I goofed in the last message of Chapter 9 where I said that this new chapter would be called "Chapter 10 - second chapter after the reunion." It's actually the third chapter after the reunion. Click on "0 Comments" (or whatever the number happens to be), in order to see others' comments and to post your own in Chapter 10. Thanks. Bill.
75 Comments
Bill Ryan
9/27/2010 07:07:37 am
All you "bumps on a log" and "brazen articles": please post your new messages in this Chapter - Chapter 10.
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Kathy Matthews Klein
9/29/2010 02:44:25 pm
Good Evening All -
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Frank Dann
9/30/2010 03:51:55 am
One sort of blessing that I received from Sr. Henrietta was her insistence that my "cursive" handwriting be at least readable. She was right---it was junk. There was nowhere to go but up, and it improved (or else!)
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Erma
10/2/2010 09:45:17 am
Well, I guess I've been bad, reading but not posting - not much to say I guess. I think I used it all up in STS and got punished enough now I try to be silent sometimes. Anyway, Frank, not sure if it's my fading mind cells but I could swear we did use those inkwells. For some reason I remember buying Waterman blue-black ink in a small bottle. I actually don't recall putting the ink in the inkwell, or a pen, for that matter.
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Bill Ryan
10/2/2010 11:12:35 am
I remember when we were in about 3rd grade, the nun actually did go up and down the aisles of the room, filling the inkwells. She had this big bottle (about a quart?) of ink. It had a little pour-spout on it. I remember there was a little slide cover on the top of the inkwell itself. I can also remember that bottles of one brand of ink (I think it was "Scripto" ink) had a kind of little "trough" up near the mouth of the bottle, off to one side, for filling your fountain pen, so you wouldn't have to dip it all the way down to the bottom of the bottle, especially if it was a full (or almost full) bottle. I also remember when we were in about 4th grade, a salesman came into the classrooms and demonstrated ball point pens to us. I remember being skeptical, thinking, "those things won't work." I think for the rest of that year, we were FORBIDDEN to buy (or, at least, use) ball points pen. However, some time later on, ball point pens were permitted. Hmmm! Do you suppose that was the very beginning of the end of STS? LOL Seriously, I think we were eventually allowed to use ball points by the time we got to 7th and 8th grade. The only thing that's making me doubt that is that I can remember how good old George Lis (RIP) came into school (during 8th gr.) on more than one occasion with one of those ink cartridges that snapped into a ball point pen. George would take the spent plastic cartridge home, melt it over the gas flame on the stove, until the plastic resembled (how can I say this delicately? Oh, hell, we're all from Woodside) a streamer of snot. He'd come into school and when Ann Eileen wasn't looking, he'd shove the "fake snot" up his nostril, turn around when she wasn't looking and make us laugh - yet, of course, we didn't dare get caught laughing by Ann Eileen. So, maybe we didn't use ball points in 8th grade. I think by the nuns barring the use of ball points, that allowed George Lis to develop his special "product", which provided much amusement to our simple juvenile minds. Hey, in that place, you took laughs wherever you could get them!
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Cathy M
10/3/2010 12:13:34 am
Erma, Bill & Frank:
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Bill Ryan
10/3/2010 02:52:25 am
Cathy,
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Cathy M
10/3/2010 05:19:13 am
I have to apologize for my typing. Unfortunately, my mind works faster than my fingers and with age I seem to have a number of oop's! Yes Bill, we did have those large green blotters and they could be "tucked" in. We would cut them into squares as well to "blot" our writing. I agree - 5th grade was when we went to cartridge pens. I remember using pencils especially for arithmetic - now an used, old-fashioned word! I do remember all the sets of erasers including the half and half. I had used the ink eraser so much, there was a hole in my paper. I can remember as well using Clorex to remove the ink. I remember those 48 box of crayons but do you remember the pencils. They were all different colors like the caryons except they were soft colored pencils. My pencil case had a ruler for the top with a pencil sharpner attached. I am still the only one at work who still uses a number 2 pencil! I like my points sharp and the mechanical pencils drive me nuts. Old habits are hard to break!
