Name:  Mel Harner

Address: 5102 Winchester Drive

                Sarasota, FL  34234

Telephone #’s  Home: (941) 359 -3251

                          Cell:    (805) 501 - 5489

Email: mharner@ezrack.com

Spouse’s name:  Bonni

Children:  Brian and Kelly

Occupation: Retired

Education: B.S. from New York University; MBA from Adelphi University

Since graduating from Garden City High School in 1964: 

I started out in brand management and had the pleasure of working with Tom Schenck at Best Foods in New Jersey then moved to Greenwich Ct where I worked at the American Can Company.    In 1976 I joined Avon Cosmetics and started up a lingerie business in Brazil and then installed that business in about 20 other countries around the world.  When I got back to the New York headquarters in 1996 after 20 years on the road the Human Resources Department said “sorry but we don’t really have a job for you here.” So, I moved to LA managing a toy company (Applause, Inc.) that makes licensed toys for the movie studios.  That was almost as much fun as making women’s lingerie but after 2 years the company’s investors pulled our financial plug and I was once again on the street. So two of my LA friends and I started a company called EZ Shipper Racks Inc. where we manufacture a patented steel shipping crate which we rent to Home Depot and Lowes suppliers to ship house plants, lawn tractors, fertilizer, lawn chemicals and anything else that normally ships in a wooden crate.  After the crates are shipped to the store we recycle them and re-rent them.   This saves a lot of old wooden crates from going into landfills.  Starting and building this business was a lot of fun (but not as much fun as women’s lingerie or Hollywood Toys.) Being the oldest of 3 partners I decided to retire last year and build our retirement home in Sarasota Florida- - just in time for the economic meltdown.   Bad timing !  Anybody need a lingerie, toy or shipping crate expert!?

Parting thought:

I came to Garden City my Junior year and being a “B” personality I didn’t have the privilege of getting to know as many of you as I would have liked. I do have a good memory though and going through the web site and my copy of the Mast reinforced a very warm feeling I still have for our class. It was and still is a wonderful group of people. I especially miss my good friend George Goldner as I’m sure the rest of you do.   I’m expecting my first grandchild in June up in Connecticut so I hope I can make it to the reunion.
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Name: Ellen (Garrison) Ebanks

Address: 9200 Sterling Dr., Cutler Bay (Miami), Fl.

Telephone #’s: 305-252-9839

Email: ellouisee@aol.com

Spouse’s name: Burt Ebanks

Children: Paul (38), Brenda (35)

Grandchildren:  Cydne (4), Lara (2 months)

Occupation: Psychiatric Nurse, Special Education Teacher (Retired)

Education: B.S. Nursing University of Vermont, education courses for certification in Specific Learning Disabilities F.I.U.

Since graduating from Garden City High School in 1964:

     I graduated from UVM in “68, married Tom Hodgdon (also class of ’64) and we moved to Miami. I worked for 2 ½  yrs as a psychiatric nurse then stayed home to raise our 2 children until 1980, when Tom and I divorced. I then went back to work in the school system and taught learning disabled children. In 1983, I married my husband, Burt Ebanks, who is a high school science teacher. I really enjoyed my teaching career but was thrilled to retire in June, 2008. I miss the kids and the staff, and go back to visit, but I don’t miss the paperwork, stress, and increasing demands.

     My son and his family now live in San Antonio, so, needless to say, I go visit as often as I can. My son told me I am welcome anytime…a very dangerous thing to tell a retired grandma! My daughter lives in Miami so we spend a lot of time together.

     The summer after my retirement, my husband and I took a trip to The Tetons and Yellowstone….and came way too close to a bear, on a well traveled trail. I love my “new, retired life” and spend time reading, gardening, traveling, and taking pictures in beautiful south Florida. Photography has become an unexpected new hobby….I am completely uneducated in the field, but have a wonderful time. You can go to wunderground.com, wunderphotos, search handle(name) Miamilady and you will see my feeble attempts to capture some of the beauty of the area.

