Thoughts and Prayers for Classmates Affected by Hurricanes & Fires

Thinking of all of our friends who were in the paths of the recent hurricanes in Texas and Florida and those living near the terrible wildfires out west.  Please check in and let us know how you are doing.  If you send an email with details (including photos), we can add names to a list on this posting.  

Florida Surprise Get-Togethers

Thanks to David Perugini for sharing this news about a couple of meetings with classmates in Florida.

Surprises for Everyone!

In the middle of June I received a FB Message from Mlisa Manning asking if I could be available in Florida for her Dad’s birthday (Sept 23rd). We worked it out that we would be there to surprise him a week later, since we had tickets to the Sir Paul concert* in Syracuse. 

The Big Day comes for us to fly down to the Venice, FL area where Jay lives. Our first stop upon landing was to get something to eat, so we stopped in at the McDonald’s across from our hotel. Waiting in line, a lovely lady pops into my periphery. We stare at each other for a moment, until I exclaim, “Val!” Then, because she’s in apparent shock, I point to myself and say, “David”. SURPRISE! Turns out that Valerie and Ed were waiting to move into their home in Venice the next day — they were just killing time. We enjoyed each other’s company for about an hour while we chatted while our lunches got cold and I took an ‘US-ee’ photo for the Blog.

The next day we rang the bell at Jay’s door disguised as Happy-Birthday-singing Amazon boxes. We handed him his birthday gift (a T-Shirt remembrance of ’The Synners’, our 1965 band). Then we whipped off the masks to reveal ourselves. SURPRISE!  For the next three days we cavorted around the Venice area, enjoying it’s many treasures — completely unaware of the 12 years that have passed since we’d seen each other.

What the trip re-enforced was what wonderful friendships we forged back at OHS. Even after long gaps, it’s possible to just pick up where we left off because the foundations of those friendships are so strong. I don’t know if there are any major reunions in our future, but even such little micro-reunions as what I experienced with Val and Jay are life-affirming. If the opportunity arrises, grab it! You’ll be surprised at how natural it feels to look into the eyes of dear, familiar faces.

* turns out we couldn’t go because I got sick 🤧

Roosevelt School Photo

Ken Foyder has shared this photo and would like some help with identifying people...

Rear:  Ken Foyder, ?, ?, Chet Evans, ?, ?, ?
Front:  MaryAnn Vargo, Carmella Verzello, Marnie Stanley, Linda Knapp, ?

We Are Saddened by the Passing of Our Former Teacher, Earl Sipe,

Wth sadness, we have learned of the passing of our former teacher, Earl Sipe.  Mr. Sipe, a well-liked business teacher, was 92 years old.

EARL SIPE OBITUARY

Mini Reunion

Hello OHS Class of '65!


In August, some of us met up at the home of Rick Henry in NY State for an overnight of catching up.

Kathy Hassett and husband Tony Duran were passing through after an east coast cruise and planned to spend one night at Rick's. Since we weren't too far, Joe Campanella, still in Ossining, popped in, and I came down from upstate as well.

We had all reconnected via a private group on political discourse that we'd gotten involved in during the last year and found ourselves enjoying  a small group place to air our views.  Out of that has come much sharing of the old days, our current lives, and of course some politics thrown  in for good measure. The feeling of connectedness we all felt from our OHS days was palpable and it was like no time had passed.

We wanted to share some photos with you all - we felt much joy and laughter browsing Rick's old WIZARDS and reminiscing about the  GOOD OLD DAYS AT OHS!!

Hope you are all well; you were in our thoughts, believe me!

Fondly,  Linda (White) Alexander

Condolences to Fran Antunovich Esposito on the Passing of Her Husband

Our condolences to Fran and her family during this difficult time.  May you find comfort in wonderful memories of Joe and the wonderful 50 years you shared together.  

We Mourn the Passing of William "Billy" Jones

Sad News
I don't have any more information right now, but apparently our fine classmate William Billy Jones passed away either today (July 30th) or yesterday. A very talented guy and a loving family man. Heartbreak for all.

- David Perugini
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Billy was an active participant in our Facebook community.  Here are some of the initial responses from his FB friends...

Gene Gulland Presents Case Before Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Mock Appeal by Shylock

Congratulations to our own Gene Gulland for a great presentation!

Some class members might be interested in a fun event this week at the Library of Congress in Washington. The Library held a mock appeal by Shylock, the moneylender in Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice, in which Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg presided.  Two other lawyers and I actually argued the case based on the laws of 16^th Century Venice and we were vigorously questioned by Justice Ginsberg and the other judges.  Leading Shakespeare experts gave short presentations about the play and a leading actor performed some of the famous speeches by Shylock.  The Library live-streamed and recorded the event, which can be found at this link:

Justice for Shylock: A Mock Appeal Commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the Venice Ghetto

- Gene Gulland

Happy #95 to David's Dad, Phil Perugini!

Photo taken at the ‘Family Party’ for my father’s 95th birthday. His birthday is May 26th (born in 1922). It was surely a great day!

-David Perugini

Great Article About Howard Young

Thanks to Howard for sharing this article. He has had an amazing career as a cancer research scientist and is highly respected and much-loved by those who have been fortunate enough to work with him.