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Erma
10/3/2010 08:40:58 am
Guess, I was the odd ball. My pencil case also had a "protractor" and a pink eraser. I never got to have one of those beige colored ones but I do remember that my friends who had them said that when they used the erasors, they sort of crumbled. My pink pearl never did that.
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Bill Ryan
10/3/2010 10:17:09 am
Jeez, Erma, talk about a memory from eons ago - "Anything for Thanksgiving". I think one year, when I was about 7 or 8, the kids on the block (48th St.) were talking about doing "Anything For Thanksgiving". I have a very faint memory of ringing some doorbells on Thanksgiving Day, while people were enjoying their big turkey feast, and asking "Anything For Thanksgiving?" People generally looked annoyed at the intrusion - and I can't say I blame them. I don't think my mother knew I was doing that. When I came home (after about 20 minutes of begging), I told her and she wasn't too happy that I had done. But, yes, Erma, that certainly brings back a very distant memory.
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Charlie D
10/3/2010 10:59:13 am
I recall the ink wells! Grades 1 and 2, pencil only. Third grade, I think we had to produce a masterpiece with the pen that we dipped in the ink well and then was given permission to use a fountain pen. No ball points till High school. Also remember "Anything for Thanksgiving" but only did it once or twice on my Grandma's block (50th Ave & 39th Pl). Same block that Robbie O'Brien lived. Ah, the gray ink eraser which usually-when rubbing hard-would go right thru thru paper. Glad to see some activity here on the blog. My niece just got married to Bobby Nicholson whose uncle(Bill) was at our 1960 reunion. Small world. Be well everyone.
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Pam LoCastro McPhail
10/3/2010 11:49:47 pm
Does anyone remember that we used to clean our desks at the end of a school year? We had to bring in rags and newspaper and string. We'd clean our desks and then cover them with newspaper and tie them up for the summer. Can you imagine that now!
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Frank Dann
10/4/2010 05:44:45 am
Eradicator!! I needed it over and over, and sometimes in the same place. That's when it ate a hole in the paper. :(
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Bill Ryan
10/4/2010 06:08:44 am
Cathy Maher sent me an article on "Anything For Thanksgiving". If, after you read the main article, you go down and read the different comments people made, you'll see that at least one person said that "AFT" was really a block-by-block phenomenon. I agree. It was not big on my original block (4700 block of 48th St.) I saw no signs of it at all when we moved down to the 5000 block of 42nd St. Yet, apparently, it was definitely a custom on Erma's old block (4700 block of 44th St.). Here's the link to the article:
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Erma
10/6/2010 09:19:53 am
OMG (the nuns will turn over in their graves) I do remember cleaing our desks at the end of the school year. I also remember, thanks to Frank, ink irridicator (my spelling is still terrible, but I just choose not to use words I can't spell now). I remember well that bleachy smell and how it burned holes in my paper. I guess I must have used too much - or had too many errors. Boy, those were the days.
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Bill Ryan
10/10/2010 03:42:36 am
OK, here's one for all you bumps: what did we do in school (STS) for Halloween, especially in the lower grades. I know they certainly did not have Halloween parades, where kids come in dressed up in their costumes and parade around the school. I think maybe we drew some Halloween pictures (like pumpkins and bats, etc.), but that's about it. Figured I'd ask this question about life in STS, considering the season.
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j greene
5/30/2013 12:57:29 pm
im over 60 years old and your the only guy that remembers polymol
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Frank Dann
10/10/2010 01:20:13 pm
Concerning hair, I used "O'Dells." It was made from a thick, clear gel and would stay in one's hair for 3-4 days.
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Kathy Matthews Klein
10/15/2010 12:52:35 pm
Earlier this week I went to visit a good friend after work. After we finished dinner, he told me he had something extra special for us to share for dessert.
