Six Commodores attended. Two - Jeff and Don - who had not been at the mini-reunion in January and one - Eli who had attended the January event but could not make it this time - flying to Denmark to pick up puppies.
In the photo above, from left to right, John McCormick, Eli(formerly Eric)Shaber, Dave Peppis, Terry Grace, and Dave Vittor met at Carmines near Time Square in the City. The reunion was arranged by Daves Vittor and Peppis.
The big surprise was Eli (formerly Eric). We knew what four of us looked like because we all had an entry on this blog with a photo. All our faces were pleasantly filled out from our high school days but this was not the case with Eli (remember Eli was Eric). He was a little cherub in high school - check his photo on the right side of the screen - but he is now much leaner. See his photo above. In fact, the consensus was that, if we passed Eli on the street, we would not have recognized him. One of Eli’s first statements was that he has been experiencing long term memory loss. However, in our two hour meeting, he was able to remember and contribute to our days at MacArthur.
Salad, chicken parm, pasta and shrimp were served but the food was secondary to the conversation.
Conversation about the past (it has been 45 years since we graduated from high school) is always interesting because each of us, from are individual perspectives, remember people and events differently.
Names from the past came up. I did not take notes, but some of the names, in not any particular order, were Jeff Loeb, Shelly(Hochstadt)Loeb, Ray Leitner, Willie Leitner, Nick Heinrich, Phil Kaminisky,Don Diener, Peter Greene, Glen Gray, Ken Harding, Ed Schmidt, Bob Lapolla (the Belly), Bob Leaventhal, Ace Presson, Andrew Rosenblatt, Marcia Bloom, Johnny Sierra, Kenny Westfall, Jan (Westfall)Grace, James Perkins, Pete Capparell, Al Weiler, Peter Wanderman, Sue Rea, Bob Junsch and others.
The high school years did not dominate the discussion. Questions were asked: What we would have done different? How are your children? What do you now enjoy doing? How come we are not considered Baby Boomers? Health? Whose taking Lipitor? The stock market? Parents? Travel?
Both Terry's and Dave Peppis's parents are still living (fathers are 89). What is really remarkable is that the Dave Peppis's parents have never moved and are living in the same house where in the basement we hung out, played ping pong, and held Commodore parties. Both of Dave Vittor’s parents have passed away. Eli’s mother and John’s mother (just turned 95) are still living.
We all did some traveling but Eli, who has been retired for about six years has taken travel to the extreme, e.g. trips to Antarctica, Tibet, and a trip is planned in December 2008 to Uganda to check out the gorillas.
It was quite the thrill to see each other after all these years.
What is next?
Don Diener, who has just been recently located alive and well in Florida, has a place in the Hamptons, purchased back in the seventies. He has suggested that we all meet there sometime this summer.
The other members of the Commodores who attended the reunion are welcome, encouraged to add their comments/impressions on the reunion. To do so, click on comment which located just below this entry. A form will come up. Type in your comment in the box under Leave your comment. At the end of your comment don’t forget to type in your name. . Under Choose an identity, click on the circle before Anonymous. Finally, click on PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT.
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John McCormick
