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Janet Belkowski (MacCrindle)

Hey all you great classmates of 1961, wishing you all a great, wonderful New Year and hope to see you at our next reunion or perhaps at The HotDog Shoppe when I visit from New Jersey

Debra LLoyd (Boyer)

🙃🙃🙃Hi there!!  So sorry to miss the mini reunion in Fla this past week.  Pics posted are upside down....but looks like everyone there had a great time.  Thanks for the update.

Tom Colaberardino

Thanks 4 the mini reunion. Harold, Mike and I had a agreat time.  Sorry we kept Russ out till late bar hoping. Wait! What! (7PM)

Dino.

Debra LLoyd (Boyer)

7pm???  Not much like those ‘old’ days. 😳

Patricia O'Brien (Kubel (1960 Graduate))

Great pictures of everyone who attended the Nikomis Florida mini-reunion on March 20, 2019.  I had a wonderful time meeting up and catching up with all.  A big thank you to the persons who provided the food.  Patti O'Brien Kubel

Debra LLoyd (Boyer)

Sincere condolences to Richard (Dick) Boyer on the recent loss of his brother.  Blessings to you and your family.

Richard Boyer

Debbie: Thank you very much for your kind condolences.  Dick

Martha Hosack (Gurdin)

Hi Classmates,  Gary Moore has just published a book, Abe and Ann, about Abe Lincoln and Ann Rutledge. You can get more information at garymoore.news  or on FaceBook. The book is available on Amazon. My copy should arrived tomorrow. I am looking forward to reading it. Please check it out. Let's support our classmate. Martha

Pauline Young (Morgan)

Gary Moore

Thanks, Martha and Pauline, for the spirit boost about my new book ABE & ANN.  And for all of you who keep thinking you've got a book in you, go for it.  If I can do it at 99 or whatever the heck we are, so can you.  That age stuff is only numbers!

Martha Hosack (Gurdin)

Gary has given us a sweet, intense love story which shows Lincoln's humility and the restrictions of the mores of the time. The book intertwines poetry and Lincoln's folksy stories. We knew Gary when he was close to the age of the book's main characters. Was he such a romantic back then?

Bernie Pokropski (Cymbor)

Thanks Martha, and thanks Gary for writing a book which sounds very interesting.  I remember Gary from St. Mary's grade school.  Smart as a whip!    Looking forward to reading your book about Lincoln.  Bernie Pokropski Cymbor

Gary Moore

In writing about my novel ABE & ANN, Martha mentions Lincoln's humility.  I sure have learned some humility over the years, and I'm grateful for the kind attention to my book.  I think growing up in sweet little Beaver Falls gave me some insight into how Abraham Lincoln, far from a big city boy, saw the world.  Beaver Falls was small, but it had -- and has -- like LIncoln's frontier woods -- direct access to the stars.  As for whether or not I was romantic in my school years, what Beaver Falls boy wasn't, with all those wonderful girls everywhere!  Now as for knowing how to act romantic, that's a different story. They didn't teach that at St. Mary's, did they Bernie? 

Bernie Pokropski (Cymbor)

I submitted a response earlier but it doesn't appear to have been sent.  But here goes the same response more or less.  Gary, you didn't learn how to be romantic at St. Mary's; you didn't have to, you were a real natural, more mature than most of the eighth grade boys.  I remember lining up outside the classroom going to wherever we were heading.  You figured out how you could sit near me with the proper placement in line.  I was thrilled and flattered.  I fondly remember eighth grade at St. Mary's---a small school in a small town.  Can't wait to read your book!  Bernie Pokropski Cymbor

Gary Moore

Now you've got me blushing, Bernie.  I was supposed to be going over my multiplication tables in my head, and instead I was figuring out how to line up so I'd get to sit near the girl.  Come to think of it, I like that choice!  I wish I'd made it more often.  I've had a few talks with Sonny Borello about this.  I tell him I wished I could have danced like he did in high school and he says No, he wished he could have studied like me.  Ah, sweet humanity! 

Janet Belkowski (MacCrindle)

Hey fellow classmate of 1961. Looking forward in purchasing your newly written book. Wonderful to know that you have written one,much luck and success to you. Do you remember living across the street from my grandparents (Belkowski) on 38th street? Your house was the first behind the 38th street school, am I correct? Sure hope so! Again congrats on writting, nice to know someone from Beaver Falls and our class has such a sucess under his belt. The best of luck Gary, God bless and be safe. Next reunion be there and sign my book.

Gary Moore

Your memory is good, Janet, and I remember your grandparents across the street.  And I remember you, too, but to tell you the truth I never connected you -- from school -- with them -- from neighborhood life.  Sometimes I'm not that quick.  Was Louis your cousin?  Thanks for you kind wishes about my book.  I hope you enjoy it!

Janet Belkowski (MacCrindle)

Hi Gary, Louis was my brother, it will be five years that he passed away, really miss him, we were really close. Hope book sales are good, picking mine up next week and looking forward to it. Take care.....

Gary Moore

Janet, I'm happy to hear you'll give my book a try, but I'm sorry to hear we lost Louis. He was a good one.  I remember when he was living across the street from us on 3rd Avenue, we must have been in our twenties or so, and we had some cold bottles of beer and couldn't open them.  Louis went to his car and got the jack out and came back across the street to the schoolyard with his big stand-up jack saying, "Polish bottle opener!"  Thing worked like a dream!  That man was smart and imaginative, with a great sense of fun.  RIP.  

Joan Vasas (Verner)

Gary:   Love that story about the "Polish Bottle Opener".    Joan Verner

Bernie Pokropski (Cymbor)

I just finished reading ABE AND ANN by our classmate Gary Moore.  I especially liked the parts when Abe and Ann are teasing each other with songs and poems by John Keats and Lord Byron.  The reader gets insights into what the characters are really thinking. Ingenious!  I hated when the book ended.  How about a sequel with Abe and Mary Todd, Gary?  Bernie Pokropski Cymbor

Gary Moore

Hey, Bernie!  I'm glad to hear you enjoyed my novel.  You praised it with some of an author's favorite words when you said you didn't want the book to end.  Geez, does an author love to hear that!  You're not alone in appreciating the way Abe and Ann talk together, bantering and testing each other and showing and sometimes not showing what they're really like. I guess dialogue is my favorite part of writing and why I wrote plays for many years.  Maybe I'll write my next novel in dialogue!  But not with Mary Todd.  I have a lot of compassion for that woman, but I wouldn't invite her on the of three or four year road trip that is writing a novel.       

Bernie Pokropski (Cymbor)

Hi Gary,  Are you planning another book?  Are your plays published?  I thought ABE AND ANN was fantastic.  I'd like to read more of what you have written.  Bernie

Gary Moore

Bernie, I'm playing with several new novel ideas but one hasn't moved in yet to take over my life.  In the meanwhile I'm going to put some effort into turning ABE & ANN into a film and an opera.  As for my plays, they're not published (yet, he thought)  but if you give me your email -- here in the forum or mail it to my email -- hisburningprogress@mail.com -- I can attach the manuscript of one for you to read. 

Bernie Pokropski (Cymbor)

Sure, Gary.  I would love to read one of your plays if you are willing to email it to me.  waybern2@comcast.net  Bernie