Contacts and Updates   Now that we have an official website, it's important that we keep the information accurate and current. Please send any changes in your profile to Bruce Vane. In addition, there are still a large number of classmates that we can't find. If you have any information on them, send that to Bruce also.   Kipp's Memories   In our Senior year I was assigned to write a column in the Wessex Wire about our 4 years in high school. So, to quote Yogi, writing some remembrances now of West Essex is Deja Vu all over again for me. Back then I was completely unable to remember anything about the first two years at Grover Cleveland High. That’s how much fun those overcrowded, split session Freshman and Sophomore years had been for me. At 63 I have different reasons for memory lapses. But those lapses have nothing to do with unpleasant memories of West Essex. Camelot. In large measure that one word does conjure my memories of those two years. I remember our class trip to that musical. Our Senior Yearbook and Prom themes were inspired by Camelot. We decided we were "The Knights" based on Camelot. It was a tad sexist, perhaps, to call ourselves "Knights" and "Ladies", but also… wonderfully romantic. At its inception West Essex High School was like a rocket being launched. Junior year, still in the old, now less populated, Grover Cleveland building, there was a palpable low rumble of change in the air. Lift off was Senior year, marching into that almost finished, brand spanking new building in North Caldwell, with electrical wires still hanging from the ceilings in the hallway: A state of the art theatre, gymnasium, a real football field, a genuine cinder track and an astonishing chemistry lab with individual stations, each equipped with their own Bunson burner, sink- the whole 9 yards. But, as wonderful as the physical facilities were, they weren't what made the school and that moment so special. I've heard that 80% of our teachers had their Masters and the rest had their Doctorates. But it wasn't their degrees that finally made the difference. The not-so-secret ingredient, which made that place and time so special, can be summed up in a word: passion. Those teachers of ours had a passionate commitment to their subjects and the art of teaching. As I think back, it seems to me they were the spark that ignited us, putting into orbit the whole endeavor. Sports Take basketball. At first, the passion coach Goodwin had for this game seemed more like insanity. I recall seeing the team practicing in the gym at Grover Cleveland. Running. That's all you'd ever see them doing, at all hours of the day, running up and down, around the court. The coach seemed to be under the misimpression that basketball was actually track. We students, players included, often talked together, wondering when he would get around to finally teaching them how to play basketball. The first game came and we all filed into the gymnasium with a looming sense of dread. So little time had been spent on shooting the basket and so forth that we knew a devastating defeat was imminent. Basketball in those days was played at an ambling pace. Occasionally a team would do a 'fast break', ie. run the ball across the court in a sprint and, thereby, throw the opposing team off balance. Then the game would return to the normal, slower pace. The first time our team got possession of the ball they executed a 'fast break'. But West Essex never went back to the ambling pace. From the beginning to the end of that game the Knights executed one continuous 'fast break'. They were rolling thunder that never stopped. Running, running, running. As the game ended the opposing team, gasping for breath, completely exhausted, totally trounced, knew what we all knew -- West Essex was a school of winners. Fast breaking winners, playing the game a new and better way. So was born school spirit that first year. Theatre at West Essex I think of Garrison Keillor's first public appearance at Town Hall in New York City. At that time he was known only by his voice on Public Radio's Prairie Home Companion. Few had seen his unusual, ungainly countenance. He entered the stage and for a long time just stood there in silence, looking out at the audience. Finally he said "I like to give people time to get used to it". Our speech teacher, Chuck Gaunt comes to mind. He was the ungainly physical incarnation of what I think every teenage boy and girl believes themself to be. I certainly saw myself that way. I still remember the first time he walked, despite his club foot, at a proud, determined stride into the classroom and stood in front of us. But he didn’t stand in silence. He spoke forcefully and with what seemed like an utter confidence that made any physical limitations melt away in an instant. His love of theatre was contagious, his confidence. I don't know what degrees he got from Penn State in theatre or how good or bad the theatre department at Penn State was. Private acting classes in NYC later in life gave me important tools for my career in that field. But the lessons I learned by osmosis from Chuck were key and are with me still. Those lessons were