Dan Lesnick

Rich Wildau passed away on January 5, 2025.

Joseph G Blake

Hello all and special greetings to our Jewish friends celebrating the two Jewish holidays notably thevNewvYear.

not long ago Steve Joseph abd I were chatting about a movie we both love- Witness for the Prosecution. Made in 1956 it's still a pleasure to see for both the plot and the cast. Agatha Christie wrote it and Billy Wilder produced it. It's easy to think it's a Hitchcock production.

It featured Tyrone Power, Marlene Difetrich and Charles Lawton. And more, 

My sister saw it back then at least  10 times. It has a surprise ending.

Another great movie from the same eta is the Ladykillers. It stars Alec Guinness as a master thief who is beaten by a sweet old lady played by Katie Johnson. She was awarded the best British actress award that year.

Hope you like them

Joseph G Blake

Hello all and special greetings to our Jewish friends celebrating the two Jewish holidays notably thevNewvYear.

not long ago Steve Joseph abd I were chatting about a movie we both love- Witness for the Prosecution. Made in 1956 it's still a pleasure to see for both the plot and the cast. Agatha Christie wrote it and Billy Wilder produced it. It's easy to think it's a Hitchcock production.

It featured Tyrone Power, Marlene Difetrich and Charles Lawton. And more, 

My sister saw it back then at least  10 times. It has a surprise ending.

Another great movie from the same eta is the Ladykillers. It stars Alec Guinness as a master thief who is beaten by a sweet old lady played by Katie Johnson. She was awarded the best British actress award that year.

Hope you like them

Elizabeth Anthony (Coven)

I learned that Judy Bachman Holtz passed away on September 8, 2025 in a hospice facility in Denmark. Larry and I had a chance to visit her a few years ago while on a cruise near where she lived.   

She and Torbin had two boys who now live in California.  Occasionally she  would come to USA  for medical treatments ......She was slways talking about her health and moving around as Torbin was stationed in foreign areas all over the world. 

It is with such sadness to loose another person from the class of 1964.....Stay healthy everyone! 

Liza Anthony Coven

Betsy Dennis (Frank)

Very sad. She lived in the big blue house on the hill on Sherrington. 

Joseph G Blake

Judi's grandfather was Charles Colman who was an architect who designed 40 homes in Shaker beginning in the 1920s. I took her and Dick Halle on a tour of Shaker in summer of 2024 when we had our 60th reunion.

He designed their house on Sherrington. 
He designed two houses on Fontenay which are on either side of the street where the Spirit Circle is.

Don Ladanyi (Ladanyi)

Greetings Everyone!

Does anyone have Kevin O'Leary's (the Shark Tank guy) contact information, either directly or through Nancy Cheung, his publicist?

In 2024, on Fox News, he stated that he had no idea about how to save independent restaurants from closing at the high rates that they do, like 20% in their first year and about 80% within five years. I'm sure it's even getting worse now.

Back in the days when I had five BW3 locations in Ohio and Florida (along with Fagan's, "The Flagship of the Flats"), I came up with an unheard-of plan that I have continued to work on to actually save independent bars and restaurants from closing. I need to share this with Kevin, as he is now a major influencer across nearly all media. I cannot think of anyone better to help launch my plan, which has been so easily overlooked by everyone for so many years.

Or, does anyone know of an even better influencer to help me launch this highly detailed but easy-to-understand endeavor?

Thank you!

Don Ladanyi 

Joseph G Blake

On this date in 1963 JFK was assassinated in Dallas around 130pm EST. I recall being in Mr Grigsby's college counseling class when Mr Rupp came on the loudspeaker to announce he had died. What a shock it was. When we changed to go to our next class at 230, there was not a sound to be heard in the hallways. 
I suspect we all recall where we were. Like 9/11 as well. 

Joseph G Blake

On this date in 1963 JFK was assassinated in Dallas around 130pm EST. I recall being in Mr Grigsby's college counseling class when Mr Rupp came on the loudspeaker to announce he had died. What a shock it was. When we changed to go to our next class at 230, there was not a sound to be heard in the hallways. 
I suspect we all recall where we were. Like 9/11 as well. 

Marc Chizek

I was in that class with you Joe.

Roger Schulman

Hi Don, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on independent restaurants.  I own a successful one from 1998 to 2007.  roger.schulman@ca.rr.com

Dick Margulis (Margulis)

I was officially playing hooky that day in 1963. Miami University (Oxford OH) had sent slick brochures to individuals with high test scores (may have been SATs) inviting us to visit the campus for a weekend-long program when they would try to recruit us to apply. So three of us decided it sounded like a worthwhile trip (get a taste of generic campus life, hear what they had to say). Mr. Senft (sp?) thought otherwise and told us it would be an unexcused absence. We went anyway.

We were driving just south of Columbus when Douglas Edwards broke into whatever we were listening to on the radio with the bulletin that Kennedy had been shot. Our immediate reaction (well,mine, anyway) was we hoped he survived, because can you imagine how terrible it would be if that Southern hack LBJ became president?!?

Anyway, we got to the campus, and of course the weekend was spent with everyone glued to the nearest television. Ther college made a few attempts to proceed with the planned program, but I don't think that got very far.

