Now Playing: 40th reunion update
From: NE69news
To: NEHS69 Email list
Sent: 10/14/2009 6:56:36 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: 1NE69 - 40th reunion update
Dear fellow NE69ers,
Well, our 40 year reunion is now history. We had 191 people in attendance, of which 158 were classmates and 33 were guests. Many classmates were at their very first reunion and most of them had such a great time they wished they had come to earlier reunions.
Our reunion committee did an incredible job once again in executing the committee's plan for the reunion. The room looked great with red roses as center pieces against a black tablecloth.
The highlight of the evening was a live encore performance by our very own band, Not Collidge Mateerial, which is comprised of 8 classmates...Joel Gibbs, Gary Moskowitz, Steve Aaronson, Craig Seller, Neil Shipon, Jerry Abrams, Lee Wapner, and Jimmy Goldstein. They played and we danced all night. They were simply outstanding.
For those classmates that were there, it was a unique opportunity to see their classmates (and friends with whom they may have lost touch) and re-connect and rekindle their friendships. The night went quickly and before we knew it, it was over. Our five hour "back in time" experience was over except for those that gathered in the hotel lobby until the wee hours of the morning.
The next morning, many classmates met for brunch at the hotel and bid farewell until we gather once again 10 years from now.
Many classmates came up to me and thanked ME for putting this reunion together. To them I say I appreciate your kind words and intentions but I must point out that it truly was a coordinated effort by the dedicated, hardworking, and talented members of our reunion committee. To them I tip my hat.
See some of the chatter following the reunion below.
We do have digital copies of our Yearbook on CD rom with a power point interface as well as terrific T-shirts (4 different themes) made to order for our class that will be offered for sale in the near future. Details will follow.
Finally, photos from our reunion will be posted when they become available. If any classmates have reunion photos they would like to share please hold on to them until we receive further instructions.
Pete Weiss
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To: Reunion committee members
From: Pete Weiss
re: Great job Saturday Night!
I'm sure that many of you are still recovering from an event filled weekend which included not only our wonderful reunion, but the Eagles Sunday victory, and the Phillies amazing comeback and eventual victory in the NLDS against Colorado.
I must commend our entire reunion committee for their Herculean efforts in putting together such a wonderfully successful 40th reunion celebration Saturday evening.
In my opinion, this was a classy event from start to finish and you should all be very proud of having been a part of it. Despite several glitches, we all showed great poise under some unexpected pressures. I have received many emails and phone calls from our classmates thanking me and our committee for the extraordinary work and planning we do. Everyone has been extremely and genuinely complimentary about how well organized we were and how almost every detail was attended to.
I also received a lot of favorable compliments about how outstanding our band was.
Particular recognition should be given at this time to the following committee members for their superior efforts in making this such a successful reunion event.
Joel Gibbs - for all the work he did as head of our entertainment committee promoting the reunion and re-designing our invitation, putting together the yearbook CD and arranging for it to be reproduced with an image of our yearbook cover on the face of the CD. Joel also was responsible for procuring the DJ, the videographer, and photographer for our reunion. Even more notable, I must commend Joel for his initiative and leadership in organizing and motivating that fabulous band, Not Collidge Mateerial. They have stayed together for five years now. Once again, the band was out of this world and everyone loved you guys. The energy in the room seemed to come to a crescendo when they played. I know how much dedication and practice it took for all the band members to play together so well. It was Joel's vision, artistic talent, and showmanship that pulled the whole thing together so well and made the entire reunion such a memorable and authentically NEHS'69 event.
Sandi (Depue) Bergman- for her involvement and participation in many areas but particularly the incredible amount of work she did in producing those terrific, professional looking photo name tags. They were truly awesome! Also, Sandy put together a Power Point interface for our yearbook CD with some help from Joel Gibbs, Gary Moskowitz, and Bruce Share. Thanks for everything Sandy.
Mimi Shapiro - Mimi did a lot of things to help. She was the "pit bull" that searched and found about 125 of our missing classmates. She allowed us to use her home for one of our meetings. She created a magnificent memorabilia table for people to browse and enjoy during our reunion. Many people commented about the spectacular display she produced. Great job Mimi!
