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Celebrating the 50th Anniversery of the Passaic High School Class of 1960, by far the most successful group of students to have ever graduated from the Passaic, NJ school system. |
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Passaic graduated its first class of 8 students in 1873 when Passaic was a section of Essex County. At that time students attended the all-grades District School of Acquackanonk. The name Acquackanonk is thought to mean "a place in a rapid stream where fishing is done with a net." Of course, today people are pulling anything but fish out of the Passaic River! Construction on the first Passaic High School built exclusively for the children of the City of Passaic was finished in 1867. It was located on the corner of Lafayette Avenue and Broadway.
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We have fond memories of Peter Cannici who was teaching Biology when we first entered PHS, soon to become our principal. Many of us recall the special or should we say 'weird' event that occurred in his biology class every year .... the
Gourmet Banquet
, an annual luncheon where students feasted on chocolate covered ants, grasshoppers and peanut butter on Ritz crackers, snails and rattlesnake meat. Mr. Cannici was tough, but he was fair! Speaking of tough, many of us still shiver with fear when we recall our intimidating History teacher Joseph Marturano whom we dared to call Mr. Mot when he wasn't within hearing range. His students were frequently found in the adjacent Forstmann Library, poring over research materials, seeking to fill their blue books with information that would satisfy his Questions that Challenge . Many of us will never forget the connection between a postage stamp, the Panama Canal and Room 1162 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. One of the most unforgettable characters we've ever met would have to be Theodore Adamcik, the nattily dressed, somewhat affected History teacher with his omnipresent walking stick. Mr. A was indeed a very colorful character. Also, in the History department, we followed a story of young love that blossomed between Marie Tiernan and Samuel Jarkesy from Business Education. They fell in love and married ... but tragically Marie was killed in an auto accident several years later. Sam is alive and well, living in nearby Wayne. In the Sciences, we recall among others Howard Kinchelow, one of the few teachers who attended our reunions; Reuben Goodman, a doppelganger for one of the characters on the Howdy Doody Show; and Alphonse Carola with his warm smile and exquisite taste in hats. In Languages, we had truly excellent teachers, if we could only understand what they were saying! Our beloved Latin teacher Barbara Floros was constantly reminding us to "Sit properly, class!" Fraulein Minnie Spille was not sure how to react when one of her German class students used 'scheiss' instead of 'schiess' to describe William Tell's shooting the apple off of his father's head with an arrow. (Look it up!) Our Mathematics teachers were brilliant in their subject matter and in their teaching skills. But tragedy struck during our PHS experience when Rudolf Graf suffered a heart attack and died. The announcement of his passing was made over the PA system during the school day. Many of us could not control our sobbing. Kathy Nolan began her career in Science at #12 School. She then became a Guidance Counsellor at PHS. Her claim to fame was an annoying habit of advising the most brilliant students in the class to apply to the University of Arkansas because U. Ark. never filled its New Jersey quota. Finally, we turn to Physical Education where the boys were subjected to the gruff exterior of Dr. Manlio Boverini, belying his background as a graduate of prestigious Manhattan College in New York City and his ultimate attainment of a Doctorate in Education. The PHS Stadium was ultimately named for Dr. Bo while he was still alive. He died in 2005 at the age of 89. The other teachers on the boys' side of the gym were Tom Gallucci and Bill Librera. On the girls' side, we boys don't remember anything about the female Phys.Ed. teachers .... Ruth Warsaw, Martha Meek and Jessie Burnett .... but we sure do vividly remember the BLUE BLOOMERS worn by the girls. |
Copyright © 2010 -
PHS'60 Reunion Committee
The next building to serve as PHS was opened in 1910 across the street, at the top of the hill on Lafayette Avenue, becoming Lincoln Middle School #4 in 1957 when our class first entered the brand new Passaic High School on Paulison Avenue.
The current Passaic High School was built on the hilltop site of the Paulison Castle, an English Tudor "mansion" (by 19th century standards), that had been built originally by Charles McKnight Paulison in the mid-1800s. The Paulison family sold the house along with the property to the City of Passaic around 1900 for use as a City Hall and Public Library. The building was ultimately razed and the hill was leveled to permit construction of the new school. Our "new" school is occupied to this day by the current crop of PHS students, although many changes have taken place since we graduated in 1960.