Howard Young Brings Light to the Serious Side of Science

By Kaylee Towey, WHK Student Intern; photos by Richard Frederickson, Staff Photographer, plus contributed images

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Young receives an award at the Werner H. Kirsten Student Intern Program (WHKSIP) 
25th Anniversary Symposium and Awards Ceremony.

You know what they say about all work and no play. And without a doubt, science requires constant hard work. But the NCI at Frederick has an antidote to the serious side of science: Howard Young.

Young, Ph.D., Senior Investigator, Cancer and Inflammation Program, is a serious scientist in his own right. He was part of the team that characterized and cloned the RAS oncogene, he developed a mouse model of lupus, and he was the first to show a clear sex bias, similar to that seen in patients, in what has been called the best mouse model for primary biliary cholangitis.

But Young also works hard to play hard every now and then.

First, there’s Young’s “Food Offense,” a novel disciplinary approach for rehabilitating laboratory minions whose bench-side antics interrupt progress and cause tension in the lab. The famous “Food Offense” was published in the NIH Catalyst and became a standard in other labs. According to the “Food Offense,” if someone does something to interrupt or inconvenience another in the lab, the offending party is required to bring in food—preferably containing chocolate, a request aimed to satisfy Young’s insistent sweet tooth—or, alternately, to get another job.

A sign above Young’s door reads: “A balanced diet is having chocolate in each hand.” And Young isn’t kidding when it comes to his cocoa, even asking those who accidently call his phone to send him the sweet treat. Ram Savan, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Immunology, University of Washington, recalled Howard “propos[ing] experiments to study the medicinal properties of chocolate.”

But chocolate isn’t Young’s only love.

When Young was in sixth grade, he visited the Museum of Natural History in New York City and bought a hippo souvenir at the gift shop, kick-starting his collection of more than 200 figurines of the most dangerous animal in Africa. Many of the hippos in his office were gifts, including one that traveled all the way from Uganda, courtesy of an intern who had a hippo hand-carved during her trip back home. Another postdoc went to India and brought Young back a gift—but to his surprise, it was a rhino that the postdoc had mistaken for a hippo. Also adorning Young’s office are faces carved into wood, Japanese fish prints, and other knickknacks from around the world. Out of all the places he has visited for meetings—Great Britain, France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, and Australia, just to name a few—Young’s favorite destination was Shanghai.

Displayed alongside his collectibles are Young’s many distinguished awards, including the Honorary Lifetime Membership Award for the International Cytokine and Interferon Society and the Distinguished Service Award. Young was also nominated for and received the National Public Service Award for his involvement in student programs and was elected president of the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research.

Young became involved in science after being encouraged by his science teachers and realizing that “science was something I could do, so I better stick with it.” After majoring in microbiology, he was encouraged to come to the NIH by a former grad student with whom he had worked at UMass. Throughout his career, he has worked in the Chairman of the Microbiology Department's lab at the University of Massachusetts, then in graduate school at the University of Washington, followed by stints in NCI Bethesda and Frederick research labs. His current work focuses on cellular immunology with a special emphasis on the biology of interferon-gamma. But Young confessed that his heart truly lies with NCI at Frederick, because at Frederick, “science is not a job, as you are part of a community that works together.”

It’s not surprising that a sense of community can be felt in Young’s lab. Della Reynolds, who worked with Young for 28 years, recalled how Young was always part of the “party lab” and was “a great organizer.” Reynolds told stories of Halloween competitions with Young dressed up as Lurch from The Addams Family or a pumpkin from Snoopy. One year, when Young was away for Halloween, the whole lab dressed up as him. Young also emcees the office holiday party luncheon. Daniel McVicar, Ph.D., deputy director for basic science in the Cancer and Inflammation Program, said, “[Young] is fantastic and really is responsible for it being a fun outing.”

Reynolds also credits Young for “always [being] supportive of trying to get people into science.” Jay Bream, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, agreed, saying Young “took it upon himself to do something about it despite the considerable costs in time and effort, [and] marched to the beat of his own drum, giving people a kind of supportive freedom to explore new ideas.”

Young believes that freedom increases morale and allows everyone to help one another succeed. It has also paved the way for many of his contributions to NCI at Frederick, including the WHK Student Intern Program, the Summer Student Seminar Series, the Spring Research Festival, the Take a Hike event, the summer Student Poster Day, the Green Team Plant Exchange, the Frederick Faculty Seminar Series, and the summer Student Jeopardy Tournament. Furthermore, he raised $50,000 in just 30 minutes by asking three NIH Scientific Directors and the NIH Office of Women’s Health to contribute to a meeting on mouse models of lupus. The cost proved to be less than $50,000, and the leftover money was used to organize four additional meetings focused on women’s health issues. 

“You have to give back to the community,” Young said. “I think seeing the interns in the WHK program succeed, whether establishing their own research labs or becoming practicing physicians, has shown me that the program is accomplishing what it initially hoped to do and is one that the entire Frederick community can be proud of.”

Young’s influence was perhaps best summarized by Savan, who said, “I want my lab to be a place where people can share their lives together, and [my colleagues] view me with the same respect that I view Howard.”