AEHS Newsletter # 18

News from AEHS Alumni

#18-September 17, 2012

Montgomery County Council Recognizes Einstein's 50th Birthday!

On September 11, 2012, the Montgomery County Council adopted a resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of Einstein's opening. Here is the text of the resolution:

WHEREAS, over the past 50 years, much has changed in our nation, in Montgomery County and at Albert Einstein High School, but the thing that never changes in Titans is a spirit that has allowed graduates over the past half-century to dream, overcome, achieve and excel; and

WHEREAS, like the school's namesake, the students, staff, administrators and the extended community have always sought to take ideas and make them into much more, leading to alumni who have established legacies in all walks of life, including the business world, the arts, science, education, government and athletics; and

WHEREAS, the mission statement of this Kensington school has long stood as more than just a statement, as it has guided a way of life for five decades with the commitment that, "The staff, students, parents and community of Albert Einstein High School will work together to build constructive relationships, provide a rigorous, relevant program of studies, and cultivate an environment of respect and responsibility, empowering students to become productive contributing members of society;" and

WHEREAS, when Einstein opened on Sept. 7, 1962, students who otherwise would have attended Blair, Northwood, Walter Johnson or Wheaton high schools found themselves in an unfinished building that did not even have books for the first month, and no one could have foreseen that overcoming those challenges would lead to the forming of new loyalties and traditions that succeeding classes would build upon; and

WHEREAS, while many have passed through the doors of Einstein, no one has graced these premises as long as Joseph Monte, who as a teacher and legendary guidance counselor has been the sole link to all 50 years of a high school that has long been the cornerstone of the local community;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the County Council of Montgomery County, Maryland, hereby joins with the current school community and five decades of alumni in congratulating ALBERT EINSTEIN HIGH School on its 50th anniversary and looks to more great things from a school that has enabled and inspired so many to do so much since 1962.

Presented on this 11th day of September in the year 2012.

Roger Berliner

Council President

Response to AEHS Fiftieth Anniversary Proclamation

by Mr. Joseph Monte

Mr. Monte made the following remarks to the Montgomery County Council on September 11, 2012 in response to the Council's proclamation of Einstein's 50th birthday.

Let us pause for a moment as our nation recalls the attacks of September 11. Let us renew our gratitude for the liberty we enjoy.

Let us remember the men and women around the world who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect that liberty.

Let us rejoice and be glad for this Proclamation honoring the Einstein family: Principals, teachers, students, parents and staff -- All those who have made Einstein a place to be.

My two themes intertwine. Ronald Blythe in Divine Landscape tells the stories of certain people who by their charisma and sacrifice leave a permanent impression on the place they serve.

The second theme comes from the Swiss philosopher, Morticai Adler: A life is measured by the person's service to others.

Among Montgomery County Council Members, I would cite Marilyn Praisner as having given a permanent imprint by her selfless service.

At Einstein High School we have twenty memorial awards commemorating past service of students and staff.

Einstein's founder, Principal Thomas Conlon, spent months selecting the initial faculty - the best he could gather. His idea of a comprehensive public high school was to seek postsecondary education for all, challenge all to do their best, and create a culture of respect for learning and for one another.

In the student body, there was great excitement in relating our school to Albert Einstein, the person: The Quantum yearbook, the Nucleus newspaper, and the Titans.

Innovative and ahead of his time, he started the first computer course in the county, and established the first Career/College Counseling Center with a college counselor and secretary.

Every organization that could assist students in the pursuits of postsecondary education, such as the College Board and the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), he joined. With his encouragement, one counselor became Regional Chair of the Middle States College Board and national President of NACAC.

Mr. Conlon had lunch with his staff, invited them to his home twice a year, and loved his teachers and students. He knew in his heart he had created something precious as founder of Albert Einstein High School.

During these fifty years the majority of our students have gone into the professions serving others. Ten graduates gave their lives to the country and others served as paramedics and servicemen. Three athletes in our Athletic Hall of Fame offered their kidneys to save a life.