Bruce Share - for his tireless efforts in so many areas. Just to mention a few - his tremendous job as our treasurer in collecting, recording, depositing, disbursing, etc. all reunion funds, etc. Bruce also set up our online payment system though Paypal and Eventbrite which made it easy to register and pay for the reunion. Thanks again Bruce.
Ron Zaritsky - for his organized and effective supervision of our registration tables. Everything moved smoothly and efficiently despite several glitches and Ron maintained his calm and composure and that of everyone else. Good job Ron!
Bob Lankin - for allowing us to use his office for our reunion phonathon and making sure we all got fed and had phones and desks.
Barbara Lewis (Baxt) - for her efforts in designing and printing our "Save the date" announcements.
Lisa Black (Biren) - for her efforts in helping in so many areas including copying and printing our invitations.
Nancy Kauderer (Davis) - for helping in many areas including allowing us the use of her home for one of our meetings.
Wendy Goldman (Harris)- for her behind the scenes work and useful suggestions in so many important areas. Among them, Wendy volunteered to take care of getting out the "Save the Date" reunion announcements. She also provided oversight for getting our invitations folded and supervised our volunteers in getting the invitations stuffed and in the mail.
Carolyn Verdi - for her great work in helping to identify, analyze, compare, and ultimately select the Doubletree Hotel as our reunion facility. Carolyn selected the food and desert menu. She also acted as our contact to interface with the hotel's banquet staff to facilitate and resolve many issues including arrangements to meet the logistical and equipment needs of the band. And how about those Red Rose centerpieces. Weren't they great against the black table clothes!
Gary Moskowitz - In addition to playing in the band, Gary scanned some missing sections of our yearbook including the supplement which was later incorporated into the Yearbook CD we have available for sale.
Terry Abrams - for doing his usual terrific job as master of ceremonies. It almost seems like it wouldn't feel like our reunion without Terry being in charge during whatever ceremony is appropriate at the time.
I also want to acknowledge the useful and important contributions of Steve Aaronson, Roz Chanin (Aaronson), Bette Giwerc (Allekkote), Eileen Gerson (Greenberg), Bonnie Adler (Keen), Eileen Masover, Andrea Greenberg (Sachs), Jay Rose, Ricky Segal, Joan Anton, Sandy Hyman, Elaine Soloff, Donna Dodaro, and Ellen Soklove. Whether you offered suggestions from a distance, attended our planning meetings, helped at the phon-a-thon, helped at the registration tables, or called and encouraged classmates to join us, your efforts helped make this team effort a uniquely successful one.
This was a totally volunteer effort. I'm truly amazed at how a volunteer effort of this magnitude was completed so successfully. I believe that the image of all our committee members and our class as a whole was favorably enhanced as a result of such a great volunteer effort. Again my personal thanks for a job well done.
I'll be sending additional updates about the reunion soon.
Pete Weiss
From: sdepue@starlinx.com
To: Pete013@aol.com
Sent: 10/13/2009 12:58:52 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: 40thPete,Kudos to you and everyone who helped do a great job. I think this was the best one ever. One thing I noticed though, at the break from the band about half the guests left. It was probably past their bedtime. I think for the next time, we may want to start doing this earlier. LOLSandra
PS: I forgot that we were so close to the Locust strip. When I went to get my car, it looked like a drag queen convention in the garage. I was the only straight one in the elevator and they wanted to know where I had been. It was a little other worldly.
From: notification+m2snsqga@facebookmail.com
To: pete013@aol.com
Sent: 10/12/2009 5:51:01 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Lee Wapner also commented on his link...
Lee also commented on his link:
"Well thanks Pete! Originally "69" was for our graduation class, (wink wink) but then (Luckily) John Runyan was picked up by the EAGLES - but the name on the back ........ well that's all me. I only wear this jersey to EAGLES home games, and that's the truth."
To: pete013@aol.com
Sent: 10/12/2009 5:51:01 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Lee Wapner also commented on his link...
