John A Hrones, Jr.

Sorry I missed the reunion this year.  I suggest we not wait a whole five years for the next reunion.

Joseph G Blake

Two things

I am watching CBS Saturday Morning which featured a segment about Edwin's Restaurant at Shaker Square which is said to be the finest French restaurant in the USA. He also runs a program to train high school dropouts to work in fine restaurants and better yet a program to train ex convicts and runs a program in several Ohio prisons to train convicts who are near the end of their time in prison. The founder is Brandon Chrostowski. Edwin stands for Education Wins. He is from Detroit but Cleveland was chosen because it has the second lowest high school graduation rate in the country.

I noted a few names of my Shaker classmates among the supporters. The restaurant is at Shaker Square at the corner where the old Stone Shoe store was. They accept donations for the education program. Next time I am in Cleveland I must try to go there. But I will have to save my pennies. No more lattes at McDonalds. Or get one of my affluent friends to take me.Haha

https://edwinsrestaurant.org/

On a lighter note when I gave my talk last Saturday I meant to include the name of a fictional former resident of Shaker. On the Leave to Beaver program (1957-1963), Ward Cleaver the father in several episodes makes reference to his boyhood in Shaker Heights. In one episode he refers to a girl named Amy Gish who was the first girl to wear fur trimmed boots to Shaker High and in another he says his cousin installed the organ in the high school auditorium there. I don't think there was an organ but I could be wrong. Of course this was in the era when Shaker received a lot of attention as the city with the highest per capita income in the USA.

However the Beaver program was not consistent. Other times we are told that Ward was raised on a farm. As we all know no livestock in Shaker Heights. 

Vivien Abrams (Collens)

It was great to catch up with so many of my classmates again!   My husband enjoyed meeting everyone and learning more about Shaker Heights from Joe's presentation.    Many thanks to Evie for organizing the out of towners dinner Thursday,  and to everyone on the reunion committee for putting it together! 

Dana Shepard (Treister)

https://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/sc-trav-cuyahoga-river-kayak-0924-20190919-kpbyahmd3redpa77jj2kxmj2wy-story.html

I was happy to read this GOOD news about the Cuyahoga River in my Chicago Tribune Travel section yesterday!  "... Once the poster child for industrial waste — and a rallying cry for the nascent environmental movement — the Cuyahoga has cleaned up its act, becoming a symbol of the city’s rejuvenation and a popular draw for outdoor enthusiasts....", etc.

;   )

Betsy Dennis (Frank)

Just saw in the Cleveland Jewish News that a  Ron Simon passed away. From his profile on this site, it appears he was in our class.  Betsy

Joseph G Blake

I checked the yearbook and there was a Ronald Simon in the class.

There were a number of Simons in the class including Jeff and two Roberts.

I guess Simon is the equivalent of Smith or Jones in our class.

Alaina Weisman (Zachary)

Ronnie Simon who just passed was my next door neighbor on Morley.  His older brother is Jeff Simon, a SHHS grad as well as Lynn Marus Shapiro, my neighbor on the other side of our house.  Hw WAS our class mate and Cousin to Bobby Simon who enjoyed TV popularity on one of our local TV show.  Ronnie was a charmer with great hair.  Lovely gent.

Evie Fertman (Braman)

Ronnie Simon had been battling cancer for a long time.  He was definitely in our class and one of those people who everyone liked - he was smart, he was funny, he was kind and he had a smile for everyone.  He left a lot of friends in our class.

Evie

Stewart M Flate

By chance was this the Simon that married Michelle Maureen?

Lawrence M Fields

No. Ronnie's wife is Karleen. Originally from Youngstown. For the last several years Ronnie and Karleen lives in Tampa.

Joseph G Blake

Dear Classmates

As most of you know I gave a talk at the Shaker Library August 3 at the time of our reunion.

At the time the talk was videod thanks to the assistance of classmate Jack Thalman.

Many of you attended. I have since given the Library two DVD copies of the talk.