John A Hrones, Jr.

The last class of the day for me was PSSC Physics.  A test had been scheduled.  The elderly teacher said, "If John Kennedy were alive, he would want you to take this test."  So, we took the test. (Don't recall how I did on it.)

Betsy Dennis (Frank)

I was in home ec. I had taken some message to office and heard news. I came back to class to share news. The teacher I don't think believed me until announcement was made. 

Alaina Weisman (Zachary)

Betsey,we musta been in home ec together.  I had long satisfied my college requirements and so took another round of home ec for all the goodies and loveliness of our teacher.  She was featured in a photo in our year of the Gristmill.  I will always remember walking the silent roads in Shaker, seeing my father cry for the first time and losing him that New Year's Eve.  Seared into memory. 

Alan L Farkas

Actually, Joe, it was not Mr. Rupp who made the announcement over the P.A. system, it was I. I was called out of class and told to go to the principal's office -- apparently never a good sign. Mr. Rupp told me the news and asked me, as student council president, to make the announcement. Having played the role of Kennedy in my junior high world history class, I was well steeped in Kennedy's rhetoric. I recall saying something about the passing of the torch. By the way, it was clear to me that Mr. Rupp was no fan of Kennedy. My family and I were huge fans, and I recall watching the funeral with my mother, and her standing (with my following suit) whenever the coffin was lifted or when the assembled were asked to stand. 

Alan M Cohen

My memory is also clear. Four of us with high SAT scores were invited to Ohio University to experience university life and I am sure like Dick attempt to recruit us. I think Scott Cockerel was with us. I do not remember the others. We too were just south of Columbus when the radio news broke. I was dumb struck and fortunately there was an immediate exit. We pulled over and sat in a diner for over an hour to listen to the news coming out and settle down. The weekend was very subdued and full of commemorative stuff. 
when we returned to school my AP American History teacher Mr. Cramer was not the same. Neither were many of us. 

Betsy Dennis (Frank)

And at the end of week Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver died. We were all heart sick. 

Joseph G Blake

Thanks Marc for the comment. That day in the class a Gristmill photographer took a candid shot of me just before the announcement from Alan. Thanks for your correction Alan, That proved your leadership then. The picture is on page 59 of the year book.

Indeed Mr Rupp was GOP. We were his last year as principal. He had been there forever. He was probably like my family who were long time Shaker residents. My mother lived there for 61 years from bride in 1928 to widow in the 1980s. 

My father was a Taft GOP and never had time for FDR. But I recall  when I got home the TV was on. And of course all weekend. For some reason I had to go to Shaker Savings around 5pm. In those days they stayed open until 6pm on Fridays. Banks could not close early because then as now they cannot close without the permission of the Federal Reserve, a part of the legacy of the Depression when many banks failed. 

Jeffrey D Woolf

Good morning, On that day, I was in French class.  I cannot remember the teacher's name, but she was obsessed with the window shades all being pulled todwn to exactly the same level.  She was adjusting the shades when some administrotor (cannot remember who he was) came into the class, and called her outside.  She then came back into the room and made the annoucement that President Kennedy had been shot.  I cannot remember whether it was reported at that time that he was dead.

The following weekend was the Harvard-Yale football game.  Harvard lost & complained that the Game (yes, with a capital "G") should have been postponed out of respect for its alum.

Arthur Charles Scott

I was in gym class.  We were told to go to locker room & dress quick , then Mr Heil ( thiink that was his name, wrestling coach?) came in, told us about Kennedy, and sent us off to homeroom to await further announcements.  That's as I rmember it.

Joseph G Blake

I think the French teacher was Miss Politella. I had her as well and recall her fetish for that. 
 

Happy Thanksgiving to all. 
Joe 

Margery Lynn Perlberg (Rapport)

I remember that I was in the elbow room at a modern dance gym class when we heard the announcement.  I did not remember that Alan made the announcement.  I think that was totally inappropriate.  Who tells a 17 year old to announce the death of the president?  I can remember that the schools were closed for a few days.  I went with my mother to the grocery store and the place was practically silent.  All of the events still seem so surreal to me.  

William A Sokol

I was in that same Physics course with Mr. French as teacher.....he announced the news deadpan and then told us that the President would want us to take the test. So we all sat there and took the damned test. As I recall, he later announced he would not count it towards our grade. I was not long on respect for teachers back then and this was just further proof to me that many of them were really profoundly 'out of touch' with reality.....

Joseph G Blake

We are in the middle of the holiday season. Chanukah is just ending and Christmas is two days away. It's such a joyous time and we can forget our concerns. This afternoon we watched Charade with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn followed by Suspicion with Cary Grant and John Fontaine. But Charade is significant because I saw it at Radio City Music Hall in 1963 while on the Shaker High Christmas trip to NYC. Mr Heinlein organized it then each year. We left on 12/26 and returned 12/31 as I recall. We did a lot but the movie at Radio Ciity I still recall vividly. Great movie filmed in Paris. It was only 62 years ago. 
Merry Christmas and Happy New year,

Joe Blake