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Bob Davis
10/21/2010 06:14:44 am
To all the Bumps on the Log,
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Bill Ryan
10/21/2010 01:19:51 pm
Hey, Bob,
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Bill Ryan
11/4/2010 02:01:48 am
Sad news to report: Regina Powers, wife of Tim Powers (STS59) passed away this week. Email me ([email protected]) if you need info about the funeral mass or the wake. Tim was the main organizer for the STS59 reunion. He and Regina also attended our reunion in April. As some of you know, Regina had been battling cancer for a long time.
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Frank Peters
11/5/2010 12:59:04 am
Bill I read the death notices this morning and was sorry to see that Timmy's wife Regina passed away. Do you have a home address for Tim so I can send a card. I know the fight she put up because everyday we battle and hope when we go to the doctors that they find nothing. So everyone live life to the fullest each and everyday.
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Carole Frank Comeau STS 59
11/6/2010 08:16:05 am
Hi Everyone, I was just in the process of writing a card to Tim and it prompted me to go to the '59 and '60 websites, so here is the address:
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Pam McPhail
11/9/2010 03:49:47 am
Thanks Kathy, I do remember the clickers. Boy, one click and you'd instantly sit up. I wonder if that would work on the kids today, Ha Ha.
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Kathy Matthews Klein
11/11/2010 06:47:50 am
Hope anyone that has Veteran's Day off is putting it to good use. Was warmer today & not as windy...Amen.
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Frank Dann
11/11/2010 01:03:05 pm
Hi "old" friends~~~
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Pam LoCastro McPhail
11/19/2010 04:36:38 am
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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Bill Ryan
11/29/2010 04:53:33 am
My apologies to everyone! Today a member of the class emailed me (at my gmail address) and asked me if the blog was still in existence. That tipped me off right away that something screwy was going on with the weebly site.
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Skip Sawyer
11/30/2010 03:58:27 am
Ok Bill it is working.
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Bill Ryan
11/30/2010 04:58:00 am
OK, Skip. Thanks. Unfortunately, I didn't get an email message from weebly, telling me that your message ("OK Bill it is working") was waiting to be posted. This doesn't affect anyone posting blogs. It simply means that I have to go into the administrator part of the site now to see if any new messages have come in. Up until recently, I knew there was a new message because I'd get an email from weebly telling me so. No big deal. If this is the worst problem in my life, I'm sitting pretty.
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Charlie D.
11/30/2010 10:15:31 am
Hi Bill & everyone, I think that I thought I had posted a Happy Thanksgiving message on the blog & was awaiting your administrative OK. But I guess it got lost in cyber space or wherever lost internet stuff goes. At any rate, had a great Turkey Day with family in Greensboro, NC. Heaing back to L.I. on Sunday. Hope all is well by everyone. Not bothered by Christmas long ago, Bill, but hate how early they start decorating lately.
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Bill Ryan
12/5/2010 12:34:32 pm
Just thought I'd pass this on to all you bumps: for the month of November, the day with the smallest number of hits on this site was Sat., Nov 20, with 17 hits. The highest number of hits came in on Tues., Nov 30, with 55 hits. These are "single visit" hits, meaning that if, for example, someone checks the blog for new postings twice on a given day, that person will be counted only one time (thus "single visit"). All that those "hit numbers" tell me is that so many people visited the site on a given day. I can't tell which part of the STS60 website the "visitors" have gone into.
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Cathy Maher
12/6/2010 08:55:14 pm
Christmas memory of STS.....blanking on them so I'll need help. Only two come to mind, Mary Louise Reiner playing Mary in the Nativity scene (more than once, she was always so tiny)and a box in class wrapped in "brick" paper. I don't remeber if this was for Christmasd cards or gifts! So help "jog" this old lady's memory! I know there was more than that!!!
