Author: Ken

In Memoriam

UPDATED January 2026

Since the days of the Roman empire, the words “in memoriam” (in memory) have been found on monuments and gravestones. None of us want to think about losing people we know, but the reality is that over the course of the years since our graduation, we have lost a number of our classmates. At the 50+ Reunion, we thought it was important to acknowledge those who have passed.

Laura Krampetz Cuevas is a lifelong artist and teacher who is on the reunion committee. She volunteered to create an in-memoriam display for the 51st Reunion. Using yearbook photos and electric votive lights, she made luminaries and set up a multi-level display that was set up in the corner of our event room.

We saw attendees walking around the display and sometimes thinking of a friend now gone, and sometimes discovering that someone they did not know had died was there.

If you open your yearbook, take a look at those who have passed or just remember someone noted here that you knew in high school, and send out a good thought or prayer.

The alphabetical list of classmates below is from the current class database and includes a date when one was found in an obituary or a “?” when the date is unknown. Women are listed by the last name used in our yearbook. Some class members’ obituaries have been posted on our private Facebook group.

  1. Frederick Adamcsik – January 2021
  2. Carmen Algarin – 2017
  3. Lu-Ann Alliegro – 2019
  4. Julie Alliston – 2008
  5. William Alves – 1976
  6. Charles Ambielli – 2017
  7. Michael Balkun – 2014
  8. Jacqulyn Bellas – 2006
  9. Frank Bellis – November 2024
  10. Anthony Blasi – 2008
  11. Thomas Blasi – 2007
  12. Frederick Bol – 2015
  13. Linda May Boyce 2025
  14. Howard Brennan – 2019
  15. Peter Brunarski – 2004?
  16. Joanne Carbone – December 2010
  17. Reynold Catelli – while in high school
  18. William Charniga – 1974
  19. Glenn Conrad – ?
  20. Andrea Corrao – ?
  21. Karen Crawford – 2016
  22. John Crispin – ?
  23. Diane Demers Massino – 2015
  24. Joanne DiCecco – ?
  25. Frank Dobrowolski – 1993
  26. Philip Dombrowski – 2001
  27. Harry Donovan – Many years ago
  28. Michael Droppa – 1999
  29. Kim England – January 2022
  30. Richard Flynn – ?
  31. Phyllis Foti – late 1970’s
  32. Frank Fox – February 2023
  33. Beverly Friedman Bruno – 2023
  34. Kathleen Gallagher – before 1991
  35. Connie Gargiulo Kusher – June 2023
  36. Mike Geller – January 2022
  37. Alice Colleen Gensinger Yednak – January 2024
  38. Kenneth Gerisch – 2007
  39. Kenneth Gladd – 2012
  40. Elizabeth Grasmueck – April 2022
  41. Jeffrey Greenspan – 2019
  42. Marc Greenspan – April 2020
  43. Linda Gresham – 2022
  44. Michelle Grohol Andolino – July 2021
  45. Roy Gross – ?
  46. Warren Gross – 1971
  47. Thomas Gruppuso – ?
  48. John Haderthauer – 1996
  49. Jerry Heda – ?
  50. Hazel Hohweiler – ?
  51. Peter Jensen – 2009
  52. Joanna Junger Ciccone – January 2026
  53. Richard Kahl – April 2022
  54. Richard Kiefer – 2016
  55. Arlene Kokosinski Fetta) – August 2023
  56. Paula Kolodich – ?
  57. Joseph Kormylo – April 2016
  58. Eugene Lalevee-?
  59. Barbara Laue – 2014
  60. Karen Long Rohe – February 2024
  61. Joe Longionotti – January 2026
  62. Bruce Lovenberg – August 2002
  63. Frederick Lucking – ?
  64. James MacConchie – 2007
  65. Linda Maciolek – 2017
  66. Grace Murn Fairchild – 2019
  67. Rich Murray – 2018
  68. Gloria Neander Cignarella – 2018
  69. Esther Niwinski – ?
  70. Charles Nystrom – 2008
  71. Janis Olsson – September 2020
  72. Joseph Patriarca – 2018
  73. Sally Peralta-Wain – 2018
  74. Frank Pospisil – 2011
  75. Joann Raddi – October 2014
  76. Joyce Reingold Ciaburri – October 2021
  77. Clare Riggio – 2022
  78. Mario Russo – 2011
  79. Sandra Sanko – 2009
  80. Carol Schaffer – 2010
  81. Edward Joseph Sienkiewicz – 2023
  82. Keith Spaeth – 2007
  83. Dennis Testa – ?
  84. Steven Thatcher – 2017
  85. Gerald Turi – ?
  86. Joanne Urso – ?
  87. Manny Vazquez – July 2001
  88. Wayne Vogler – 2001
  89. Barbara Weekley – 2015
  90. Cinda Weldon – 1990
  91. Alexander Wieczorek – March 2007
  92. Ray W. Wills  – 2011
  93. Jane Woody – before 1996
  94. John Zabriski – 2014
  95. James Zangari Jr. – 2009
  96. Michael Zielinski – ?

Any updates to this list can be emailed to our class email. If you have a link to an obituary, please include that.

Reunion #55 Registration Time

 “So, it’s the laughter
 We will remember
Whenever we remember
The way we were”
– Lyrics from “The Way We Were”

venue

Now that the holidays are over and the new year is here, it’s time to start thinking about our Reunion.  We hope you are looking forward to it and will be joining us for our 55th Year Reunion on 9/26/26 at the Jumping Brook Country Club in Neptune N.J.   

Can you believe that on 9/26/26, it will be 5.5 decades, 55 years, 663 months, 2,883 weeks, 20,186 days, 484,464 hours, over 29 million minutes, and almost 1.8 billion seconds since we graduated from IHS on June 22, 1971?  There are times that our bodies feel every one of the seconds we have lived, and yet many of us still have that spirit of a 17-year-old in our minds.  The Spirit of ’71!      

