We've Got Legs and We're Still Standing! NPHS Classes of 1968 and 1969 Hold Reunion October 6, 2018.

Stairway to heaven:! Linda Shebey Leugers wears her 50-year-old gym uniform to the
morning-after breakfast at the Holiday Inn.  

More than 175 classmates from the North Plainfield High School classes of 1968 and 1969 attended their reunion on the night of Oct. 6, 2018, at the Beaver Brook Country Club in Annandale, NJ.  It was largest dual reunion the two classes ever had since they began holding them together in 2004.  The event also marked the 50th anniversary for the class of 1968.

The night was misty and a thin fog enveloped the Country Club but spirits were not dampened as the warm night air was punctured by gusts of laughter, loud conversation and class rock music.  The evening featured a live DJ, photo booth, and an extensive NPHS memorabilia display plus a hot buffet dinner, warm memories and cold beer.   The only thing missing was a live performance by Bruce Springsteen.

The festivities continued until almost midnight.  The traditional Reunion after-party was held in the room of Roger and Adrienne Graubard at the Holiday Inn Clinton where most overnighters stayed.  At 8:00 on the morning of October 7, bleary-eyed party-goers staggered to the hotel dining room for breakfast to reminisce more. Linda Shebey Leugers made the grandest entrance of the morning in her maroon gym class jumpsuit which will surely be the next big fashion trend coming out of Paris in 2019.  

PHOTOS FROM THE EVENING WILL BE POSTED BEGINNING OCTOBER 8 OR 9. WATCH THIS SPACE!

The NPHS Reunion Interview with Steve Miksis Class of 1969

Steve Miksis and his wife, Lori, in Croatia (2018).  

Describe your career. 

My career has evolved over the years. In the 70’s I was a building contractor with a crew who built many cool homes in Los Angeles. In the early 80’s I went back and completed college to get licensed as a Certified Public Accountant (fancy name) then found my niche as an investigative forensic accountant; lots of interesting stories. I have also practiced as a mediator for business and family disputes, also very interesting. Currently work three days a week, perfect, and soon no days a week, even more perfect.

Where have you lived since graduating?

Since 1981 I have lived in Santa Rosa, California, an hour north of San Francisco. Beautiful part of the world even as it has doubled in size since moving here. Climate is Mediterranean, rugged coast, many, many awesome hiking spots and great local food, art and music.  

Who were your friends back in high school?  

Friends/the crew included: Emily Polskin, Howard Polskin, Ned Fitzgerald, Bob Riggs, Ann Proli, Al Misko, Mark McCloud, Carmen Jones aka Carol Mingione, Dave Mills, Rich Senna, Deb Metz …damn, never made a list like that before, sorry if I forgot someone, and I remain in touch, somewhat.

Do you have any regrets about your experiences during your high school years? 

I don’t hold regrets, in retrospect, maybe if I had a little more clue of how I affected others, and how others felt about me, that probably would have been cool, but, I would not change anything to where I am now with the life I enjoy.

Now, 50 years later, has your perspective on your high school years changed at all?  If so, how? 

Yes, as I mentioned above, I now see how personal insecurities, along with my introspective nature, kept me at a distance which did not give me the opportunities to possibly connect with others, but again, all good.

What is your fondest memory of your years at NPHS?

Not sure I can write about my fondest memory/memories, but summers at the shore, surfing endless days, autumn in the east, lasting connections.

What was the craziest or stupidest thing you did in high school?

I can’t write what was the stupidest thing I participated in, but the craziest was showing up at someone’s house whose parents were having a gathering and I was high as a kite and hallucinating and meeting people and acting normal (at least that is what I thought in between thinking, “I got to get out of here!”) Guess whose house and whose parents?  

What was your proudest accomplishment in high school?

Never thought of a “proudest accomplishment in high school,” will have to get back to you on that one.

Who was your favorite teacher? 

Paul Sincavage, great teacher, great human being.

What was your worst class?

No recall of a worst class, I guess that is good. 

What is your most powerful or haunting memory during your years at NPHS?

Most haunting memory is that of coming upon the car crash that killed Bobby Gardner and seriously injured my other two classmates. It was surreal as it had just happened and I got out of my car and was looking and walking around the scene and I heard voices mentioning the guys names, not knowing anything at the time other than it was a very serious crash; the only time in my life I recall praying for those guys.

How did growing up at a child of the 60s – and all the social baggage and impact that it may have entailed – impact you at the time and in your young adult years?

My daughter, who is now 29, once said to me when she was a teenager, “You grew up in the 60’s, right? I wish I grew up in the 60’s, I think it would have been cool.” There you go, could not have said it better myself.

