---My most vivid recollections of GHS center on social life; academic life is sketchy. I remember more days at the Sub Shop in Ventnor than in the classroom.

---I remember the little gray-haired ballet teacher who always wore a black gym outfit and carried a yard stick or some other lethal weapon. I was truly a klutz, but I danced in a performance at an all-Philadelphia school event. I was terrified and did more nervous shaking than dancing, but I didn’t dare refuse to perform because that little lady was not to be messed with.

---Working on the Cliveden Clipper and the yearbook were high points for me. Norman Kline’s guidance and encouragement remain with me. I don’t remember much about history classes at GHS7, although I know I was in the Mr..Wagner fan club.

---I loved grammar--puzzle pieces fitting together. English was my favorite class...creative writing...Shakespeare. Though I don’t remember any of the English teachers’ names--except Norman Kline--I am grateful to them for sending me off from GHS with an excellent vocabulary, a solid grammar base, good writing skills, an appreciation of the classics, and a love of reading.

---Was there a math department? Did I ever take a math class? I cannot remember anything about it. Was I in a calculus class? Something about bathtubs and displacing water? I remember drawing a tub with splashing water in my notebook. Or was all of that a nightmare?

---My Spanish teachers believed in drill, drill, drill, and while it was not appreciated at the time, it’s probably why I remember as much as I do.

---Looking back on my four years at Germantown High, I have wonderful, positive feelings: the faculty was supportive; the class was close and caring; the atmosphere was upbeat and fun.

---Taking a hard look back solely on my academic life at Germantown, I’m not as positive. The shortcomings were partly mine, partly the curriculum, partly the faculty. I realize that I knew how to get good grades, and to do that didn’t require exploring or questioning or straying from the curriculum. I accomplished my young, short-sighted goal of being on the Honor Roll, and I was satisfied, until...

---There were few classes that piqued my curiosity or excited or challenged me until I enrolled in an American Studies course at Temple, based on the inter-connectedness of life, not on an isolated topic, like history. For me, that was the impetus for understanding how thrilling and how much fun learning can be.

---It took me twenty-four years to land a bachelor’s degree fromTemple. In 1981, I was graduated with a degree in American Studies. I enrolled at Temple after Germantown, but I withdrew after one semester in the School of Journalism. Boring. Instead of being in school, I traveled a little and lived and worked in San Francisco, in Cuernavaca, and in center city Philadelphia.

---My favorite and funniest job was at a pharmaceutical research and consumer testing lab. There I became the chief armpit smeller for deodorant studies! Friends and family were willing test subjects because the pay was good, and the laughs were priceless. My closest colleague and friend was Millie, who taught me, among many other things, that storing dead pets in the freezer was sensible. (In elementary school, my son wrote very matter-of-factly about our dead hamster, Mitchell, in the freezer awaiting spring thaw burial.) From Millie I learned a different way of looking at life, which no formal education could have given me.

---In 1963, I married Arthur Brener (Buzz), whom I met at the Wednesday night singles hangout, McGillan’s. I continued working until my kids were born--Samantha, in 1969, and Roger, in 1974. We lived in a big, old Victorian house in Jenkintown with a wrap around front porch. I took classes at Penn State Ogontz and Temple, and sold my gourmet hors d’ouevres through the local Women’s Exchange. I finally completed my coursework and was graduated from Temple in 1981.

---When my kids were grown, I went back to work for advertising and marketing agencies, the same field as Buzz. A few years ago, we formed our own company and both of us are working as freelance marketing consultants.

---Over the years, my spare time has been spent painting, taking photographs, and creating welded metal sculpture. Last year, we moved to a rancher near Haddonfield, NJ. It’s open and filled with light, and its location is ideal, only ten minutes from our daughter, son-in-law and our two exceptional grandchildren.

---Sadly, tragically, our son, Roger, died in a car accident in 1995, just before his 21st birthday. We are lucky to have so many memories of funny, happy times with him.

---I’m thankful to have a supportive family and wonderful friends. I still count among my dearest, most amazing, funniest, weirdest, and closest friends, my GHS pals Merle Gross Edelstein, Joyce Hurvitz Bank and Marcy Forstein Riesenbach. When we are together, we are sixteen again!