JON BREEN MEMORIAL
MOUNT VERNON HIGH SCHOOL
100 CALIFORNIA ROAD
MOUNT VERNON, NY 10552
914-665-5300
February 12, 1997
Dear Friends and Classmates,
I wish to extend to all our contributors and friends a belated Happy New Year and hope that 1997 brings for all of you and yours peace, prosperity and good health.
Today I visited Ms Brenda Smith, the new Principal of Mount Vernon High School. The purpose of my visit was to hand over two checks totaling $2700.00 to the JON BREEN FUND. As usual it was great personal pleasure to return to Mount Vernon and to visit Ms Smith, who’s dynamism, personal dedication and charm are remarkable. Her contribution to the success and stability of MVHS is not measurable. Part of my role as the trustee of this fund, which has reached over $6100, is to insure that the fund is self-sustaining. I am exploring ways that we can receive a much better rate of return than the Mt. Vernon Teacher’s Credit Union can provide. We have handed out awards for three years now and personally I would like to be able to grant larger awards to the winners of the JON BREEN MEMORIAL ESSAY CONTEST. I believe that our contributions serve as a necessary bridge to the community of our youth. If you, or some of your friends from the class that have not given, would like to make a donation or a second contribution please send it to me or directly to MVHS.
Since my last letter, Lew & Isabella Perelman have traveled back and forth from South America, where Lewis was lecturing. I can report that he enjoyed his trip immensely and his post card from Montevideo was the first I have ever received from that famous port. Warren & Mary Adis and their daughters are living in Israel for a year. (His address is 18 Neve Sha’anan #28, Jerusalem, Israel 93707- wadis@iona.edu) . Henry & Madeline Littlefield are quite well and I hear from them with appreciated regularity. Frank & Pam Engel have survived the floods of Oregon and he has turned into a prolific correspondent. Stan & Ellen Goldmark are busy with their young daughters in Cold Spring Harbor, LI. Dr.Larry Reich is quite busy with plastic surgery in Beverly Hills. I am hoping that he will fly east in 1997. Bill & Joan Bernstein weathered the Olympic torching of Atlanta. Victor Seff’s son and my son Jon ran track together at White Plains High School and they are now friendly intellectual rivals at U of P and Princeton, respectively (Juniors). Diane Baer Ryan’s sons are off to college and when I heard that one of her twins was attending Princeton I gave her a ring. While at MVHS I was able to the view their Hall of Fame and saw the new Mickey Fuchs Plaque. Alan & Wendy Rosenberg are quite well. Their older son is at U of P and their younger son is enjoying New Rochelle High School. Alan’s interest in basketball and the Knicks is legendary! We went to the fabled 92nd Street “Y” to see George Mikan, Bob Cousy, Dolph Schayes and Wes Unseld. Gene Ridenour is retired and enjoying life in Florida. I was able to pass his address on to Henry Littlefield who will enjoy having another pen-pall. I also hear from Barbara Tucci Parent of Fort Lauderdale, whose beautiful daughter is attending Tulane. She has one young one left at home and two handsome older sons who have graduated college. Jon Lovett practices law in White Plains with his partner Jane Gould and has had great success fighting for the underdog. I constantly read about him in the local paper and admire his success. I may have reported earlier that he was in my home not to long ago, and that he was still sharp as ever! Sue Nassau Farber is helping her husband Dr Jack and his practice out there in the open spaces of Ogden, Utah. Linda & I sold our family business in 1995 and she is working for Coral Reef Capital and I am with Professional Compensation Planners, both of the Big Apple! It is different for both of us! Meanwhile I have enclosed a copy of the wonderful letter that I received from Ronnie Breen. I had tried to reach her when we were last in the Boston area. Our daughter Dana lives in Greater Boston after receiving her MS from Boston University, my Alma Mater. Ronnie’s daughter Melanie, a Brown grad, was heavily involved with the successful Clinton campaign in New Jersey. I always knew Jon Breen liked Teddy Roosevelt, but I had never heard him to be enthusiastic about the Democrats! My wife and I were active Democrats for many years and our daughter Dana was involved in the victorious Kerry election. In our case “the apple did not fall far from the tree”. MVHS is starting a campaign to raise money to rehabilitate its magnificent auditorium. I hope to help them with that effort. If any of you have some connectivity with any corporations that would like to sponsor or underwrite some of the costs please contact Ms Brenda Smith or me.
Again, thank you for your past help, and if you could see clear to make a new contribution or even an additional one, it will be well appreciated. Young people are the future of our country and it is important that all have a chance to make the American Dream work.
Yours,
Richard J. Garfunkel
also Lew Perelman’s E-mail Kanbrain@concentric.Net
Warren Adis other E-mail 76305.42@CompuServe.com
Henry Littlefield’s E-mail Scuffler@aol