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The NPHS Reunion Interview with Richard Muglia, Class of 1969

Richard Muglia, Yellowstone River, 2018.

What is your biggest fear? Hopelessness.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?  Watching my wife catching (and releasing) a Yellowstone Cutthroat trout.

Who are your heroes in real life?  Firemen, soldiers and cowboys.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?Paying off my college loans.

What is your greatest extravagance?  A 911 Carrera S that stays in the garage six months a year (we live in New England).

What words or phrases do you most overuse?Lachrymose.  

What is your most marked characteristic?  Razor focus and an incredible Italian nose.

What is your greatest regret?  That rejection slip from Langley.  And not taking Trig.

What is your motto?  Fidelium, Fortitudo, Verum.  

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?   A great memory.  Which I lack.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?  Agreeing with others when I really don’t.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?  A sense of moral superiority.

Muglia family home on the
range in Sept. 2017 at
Hubbard Lodge in Montana.
From left to right: Richard,
daughter Alice, wife Ellen
and son Sam.  

What do you most value in your friends?  A sense of humor. And fierce loyalty, which they deliver in spades.

On what occasion do (did) you lie?Every Saturday in the fall of the year throughout high school. I’m 5’6” and 130 lbs.—check out the football programs…

Who are your favorite writers?Ernest Hemingway, Ward Just and Jay McInerney.   And Herman Melville when I can’t sleep.

What are your favorite names?  Sam and Alice. Or Alice and Sam, depending on who’s in favor at any particular moment.

What is the quality you most like in a man?  Moral courage.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?  The same quality I admire in a man, there should be no light between genders on this.

Which talent would you most like to have?  The ability to make a fire without matches.  And to barbeque like the other men…

How would you like to die?  Sitting in a rocking chair in our barn, listening to Chet Baker sing My Funny Valentine.  And holding my wife’s hand.

130 pounds drippings wet: Richard Muglia kneeling above #40 Dave Mills
and to the left of #75 Mike Maresca.  

The NPHS Reunion Interview with Howard Polskin, Class of 1969

Rocky mountain hi! Howard Polskin, 2015,
the Continental Divide just beyond Aspen, CO

Describe your career

I’ve been in the media business my entire life.  I can trace the beginning of my career to producing audio promotions for a few school dances with Randy Reay that ran during the morning

announcements. My professional career started in 1974 when I became editor of The Plainfield Times (free weekly).  I headed to the bright lights of NYC in 1976 (picture the gritty New York of HBO’s “The Deuce”) and landed a job as a staff writer at TV Guide, at the time the largest magazine in the world.  I transitioned to public relations in 1992 and became head of CNN’s NY communications office.  I also worked for Sony, the magazine industry trade association, and then in 2013, I opened my own boutique communications firm serving clients including J.K. Rowling’s London-based company, New  York Magazine and others in the media sector.  I dabble in creating digital media.  One example (besides this blog that you’re reading): I launched TheRighting a year ago to track what right wing media outlets are saying.  It’s designed mainly for mainstream and liberal audiences but many readers who lean right are also reading it.  (You can make my day by subscribing for free here.)

Where do you live now?  Where have you lived since graduating (name cities)?

Lived in Ogunquit, ME, for three months after graduating college.  London for four months after that.  Then the belly of the beast: Manhattan (since 1977). 

Who were your friends back in high school?  Are you still in touch with them now?

I hung with Ned Fitzgerald, Jeff Tobey, Bob Riggs, Mark McLeod, Albert Misko, Steve Miksis.  

Do you have any regrets about your experiences during your high school years? 

I wish I paid more attention in 7^thgrade Shop class.  I’d pay good money to have those lessons now.  I have no talent for home repair.  I wish I would have snuck into home economics classes.  I like to cook but I need to expand my repertoire.  The most useful course was typing.  I have been a fast typist since 1968 and it’s a fundamental skill for anyone who uses a computer.  

What is your fondest memory of your years at NPHS?  

Watching the Saturday afternoon football games and going to canteen Saturday nights always rang the bell.  American traditionalism at its best.  Plus, the pungent smell of burning leaving in the crisp autumn air added an extra element of pleasure (sorry Mother Earth).  

What was the craziest or stupidest thing you did in high school?  

There were times in high school where, let’s just say, I wasn’t quite a choir boy. But I did nothing that would disqualify me for the Supreme Court.  (Glad to provide details at the reunion….)

What was your proudest accomplishment in high school?  

Winning a statewide journalism award for my Tunlaw column in my junior year.  (Organization that awarded it went bankrupt my senior year.)

