“There’s no friend like an old friend,” Stu Davis, president of Long Beach High School’s class of 1963, said at the group’s most recent informal reunion on Aug. 6. Davis, who is still known affectionately as Stuey to his longtime friends, was one of 14 area attendees at the get-together for a class that, 63 years ago, had nearly 350 graduates.
The friends met at the Texas Ranger restaurant in Freeport, as they have every month or two for the past several years, to celebrate the most recent birthdays of those who are still local. The restaurant gatherings date back to their school days, when the Texas Ranger was the go-to hangout spot on Long Beach Road in Island Park, before it closed roughly 50 years ago.
“We would go there after our dates or after football games,” recounted David Lutwin, who began dating his future wife, Lois Halpern, during their senior year. “We would all go there to talk about anything, but mostly after our dates.”
Lutwin explained that many of the former classmates at last week’s gathering met in grade school, most of them having attended the now closed Central Elementary School, or made other childhood connections.
“We were high school sweethearts,” Joyce Segal said of her husband, Davis. “But we met in Sunday School at Temple Emanu-El in sixth grade.” The couple will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary next year.
Over the years, the class has held the traditional reunions — on the 25th, 30th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of their graduation — at larger venues with more invitees, including those who have moved out of state. Linda Giles, who turned 80 on July 23 and was the youngest of the group that gathered last week, said that favorite teachers were also invited to attend the earlier reunions. “Mr. Maglio and Mr. Piazza, who was the chemistry teacher,” Giles said. “Tony Piazza. His family is still working at City Hall.”
Merri Meyers, 80, recalled that Bob Andrews, a history teacher whom many girls had a crush on, came to some of the reunions. And Eli Stark, a math teacher who later served as vice principal of Long Beach High and president of the Board of Education, also attended.
But the semi-regular celebration now focuses on classmates living relatively locally. Carole Fell, of Manhattan, recently started making the trip to Freeport. “I started coming around last year, Merri’s birthday,” Fell said. “It’s really nice to reconnect. I still have friends in Long Beach.”
One sentiment voiced often throughout the lunch was how fondly the classmates remembered their younger days. “When we’re together, what do we talk about?” Lutwin said. “Elementary school, junior high and high school. We never talk about real life.”
Rick Herman, who moved from the Bronx to Long Beach at age 13, explained another endearing benefit of the frequent get-togethers. “The time disappears,” he said. “You recapture something that was fun and unique.”