Memorial Page

(If you would like to add your remembrance of anyone below, or add
information about the circumstances of his/her life or death, please e-mail us.)

Sandra Z. Aach (Nichelson)

In memory of our departed classmates

Gerry Acosta (Hartrich)

Gerry and I go way back. All the way to being in Mrs. Jocelyn’s Kindergarten class at Pershing Grade
School together. Plus the fact that we lived only two blocks apart. From Kindergarten through my Senior
year in High School, Gerry was always a good friend to me. She was a nice person, who would always
encourage people to be the best they could.

I remember the time in First Grade (Miss Farmers class) when it became obvious that I was one of the
few students in the class who only had a few old crayons. Gerry recruited Anita Leipziger and Ruth
Reinschmidt to help her pitch in to buy me a new box of 48 crayons. My parents felt so bad that my
classmates had to buy me crayons that the next Saturday night they took me (in my father’s 1950
DeSoto) to the store and bought me a box of 64 crayons.

During the Summer of 1966 Gerry worked at the Dairy Queen that was right next to my house, and right
across street from Hamburger Heaven. During the past two years I had gotten interested in running
thanks to Bert Minkin, Jack Frolichstein (a math teacher at Hanley Junior High School who today at the
age of 79 still runs 3 miles several times a week), and my cousin Martin (who graduated University City
High School in 1969.) On Summer evenings I would sometimes run around the block passing Dairy
Queen as I turned right onto Pennsylvania Avenue from Olive Street Road. Gerry would cheer me on
from the Dairy Queen window, saying “You can do one more lap.” And that would often encourage me to
go one more time around the block when I was ready to quit.

That fall Gerry and I ended up in Mr. Nelson’s and Miss Flint’s American Studies Class. If I got a poor
grade on a test or a written assignment (which happened more than I care to remember), Gerry would
go over it with me and point out how I could have done a better job.

Even after graduating from high school I remained friends with Gerry and her family. I remember during
the Summer of 1972, when Gerry and her family took a weeks vacation down in Southeastern Missouri .
She elected me to take care of her cat. During that week, the cat ran away twice, and I spent nearly an
entire day each time to find the cat. I don’t think that I ever did tell her about those incidents.

I never did find out what caused Gerry’s death. But we lost a fine classmate, and a lot of us lost a good
friend.
-Wayne Rosenthal

Wendy J. Biernbaum (Haley)

Michael A. Boxerman

Marsha J. Brin (Wolff)

Bernard J. Brown

S. Scott Bukstein

Patrick J. Dotson

Toni R. Dubin (Miele)

The Crazy Eight miss you. You’ll always be with us.
-Lanie

William Finkel

Bruce S. Goldberg

I first met Bruce after we started junior high together. Our first big adventure was being the first to own
skateboards in our neighborhood. We thought we were the first ones to start car surfing on our
skateboards and we also started jousting with long padded poles on our boards. That wasn't the
greatest idea and had to stop when we come home with large black and blue marks on our body.

Bruce was Mr. Steak and Shake. That was his favorite place to hang our after Junior High at Brittany.
He eventually became a car hop there. Because of our friendship, I never tried the fries a "H" until I was
about 16. Bruce was the only friend that had a hot car to drive so he drove us everywhere. He also was
to consummate drummer and started a band which included Milan Kozak from our class.

I started college at Rolla with Bruce until he decided to sign up for the Navy in their marching band.
-Stan Spector

Thomas C. Hamilton

John A. Hovland

Bruce E. Finkelstein

Helene V. Inselberg

Robert C. Jagust

Esther Kanter (Evans)

Cary A. Kevrick

Milan Kozak

I was very close with Milan even when he was growing up in the city. He lived next to a street car
turnaround so he had about 4 acres of wooded area next to his house that we played in growing up. It
is now a parking lot for the monorail. We grew up flattening pennies on the street car tracks and on the
Wabash train line that ran right behind his house. He named his first son Wabash.

Most of you didn't know him since his family move to U City when he entered high school. Most of his
friends were the city kids he grew up with. But his love for music brought two worlds together in a band
that included Bruce Goldberg from our class and 2 city friends. He continued his love for music and
became quite renowned repairing electric guitars and was sought after from some of the biggest names
in Rock to do their repairs.
-Stan Spector

Leslie S. Light

Richard D. Meehan

I first met Richard Meehan on the evening of May 22, 1962. I was at Dairy Queen on Olive Street Road
and Pennsylvania . (You probably remember it was the one right across street from Hamburger Heaven.
Now there is a place that we could probably spend hours discussing!)

Anyway, for one reason or another Richard and I had words, and the next thing I knew we were having a
fistfight. When it was obvious that I was losing, my father came down and broke the fight up. For the next
several years Richard wouldn't let me forget that my father had to do my fighting for me.

Richard and I later became friends. This happened during our sophomore year of High School. We were
in Mrs. Kimmel's Geometry class together. Richard and I got to realizing that we had something in
common. While most students don't like math, and only take it because they have to, for Richard and I
math was our favorite subject. That seemed to give us a certain bond.

That same year Richard and I realized that we also shared another common interest---bowling. We both
bowled on a Saturday afternoon junior bowling league at Embassy Lanes on Ferguson Avenue in
University City . (Embassy Lanes closed up in 1984. To this date I believe that building has remained
vacant.) So with our common interests in math and bowling, we always had some conversation material.
And we each got some new found respect for one another.

Curiously, 15 years later in the Summer of 1983, Richard and I found ourselves on the same bowling
league at Strike & Spare Lanes. And our two teams consisted of a family who lived in University City . I
was bowling on a team with the mother and father. Richard was bowling with the son and daughter. (The
daughter Trina graduated University High School in 1966. She passed away in 2007.) None of us were
what you would consider good bowlers. But we had fun.

Richard passed away on August 9, 1995, just a few weeks before his 45th birthday. When I visited the
funeral home the following night, I was amazed at how many people I saw there from our high school
class. Many of these people had remained friend with Richard for the 27 years since they graduated
from high school. Several people at the funeral described Richard as the best friend they ever had.
-Wayne Rosenthal

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