Arnold Besier:
CLASS OF 1958
Summit High SchoolClass of 1958
Summit, NJ
Arnold's Story
'54 was a tough year. Ninth grade, algebra, battles with instructors...
"Hey, just because I called the teacher an 'old battle-axe' in the paper you made me write, doesn't mean I was referring to you," I complained to Mrs. O, our English teacher. No matter. She had taken it personally. Shocked as I was, nothing I said or did could repair the damage. My feeble attempt at creative writing had earned the big 'F' and we were never to be friendly again. Graduation couldn't come soon enough..
Growing pains? Probably, but, looking back, it may also have been my closest brush with a mid life crisis. Why procrastinate?
Thus, the prospect of a new school in the fall didn't turn me on. But Summit High turned out to be a pleasant surprise. From the moment Miss Federico welcomed us on that bright September morning in 1955, I knew things were going to be different and...better.
Among my favorite memories are the table top football we played in the cafeteria and the day we almost blew the windows out of the chemistry classroom on the second floor. The football season ended with the Cereal Bowl and a trophy for the winner while the explosion occurred when a few of us (Doug Wade, Rodney Edwards?) dropped in on Doc Lukens after school one day to let him in on a new preparation we had discovered that tended to detonate when it came in contact with a lighted match. Doc being Doc, of course, was curious enough to touch off a small pile of the stuff. KABOOOOM!!! The ensuing explosion shook the building and filled the room with white smoke. Mr Gast came running up the stairs, shock and awe engraved on his face. And this was before shock and awe had even been invented. He was clearly distressed but seemed to relax once he learned that no one was injured and no school property had been damaged. He and Doc talked for a few minutes and things quieted down. I can only surmise what they discussed but, after that, Doc seemed more interested in reactions that changed color or gave off odors rather than any that blew up. I have no doubt that, had we continued, one of our compounds would have become the first weapon of mass destruction developed by teenagers in the U.S. Scary.
Anyway, college loomed and I spent 4 years at Syracuse University majoring in political science and journalism. I also worked at the school radio station, WAER, and at an FM station downtown. I had the pleasure of serving with Ted Koppel who was then chief announce...Expand for more
r at AER. Ted wrote poetry and read it over the air late in the evening. I also showed Marv Albert the ropes on his first commercial radio job. Marv had a classical music program and spoke with a rich Long Island accent. Bernie, our program director , was sure that any kid with Marv's delivery would never make it in radio. What Bernie didn't know was that Marv was acquainted with famed sportscaster Marty Glickman who later helped pave the way for his successful career as a network play by play announcer.
Three years in the U.S.Coast Guard were followed by twenty-three in a variety of management assignments with New England Telephone and NYNEX. Married in 1982; no children yet. Over the years, I worked in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire but Maine, with its cool summers and cheap lobster, was my favorite. As Henry David Thoreau once said of the State, "What a place to live, what a place to die and be buried in! "
We settled in Harpswell, near the tip of the first finger of land that extends into the Atlantic north of Portland. Friend Stuart McGeorge (SHS '65) lives down the road. Small world.
I retired in 1990 after New York and New England Telephone merged which almost certainly would have taken me back to New York. Although Ann and I had retirement plans we put them on hold when she developed clinical depression. It took the better part of four years but, thanks be to God, we finally beat the hateful thing.
Since then, I've managed a medical equipment business, worked as a clerk in a small town Post Office (great job...every morning you find out who did what to whom overnight), volunteered as a host for the Maine Eastern Railroad and headed the parish council at church. Looking back, I'd give myself a C for accomplishment and a B for learning. I've learned more than I've accomplished. To get those grades up, the next few years will need to be considerably more productive.
Although I haven't made the reunions, I haul out the yearbook every five or six years and leaf through its pages, rereading the handwritten notes and studying the faces. It serves as a reminder of those golden years at Summit High. It almost becomes a reunion in itself; a heartwarming reunion of the mind, a reunion in which time stands still, friends are forever young and the future holds nothing but promise.
Best thing about living in Maine: You get to stay when the tourists go home
Worst thing about living in Maine: November
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