Hello from Barrie Dempsey, NPHS Class of 1969

Barrie Dempsey, NPHS class of 1969, sent me this image last week. He's shown in a helicopter aboard the USS Midway in San Diego. His stepdaughter just joined the Navy. Barrie lives in California and is considering relocating to central New Jersey. Barrie was one of the first to grow his hair long and play in a rock band.

The Final NPHS Reunion Video

Here's the six-minute epic that captures (hopefully) the spirit, joy and poignancy of our May 2 reunion. It's a combination of images old and new, some scanned photos from the 1969 yearbook and video I shot with a Flip video camera on May 2.

So now the NPHS Reunion blog will go to sleep for a few years. However, feel free to bring it from its slumber with news or photos of your adventures. Please send to hpolskin@gmail.com

Thanks for being such a good audience.

Greetings from Jeff Tobey

Just returned this afternoon from a trip to North Plainfield/Watchung where I had a great lunch with Jeff Tobey. (And with Jeff, that is the only kind of lunch you'll ever get. A skillet in his hand is like an angel with a harp.) Saw him and his lovely wife Ginny at their beautiful home in Watchung just off Johnson Drive. It was like a vacation in the country for this city boy. He sends his regards to all. We had a blast going through the blog....it really brought him back to the day. Back then, we cracked open a lot of frosties in the basement of his parents' home on Tappan Ave, which was the all time great high school party house (with its own entrance for kids tucked in the rear of the house). I'll save those stories for the next reunion. Good seeing you Tobo. You and Ginny both looked great. The above picture was taken about 1:30 p.m., May 31, 2009, in his back yard.

Blog Update

I'm beginning to work on a three-minute reunion video that I hope to post before the end of May. Unless you have images you want me to post or information you want to share with other classmates, I don't anticipate blogging much over the next ten days. Many thanks for following the blog and your support.

The Year We Got Rocked

Check out this award-winning series of articles and photos featuring the sights and sounds of 1968 from AARP's website. Yep...that's right.....AARP. The editors have done an amazing job drilling into one of the most disruptive and transformative years in our nation's history and we were all there at ground zero. Some of us were full-fledged participants in the turmoil, a lot of us dipped our toes into the scene, and there was also a group of us who had absolutely no clue what was happening. Oh well, I guess even orgies have wallflowers.

We Rocked the Crowne Royal!

Here's video proof that we totally rocked the Crowne Royal. Some of us got out on the dance floor and cruised into a groove. Sure, we weren't lithe and supple like the teenagers we were back in 1967 at a Canteen, but those of us who danced the night away deserve a big hand.

Antonese and Thomson; Tuorto; Bersch and Perslin; Krawitz and Naz; and Many More

Jim Antonese (left) and Andy Thomson.
I'm with the band: And the drummer for the Blue Notes, Jeff Tuorto from the NPHS class of 1968. Watch for the band video that I'll post this weekend.
Colleen Bersch Brown and Wendy Perslin.
Gimme five! Patti and Karl Krawitz, Brad and Lori Musson, and Jim Nazemetz.
Give Peace a chance: Barbara Green Elbeze with Jolaine Dow Peace and John Peace.

Video of The Breakfast Club

Here's a rough one-minute unedited shot of the May 3 breakfast at the Crowne Plaza. Please excuse the awful camera work (shot on a $100 Flip camera), but if you weren't there, you'll get a flavor of what you missed. See if you can identify most of the classmates at the breakfast.

Kretschmer and Hansen; Cecchini; Melhorn and Benassu; Abbruzzese and Brown; and many more

Dennis Cecchini and his wife Geralyn.
Carl Melhorn (left) and John Benassu. That's Bob Munzer in the middle background.
Steve Abbruzzese (right) and Jon Brown.
Mike Maresca (left) and Mark Goldstein. Michael runs 30 miles a week in Florida. I heard Mark just landed a fascinating consulting project in the Middle East.
Tom Hughes and Barbara Brodzik Tomalo from the NPHS class of 1968.
Carol Martinez Weber and Beat Steiner. Prior to second grade, I lived across the street from Carol on Myrtle Ave. and the Polskins were always close to her family. Her parents came to my wedding and gave me and my wife a beautiful salt and pepper set that we use to this day.

Who Attended from the NPHS Class of 1967 and 1970?

Michael Spadafora (center with dark shirt) and Claire Cox recall these days together as members of the NPHS class of 1970. Michael and his family lived next door to us on Willow Ave. They had an ill-tempered black dog that terrorized me every time I took the garbage to our backyard cans. That's Randy Blaine on the far left in the wonderful white suit (wonder if he ate the pasta with red sauce Saturday night), and Laraine Cox Reedy and Jeff Grand on the far right.
Jim Duffin, NPHS class of 1967, was a special attendee. I always remember him with other members of the great 1967 football team hanging out in the furnished basement of the Tobey house on Tappan Ave. I admired the skills of the burly football players who visited the house. They could also drink prodigious quantities of beer and I had trouble finishing a can of Fresca. (Sorry for the lousy photo Jim.)