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Nicolina Chiaro Saporito
12/7/2010 02:14:16 am
Hi, Everyone,
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Bill Ryan
12/8/2010 12:18:14 am
Thanks, Nicki, for putting Marilynn Kurek in touch with the class of STS60. She emailed me and asked that I send her the class email list, which I will do later today. When I was doing my search, the only thing I could find on her was a Marilynn Kurek Gallo who lives up near Albany. When I called that woman, I knew right away it wasn't our Marilynn. She sounded like she was 90 years old, at least. She said she had no connection with NYC at all. I think in the case of our Marilynn, it was a situation where I would have needed to know her husband's first and last name - which I didn't. Anyway, I remember when we were in STS, in one of the grades, we had a "motto" of the month. We used to have to write a composition illustrating an example of the motto. I remember one of them was "Better late than never, but better never late." That certainly applies in Marilynn's case.
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Bill Ryan
12/8/2010 12:27:48 am
Wow, I know the previous posting was a long one, - so long, in fact, that this is the first time it ever cut me off. There must be a limit to the number of characters that you can put in any given message. As I was saying re: the email list. I know Nicki put Marilynn's email address in a previous posting, but this way, if I send out a whole new list to everyone, people won't have to bother messing around with trying to squeeze Marilynn's email address in the right place alphabetically. Plus, I'm going to ask people to update their email addresses.
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Erma
12/8/2010 10:38:12 am
Hi, guys, I've been traveling and almost got snowed into Chicago last week. But I'm back now and leaving for vacation tomorrow - I'm going to Disney with my daughter and her family. I'm back on Dec. 19 just in time to work Dec 20, 21 and 22 and then off for the Christmas holiday. I did want to get in my Christmas memory - as sad as it is. I remember going to midnight mass on Christmas eve and during Father Morrow's sermon he said - and this is a quote - "You can make your Christmas donation by cash, check or money order." I remember thinking to myself and probably verbalizing to the person next to me - I wonder if he takes credit cards (those were the days when credit cards were bleeding edge). I was so disenchanted, I just wanted to get up and leave mass but back then we would NEVER do that!
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Frank Peters
12/9/2010 12:30:35 am
Erma I was also in Chicago last week on oor return from Ca., but did not have to get off the plane. We had to de-ice and then flew into Islip Airport. Great trip to see our newest Grandson. Hope all is well with EVERYONE
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Maureen Murphy Carlson
12/14/2010 03:27:51 pm
Welcome back to the STS60 fold, Marilyn!
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Pam LoCastro McPhail
12/21/2010 10:49:22 am
Northern Lights, what a beautiful sight!
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Frank Dann
12/22/2010 02:24:03 am
It DOES rain in Southern California! Five days of "ark-type" downpours here.
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Kathy Matthews Klein
12/22/2010 05:36:07 am
Hi "kids" - Checking in for any new STS messages. Home now to bake, wrap, clean for family Christmas Eve. Little ones wanted me to come to them. They did not want traffic to delay them; Santa HAS to see us sleeping "like good kids" in their beds. Ha
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Bill Ryan
12/22/2010 08:47:04 am
Thought I'd give all you bumps an update on the activity connected with this website: So far, in the month of Dec., the day with the highest number of "hits" was Dec. 8, with 93 individuals visiting the site. Second highest was Dec. 14 with 64 visitors, followed closely by Dec. 11 with 62 visitors. I assume most of those "hits" involve people looking to see if there are any new messages on the blog. Up to this point today (it's now 7:45 pm) (Dec.22) there was an average number of hits - 42 "unique visitors" and 59 "page views", so far. (That means 42 different people checked the site and 17 of them came back a second time (or something close to that.) I guess all things considered, today was a better than average day, with two people actually posting messages - Frank Dann and Kathy Matthews. Thank you, Frank & Kathy. I was hoping I could stop having to "approve" postings on here but, darn it, yesterday was the first time in about 3 months that our Nike shoe buddy in China posted one of his inane comments. If he's trying to sell Nikes to us, I think he's on the "wrong track" (yes, pun intended).
