It's Never Too Late: SHS Class of '48 Friends Marry at St. James the Less
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On Saturday June 29, two old friends and alumni of the Scarsdale High School class of 1948, Louise Clark and Peter Smith, celebrated their marriage at St. James the Less. Their journey to the altar weaved its way through so many connections in the Scarsdale community and proves that when love finds you it does not let you go!
In 1944, Louise Kinsey’s family moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where her father worked on the secret Manhattan Project. Peter Smith had been attending Edgemont School since he was five years old. In 1946, Edgemont students transferred to Scarsdale High School for their junior and senior years, and that same year, Louise’s family moved to Scarsdale.
At Scarsdale High School, Louise, Peter, and Philip Clark, Louise’s future husband, were all members of the Class of ’48. Philip Clark had attended Scarsdale schools all the way through but had been friends with Peter Smith since kindergarten because they both attended the Church of St. James the Less. Philip, who had begun dating Louise senior year, persuaded her to attend that church also.
Upon graduation, Philip and Peter went off to Yale and Louise to Vassar (and later to Yale for graduate work). Philip and Lousie were married at St. James the Less in 1953. Peter also married and kept in touch with them. He brought his children to the Clark’s home in Edgemont to attend the New York World’s Fair in 1964 and continued to visit off and on. He agreed to be godfather to their son, Peter Clark.
Louise raised her children at St James the Less and they attended the Edgemont schools. Louise served as a Latin teacher in Edgemont and later a professor at Manhattanville College. She authored a book about the history of St James the Less which is so entwined with the founders of Scarsdale and another on the history of Greenville/ Edgemont. She has served as Edgemont Historian and now is the interim Greenburgh Historian. Louisewas the recipient of the Silver Box Award for community service in Edgemont, and to continue the coincidences, Peter, father received the same award long ago.
Philip Clark died in 1999, and Peter Smith visited a few months before to say good-bye. In the meantime, his engineering (aerospace and nuclear) career had taken him all over the country - St. Louis, Philadelphia, South Bend, Boston, Pittsburgh, Old Saybrook, CT, Schenectedy, and finally, Hanford, WA, another Manhattan Project site (the third was Los Alamos, NM). Louise had been teaching Latin at Edgemont High School and Manhattanville College and had become Edgemont Historian and now interim Greenburgh Historian.
When Peter’s wife died, Louise and Peter became traveling companions and then decided to marry. The two had known each other for 73 years, were born four days apart in 1930 and now husband and wife, are looking forward to more travel. Both will turn 89 this August.
Friends and family attended the celebration of their marriage at St. James the Less on Saturday, June 29 at 11 am. The service was officiated by three priests who have served at St. James over the years. Smith and Clark children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren were there and provided exceptional music, with Louise’s daughter-in-law playing the organ, her son-in-law the piano, and her children, grandchildren, and a great grandchild singing. Many other members of their families and extended family attended, along with parishioners of St. James the Less and old friends. A special guest was Nicholas Di Modugno, another member of SHS ‘48 and friend of Peter since kindergarten.
Film Review: Imagine There’s No Beatles
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In the rom-com Yesterday, our world is one in which Fab Four never existed. Can one man bring their music back to life?
Jack Malik is the epitome of a struggling musician. Slender and scruffy, he plays his mediocre compositions on deserted boardwalks and in quiet cafés, with few besides his manager/roadie/wannabe girlfriend Ellie to cheer him on. After performing in an all-but-empty tent at an otherwise rollicking music fest, he’s convinced he’ll never make it big. Dejectedly, he informs Ellie he intends to give up the strings for good. “Miracles happen!” she argues, urging him to stay true to his craft.
Accidents happen, too—and Jack has a serious one mere minutes later, when his bicycle is broadsided by a bus during a freak worldwide power outage. When he awakens, he’s in an alternative universe, one in which the Beatles have never existed. The realization washes over him when he plays a few bars of the Lennon-McCartney masterpiece “Yesterday” for friends, and an awed Ellie asks, “When did you write that?”
