It is with great sadness that we inform you of the death of Ilene Lowenthal, wife of our good friend and classmate Ed Lowenthal.  

Ilene Katz Lowenthal died November 5th at her home at age 73 after dealing courageously with Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease. She was married to Edward Lowenthal (class of ’62) for almost 51 years. 

She spent a full life combining her devotion to family, friends, the arts, swimming, reading and art and music education. She was the Executive Director of Tic-Toc and Project Impact, two organizations that brought arts and performing arts to elementary and middle schools in the Northern New Jersey region. She also was the de facto manager of her two book groups and her swim friends’ monthly lunches. 

Ilene was the Lowenthal family’s social director, event organizer and glue, treating every in-law child and grandchild as her own in every possible sense, welcoming each new member as if always part of the clan. Her capacity to love was unmatched. Ilene was a great cook and used those skills to make family events into feasts for everyone. To her, food was love and a time to cherish and savor. 

She was a graduate of Evanston Township High School, Washington University (BA 1968) and Bank Street College (Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education). 

She is survived by Edward, her husband of almost 51 years, and by their children Jennifer Anto and Jared Lowenthal, her beloved grandchildren Matthew, Harlow, Harper and Caitlin and her in-law children Caroline and Christopher. She is also survived by her beloved sister Donna and Donna’s husband David Howlett. 

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a contribution to the Creutzfeldt Jakob Foundation or Parlance Chamber Concerts in Ridgewood, NJ. 

I am sorry to hear of Ed's passing.  I spoke with him briefly at our 50th reunion.

Mostly I  remember him from childhood, when he lived a block away from me and was 

always kind and friendly.

My condolences to his family.

Felice Padma Wick

I want to thank Jeffrey Fink for posting the sad news about our friend Ed. I know he had been in poor health for several years now, but it is still very sad to lose a friend. While I personally have not seen Ed in years, I have fond memories of many enjoyable times spent with him in our youth. The last time we spent together was a chance meeting on the slopes at Okemo in Ludlow, VT about twenty years ago. That was terrific! Where did those intervening years go?

Ed will be missed by many, but now we can be assured that he is with his beloved wife of 46 years and take comfort in that.

Bill Anthony

Calvin's note about the "Guerilla Warfare" course at Scarsdale High shocked me. So I rushed to read about it and saw it was given by a Social Studies teacher around the time we were in school in White Plains.

Well, the years after our graduation were violent. I was at the Columbia School of Journalism when the students took over the campus. I saw the police march in. And just a few weeks before that takeover, in Brooklyn I saw one of my fellow students getting picked up by two guys in dashikis and carried out of a church where we were trying to work on a television master's project. One of the guys was armed and when I saw that I fled down the stairs onto the street. 

It's ironic that violence is once again in the air. Especially in places like Florida. I moved to Delray Beach (20 miles south of Palm Beach) in 2015. And I teach developmental English at Palm Beach State College.

After Parkland, which is near the campus where I teach, the Florida state legislature came up with some "solutions." One was to allow school teachers to be armed.  That move sent a chill up my spine. And the students (at least from what I've seen) are very nervous about this idea of non-professional law enforment people being armed.

It is so sad that we have to worry about something like this today. I am so glad we did not have to wrestle with those issues when we were at WPHS 1959-1962....

Further to my earlier posting in regard to Ed, the following is his obituary:

Published in Sun Chronicle on Jan. 23, 2020

I received a telephone call yesterday, January 22, from Ed's daughter Amy advising that Ed had succumed to the various illnesses' that he had mentioned in his message board posting of last fall.

Ed was a valued friend and will be missed.

NY Times this morning, Sept 26, 2019 has a article about the Guerilla Warfare elective at our neighboring Scarsdale High school, just a couple of radicalized years after us.   We would have been college end, but we lived through the years.  They were serious.    Really weird stuff. 

Frankie what you wrote is so true, he was a great musician and wonderful man. I did not know that he had been ill or that he had died,  and so reading your note was so sad for me.  At our 25th reunion, he had invited us to his home after our dinner, and we spent hours listening to music and sharing life.  You are so right he had a magnificent smile, wonderful voice and was extremely talented.

I remember we had a saying; "whatever Nino wants Nino gets"!  What a wonderful life you shared. and I know that it is hard to suffer such a loss, a friend that really was like your brother.  My prayers are with you and his family. I do think Frankie that you too contributed much to the band, and you also have a great smile.

As always,

Martha Priestley Rhea

I wanted to drop a short line about Nino Getts. We started our band "The Wanderers" when we were sixteen years old.  It was Nino, Carmine Bellantoni, Bobby Reynolds and myself.  Over the years we performed thousands of weddings, dinner dances and concerts.  We backed up and worked with almost all of the groups that are in the rock'n'roll hall of fame from the begining of rock until the late 60's.  The reason that we were the band of choice to back up and open for these groups was because of Nino. 

He was one of the greatest musicians in the tri-state area.  Nino averaged 50-60 students a year.  Nino played guitar, Bass guitar, keyboards and was a singer.  We opened for the Beach Boys and Dennis Johnson came to me as we left the stage and said " you guys were great, How does your guitarest feel about traveling with the Beach Boys?".  Nino had a hit song in 1974 that was in the top 20 in the US and did studio work with some of the giants in the music industry including the Isley Brothers and Glenn Cambell. 

Nino never had a bad word too say about anyone and he was famous for the smile that would show eighty-eight teeth.  I for one, my life would never be the same without him and a tremendous loss for someone that went 20 years too early.  He was one of a kind and would do anything for anyone.

I remember you in Mr. Coyle's 7th grade class, even though I did not speak a word of English, I could tell by the way you engaged with Mr. Coyle answering and asking question, you were ALWAYS "the lead". Proud to have known you. Stay healthy and maybe see you for our 60th reunion.

Best regards,

Maria Clarizio Rizzi