Westhampton Beach High School St. Patrick's Parade Mini-Reunion Alert!: Get together with our class and the class of '88! See this page for more info
Hey everyone, we're having a fifteenth reunion!
Classmates and friends of '87 are invited to have drinks and hors d'oeuvres at the world-famous Casa Basso on Montauk Highway in Westhampton starting at 8:00pm on Saturday, November 2, 2002. Cost to you? Nothing! Well, OK, it's a cash bar, but other than that, it's free!
All we ask of you is to let us know ASAP whether or not you're going to be there (Casa Basso needs an approximate headcount). And please please please help track classmates down and spread the word. The more people who show up, the better time everyone will have!
As of October 23, here's the RSVP list (I'll use maiden names here so it'll be easier for you to know who I'm talking about):
I'm sure there are more of you coming. Please let me know! Hope to see you soon!
Again a long time. Ouch. Well, I hope things will pick up now that we're getting the ball rolling for our 15th reunion this year. Stay tuned!
As far as I know, nobody in our class is competing in the Olympics, but Clay Carlson is out in Salt Lake City working as a web designer. Before that, he spent eight years in the Marines, learning to jump out of airplanes, apparently. He writes "I ski during the winter, and skydive during the summer. You can check out http://www.skydiveutah.com (one of my websites) and if anyone ever makes it out this way... I'll be glad to take them for the ride of their life!".
Lots of short cuts... John Cornell manages the R&D department for a software company in southern California. Mike Bajadek works at a software company in Hauppauge. Tage Riekert recently decided to change careers and up and enrolled in art school. Zach Schweter is an architect in New York City, doing mainly residential and historical renovations and resorations. Cheri LeBleu is a hiking and backpacking guide in the Rockies. Bea Troiani works for the United Way in south Jersey, Christine (Gross) Aremtrout sells Panasonic equipment in northern Virginia. Ann Marie Clancy runs a childcare center in Columbia, South Carolina. If you need your hair cut while out east, talk to Donna (Lisa) Kaiser - she runs a barbershop in Miller Place. And if you get in trouble with the law out in Tuscon, Arizona, say hello to Detective John Carlson for me. Bill Seeger is still with the NYPD in the Bronx, while Steve Martinez is with the NYPD in Manhattan. Jenn (Cyphers) Brown is still enjoying the island life - way on the other side of the continent, off the coast of San Diego. Carolann DiPirro is out in Los Angeles frantically auditioning now that it's pilot season. Melissa (Lattanzio) Pratt is building a house in Jensen Beach, Florida and has three beautiful children (so she tells me). Closer to home, Sue (Walker) Mangiameli is building a house in Sagaponack and just had her first baby. (It's a job requirement, seeing that she has her own pediatrics practice in East Moriches.) Meghan (Sheehan) Lynch bought a house last year in northern Westchester and is expecting her first baby in July. Peter Dutton (yours truly) just bought a house in Queens and is expecting no babies anytime soon. Steve Palazzo commutes across the Sound from his chiropractic practice in Port Jefferson to the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic, where he's a professor. Maureen Murphy is a venture capitalist in Staten Island, hoping to find (and fund) the next big start-up.
And we're hoping to find more of our classmates for our next reunion. Hope to see you there!
The reunion has come and gone.
In case you missed it, it was October 24-25, 1997 (homecoming weekend) at the Westhampton Grill and the Westhampton Beach Country Club. The weather was lousy, which probably kept everyone away from the parade and the game (although I read in Newsday the next day that the Hurricanes did win, beating Hauppague 15-14 in the final minutes).
But much fun was had Friday and Saturday nights. About a quarter of the class (55 out of 223) attended, many with spouses and significant others in tow. A few teachers showed up as well. Some came from a block or two away, others drove halfway across country, and one, namely Helmer Pelaez, even flew in from Paris just to be there! Everyone was happy, the reunion was a big success, and thanks to all who were there (yes, it was great to see everyone!).
And of course a big thanks go out to Roy, Meghan, Jen, and Carolann for putting it all together for us. They did a really wonderful job.
I'm sure that many friendships were rekindled that weekend, and I hope people will keep in touch with each other more now that the figurative ten years of ice has been broken. So this web page will be kept up to help people stay in touch. Look to the class roster to tell you where most of us are, and the class news to tell you what some of us are doing. Send me any news you have now!
