Special thoughts from the Class President

Tim Neely

Fifty years ago this June -- anyone remember the date? -- will mark our graduation from Avonworth High School. For a little perspective, imagine yourself back in the gym that evening. You see an elderly couple up in the seats, he with a glistening scalp and ample waistline, she with gray-white hair and very sensible shoes. During the ceremony, they are introduced by our Principal, Mr. McLaughlin ("Teddy Snow-Crop" to some), as Sally and Bill Jones, high school sweethearts back for the 50th reunion of the class of -- 1911! Imagine further that during the weekend of our reunion beginning this September 23rd, you strike up a conversation with a teenager serving your breakfast and learn that she has just graduated from Avonworth, with most of her life yet to come (barring, of course, that treacherous "unforeseen"); fifty years later she could well be enjoying her 50th reunion in 2061. 'Nuff said about time and its passage.

Many of us attended the class "get-together" (as Jack Faulkner so aptly called it) a year and a half ago, which was great fun but seemingly over almost before it began. I think we all left with a bit of a who-was-that-masked-man feeling as we sort of caught up with some, waved across the room at others, and chatted just briefly with the rest. At least I felt that way. Fortunately, that's not going to be the case this year as the get-together grows into a full fledged reunion under the planning of a hard working committee consisting of Robb Bell, Fern Clark Cassidy, John Corfield, Carol Warne Egan, David El-zik, Jack Faulkner, Herb Hamilton, Peg Maier Henrich, Louise Wetzel Lakatos, LaRae Hill Lawson, Linda Turner Owens, Charlotte McCalister Pack, Diane Groetzinger Scanlon, Janet Renner Shaffer, Dave Stevens, Carole Christy Stroyne, and Diane Kenyon Wilson. Special kudos to Herb whose computer skills have given us our own class of '61 web site with details about the reunion and the ability to communicate with each other as the year goes on, so that when we actually join together on the 23rd we will have had the chance to catch up through emails, phone calls, and the like.

After the get-together and in anticipation of the reunion, I pulled out our senior yearbook, the De Rebus, for the first time in many years. I must admit that I opened it with some misgivings. What would I find, would I recognize everyone, would I recognize myself? Well, I'm happy to report that it's been mostly a fun trip back in time, bringing up many fond memories along with a few that weren't so nice, all of which I guess is what the business of growing up and going from elementary through high school is all about.

I was particularly struck by what a good job Carol Stewart and her staff did. It captured who we were then and what the times were like, and even its length, a little over 100 pages, got it right. I was reminded of the general unfairness then -- and maybe it still holds too true -- that while the boys got a lot of the space, the girls did most of the hard work. For example, the De Rebus staff was almost all girls: Carol as editor, business manager LaRae Hill, circulation manager Sue Fisher, circulation staff Barbara Johnston and Holly Gerlach, literary editor Fern Clark, literary staff Janet Schuler and Carol Smith, photo editor Lynne Cotton, photo staff Lyn Penyack. I was surprised to see that I was part of the literary staff because I know I didn't lift a damn finger to help out -- but maybe fellow staff members Robb Bell, Bob Eback, Gary Lewis, Paul Needham, and John Wilks did. (I have my doubts!) The same was true for the Avonews, edited by Prudy Emery. Boys got far more space for sports than the girls did and more than we deserved. Only by re-reading the yearbook did I learn that Janet Schuler's "volleyball serves were the talk of the school." Jack, can the committee set up a net and encourage Janet to show off her game?

A few pages in, there is a photo of several of us standing in front of our lockers. My eye went into the picture through a natural path just to the left of center and focused first on John Corfield, tall in khakis and a white shirt. John is looking to his right as though he might scan over to say hello to Walter Turner in the left foreground (I had forgotten how tall Walter is), the only person actually looking in his locker. To the right in the foreground is a group of seven folks chatting -- Barbara Johnston is in the center with her patented great smile, Holly Gerlach is listening intently, Carol Stewart (I think) is on the far right with her back to the camera, and Dave Lipke's head is visible from the nose up. The rest of Dave is behind Lyn Penyack who is obviously poised -- at least in my version of the story -- to make a classic Penyack Point, which will convulse the group in laughter. Ah, would that we could turn this into film to see the next few frames.

Moving on a few pages we see Janet Schuler and Carol Murphy holding -- a large pumpkin? The picture on the facing page is taken in lunch room 202. Jack Faulkner, always a bit of a Peck's bad boy (never lose that, Jack!), has told a slightly off color story that has amused everyone in the room, except Mike Gaughan who seems none too pleased. Ken Krebs is also laughing in the background, but at an outright dirty joke that Bob Eback has just told him.