"Well thanks Pete! Originally "69" was for our graduation class, (wink wink) but then (Luckily) John Runyan was picked up by the EAGLES - but the name on the back ........ well that's all me. I only wear this jersey to EAGLES home games, and that's the truth."
From: notification+m2snsqga@facebookmail.com
To: pete013@aol.com
Sent: 10/12/2009 7:32:03 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Rande Kline wrote on your Wall...
To: pete013@aol.com
Sent: 10/12/2009 7:32:03 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Rande Kline wrote on your Wall...
Rande posted something on your Wall and wrote:
"Hey Pete, Just wanted to thank you for all that you do for us from the class of 1969. I had a blast. Great company/ Another great reunion."
"Hey Pete, Just wanted to thank you for all that you do for us from the class of 1969. I had a blast. Great company/ Another great reunion."
From: notification+m2snsqga@facebookmail.com
To: pete013@aol.com
Sent: 10/12/2009 8:48:09 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Phyllis Knopman Laufer wrote on your Wall...
To: pete013@aol.com
Sent: 10/12/2009 8:48:09 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Phyllis Knopman Laufer wrote on your Wall...
Phyllis posted something on your Wall and wrote:
"You are the best! We all had such a great time last night. Thanks for all the hard work you did to make it happen. I'll help for the 50th. Let me know what you need."
"You are the best! We all had such a great time last night. Thanks for all the hard work you did to make it happen. I'll help for the 50th. Let me know what you need."
From: notification+m2snsqga@facebookmail.com
To: pete013@aol.com
Sent: 10/12/2009 7:59:52 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Ilene Appel Katen wrote on your Wall...
Ilene posted something on your Wall and wrote:
"Great stuff....seeing old friends...hearing great stories!! Had a blast, many thanks!!"
"Great stuff....seeing old friends...hearing great stories!! Had a blast, many thanks!!"
From: notification+m2snsqga@facebookmail.com
To: pete013@aol.com
Sent: 10/12/2009 5:45:30 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Joan Anton wrote on your event's Wall...
Joan wrote on the Wall for the event "Northeast High School Class of 1969 40 Year Reunion":
"If you didn't make it to the reunion, you really missed a great time!"
"If you didn't make it to the reunion, you really missed a great time!"
From: notification+m2snsqga@facebookmail.com
To: pete013@aol.com
Sent: 10/12/2009 8:45:32 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Brenda Cohen sent you a message on Facebook...
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Subject: Thank you
Pete i just wanted to say thank you for a great time on
Saturday night. It was great reuniting with old classmates and making new friends. You did a fantastic job.
Brenda
From: Pete013
To: Rib Rubin
CC: NE69news
Sent: 10/12/2009 5:06:57 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Re: Reunion
Rib,
Thanks for taking the time to send me and the committee members such warm and complimentary remarks. I agree, THE part that I remember was also very memorable! :-)
Pete
In a message dated 10/12/2009 2:37:00 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, Rib Rubin writes:
Hey Pete,Just wanted to let you know that the reunion was great. I know all the hard work you put into it. For the participants who just go, have a good time and leave without any of the problems and anxiety that leads up to the night, we owe you and all the members of the committee a giant thank you. It was truly a fun night... at least the part that I remember.Rib
From: notification+m2snsqga@facebookmail.com
To: pete013@aol.com
Sent: 10/11/2009 12:59:31 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Toby Shaffer Shpigel wrote on your Wall...
"Pete...Thank you so much for the amazing reunion. Your hard work and herculean efforts really paid off. Please include me in the planning of the next one."
From: notification+m2snsqga@facebookmail.com
To: pete013@aol.com
Sent: 10/11/2009 11:23:54 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Andrea Beth Sachs wrote on your Wall...
"Wow!!! What a wonderful night. It was so great to see people from the past. Thank you for your incredible efforts at organizing this and it was a pleasure working with the committee. I hope you will include me in the next NEHS reunion planning committee."
Posted by ne69news
at 5:16 PM EDT
