We would love to hear what you remember most about your experiences at St. Bernard's. To send us your favorite memory (or memories), record your remembrances in the following box and click on the "Send to St. B's" button below.
"Happy ones of soccer victories over Buckley, Hadley, and Greenwich Country Day, in the company of Plimpton, Leslie, Sulzberger, Merritt, Kinsolving, and other immortals. Shadow boxing toe-to-toe with Mike Forrestal. Soprano efforts for Muzzie Strange's Pierrot Shows, including the duet from Patience with George Plimpton. Classes with Strange, Manders, Cox, and Captain Fry--a formidable array."
- Hon. James W. Symington '40
"Unfortunately, my specific memories of St. Bernard's remain mostly a blur at this distance in time: 56+ years. What still stands out vividly (and what brings me back to Old Boys Dinners) is the Masters' collective understanding of, and delight in boys, as well as their love of learning, especially of the English language. (I'm thinking of Shakespeare.) The old school songs get it exactly right: whether on the athletic field or in the classroom, there is joy in being in a school in which boys and learning really matter."
- Jonathan LeRoy King '42
"All happy! I enjoyed the soccer and baseball, the walk to and from school. Mr. Manders, Capt. Fry, and above all, Mr. Jenkins are the people I have never forgotten. The stress on honesty, fair play, and learning helped me throughout my life. One memory above all: listening to Winston Churchill's Blood, Sweat and Tears' speech, everyone silent."
- Peter Semler '44
"Jack who rang a bell to dismiss us from school at 4:30 p.m. each day. Bombardment in the gym and watching Charlie Chaplin movies (silent ones) in the gym on rainy afternoons."
-Michael P.A. Winn '48
"Inculcation of work habits that have lasted all my life; fabulous esprit, disciplines and a great deal of fun; winning first Chester (Middle School) Cup in 1946; sadness at missing Upper School!"
- Charles M. Hale '49
"I think my favorite memory to this day was to have the privilege of being taught the English language by Mr Fry. I am now 65 years old and I remember his class as if it was yesterday. Thank you St. Bernard's for allowing me to have this experience."
- David S. Brown '57
1. "Playing soccer on Randall's Island."
2. "Performing in front of the school as an ensemble of headmaster Westgate, music teacher Morris, and myself, played the cello, piano, violin respectively, Old Man River and Old Black Joe. Thank God for Morris' piano, or my violin hands might have felt the disciplinary sting of the ruler."
- Henry H. Livingston, III '59
"Mr. Scorben (third/fourth grade), failing to explain to a student the concept of area, jumped on top of his desk and paced off the measurements."
"Mr. King-Wood (eighth grade) directing us in his first Shakespeare play."
"Mr. McClung (fifth grade) encouraging reading by his chart in the back of the room. Kit Luce won (the baseball hat) by reading 60-70 books. 'Clunko' also had the pinkie 'handshake.'"
"Playing before Leopold Stokowski in Carnegie Hall in a recorder presentation/recital."
"Bombardment."
- Stephen B. Hauge '64
"I think my favorite memory was organizing a petition to get David Westcott a 'Good Guy' sweatshirt from radio station WMCA in the spring of 1966. I sent in the request, and then waited every afternoon for his name to be called. Fortunately, we weren't as busy then as kids are these days, and I was home, listening to WMCA, when the time came. The payoff was giving the sweatshirt to him on Sports Day, and he wore it! Ah the simple pleasures..."
- David Weller '66
"RIWW slapping every hand of the middle school with a ruler after a noisy fire drill. The most vivid part of the memory was Him (sic) having stopped half way through to remove the metal edge of the ruler and me thinking to myself 'Oh dear, he's ruining that ruler.' It was the only time I was ever the object of that ancient rite of corporal punishment, and I remember being quite sure it must have been someone else who had been talking. Well it certainly stuck with me, I haven't talked in a fire drill since."
- Hank Bissell '68
"Carl Weinhardt dancing on top of desk in third grade singing, I wanna hold your hand the day after Fab Four appeared on Ed Sullivan."
- Bill Dean '69
"Mr. Lee Austin removing all the books from the top of the teacher's desk so he could lie down on it to teach."