On page 26 we come to the faculty. The first picture in the upper left is Benjamin F. Bast, a stern visage, all business that Mr. Bast. I remember sitting in some meeting in the ninth or tenth grade that was being run by an upperclassman. I forget who it was, maybe Phil Derringer? I can see him but can't quite get the name. Mr. Bast stormed into the room and interrupted the meeting. Phil was in the middle of a sentence, remained cooler than I would have, and politely asked Mr. Bast to wait until he had finished his thought , which caused Bast to yell, "Don't be obstreperous, young man!" Cracked me up and taught me a new word. Next to Mr. Bast is Marjorie C. Carter, the librarian. In the seventh grade I checked a book out and forgot to return it until the end of the year. Mrs. Carter was a very quiet woman but she chewed me out royally, if quietly, which scared me off libraries for several years.

Turn the page and in the upper left is Charles T. Wright, who taught 8th grade math. Miss Harris, the Latin teacher, had the room next to his, and it was obvious that Mr. Wright had a crush on her. I guess it went both ways because they got married, I think while we were still in school.

Down the page is Mr. Ringer, a good teacher and a thoroughly decent man. I was in his class when Bill Mazeroski hit the home run to beat the New York Yankees in the 1960 World Series. Mr. Ringer had let someone tune in the game on a transistor radio "but only if you keep the noise down," because Mr. McLaughlin's office was just across the hall. As you can imagine, when Maz hit the homer, the class erupted and Mr. Ringer stood there in the middle shouting -- at high decibel level -- "keep it down, keep it down!" (To his credit, he let us keep the radio on.) If we had stepped outside the classroom, I'm sure we would have heard a similar ruckus in the Principal's office.

At the bottom of the page is Thomas D. Regney, assistant football coach and head baseball coach. Coach Regney grew up in Ambridge and came to Avonworth when we were freshmen. That first year, he coached the junior varsity and was not impressed with our athletic skills or toughness. One day he told us that he could bring a group of 5th grade girls over from Ambridge who would kick our butts but good. I believe that he was serious, and maybe they could have. On the baseball field, well, let's be charitable and say that as a baseball coach Mr. Regney ran a good spring football camp. His major piece of coaching insight was, "You got to be the master of the ground ball." Good advice, I'm sure.

The next page includes Tom "Will I See You in September" Monito and the band leader, Mr. Lee, who gave me a well deserved D in music. Also there is James K. Sewall, French and Spanish teacher. The last semester of senior year I sat in the back of his class with Sue Daub. Although the class note next to her picture states that she was "very quiet," she was a bit of a troublemaker and, Susan Daub, wherever you are, I hold you wholly responsible for the "unsatisfactory" conduct mark I got from Mr. Sewall.

Also on that page is one of my favorite pictures in the book. Ken Krebs is at his desk, back to the camera, with his right arm in the air, a pencil in his hand. Even though we see only a bit of his face from the rear, you can tell that Kenny's flashing a big grin, as he usually did. At the head of the room is Mr. Woods, an English teacher, and he too is beaming right back at Ken. Tom Kelley has turned around in his seat to face Ken and is obviously not buying any of his act. The caption drolly notes that as Ken Krebs offers his philosophy to Mr. Woods, "Tom Kelley looks on." By the way, Kells, a very belated 50 year "thanks" to you for being the best football manager imaginable. You worked longer hours by far than the players and probably the coaches, too. You were the original Radar O'Reilly.

At the start of the section on seniors (a word with new meaning for us now!), recognition is given to academic achievement. We had three national merit finalists, Susie Pannier, Paul Needham, and Carol Stewart, a terrific result for a class our size. On a county-wide exam Susie, Paul, and Carol were joined by Beverly Hoyt, Carol Smith, and Prudy Emery as prize winners, and Paul placed first among all who took the test. (Paul had a ping pong table in his house, and I recall thinking that while he was a boatload smarter than I was, surely I could wax him at ping pong. No so, in fact not even close. Son of a gun has a tricky left hand serve that puts on some wicked back spin; I never had a chance. So if there's a table at the reunion and Paul saunters up to you in his friendly, unassuming way and says wouldn't it be fun to play a few games, and oh what the heck, let's put down a few pennies to spice it up, my advice is just walk away.) We had other good students too, including (and apologies to those I'm missing) Robb Bell, Bill Bingler, David El-zik, Sue Fisher, Louie Struble, Carol Warne, and John Wilks. And Bob Eback knew more math in his little finger than the rest of us put together.