Suddenly, our hero (played by a delightful Himesh Patel) is faced with an irresistible opportunity: to present the Beatles’ music to the world as his own. He feverishly writes down all the lyrics he can recall—did Eleanor Rigby darn her socks?— and returns to the music scene with renewed vigor. Soon he’s giving Ed Sheeran (played by himself) an inferiority complex and falling into the clutches of a greedy manager (a hilariously understated Kate McKinnon), who correctly senses Jack is working on the greatest album the world has ever known.
For all he gains, though, Jack is at a loss. Throughout his life, no one except Ellie has believed in him. Now everyone worships him—but he no longer believes in himself. It’s a plot that offers up existential questions about the value of fame and the nature of truth, art and legacy. Is Jack a hero for preserving the Beatles’ music, or a fraud for letting people assume he wrote it all? How free should he feel to change his heroes’ work, from album titles to lyrics? It is, after all, still 2019 in this alternative universe, an age when artist’s careers are forged in a crucible of marketing meetings.
Patel has a pleasing voice, and it would have been great to hear both more of the Beatles’ music (I’m guessing the filmmakers were held to a meager ration of these) and Sheeran’s own compositions. Jack’s journey takes a lot of time to cover, and certain characters are underdeveloped as a result. Ellie, in particular, feels like little more than a standard-issue rom-com character, and it’s disappointing to see her conform to a one-dimensional cliché.
The ending, too, is pat, but sweet. Jack discovers that all you need is, well, I’ll let you guess. But all in all, for the music, creativity, and gentle laughs, you’ll be glad you took this magical mystery tour.
International Early Childhood Music Program Brings Teacher Training Workshop to Scarsdale
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Become a Music Together teacher and begin a fulfilling and flexible career!
Music Together, the award-winning, international early childhood music and movement program developed in Princeton, New Jersey, is offering an exciting three-day Teacher Training Workshop at Starlight Starbright Music, 78 Garth Road, Scarsdale, July 12-14, 2019. Participants who successfully complete the three-day training become eligible to teach Music Together classes, either at an existing location or by applying for a license to open and operate a Music Together center of their own.
Being a Music Together teacher is a flexible, fulfilling, and exciting part-time career choice. The thousands of successful Music Together teachers around the world are musicians, actors, dancers, stay-at-home parents, educators, and retirees. No formal academic degree is required to become a Music Together teacher.
The upcoming three-day workshop provides opportunities to learn about how to assess children's rhythmic and tonal development, techniques for presenting Music Together materials, strategies for lesson-planning, and much more. There will also be live early childhood music demonstration classes on each day of the workshop, teaching children and their parents using the Music Together curriculum.
Since 1987, Kenneth K. Guilmartin, Founder/Artistic Director of Music Together, has been a pioneer in teaching parents and caregivers how to nurture their children's musical growth. "Our mission is to enable children and the adults who love them to become comfortable with musical expression and to develop musically at their own pace," says Guilmartin. "Childhood music development is a natural process, just like language development. Every child is born with the ability to make music. Our teachers provide the right environment to nurture and support that music making. We welcome teachers to the Music Together community who are passionate about music education and supporting the bond that music creates between young children and their parents and caregivers."
The cost of the three-day Music Together Teacher Training is $525. Graduate credits, CMTE credits, and CEUs are available. For additional information and to register, visit www.musictogether.com or contact Chris Marietti at (800) 728-2692 x326 or cmarietti@musictogether.com.
Music Together is an internationally recognized, developmentally appropriate early childhood music and movement program for children from birth through grade two. First offered to the public in 1987, the Music Together curriculum, coauthored by Guilmartin and Lili Levinowitz Ph. D., is based on the recognition that all children are musical. All children can learn to sing in tune, move with accurate rhythm, and participate with confidence in the music of our culture, provided that their early environment supports such learning. Music Together offers programs for families, schools, at-risk populations, and children with special needs in over 3,000 communities in 40 countries. The company is passionately committed to bringing children and their caregivers closer through shared music-making and helping people discover the joy—and educational value—of early music experiences. More at www.musictogether.com and www.facebook.com/musictogether.
