"The Greatest Generation" in the January 1940 E.H.S. Yearbook

I don’t know how it all started, but my friend Lou Mechanic* and I started a thread of emails one recent afternoon about the (Paterson) January 1940 Eastside High School yearbook, “The Senior Mirror.” One of the first things that struck us was the beautiful cursive penmanship in the yearbook, written, of course, with the fountain pens in use at the time. We both have our own original copies - my husband Murray Greenberg was a graduate as was his mother Bernadine Jasper. They are now both deceased.

My husband had a lot of friends and I not only heard about all of them throughout our many years of marriage, but, in addition I also had the pleasure of meeting many of them at dinner parties, a few such soirées even hosted by myself.  Although formal dinner parties were mostly prevalent in Victorian times, they rebounded in popularity in the post WWII years due to the growth in the economy.   The housing boom and larger dining rooms helped orchestrate such elaborate entertainment.  Fortunately or unfortunately, we were seeing the last of formal entertainment in the 80’s and 90’s.  Conventionality was now collapsing at the doorstep of the new millennium.

In our emails on that somewhat silly and somewhat serious day, Lou and I wondered if my husband and his mother knew each other and, if so, did they ever have a date?  After a few chuckles and imaginative stories about that scenario, we started to discuss the other students and the teachers.  He too had heard a lot about the “Class of 1940” and also met many of them over the years of his youth and beyond. It didn’t escape us that they were all members of “The Greatest Generation.”

It was January 1940 - although 2 years before the U.S. entered WWII - war had already broken out in Europe the previous September when Germany invaded Poland.  The Nuremberg Laws in Germany were passed 5 years before their graduation.  Evidently the clouds of war were looming during graduation.  However there was no overt U.S. participation in the war until the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  Whenever Murray and I looked through his yearbook we saw fresh faces, frozen in time from that day they dressed up and groomed themselves for the photographer taking their pictures for the yearbook so long ago. Just like the “kids” in other yearbooks, the students remain forever young.  They knew not what the future would hold and were about to conquer the world as liberated individuals.  Murray was always sure to point out the students who lost their lives in the war.  They are smiling and looking back at us, always hopeful.  Obviously, I never heard much more about them or ever met them.  Sadly they had scant “after life” beyond their yearbook photos. Their names are Harold Etler, Herbert M.Gurantz and Gerald S.Hirshberg, otherwise known as “Shanty,” “Scoop” and “Jerry” respectively.

I’d like to mention the students, male and female, who made it through the war year more-or-less unscathed by the tragedy.

Jennie ‘Jean’ Arbus wanted to “be the owner of a banana plantation” but instead became Wilson ‘Bill’ Kaplen’s first wife. Bill became a decorated WWII veteran and later the commander of the Kaufman-Harris JWV Post. He was a wildly successful real estate developer and philanthropist whose family name graces the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades. Jean lived to age 93.

Beautiful Claire Baggaley wanted “to become a champion roller skater” but she sacrificed her ambition to marry the principal owner of C.L.Hargert, a giant insurance office in Ridgewood at the time.

Benjamin Botwick wanted to “live the life of Riley when Riley isn’t home.” He was a WWII vet, a member of the Fair Lawn Jewish Center and lived to age 94.

Pearl Esterman “wanted to be as good a stenographer as her sister Dot.” Pearl was a longtime member of the Clifton Jewish Center and lived to age 93.

Gay Beth Kitay wanted “to reach the limit of her capabilities, but to accept her limitations” in 1940. We followed her to the 1950’s when she lived on 14th Avenue in Paterson. It is believed she had a son named “Jimmy.”

Abe Goodman was an Army WWII vet. He owned Keystone Furniture in Hackensack for over 40 years. He had a passion for golf, playing cards and eating candy. He lived to be 90.
 
Murray Greenberg’s (Greene) ambition was “to go to Annapolis or else.” In fact, Murray became an ensign in the Navy during WWII and became involved in the Paterson (and beyond) real estate market. Instead of Annapolis he attended and graduated from Newark College of Engineering (NCE), now known as NJIT, with a degree in electrical engineering. In 1943 Murray shortened his family name to “Greene.”

William Guttenberg and Murray were lifelong friends. After graduation they had big plans to hitchhike across the U.S.A. Their plans were thwarted but are not clear to me why the big trip never came to fruition. Most likely, it was a matter of practicality. They must have had meaningful regrets because I heard about their foiled dream at least once or twice a year.

 William (‘Bill’) was editor-in-chief of the Senior Mirror. Bill became an electrical engineer and was a major benefactor of his alma mater, NJIT, formerly known as NCE. He served in France and Germany in WWII with the 9th Division of the U.S.Army. He was wounded twice and was awarded a Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster.  He worked for nearly 30 years for Bogue Electric Manufacturing Co., rising to president. He later founded Wilco Electric Inc, in Hackensack which specialized in electromechanical engineering. Bill lived to age 89.  

