Old-school spirit prompts alums to pitch in

Most of the students left the Oak Lane neighborhood decades ago.

Some moved to nearby towns; others headed for Texas, Florida, California, Israel, and England. They left behind the curving, rambling Melrose Park Gardens - around Second Street and Cheltenham Avenue, just below the Montgomery County line. But the area - and the school that anchored it - was not far from their thoughts.

Children went to synagogue together, played on the same Little League teams, and joined the same Boy Scout troop. And all attended the tan brick Thomas K. Finletter Elementary School, at 6100 N. Front St.

Now Melrose Park Gardens has brought them together again, the dispersed community reconnecting and joining together to build a library for their old school.

The movement for a reunion started in September after Steve Matt (eighth-grade Class of '73) and Karen Abramowitz Naids ('75) met at Houlihan's in Plymouth Meeting to catch up after 30 years. Friends through Matt's sister, they decided to create a Web site for old community members to congregate online and plan a reunion. The site soon had 800 members.

"There was a tremendous amount of excitement and nostalgia on that Web site," says Sydelle Zove ('66), who found out about the site from her brother. "I thought that excitement should be channeled into something more enduring."

Zove called Joanne Beaver, Finletter's principal, to ask how she and other alums could help. The 850-student school's most pressing need, she learned, was a library.

"Our classmates and our parents really treasured education," says Lisa Smith Craft ('67), a teacher in Upper Darby. "Many of us were the first in our families to go to college, so when we found out that Finletter didn't have a library, that was shocking to us."

As of January, more than half of Philadelphia's public schools had no library staff. At Finletter, which covers kindergarten through eighth grade, the library was long ago converted into classrooms.

Zove and others set up a nonprofit group, 2andC Cares Inc., and got to work. Members want to fund a full media center with books, computers, and other resources. Their goal is to raise $50,000 to jump-start the renovation of a stand-alone after-school structure that will house the library.

While they planned for the library, others worked on the reunion.

On Saturday, the night of the get-together, almost 500 old friends gathered at the Radisson Hotel in Trevose, ready to party as if they were back at prom.

They went with their siblings, also alums, from as far away as Colorado. As she stood in line with her brother, Andi Sandler ('70) thought back to trick-or-treating with her friends on Halloween.

"There was more candy than you can imagine," she said. One year, she made multiple trips back to her house, dumping pillowcases of candy onto her bedspread before heading back out for more.

Former classmates chatted and drank champagne and wine. Even former teachers and the neighborhood pediatrician were there.

"I am probably the only pediatrician . . . ever . . . who can boast that he was in the adult company of, probably, hundreds of the kids he helped raise and care for when they were young. . . . I still can't believe it!" Stanley Goren wrote Matt in a later e-mail.

Vicki Cohen Allen, a lean, spiky-haired woman, had her own memories. "Coming to this is really cool," she said, "because everyone says, 'You're Vicki?' They keep checking out my name tag. It's a scream."

Talk to Finletter alums, and eventually they will bring up "The Bench." Wayward students were sent to The Bench, where they'd stew before meeting Miss Ida Ickler, dreaded principal of the day, with her high heels and iron resolve.

Bruce Risler ('71), a certified financial planner, remembers well. "I left my mark on The Bench," he says. "I'm sure there's an indentation on The Bench from me sitting there."

Zove and other members of 2andC Cares tracked down The Bench - now outside the nurse's office - and, with Beaver's permission, is using it to raise money.

"We're selling seven plaques at $1,000," Zove says, "memorializing the derriere that sat there." Risler and his brother have bought one seat. Robert Moskovitz ('70), who is chief financial officer of LEAF Financial Corp., and a chemical engineer each purchased a seat. The Bench, once so dreaded, is now appreciated.

"Those were really formative years," says Risler, "and I think the care and support I got at Finletter was invaluable as an adult. The teachers really cared about us and wanted us to succeed, and the parents wanted the same, obviously, and the combination of both created an environment for success. We're trying to do the same thing."

Beaver, who's finishing her first year at Finletter, says the devotion of the former students to an elementary school is rare.

"I don't have this kind of feeling toward my [childhood] elementary school that these people seem to have. . . . There's something about Philadelphia."

Zove says 2andC Cares has raised $15,000 and is contemplating other fund-raising possibilities, perhaps an auction and a visit to the old neighborhood; some alumni may return for the Melrose Park Gardens block party at the invitation of its residents.

On Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of Finletter students poured out of school, heading home under a sunny spring sky. They wrestled and tossed footballs until their teachers corraled them into buses. Though the old Jewish neighborhood has melded into an African American one, little else has changed.

"They love it here. I can't get them to go home," Beaver says, before dashing off to watch over her students.

To Donate

Those interested in donating to 2andC Cares Inc. can learn more at 2andCCares.org