Next we come to our senior pictures and class notes. I've gotten tremendous pleasure out of looking at the pictures and reading the notes, and could have comments about everyone. While I'll spare you that, here are a few observations:

•  Bob Craig was one funny guy.
• It is written that Walter Dimling "hated dancing." I think it was the other way around.
• I didn't realize that Ed Dzubay's "future plans included the safari business."
• At least four kids transferred to Avonworth as juniors : Sue Daub, Bob Eback, Gary Fielder, and Jerry Matczak. I'm sure that was a lot harder than I realized then, and I'm equally sure I didn't do enough to be welcoming.
• We had excellent musical talent: Diane Kenyon and John Thumm (voice), Gary Lewis (piano), Ben Mayo (bass), Don Harper (sax), my cousin Jack Scandrett (French horn); no doubt many others I've missed. Ed Shaffer, didn't you play the trombone? I expected to see that in your class note but there was no mention of being in the band, so maybe I was dreaming. Walter Dimling was a budding trombone player until the day he shoved it, case and all, under the wheels of a bus. He always swore it was an accident, but I never bought that for a second.
• Our cheerleaders were excellent and made a difference, and Darlene Dreier and her majorettes put on a terrific show.
• On page 43 there's a photo of LaRae, Bev Hoyt, and Betty Hilke showing off their motorcycles to Dave Hinton and Lyn Hoffman.
• We had some good athletes, too: Bill Bingler, John Corfield, Walter Dimling, Jack Faulkner, Gary Fielder, Herb Hamilton, Lyn Hoffman, Bill Langell, Dave Lipke, Mike Milliken, Tom Reilly, Bill Snyder, Skip Snyder, Chip Struble, Doug Taylor, Ron Tempalski. Alas, as noted above, the girls weren't given the opportunities they deserved, but pictures show Lynne Cotton, Becky Stout, Janet Schuler (with a bowling ball, not a volley ball or a pumpkin), Fern Clark, Sue Pollock, and Jane Duesing hard at work in various sports. I'm sure that Linda Turner ran a tight ship as president of the Girl's Athletic Association. When it came to sports, though, I note that there's a little fellow in the junior high football picture, sitting between R. Eshenbaugh and D. Edmunds, named E. Morris, who went on to later fame under the name "Mercury."
• Because of school crowding, we went to Emsworth for fifth and sixth grades. This was a change for me and I was afraid of what it might bring. I remember that when I first ran into Tom Reilly and Frank Pickell, I was sure they were going to pound me into the ground. I could not have been more wrong. They were great and they were welcoming, as were all the Emsworth kids, and I really appreciated it then and I appreciate it now. (I will admit that I was terrified of my fifth grade teacher, Miss Agnew, and still occasionally wake up at 3 a.m. in the middle of a scary fifth grade experience.)
• I wonder if people have followed the paths mentioned in the class notes. Ed, did you make your mark in the safari business? Carole Christy, Judy Ertl, Betty Hilke, Barbara Johnston, Chris Rozday, Ginny Weiss, did you go on to one of the noblest of all professions, nursing? Ed Loedding and Paul Toncic, did you join the military as you had planned? And LaRae, Betty, and Bev, I sure as heck hope you're still riding big Harleys. Everyone, please fill out and return the questionnaire attached to the class web site so that we'll all have a sense of what the last 50 years have brought. 

These are just a few of my thoughts about our class that have come to me as I wander through Carol's De Rebus. I encourage you to do some wandering there yourself. If you do, I'm sure you'll have a flood of your own memories and stories to put with many of the pictures and class notes. (If Barbara really is asleep on page 11, how come the book hasn't fallen from her hand?) And be sure to mark your calendars for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, September 23,24, and 25. See you there!

 Tim Neely

We will see you all in September !!

REFLECTIONS & RECONNECTIONS by David El-Zik

Two years ago, someone dear to us living in Egypt, invited me to be a friend on Facebook....which until then I had thought was some dating site for high school and college kids.   That is where I -from here in L.A. - finally located some Avonworth ghosts from my past, who pointed me to the Classmates site and to the upcoming class get-together in Sewickley, PA.

Forty eight years earlier, in Alexandria, our Headmaster nominated some of us students (with parents' permission) to travel to Cairo for a selection interview to become the first AFS high school  exchange students from what was then the UAR, the short-lived political union between Egypt and Syria.  Some months later I and 6 other teenagers, were on a long air journey (my very first) to New York, with many different young people from other lands.  A couple of days later, I was on a plane to Pittsburgh -filled with both excitement and fear of the unknown- to meet the Mayo’s, and spend a year as a member of their family.  I was very quickly and warmly welcomed into my host family and the community.  Many things were similar to home but others were different.  Instead of the moderate summer weather of the flat Mediterranean beaches I had left days earlier, it was hot and muggy in Ben Avon.  Most afternoons, I would trek with the Mayo children to cool off in the swimming pool.  On the walk back, we would often get drenched.  Thunderstorms, summer rainfall and verdant hills were new experiences and so were getting to know quite a few of Ben's, Kitty's and Nancy's classmates.  Having grown up the youngest of 4 boys, I suddenly had younger siblings -all girls- and had joined a musical household, complete with a music room where all 5 children practiced daily.

