WPSBC Alumni Association

SCHOOL DAYS

I am beginning a series of articles which I will call, School Days.

When I attended school at WPSBC, during the fifties, sixties and seventies, school would formally begin the day after Labor Day. Of course, we would arrive on the afternoon of Labor Day, suitcases chock full of new clothes and new shoes. Eagerly greeting each other would be the first order of the afternoon, and catching up on what we did during our summer vacation.

The highlight of this first week of school was our eagerly awaited trip to the Rainbow Gardens amusement park, formerly located in the White Oak section in the greater Pittsburgh area. My first trip to this park was in first grade. The park would be open just for our school. Volunteers would walk around with us, ride with us, and eat lunch with us. Picture, my friends, the delight you would know as a child yourself, being able to literally eat all you wanted, anything you wanted. At the end of the glorious day, we would each be given a huge bag of treats. (The most vivid memory of my virgin trip was lunch. Along with the older high school kids, we sat in the shade of the gazebo and ordered our burgers and hot dogs. No sooner had I taken a bite of my hamburger, than I felt a burning sensation in my lower lip. The condiments must have been extra hot that day, I figured, only to realize when I went home later, that I had been stung by a bee on that lower lip.

I’m happy to report that these wonderful memories still happen for our current students. They, too, are treated to the delights of Kennywood amusement park, which is located in the Duquesne area.

Ellen Goldfon

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SCHOOL DAYS

Mrs. Ivy Parker and Ellen’s adventures with the milk wagon.

Mrs. Parker was our very strict second grade teacher. Very tall and extremely thin, she wielded a mean ruler which she used when we misbehaved, and was a stickler for doing things in just the right way. She could have been your typical schoolmarm, were it not for her husband, mild mannered slow Joe Parker, a quiet and gentle soul who spoke softly and smoked cigars. Anyway, Mrs. Parker taught second grade, and every day, we would take turns going to the kitchen with the milk wagon, putting the milk on the wagon, returning and opening the milk, and giving each child a carton of milk with a straw in it. Don’t ask. The straws were of the paper variety, and there was the oft chance that you could open the waxy cartons the wrong way. In the very likely event that a child failed at any of these chores, it only took one to fail, another day was added to your milk run. I suffered through two straight weeks of going for milk, you can believe it, and to this very day, I am an expert at opening paper milk cartons.

Ellen Goldfon

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SCHOOL DAYS. Simple Simon met a pie man going to the fair, said Simple Simon to the pie man, let me taste your ware.

The Parent Teachers Organization or the Pto had many very loving and active parents, as it does to this day. Every election day, the PTO would hold a bake sale. Some of the most enthusiastic buyers of the enormous array of baked goods, were the children themselves. It was at one particular bake sale that I bought it. The huge apple pie. For the princely sum of seventy five cents, mind you. Back to the dorms I sauntered, this huge pie in hand, eager to show my comrades. They were thrilled, but what were we to use to eat it with? Imagine. No forks, no paper plates? We had absolutely nothing to eat this lovely apple pie with. To this very day, I don’t know how we consumed it, but we happily did. The bake sale still happens every election day. And I still participate. My mother, Dorothy or Dottie, as she liked to be called, was one of the PTOs’ most ardent participants and supporters. At first, she was the chairman of the refreshment committee. Her homemade cream pufs were always one of the bake sale favorites. She rose in the ranks, and became the president, the office she proudly held for many years. The PTO today has so many active parents, and we are indeed both lucky and richly blessed to have them in our midst.

Ellen Goldfon

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Friends,

I talked with Geraldine “Deannie” Caputo this morning.  Most of you will remember her as the bubbly and energetic health and physical education teacher from the 1960s through 1990s.  She sounded as feisty and vital as ever, despite the fact that she’ll turn 80 years old this year.  In fact, with the exception of some mild shoulder joint troubles, which she attributes to the many years of swimming and lifting of students into and out of the water, she’s enjoying excellent health these days. 

While she frequents our conventions every other year, she nonetheless, pleasantly surprised me with the news that she married again after thirty years.  In fact, I spoke to her husband when I called; her old phone number in Stanton Heights has been disconnected and the recording on it provides her new number.  He was polite and pleasant, like her, and once he determined that I wasn’t a pesky salesman or telemarketer, he joyfully brought her right to the phone. She’s now living in Gibsonia; the two of them attended the same high school together.  They’ve been married now since 2008 and seem very happy.

Her daughters are doing well, and gave her (I think she said) six grandchildren. 

She asked about all us former students, adding how much she loved her job up to the day she retired.  I updated her on those of you I know about.  She’ll probably attend some of this year’s alumni convention.  So you’ll get to update her yourself, should you decide to attend.  Until then though, she sends her loving regards, and hopes everyone is enjoying their spring.

Take care.

Tom Hesley