And more from Scrig...

"...it has been so long since I have been back. I can trace my walk home...I remember some things about downtown...Hobby Hall...the Strand Theatre...I think there was a Lyric Theatre, too, but that is fuzzy. My Mom used to buy her meat at Muldowney's Market, and her dry goods at Cullis and Lewis, next door. Cullis and Lewis was so cool...there were interesting smelling things in barrels and gorgeous metal containers with slanty tops and Towle-type decoration on them for coffee beans and sugar. The floors were wooden, as were the counters. And the walls were lined with goods, and whatever you bought they put into a paper sack and carried it out to the car for you...or if there was enough, it went into a cut down box. They always called my mother by her name, and often gave me a piece of penny candy or a lolly pop. And there was a lady in a glass fronted office up near the ceiling at the back of the store...I always wanted to go up there and look down at the store and the people. I'm sure there had to be a staircase up to the office, but it was probably "in the back" and I never saw it. I used to imagine all sorts of ways to get up there...ropes, and elevators, and flying. There was a slanty ladder on wheels for climbing up to get things on top shelves, and I sometimes wondered if that was the way she got up there. As I look back, it was so old fashioned and wonderful. My own trips to the supermarket lack a certain cachet, and I would drop dead of surprise if anyone called me by name! Or carried my stuff out to the car, either.

 I remember Kress 5 & 10...Pierson's Hardware and the Summit Bank and Trust. Trost's Bakery...oh boy did they make great birthday cakes!! They probably make the icing with lard, but it was the best stuff I have ever tasted, and you can't find it anymore. No calories in it either...yum yum. 

From Georgi (Conti) Weeks...

Oh, how I remember my first day at SJH, a little gal in a large school, so very different from what I had attended in Maplewood from grades K-7.  It was total culture shock and such a change for me; but I learned to adapt and fall in love with the whole ambiance of the magnificent school and education system.  As I grew, not so much in height (ha!), but intellectually and socially I came to cherish those years as being some of the best times of my formative life. 

I remember walking home from our JHS, which is now the Middle School, and forever getting lost on the way but I did get to see some beautiful sites in the lovely town of Summit. 

As with most (I think?) I had a new” best friend" just about every year, never forsaking the previous one; and at the same time maintaining my friends from Maplewood.  Lynn Miller and I would exchange diaries each year and it was like looking at "Mutt and Jeff" walking down the center of town whenever we would be out and about. Great Gal that Lynn Miller! We practiced and practiced for cheerleading try-outs and didn't make it (oh, how I cried.) I never could master that cartwheel.

I can remember being asked out on my first date and I immediately saying "no" because I believed that my Dad would not let me start dating in the 9th grade (horrors, and my how things have changed these days); only to find out that I could have in-fact accepted when I told my Dad a while later. 

Then came the High School years...dates, proms, new gowns that my Mom and I would shop and shop for.  Of course I didn't think that I could possibly wear the same one to each dance even though it was with a different date.  Oh those were the days...

The Parties in our finished basement designed and built by my brother, Nat, who was talented beyond his years and two years ahead of me in HS.  We had the green lights inserted in areas of our lava rock bar (which he built) and under the bar top, plants hanging out (plastic of course).  And who can forget dancing the jitterbug to those 45's and the pizza parties? As I look back I wish everyone could have come. I especially liked when my brother would have his "Royals" meetings down there and I could get a glance of those upperclassmen.  What a great crowd they were and still are.

Eastman’s, owned and operated by Russ Carter and his Mom,  in the center of town where we would pick a 45 that we liked and listen to it in a booth or with ear phones and then decide if we wanted to make the purchase; some of which I am sure are on the Jukebox in our Website.  The great music of the fifties!!!

The safe and fun "hang outs" for us young teens after school to have a vanilla or cherry coke, pile in a booth and talk and talk and talk.  The Seligman's, Bob and Norma, who owned the Snack Shop next to the Strand Theater (which is now the Strand Mall!);  they would listen to our problems (what we thought at that time were problems) and had sensible and caring parental advise.  Two very sweet people whom I cherish to this day and now reside in Florida.

The "snowstorm" on April 5th after a dance the seniors had attended and my dear Mom opened our house for the couples who were gathering here to sleep over throughout our ranch home so they would not have an accident on the snowy roads.  Those were some of the fun times to a little sophomore such as me.

