From Deb Zoole-Israeli

Email 2:

Sure, you can post it! I ended up having lunch with Susan today and we talked about how Mrs. Martz would check to see if you had a clean desk. She also said that Mrs. Martz called her mother at work because she didn't have a clean desk and in order to clean it Susie put things in other classmates desks. I laughed so hard... Could you imagine if a teacher called you at work for that today? In a way, it's what is missing, the closeness, the familiarity. It's hard to get that! Susan also reminded me of how Mrs. Ross smelled of coffee and cigarettes, how did that slip my mind? I have a picture of my 1983- 20 year class reunion. We took a special picture of the Hilltop kids. I'll have to find that, scan it and send it to you.

Deb

Email 1:

Hi Eric,

I read some of the stuff on the web-site. My kids are now going to Ladue, well 2 of them are... Emily, the oldest is at UMKC, she graduated last year.

Anyway, let me back track a little. I don't know if Jack ever told you or not, but we ran into each other on a plane headed for New Mexico. We both lived there at the same time. I think we saw each other once, maybe twice on planes/ in airports, that's it. Like Mark, I do remember all the Passover celebrations we had to together and that your dad would continue to hide the afikoman until each child had found it and got a reward. I remember how cool I thought your mom was and still is, she could work on her own car!

Skip forward... I got divorced in the early 90's got remarried in '95 and I have three kids-
Emily 18 UMKC, Maggie 17 Junior at Ladue, Daniel 10 at Old Bonhomme. I still live in Olivette. I spent 5 years on the Olivette City Council. Two of those years as Mayor Pro-Tem and one year as Mayor. Yes, Hilltop School has been razed. It was sold by Laue School,District and changed hands and then, The Apple School was it's new name. I don't know much about it, but, it failed! The City of Olivette tried to purchase it and turn it into a community center/park. It was a no go for several reasons, the biggest one of all was we felt the price was way out of line. Eventually a developer, Mark Manlin, a Ladue grad. bought it and, as developers do, developed it into homes. At one time he offered to give me the Hilltop corner stone, it has slipped my mind, I should give him a call and ask if he still has it!

Maggie and Emily, when they were early elementary students went to Mrs. Hertline for tutoring. Maggie then continued on with Mrs. Martz. Mrs Martz, always has been and will be one of my favorite people. She really catapulted Maggie forward with her academics and confidence. Maggie and Emily both had Mrs ?, can't think of her name at this second, art teacher. Emily had Mr. Schlamb for 5th grade and even now, he's still teaching 5th grade, at Old Bonhomme. Emily is friends with Molly and Peter Schlamb, David Schlamb's youngest.

