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Published in the Winchester Star, November 2008 written by Bob Dickey.
Winchester High School Class of 1958
Over the weekend of October 24th the Winchester High School Class of 1958 celebrated with a 50th reunion gala down at the Red Jacket Beach Resort in South Yarmouth on Cape Cod. Responsibility for putting together this once in a lifetime event was in the capable hands of our Class Officers: Paul Sullivan, President, Mike Macdonald, Vice President, Jean (Elliott) Fitzgerald, Secretary and Brenda (Cunningham) Lavelle, Treasurer. Needless to say there were many other helping hands which made this event such a success and I must mention Angie (d’Elseaux) Wakefield, Marion (Pollacchi) Gaudet, Maisie (Moran) Wall, Robin Carlson, Roberta Rich, Frances Cardullo and Vivian (Palazzo) Cronin who is to this day still making the ladies of the town look beautiful at Palazzo’s Beauty Shop. My apologies to anyone I have forgotten here.
The Red Jacket provides a wonderful venue for such an event, offering numerous very pleasant rooms looking out over the ocean and/or the Parker River, a spacious dining and dancing area called The Wheelhouse and a separate large cottage which functioned as our any time of day or night gathering spot. Mike Macdonald and Craig Davenport were responsible for this area and did a great job in ensuring that it was a warm and welcoming place where classmates could gather at any time of day or night and reminisce about “the old days” and perhaps tell a few tall tales. As you can well imagine, there were tall tales galore. The food, planned for and served under the watchful eye of our food guru Marion (Pollacchi) Gaudet, was plentiful and delicious and for entertainment, a group called “Freddie and the Maybellines,” a dynamic seven piece show band, treated us to a continuing selection of “oldies” tunes. I am happy to report that the dance floor was well populated with classmates and by my observation folks who looked good up on the dance floor at our senior prom still looked like they knew what they were doing and folks like myself (Don Beck and Craig Davenport) who all have two left feet still have not mastered this fine art. You would think that Craig, Captain of our hockey team in 1958 and WHS Sports Foundation Hall of Famer, who showed such skill and agility on the ice surface, could demonstrate the same on the dance floor but that is just not happening and I fear it never will.
Through the years our class has had a number of reunions and all have been well attended. This was no exception. Ours was and still is a rather close knit class and though few of us still live in the old hometown we still continue to get together. Though many classmates traveled long distances the person traveling the farthest was definitely Klaus Reuter who lives in Mainz, Germany. Klaus came to us as an exchange student and, in addition to being an all around good guy, he, along with fellow classmate Robin Carlson, was a key member of our State Championship Cross Country Team. Given the numerous reunions that we have had through the years I have had the pleasure of seeing most of my classmates but there were a few there this time who I had not seen in the full 50 years and it really was an amazing experience. Among this group was Cosimo Paonessa who I had the great pleasure of seeing again and congratulating him on being married for over 50 years to the “same” lovely lady.
The 1950’s was a wonderful time to grow up in Winchester and a 50th reunion was a grand time to reminisce about those years. The Winchester High School sports teams were among the best in the State and Tech Tourney championships were realized in both basketball and hockey. Watching Joe Bellino work his magic on the football field is something that none of us will ever forget and here there were championships as well. Add to this list the fact that we were state champions in Cross Country as well and I think you get a sense for the sports scene in Winchester back in that era.
The world was certainly in a very different place in those years as was the Winchester downtown area. Remembered with great fondness were the many business establishments from that era that served the town so well. Happily remembered were Horace Fords for lunch, grabbing a cup of coffee at Randall’s, a donut at Ann’s Donut Shop, a soda or an ice cream at either Brigham’s or McCormack’s Drug store where our class president, Paul Sullivan and all his brothers ( Atty. John Sullivan, (Town Meeting Moderator) included) worked at one time or another. Dorothy Muriel’s, a bakery that served a selection of cakes, pies and pastries that were the equal of any, Chitel’s Men’s store which clothed many of us and Filenes’s which also provided us with apparel and a variety of other items. F. W. Woolworth’s had about every little knick knack one could imagine and if it could not be found there the News Store run by the family of our classmate Peter Cullen might well be the place to look.
As one gets older there is a tendency to look back in life with a greater degree of frequency and those of us whose memories are happy ones are very lucky. Thanks in large part to my wonderful wife Martha mine has been a very happy life and one additional source of both happiness and pride is the fact that I had the great good fortune to be a member of the great Winchester High School Class of 1958.
Bob Dickey
55 Salisbury St
Winchester Ma 01890
.