Who was your favorite teacher? 

 Ethel Abrams tops the list.  A big influence in my life.  Paul Sincavage made history come alive, and

his theatricality and humor helped keep my adolescent mind from wandering too far from the lesson of the day. One of the Widen twins was in my class and when Paul would call on her, he would address her with this phrase:  “Pat or Pam…..doesn’t make a difference….You both get the same grade.”  I still get a smile on my face when I remember that.  

What was your worst class? 

Geometry.  If you’ve ever had to apply the principles of the isosceles triangle to your personal or professional lives, raise your hand.  That’s what I thought….no one.

Howard Polskin 2016
Carmel, CA

What is your most powerful or haunting memories during your years at NPHS?

My first junior high dance in November 1963 when I was a pencil-neck geek in 7^thgrade.  We wore jackets and ties and the cool guys wore Beatle jackets with no collars and black leather trim.  The eighth graders towered over the puny students of seventh grade. The older girls had fully defined curves, swaying hips and high heels.  The boys had deep voices and cocky swagger.  Some were even going steady.  I can still recall the couple from the class of 1968 who led off the slow dance of a popular Beatles tune. They were completely entwined in each other’s arms in the darkened center of the gym floor (glad to tell you who the couple was if you email me).  It was the raciest thing I had seen in my young life.  I didn’t miss a high school dance after that.  I can’t hear a slow Beatles song without seeing that dance.  

How did growing up as a child of the 60s – and all the social baggage and impact that it may have entailed – impact you at the time and in your young adult years? 

The late 60s were a confusing time to be in high school. As classmates may recall, smoking pot was just not a recreational pursuit, it had political connotations – it suggested you were against the war.  So did growing your hair, wearing bell bottoms, driving a VW, and listening to FM radio.  I’ve carried those ideals of the late 60s throughout my life to some degree. Yep….I’ve left granola crumbs wherever I’ve gone for almost seven decades.  

Random recollections:

The Park Gentry….Surprise Store….The Varsity Shop….Crossing Route 22 in the middle of the highway to get to Steer Inn after a dance. We often stood on the thin median waiting for a break in the traffic….Carrying the American flag in the school assembly the day after Bobby Kennedy was shot….Our 8^thgrade science teacher mocking Dinos Tony by calling him Dingo.  To this day I’m ashamed that I didn’t tell the teacher to stop tormenting him…VFW dances….Trying to tune in WMCA-AM radio on my balky analog car radio in my 1961 Chevy Impala….The radio ads on  WABC-AM for Route 22’s Dennison Clothes (open 24 hours).  Listen here….Bob Riggs’ tiny four-speed Opel Cadet.  He drove it like a Porsche…..My first pair of bell bottoms that I began wearing in March of 1969.  I found them in the trunk of a Chevy Impala I bought for $75….Cheapest gas in NP: Shop-Rite.  About 26 cents a gallon (by Rock Ave. on Route 22).  And you got a free glass with it….Sunday afternoon touch football games in back of  Jeff Tobey’s house at Greenbrook Park with my guys….Grunning’s (Park Ave., Plainfield) hot fudge sundae with mint chip ice cream.  My mom sometimes took us there on the last day of school…The creepy bridge linking North Plainfield to Plainfield on Sycamore Street.  Like something out of a Stephen King novel….The urban myth about a secret tunnel from the Drake House to some undetermined location in North Plainfield….The wonderful location of the NPHS.  Route 22 was and still is an eyesore.  But the school is flanked by the rolling hills of the Watching Mountains to the north, the gently gurgling brook to the east, and the soft carpet of grass flowing to Greenbrook Road.  And that gives NPHS its majesty and beauty.   It was true then.   It is true now.  

Paris 1972.  That's bark from a tree in his mouth.  

The NPHS Reunion Interview with Grace Richie Ostrum, Class of 1968

February 2018: Grace at the Kitson Arts Alliance Valentine's Day celebration
where she serves as board secretary.

Please describe your career.  

I am semi-retired as of early 2016. I was a customer-service representative for eight years for TMG Health, an internationally known provider of back office operations for the Medicare/Medicaid health plan industry. Previously, for 17 years I was a news reporter, photographer and copy editor for several daily and weekly newspapers in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I received 10 individual and team first- and second-place awards from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association during that time. I also taught high school (German and earth science) for 11 years. As board secretary of the Kitson Arts Alliance (KAA) in Tunkhannock, I produce written copy for our website, tourism publications and a newsletter. I’m also listed with KAA as a Native American beadwork artisan and traditional Native American Storyteller and freelance multicultural educator. (My family is of Lenape descent; I am affiliated with the Accohannock Wolf Clan of the Delmarva Peninsula.) I sell my beadwork and tell stories at Native American cultural festivals in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland, and vend at area craft shows. I also use my writing skills volunteering for the Wyoming County Emergency Management Agency, on its public information team and its Local Emergency Planning Committee.