Rose Hampel’s ambition in 1940 was “to find seats for the sitting army.” She married a dentist, Dr. Paul Pearlmutter, a WWII navy veteran, who practiced in Paterson for 35 years. Rose had 2 daughters and lived to age 80.

Helen S. Hochberg wanted to “be the best in whatever I am.” We followed her to Teaneck in 1948 after she married a fellow named Senzer and then the trail went cold.

Bernadine “Bernie” Jasper was a bright student who had skipped a couple of grades. In the Senior Mirror her ambition was “to find a good excuse for living.” She graduated Eastside at age 15 and then enrolled in the Sherwood School of Secretarial Training. She became a legal secretary to Carl Gelman, of Gelman & Gelman. Her WWII scrapbook was filled with newspaper clippings as she followed the allied advance in the European theater. Years later, after her mom had passed away she became the primary principal of an auto parts business in HoHoKus while simultaneously raising 3 children and serving for many years as president of the North Jersey Henrietta Szold chapter of Hadassah. Bernadine "Bee" lived to age 92.

Frank Levine became a well-known Paterson dentist. His ambition in January 1940 was “to have what is yours and say that it’s mine, and to be called Leveen and not Levine.” Frank served as a captain in the U.S.Air Force and lived to age 86.

David Roth, “Diz’s” ambition was “to find out what it’s all about.” Diz found out and became a well-known Paterson physician before moving his offices to Fair Lawn. David graduated from Eastside H.S. at age 15. He joined the army and completed his medical training at NYU. After serving in Guam and completing a residency at Mass General he returned to Paterson and co-founded The Paterson Clinic. He was a President of Planned Parenthood of Northern N.J. and on the Board of Jewish Family Services. David lived to age 96.

Abe Stutchin, nicknamed “Li’l Abner’ also became a well-known Paterson doctor and I, in fact, worked for him for several very interesting years in the early 1980’s. He faithfully made house calls everywhere in Paterson, notably to the elderly and to those who were house bound. He usually brought along one of his homemade Bundt cakes. Many of his medical house calls were in the downtown area.

There is another classmate who I want to emphasize.  It is Sig Westerman who wanted “to do what I want when I want.” Sig is still alive at 101 years old! It is likely that he is the sole survivor of the class of January 1940. My husband, Murray, and Sig shared their Bar-Mitzvah day at Temple Emanuel (Paterson) and remained in touch throughout their lives. They were born one day apart in 1922.  In the Eastside Criterion of January 30, 1940 it reads, “Sigmund Westerman was voted ‘Personality Plus’ and third choice of ‘Most Likely To Succeed’ and ‘Best Actor.’  

Sig, for a time, was our most senior volunteer at the JHSNJ. He graced us with his valuable wealth of knowledge into his early 90’s.  He previously owned “Westerman’s Baby and Juvenile Shop” located on the corner of Van Houten and Washington Streets in downtown Paterson where they specialized in carrying infant and toddler clothing.  He carried on a family tradition that dated back to 1918 when the store was first established.  Sig was also a longtime supporter of the Hebrew Free Loan Association. For those who may not know, The Hebrew Free Loan Association "provides members of the Jewish community with zero-interest loans to needs ranging from home repair, debt consolidation and medical expenses, to starting and expanding a business, fertility care and adoption and more…”  Last but not least, Sig’s story is not yet over.

Lou noticed that teachers were given very little of the spotlight compared to the yearbooks of the sixties but he did remember Albert Friedman, the 1940 Senior Mirror Advisor. Albert was the chairman of the English Department when Lou was a student in the early 1960’s. He was also spotted in that role as chairman as late as 1969 in the EHS Senior Mirror so he obviously had a long and remarkable teaching career at Eastside.

Some of the advertisers that we may remember today from this yearbook are Ridgewood Secretarial School, Drake School, Sherwood School of Secretarial Training and the Miller Institute where many students, male and female, went after graduation in lieu of college.  There was also the Paterson Beauty School on Ellison Street where one could go for a $3.00 weekly payment and/or a $100.00 complete course.  Just write or call SHerwood 2-XXXX.  Remember those old phone numbers?  

In that same January 30, 1940 Eastside Crite, an advertisement reads, “The Cream of Eastside High Meet At Dric and Zims – Driscoll and Zimmerman, 77-79 Park Avenue – Corner Summer Street.”

On the penultimate page of the yearbook, Hamilton Photo Engraving on Paterson Street engraved this yearbook with the disclaimer that “YOUR STORY IN PICTURES LEAVES NOTHING UNTOLD.”  On that well said sentence, I will gracefully exit this memoir leaving you with a lot of food for thought about your own yearbook. Look for some additional photos of our E.H.S. January 1940 grads in tomorrow's Photo Friday!

Dorothy Douma Greene, Past President of the JHSNJ
* Lou is a former vice-president and board member of the JHSNJ. He currently serves as a volunteer with the organization.