In this edition of the Prep '58 Blog...
Another Reunion Summa Bash is in the books. 32 of us got together on Tuesday, July 14th for a great day of catching up with folks we may not have seen since the last reunion. We mingled, noshed and raffled off a few dozen cookies, to boot. See the whole story later in the Blog.
A note from Jim Heaney got the attention of quite a few '58ers... See the story inside.
Our 58th Zoom Cuppa report - has it been that long?
A fun Protein Granola Bar recipe that is a perfect after-workout treat from Desserts With Stephanie...
...and another '58er has a birthday...
We celebrated our 68th Reunion Summa Bash, on July 14th at Bar-A in Belmar, NJ.
It was a great day - we had a private space, with plenty of room and great food, at a reasonable price. A gang of 32 assembled to make this the biggest Summa Bash yet.
From Jim Heaney...
"Hey Vince:
Anyone who clicks on the URL below can sign up by July 12 to have their name on a scroll that will accompany NASA's Nancy Grace Roman telescope to its station on orbit one million miles out beyond Earth's orbit. If the Prep class of '58 signs up, we can all ride together vicariously. That telescope is scheduled to launch on August 30th. It is NASA's next big astronomical observatory whose telescope is the same size as the famous Hubble Space Telescope. There will probably be some public news about this at launch time. It will go up on a large rocket, the Falcon Heavy from Space X, Elon Musk's company.
https://my.nasa.gov/specialevents/s/send-your-name-with-nancy-roman
Stay cool !
Jim "
When the Editor got this message from Jim Heaney, he registered and got the plaques you see on the left. He also sent Jim's note out to the '58 gang, and got quite a few comments and observations. We weren't a bit surprised by the responses, or who sent them in.
Dennis Bier - "Someone should try to get us seats together. I'm outta here! "
Rich Campion - 👍
Jack Gavin - "Done!"
Walt Braun - "Me too!"
Frank Brzenk - "Done'"
Rich McConville - "I'm on board!"
Bill Kretzer - "I'm on board!"
Bernie Whalen - "That’s a very long ride. I heard they are serving beer, so I registered. 🍺😊 Thanks for the invite. Have a great 4th of July. Happy 250! 🎇"
Joe Machewirth - "I hope I don’t get motion sickness like I did on the 18 Hudson. "
Fred Baran - "I am on board!"
Walt MacInerney - " I just signed up. Oh! Where the hell are we going? Are we leaving from Bar A? "
Bill Schilp - "Elaine and I are both on board. We asked for 1st class seats. Strange that we will now have 2 Infrared telescopes out there."
The Petroc
The Petroc was a regular publication for many years at Prep, carrying stories about what was happening on campus, including sports, reports on various clubs and events and a bit of gossip now and then. During our senior year, Bob Comizzoli was the editor, and Dennis Bier wrote a regular column for the centerfold pages.
We have a complete set of Petroc editions from all our academic years at Prep, thanks to the foresight and generosity of John Wefing '60, who saved them and later donated them to Prep.
John is the brother of our own Hank Wefing, who left us in 2015. Our thanks to John, and to Mike Murcia, Director of Alumni Relations, who allowed us to scan them.
We have been spotlighting issues from each month in our 4 years at Prep, but with summer break, we will have to wait 'til September to see the next issue. In the meantime, we thought you might want to look thru all the Petrocs on your own, which you can do here.
As we were putting these new editions on the site, we were told that more recent copies of the Petroc magazine are online. The new format includes what is going on at Prep, but also reflects current news stories, cultural topics and other areas that are of interest to the current student population. You can see copies of current Petrocs here.
Here's the NYT front page from July 14, 1955. Big 4 conference set for July in Geneva. . Jersey City sues Mayor Hague for $15 million. Senate agrees to a 4 year extension of the draft.
Just in case your memory is as iffy as the Editor's, we found a site that lets you access the top news stories from back in the day. You can select the year and month, and the major news events for that period will be shown. Below are a few of the stories we found from 1955 from the thousands that are available.
- February 24: Formation of the Central Treaty Organization.
