63 long years ago we left the comfortable nest that was our Alma Mater. We were young, apprehensive, hopeful and innocent. 70 somethings were old folks - and we were NEVER going to become old ourselves. Old folks were out of touch with the real world. They wore frumpy clothes and sensible shoes. They sat in rockers a lot and bored us with discussions of their various aching body parts. But the years flew by. We became young people. Then quickly we morphed into middle-aged adults. And now, undeniably, we find ourselves slipping into our senior years. It has been an interesting journey filled with once unimaginable challenges, joys and sorrows. Youth and innocence are no longer ours, but the years have shown us how important it is to cherish life's simple joys and given us a new perspective. (Dare we call it wisdom?) Life has taught us to be more caring, more patient, and less self centered. We are more relaxed and self-confident. Slightly ahead of the Baby Boomers, we are in the vanguard of a new age of seniors. With luck we can lead the way into an era in which seniors can work longer, contribute more to society, and enjoy life as never before.
~~Robyn Madison Potter          

An Editorial in the 1929 yearbook has the following to say. "1929 will be an important date in the history of this school. It marks the graduation of the first class from Delmar High, and it also marks the first edition of THE ORIOLE. It was taken for granted that a class would graduate in 1929, but the establishment of a Yearbook was not so certain..."

"This year marks the 70th anniversary of Hamagrael Elementary School. All of our grade schools have rich and colorful histories, but I think everyone might enjoy this great series of (10) photos from 1954-55 – Hamagrael’s first year. When they opened that September, the classroom furniture hadn’t arrived, requiring everyone to sit at folding tables. The cafeteria itself wasn’t ready to serve children until halfway through the year, so it was bagged lunches for students, eating with their teachers in class.

John Falvey was the first principal and served well into the 1970s. I don’t have student names for this series, but click each photo for teacher names. And check out that old “Cafetorium” divider they used as a backdrop in these shots, which is still in use today – the very same my youngest smashed into, head first, about six years ago during a disconcertingly physical game of basketball (for 2nd graders, anyway).

Know some of these fresh-faced kiddos?"

( The orginal facebook post was in the Bethlehem Historical Association group on January 30th )

Twenty-one classmates have been added to or updated in the In Memoriam Section. Click a name for their obituary.

Karen Almstead (May 20, 2024)
Mike Arnold (December 19, 2018)
Sandy Baker (November 19, 2023)
Price Chenault (November 9, 2024)
Jim Chesney (February 12, 2025)
Mary Ann Dorsey (April 10, 2026)
Bill Drozd (February 26, 2026)
Val Farny (October 19, 2024)
Judy Frehulfer (October 29, 2022)
Bob Johnson (October 8, 2022)
Irving Klink (July 24, 2025)
George Meyers (November 24, 2023)
Fred Mueller (March 23, 2015)
Bill Pfeif (August 27, 2022)
Ruth Rector (March 8, 2026)
Sharon Ryan (February 6, 1981)
Sheila Sullivan (December 24, 2023)
Carolyn Van Allen (May 27, 2025)
Diane Walsh (November 23, 2022)
Larry White (April 24, 2025)
Dan Zabriskie (March 2025)

Our thanks to David Utz for gathering these obituaries, and to Bill McMillen and Jennie McNab for the notices that made several of them possible.

Val Farny built this website, and he built it to last.

He put it up in 2003, back when WordPress had barely launched and there was no plugin you could install to do any of this. So he wrote it himself. A content management system in PHP, with member logins, a classmates section only classmates could get into, photo galleries, search, even email notifications when something new went up. That was a lot for one person to take on. It is also why a committee of volunteers has been able to keep this site current for twenty years without a developer on call. The fourteen change logs in our Archive, running from 2011 straight through to 2024, are the proof of it.

I have been building for the web for over twenty years now, and I have moved a lot of old sites onto new platforms. Most of them fight you the whole way. Val's did not. Everything came across intact the first time: every classmate page, every photograph, every reunion album going back to 1986. That is rare, and it is not luck. It is what happens when someone thinks hard about how to build a thing before he builds it.

We owe Val for this website. It is still here, and it is still his.

Mike Towery, KnightWorks Hosting   

New Classmate Updates - Click on the Classmate's name for their updates, Older updates are now available in the Classmates Section (Login Required).

Dave Gregory, Kathie Jorgensen, Beryl Livingston, Lynne Snyder and

Linda Fuhrman - A poem written in 1961

Other Classmates Section - Click on the Classmate's name for their updates, Older updates are now available in the Classmates Section (Login Required).

Tom Fresina

The In Memoriam Section includes new information about:

Bob Kurzon

Carl Young

Mike Mancuso

Judy Skidmore (Grave Marker)

Earl Flavin (Date of Passing)

Tom Johnson (Date of Passing)

Peter Leisenfelder (4/7/1961) and John Newell (4/7/1961)
During the course of doing research regarding our class history by Cliff Lamere, we remember the accident just two months before our graduation that took the lives of classmates Peter Leisenfelder and John Newell, and junior class member William Hammond with serious injuries to three others. The Knickerbocker News story, as it appeared on April 7, 1961 is the article you will view if you continue. If you do not wish to view the scene of the accident or the associated news story, please do not follow the links.

Jocelyn Daniels (Found Obituary)

Sue Yaple (3/30/2023)

Cliff Lamere's Website contains information about deceased teachers and students.

In the Teacher's Section, Mr Hugh Brown, Mr Fred Burdick, Mr Dominick DeCecco,

Dick Feldman, Mrs Hosey, Ms Newell and Ms Palumbo, Mrs Roberta Glatz,

Mr Joseph Guerrera, Mrs Mary Johnston, Mr Warren Kullman, Ms Lois Mannheimer,

Mrs Doris Pock, Mr Louis Spelich, Miss Arlene Superko, Mrs Phyllis VanDemark,

and Mr Gene Webster.

Additional information about deceased Teachers can be found Here.

60th Reunion Booklet updates. The following are changes or corrections since the Booklet was issued - Click on the Classmate's name for their new contact information (Login Required).

Kathie Jorgensen (phone)

Robyn Madison (phone)

Marcia Lipschitz (email)

If you have new contact information please send an email to support@knightworkshosting.com or contact Bill McMillen or David Utz with your new information.

Classmates whose Home Address and/or email information is unknown:
To help us maintain our contact list, please send an email to support@knightworkshosting.com or contact Bill McMillen or David Utz with your new information.

Gayle Albertine (No Info), Sally Brunner (Home Address), Alan Chesney (Email Address),

Vivian Dean (No Info), Rich Dewey (Email Address),

Ruth Flick (Email Address), Robyn Madison (Email Address), Judy Martin (Home Address),

Carolyn Martino (No Info), Robert McWilliams (No Info),

Dennis Mullen (Email Address), Jim O'Brien (Email Address) Bob Patchen (No Info),

Carol Smith (No Info), Chuck Stuber (Home Address) and

Gary Van Apeldoorn (No Info)