SCARSDALE
-
For
the
former
students
of
Immaculate
Heart
of
Mary
School,
five
decades
dissolved
within
minutes
of
entering
the
elementary
school
auditorium
for
a
reunion
marking
the
50th
anniversary
of
their
graduation.
Dorothy
Mahaffey
Schoeler,
known
by
classmates
as
Dossie,
admitted
to
some
difficulty
recognizing
the
faces
of
classmates,
but
that
didn't
last
long.
"Once
you
heard
their
names,
then
you
could
see
their
old
faces,"
said
the
63-year-old,
who
made
the
trip
from
Naples,
Fla.,
where
she
and
her
husband
recently
moved
from
New
Canaan,
Conn.
Those
fresh
faces
that
seemed
so
elusive
were
featured
on
the
cover
of
the
50th
anniversary
directory,
a
group
picture
of
the
class's
73
students
on
their
graduation
day.
That
photo,
which
did
not
bear
any
of
the
names,
was
the
only
thing
Roger
Forasté
had
to
go
on
when
he
got
the
idea
of
the
reunion
some
two
years
ago.
So
Forasté,
who
lives
in
Hingham,
Mass.,
outside
Boston,
contacted
the
only
classmate
he
could
locate,
Raymond
Burke
Jr.,
a
New
York
City
attorney.
Burke,
in
turn,
knew
Mahaffey,
who
proved
to
be a
key
to
hunting
down
the
classmates.
"Dossie
is a
pack
rat,"
Foraste
said.
Mahaffey
had
saved
an
old
article
in
the
Scarsdale
Inquirer
that
listed
the
graduates'
names
under
the
photo,
and
she
had
a
copy
of
the
Immaculate
Heart
of
Mary
Herald,
a
typed,
hand-drawn
and
mimeographed
document
that
served
as
the
class's
graduation
yearbook.
Mahaffey
also
knew
four
female
graduates,
each
of
whom
knew
other
graduates.
Then
Forasté
and
several
volunteers
set
out
to
track
down
the
rest
of
the
class
of
1957,
turning,
where
else,
but
to
the
Internet.
"There
is
no
way
we
could
have
done
this
without
the
Internet,"
said
Forasté.
Nor
could
it
have
been
done,
he
said,
if
he
had
not
retired
from
his
career
in
sales
for
Xerox
Corp.
Forasté
and
his
volunteers
were
able
to
find
53
students
living
in
17
states.
They
also
learned
that
11
had
died.
"When
I
started
calling
people
up,"
Forasté
said,
"after
I
said
my
name
I
got
that
pregnant
pause,
and
then
they
would
say,
'Your
name
sounds
familiar,'
and
I
would
say,
'It's
only
been
50
years.'
"
One
person
who
remembered
Forasté's
name
immediately
was
Steve
Springer,
who
held
a
party
at
his
East
57th
Street
home
Friday
night
for
the
graduates.
Springer,
a
63-year-old
money
manager,
said
he
was
eager
to
see
his
classmates,
including
many
who
went
on
to
successful
careers.
"We
were
kind
of a
homogenous
group,
given
the
nature
of
the
school,
and
I
wanted
to
see
what
directions
people
went
in,"
Springer
said.
|
50
years
after
graduating,
Immaculate
Heart
of
Mary
students
together
again
The Journal News; May 27, 2007; By LEN MANIACE (lmaniace@lohud.com) |
