One of the features of the River Road house is an old-fashioned front porch with comfortable chairs which is a perfect place for breakfast coffee. River Road is wildly overgrown with trees and shrubs and is extremely lightly traveled so it is a great spot for all sorts of wildlife including cicadas, birds, lots of relatively tame deer and other crawling and flying critters. A very relaxing and rejuvenating spot for coffee.
We spent most of Thursday and Friday just taking it easy until Friday night when we attended the reunion icebreaker. The weather stayed a little cloudy and drizzly off and on through both days, clearing up through Friday.
After our Thursday Beacon brunch, we toured Newburgh a bit, driving along the waterfront and then up past Washington’s headquarters, a jaunt up Liberty Street to Broadway; north on Broadway to Fullerton Avenue with a drive by of Newburgh Free Academy (NFA).
NFA looked pretty much the same from street level view, even 50 years on from our graduation. Drawing a bit on memory but mostly from our friends at Wikipedia; NFA had a long history with the first classes being taught in 1797, The first building was on Liberty Street and was not only a school but a court and public meeting place. Tuition was $2.50 per quarter for writin’ and ‘rithmatic with an additional $2.50 getting you Greek, Latin, or French… who would have guessed? V2 of the academy was built on Montgomery Street and opened in 1886 with 201 students and included grammar and academic classes. The “free” book system came into being and corporal punishment was abolished. The current main building on Fullerton Avenue and South Street was completed in 1928 with an annex built in 1931. By the late 1930’s enrollment reached 2,200 students. In 1965 the science wing of the school was opened on the north side of the 1928 structure. This building was one of my homes away from home during my years there with the planetarium, the science rooms, the earth science and geology lab, other labs and of course the math gang. Since our departure in 1973, a west wing extension with 35+ classrooms and additional dance and theater space and a refurbished cafeteria were added in 2004 and the former North Junior High became the NFA North Campus. Since then, the west campus with additional classrooms and a “non-traditional” high school approach has been added to the school. Time marches on…
We continued our Newburgh tour with a Walmart stop and a stop at the favored wine purveyor in what used to be the Mid-Valley Mall which was looking a little worse for wear and as they say, long in the tooth. The ladies got the jigsaw puzzle set up on the dining room table back at the River Road house. We ordered a pizza for delivery that we supplemented with crackers and cheese and, of course, there was an open and active bottle of wine for the ladies. Pizza tastes different in New York than in California.
Friday was clearing up and looked like it would be a nice evening for the icebreaker at Billy Joe’s Ribworks located on Front Street with the outdoor porch hanging out over the river. We got another late start to the day and did a tour of the Marlboro, NY area which was Dad Hagar’s old stomping grounds. Lots of changes. Still some fruit farms, but a lot of them had been sold off and subdivided into large acreage home sites. Most still seemed to be involved in growing something, but not on a commercial scale. We left a little early for Billy Joe’s because parking on Fridays on Front Street is a challenge. Parking karma was with us and as we pulled into the parking lot with really no expectations of a spot. A car, four stalls down from the front door, was leaving and we were in! For those of us moving through our 60’s, Billy Joe’s is not really the best fare for dinner – they are far more popular for their indoor and outdoor bar fare. We had a very nice dinner at Captain Jake’s next to Billy Joe’s where they had far more realistic pricing than the very fancy fish joint down the street. When I see menu items over $100 in Newburgh, I sort of get the giggles – especially down on Front Street.
The icebreaker was fun. Lots of familiar faces and even able to put names to some of the faces. Most of the crowd looked pretty much the same as they did 5 years ago at the 45th reunion. Danny Amato, who was one of the Balmville kids and who still lives in his mom’s house in Balmville, was there. Back in the day when I worked at Little Brook Farm Restaurant, I introduced Danny to the owner, and he became a more or less regular there working at large parties as a waiter, busboy and dish washer. Great guy, simple wants and aspirations and a very genuine person — I was glad to see him. Lots of other folks there, some great conversations and more importantly, nobody really made any overt forays into politics or religion; although in Newburgh, religion is generally far less controversial than politics. It was loud with loud music so most of the hearing aid patrol spent the evening out on the porch exchanging hearing aid stories with some hip and knee replacements thrown in for good measure.
Saturday dawned at about 9:00 AM and we made our way to Alexis Diner by 11:00 or so for brunch. For those who have not experienced an east coast diner, this would be the model diner. A menu that if you read everything on it would take about an hour to move through it. Large and very tasty portions, very fast service, endless coffee if you have a cup, otherwise, constant water and tea refills, attentive service, and the owner(s) ever watchful eyes on everything orbiting through the place making small talk with the customers. Saturday also brought, at least for me, one of the most meaningful experiences that I have had in a while and was certainly one of the highlights of this trip.