      In Feb. of 2007, Skip and Cathie Saal were in the Keys and came by to visit. What fun to reconnect with someone you’ve know since 1^st grade! I immediately answered to my H.S. nickname of “Moose”…which makes so much sense considering my size (still 4’11” tall). A week later, I met Athene (Landis), Bobbie (Max), and Flo (Driscoll) in St. Augustine. My mother, who was 91, was able to talk and laugh, on the phone, with her “other daughters”. This turned out to be a very special blessing, since she passed away rather unexpectedly a week later.

Parting Thought:

     I am so grateful to have grown up in Garden City and look forward to seeing it again and attending the reunion. There’s something very precious about “old” friends and, as I’ve discovered, they can laugh with you about the good times of youth and guide you through the tough times of adulthood in a very special and unique way.
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Name:Jonathan Jeans                                                                            

Address: 51 Madison St

Telephone #’s: 908-647-5456 (home)  908-625-2058 (cell)

Email: jsjeans@verizon.net

Spouse’s name: Susan

Children: Jonathan, Peter (3 grandkids), Laura (2 grandkids)

Occupation: IT Consultant

Education: BS and MS – Brown University

Since graduating from Garden City High School in 1964:

Worked for several companies in the IT field. Started consulting ten years ago – mostly in storage and recovery technologies.

Coached soccer for about 25 years for a local soccer club. Watched over 1000 youth soccer games. Watched college games that my kids played in.

Avid gardener – raising all types of plants – vegetables, flowers, perennials, etc. Susan and I spend many, many hours in the garden. We also love to cook what we grow!

Enjoyed raising our three kids and now enjoying 5 grand kids.

Most salient high school memory:

There were so many great high school memories – picking one would be very difficult.  The best memory was just being there at Garden City High for 3 years. There were lots of friends, lots of great times, lots of learning together, great teachers, the sport atmosphere was great --- all-in-all it was a fantastic time for me!
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Name: Christine Tassone Kovner

Address: 4 Washington Square Village, New York, New York 10012

Telephone # (h) 212-674-0691; (w) 212-998-5312

Email: Christine.Kovner@nyu.edu

Spouse’s name: Anthony Kovner

Children: Sarah (36) married to Mathew Connelly; Anna (35) married to Seth Meisel

Occupation: Professor, College of Nursing, New York University

Education: BS, Columbia University; MSN, University of Pennsylvania; PhD, New York University

Since graduating from Garden City High School in 1964:

 I attended St. Lawrence University with 4 classmates from GCHS, but found the isolation of upstate NY too great and transferred to Columbia’s nursing school. While at Penn I married (1971) Tony, who was a professor at Wharton. We quickly had two children and for Tony’s work moved to Michigan, South Jersey and eventually NYC in 1979. The life of professors has been a good one for our family. Our flexible time schedules worked well with raising children and spending summers at our home in Fire Island. Anna and Sarah grew up in NYC and went to Princeton. I occasionally think about how our life would have been different if we had lived in GC instead of NYC. We are fortunate to have Anna and her family (Ava Rose 2; Zachary 3.5,) live 13 blocks from us in NYC. They have a house near us in Fire Island, so I spend endless hours (but never enough) with A&Z. Anna has a PhD in economics from Harvard and works at the New York Federal Reserve. Sarah has a PhD in Japanese history from Columbia, where her husband is a professor. She is a history professor at University of Florida and has been unable thus far to get a faculty job in the NYC area. If one of my GC classmates can help with this I would be eternally grateful. My 87 year-old mother lives on 7^th street and fills me in on all she reads about classmates in the Garden City News. My beloved father died in 2002. At NYU I primarily do research on the nursing workforce and have no short-term plans to retire.  I cherish my memories of GCHS and over the years I have had the pleasure of seeing many of our classmates.

Parting thought:  feel much closer to my high school friends than I do to college friends.

