Sylvain Avenue Elementary class of 1991

I moved to Florida in 1989 — very beginning of the year — from Long Island New York. That’s 17 long years here in the Sunshine state. Yet there was never a time where I totally forgot the kids I used to go to school with in New York, though I had no clue how to get in touch with them.

Oh sure, I visited Brian Huber — a kid who lived a couple of houses away — in the early 1990’s when my family visited our old house and old neighbors in Blue Point… But there are other people that I can still remember from school who I wonder what happened to. David Carew for starters, or Tommy Bonasara. Chris Rambo and Jessica Perna… In fact, I’m actually getting ticked off at myself for forgetting some of the last names of kids that I can remember.

There was the pastors son, Tommy, who had a ton of brothers and sisters. There was Mike who lived near Sylvain Avenue Elementary, and there was the tall kid, Jason who lived a few blocks away from me. Not far from Jason, there was Sarah who seemed like she couldn’t stand me. There was Scott who lived closer to the school — his father was divorced and took Scott and his brothers to see Die Hard (of all movies — we were fourth graders and this kid gets to see an R rated flick? Bah!). There was Brian and Ryan, who lived closer to Jessica Perna. Brian got sick and tired of me – he also had some of his toys stollen by my younger brother. Brian loved Rock and Roll and his father worked in the city.

Betsy Maldanado, Jennifer Jones… Ray, Cheryl, Daniel, Mrs. Giarracco (who taught me both in 2nd and 4th grades). People long in my past but not quite forgotten.