Two of our alumni are serving on the County Council where they are devoting their lives so we may enjoy a better life in the county.

Our current principal, Mr. Fernandez, is the best among our principals in reaching our students. He visits every classroom during which he recounts his life experiences and encourages postsecondary education. He keeps an open door and greets every student. College attendance rates have improved. More students are seeking to enroll to be part of the Einstein family.

Graduations are a celebration of school pride. We are fulfilling the dream of what a public comprehensive high school should be.

On behalf of the Einstein community, I am happy to accept this Proclamation.

Einstein 50th Anniversary Celebration

Photos from Fred Shelley

EINSTEIN High School

Mr. Joseph Monte and Stefan Monica '71

Members of the Class of 1970 Barbara Strang, Coury Campion, Fred Shelley, Karen Kline Parker, Bill Bates, Alex Boniewicz and Sharon Cohany

Elaine Coury Campion '70, Mr. Bill Welsh and Jean Coury Frank '73

Audience Sings Alma Mater

Led by Barbara Strang '70

Carol Chelemer '66 and Bev Wright '70

Alex Boniewicz '70 and Mr. Joe Monte

Mr. Richard McNally

Members of the Class of 1965

The front hallway, which is now known as Main Street

Barbie Colwell McMahon '72, Teri Eisenacher Magee '72, and Joey Nussear '71

Football team members greet alummi before game. Einstein beat Wheaton, 26 - 9

Reflections on Education at AEHS

By Fred Shelley

The following is an extension of remarks that I made at the 50th anniversary celebration on Friday, September 7, when members of the audience were invited to offer their thoughts.

As I look around the room and listen to remarks made by my fellow Einstein graduates, I'm struck by how many of us pursued careers in education.

And our pursuit of education as a profession is by no means confined to the classroom. Looking around the room, I see Pat Berbakos coaching the Einstein baseball team. Alex Boniewicz has coached soccer for many years. Barbara Strang shares her gift of song with voice students. Bill Bates teaches people to play the guitar. These people and many others who share their talents with others are educators also.

Why did so many of us Einstein graduates become educators? I believe that all of us were inspired by the excellent teachers that we had at Einstein. We were blessed with a superb faculty: for those of us attending AEHS in the late 1960s this faculty included Joe Monte, Bill Welsh, Jim Hagy, Evelyn Tucker, Bob Gallagher, Sue Sheffer, Joyce Delasanta, Janet von Doenhoff, and many, many more wonderful teachers.

Sure, these outstanding teachers knew a lot about their subjects. But do we remember how to calculate the square root of 17? Do we remember the year that the War of the Spanish Succession began? Do we remember the atomic weight of manganese? Of course we don't. These lessons have long been forgotten. But the lessons that Einstein's teachers taught us about life itself will long be remembered. Einstein's teachers gave us confidence in our abilities. They taught all of us about the importance of serving others. They taught us that it is essential that we must give back to those who come after us.

Einstein's teachers knew that teaching is not just a job. It's a calling. And those of us who are teachers today-inside and outside of the classroom-learned this from the outstanding teachers on Einstein's faculty. I have no doubt that their example led so many of us to devote our own lives to service through education.

Fred Shelley '70 holds a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and is Professor of Geography at the University of Oklahoma.

Roscoe Born '68 has produced a new song, "Clementine." Check it out HERE

Bill Bates '70 is the lead guitarist for the Dr. S. O. Feelgood Blues Band, as well as the Atom Bumz. Some videos of the Dr. S. O. Feelgood Blues Band can be found HERE and HERE

Tribute to Flora Singer: This video of the life of the late Flora Singer, long-time foreign language teacher at Einstein, was produced by her daughter Sandy Singer Landsman and her granddaughter Melanie Landsman. Check it out HERE Thanks to Mr. Joe Monte for sharing it!

