Ellen's Annadale Mini-Reunion, September 2002

by Ellen Petersen, THS '60

After lunch - getting ready to leave for the school! :-)

  

On September 25th I got to Staten Island, along with three other alumni from the THS Class of 1960 . It happens that we also attended PS 42 together - Walter Hansen, Arlene Rahtes, myself, and Kristin Erickson.

 

We had such a wonderful mini-reunion and I wish you all could have been there.

 

We met at the new Annadale Diner - about a half a block from the Annadale Train Station. There was such excitement when we all arrived. None of us were really interested in eating - we were just too busy chatting , laughing, and YES, staring at each other - how could 42 years have 

Arlene Rahtes and Walter Hansen arriving at the Annadale Diner.

 

 gone by so quickly? Our waitress at this Diner was just so patient...having to wait at least a half hour to get us even to pick up a menu...gosh we were busy! :-)

After lunch, we rode past each others homes in Eltingville and then stopped at PS 42 for a look around. My how times have changed that area. For Arlene, it was her first visit back to Staten Island in 30 years! Then it was OFF TO TOTTENVILLE HIGH SCHOOL...yes, the OLD THS building, now used as Totten Intermediate School. To us though, it is still our Tottenville HS!
We arrived at THS after 4 pm and chatted with the last Teacher coming out of school that day. He said the janitors were still cleaning and that we should "just go in"....and, of course, we did! We had the place to ourselves along with a young fella sweeping up and since we were all carrying cameras, he quickly agreed to take some pictures of us before we left! The memories came flooding back for all of us - each looking at the school in our own way.

For me, I was thrilled to be able to see the General Office again where I had learned so much from Miss Reuter about being in an office. I was excited to see the same wood Teacher mailboxes hanging on the wall that I used to stuff with the day's memos.

Trying to eat - no one is hungry!
 

Well, we all ended up in the Auditorium, where we had last been together in June of 1960. YES - we went up on stage and this very nice young Custodian - now holding all 3 cameras - took some pictures for us. I hope to share many of these with you as soon as possible. I don't think Kristin, Arlene, Walter or myself will ever forget this wonderful day!

PERHAPS Arlene will remember a bit more than the rest of us, though. In our travels , we were at the intersection of Richmond Ave. and Hylan Blvd. when a driver ran the light and hit a car in front of Arlene's rental car. That car spun around and clipped the front of Arlene's car! 

Arlene and Walter sharing some old pictures!
 

BLESSEDLY, Arlene and the rest of us in the caravan were fine...but, unfortunately, the gal in front of Arlene's car was slightly injured. This did delay us a bit, but none of us let that dampen our spirits! We had all heard that riding around Staten Island now could be a bit like "bumper cars" and they were right! :-)

I must take time to THANK Werner, our NOW FAMOUS Publisher - because if it wasn't for his original idea of this TRUMPET site, none of us would have ever connected in this unique way. Thanks, Werner!

PS: I am glad Arlene is ok and had a safe air trip up from NC. I could have picked Kristin and 

Kristin cheering up Walter and  Arlene after the accident. As you can see, everyone - especially Arlene- stayed calm through it all. Notice the Staten Island 

traffic - "dodge 'em cars"!
Walter out of a thousand people - THEY LOOKED THE SAME TO ME! (By the way, Kristin taught me to ride a bike many years ago on Wilson Ave!) Oh yes - thanks to Walter for taking some time off to do this!

For me....I'm not so QUIET anymore! :-)

At PS 42. Walter, Arlene, Ellen and Kristin - front steps of the school. We are all in the front row in the '56 Grad picture for PS 42.

 

 

Ellen, right after the "fender bender" at Richmond Ave. and  Hylan Blvd. - waiting for the Police.

 

ON STAGE at good old THS! (Ellen, Walter, Arlene and Kristin).