After Roslyn High School’s Class of 1953 celebrated its 50th reunion in 2003, its surviving members who still live in the area began meeting every few months for lunch where on occasion they fantasized about gathering together again in another 10 years.
But when someone earlier this year suggested in jest that the group hold a 60th reunion, four former classmates – Dominic “Mickey” Vergatta, Joe Aquilino, Andy Mulchinski and Gerard “Moose” Malloy – collected the list of phone numbers and mailing addresses used to contact everyone previously and began reaching out.
Approximately 30 of the 150 1953 graduates answered the call and came to New York last weekend for the class’ 60th reunion dinner at the Roslyn Hotel, eating steak and drinking wine and reminiscing of days gone by.
“I told everyone it’s a three-minute walk at a senior’s pace from the Roslyn clock tower, and everybody knows the Roslyn clock tower,” said Malloy, 79.
Guests came from all over the country, from distant states such as California and Florida and big cities like Chicago and Seattle.
Each arrival was special, Malloy said, as many former classmates the group called were living with health conditions that made travel nearly impossible.
“If you didn’t stay on Long Island, you didn’t tend to come back,” Malloy said. “It’s frustrating, because you feel bad if they’re out there but they can’t make it out.”
Vergatta said he was thankful each time one of the classmates he called answered the phone, or each time he received an RSVP in the mail rather than notification that those he tried contacting had moved or died since the last time he saw them.
“It was really tough trying to reach people,” said Vergatta, 78. “There was a lot of, ‘Mom passed two years ago.’ We had that a lot since the last time we had a reunion. It’s been tougher and tougher.”
Those who made the trip to New York were treated to a weekend similar to the one from 10 years ago, beginning with a cocktail party Friday night hosted by Malloy and his wife, and brunch on Saturday afternoon hosted by Ken Langone in Sands Point.
“It was a beautiful kick-off to a special event,” Vergatta said.
Malloy referred to Langone as the class’ top celebrity, as he is one of the chief financiers that co-founded The Home Depot in 1978.
“Boy did he blossom, big time,” Malloy said.
Vergatta remembered Malloy’s exploits in cross country, winning a handful of North Shore titles, becoming a Section 8 champion and earning a scholarship to run at Manhattan College.
“He was our hero in high school,” Mickey said of Moose. “His picture was in Newsday every other day.”
Vergatta spent his career in the U.S. Postal Service, retiring at 57 as Sea Cliff’s postmaster and running a cleaning service that began as a side venture but has since developed into a full-time business he still runs today.
“This is one of the few guys in our class who’s still in business, still engaged,” Moose said of Mickey.
Guests at the dinner remembered special teachers such as Joe Albertson, a science instructor whose first year of teaching was also the first the class of 1953 spent in high school.
Vergatta said Albertson would often ask if people called his name when the Long Island Railroad trains he rode to school would pass the Albertson station.
Bob McGuffy, now of Chicago, said he remembered the time Albertson picked up the school bully by his collar and pressed him up against the blackboard.
“And that was the last time he gave us any trouble,” McGuffy said.
Aquilino said he also remembered the days he’d skip class and take the train into Brooklyn for Dodgers games, having McGuffy tell teachers he was in school that day despite his absence.
Helen Zabielski and Betty Marrone recalled the soccer game they stopped playing at 3:58 p.m. on Oct. 8, 1951 to gather around the radio someone brought outside to listen to Bobby Thomson’s famous “Shot Heard ’round the World” that won the Giants the pennant and sent the Dodgers home for another disappointing winter.
Many said they still remember walking up the steps into Roslyn High School, steps that have been relocated and renovated – like much of the school and town – in the many decades since they graduated.
Others talked about how much Ye Big Scoop resembled Arnold’s soda shop from “Happy Days” or how they used to play outside, without a care in the world, until the streetlights came on at night.
“Things are much different today,” said Geoff Skidmore. “It was none of this taking advanced courses to jack up your grade-point average or having to join the chess club just to put it on your application. We had a yacht club but I don’t ever remember going on a boat.”
Skidmore said life was simpler for the Class of 1953, as their parents had survived the Great Depression and instilled in them a sense of hard work and thankfulness for every success they enjoyed in life.
Malloy, seated at the same table as Skidmore, said, “You were absolutely serious about what you were going to do, and you figured you were lucky if you went on to college and lucky if you got a job.”
A number of guests said they’d like to continue having reunions for as long as their classmates are alive and healthy enough to attend.
Their 65th reunion is set for 2018.
“If you look back at our class of ’53 and you look at some of the classmates who are gone, we’re really lucky to be sitting here,” Malloy said.