And I finally have pictures of the reunion! They're in black-and-white, but they're pictures nonetheless.
Hope to see everyone again at the fifteenth, if not sooner!
OK, so it's been a long time since I've added any news. I'll try to be better as long as I get more news from you!
Toña García is a journalist working in the City Hall of La Serena, Chile. She fondly remembers being hosted as an exchange student at the homes of Carolann Dipirro and Joanne Piccirillo, and wouldn't mind hosting a few people herself - she writes "I am willing to offer a warm cozy home to any one of you coming to visit this great country."
Speaking of Carolann, she's off to Los Angeles to try her luck in landing a part on a television show. "Pilot season" it's called. If all goes well, she'll end up on a show that gets scheduled between Friends and Frasier, and then we can sell embarrassing stories about her to the Enquirer.
Also out in California: Diane Sizemore has been out in San Diego since graduation, and doesn't recognize any of our pictures, but we don't hold that against her. Wil Gaffga is programming in Ventura, the city that inspired Governer Jesse of Minnesota.
And back on the Island...
Richie Golding is running a landscape company out of East Quogue, and just had a baby boy (or rather, his wife just had the baby). This from his brother Charles, who is putting together a Class of 1988 Web Page (to which I will link as soon as it is finished). Kelly Jones is recently married and is working as an Auditing Officer at North Fork Bank in Melville. And Wailin So is actually at Fashion Institute in NYC, but still visits Westhampton often, though she might be moving to Florida soon.
Congratulations to the Westhampton Beach Boys' Basketball team for being Suffolk County overall champions, Long Island Class B Champions, and:
As far as I know, this is the first time that WHB has won a state title in anything. (It's unfortunate that the season stops at a "Class B" title, and there is no overall state championship. But it's a state championship nonetheless, and an undefeated season to boot.) Congratulations again!
The following are some gleanings I picked up at the reunion and elsewhere. I'm working from memory, so let me know if any of this information isn't quite correct. Email me (Peter) with any news you want to add!
I'd like to teach the world to... Mimi Comeau is a math teacher at WHB middle school, Kerry (Kellenberger) McElhiney teaches second grade in Pennsylvania, Ginger Anderson is an art teacher in Westhampton. Danielle Seeger is a phys ed teacher in Ronkonkoma, Meghan (Sheehan) Lynch teaches 11th grade special needs students in Ardsley, NY, Tracy Albach is a teacher in Howard Beach, Allison (O'Brien) Galasso is a teacher in Southold, and Jenny (Stack) Gibbs is a teacher in Tuckahoe,
Is there a (future) doctor in the house? Evan Haefeli is studying colonial history at Princeton (go Tigers!), Julian Keenan is finishing up a PhD in neuropsychology at Harvard Med, Fred Nassauer is getting his PhD in industrial/organizational psychology at CCNY, and Sue (Walker) Mangiameli has just finished at Cornell Med and is doing her residency at SUNY Stony Brook.
Power suits... Jason Haselkorn is a lawyer in West Palm Beach, Helmer Pelaez is a banker in Paris, Bill Ciraco is a banker in NYC, and Wayne Kossman is an accountant in NYC.
And the rest... Tony Russillo is serving our country in Bosnia, Roy Daleo is the manager at the Westhampton Beach Country Club, Zach Schweter is an architect in NYC, Robin (Tomossonie) Bush is a physical therapist in Florida, Steve Palazzo is a chiropractor in East Setauket (check out his office web site), Georgia (Neuhoff) Andersson works for the Associated Press in Sweden, Carolann DiPirro is an actress in NYC (sharp-eyed viewers of SNL might be able to see her every once in a while), Angela (Dunn) Carney is the Assistant Director of Career Services for Framingham State College in Massachusetts, Bill Seeger is a policeman in the Bronx, Jess Munzel is a realtor in the Bronx, Colin Speir is a musician in Austin (UPDATE 12/26/02 from his dad: "He's married (Shelter Island, 21 September 2002) - He and his actress wife Lori Ann Triolo live in Vancouver - He's the Tour Manager for the touring band, Blues Traveler.)" Scott Timberlin runs a few Dave and Buster's restaurants in Ohio, Mike McGuire colors comic books and is expecting his second child any minute now, Bea Troiani does public relations at the Long Island United Way, Mark Wilenski works for Boeing in Seattle, and Peter Dutton is a computer programmer in Melville.