Reflections on the 1967 and 1968 Einstein Football Teams
By Scott Kruse

I played on the '67 and '68 Einstein football teams and wanted to mention a few anecdotes from those two years. On the '67 team, I was one of three rotating offensive guards who brought the plays in from the bench. The other two were Mike (Magpie) Lynch and Jim Murray. Although much has been written and spoken about that incredible offensive team, lost over time is the fact that the '67 Titans had several sterling defensive players as well. Cornerbacks Ray Chicca and Tom Cardy were often mentioned in the media and by opposing coaching staffs as perhaps the best tandem cornerbacks the county had seen in years. Mark Slater at free safety was the hardest hitting and most punishing player I had ever seen. An animal in every sense of the word.

What I remember about the Kennedy game (73-6) was that the score may well have been a record at the time and also, by halftime, the defense had outscored the offense. The victory over Richard Montgomery (14-12) was their first loss in 2 or 3 years and the last loss of famed coach Roy Lester's high school career before he left RMHS to become the University of Maryland Terrapins' head football coach. In 1968, RMHS got its revenge by beating Einstein 40-0 in the hardest-hitting game I ever played. I actually cracked my helmet almost in half and by halftime I had to share a helmet with a second-stringer. Sadly, in the first quarter halfback Kevin Slater broke his thigh bone in several places above the knee. Apparently in violation of county rules at the time, the game started before the mandatory ambulance had arrived. The game was stopped for about twenty minutes or so, waiting for the ambulance. I remember the coaching staff and Kevin's dad, kneeling beside him, offering what little comfort they could, while Kevin writhed in agony. I remember looking at the growing crack in my helmet and Kevin, suffering unimaginable pain laying on field, and thinking to myself, "this is gonna be a long and very bad day"..and it was. I cracked two ribs in the fourth quarter.

In 1969, before leaving for Boot Camp, I stopped by Einstein to see Coach Keller and watched the '69 team practice. I was amazed to see Kevin playing halfback again. I asked Mr. Keller why he would let Kevin play football after such a serious injury. His answer was "He's an animal like his brother (Mark). You go tell him he can't play." In 1970, after I got out of the Marines, I heard Coach Keller was at Springbrook. One day I went to his class, knocked on the door and asked him if he was free after school. He dismissed the class and told me it was "more important for two bad-ass Marines to chew the fat than it was to teach". I loved that guy.

The left offensive guard for RMHS in 1968 was a young man named Craig John. His mother, Mrs. John, was my Spanish teacher at Einstein. Craig made first team All-Met that year and I understand that he went on to become an Academic All-American at North Carolina State.

Scott Kruse '68 is a veteran of the Marine Corps and a graduate of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. He has lived and worked in the D.C. area since 1975.

Why Titans?
By Fred Shelley

Let me also pose a question. After the 50th anniversary celebration, I
posted some pictures of it on Facebook. A friend of mine who is not from Maryland and had never heard of the school asked me why the name Titans was chosen for our athletic teams. I don't know the answer.

Who does? Does anybody know why the Titan name, and our red and blue colors, were chosen?

It would be good to have this in our historical record, as well as a good
story for a future newsletter.

Titans in Charlotte

Don Frederick '69, Dwight Pelz '69 and Mark Gorman '69

Three members of the Class of 1969 got together at the recent Democratic Party National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Don Frederick is the political editor for the D.C. bureau for Bloomberg News; Dwight Pelz is the Chair of the Washington State Democratic Party, and Mark Gorman is senior vice president for government relations with the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

In Memoriam

We regret to announce the passing of Ed Heincelman, Margaret Weaver, and Eileen Hartnett and on behalf of the AEHS community extend our condolences to their families and friends.

Ed Heincelman

Ed Heincelman, who taught and coached wrestling at AEHS from 1979 to 1984, died September 1. He was 66.

Coach Heincelman was a native of Muncy, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1968 and served in the U.S. Army. In 1972, he moved to Maryland and became a teacher and coach in the Montgomery County Public School system. He became the head wrestling coach at Einstein in 1980. Under his direction, Einstein's wrestling teams won division championships in 1983 and 1984. He was named Montgomery County Coach of the Year in 1982.