- April 12: The Salk polio vaccine having passed large-scale trials earlier in the United States, receives full approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
- April 18: Death of Albert Einstein.
- May 14: Signing of the Warsaw Pact.
- August 18: First Sudanese Civil War begins.
You can see all the headlines and stories from the 50's right here!
We had a good crew for the call on Monday, July 13th. Rich Campion joined us from from Canada; Phil Campana TN, Tom Reilly CO, Jim Heaney MD, Rich McConville MA, and Bob Stubin VA joined the NJ Crew: Peter Donnelly, Bob Pipchick, Bob Comizzoli and Vince.
We got into the weather stories we have all been seeing on TV. We heard about water restrictions out west, and snow storms in September and June. We all verified that we signed up for the rocket trip that Jim Heaney was organizing, which is scheduled for August 30th, and so far is on schedule.
We have been having lunch at the Reo Diner in Woodbridge since we started the Cuppa Club more than 10 years ago.
We catch up on Prep news, and share a story or two about travels, G'kids and the like. But the real reason we get together is to keep the Prep '58 spirit alive. After lunch we take a photo to prove we were there and head home.
You should join a Reo Cuppa if you can. We have had as many as a dozen attendees in the past, and would like to get a good crowd every month.
We have scheduled the Cuppa events for the 2nd Tuesday each month to allow as many guys as we can to attend by planning around the date.
We started the Blogtoons feature to share some of the humorous cartoons we get from time to time.
Some of them are not technically cartoons, but they all got a chuckle out of the Editor.
Most of them are from '58 guys, but occasionally we will get contributions from a few others...
If you come across one you think the gang would enjoy, send it in to Vince in an email.
Here's a peek at the best of the bunch, so far.
42 Bio's, and counting...
We are still on the hunt for After '58 Bio's and we know there are dozens of 58'ers out there who read the Blog, but have yet to submit a Bio. Every one we get has an interesting tale to tell, and we hope you will add to our library.
And... remember those cookies! Send yours in and we will get them right out to you! Take a look at the Bio's we have.
'After '58' got started in March, 2017, when we received this suggestion from Bill Kretzer to collect stories from the '58 gang about what they did after graduation.
"I think there would be a bushel of interest in interviews with each & every ‘58 graduate. I for one, since I went away to college and never returned to NJ, didn’t keep in touch as much as I should have and would be curious to hear how everyone’s life turned out."
Bill sent in his Bio, and 8 years later, we are at 42. We hope every one of the '58 gang will pick up on Bill's suggestion and send in their story in an email to Vince.
It takes no more time to put your story together than it would to tell it to your grandkids, so how about it? We will return the favor by sending a baker's dozen of Stephanie Grillo's famous Chocolate Chunk cookies. We've already shipped out over 500 of the best cookies you've ever tasted, and there's more where they came from.
Protein Granola Bars
Vince's wife Stephanie publishes a Baking Blog - Desserts With Stephanie - featuring 100's of recipes for cakes, cookies, pies and other delicious desserts. Her recipes produce delicious results, and are easy to follow. We have been featuring them in our '58 Blog.
These Homemade Protein Granola Bars are the perfect grab-and-go snack for busy mornings, afternoon pick-me-ups, or post workout fuel.
We thought you might like to try them as your next family dessert. They will definitely generate a 'Yummy" or two. Click here to take a peek at the recipe.
If you like it, give it a Thumbs up. For more delicious recipes, support Stephanie by becoming a Subscriber.
Click here to subscribe to Stephanie's channel.
BTW, in addition to his duties as videographer, the Editor offers his services as an official dessert taster, and looks forward to sampling them every month. These cookies are delicious and the recipe makes it easy to make. Try it!
For this month's GKids photo, the Editor decided to feature all the GKids in Vince and Stephanie's family.
This photo taken at Vince's 85th birthday party, with his kids, GKids and Great GKids - and a few friends - thrown in for good measure.
You might recognize the space - it's the Mahogany Room at Bar-A, where we meet for our annual Reunion Summa Bash.