I was talking about how unique my elementary school was. we had six girls in the class in 5th and 6th grade. I remember being amazed at how huge I thought Old Bonhomme was when we would pick up for Hebrew school car pool. We used to walk home for lunch, we went to our teacher's house at the end of the year for a pool party. On Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur, the school may have well been closed. There was only one hallway, on 15-20 kids in each grade, not each classroom, there was only was classroom for each grade. No one ever said, "I don't know that kid"! It was family. Some were closer than others, but nonetheless, family. I remember the weeping willow tree in the Fava's yard, the big pine trees on the side of the school that we would climb, 'cause they were there. I remember when a frisbee or baseball/tennis ball was up on the roof, all you had to do was go around to the other r side, climb up one of the window (wire) protectors, get the ball, throw it down, no fanfare involved, because everyone did it, no big deal and then, jump off the roof. How about the cafeteria. Everyone ate lunch, at the same time! I never realized how unique it all was, even then. I see it in the faces of the adults I talk to now about it all. I had sleepovers at my house with all the girls in my class. I played tether ball, kickball, rode a skateboard down the hill from the top of the playground to the back of the school where we would line up after recess. I had Mrs. Baron for Kindergarten, her family belongs to CRC and I have had the pleasure of seeing them on several occasions. I miss milk and cookie time, my nap mat is around here someplace. I had Mrs. Ross for 1st and 3rd grade. I remember how she wore bangle bracelets and when she would write on the chalk board, the clanging became hypnotic. Second grade I had the woman who I thought could have easily been Miss America. Yes, I had Mrs. Candace Martz. I think now they call it a girl crush. I wanted to be her!!! Her hair was perfect, that beautiful brown in a meticulous flip. It bounced when she walked, a most confident walk. Her Texas accent and her laugh, you could hear it all the way down the hall and I absolutely lived for it. It happened at least once or twice a day and I waited and waited and would smile when it happened! I pained through learning my times tables and had popcorn on Fridays in that class. Oh, you couldn't forget her "Boston Bruins" dress. You have to remember that one. Whenever I see her in my mind, that's how I remember her. She was and still is AWESOME and I mean that in the literal sense. Back to Mrs. Ross, I saw her many, many times walking along Old Bonhomme Road. I can't imagine what it felt like for her to see how many kids go through her classes and see them driving and graduate and have their own families. Fourth grade I had Mrs. DeVaney (sp) we studied westward expansion and created a village. I made my "box" in her class and I built a miniature sod hut. In 5th grade, I would have had Mrs. Ralston, she moved midway through the year, the year before. I had a man for a teacher, I was scared shitless! This man was loud and boisterous he gave the "Schlamb-dunk". I love that man! Talk about a teacher who loved and loves teaching! He was my other dad! He loved Snickers and the Steelers. When I told him that my dad had passed away, I was standing about 2-3 feet away from him and he just grabbed me and pulled me close and gave me one of the most memorable hugs of my life and told me how sorry he was to hear that, I can tell you he so meant that! I have the pleasure of seeing him on an almost everyday basis! I've seen his self portrait improve greatly over the years. You know the one, the one with the squiggly mustache. 6Th grade was Mrs Hertline (sp) at the end of the day she would stand at in the doorway and shake your hand, if you had to go back into the classroom after you had left, you had to give her a hug. "Little friends, Little Fiends" It remind me of the Cheech and Chong routine of Sister Mary Elephant. I think she looked older than what she really was, the matriarch of the school. I mean no disrespect by that, that's just what I thought. Later, at Mizzou, I saw this figure running towards me, calling my name, it was David Fredericks (sp). We had just heard the "big news". We always knew it, on some level. Mr Boughman and Mrs. Hertline were always going out to lunch with each other, you just had to know it! Ah, Mrs. Hertline, I wish I knew her better. She rivaled Mrs. Hess for the "Queen of Prim and Proper" Yes, not yeah! Sit up straight. She was more than a music teacher, that Beethoven lovin' woman! She was a one woman finishing school! Mr. Boughman reminded me of the guy who was Lucy's boss on the I Love Lucy show. 'Nough said! The school secretary, what was her name?... Anyway, I remember her Halloween costume every year. Speaking of which, how 'bout them parades we had for Halloween, how great! I'm sure there is so much more, I could go on and on. I was devastated when Susie Schimel moved all the way to Creve Coeur. Would I ever see her again? Get her address, don't forget, maybe you can write to each other! I still have lunch with her and was in her wedding, she was in one of mine! She called me yesterday, I think I'll give her call after this.

Eric, this was fun! I hope to talk and or see you very soon! I haven't even begun, we still have to talk about Mrs. Nodo and how I absolutely hated the square dancing unit in gym class.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Deb Zoole-Israeli
olivettedzi@sbcglobal.net

Hilltop Elemtentary is on Classmate.com

Go to www.classmate.com and sign up! Hilltop Elementary is listed under Olivette, Missouri. Only 8 alumnis now.

Fellow classmates

Folks that came out of the blue and checked out my blogger already

Mark Zoole
Miriam Zoole
Deborah Zoole-Israeli
Lori Lipkind
Kent Moss

These are the ones I can remember

From Kidnergarden

Leslie Zerman
Heidi Leisman
Kelly Leisman
Lori Lipkind
Scott Kluesner
Kent Moss
David Kelvin
Carol Mena
Miriam Zoole
Richard Wolfe
Eric Brody
Mike Poole

From 1st to 6th grade
Robin Kanefield
Paul Brown
Mike Poole
Richard Chasnoff
Lionel, black kid
Marc, Russian kid

Fellows from other classes

Scottie Tallman
Felicia Moss
Lisa Kelvin

Teachers!

Stories to tell about these teachers ????

Baron, Martz, Ross, Devaney, Schlamb, Hertzline, Principal Baughman, Musician Hess, Coach Bruce, Coach Probst, Custodian Cleo

1st Grade Pizza Party at Shakey's

Left to right: David Kelvin, Kent Moss, Eric Brody, Carol Mena, and who?????

Kent Moss and the Bunny Slope

By Eric Brody

Kent was my best man at my wedding. However I was not his best man. He made a big mistake. In every wedding I've been to in which I was not the best man, the groom get divorced. My cousin Gene, my college friend Brian (twice), and Kent.

The moral here ? If you want me to be in your wedding - make sure I'm the best man!

Here's a great story about Kent when he came to California during my college years. We went skiing in Big Bear. He never went skiing before. As we got up on the ski slope, here's how the conversation went after we got on the ski lift.

"Is this the bunny slope?"
"Yeah"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah....don't worry, we can get off at the first stop."
"Wait...the first stop is over there....we're going up this steep mountain.....Argghh....oh shit...this isn't the bunny slope..."
"Ahhh....oh well...fuck the bunny slope!"


We went up to the very top of the mountain and he looked down the steep ravine and said "Oh shit..." while I was laughing. And guess what ? He learned to ski really fast and did just dandy!