After leaving Einstein, Coach Heincelman taught and coached at Rockville, Magruder, and Northwest High Schools. He was inducted into the National Wresting Hall of Fame in 2009, and was also inducted into the Muncy High School Athletic Hall of Fame. He was inducted posthumously into the AEHS Athletic Hall of Fame on September 8.

Coach Heincelman is survived by his wife Jeanne Heincelman, his son and daughter-in-law Marc and Sarah Heincelman, and his sister and brother-in-law Terre and John Belt.

Margaret Weaver

Margaret "Peg" Weaver, who taught English at AEHS from 1969 to 1987, died August 25. She was 88.

Mrs. Weaver was born in New York City and grew up in Urbana, Illinois. She earned a bachelor's degree from Radcliffe College and a master's degree from George Washington University. During World War II, she worked as a translator for the Office of Strategic Services. She was a trustee and choir member at Cedar Lane Unitarian Church in Bethesda and a member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, a women's educational organization.

Mrs. Weaver was the author of Escaping Words, a book of poetry published by Washington Writers Publishing House in 2001.

Mrs. Weaver is survived by her sons Alan Weaver and Richard Weaver, her daughter Joyce Weaver Johnson, and four grandchildren.

Mary Eileen Donnelly Hartnett (Class of 1969)

Mary Eileen Donnelly Hartnett of the Class of 1969 died September 1. She was 60.

Eileen is survived by her husband James Hartnett, her daughters Catherine Mayn and Elizabeth Hartnett, and her granddaughters Myra Mayn, Erin Mayn, and Lauren Mayn. She is also survived by her stepmother Ann Donnelly, her brother Michael Donnelly, her sisters Elisabeth Williams and Joy Hollar, and by many nieces, nephews, and cousins.

QUIZ

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

"Let there be light." Name the long-time Athletic Director, who with the Booster Club raised the funds for the first stadium lights in Montgomery County.
Name the founding Principal of AEHS, who constantly said to his teachers "I'm only as good as you make me."
Name the two AEHS graduates currently serving on the Montgomery County Council.
Name the AEHS graduate whose firm designed and renovated AEHS.
Name the innovation developed by the AEHS Counseling Department and adopted by all of the Montgomery County Public Schools.
What AEHS athlete became the backup quarterback to Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan at Auburn University?
What Einstein graduate was a four-year starter in basketball at the University of Virginia and a teammate of three-time Naismith College Player of the Year Ralph Sampson?
Name the production in which Richard McNally, one of Einstein's first Assistant Principals, stole the show by playing a punk kid clad in a black leather jacket.
Name the AEHS graduate who has worked at AEHS for an entire career.
During the early years, AEHS student Roxanne Pierce was an Olympic gymnast. Why did she not receive a varsity letter?
Name the AEHS graduate who won the United States Monopoly Championship.
When and under whose direction did the Visual Arts Center begin?
How many AEHS scholarships are named after students and faculty members?
Name the AEHS scholarship named for a visually impaired counselor.
On two occasions, Einstein faced closure. Explain the circumstances.
In what year did AEHS Class of 1965 graduates Charles Wood, Dr. Scanlon, and Bob Owens incorporate the first Booster Club in Montgomery County?
Bob Owens was one of the co-founders of the AEHS Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006. Who were the other co-founders?
What Einstein graduate is currently the head women's basketball coach at the College of Charleston?
What former Einstein teacher, who was the daughter of concentration-camp survivors and a refugee from Communist Hungary, was the mother-in-law of broadcast journalist Peter Jennings and diplomat Richard Holbrooke?
What Einstein graduate has had recurring roles on the soap operas One Life to Live and All My Children?

This quiz was prepared by Mr. Joseph Monte. Correct answers in a forthcoming issue of the newsletter!

Do You Have An Idea for the Next Issue?

As always, we welcome contributions from everyone! In keeping with the AEHS Athletic Hall of Fame schedule, the next issue will come out in mid-September. As they used to say in show biz, keep those cards and letters (in this the 21st century, e-mails and Facebook messages) coming in!!

Send your ideas to Fred Shelley by clicking HERE