Where have you lived since graduating?

 I live in Tunkhannock PA, the county seat of rural Wyoming County, northeastern Pennsylvania. Previously I lived in several small rural towns in Luzerne County PA, the home of the infamous “Kids for Cash” scandal involving corrupt Luzerne County juvenile court officials in 2009. I actually had moved there right after graduating from Wilkes College – just in time to lose everything in the 1972 flood caused by Tropical Storm Agnes. I also lived for a summer at a resort in Kent County, southeast England, participating in an international work exchange program, and used my foreign language skills as a German and Russian interpreter. .

What was your sense of community in your class/in the school at NPHS?  
I enjoyed working with the faculty and staff in many capacities with school publications, stage productions and office work, but wasn’t too close to many classmates.

What experiences in high school, positive or negative, helped to shape you as a person? 

It feels like a miracle that I even survived my terrible toxic teens, both at school and at home, thanks to harassment by certain classmates about things that were none of their business. Continually laughing at or picking on someone is a form of abuse and bullying, which can leave lasting scars on a person’s soul. People who are “different” do not “deserve to be picked on.” I have also learned to be strong, that to be “different” is not a mortal sin, and those who tormented me had absolutely no idea who I really was or what I had to survive. Some of these experiences helped make me a more understanding teacher and very much more aware of how students’ personal lives affect their school work. And I learned to speak up for myself.

What is your fondest memory of your years at NPHS?  

I saw education at NPHS as an intellectual buffet restaurant.I really enjoyed having so many opportunities to take a wide variety of courses and participate in the many extra-curricular activities: Drama Club and dramatic honor society (National Thespians) productions, both on stage and backstage; the Senior Play with a small character part and as assistant student director along with Cathy Lynd; National Honor Society; producing the news segment of “Canuck Corner” (the school radio show on AM radio station WCTC) during my junior year; many positions withTunlaw and the NPHS News Service, published in the Courier News; the literary magazine Canuckling; office assistant; reading the morning announcements and the German Club.

What was the craziest or stupidest thing you did in high school? 

Now it can be told: in 8^thgrade,a friend who shall remain anonymous and I set off a bunch of small string-mounted “popper” firecrackers in front of Ms. Hanson’s classroom door during change of classes. We then disappeared into the crowd in the hall and never got caught.

Official graduation photograph from Wilkes College in 1972

The NPHS Reunion Essay by Laraine Cox Reedy, Class of 1968

My connections to North Plainfield span many decades back to the 1920's when my maternal grandparents emigrated from the Tuscan region of Italy.  They found a quiet cul-de-sac in North Plainfield that later opened up to the now dubiously famous and often dreaded Route 22!!

My mom, now 92, with a strong heart but a mind sadly robbed of short-term memory continues to live (with the help of a wonderful caregiver) in my childhood home in the East End side of town.  Netherwood Avenue had a number of "kids" from the class of '68:  Mary Jamin (our houses faced each other), Bruce Brokaw (a stone's throw away), Steve Barrett and Jimmy Sileneck. Our street also had a number of '67 grads that included Cliff Christenson, Eric Berger, Richie O'Brien and others.  Ours was a street of one-car garaged homes with plenty of kids who used it as a playground or a place to gossip until a car would momentarily cause us to scatter and then return to the pavement. Today visits to my mom are always punctuated by poignant memories.

I had a head full of dreams and a heart full of hope as we prepared for graduation.  I remember sitting in the sweltering heat with hundreds of people crammed into the gym while dripping in sweat with our maroon-and-white caps and gowns.  Although I never verbalized

Laraine Cox, 1967

it, I considered myself outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant often wondering how on earth the information in school would truly be of benefit to my future life.  Learning new things was exciting but studying was not my number-one priority.  My teenaged self looked like a distracted daydreamer who could have and should have been more seriously dedicated to academics but was more concerned about life after 3:18 p.m.

There were a number of occasions when stupid or crazy could define my actions.  Gerry Garatino Burns was usually a witness or co-conspirator who valiantly tried to rein me in with her concern and rational wisdom.  Senior year sometimes found me stretching or distorting the truth much to my parents' chagrin.  However, I couldn't hide the time when I (with Adie Jacobs Graubard as my front seat passenger) drove dangerously close to Mickey Dilonardo's car in the school parking lot after dark.  I watched helplessly as I sheared off his front passenger door and saw it fall to the ground!  To my horror Mickey drove to school the next day with a rope stretched across the vacant space where his car door was once attached.  I was so embarrassed and wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry!

