DENA PETERS (MILLER)--HONORARY MEMBER #1

Dena was in the afternoon kindergarten class at Key, but she has such an impressive memory of those times that I have decided to make her an honorary member. Here is what she had to say:

After graduation I went to Eastern MI for a year & then OCC while I worked at Oak Farms Fruit Market (yuck). I eventually ended up working in HR at Hudson's Lakeside & got married in 1992. My husband was transferred to St. Louis for his job, then later to Central IL, the Chicago area & now we live in southern PA. I wouldn't change our travels for anything. I saw so many things that I never would have seen before.

We have 2 girls; one who will be 7 tomorrow & one who is almost 5. I am a "stay at home" mom, but I manage to keep quite busy.

The last time I saw Patty Rossi was in 1990. We were best friends for many years. I looked at her page on your site and was glad to see she was doing well.

Sometimes I just can't believe that it has been almost 20 years since high school! I have to say though that I remember Marilyn Carolyn as Marril McCarril! We used to stand outside the boiler room window & look in to see if we could catch her.

Take Care!

Sent 04/15/02

More observations from Dena this morning:

What about Mrs. Finn the library or "media center" teacher? And do you remember doing something called "Rebus" in kindergarten? It was this workbook where you wet the answer with a paint brush & if it was right it would turn green.

I don't know about you, but we always played Lost in Space on the playground & the girls would always fight over who would be Judy. I remember Brian Elyas being chased on the playground by the girls and also those fluoride treatments that were done in an empty classroom by a hygienist once a year. Also Louie the janitor, and the 2 old ladies that were the playground monitors.

I can't believe you remember Irit Nedz....ski. She lived just a few doors from me. I was on the corner of Moritz & Rosemary & David Kaner was a few doors down, also Alfred Gladstone & Mark Rovinsky.

Dena sent me some scans from her "memory box" today. It is strange to instantly identify with a picture that I haven't seen in at least 25 years, but that is definitely the case with these. Here is what Dena sent me:

This is Dena's afternoon kindergarten class pic. Marla Peiss with pigtails is almost too much! It is easy to spot Dena--she's the only one with glasses! Strangely enough, a couple of the kids pictured were in both the morning and afternoon sessions--we are still trying to figure that one out.

Here are some of the names that Dena could dig up: 1. Susan Cook 2. Erika Fuller 3. Beth Zatkin 4. Andrea Rochman 5. Carolyn Greenbaum 6. Rise Friedman 7. Robby Schwartz 8. Steven Rabackoff 9. Jason ?? 10. Michelle ?? 11. Harold Silverman 12. Michael Helfon 13. Marla Peiss 14. Mike Yellen 15. David Lederman 16. Julie Lynn 17. Sean something??? 18. Denise Cort 19. Dena Miller 20. Marc Cohen 21. ?? 22. Storman 23. Berger 24. ??? 25. Stacy Tower 26. ?? 27. Mark Lempert

Here is our first grade class (Mrs. Grushoff). I'm the third picture from the left in the last row, and Dena is the second picture from the right in the middle row. Anybody remember the name of the Teacher's Assistant?

Also, it looks like some of the kids were missing that day. Maybe they were turned into transistor radios and ping-pong paddles by the Purple People Eater.

This is by far my favorite. There's me again--second kid from the left in the middle row. What a bunch of well-behaved children we were! Mrs. Cohen is clutching her purse like one of us is going to steal it.

A rare opportunity to see what shoes you were wearing in 1973.

Dena standing next to Yvonne Monet. Yvonne is a well-known disc jockey in Georgia who is also in the process of opening up a restaurant. Dena positively looks like the saddest little girl on the planet! This picture breaks my heart.

P.S.--In case you were wondering, Dena still has the glasses, too!!!

Fast-forward a couple years now to 5th grade (Mrs. Wedes). Me and my amazing hair can be found just to the right of the text, and Dena is right above me. I think this TA was Ron Rogowski. He still teaches at OPHS I hear. Everyone else in this picture looks all grown up, and I still look like I'm four (which is actually how old I was when I started kindergarten)!