Kent Moss - 7 Errors in one inning.

Last night, our second baseman Keith made 5 errors on the men's softball team. The records number of error is held by my best friend Kent Moss on his Uncle Tennebaum's 5th grade team - 7 errors!!!!!

Unbelievable!!!! That team was a disaster from day one. #1 draft pick John Halkempt never really showed up or wanted to play. Another guy was beaned by Craig Brown first game of the season and never came back. I was shockingly summon to pick the season opening game and bombed out. He never gave me a chance to settle down and try again until the last game of the season. Instead it was his son Adam day in and out (In every team I played on, the son always pitch more than he should.) He picked a girl named Joy who the guys always made fun of me because they wrote how I went over to console her as a good teammate in the newspaper. She wasn't very good.

I think Uncle Tennebaum never coach another game after that.

The Russian Kid....

In 6th grade, a Russian kid named Marc came to our class. This was his fourth country and his fourth language and he couldn't speak English well. At first the kids gathered around and helped him out. The teacher commented how proud she was in helping him adjust.

Unfortunately things took a turn for the worst. When the class was in session, he would be asked to play by himself in the back. The other kids got jealous that his classwork was too easy (1st-2nd grade level) and he got too much free time. They started picking on him in class and in recess. He couldn't defend himself. One time, he went to the teacher to complain. The teacher was clueless to what was going on and couldn't understand him and his English very well so the same kids who were picking on him went up to him in front of the teacher asking him what was wrong and pretending to try to help him out.

When I asked a friend why he picked on him and he said because it was fun. Another friend of mine told me later on that he didn't picked on him and I told him bullshit. There was only one kid who didn't pick on him and treated him decently as I tried to. To this day, I'm very fond to remember that and consider him to be a true friend in heart - That kid was David Kelvin.

The only regret is while I didn't pick on him and treated him decently, I didn't stand up for him fearing peer pressure. Today, I led the kid's service at the Temple and we talked about torah portion on "Loshon Hora" and how we have to watch our tongue and not speak bad about others. When I asked all the kids what should you do if someone was saying bad things about other kids, my daughter's hand shot up. She said "We should tell them to knock it off and stop picking on them and treat them nicely." I smiled. We can't change the past, we can always learn from it and try to teach our children's not to make the mistakes we made.

PT's Club

Someone told me someone from Hilltop works at the PT's show club. I don't know who it is but here's the weblink:

http://www.ptsshowclub.com/

You can get a freebee pass right here if you want to visit:

http://www.ptsshowclub.com/clubs/stlouis/centreville/freebees.html

Also it's supposed to be couple friendly whatever that means....

Lori Lipkind

When I was in kidnergarden, Lori Lipkind was the first girlI ever kissed. She was the shortest one in theclass and I was the tallest in the class. What a circus pair we made ! I can't remember much except the two following incidents - the first one went something like this - we were in class and Lori said kiss me and I said "ok" and all the girl cheers. The second incident was in the playground. All the girls gathered me and Lori together after I chased mean Paul Brown away from the girls and we had some kind of wedding or something. I kissed her and the girls cheered on.

As years went by, I got taller and taller and Lori didn't grow much and turned out to be really short. Then she moved on and I infrequently saw her here and there at Jr. high and high school.

The guys used to laugh and tease me about her. When I was young, I was embarrassed. But then when I was around 15-25 years old, I would just say "Har de Ha ha ha..." and then "I sure did!" David Kelvin told me a few years back that he ran into her somewhere and she was a hot looking chick to which I replied "Now you know why I kiss her and all you stupid bumblefucks just do it laugh."

I saw her name on the Ladue high school bulletin and hoping to get her story on what happened in kidnergarden as well as find out how tall she is now. Maybe we'll hear from her, maybe not....stay tune. same bat time, same bat channel...

I hate Coach Probst

By Eric Brody

Over 30 years later, I still think about how much I hated Coach Probst. I remember he would always throw me out of gym class and send me to the principal office. One time, he said we were going to field hockey and I said "Field Hockey is for girls!" He pointed his finger and told me to get out of here. Another time, Kluesner and Tallman were playfully fighting each other. I stepped in to break it up and Probst sent me to the Principal's office despite my protest that I was just breaking it up. Whenever we did laps, he would call people out to sit down and I would always be the last person to be called to sit down. One day, I just stopped running and said "Screw this!" He yelled "Get to the principal's office"

The end came when my Dad, the PriPublish Postncipal, Coach Probst, and I had a meeting in the Principal's office. I kept arguing that he was out to get me and he kept saying nobody was out to get me. In any case, he stopped picking on me thereafter.

Years later when I went to high school, Probst was the assistant baseball coach there on the same team my brother played on. My brother said he was an a-hole and quit the team along with more than 1/2 of the players. They ended the season with just 10 players on the team.