Most interesting/funny fact about my life thus far: One of my close colleagues from NYU, Barbara Krainovich-Miller, was Mayor of Garden City a few years ago. She kept me informed about all the GC news.

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Name: Geoff and Nancy (Healion) Barger

Address: 100 Glenburn Avenue Cambridge, MD 21613

Telephone #’s: 410-228-8501

Email: ghbarger@hotmail.com

Spouse’s name: Nancy (Healion)

Children: Kristyn 41,Heather 40,Meaghan 38,Griffith 34

Occupation: Geoff-Software Developer, Nancy- RN, Certified Diabetes Educator and Manager of Joslin Diabetes Center, Easton, MD

Education: BA Geoff- Drew University ’68; Nancy-RN,CDE St Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing

Since graduating from Garden City High School in 1964:

We were married in August of 1967.  We moved to New Jersey from Long Island where Geoff completed his senior year at Drew and Nancy worked at a local hospital. 

    Nancy’s career has gone from ICU nurse to office nurse (for a GP who specialized in diabetes), to medical educator/ sales rep for various pharmaceutical companies, and back to clinical nursing as a manager/admistrator for centers specializing in diabetes care and education.  She recently opened the University of Maryland Medical System’s Joslin Diabetes Center affiliate at Shore Health System facility in Easton Maryland.  Joslin is world renowned for diabetes research and innovative patient education.

    I (Geoff) went to work for IBM out of college and have worked in various IT related positions ever since including sales, systems engineering, data center management, owner/partner in a dot.com company, and now software developer for a Silicon Valley company where I am able to work from home- tough commute!  We raised our four children in a beautiful lake community in Northern NJ called Green Pond.  Our house, still in the family, is situated at the top of a mountain overlooking the lake.  After 30 years of Northern New Jersey winters and negotiating lots of snow and ice on the mountain, we decided to move to a warmer climate!  We are about 4 hours south of our kids and six grandkids so we go back and forth as much as possible!

We are certainly looking forward to seeing all who can make it to the reunion! 

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Name:    Joan (Milner) Seaman                   

Address: 49 Woodscape Dr. Fort Edward, NY 12828                      

Telephone #’s:  518-480-3366

Email: bella53103@verizon.net          

Spouse’s name: Charles “Chuck”

Children: Kenneth (age 39 ½) married to Lori with 2 girls, ages 9 and 6 and new baby expected in June. They live upstate in So. Glens Falls.

                   Glen (age 38) married to Therese  with 6yr. old boy and 4 ½ yr. old girl. They live in Bryan, OH.

                    Michael (age 35 ) married to Carrie and parents to 11yr. old boy, and 7 and 5 yr.old girls. They also live in So. Glens Falls              

Occupation:  RETIRED!!  Nurse Practitioner in Child and Adolescent Psych.

Education:  Catholic University of America – BSN 1968

                      SUNY Stony Brook – MSN  1987

Since graduating from Garden City High School in 1964:

 College followed by getting married and living in Italy , Germany, and Japan for next 8yrs (Chuck was in Air Force) and then San Antonio, Tx ( my 4^th foreign country) . Moved back to Long Island in 1980. Worked for Suffolk County Public Health Nursing , University Hospital @ Stony Brook, followed by 18 years working for Sagamore Children’s Psychiatric Center on mobile crisis team, and in outpatient clinics. Retired November 2008 and love the freedom. Enjoying 7 grandchildren and hoping to move upstate in the near future. Also helping my 95 year old mother who is still living independently in St. James.