Ethel Abrams was most influential in my life and career choice.  Former students mention her often as a favorite teacher and she cared deeply for us and our futures.  We became friends after high school and I was grateful that my children got to know her as she joined in some of our family gatherings.

There was a day in our sophomore English class when a student was in extreme emotional distress to the point where things could have become violent.  Some teachers might have immediately alerted Mr. Messer to handle what many would consider to be a discipline or behavioral outburst.  Ethel, in her graceful and composed manner, showed no fear but only compassion and empathy for the student.  She calmly handled the situation much to my amazement.  Decades later I asked her about the incident and she gently reminded me that everyone has a story and we may not fully understand the pain and suffering one may be experiencing that is part of their story. I would also like to note that Mike Parlipiano and Mike Watson were sitting close by in the class and I felt safer by their mere presence.

I loved (still do) the music of the 60's which was sometimes silly, carefree, romantic but also carried a socially conscious tone and message that colored my perspective and sense of the world.  I'm sure that my moderate hearing loss began in the summer of 1964 when my sister and I went to our first rock concert in Atlantic City featuring the Beatles.  The screaming audience was deafening and we could not really hear the Beatles sing!!

Being part of several singing groups in high school allowed me to find my voice (figuratively and literally) when I lacked confidence and was too unsure of myself to speak up in class for fear of making a mistake.  A long overdue thanks to Joe Lombardi for his absolute genius in creating the NPHS Singers and Stage Band.  And Harry Lewis, if you are reading, I still love Rhapsody in Blue and think of you whenever I hear it being played.  Those past musical experiences gave me the courage to audition for a college a capella group.  I was thrilled to tour the east coast singing as part of my junior year in at Upsala College.

The Breaking News of the 60's was the war in Viet Nam, the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King and then Bobby Kennedy as well as the growing social and civil unrest.  We were not immune to its effects as Newark and Plainfield exploded in anger, rioting and death in 1967.  My summer job in 1967 happened to be in Plainfield as a long-distance telephone operator at New Jersey Bell Telephone.  During the riots we were shuttled to and from the job by the National Guard who drove us in police cars while their rifles were poised out of the car windows in case of sniper attacks.  With gunfire piercing the hot summer nights and tensions growing high it was a summer that made me very aware of injustices, social inequities, and human rights.

During college I became interested in psychology and social work, and felt drawn to working in a field where I could help others and make a difference.  I met my husband Tom when we were graduate students.  I have transitioned from my career of 45 years that allowed me to have a "front row seat" as a counselor and psychotherapist.  I was fortunate to work in a

Laraine and husband Tom: 1979

variety of settings, a private practice, mental health facilities and most recently just ended 19 years as an elementary school counselor.  I have loved this vocation that I call a "work of heart."  Elementary Counselors did not exist in the 1950's but the world has dramatically changed and the need is great as children present many complicated lives that benefit from the TLC of parents and other supportive adults.

My husband and I have two adult children (my daughter is currently an elementary school counselor also). In the earlier years of our marriage we experienced several pregnancy losses including our son Sean who was stillborn.  We are grateful for our faith, family and friends (including Ethel Abrams) who were an important part of our healing journey. We also were able to work with couples who suffered similar losses.   For the time being we live in New Providence (not Providence, Rhode Island) so we are able to assist my mother when needed.

A huge and very special THANK YOU to Howard Polskin who has been encouraging us to tell our stories.  I have been touched by the sharings of others.

And as we know.....

No matter who we are....

Where we have traveled....

Or what we have done with our lives.....

We all have our own unique story to tell....   

Blessings,

Laraine

Sister act: Laraine (right) and Claire in 2016.
They attended a Beatles concert together in 1964 at the Jersey shore.  

The NPHS Reunion Interview: Jan Leah Lamb (Cooper), Class of 1969

Rocky Mountain hi! Jan Leah Lamb Cooper with husband Dennis in 2016
at Loveland Pass, Colorado (elevation 11,000 feet). 

Tell us a bit about your career.  

I was brought up to give really good cocktail parties.  I studied French and Art History at New York University (NYU) and Oberlin.  NYU just blew up during the student strikes of 1970. I spent the Spring Semester feeding the strikers who came for the March of Wall Street.  I dropped out after a year and a half.  It didn’t feel like French or Art History was relevant at that time.

