What we've been up to ...
Here we list brief writeups on the lives of any class members who wish to submit them. (3 paragraphs per suggested, include a recent photo if desired.) Class members may submit this material to Jim Alexander for posting.
Jim Alexander went on to Asbury High, Middlebury College, then graduate work in local and state government at Wharton, leading to a management career in the NJ Department of Community Affairs and other government agencies.
He initially focused on municipal management and finance, teaching at Rutgers and advising NJ local officials, then switched to state administrative and policy functions. Along the way, he's been published extensively on various government programs he was involved in, and on railroad history, which is a continuing interest that began at the Spring Lake train station (see here).
In retirement, he designed web sites and provided computer and management consulting to non-profits. While his two kids always said "We don't know what Daddy really does, he says he's a manager," he prefers to think of himself as a writer. www.jimquest.com
John Newman pursued a career in Defense Aircraft Systems and Components and Commercial, Business and General Aviation Aircraft Systems and Components.
Former faculty member at the prestigious U. S. Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy. Retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1981.
He is a consultant on complex aircraft systems.
Bill Fury pursued a career in law enforcement, having served as Chief of Police in Spring Lake Heights. Still active in local fire department and other community affairs, he is Examination Coordinator for the NJ State Association of Chiefs of Police.
John Maestrelli and his Corvette spent several years after Manasquan High leading a somewhat wild life on the Shore (stories redacted). When his more serious side gained control, he earned a degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Mgmt. He then worked as a Research Wildlife Biologist at the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, MD.
While there, he studied the effects DDT and other pesticides on the reproduction of birds of prey, which helped lead to the banning of those chemicals from the market place. He also worked with captive bald eagles and was successful in breeding them in captivity (the eagles, not John). Some of John's eaglets were transported to the New England states where the wild eagle population had been decimated by pesticides. The eaglets were placed in "unsuccessful" eagle nests and were then raised by the foster parents.
John's wife Mary trusted him enough to accompany him on many flights in his 1941 Taylorcraft airplane that he personally rebuilt. They raised two wonderful daughters. During his 34 years with the Feds, John worked on a variety of other wildlife-related issues, including wildlife hazards at airports, endangered species protection, and wildlife damage problems. He finished the last 14 years of his career as the USDA State Director for the WI Wildlife Services program, where he captured and relocated 5,000 depredating/nuisance black bears. He and Mary enjoy traveling, including touring most of the states in a 5th wheel trailer. Golfing, elk and gator hunting along with fishing keep him occupied between trips.
John wonders how many classmates remember the infamous synchronized pencil drop in 7th(?) grade that he masterminded and resulted in his tete-a-tete with Mr. Mountz in his office.
Walt (Sweeney) Reid reports in: "Good morning Mr. Mountz. Through your continuing education program, I've been able to bring my memorized multiplication ability up to 197x197=38,809. Also, I can spell every word in the english language. Well, actually I could, before you discovered the spelling book under the inkwell hole."
We caught Walt in Halloween attire. He earned a mechanical engineering degree from Lehigh, and at the Naval Oceanographic Office he designed several things that reportedly failed, or were lost at sea. His last assignment there was to evaluate competing ocean temperature profiling devices for a Navy contract. After selecting the best candidate, he went to work for the winner, a small company near Cape Cod. On the way to MA, he found a wife, Madeline, who raised their three children.
He later applied his vast knowledge of salt water stuff to the manufacture of golf balls, at Titleist. Twenty nine years later, he quit Titleist, as Director of Engineering. Stupidly, he took his pension as a cash payment, and invested it just in time for the 2001 and 2008 market crashes. Walt is listed as inventor or co-inventor on over 25 patents. He still likes to design, build and fix things, such as houses, boats, furniture, and automated water samplers.
Alexander Scott. Alex reports that he and his wife Angela are well and still living in Sewickley, a north suburb of Pittsburgh. Enjoying retirement by eating out a lot, seeing movies, and working out some on the treadmill and bike. Don't do much traveling except to see son in Orlando and daughter in Virginia near Manassas. Their other daughter lives near them.
He fondly recalls the ice skating on the lake, roller skating as well in the fall, painting the Halloween windows and of course the beach and pools.
Nancy Ullrich majored in PreNursing at Moravian College, and through a combined program with the Monmouth Medical Center School of Nursing earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Nanci then worked in the Emergency Room at Monmouth Medical Center for three years.
Seeking a better work environment, she tried school nursing in the Toms River School System, but found that it was not for her. She then attended The College of New Jersey (Trenton State), graduating in 1970 with a Master of Education. Nanci was employed as an Elementary School teacher, in the second and third grades in the Toms River District, where she taught in several schools until her retirement in 1996 after 31 years in the district.
Since then, she has pursued her main interest -- playing golf. Also, the just plain enjoyment of doing not much of anything. After living in Sea Girt for the first 56 years of her life, she and her mother moved to the Fairways at Lake Ridge in 1998. Her mom passed away in 2001 at the age of 92. In 2003 Nanci and a friend moved to another adult community in Toms River where she lives today.
Ellen Whitaker Pettigrew and her second husband share 5 children and 9 grandchildren who are scattered up and down the east coast. They enjoy a comfortable, active life in New Bern, a coastal North Carolina town.
Ellen worked at Gammon Technical Products in Manasquan, retiring in 2002 after 25 years there. She sold aviation refueling and filtration equipment. Her territory included the major metropolitan area airports and smaller ones from N.J. to Maine, including some military installations. She traveled extensively and was the only woman in this field at the time. She was the top producer for most of the product lines Gammon Technical Products sold.
In retirement she is a staff writer for her community paper as well as a contributing writer for the local paper. Active in community organizations, she enjoys traveling with her husband in their trailer throughout the year as well as boating and cruising.
Such fond memories of SLS, who could forget greeting Mr. Mountz or Mrs. Johnson (school nurse) in unison when they entered the room. The dimes Mr. and Mrs. Mountz gave out at Halloween; everyone went there Trick or Treating! Painting the shop windows on Third Avenue. The gym floor with the “dead” boards, Mrs. Helmuth’s callisthenics, and for you guys who thought having your Mom as the 8th grade teacher was fun, @%$#&*…. it wasn’t that much fun!!
Susan Brown Wynn married, had two daughters and served as a medical secretary in a radiology practice for 10 years. She then went on to work for GPU Nuclear and GPU Energy. Building on her experience with radiology, she was able to work as a Radiation Support Technician at Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station. This entailed record keeping for the radiation workers for the NRC.
It also entailed doing whole body counts and respirator fit testing and repair for each worker. It was particularly interesting after the nuclear accident in Russia. Any plane flying over Russia at the time of the accident had the crew and passengers body-counted, looking for excessive radiation doses. Many of those people were brought to Oyster Creek.
Susan retired from GPU Nuclear in 1996 and now works part-time, volunteers at a local hospital a few hours a week and babysits each week for her great-granddaughter. Life is GOOD! She has been blessed with four grandchildren and one great-grandchild with another great-grandchild due in March. Susan wouldn't trade her years at Spring Lake Grammar School. She was part of a really GREAT class!
Bill Yard enjoys surfing at South Padre Island, TX, when not at home in Modesto, California, especially at Christmas time!