Today I completed the process of loading the talk on to YouTube. Link follows.

https://youtu.be/Hs2nmJJmHPo

Title: The Vans Remake the Face of Cleveland

Here is the link for those who may have missed the previous talk. Or are eager to hear it again (haha).

The talk is around 1 hour and 45 minutes. If you would like a copy of the PowerPoints used in the talk to follow along, please let me know and I will email you a set. My email address follows:

jblake9147@aol.com

Thanks again to all those who came. If anyone has a question please contact me.

Evie Fertman (Braman)

I'm very sorry to report that Mike Bonfils told me this afternoon that Roger Classen has died.  I'm so glad for the opportunity to have seen him once again at our August Reunion this year.  When I hear more details I will post them.

Evie

George Justin Ely

I am very sad to report that we lost a wonderful, kind, generoue man, Roger Classen. Roger died 10/06/19 of an apparent heart attack in Boca Roton Fl. Roger will travel back to Cleveland for a funeral at St Dominic's church on November 2, 2019, additional details will be in his obituary this Sunday 10/13/2019.Please send your thoughts and prayers to his wife, Debra and the family. I will miss Roger very much.

Buzz Ely

Stewart M Flate

Sorry to hear about Roger, but I am glad you are all right.  Buzz were you the person we use to kid about taking off for the Jewish holidays?

Evie Fertman (Braman)

Thank you, Buzz, for the details concerning Roger.  

Evie

Sue Corsi (Stanton)

I am so sorry to hear about Roger.  I enjoyed talking to him and his wife at our last reunion.

Paige Fields (Hoebel)

Two really nice guys from our class gone in such a short spans of time.  Very sad!  My sincere sympathies to their family's and long-time friends from SHHS.

Joseph G Blake

A friend sent me this link from the Washington Post.

Joseph G Blake

I should have added to the previous posting two items.

The author of the article is Laura Meckler who was a graduate of Shaker Heights High School. She lived on Scottsdale. She knows the community from chidlhood.

Liewise the article mentions John and Dorothy Pegg. They were the first balck residents in Ludlow in the late 1950s. When my wife and I were first married we rented a carriage house apartment from them (1977-1979) when they lived at 15800 South Park. They were a lovely couple. Dorothry lived until age 104 and was an active supporter of the Cleveland Institute of Music until her death. She attended a board meeting a few weeks before er death. She was a generous benefactor of CIM.

Paige Fields (Hoebel)

Joe, Great article from the Washington Post.  I would really like to share this article with my Malvern friend, Darlene but do not have any idea how to possibly download it so that I could email it to her.  Is there any chance that you might be able to forward it to her on my behalf?  Darlene Talley Collins email is:  TeddyGram1@outlook.com.  I will email her and suggest that she look for an email from you as it will probably go into her junk/trash mailbox.  If you can send it directly to me I am happy fo forward it onto Darlene.  Paige - ohiohoebel@gmail.com

William K Dickey

Thanks Joe. Excellent article!  

Over the past year, I have been exploring/reading a lot of history of our “race problems”, ever since randomly finding and reading a book from the Shaker Library:

 “Waking Up White:  And Finding Myself in the Story of Race” by Debby Irving.  Highly recommend it.  

One small thought (of many questions) that the Post article raises for me is:  why do so many people believe that Equity and Excellence are exclusive of one another?  May the struggles continue to reveal our own biases which are ingrained in us.

Betsy Dennis (Frank)

Thanks for posting a most interesting article. So much has been accomplished and yet so much is to be done. 

Joseph G Blake

Yes Paige I will do that when I get home this PM
If I forget send me a reminder at jblake9147@aol.com

I will copy you both.

And yes Bill I did notice Stu Math as the producer of the film with Reuben Harris. I knew him in the mid70s but when we moved overseas I lost the connection.

Evie Fertman (Braman)

The funeral for Roger Classen will be held at St. Dominic Church in Shaker Heights at 11:00 on Saturday, November 2.

Evie

Stuart Math

Bill, thanks for reading credits.