I lived communally for over 20 years after that. I spent a lot of time helping other women in the commune have their babies.  I became a lay midwife.  I thought I’d better get a degree of some kind or I would probably go to jail for doing home births.  The first time I saw a colleague prepare a sterile field I knew that medicine was for me. 

I returned to school, got a double degree in Biology and Chemistry.  I enrolled at medical school at the age of 36 years with three children in tow.    I did an Internal Medicine/Pediatric residency and just gravitated to Pediatrics exclusively.  I spent 15 years as a Forensic Pediatrician – evaluating children for abuse and neglect.  I have been a general pediatrician for the last 15 years in Grand Junction, CO.  I am slowing down but still have a few years left in me.

Where have you live since graduating NPHS?

New York City; Washington DC; London, England; Santa Fe, NM; Los Angeles; Houston; back to LA for residency; Fort Worth, TX; Boise, ID, and now Grand Junction.

Who were your closest friends in high school?

Stephanie Singer, Emily Polskin, Debbie Hutchins, Kevin Ashley and Rich Muglia.  I have not kept in good touch except for intermittently with Rich Muglia as he is a good touchstone for many.

Do you have any regrets from your high school years?

My only regret is that I did not realize at the time the lovely bubble we all lived in.  The loss of our classmates in that fatal crash was a shock.  Otherwise the music, the football and basketball games, the wrestling matches, the band, the cheerleaders…such a sweet moment in time. I agree with Sue Henry…riding on the bus coming home from games is a treasured memory.

Have your perceptions of high school changed over the years?

I would say, yes, my perspective has changed about high school.  I wish I could tell my classmates how I remember vignettes from our classroom days.  The day Mr. Gould fainted and how the Dow twins wept and how I ran down the hall for the nurse.   I wish I could say how the memories of brief encounters still hold in my heart. Walking the paper route with Kevin Ashley also stands out as relationship that was quiet and meaningful.

What is your fondest memory from your years at NPHS?

My fondest memory of NPHS was the day one of our gym teachers accidentally on purpose threw a softball at my face and crushed my nose.  I was bleeding and a bit stunned, but Stephanie Singer totally had my back. She screamed at the gym teacher, she was like a pit bull.  To this day, no one has ever defended me the way she did that day on the field.

What was the craziest or stupidest thing you did in high school?  

I wish I had been crazier and stupider.  I was internally fearful of doing the wrong thing, getting out of control was just not on the menu for me at that time.  Still isn’t.

What were your proudest accomplishments?

National Honor Society.  DAR Good Citizen Award.  Loved cheerleading.  

Who was your favorite teacher?

Mrs. Klerer.  She challenged me to break out of my “good girl” mold.  She ribbed me about being a cheerleader and pushed me to a think about who I was, how I thought and how I wanted to live.   Mr. Saginario was a trip.  

What was your worst class?

Trigonometry.  I passed because I sat in the front and wore a mini-skirt.  I almost failed chemistry with Dr Alpert – I was lost the first day. Surprisingly I did get a degree in Chemistry which has always amazed me.

How did growing up at a child of the 60s – and all the social baggage and impact that it may have entailed – impact you at the time and in your young adult years? 

I am one of our generation who took the credo of the sixties and seventies to heart.  I dropped out of what would have a been a normal trajectory of school, career, marriage and leapt into the soup of the times.  I largely rejected what we had all been taught to think or believe was the path to adulthood.  I disappeared into a life of meditation and deep counter-culture belief and alternative lifestyle.

I did get to live all over the world, see India, hold my breath on a precipice of the Himalayas, travel riding on top of trains, hike to 16,000 feet to bathe in glacial water at a shrine.  There were moments of transcendence.  The Dalai Lama held my daughter and blessed her.    

It took me years to wake up and get myself and my family out of a very restrictive and oppressive environment.  Those years still inform my worldview.   I am grateful daily for the blessings in my life.

Attendees from the NPHS Class of 1969 (so far)

Linda J. Allen Dickert

*Richard E. Andronici

Nancy Appolloni Stober

Colleen A. Bersch Brown

Diane T. Broccoletti Leonard

Roger J. Bulava

Frank D. Cramer, III

Jolaine S. Dow Peace

Suzanne R. Dumont Millan

*Alan R. Feigenbaum

Loren (Larry) J. Garland

Gary P. Garwacke

Beverly J. Gaston Kochard

Linda K. Gibbs Carovillano

John A. Guerrerio, Jr.

Janice A. Hansen Lake

Karen M. Hultburg Pirozzi

Marc A. Lerner

Henry M. Long

Michael J. Maresca, Jr.

