THE 60TH REUNION GET-TOGETHER

The small, but hearty, group that attended our most recent reunion.

See if you can recognize any of us!    

Below is a lovely writing by Dave Cannon reminiscing about living in Montclair as a youth  which he read at the reunion.  We thought you would enjoy reading  it as much as we all enjoyed listening to it.

Noting that our reunion numbers have dwindled significantly,  I’d like to pay tribute to all those who have made it here this evening and some classmates that didn’t. 

I was born beneath the smoky skies of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One grandfather survived a smog that killed scores of residents who lived near the steel mill he supervised..My other grandfather was a lawyer for a coal company. And my father negotiated a contract with the United Coal Miner Workers Union head John L. Lewis. 

When my father went to work in Washington,DC, we moved to the historic civil war town of Manassas, Virginia, where I played with crayfish and water moccasins in the creek, mowed the lawn for 6 hours at a time, learned how to leap on the pony across the street, and walked a mile to school. 

Arriving in Montclair in 1958, I loved being able to walk from the corner of Park Street & Lorraine to Mt. Hebron School in just one minute. To work nearby at Lempert’s, Schwartzmann’s Deli, Phipp’s Pharmacy and Robin Hood Archery. To listen to music at National Records before purchasing Frankie Avalon and Buddy Holly albums. And our 412 Park Street lawn took less than an hour to mow.

Catty corner from our house was the doctor’s daughter, Jane Riffin, who is with us tonight … across the street was Elizabeth Petroff who gave me a wooden astray as a wedding gift that I used until 1984 when I quit smoking. (Elizabeth disappeared on a boat trip in the 1970s. )  Another neighbor who is here tonight is Barbara Vosburgh who journeyed with me and my mother to explore Syracuse University. 

Thanks to Miss Bubriski, I wound up as an American Civilization major at the University of Miami, where I frequently was on the honor roll as a result of learning how to write five paragraph essays in Montclair schools. That also served me well as an advertising writer/creative director for 45 years and in writing a website based on my 800 pages of research about the Kennedy assassination which we all originally heard about on the intercom at Montclair High.

While at college, I learned how to barefoot waterski in Jupiter, Florida with Montclair classmates Doug Kuch and Dennis Menton.  Some Montclair classmates made fun of my Virginia two step at dances, but others appreciated my ability to throw a baseball from centerfield to home plate.

My mother wouldn’t let me play on Montclair High School teams because I had been hit in the eye by a line drive that blinded me for two weeks. And she feared I would get broken bones if I joined Clary Anderson’s football team.  So, I played without equipment at Anderson Park, where Tommy McQuillan would hit me low and Bob Amadeo would pancake me. I envied Ricky Craw who told me how his father repeatedly pitched to him. Later, he and I wrestled in the same weight class. Ricky appears to be the same weight while I’m 20 pounds heavier. 

Ricky, Jim Black, Kip Seibert, Dicky Russo, Pete Ruprecht, Bob DeFalco, John MacKenzie, Jonathan Spieser, Howie Youngman, Doug Fritz, Harry Murphy and I see each other almost annually at Bill Spiedel’s bar & grille, Yesterdays, in Clifton. Perhaps the next class reunion will be there.

Speaking of bars, in my senior year at Montclair High School I got called down to Special Services on Chestnut Street with my mother the day after Thanksgiving. The detectives wanted to know who bought the beer from Tierney’s Tavern that we drank at the Route 46 drive-in. One of our dates confessed it was Pete Germain, and Tierney’s was shut down for a month. In an ironic twist of fate, I now am a tennis partner several days a week at Mountainside Park with the former owner’s daughter, Cathy Tierney, who has a vicious forehand return.

While I did consider moving to Flagstaff, Boulder, Austin and Savannah, I’m glad both my children went to Montclair High School.   My daughter, Ashley, was a National Honors Society graduate who studied criminology at American University and got her Masters at John Jay. She is now a senior data analyst at Everytown for Gun Safety and Mothers Demand Action and has presented her analysis to both Congress and the White House.   My son, Jesse, worked the sound board for Montclair High School plays and produced records in our basement—including for Jack Antonoff who is now Taylor Swift’s producer. Jesse also produces a number of popular podcasts including Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and Fast Politics with Molly Jong-Fast and the Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson. 

I want to thank you all for making my experience in Montclair so memorable and rewarding.