Act I - The Party

If you were one of the attendees on Saturday, May 5th, you already know how great it was to see each other again... and how quickly the evening flew!

Here are the nametags you'd have seen that night (including that of our surprise guest, Madame Polifroni, who still looks better than the rest of us):

And a huge Class Hug to JoAnn (Herz) Naklicki, who arranged the venue, the food, the decorations, the hotel accommodations, and took care of all the finances along the way. Wow.

For those who couldn't make it to the Brooklake Country Club that night, you'll be glad to know that your classmates had their phones and cameras handy.

Here's a little slide show of the photos we took:

       

Meanwhile, Gary Romanic was roving through the assembled Hillbillies with his video camera and captured the sights and sounds of our soiree:

       

Some classmates had to return home after the party for other commitments on Sunday. Yet a bunch who couldn't attend the party were able to join the rest of us for...

Act II - The VHS Tour

Thanks to the advance efforts of Paul Ferber -- who arranged the occasion from his command center in Rochester, NY -- we gathered in the VHS parking lot the following morning. It being a Sunday, the school was quiet and empty. But not for long.

Jay Aiello (VHS '69) unlocked the doors for us and was our gracious tour guide as, for the first time in a half-century, we again strode the halls of Verona High School...

       

While many things had changed over the past half-century (a new wing, a new gym, a Learning Center where our open-air courtyard had been), some had stubbornly remained just as we left them (the ticket booth, the auditorium, the cafeteria, the electric basketball scoreboard and yes... even the phone booth!).

Brandishing our camera-enabled phones, we captured some scenes for you.
Once again, you can view them as a slide show:

      

Accompanying us was reporter Owen Proctor of the Verona-Cedar Grove Times, who wrote a feature about our Class of 1968, which included his video of the tour.

After an hour or so inside our ol' stomping grounds, class was dismissed and we headed out for one final event as a class -- one that brought us full circle...

Act III - Re-enacting Our Class Photo

Our elementary schools were spread out across Verona, so it wasn't until 7th Grade that we first came together as a class. On the cusp of our graduation from H.B. Whitehorne Junior High in June 1964, we posed for the only formal picture ever taken of our class.

So before heading our separate ways, we decided to reassemble on the steps of the Verona Municipal Building for Take Two. We weren't as dressed-up as we'd been 54 years ago. And many faces were missing, of course. But until we get sprung from our assisted-living homes for another try someday, this will have to do.

Once the photo was taken, we presented the giant poster of our 1964 photo to the H.B. Whitehorne Middle School for its archives. Accepting for their Principal was Jay Aiello. And making the presentation was our classmate, Diane LoCicero, the daughter of our then-Principal, Dr. Benedict LoCicero.

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