that theatre is an important, passionate endeavor and, imperfect as I am, I'm enough. Creative Writing There were only two books in the house in which I grew up, the bible and the TV Guide. And the only one anybody ever read was the TV guide. Entering Joe Martino's creative writing class in my Junior year opened up a whole world of literature completely unknown to me. Joe was and no doubt probably still is intensely passionate about literature—and really cool clothes I might add. I still recall his blue suede hush puppy shoes. It was in his class I was first exposed to the wide possibilities of seeing and knowing the world past, present and future, through books. I think that prior to his class all I'd ever read of a book was its dust jacket,--for the sole purpose of inventing a book report. The circumstances of my life after high school didn't include much academic education. Nonetheless, as an adult, intellectual jousting has never much intimidated me. As a former "Knight", I know it was in Joe's class, dissecting Spanish, German, French and Russian short stories, where I learned how to be fearless in battles involving words and thinking. Random Memories Those pre 60's "revolutionary" ideas we proposed: 1. The abolition of the dress code so we would not be required to wear our shirts tucked into our chinos and be allowed to wear blue jeans to school. 2) I think we petitioned for the right to smoke (cigarettes of course) in school. 3) I think we wanted the right to drive our cars to school. (I KNOW some of us exercised that right- but I suspect it was an unsanctioned act). ************* White tennis sneakers, with "It's a Goer" and peoples names inked all over them. That devastatingly sad, fatal automobile crash. Cast parties at Jane Staab's wonderful house. Singing songs around her piano in the living room and drinking a cornucopia supply of Coca Cola's always on hand, stashed on her parents’ back porch in wooden crates. Grunnings ice cream parlor straight out of an "Archie" comic book. Jack Bell's red MG that he drove clear across the golf course one night. The Lincoln Tunnel led to Googies Bar in the Village. The legal drinking age in New York was 18. Everybody learned how to alter the birth date on their drivers permit. The Eagle Rock Reservation Lookout and various drive- in movie theatres. Being THAT young. We were such an egalitarian mix, public school education at its best. It was clear even then that we were future moguls and construction workers and teachers and politicians, CEO's and actors and writers and scientists and artists; that many of us would be self employed, that future clergymen were among us-- and so on and so forth. At our last reunion my wife came away saying that what struck her most was how without clique or caste we were as a group. She, a complete stranger felt taken in, part of, the thing that was still, after all these years, US—the first graduating class of West Essex Regional High School. Being that first class in an entirely new school, knowing we were a large part of forming what would become the traditions of this place cleaved out of the woods in North Caldwell, was such an exciting, rare, community building, empowering experience. Speaking personally, it was a great place from which to launch a life. There's a warm smile in my heart always as I remember those years. It was rekindled by attending our reunion—and in writing this. So, to paraphrase that Lerner and Loewe musical— 'let it never be forgot, that for one brief shining moment we were there in Camelot'.... even helped create it. Let's all take especially good care of ourselves so we can be there again in 2012.   Scholarships   The generosity of our Classmates made it possible to award two scholarships to members of the WEHS Class of 2012. One was awarded to John Lisella of Fairfield, and the other to Megan Hayes of Roseland. The scholarships, each in the amount of $ 1,962, were awarded at a ceremony on June 5, 2012 by Georgiann Perry Walsh. Also at that ceremony, Alice Bade McManus presented the school with our plaque. A photo of the plaque appears in the "Images" section of the website.   50th Reunion   Our 50th Reunion was held September 30 - October 2, 2011. It included golf on Friday morning, September 30, 2011 at Pinch Brook Golf Course in Florham Park. Four hardy golfers decided they could tolerate other classmates laughing at their game. On Friday night, there was a wine-tasting at the Vanes' in North Caldwell, conducted by the wine manager at Sunrise Cellars in Caldwell. Twenty-five classmates and spouses tasted seven wines from six different countries. On Saturday morning there was a tour of the school, led by the principal of West Essex, Julie Hoedee. Forty-five classmates and spouses attended the tour, which was followed by a lunch in the cafeteria. Saturday night there was a dinner dance at the Madison Hotel in Convent Station/Morristown. This was attended by 42 classmates, twelve spouses/significant others and three faculty members: Dr. Piel and his wife, Gilda Radin Stern and Byron Harmony and his wife. Photos from the reunion have been posted on this website under "Images".