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Noel [Skip] Sawyer
12/22/2010 08:16:10 pm
To all the classmates we know in all grades my wife and family wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Successful New Years. I celebrate my birthday on Christmas eve with the family then to church. Sorry to say that I jumped ship and now go to a church in our town. I have found that the churches in the country teach more of the Bible. Well let us get away from Churches and pray for all of us.
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Charlie D
12/23/2010 04:54:23 am
Merry Christmas to all & a Happy & Blessed New Year also. California daughter & Husband are here since late Tuesday while the N. Carolina daughter along with Husband & grandsons should be pulling up in their car any moment. A nice gift to have everyone home & together especially during this most wonderful time of the year. As Skip said, a thought for all those who are no longer with us and also some prayers for those serving and protecting in far away places.
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kathy matthews klein
12/31/2010 02:52:20 am
Wishing each of you a very Happy 2011 ahead! Hope everyone affected is dug out from the blizzard last week!
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Bill Ryan
1/1/2011 12:06:03 am
A Happy New Year to all who visit this website. Thought I'd give you the "stats" for the number of hits we received during the month of December (2010):
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Pam LoCastro McPhail
1/1/2011 02:54:49 am
Happy New Year to all my "new" friends.
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Maureen Murphy Carlson
1/1/2011 03:15:51 pm
In this New Year may we all be well, at peace, and able to be thankful for the many blessings that make our lives meaningful.
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Frank Dann
1/3/2011 02:30:55 am
During this unusually cold and wet (global WARMING?) California winter, I recall a summer's trip to Coney Island with STS chums right after graduation. (We had a ton of fun, but I can't recall exactly who went.) I remember that day's weather, however, as a beautiful and warm summer day.
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Cathy M
1/3/2011 07:52:35 am
Frank: It was Richie Henneghan, Diane Lawrence, you, Theo, Jospehine De Luise, me and I can't remember who else. You, Diane, Richie & I were the die hards and stayed the longest. We met at the train station, first Bliss Street & then Lowry and changed at Queendboro Plaza for the Coney Island line. I remember having a great time and you convinced me to go on the Cyclone!!!! Last time I was ever on a roller coaster until I was in my 40's!
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Frank Dann
1/6/2011 02:26:10 am
Thanks, Cathy! That summer jaunt seems like yesterday to me--- a really fun trip for all of us.
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Bill Ryan
1/6/2011 09:13:45 am
Frank,
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Erma
1/7/2011 09:23:10 am
Well, I wanted to jump on the bandwagon and wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas and a most happy and healthy New Year (prosperous would be nice, too). I was down in Orlando with my grandkids from December 9 - 18 (and it was literally freezing 3 of those days), home for three days and then down to Virginia for Christmas. The upside is that I missed the blizzard. I did go out today and shovel 4" off my driveway and walkway.
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Dan Gavin
1/12/2011 10:34:46 am
A little late.....
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bob carnesi
1/13/2011 01:53:40 am
Hello world,
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Frank Dann
1/14/2011 05:11:30 am
Hi Bill and cums,
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Bill Ryan
1/14/2011 09:18:57 am
Hi, Frank,
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Bill Ryan
1/14/2011 09:27:36 am
I forgot to say that, if these phones in the school did, indeed, exist, they were located in the "cloakroom". I don't ever remember seeing any teacher talking on them. They were so old looking, I doubt they even worked. But, unless I'm really starting to "wig out" here, I'm 99% certain that those phones were in the building. Does anybody other than me have such a memory of these Alexander Graham Bell-vintage phones?