Noel F. Marks

Janet Medinets Doctofsky

Carl R. Mehlhorn

David M. Millar

Kathy J. Miller Senna

Carol A. Mingione Greene

Richard L. Muglia

John (Jack) F. Muldowney

Robert D. Munzer

William J. Orloff

Wendy Perslin Trimarche

*Russell H. Pollack

Emily J. Polskin Zylber

Howard W. Polskin

Catherine M. Reid Nolan

Joseph L. Ricci, Jr.

*Robert D. Riggs

Jane M. Schroeder Griffith

Richard W. Senna

Anita M. Smith Caswell

Beat U. Steiner

Michael R. Sullivan

Francis (Frank) L. Vastano

Karen E. VonTish Andronici

Kenneth R. Wakefield

Patricia L. Williams York

*recently added

The NPHS Reunion Essay by Gary Garwacke, Class of 1969

Gary and his wife Cindy in 2016.  

I received a request from Howard Polskin to answer some questions he prepared to find out about what his classmates had experienced at NPHS and how it affected their lives some 50 years into the future.  I’ll have to admit I thought it easy at first but as I tried to write my answers I kept coming up blank.  Howard had contacted me back in early December and here it was August and I had nothing.  One thing that kept coming back to me was  remembering occurrences and events from all of the school years from K - 12.  Now I don’t profess to be the best person to remember past events correctly, I thought it interesting to put to paper some of the events I fondly remember and maybe others can correct my recollections where I erred or add their own, so here it goes. (Please excuse the grammar and spelling but typing on an iPad is always an experience.)

I remember going to school all the way from Kindergarten to 12th grade with Kathy Miller.  Geez…that was a long time ago but Kathy was always there. In fact I think she beat up Carl Houston because he was bothering me back in kindergarten.

Speaking of long-time relationships it seems that Bev Gaston and I were in home room next to each other from 7th grade through 12th and we will be sitting together at the reunion.

My best friends were Albert Misko, Mark McLoud and Jack Muldowney.  We did a lot of crazy things back then.  I am saddened that I lost touch with them because we had such memorable times together.  I regret not being in touch with Albert before his death.

I remember the Little League baseball games when we were growing up,  if you went to Somerset school you were on the Giants, Stony Brook was the Giants and Pirates, West End was the Reds and Cardinals, East End was the Phillies and Braves, and the hated Cubs 1, 2 and 3 were from St. Joseph’s.  I hated the Cubs teams because they had the three most feared pitchers, George Hummel, Al Misko (he would spit in the coolest way) and the most feared of all Rich Andronici  who was as big back in 6th grade as he was when he was a senior in high school.

I went to Stony Brook school and I used to test my memory over the  years by naming each teacher by grade.  Here it goes: K, Mrs Klein; first grade, Mrs Lewis; second grade, Mrs Backer; third grade, Mrs Stout; fourth grade, Mr Hudson (the guy was from England); fifth grade, Mrs  Martino (my all-time favorite teacher); sixth grade, Mrs Shepard.  Am I right? If I am, then that’s pretty sick that I can remember this stuff.

The first dance I went to outside of North Plainfield was at Cook School in Plainfield. Now that was something back then. Back in North Plainfield we went to dances at Somerset School, Holy Trinity Church, The VFW and of course the high school gym. (I forgot to include the South Plainfield PAL, which always led to some kind of altercation).

I always looked forward to a dance because they were so much fun. Some of the bands that played were The Man from Plainfield, the Doughboys, and of course our classmates who were in the Midnight Hour.  Speaking of the Doughboys, they occasionally still play at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park. Does anyone remember their one hit song as well as the band member’s names? It’s cheating if you Google them.  First boy and girl party I think was at Bev Gaston’s house.

I have to admit as much as I liked dances, I had a real bad experience at a Holy Trinity Church dance in my senior year. It seems some guy from Plainfield didn’t like Jack and

Junior prom, 1968.  Gary and Jack
Muldowney with their dates from
South Plainfield.

was out to get him one night. Jack and I were standing near each other.  We were both tall and wearing our varsity jackets. Well the guy hit me from behind in the nose thinking Iwas Jack, I crumpled to the floor and can only remember someone dragging me to the kitchen to stop the bleeding. I still have some chipped teeth and a small scar on my nose.

Does anyone remember drinking in the woods off Rock Avenue. We had a name for it which I can’t remember (Editor’s note: It was the Elephant Burial Grounds.).  How about going to Staten Island, to go to the Hofbrau, Tarrys and the Hitching Post.

Who remembers Howard Polskin’s Bar Mitzvah ceremony and party?  That’s the first time I ever had prime rib.

