Musings on a Class Reunion
by Bonnie Podolsky Theiner '60

The invitation arrived in the mail, the envelope announcing the Taylor Allderdice High School 42nd Reunion. How nice, I thought, we're not waiting for the 50th. But why 42? The invitation within explained: the class of '60 is turning 60! What a clever idea! (Well, some of us are younger—59—but who's counting?) And the class of '60 will be joined by the class of '61.

What a meaningful event to look forward to! After the tragic events of September 11 and in the midst of the horrors of suicide murder child sacrifice bombings in the Middle East, it will be comforting to spend an evening with friends and acquaintances from our youth.

Was the time of our youth a simpler time? In some ways. A class member has produced a CD her own composition including lyrics which refer to Halloween candy and containers without concern for razor blades and the need for tamper-proofing. I will add mention of a time before trash TV, mindless shows and sitcoms, and pervasive pornography, violence and vulgarity.

Who are the classes of '60-'61? What were the times we grew up in? There is much talk of the "boomers," babies born after 1945 and World War II. The classes of '60-'61 were conceived during the war, most in 1942. There is little or no mention of us as such. We are the "war babies," somehow neglected and forgotten in contemporary parlance. Yet, are we not expressions of the hope our parents had that despite the world war there was promise of a future? Sure, some men were home on leave, and some might have tried to evade me draft (which didn't work). I’d like to think that war babies were living symbols of confidence that the United States would win the war against the "evil axis" of those days.

What happened in the times that followed for the war babies? We went to pre-school and elementary school during the developing Cold War with Russia and the Korean "police action." In our elementary school classrooms when civil defense sirens were sounded we were instructed to seek safety under desks from the threat of bombs from the Soviet Union. (It seems laughable now what was taken very seriously back then.)

When we came to Allderdice as pre-teens in the autumn of 1954, could we have known the enormousness of the supreme Court ruling in May, 1954, Brown vs. Board of Education, that segregation in public schools, by law, had to come to an end?

We are the product of educational "experiments" that began in elementary school, both public and parochial, programs for more capable students. We encountered the more advanced kinds of classes (in math and English) when we came to Allderdice in the seventh grade, or junior high. (Middle school is a relatively new phenomenon.)

In junior high, music and art, home ec and shop were required subjects. Allderdice High School offered three curricula, academic, business, and general, which served the needs, interests, and educational/vocational aspirations of its students.

When we were in high school United States was hit by an unexpected and different kind of Russian bomb―their launching of Sputnik, which, in turn, started a frenzy in education in the U.S. We realized that we were math-and science-dumb. The realization came too late to broadly affect the class that would graduate in 1960. However, Allderdice did offer advanced math and science to those who made those choices, beyond requirements. The class of '60 was the first to be offered Advanced Placement (for college credit) courses in English and history in a consortium with what was then Carnegie Institute of Technology.

There were other enriching opportunities at Allderdice: top-notch choir, orchestra, band, newspaper, debate team, drama class, sports teams, language, vocational, and service clubs, and a student council, which, in 1960, substituted silent meditation for denominational prayer (amidst considerable controversy). Many of us took advantage of and took part in the atmosphere of excellent academics and extra-curricular activities.

The student population at Allderdice was about 3,000 (about twice the size of the current population) in a building smaller than the current remodeled edifice. Grades seven through twelve encompassed pre-adolescents and adolescents ages 11 through 19.

Some eleven elementary schools, public and parochial, fed into Allderdice—Colfax, Davis, Greenfield, Hillel Academy, Lincoln Place, Roosevelt, Saint Philomena, Saint Steven, Wightman, and Yeshiva. In days before recognition of cultural pluralism and

political correctness, the "small town" which was Allderdice was composed of a diversity of races, religions, nationalities, and socio-economic neighborhoods. And we all got along, as classmates and as friends. The class of ‘60 graduated more than 500.

And we all had our favorite teachers. Among mine, I’ll always be grateful to the English teachers who taught me grammar, how to diagram sentences, and to the faculty advisor to the staff of the Foreword.

On the lighter side, we were teenagers in the “Rockin' '50's,” when the popular culture of rock ‘n roll produced music and lyrics that were fun and sentimental, nothing like today’s nastiness. (Consider the revival of “doo wop” on PBS.) The girl groups and the boy groups, duos, trios, and quartets sang beautiful harmonies.

We '50's folk danced the jitterbug (a carryover from the 40’s swing and now in revival) and the Latin American cha-cha-cha. By the end of high school we were into the twist and other dances that didn’t absolutely require a partner.

