The memorabilia of our class was on display in Room 212 (part of the old library).
Yard Sale:
There was an enormous Yard Sale in the gym where such treasures as band uniforms, banners, pom poms, fronts of lockers, and all manner of memorabilia were sold. Buddy Mear found a small display case that was in his father’s classroom.
Class of 1964 Meeting:
To kickoff plans for the 50th Reunion to be held in 2014. Those attending included Bob Bouvier, Rick Spelman, Alice Fromer Leighton, Ginny Murray, Steve Sargent, Andrea Arcand Wassel, Jeff Talmadge, Buddy Mear, Gail Harvey Donkin, Archie Campbell, Sharon Chandler, Peter Kelley, Lisa Durrell, Lynda Fumia St. James and Lucia Olsson Savage.
We voted to have a brick made to add to the Pave The Plaza project at the new high school. We distributed information on ordering your own personal brick for the Pave the Plaza project. Individual members of our class who have already purchased bricks include: Greg Cluff, Dave Burtt, Sandy Dale Poitras, Nancy Jameson Russell, Vin Trubiani, Ginny Murray and one in memory of Bill Simone. Our class brick will say:
Class of ’64
Those were the days, my friend
Our 50th Reunion will take place over Columbus Day Weekend, Oct. 11-12, 2014, based at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Waltham. The Friday evening gathering will be at Vinnie and Charlotte (Govatsos) Trubiani’s home in Wellesley, subsidized by the class. There will be planned Saturday afternoon events. The Main Event will be a dinner at the Embassy Suites Hotel. We hope to produce the yearbook supplement to include a scanned copy of our original yearbook and the 1961 Phillipian (9th grade yearbook) in digital format. The yearbook supplement will be distributed prior to the reunion to give classmates a chance to read and absorb it.
We distributed a copy of the Lost List, the Deceased List and contacts for the classes of 1962, 1963 and 1965. As of this meeting 91% of the original class of 365 classmates have been located or confirmed deceased.
Performing Arts Showcase:
Saturday night the Turn Out The Lights week was capped off by this sold-out evening event. Adam Harrington (’96) and Tim Dowling (’92) were MC’s and kept the show lively. There was a poet, trumpet player Stephen Burns (‘77) and singer Joanna Mongiardo (‘92), and other individuals and groups. The headliner of the show was Billy Squier (’68), a rock star in the 80’s sang two of his songs, then the audience was asked to turn on little LED candles and we all sang John Lennon’s "In My Life". Then, on a signal from organizer Jeanie Goddard, we "turned out the lights". Several of us stood around remembering and drinking in the feeling of the place for the last time as the house band played "School’s Out Forever".
