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We are not only trying to update our data base, but we are trying to help Alumni Research, Inc. in their pursuit to keep their data base current in addition to publishing another Alumni Directory. Please register on-line at the Erasmus Hall Alumni Association Home Page, scroll to the Online Registration or Update page
James Watson House, Built in 1794, to Launch New Book About New York
The only house in Manhattan surviving from George Washington's time, the James Watson House, will open its doors on Friday, November 9, 2007 for the debut of a new book about New York City. The Watson House, built in 1794, is now the Catholic Shrine of St. Elizabeth Seton. Located at 7 State Street, it faces the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.
The 150-page book, "Unexpected New York," subtitled "87 Discoveries in Familiar Places," was written and photographed by Chester Burger, a graduate of the Erasmus Hall High School Class of June 1938. It contains historical text and several hundred full-color photographs of almost unknown sites that reveal the city's early history. The author was the nation's first television news reporter, at CBS immediately after World War II. Later, he formed the first communications management consulting firm in the U.S. Among the little known New York stories in the book is how and why the original of the Lincoln Memorial remains in New York, and the renowned monument in Washington is a copy. Burger will tell about the president of the United States who was inaugurated in New York City, and whose original home survives today as a midtown tenement house with a delicatessen on the ground floor.
The James Watson House survived among a block of skyscrapers only because, in the 1870's, it had been purchased by the Catholic Church to serve as a "Home for Immigrant Girls" who had arrived at nearby Castle Garden, in Battery Park. Father Peter Meehan, pastor of the Shrine, will host the talk. The free event will start at 5:30 PM.
"Unexpected New York" will be published on November 1 by Goodwin Publishers and will be available at www.UnexpectedNY.com for $29.95. Burger will discuss his favorite undiscovered sites, and will autograph copies at the November 9 event at the James Watson House.
Chester Burger, a native New Yorker, spent many years walking and photographing the streets of the city. Seven thousand of his stereoscopic views of the city are in the permanent collection of The New-York Historical Society. About 14,000 of his photographs from around the world are included in the permanent collection of the New York Public Library. In 1995, the U.S. Government awarded Burger the "Medal for Outstanding Service to the United States."
* FOR PHOTOS FROM THE BOOK (in digital form), and interviews about New York folklore, contact Chester Burger, 212-787-9130.
Chester Burger
33 West 67th Street
New York NY 10023-6224
212-787-9130
ChetBurger@Atelier67.com
Erasmus Hall High School graduate Toby Devens' new novel My Favorite Midlife Crisis (yet) is now in bookstores around the country and on Amazon and other bookstores online. The 1960 EHHS graduate's book, her second, is the story of Gwyneth Berke, a 54-year old gynecological surgeon whose life is turned upside down when she discovers her husband of nearly three decades in the arms of their male interior decorator.
Post-divorce, Gwyn's on her own, caring for her father with Alzheimer's and fighting for control in her practice as junior partners jockey for power. But she's not alone. She and her best friends - - never married large and luscious businesswoman Fleur and widowed artist Kat - - take on menopause, aging ailing parents, difficult adult children and a hilarious return to the dating scene. When Gwyn has a fabulous affair with a world-renowned scientist, she becomes involved in a medical scandal and a sizzling revenge plot that will have you laughing and cheering through your tears. Publishers Weekly called My Favorite Midlife Crisis (yet) , "a wise and witty debut" and "a distinguished addition" to the field. BookList of the American Library Association said, "Devens' novel is really about women successful in life, in friends, and in their chosen profession, realizing what's really important as they reach middle age. Wonderful characters make this humorous and heartwarming tale a pleasure to read."
Toby Devens remembers her days at Erasmus as some of the happiest in her life.
"That's where I learned to write and to love good writing," she says. "I'm proud to have attended "The Old Gray School," and my education there set me up for a productive career as a writer,"
Toby invites you to visit her website at http://www.tobydevens.com and connect with her at readers@tobydevens.com. She looks forward to hearing from her fellow Erasmus alums.
PS 161 Alumni Association, an EHHS feeder school, has resumed publication of the Crown Heights Courier.
PS 161 alumni interested in receiving the newsletter should e-mail Michael Holstein mholstein@optonline.net or drop him a note
Michael Holstein
74 Cliff Street
Hastings- on-Hudson
New York 10706,
Normally we don't do this on our site, but this is a special circumstance where a whole graduating class was not included in any of the school records/directories.
William Rutigliano registered on our website in the class of '46. I could not find him in our yearbook, nor could I find him in the directories published in 1996 and 2003.
I called him only to find out that he and many others like him who enlisted in the War ( World War II) prior to graduation, came to Erasmus for their GED diplomas, were never in any directory, or yearbook.
I spoke to the Records Secretary at Erasmus who verified the story, but was unable to supply me with other names in the "Veteran's Class" as those records were now in Albany.
Please if you know of any of those veterans that returned to Erasmus for their diplomas, have them contact me.
Bill Rutigliano supplied me with this photo of the 1946 Graduating Class of Returning Veterans
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WANTED! Erasmus Hall Alumni, living in the Metropolitan New York Area. Your Alumni Association is looking for interested members in becoming active on our Board. We meet once a month and really need new members. We have a lot of plans and need dedicated people to help implement them.