A few weeks later, school began.  My trepidations were immediately laid to rest.  Everyone was very friendly and the administrators and teachers quickly put me at ease.  My first taste of democracy was when our senior class met and I was asked, with some others, to leave the assembly hall.  When we were invited back, it was announced that my peers had elected me Class Vice-President.  I was flabbergasted and honored.  To this day I'm puzzled as to what exactly took place.  Avonworth was quite a contrast to my previous private boy's school, modeled on England's Eton, and from which I had just graduated after spending 13 years.  The faculty had "selected “me as a Prefect in my final year.  Now, I was "elected" and immersed in a coeducational, dynamic, creative and invigorating environment with much more than academics and sports.  I loved it and dove right in.  Pep rallies, marching band, majorettes, concert choir, exciting ball games with cheerleaders, school dances where the gym was magically transformed and decorated by us, and student council meetings.  We were active in, and outside, the classroom.  It was suggested that I teach an introductory Arabic language after-school class, which quite a few students and some teachers joined.  Avonworth had welcomed many AFS students before 1960-61, but none from my exotic part of the world.  My speaking schedule about Egypt was very busy: to local organizations, church groups and at other schools.  Some of these presentations were with other exchange students from different countries, some of whom became close friends.  This allowed me to get to know other parts of Pittsburgh, other countries' cultures, and to address misconceptions about my country and clear ones I had about the United States.  Getting to know American society -close up- was a great learning experience.  It was also a tremendous opportunity for personal growth and self-discovery.

Avonworth classmates, who finally reconnected with me two years ago, seemed surprised at how vividly I recalled many details of that year.  It was such an exciting and happy experience that it remains deeply etched in my mind, including the traditional one month bus tour (on a chartered Greyhound with other exchange students from Pennsylvania) through a dozen states and ending in a reunion with all 1800 AFSers in Washington, D.C. and a Rose Garden address by President Kennedy.  It was also a time for many firsts.  Snowfall. Four Seasons, actually my one and only - other than Vivaldi's.  Presidential elections.  The Prom: well, actually there were two....but Diane Kenyon Wilson was my very first prom-date!  Fanny, a Swiss AFS friend from across town asked me to escort her to her school prom; five years later it was she who introduced me (during my summer of architectural practical training in Zurich) to Margrit, who became my wife two years later.

At the 2009 get-together, it dawned on me that I had been part of our class for just the one year, whereas most knew one another for much -or most-of their education.  Once again, I had traveled the farthest to attend....albeit this time from CA. not Egypt!  During that weekend I renewed many friendships and made a lot of discoveries: that our mature and relaxed group had much in common due to our shared experiences at that young age, that our school had ranked among the top academically, that some had transferred from different schools along the way, and that there had been social and economic differences.  Personally, I regretted that several people I had looked forward to seeing had passed on and that during my exciting and busy time at Avonworth I did not get to know all the class well.  Afterward, Peg kindly mailed me a copy of the Silver Anniversary group photo and booklet where my senior picture has a caption below it reading "address unknown" and the school mascot's comment reads "David always did have trouble remembering where he lived".

Actually, we have lived in Southern California since 1974. On the way over, we made a brief stop in Pittsburgh to see Mr. & Mrs. Mayo (Poppy & Mommy).  My recollection of that visit is rather fuzzy.  Lucy Scandrett reminded me that she and Jack came by to see us.  So did Mr. Woods.  It was the 4th of July weekend and none of the Mayo children, or my classmates, were living there anymore.  The country had undergone a dramatic change since our graduation: Vietnam, the sexual revolution, racial tensions.  Now, the Mayo’s were locking the house and car doors.  I had also changed.  Upon my return to Egypt, my perspective was different as Nasser sharply veered the country into socialism and totalitarianism.  Just before we could leave (as approved U.S. immigrants) I was drafted and spent five years of military service.  Thirteen years later, I again did not know what the future would hold.  This time, I had responsibilities for my wife and 18 month old child....and soon to discover -not travel jet lag- but the arrival of the first U.S. born El-Zik.  Once again, openness, optimism, and opportunity -this great country's trademarks- were there to welcome me.

As for the friend who introduced me to Facebook two years ago which led me to the end of my 48 years of AVHS-wilderness?  Her husband is an internationally recognized medical professor who has also been an advocate for human rights and democracy in Egypt.  His years of writings critical of the regime and the rampant corruption in the country inspired the youth to rally on the Internet and to peacefully bring down a ruthless dictatorship. 

Back in 1960-61, I discovered (before Disney did) that it's a small world after all....thanks to my Avonworth classmates and AFS friends and that we have so much in common - yet our uniqueness adds color to our world.  The 2009 get-together was delightful.....and life is too short.  So, I booked our flights and hotel room months ago.....and am looking forward to letting what's left of my hair down again and to having Margrit connect with a vital part of my past and celebrate our Reunion in September!