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Cathy M
1/15/2011 05:08:56 am
I remember the exchanges very well. In fact, my best friend lives in Sunnyside and when I call her, I can only dial ST 6. I remember a party line when I was really little, probably around 5, then we had a "private" line. The telephones were black and very, very heavy, so were the ear pieces and there was no flexible cord! They have become "retro" now and are very popular. We didn't have to dial 1 before an area code. We got a wall phone around 1958-1959, it was the newest thing and then the princess phones and you could have an extension with a phone in more than one room. When you called information, you actually got a person on the phone who was able to give you the correct number! We had public phones that cost a nickel to use! Sorry, Bill, you paid more attention than I when in the cloakroom! I have no recollection of the phones at STS. Frank, we are old! All our news now is on TV or the internet and journalism no longer exists! We had the Daily News, Daily Mirror, Long Island Press, Journal American, Herald Tribune besides NY Times and Wall Street Journal and there was more than one edition! No longer! Speaking of phones, if the younger generation was faced with a rotary dial phone, they wouldn't be able to use it!
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Charlie D
1/15/2011 09:53:33 pm
Hello Bill & all, I remember my number being ST but later was EM (empire). Sorry, but cannot recall the phone thingy in the cloakroom that Bill mentioned. Spending some time in Greensboro, NC and it is colder than the norm. Had 1 to 3 inches of snow last Monday. Schools were closed Monday till Friday. Not like NY in that respect. Was hoping to get in some golf but not at the temps we are having now. Looking ahead to some days in the hi 40's & maybe play a bit. Till next time....
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Bill Ryan
1/16/2011 02:37:03 am
Thanks, Charlie and Cathy, for that input on the "phantom" phone system at STS. Somewhere, and obviously I can't remember where it was, there was some kind of archaic-looking intercom system with a hand-held speaker (mouthpiece), and little buttons for the various rooms that could be called in whatever building that might have been. Charlie, you don't suppose it might have been at Loughlin, do you? I don't think so. It's kind of spooky to have such a clear memory of something, but then to find out that it may not have even existed. I'm quite sure it existed, but where? -- beats me. "A mind (or whatever's left of it) is a terrible thing to waste" - LOL
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Pasm McPhail
1/16/2011 02:40:31 am
My phone number was EX exchange but we did have a RA number when we lived in Astoria prior to moving so far away to Woodside.
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Cathy M
1/16/2011 08:48:32 pm
Bill, Woodside Herald still publishing! Originally by Joe Sabba and now by his son Buster. It has all the local news of Woodside which is funny because most of the news is about Sunnyside!
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Bill Ryan
1/17/2011 04:28:11 am
I'm starting to think that that intercom phone system that, a few days ago, I could have sworn was part of the scenery in STS, is merely a "figment of my imagination". Somewhere, sometime, I did work in a building (or maybe went to school in a building) that had such an intercom system, but, since nobody can remember such a set-up, I doubt it existed in STS. Plus, when we did the tour of the school the day of our reunion last April, I'm sure I would have noticed such a phone system, if it were still there. No big deal - it's just strange how sharply that memory came back to me the other day.
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Pam McPhail
1/17/2011 05:42:48 am
no conflict - GO GIANTS (next year)
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Frank Dann
1/18/2011 01:00:09 am
Those STS phone devices were there all right. I, too, remember them.
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Bill Ryan
1/18/2011 05:31:15 am
Thanks, Frank. When I got that "flashback" the other day about those intercom thing-a-ma-jigs in STS, the imagery came back to me so clearly, I thought 'no way I could have cooked this up out of thin air'.
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Johnnie
1/19/2011 12:46:40 pm
Hi everybody.
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John J Kaufmann
1/19/2011 10:36:51 pm
Bill...We, STS61, have set a date for our reunion. October 1, 2011 at the Kof C. I have adjusted the website to reflect the date, time and cost. As you stated in an earlier blog...our reunion is open to you and your classmates. In closing, Bill as I have said many times THANK YOU for your assistance.
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Bill Ryan
1/19/2011 10:53:13 pm
Hi, Johnnie. Thanks for posting that interesting message. So, they were doing atom bomb air raid drills even into the mid-60s? I wonder how long that went on.
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Bill Ryan
1/19/2011 11:00:38 pm
John Kaufmann has fixed a date for the STS61 reunion. I said a few postings ago that as soon as I found out that info, I'd start a new chapter on this blog.
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