Greenacres Residents Told to Expect Noise and Construction Traffic as School Renovation Begins
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The renovation and expansion of Greenacres School will begin as soon as school lets out on Wednesday June 26. According to a notice from the district residents should expect noise, traffic, and the takeover of some recreational space for construction use.
Notices have already been posted to advise that asbestos remediation will take place by contractor NCS.
The Greenacres Neighborhood Association forwarded a letter from Assistant Superintendent Stuart Mattey to residents outlining work that will be done in the coming weeks including:
Installation of fencing to delineate the construction staging area and construction zones.
Creation of a staging area on the eastern third of the asphalt play area on Huntington Avenue to provide a secure space for contractor trailers and storage.
Fencing on the school side of the sidewalk, encompassing the school’s parking lot and continuing around the front of the building on Sage Terrace.
Asbestos removal and dumpsters containing hazardous waste outside the building that will be sealed and locked.
According to Mattey, “Both of these areas will only be accessible to authorized individuals.”
The district is asking residents to avoid the area while this work is being done.
External construction work on the addition along Huntington Avenue will begin immediately, with preparation of the site, including any necessary tree and shrub removal, followed by excavation for the addition’s foundation. Work on the addition will continue for the next 15 months, concluding in late summer of 2020.
A total of 11 classrooms will be renovated and completed by the end of this summer. Renovations on the remaining parts of the building will take place in the summer of 2020. Inside the school, construction crews will start interior renovations, beginning with demolition and related asbestos removal.
Mattey reports that the work will start first thing in the morning and may continue into the evening as required to complete the work in a timely fashion. He warns that residents will “experience sounds typical for any large construction site.” If you have questions or concerns, contact John Trenholm, Director of School Facilities, at jtrenholm@scarsdaleschools.orgor at 721-2440.
Mattey says that this summer there will be “more traffic in the immediate area of the school, including construction worker vehicles, delivery trucks, and cement trucks (during certain times).
He continues, “As we are all aware, parking can be challenging in the area, and this will be further complicated by the additional vehicles. In order for you to identify which cars belong in the area, construction workers will be given small placards, which they will display on their dashboards. The Scarsdale Police Department is aware of the increased volume of vehicles anticipated for this project and will be strictly enforcing all traffic and parking controls. You may contact Scarsdale Police with any concerns about traffic or parking enforcement.
Styrofoam Banned in Westchester County
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You will no longer see styrofoam food containers and coffee cups in Westchester. According to County Legislator Ben Boykin, on Monday night, June 3rd, the Board of Legislators voted unanimously to regulate usage of expanded polystyrene containers (EPS) in Westchester County. The new laws ban the use of EPS for any kind of takeout food packaging or utensils in stores. It also bans the use of EPS packing foam in Westchester. EPS is dangerous to the environment, as it is not biodegradable and clogs landfills for decades. Westchester County is joining Nassau County, Suffolk County, and New York City in imposing more regulations. The law will take effect immediately.
Commenting on the news is Michelle Sterling, Co-Chair of the Scarsdale Forum Sustainability Committee. Sterling said:
"We are thrilled about the passage last night by the Westchester County Board of Legislators to ban the use of Styrofoam in food service. Styrofoam is toxic when it is manufactured, toxic when it is disposed of, and toxic for us to eat out of - in particular hot liquids have been proven to absorb some of the polystyrene into the liquid which we then ingest. These products should have been banned from food service long ago! Luckily the Board of Legislators heard our voices and voted for our health and the health of our environment. This vote by the Board puts us on the right side history and is a proud day for Westchester County!"
Will plastic bags and straws be next?
