It was a weekend filled with renewed friendships, congeniality, entertainment, and one of the finest demonstrations of school spirit that I have ever witnessed.

I would like to take this opportunity ro thank a few of the people responsible for making this weekend an unforgettable experience. Namely:

Richard Schaefer, our guest speaker, who has served as an inspirational leader to us and other students at KHS doe more than 25 years

The entire reunion committee, who put in many hours of meetings, planning and organizing the activities for the weekend

All the local merchants who contributed gifts to our fund-raising activities

And most of all, the over 200 graduates of the class of '64 who attended the reunion, providing the main ingredient, school spirit.

Don Scism
Port Ewen

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After 20 years, hugs and kisses

Dear Editor,

I made the left turn into the Holiday Inn feeling a little lightheaded. I kept reminding myself to breathe because looking confident was extremely important.

Flashbacks of times spent in Kingston High School kept flooding my mind - oh, this is silly, that was 1964 and this is 1984. I am now a successful, professional woman who lives in Chicago, so why did sitting for hours in the bus terminal with a vanilla coke come to my mind?

I remembered being with my friends sitting in the bleachers, watching Chip Ennis, Larry Marcus, Paul Gruner, Michael Canning, or Jimmy Plunkett - I wonder what they look like now? Lean to the left, lean to the right, stand up, sit down, fight fight fight... or going to Ambrose's during lunch, best greasy hamburgers in town. They knew where the beef was!

I began walking to the KHS 20th reunion and knew I still had a few seconds to back out. I had already changed my dress twice, but then probably nobody would recognize me anyway.

Hi, Peggy (a name I hadn't been called in 20 years)! It was Fran Marello, our May Court Queen. She looked even more beautiful than I remembered. I always thought that the beautiful girls were supposed to grow ugly with age - not in my class. Oh well, I always knew we were somthing special!

I had to forget fleeing and the crazy idea of remaining anonymous. Too late to back out, so I began walking toward the bar.

Memories of skiing every Saturday until our feet were blue came back; and oh yes, that trip the choir took to Atlantic City. Eating lobster at Hackney's and having our pictures put on matchbooks... and Smock, the scandalous news sheet that resulted in the withdrawal of four of our brightest students for being a little ahead of their times.

I started talking to the person next to me and secretly thanked the committee for providing name tag pins with our yearbook pictures. They certainly helped, although when you looked, I mean really looked, it was obvious - sure, that's Allen Werbalowsky, Barbara Fowler, Ringo DeVeau...

Everyone seemed more friendly and open than I remembered. We began talking about our lives, and even though we had all gone our separate ways, there was a feeling of acceptance - after all, this is where it all began. As a matter of fact, there were people there I had known since Kindergarten at George Washington. There were no "in-groups" or flunkies, just adults who had grown up and had families, careers, and experiences that rounded out their lives. It was easy to hug and kiss each other because we were bonded.

The second evening reminded me of Prom night. We all dressed up, the women were given corsages, and after dinner we began dancing the stroll, the hop, the fly, and even yelled "Shout!" I looked around me and the years seemed to melt away. Richard Schaefer, our favorite English teacher, spoke of the changes at KHS; but it all semed the same to me.

My best friend and I had lunch afterwards and we spoke of not seeing each other for all those 20 years. We gossiped and remembered; but then spoke of ourselves and our lives today. We discovered we still had much in common, and I began to think this even resembles that of being on a ferry boat. Beginnings and endings began to look alike.

I'd like to publicly thank Allen Werbalowsky, Neil LeFevre, Phyllis Klein, Don Scism, Fran Marello, Ginny Libbos, and everyone else who worked so very hard to bring us together again.

Peg Hazenbush
Chicago, Ill.

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