"Speedball"
- Brad Joblin '69
"A splendid education and a sense of discipline that stands one well in life. A strong faculty with a uniform vision of what a grammar school education should mean to a young man. The indominatable RIWW, liked by many, feared by some, respected by all. My most important memory is that the school was fun and made one want to learn."
- Michael Klebnikov '69
"Mr. Westgate's reaction after (one of my classmates) was quoted in the Times saying the Knickerbocker Greys were 'disgusting.'"
"Every minute of the French trip."
- W. Jeffrey Lawrence '69
"Fourth or Fifth grade science experiment that went awry--boiling iodine--I think, that caused the building to be evacuated."
- John M. von Mehren '69
"I still have some fond memories of Mr. Bazarini's fourth grade class. His aim with a tennis ball was merciless for those of us who were clowning around. Would love to hear from any of my old classmates."
- George (Jeff) F. Morgan '69
"Shepherd's pie in the basement lunchroom, where we drank milk."
- Tobias K. Seggerman '69
"The walk to St. Bernard's each morning with my older brother from our apartment house on East 96th Street, invariably meeting up with other St. Bernard's bound boys along the way and collectively stopping by the corner store to consider a purchase of baseball cards or sweet tarts, the congregation of blazored and clamoring boys waiting outside the school entrance for the school to open and finally, the single file entrance into the school and the ritual handshake and greeting form either R.I.W.W. or Mr. Phelan: 'Good morning Ken.' The memory of that morning greeting, handgrasp and eye contact from a concerned teacher has remained with me for life."
- Kenrick Fowler '70
"Bombardment, Kemp, Flem, Little Big Men, baseball after school, stick hockey, Latin (not a fond memory)."
- John Fraser, III '71
"Earning an 'apple' for five merits and having Mr. Westgate (RIWW) hurl it from the stage; the whole class reciting poems at assembly: 'tarred and feathered and carried in a cart by the women o' Marblehead' and The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes: '...riding, riding, riding, up to the old Inn door...'; bombardment (catch 'em in); Mr. Wagner: 'H2O is water!'; being a 'titan' in third grade (Miss Diana Townsend) if you could change into gym clothes fast enough; a nonsense poem of Mr. Howard's: 'Beware! Take care! And creep upon tiptoe, And hurry up the stairs, and say your prayers, And tuck your head, your pretty curly head, Beneath the clothes, the clothes, the clothes...'; Winnie in the dining room; some kind of crispy, burnt, roasted food remnants called 'smidgens'; reading biographies in the library; a sci-fi story by Clifford Simak (Ring Around the Sun) which somebody read to us; Dictee... Monsieur Le Nuy; Mr. Westcott, Mr. King-Wood, Mr. Austin, Mr. Howard, Mr. Scull, Mr. Christopher, Miss Townsend (Butterworth), Miss Foster (McNaught), Miss Bonynge (Lloyd-Evans); first grade: making 'contraptions' out of cuisenaire rods and then pressing a button to make them collapse; singing school songs at Friday assembly; the Christmas songs: 'Hail the blest morn! see the great Mediator.'; singing 'Dona Nobis Pacem' and other rounds; 'Now we are met, let mirth abound And let the catch and toast go round!' (I never knew what the words of this were...thank God for the Internet/Google!); the school plays: third grade: The Odyssey (Scylla/Charybdis); fifth grade: Treasure Island (Billy Bones); eighth grade: As You Like It (Rosalind); always wanting to get to school while 'rolling up on skates...' (someday); carpentry class -- Mr. Sureholz teaching us to use a coping saw."
- Richard E. Gelb '72
"Bombardment, Lunch! Art; King-Wood, Westcott, Austin, Scull, Westgate; John Auchincloss's handwriting; Clarke and Stanton getting into trouble; water balloon escapades; and school plays"
- David Lawrence III '72
"Who can forget Miss Lea, who was lucky enough to have held court with her? Although I am still restraining myself that there ARE times when it is perfectly permissible to 'sit around and do O,' her vivacity and seriousness of purpose in teaching will live with me always. I still remember Dan Kramarsky running around Mrs. Butterworth's classroom being chased by her St. Bernard, who was trying to determine why he smelled so much different from everyone else. I don't know that learning how to count in bases 2-8 could ever be enjoyable unless taught by Andrew McLaren. I still envy the guys who were in Baz's class--but I got them back: I had Mr. Lownds. I am still mortified by the way Ted and Al and Jimmy and others brutalized Mr. Peterson for a whole year; not that I would EVER participate in such foolishness. Who could forget watching a dead 'language' being completely revitalized by the likes of Dennis Caslon? Or to have French taught be two such worldly characters as the Davids? Overall, I think what hits me deepest is the realization that, while most adolescents move about full of the conviction that they know everything, walking away from St. Bernard's after eight years really did leave me knowing a great deal more than most around me. It is both sad and invigorating to find that this is still true."