This reunion will be the 6th time we have formally gotten together as a class, post-graduation (10th, 20th, 25th, 38th Just Because and 50th).  Did you make them all?  Did you make any of them?    

This September, we’ll gather once again as friends, ready to celebrate the memories, milestones, and, for some, the lifelong bonds that began all those years ago. Our 55th reunion is more than just an event; it’s a chance to laugh, reminisce, and reconnect with classmates who helped shape who we are today.

Attached are all the details including the menu, hotel information, and registration form.   We are asking that you register and send in your check by March 6th to ensure we have enough interest to meet the venue’s minimum required paid attendees.  Please don’t wait until the last minute.   
Note: John Manning will not be cashing your checks until we have the minimum required guests.   As we get paid attendance commitments, we will notify you via a post on Facebook and periodically via email for those not on Facebook.

We are sending this info to all who have given us their email addresses.  We will also post it in our Class Facebook group, other Irvington Facebook Groups, and on this website. Why not reach out to a classmate with whom you have contact information to ensure they are aware of the event?  

Based on your feedback from the 50+ reunion, we will be having a daytime event (11AM – 4:00PM) which will include hors d’oeuvres, a buffet, and a cash bar.  Also, based on your feedback, we are not having a DJ, but we will be streaming music from our time and are planning to have a slideshow of pics we have accumulated from our High School years and reunions that we will project on a screen in the banquet room.  Dig out any pictures you may have and send them to the class email address, and we will include them in the slideshow.  We are also again planning a memorial for the classmates who have sadly passed.

If you have any questions, please direct them to the class email address ihsclassof1971 at gmail.com.  We hope to see you in September, and until then, stay safe and send those registration forms with your checks in ASAP!  

Download the registration form and hotel details below

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<object class="wp-block-file__embed" data="https://ihs71.home.blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/55th-reunion-hotel-and-after-reunion-information.pdf&quot; type="application/pdf" style="width:100%;height:280px" aria-label="<strong>55th Reunion Hotel and After Reunion Information55th Reunion Hotel and After Reunion InformationDownload
The Reunion Team awaits your arrival!

See You in September 2026

I’ll be alone each and every night
While you’re away, don’t forget to write
Bye-bye, so long, farewell
Bye-bye, so long

See you in September
See you when the summer’s through
Here we are
Saying goodbye at the station
Summer vacation
Is taking you away

The Happenings at the Class of 1971’s Prom

The Happenings may have been singing while you were dancing at the IHS ’71 prom and saying “See You in September,” but who could have imagined or even thought about our class getting together again 55 years later?

Have a good time, but remember
There is danger in the summer moon above
Will I see you in September
Or lose you to a summer love?
(counting the days ’til I’ll be with you)
(counting the hours and the minutes, too)

On this Labor Day Weekend with September just a few hours away, this time of year still makes me nostalgic about a new school year. (40 years of teaching and old age will do that.)

Our Reunion 55 is all booked for Jumping Brook in September 2026. (On the 26th, to be exact.) Is it on your calendar? Are you joining your classmates? Will this be the final reunion? So many unanswered questions. Details about registering, hotel suggestions, and all the rest will be going out to our class database in the first part of 2026

“See You in September” is one of those timeless summer songs that evokes for many people some nostalgia, young love, and the bittersweet feeling of seasonal goodbyes. The Happenings made it a hit, but the song goes back a few years from 1971.

It was written in just a few hours during a songwriting session in New York’s Brill Building, a legendary hub for pop music creation, by Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards in June 1959. Maybe they were thinking about their own June high school graduations. It was first recorded by The Tempos, a Pittsburgh vocal group. Their version peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1959 while most of were getting ready for first grade.

Members of the original group that started in 1961 were initially called “The Four Graduates” because all four of them had just graduated from high school in nearby Paterson, New Jersey. later they became The Happenings and were known for reviving older standards with fresh arrangements and strong harmonies. Their upbeat, harmony-rich version of “See You in September” went to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966, so it wasn’t exactly a new hit in 1971. The Happenings infused the song with a bright, Beach Boys-esque sound that resonated in the mid-1960s. It became a defining summer anthem and sold over a million copies, earning a gold record.

The song has been covered by numerous artists and featured in films like American Graffiti, which helped revive interest in the original Tempos version in the 1970s. It’s often cited as one of the greatest summer songs of all time, capturing the essence of teenage romance and the anticipation of reuniting after a break.

The band had a string of hits. The two other most popular are “I Got Rhythm,” another upbeat cover of the Gershwin classic that reached No. 3 on Billboard in 1967. “Go Away Little Girl” written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King was a number 12 hit for the band in 1966. The group had nine Billboard Hot 100 Singles hits from 1966 to 1968.

The Happenings, led by Bob Miranda, had largely faded from the charts by the time they were playing high school proms. They were most active from 1966 to 1968, and by 1971, they were no longer releasing major records. While the original lineup from the 1960s has changed over the years, Bob Miranda remains active and occasionally performs with a new band as The Happenings and have been featured at oldies festivals, retro music cruises, and special events that celebrate the golden age of pop. I checked out their website to see if there were any nearby tour dates, but didn’t see anything in 2025.

Their “Ultimate Collection / All Their Hits” on CDs is still available, and of course, most of their hits are also on streaming services.

Have a good time, but remember
There is danger in the summer moon above
Will I see you in September
Or lose you to a summer love
I’ll be alone each and every night
While you’re away, don’t forget to write

Let’s hope for our classmates that our Reunion 55 won’t be “Bye-bye, so long, farewell.”