Most interesting/funny fact about my life thus far:

I ended up in a career that I never would have picked back in high school. I went on 2 overnight field trips to Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center with Future Nurses of America and was convinced I would never work with that population. Mrs. Bernstein GC High school nurse) would be amazed with the career path I followed.
________________________________________________________

 Name: FREDERICK J. MAGOVERN   

Address:  34 CHESTNUT STREET GARDEN CITY NY   
Telephone #: 516-747-4415
Email:  FJMAGOVERN@AOL.COM   
Spouse’s name: SUSAN   
Children:  FREDERICK J. MAGOVERN, JR. (22 YRS), JOHN B. MAGOVERN (15 YRS)
Occupation: ATTORNEY   
Education:      MANHATTAN COLLEGE, BS
        FORDHAM LAW SCHOOL, JD

Since graduating from Garden City High School in 1964:

I started my own law firm in 1979 and presently am a partner at Magovern & Sclafani at 111 John Street, New York, NY 10038. We concentrate our practice in Family Law with an expertise in adoptions. We represent a number of Child Care Agencies in NYC. I have been fortunate to have tried a number of cases through the years that have had a positive effect on the adoption laws in NYS. 

Professional Activities: NYC Mayor’s Public Child Fatality Review Committee (1986-7); NYS Task Force on Permanency Planning for Foster Children, Inc., (1992-3); Humanitarian Award from Catholic Home Bureau for Dependent Children (2003); Trustee and past Chairman (2000-2003) of the Board of Trustees at Buckley County Day School in Roslyn, NY; Fellow of American Academy of Adoption Attorneys; ABA; NYS Bar Association; Bar Association of Nassau County.

Personal :  My wife Susan and I met at Mercy Hospital where she was working as a nurse and I as a maintenance man during law school. We were married in 1973 and after living in Rockville Centre for several years moved to our home on Chestnut Street.  We have two fine sons, Freddy and John. John is now a sophomore at Chaminade High School. While most of you are retired and grandparents, Susan and I are about to begin the college search again!

The great thing about living in Garden City is being in touch with many of the old high school gang. Our lives continue to be enriched immeasurably through our friendships with Diane and Billy Kenney; Madge and Jimmy Murphy; Kim Polignani (who has two sons at Chaminade); Al and Jeanne Vanasco; Jack and Maggie Biggane; Rosemary Buckley McDermott and her husband Tom; Todd Middleton, and many more. Ad multos annos!  I miss Louis Rossire and Frank Smith and think of them often.

Most salient high school memory: Senior Bike Night (up until the crash!)
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Name:  Connie Hepper (Thompson)

Address:  23 Marine Drive, Amherst, NY 14228

Telephone #’s: 716-829-9845

Email:  clt77@roadrunner.com

Spouse’s name:  Wallace (deceased)

Children:  son, Robert (29) Hepper just married to Madison Ringer

                   Stepdaughters, Shannon Bauer (Michael) and Katie Gemmer (Jason)

                   Stepson, Wade Thompson

Occupation:  Retired Principal

Education:  BA – University of Toledo, Ohio

                     Masters of Education – Buffalo State College

                     Post Graduate in Administration – Buffalo State College

Since graduating from Garden City High School in 1964:

After graduating from University of Toledo, I taught 6^th grade in the Town of Tonawanda school district located just outside of Buffalo, NY.  Over the years, I also taught 7^th and 8^th grade American history and 9^th grade “ungraded”.  Teaching was exciting, fun and challenging.  I enjoyed and saw potential in each and every one of my students.  However, my passion was traveling and I was able to do that during my summer months.  Most of my traveling was through Western Europe. 

When my son was born, my life became even more wonderful.  As he grew up, he was involved in many sports which took up much of our time.  I treasured, and continue to treasure, being his Mom. 

Later in my career I became a high school assistant principal both in the Town of Tonawanda and in Corning, NY.  I retired as a middle school principal seven years ago.  I returned for a short period as the interim Director of Student Services in the Town of Tonawanda.  After retiring I taught at Buffalo State College in the education department. 

I married a wonderful man late in my life.  After several years of marriage, we moved to Pawleys Island, SC to have the life of leisure on a golf course.  Sadly, however, he was diagnosed with cancer soon after our move, and lost his fight after two years.  I returned to the Buffalo area two years later to be with my family.  And here I am today….. 

Parting thought:  From the words to the song “I Hope You Dance”

   
 “…never lose your sense of wonder… and when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.”