Gary Garwacke recalled Howard Polskin's April 11, 1964, Bar Mitzvah.  

Identifiable male classmates from left to right in the foreground: 

John Cregar, Jeff Tobey, Mickey Migdal, Richard Muglia (light jacket, 

back to camera) and Gary (dark jacket, back to camera).

I spent a lot of class time with the Polskin twins, Howard and Emily. We went on a class trip to their family business, which I think was a pocket book factory, I hope I got this right. (Editor’s note:  Close but not accurate Gary, proving that you spent way too much time drinking in the Elephant Burial Grounds.  It was a women’s clothing factory.)

Emily was one of the cool girls in high school.  The other cool girls (Nancy Eddy, Marilyn Gross, Colleen Bersch, Kris Delunas and others) scared me.  I don’t know why because they were always nice to me but for some reason I felt not worthy to be in their presence, but that was my problem.

Anyone remember the big fight between Jack and some guy from South Plainfield on the street by the football locker room. I think Jack broke the guy’s jaw.  The cops broke it up before it turned into a melee because there was about 50 people there. I was scared to death.  But I remember Jack’s brother Paul standing right by him. I always admired him for that.

For some reason we had this affinity for South Plainfield girls, Jack and I had dates from South Plainfield for the Junior Prom, I wish I could remember their names. I have included some photos of that prom.

I remember walking home past the hoods -- who were those guys?—  on the bridge and then past the crowd at Chubby’s.  That was like running the gauntlet.

Who remembers being forced to take dancing lessons in 7th grade in our gym? No one ever danced like that in the 60’s.

I remember debating in Mrs. Riordan’s 8th grade Social Studies class that we had to stay in Viet Nam to halt to the spread of Communism. That was in 1965.  Boy, was I wrong.  Later in college it seemed like every day there was some kind of war protest going on.  I was so very fortunate back then. I missed the draft by an eyelash. I pulled number 3 in the first draft lottery of my freshman year at college but had the last college deferment granted until I either flunked out or graduated. By the time I graduated in 1973 the war was officially over and the draft had ended.  

I believe the saddest time for me was when Robby Gardner passed away in that terrible car accident.

Most memorable time in school was being selected for the National Honor Society as well as being on the winning State Indoor Track High Hurdle Relay team. Of course, the other three guys had to run the best times of their lives to make up for me.  It didn’t hurt that the best hurdler in the state, Vince O’Neill, was on our team.

I graduated from Newark College of Engineering, (now New Jersey Institute  of Technology) with a degree in Civil Engineering and ultimately passed the licensing  exam as a Professional Engineer, PE.  My career was spent mostly in Municipal Engineering and Public Works with a brief stint in real estate development.  I finally settled in as the Town Business Administrator and Engineer for the town of Manville and retired from there in 2015.  I even spent about five years (1994-1999) as North Plainfield’s Municipal Engineer serving Mayors Mike Haggerty and Janice  Allen.

My wife Cindy and I have lived Branchburg, NJ, since 1985 (prior to that we lived in Raritan) and have a second home in Bradley Beach, NJ. I can’t seem to get enough of the Jersey Shore.  We are right next to Asbury Park which is experiencing an over-the-top redevelopment phase at the moment.   Our two sons live in Brooklyn and Philadelphia.  Why they find the city so desirable is more than I can understand but they are happy

I’ll close with some names of people, places and things in the past that have lasting memories for me (and maybe you too!). I also have some memory questions.   Here we go: Steer Inn…Hojos…Johnston Drive…St Joe’s, Great Eastern,…Teppers…Park Conspiracy…Harrison School…Ethel Abrams…Vitelli’s…Somerset Rec…what was that crazy stone house across from the Von Tish’s?…Hoffman’s Deli…Mr. Peanut…anybody know who the Mayor was back then (I believe his son graduated in ‘68)?…who was that guy that  played the Wizard of Oz in the school play?…what sport was the whole Muldowney family known for?…what about that crummy cinder track that I must have fallen down on running the hurdles a hundred times and I’m still finding cinders in my knees…the Hole where the track was…what was the name of the deli in front of Vitellis?… asking for a dollars worth of gas…Carroll’s soda fountain…Deebles  Fountain ( had my first cherry coke there)…Kepples Hardware…Thursday night shopping in Plainfield…the Strand and the Liberty movie theaters…Drier’s sporting goods...Grillos Italian Ice in Scotch Plains.

I have some great memories from my time in the North Plainfield school system.  I cannot believe it will be 50 years since we graduated.  I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion.

Summer of 1969: Gary at his family home on Summit Ave.