- Christopher Gottschalk '75
"Sports Day, game, all the unique teachers, the desks, quizzes, recess and lots more."
- Andrew Greenebaum '76
"Being rapped on the knuckles by Miss Lea is a life altering experience. A made sure to do my homework from then on!"
- Roger Hall '78
"I remember Miss Lea's first grade class, Mr. Bazarini in fourth grade, Mr. Silvia, The Royal Guard, Willie Mays visiting in a pink Cadillac,
bombardment, gym class in Central Park, shepherd's pie, intramural soccer, softball, Field Day in the Cloisters, the blue school bus vans, the candy store on the corner of 98th and Madison and the pizza shop on the opposite corner, having the largest and only afro, and riding the #1 bus everyday with Hank Williams."
- Orzo (Vac) T.W. Wells '78
"Sitting in Mr. Kilborne's history class while David Halpert sat atop his desk answering history questions and racking up points in the grade; also remembered playing tag on the bus with Miles Powell. Our goal was to take separate buses from 98th street to 74th and to tag one another; fondly remember M. Savarese's sentences during French dictees."
- John Bandman '80
"Mr. Lord subtracted forty points for dividing a monomial into a polynomial (e.g. (x-7)/x -- one cannot divide the x into x-7). Damon White '80 did this several times on a quiz and received a -270% which was averaged into his overall grade. There is no way he could have passed the course."
- Frick Byers '80
"I remember the feeling of getting hit by a Chris Allen power-throw in dodge ball."
- David Danziger '80
"Being called 'dear lad' by David King-Wood as a term of affection, frustration, praise, and anger. Third grade with Mrs. Kennedy: Jason and the Golden Fleece, UNICEF, cubbyholes in the classroom which fit third graders, and football on the recess deck.
- John Grossman '80
"Mr. Lord grounding the basics of algebra into our heads; getting ready for the 'big night'--our eighth grade play (A Midsummer's Night Dream); Bernice serving us ice cream sandwiches for lunch; Mr. Johnson (then seventh grade, homeroom) confiscating water pistols (naughty, naughty!); Clunko (Garret McClung) presiding--need anything more be said!!"
- Hamburg Tang, Jr. '80
"Eraser fights with James Walsh leading the charge, Stu "Baby" Johnson and his "Liver Lips Louie"--Damon Runyon renditions, and of course (Samurai tailor/delicatessen) in the lunchroom in the Belushi era, with food flying everywhere."
- Adam Nagler '81
"Mr. King-Wood's great stories, Mr. Lord keeping us in line during algebra class. I am still very sad over the loss of my dear friend James Bennett."
- Thomas Pike '81
"Playing soccer with Mr. Miceli, eating shepherd's pie in the basement, meeting the best group of guys in my class of '82, being on Mr. McClung's good side, using Central Park as an extension of our school campus, to name a few. Great years all around."
- Alec DiNapoli '82
"We remember organizing coordinating attacks in Mr. Whitworth's eighth grade music class during which the majority of the boys would simultaneously hurl their pencils at the good-humored Tarek Raucci, an esteemed member of the Class of 2001 and current Browning School recipient of the Citizenship Prize. Mr. Whitworth would always handle the situation with wit (or whit?) and dignity. Even for the least musical of us, his class was a pleasure we could look forward to every day after our challenging academic courses (particularly Helen Steer's mixed sciences). Those of us who could not sing like Pavarotti or play piano a la Alfred Cortot garnered a life-long appreciation for the audible arts in Mr. Whitworth's class."
- Aditya Bhise 2001, Alessandro King 2001, and Alexios Shaw 2001