Rona Herskowitz Kantor's Page

Hi Rona -- it's Ronnie Sundick - I remember you quite well. My wife is a NYC elementary school principal on the upper west side - we lived for many years in Roslyn, Long Island, recently sold our home and moved to Riverdale to be closer to Manhattan were we both work and our children live, and closer to our home upstate. Glad I stumbled on this site.

Nice to hear from you. Well, as my comments said I live in Utah, believe it or not. Moved here 12 years ago. We were traveling to our house in VT most weekends and Bill hated it (especially after Joels accident) so he wanted wo live where we played. He saw an opening to get his Dental license in Utah and next thing I know we are living here. Mostly I like it (the weather is fabulous) but I miss lots of things about NY. My children (son 34 yrs and Daughter 31) both moved here as well and are both married and have 2 children each (my daughter also has a stepdaughter, so I have 5 grandchildren - age 12yrs to 5 months). My daughter is a lawyer and I watch her boys (age 4 and 2) 3 days a week. We have a small synagogue here and I am active in it. Bill still works 4 days a week and in the winter we ski Fri, sat and Sun. I take my 5 year old granddaughter skiing on Tuesdays. So life is pretty good. Now, how about you? Hope you and your family are well!! Do you hear from any of the old guys/ gals. I remember well walking to school with you, Betty, Cecilia, Nancy and Jane (anyone I am forgetting or am I remembering someone who didn't exist? It is a LONG time ago)
Regards Barbara

Remember your Little Buttercup? I even remember the bonnet you wore. I hope you don’t remember that I was the Captain of said Pinafore. I was awful (in my defense, “I’m the Captain…” was a hard song, more recitative than melody; I was definitely at sea). No, L’il Abner was my peak – the role I was typecast for. You, however, were clearly destined for further triumphs…

It’s so good to hear about Alan – I remember him talking about his heritage and what it meant to him. And now he’s living in Israel! What an interesting bunch of kids we proved to be at PS 164. Alan was fun and very kind to me. He only invited me to the Capri Beach Club with him because he knew how much I liked you.

Yes, I was too tongue-tied, too overwhelmed, too gob-smacked to tell you then, but that fall, spring, and summer of ’61, as I teetered on the edge of teenhood, you were the very center of my world. Well, you and basketball… You were more than just pretty and smart and funny, you were vivacious – a quality I hadn’t known before: your smile and personality filled any room you were in. I was happy just being around you, awestruck to think you liked me too. And then you were gone. I bemoaned the cruel fate that left me just half a block to the wrong side of the Bowne borderline. (teen angel, doo-wop, doo-wop...♫)

Not to worry – I was young and soon got over it. I haven’t been carrying some secret torch all these years. But with age I’ve come to regret not telling those folks I really cared about in my life how important they were to me. You were. You were wonderful, even then. And it’s disappointed me in reminiscent moments over the long years since that while I remembered your face, your voice – your bonnet – places we were and things you said, I had to admit I never really got to know you: what your favorite books were, who your best friends were, what your dad did, what you wanted to do with your life…

And so I find an odd delight now in hearing you went on from our little productions to star in high school; that you thrived in the classroom, that you read Huck Finn to your high schoolers (I read to my college students, too); that you have grandkids! (I’m so envious…) I’d have loved to hear your Jim – a lot better than my Arwen Evenstar, I’m sure, but almost as hard to imagine. I’m so thankful to this website for giving me a chance finally to catch up with you, and Andy Steele, and the other folks I’ve met again here. Glad to hear you stayed in touch with Nancy. I’d lost touch with everyone.

Here’s a question for you that’s bugged me from the time I found this website: at our table in 6th grade, I sat at one end, toward the center of the room; you were to my left, and Iris Earlbaum was next to you; then Andy was on the other end and Barbara Stern sat next to him, across from Iris – but who was on my right, between Barbara and I, across from you? Damned if I can remember. Must have been too busy looking in the other direction… ;-)

So, it’s very nice meeting you again Rona Herskowitz Kantor, and renewing your acquaintance. My apologies for putting you in the awkward position of being remembered out of all proportion to your own recollections. It’s happened to me here, with younger kids mostly, who remembered some chance kindness on my part that I only dimly recall now. Beauty, like age, invites such asymmetries. I’m sure it’s not the first fan mail you’ve received – just maybe the oldest, most overdue. Glad I finally got to deliver it. Thanks for being there.
Rick