Kenny’s Drive-in and Car-Hop on Morris and Essex Turnpike were we would go and hope to see some other friends out cruising around.  My first car, a little green Hillman Minx which had an Ajax can as part of the engine, clutch on the floor and signals that flipped out of the driver’s side window.  When we would go around the corner in it the passengers would have to lean away from the turn to balance the wheels.  All such clean and innocent fun we had!  Oh, how we laughed…we were too young to be scared. Take me back to the Fifties!

The memories are just too numerous, so I won't bore you by going on and on; but if you come to our fiftieth, perhaps at one of the functions we can remember together.

See you there!  Georgi

I came to Summit High from Rutherford schools, where I’d been with the same classmates for 12 years, K-11. You’d probably all know Rutherford now, or E. Rutherford really, as the location of Giant’s Stadium in the N. J. meadows. It was a tough transition for one’s senior year to a better, academically more challenging, high school.

One act of kindness by Don Marcy remains etched in my memory for all the 50 years. We were short of lockers and the “new kid” didn’t have one assigned when he showed up for Homeroom. Don immediately said “I’ll share mine” and we did for several days until an unassigned locker was located. Don, I’ve told this story a hundred times as an example to colleagues and friends, about a seemingly small act of kindness done to this scared and awkward “new kid”  that so much helped him (me) get through those first few days. “Thank you Don” in case I never took the time to say thank you before.

I dated Phyllis Guest for most of our senior year and off and on for several years thereafter. I was deeply saddened to see her name “in Memorium.”  She was quite the drum majorette and quite a lady. For some reason she hated to be called Phyllis. She wanted to be called Phyl and doubtless would want to be remembered that way. 

Marilyn Benner, what a terrific athlete, when female athletes were not quite “in fashion.”  We went on to Springfield College where Marilyn starred in many sports, especially field hockey. She died way, way too young. 

Thanks to the baseball team that accepted me. You found a place for this “outsider” who had starred in the NNJIL, but as a senior pretty much warmed the bench for a strong, well established high school team. You were friends! 

Then there was our senior class musical, Where’s Charlie?  Never before or since have I  been more frightened than singing a couple of solo numbers. 

One other “thank you” to Nancy Casebolt, for getting me through Spanish 2. 

I’m not sure, after 50 years and just that one senior year I’ll recognize any of you, but what the heck, how many 50 year H. S. reunions does one have anyway? 

See you, with my wonderful wife Mary Estelle, in October!

Summit High School

Summit, New Jersey

April 16, 1957

Dear Parents,

The Student committee which is investigating cheating has estimated that perhaps 10% of the students at Summit High School are chronic cheaters.  Another 10% never cheat.  This leaves an estimated 80% who cheat occasionally.  The committee feels that the answer to this problem lies with the parents, faculty, and students.

      What can be done?

      Parents must realize that home attitude toward cheating has a direct influence on the behavior of their children.  The student who hears his parents bragging about “putting one over”.  If a parent writes a false excuse for an absence which would not otherwise be excused, he is actually helping to cheat.

      Parents should be practical in their demands on a child.  Often a student feels it beyond his capacity to handle the courses and number of majors necessary to get him into a “good college,” and believes that he must get good marks at any cost.  If parents think that their child is not working up to his capabilities, it might be well for them to find out whether they are justified in expecting better work before demanding better marks.

      On the other hand, the parent who shows too little interest in his child also adds to the problem.  Because the student thinks no one cares, he may take the easy way out and cheat.

      A list of recommendations has also been sent to the teachers.  It includes the following suggestions:  Staggering long term assignments, outlining daily assignments in advance, periodically teaching good study habits, enforcing rules concerning cheating, and most important, creating a good moral climate in the classroom.

      But the students themselves can do the most to eliminate cheating.  Since we have asked for long term assignments, we must cooperate by planning our time and by eliminating excessive extra-curricular activities.  We must realize our own abilities and limitations, and not take a course which would necessitate cheating in order to pass.  We must realize, also, that we are only hurting ourselves when we cheat, because after high school we will not have the basic knowledge expected of us.  We will have to develop enough will power to resist the easy, but dishonest way of doing our work.  To do this, we need your help.

      Finally, the point which the committee feels is the crux of the whole matter is to get the student to think about cheating.  If the majority of the students think about this problem and discuss it, they will have a different attitude toward it.  They will see that cheating is morally wrong, that it is really a form of dishonesty.  On a problem like this student pressure and student opinion are very powerful forces, but we need the help of parents and teachers.

      No one can feel complacent, we all have a responsibility.

               Sincerely yours,

               Student Committee on Cheating

Approved by the Summit High School Student Council