Pocantico in the 1960's
last updated 12/04/05
Thanks to Peter Blacksberg (and his brother Bob) for this wonderful picture of Pocantico Hills School in the Sixties
Pocantico Hills School had been expanded in the early 60's and a television show, "Wonderama" did a special. For several years the film (black and white 16mm) was projected for the entire school to see, before the film itself deteriorated. I remember having only one black student, Daniel Washington (I think.) (According to Peter's brother Bob: "My brother Peter's recollection of the 1960's does not mention the earlier Afro-American family of some note (pun fully intended), the daughters of Cab Calloway. A quick web search yields http://www.chriscalloway.net/Chris-Calloway-Photo-Scrapbook-Just-Family.html. If I recall, in the early 60's or late 50's, Chris and Cabella Calloway were students at Pocantico. Cab Calloway lived in the Knowlwood neighborhood.) He was the only one in my class and perhaps several classes on either side. It was both an era of optimism and fear. In the throws of the post WWII baby boom, big finned cars and a fresh school building with tables which folded into the walls, seemed very modern. At the same time we had air-raid drills. I remember leaving the kindergarten classroom (under the present library I believe) to "hide" in the cellar area (under the the cafeteria). It was just plain scary. The war in Vietnam was only beginning to heat up in the early 60s. I recall a classmate (where is he now?) David Umpsteader (sp?) whose father built a runway in Vietnam. It seemed so far away and had not yet blossomed into a horror story.For most of that time, life at Pocantico was filled with positive feelings and personalized teaching. Mr. Martin Amsel tried to teach us to conduct music in 3rd grade. We were handed miniature copies of Beethoven's 5th symphony and were encouraged to follow along as the record player with the single speaker, gave us "high fidelity." Miss Kyle took us to a children's concert at the "Old" metropolitan opera house. In fourth grade Mr. Hare (sp?) was my teacher. He wore business clothes and was over 6 feet tall. He drove a very "cool" yellow Thunderbird. What a character! I remember him putting pollywogs in one of the kid's shirts. We also were encouraged to learn speed reading. In 6th grade we had a sleep away experience in Croton Point state park. "Uncle Art" gave us a personalized history tour of the place. I have Polaroid's of that walk. Our sixth grade teacher, Mr. Bowles, put together a school play consisting of snippets of many plays from Greek to Mac Beth, to a scene from South Pacific. We felt innovative. The lake was different then, with a single pool of water and the remainder of a diving board. I learned to splash around in the lake and many kids took their first swimming strokes there. In the winter, recess consisted of skating on the lake. On one winter's night the principal's daughter made us hot chocolate and a large search light lit the ice at night. I remember Dannon yogurt being a "new thing" to try at the cafeteria. It was 25 cents. Milk was 2 cents. We had a marching band. It practiced in the estate behind the school. I started playing alto sax in the 4th grade and by 6th I was first sax in the Westchester county band. Mr. Rubin let me use the wood lathe. (Today I have the same kind of wood lathe in my basement!) Well, I could go on. It is the little pieces of history that make up the big ones.
Good luck to each of you.... Better still,
Stock your mind. It is the only thing that makes you...you.
Peter A. Blacksberg
If you would like to contribute to this page please drop us a note: e-mail us at thongell@pocanticohills.org
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