The attire dictated for school for boys was slacks, and blazers for dress. Boys sported hairstyles with sideburns, pompadours, and D.A.s (duck’s asses). Girls wore, with their sweaters and blouses, flared skirts with poodle appliqués over multiple crinolines and ponytail and bouffant hairdos. Girls could not wear slacks to school unless the outside temperature was less than twenty degrees. On our feet were loafers and saddle shoes worn with bobby socks. This "bobbysoxer" still has a pair of saddle shoes in her closet.

As for unacceptable behavior, smoking cigarettes outside me school and chewing gum inside were offenses. If memory serves, there really wasn't that much untoward behavior (at least not at Allderdice).

The music and mores of the times were depicted in the TV series "Happy Days." Some of us were Richie Cunningham; some were the Fonz. Allderdice was not a "Blackboard Jungle."

Growing up in Squirrel Hill, Greenfield, and Lincoln Place, the six or so movie theaters were frequent and affordable diversions. A neighborhood theater often provided day-long entertainment: seventeen cartoons, a newsreel, a short-subject, a serial adventure, and two full length feature films, all for .35. Other diversions included ice cream parlors, soda fountains at drugstores, and the earliest of the pizzerias and Chinese restaurants. There were school dances and sock hops with a "Sadie Hawkins" girl-ask-boy event. Going shopping meant riding the streetcar Downtown to browse through five department stores. Ladies wore nylons, heels, dressy outfits, gloves, even hats.

In warmer weather we enjoyed drive-in movies, miniature golf, sports in city parks, swimming, amusements, and rides at the then admission free Kennywood and Westview Parks.

From early childhood we watched the new medium of television shows which were: "low-tech" science fiction, westerns, police and medical dramas, comedy, children's programs, music and variety, sitcoms, quiz shows, and network and local news.

Cultural phenomena which we grew up with are reaching anniversary years. "American Bandstand" is 50. The NBC network is 75. The rock 'n roll performers of our teen years are older than we are. We can recall when television brought higher culture into our homes—live theater sponsored by major corporations and symphony orchestra concerts led by renowned conductors. Classical performances were seen on network TV, not just public television. And public television in its earliest days offered a variety of content classes (foreign languages, math, and other subjects).

As seniors we took the S.A.T.’s, applied to schools for post-secondary education, and we sought employment. We had our senior class play, the comedy/drama (not a musical) production of (Dramatic English class), by (almost any senior who wanted to participate), and for the senior class, their families and friends, and anyone else who wanted to attend. Our play was “The Admirable Crichton.”

The home economics classes presented a fashion show of their creations with commentary by the students from speech class.

Many of us served our school on the cafeteria staff and by helping teachers and in the offices. The staff of our yearbook worked very hard and put out an excellent publication.

Dressed in the traditional formal attire of “yesteryear,” we enjoyed the Prom at The Pittsburgh Hilton and the after-Prom party at the (no longer) Holiday House. With youthful enthusiasm, and not a little nostalgia, we looked forward to graduation at the (no longer) Syria Mosque.

Class reunions are often the humorous stuff of situation comedy—how people have changed in appearance, what they have or have not accomplished, who has put on weight, who has become follically challenged.

On the serious side, we can be grateful for reaching this anniversary of our class which is also a birthday party for its members. Whether or not we have achieved our aspirations, we can be thankful and maybe say a prayer of gratitude for having arrived at this anniversary, for being alive and breathing (without a respirator), and for being sufficiently mobile to attend the event. We go to a class reunion simply because we can.

Happily, more than 350 people, many with their spouses, came in, some from as far away as California. Very sadly, fifty men and women from the two classes have passed away. The "In Memoriam" list is most sobering. How good it is to see friends who have endured.

Nostalgia can be very comforting. We may plan to attend a reunion with expectations of others and believe that they have expectations of us. But that's not what reunions are really about. Reunions are about memories which are precious when they are in one person's recollections and so much more endearing when shared with those who experienced them at the same times and places. We can't regain our youth; we can, however, relive it if only for an evening. And we can talk about the children and grandchildren and other important people and events in our lives. Kudos to the hard working reunion committee who made this event happen.

Here's to the "war baby" classes of 1960-61 and to classes everywhere having reunions. May we and our descendants be blessed with the promise and reality of living in the peaceful world the previous generation fought for.

Bonnie Podolsky Theiner is a classmate, a teacher, counselor and writer, living in Squirrel Hill. Bonnie requests that you let her know if your elementary school is not included among the names of the schools that fed into Allderdice. 412-421-8915.