IHS 71 Reunion 50+ October 1, 2022

Our 2022 Reunion (rebranded as the 50+ Reunion) is on the horizon. This information went out to the class mailing list, but in case you know a classmate that isn’t on the list and doesn’t follow our class on Facebook, send them here for information. Below is adopted from the email that was sent out this week along with the invite and the menu for the event.

50+ reunion

I know it seemed like it would never happen, but we are finally in the home stretch and our 50+ Reunion will be held on 10/1/22 at the APA Hotel in Iselin, NJ. 

We will need to have 125 attendees paid for by June 7th in order for the APA Hotel to hold our space and guarantee our pricing. Please don’t wait until the last minute. The first 10 classmates to sign up will get an autographed “Thank You” card signed by John Manning. Note: John will not be cashing your checks until we have the required 125 guests.

The APA Hotel will block out a section of rooms for $149 plus tax for anyone who is interested in staying over. To reserve a room, call the hotel directly at 732-603-7791 and ask for Rita in Sales and mention you are staying for the Irvington High School Reunion on 10/1/22. You may, however, be able to get a cheaper rate from one of the online travel sites if you want to explore that option.

The email also contained the event menu and a spreadsheet of classmates who indicated they planned to attend or may attend when we last polled the class. That will not be posted online. That poll told us that 145 classmates indicated they were likely to attend and another 47 indicated they may attend. That’s a total of 192 possible classmates you might get to see after 50 plus years. As we get paid attendance commitments, we will update and share the list with you via email.

venue

We will have a DJ at the Reunion and are planning to have a slideshow of pics we have accumulated from our High School years 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 planning a memorial for the classmates who have sadly passed.

It’s been a long time coming but we are so close to being able to catch up with everyone and reminisce about the fun and shenanigans we had at IHS.

If you have any questions, please direct them to the class email address which is ihsclassof1971@gmail.com. We hope to see you in a few months. Until then stay safe and send those invitations with your checks in ASAP!

Download the Reunion Invite (pdf)

View the event menu

Read all our Reunion 50 posts

Looking Back at 1953

calendar

A look at 1953. Some things gone, some changed, some still around…

Not that we remember any of this, but our parents certainly were aware of most of this history and some of it probably affected us.

January 19 – 68% of all television sets in the United States are tuned into I Love Lucy to watch Lucille Ball give birth to Desi Arnaz, Jr.  Well, not literally. They weren’t even allowed to say the word “pregnant” on the show – she was “expecting.”  The actual Desi Jr. is also in the Class of 71 but attended University High School in West Los Angeles. At 17, he was dating Patty Duke who was 24.

Sir Edmund Hillary first to climb Mt Everest

RAM (random access memory) used for the first time – not that our parents had any ideas about computers.

FCC approves color TV

Ramada Inns opened and so did Burger King, Sonic Drive-in and Denny’s

Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation 

End of the Korean War

President Eisenhower inauguration

Jonas Salk announces Polio vaccine trials. There weren’t any protesters or anti-vaxxers. We were the recipients of the Sabin Oral vaccine in 1960.

Transsexual Christine Jorgensen returns to New York after successful sexual reassignment surgery in Denmark.

Chuck Yeager sets a speed record in X1 rocket plane

A gallon of gas was  $0.22 cents

Top selling car is the Hudson Hornet (what happened?) but also the original C1 Corvette was introduced

Top songs:  “That’s Amore” by Dean Martin & “How Much is that Doggie in the Window” by Patti Page were big hits. No Elvis, Motown or Beatles yet

In book bestsellers: “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury and “Casino Royale” by Ian Fleming had long runs.

TV Guide and Playboy first hit the newsstands.

Top Movies: Disney’s animation of “Peter Pan”, “War of The Worlds” and “From Here to Eternity” were the big films.

World Series Champs:  NY Yankees defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4 games to 2, to win their 16th World Series title and their fifth straight title.

NCAA Basketball: Indiana

NCAA Football: Maryland

NBA: Lakers – Minneapolis

NHL: Montreal Canadiens (French spelling)

NFL: Cleveland Browns (Eastern) lost to the Detroit Lions (Western) 17-16

 

UPDATE: New Date for the Class Reunion

“Anticipation of pleasure is, in itself, a very considerable pleasure.” – David Hume

We hope all of our ’71 classmates are well and staying safe. Our Reunion team met earlier this month to discuss the Reunion. We told you that we would send out invites and request payment for tickets in January 2021 since we had until June to cancel our contracts if we did not have enough participation. We had hoped that by this time we would have had a much clearer picture of the pandemic and the safety of having a large group get-together.

Unfortunately, with the slower than anticipated rollout of vaccines as well as the introductions of new COVID variants that our scientists are still learning about, it is doubtful that we would be in a position to receive enough ticket commitments and funds by June to solidify our contract with the hotel. Additional considerations were classmates’ comfort levels with travel and hotel stays.

We discussed all these factors in our virtual meeting and the Reunion Team unanimously agreed it would be safest to move our 50th Reunion to 2022. We discussed when we should try to reschedule. We decided against the Spring and Summer due to vacations, holidays, weddings, graduations, etc., and decided we should stick with October, if possible.

Thanks to the efforts of John Manning, we were able to change our reservation for our now Reunion 50+ to Saturday, October 1, 2022, at the same location. The hotel was very cooperative and understanding and has had to deal with other class reunions and cancellations as well. Amazingly, our price will remain the same.

calendar

We know many of you will be as disappointed by this news as are we. We think, however, it is the right call and hope you agree. We are hopeful that by 10/1/2022, we will be able to hug, kiss, shake hands, have fun and reminisce without having to worry about protocols.

If things get better quicker and it is again safe to gather with each other, there is no reason that there couldn’t be more informal gatherings like breakfasts or lunches this coming year. If we can help facilitate or communicate such gatherings to others, let us know. Though much of the Reunion information will remain the same, as of now, we foresee sending out invites and more details in January 2022.

As always, we will post this information and any other updates on our Reunion website and on the IHS Class of 1971 Facebook Group which are linked below.

“The idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting.” ― Andy Warhol

IHS Class of ’71 50th Reunion Team (Michael Emanuele, Manny Fernandes, Rhonda Goldberger, John Manning, Terry Masucci, Laura Krampetz Mueller, Karen Long Rohe, Ken Ronkowitz, Vita Venturi Stohler, Karen Mericle Suter, Tom Trokan)
Join the ongoing discussions in our Class of 71 Facebook group facebook.com/groups/ihs1971/