I had the good fortune of taking both an earth science and geology class at NFA taught by then a young guy named Jeff Callister. It was a different time than now; it was the early ‘70s. Jeff was enthusiastic and passionate about his teaching and even more passionate about connecting with his students. He organized both school and outside school activities including geology field trips and observations and an occasional social event in his back yard. He is the driving force behind introducing me to and eventually sending me off to Colorado School of Mines and my becoming a geologist. I had visited with him during the 20th reunion but was hesitant about visiting him on this trip as he would be 80 years old. I really had no way of contacting him (even after searching him out 9 ways from Sunday on the internet) so the only option (which I am incredibly uncomfortable doing) was to walk up to his front door and ring the bell. Joni and Pat pushed me pretty hard to go give it a shot and I eventually screwed up my courage, dropped my anti-social tendencies for a moment and stopped by his house for what I thought would be a half-hour visit. To my great surprise, he answered the door and recognized me as Frank who lived down on Albany Post Road. He was still the same animated and enthusiastic Mr. Callister (although with less hair) and is in the middle of a rewrite for one of the books he had authored which he said had sold well over a million copies and was financing his and his wife Angie’s annual European vacations. We had a great visit that went on for almost 2 hours, reminiscing and catching up. I told him that I just wanted him to know that his knowledge, enthusiasm, and influence led me to a career that I have enjoyed every day for the last 45 years and as I told him I could not thank him enough for giving me a job that was the most fun anybody could have working for a living.
The reunion dinner was at a place called the Silk Factory which was located on a corner that in my time in Newburgh, I probably drove past 300-400 times and never noticed it, or more accurately, don’t remember noticing it. A large, old factory building with wide open interior spaces, exposed wood beam construction, high ceilings, loud disk jockey provided music and not one piece of sound absorbing material anywhere. The hearing aid patrol would be standing together smiling and nodding all night. I heard that about 115 graduates were there, most with significant others. All of this was put together by our resident reunion coordinator Theresa Ray and a few friends and helpers including her daughter Michelle. Turns out that at some point during the night, Michelle asked Joni and I if we would adopt her and take her back to California. I certainly did not hear that specific request but probably smiled and nodded. Imagine my embarrassment when I had to explain that as nice of a person as she was, we just could not give the guidance and love that she deserved as she would be the fifth daughter. A great time, great memories and great seeing everybody.
Sunday was another highlight and very meaningful day. We had lunch with our great friends Jimmie Polhamus and James Beard who are celebrating their 30th anniversary next year. Jimmie was another highly influential person in my life. As I say elsewhere on this blog, I arrived in Newburgh a naïve, Catholic school kid who had grown up in a sheltered environment in the West and Midwest. Jimmie, the Balmiville School picnic table, the Powelton Club greens, the Desmond estate, his mom and dad and his basement were the center of social life for a rotating group of about 20-30 friends who for the most part lived in the Town of Newburgh but as we got older and became more mobile our sphere of influence grew. The stories and legends and the experiences together from the 4 years from 9th grade and high school always make me smile and laugh out loud and yes sometimes cringe about one social situation or another when I think about them. For the early 70’s it was a very safe and supportive group with just the right amount of internal edginess, great fun and great music while all the time trying not to upset the Town police to the point of visiting with them. It was, as I said elsewhere, a simpler time.
Our final high school story has been recounted over and over and sometimes I wonder if that is how it really happened. Since Jimmie and I tell it each time we see each other and the specifics seem to remain pretty much the same, I’m going with it. After NFA graduation, Jimmie and I did not have a lot of summer plans. At that time, I had a 1968 MG-Midget. Both Jimmie and I had received some cash gifts for graduation and somehow, we concluded that we would pack up the Midget and travel to the northeast until our money ran out. I recall it took about 4 weeks until we were low on funds but the only way that I can verify that is to go back and look at the dates on the 35 mm slides that I took on the trip. We traveled to Maine hiking, camping, and enjoying life. The New England trip that follows in this blog is not only a first time visit to New England for Joni but an homage to that summer of ’73 trip with Jimmie. I can’t believe how fortunate we are to have all been friends and stayed in touch for almost 55 years.
Monday was the end of the Newburgh portion of the trip. Our stay in the River Road house was very enjoyable. Our trip down memory lane was for me extremely nostalgic and at the same time very meaningful. As I have said many times, I am one of the most fortunate guys in the world to have had the experiences that I have had and to end up where I have with friends and family that I love and treasure.
We gathered our belongings into the small but powerful and turns out extremely economical Ford Escape and drove Pat to LaGuardia airport for a noonish flight that would eventually get her back to Albuquerque. We went down the east side of the Hudson and had a very low-key trip back to the airport.
Next up – Mystic CT, Newport RI and north.