Winchester High School Class of 1958
Over the weekend of October 24th the Winchester High School Class of 1958 celebrated with a 50th reunion gala down at the Red Jacket Beach Resort in South Yarmouth on Cape Cod. Responsibility for putting together this once in a lifetime event was in the capable hands of our Class Officers: Paul Sullivan, President, Mike Macdonald, Vice President, Jean (Elliott) Fitzgerald, Secretary and Brenda (Cunningham) Lavelle, Treasurer. Needless to say there were many other helping hands which made this event such a success and I must mention Angie (d’Elseaux) Wakefield, Marion (Pollacchi) Gaudet, Maisie (Moran) Wall, Robin Carlson, Roberta Rich, Frances Cardullo and Vivian (Palazzo) Cronin who is to this day still making the ladies of the town look beautiful at Palazzo’s Beauty Shop. My apologies to anyone I have forgotten here.
The Red Jacket provides a wonderful venue for such an event, offering numerous very pleasant rooms looking out over the ocean and/or the Parker River, a spacious dining and dancing area called The Wheelhouse and a separate large cottage which functioned as our any time of day or night gathering spot. Mike Macdonald and Craig Davenport were responsible for this area and did a great job in ensuring that it was a warm and welcoming place where classmates could gather at any time of day or night and reminisce about “the old days” and perhaps tell a few tall tales. As you can well imagine, there were tall tales galore. The food, planned for and served under the watchful eye of our food guru Marion (Pollacchi) Gaudet, was plentiful and delicious and for entertainment, a group called “Freddie and the Maybellines,” a dynamic seven piece show band, treated us to a continuing selection of “oldies” tunes. I am happy to report that the dance floor was well populated with classmates and by my observation folks who looked good up on the dance floor at our senior prom still looked like they knew what they were doing and folks like myself (Don Beck and Craig Davenport) who all have two left feet still have not mastered this fine art. You would think that Craig, Captain of our hockey team in 1958 and WHS Sports Foundation Hall of Famer, who showed such skill and agility on the ice surface, could demonstrate the same on the dance floor but that is just not happening and I fear it never will.
Through the years our class has had a number of reunions and all have been well attended. This was no exception. Ours was and still is a rather close knit class and though few of us still live in the old hometown we still continue to get together. Though many classmates traveled long distances the person traveling the farthest was definitely Klaus Reuter who lives in Mainz, Germany. Klaus came to us as an exchange student and, in addition to being an all around good guy, he, along with fellow classmate Robin Carlson, was a key member of our State Championship Cross Country Team. Given the numerous reunions that we have had through the years I have had the pleasure of seeing most of my classmates but there were a few there this time who I had not seen in the full 50 years and it really was an amazing experience. Among this group was Cosimo Paonessa who I had the great pleasure of seeing again and congratulating him on being married for over 50 years to the “same” lovely lady.
The 1950’s was a wonderful time to grow up in Winchester and a 50th reunion was a grand time to reminisce about those years. The Winchester High School sports teams were among the best in the State and Tech Tourney championships were realized in both basketball and hockey. Watching Joe Bellino work his magic on the football field is something that none of us will ever forget and here there were championships as well. Add to this list the fact that we were state champions in Cross Country as well and I think you get a sense for the sports scene in Winchester back in that era.
The world was certainly in a very different place in those years as was the Winchester downtown area. Remembered with great fondness were the many business establishments from that era that served the town so well. Happily remembered were Horace Fords for lunch, grabbing a cup of coffee at Randall’s, a donut at Ann’s Donut Shop, a soda or an ice cream at either Brigham’s or McCormack’s Drug store where our class president, Paul Sullivan and all his brothers ( Atty. John Sullivan, (Town Meeting Moderator) included) worked at one time or another. Dorothy Muriel’s, a bakery that served a selection of cakes, pies and pastries that were the equal of any, Chitel’s Men’s store which clothed many of us and Filenes’s which also provided us with apparel and a variety of other items. F. W. Woolworth’s had about every little knick knack one could imagine and if it could not be found there the News Store run by the family of our classmate Peter Cullen might well be the place to look.
As one gets older there is a tendency to look back in life with a greater degree of frequency and those of us whose memories are happy ones are very lucky. Thanks in large part to my wonderful wife Martha mine has been a very happy life and one additional source of both happiness and pride is the fact that I had the great good fortune to be a member of the great Winchester High School Class of 1958.
Bob Dickey
55 Salisbury St
Winchester Ma 01890
.
