Editor's note:  The Bronxville School Class of 1973 celebrated its reunion this past weekend. Richard C. Ilse '73 wrote the article below about memories of the time in which this class grew up. Beth Raebeck Hall '73 provided many photos from the reunion, which you can see by clicking on this link.

By Richard C. Ilse, Member, BHS Class of 1973

Oct. 31, 2018:  We were born into the boom of the 1950s. Our early morals were instilled by the Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows Best values of the early sixties. Later we were tricked into believing we would boldly go where no man has gone before. In fact, we would never get the future we were promised. The world didn’t grow up, there is no peace on Earth, and our cars don’t even fly. Also, science fiction is about the only thing left of our manned spaceflight program, and who would have believed that 40 years ago? But within our years of becoming the class of '73, anything was possible. We worked to end war and rallied for the right to vote at 18, since we could legally drink at that age then, as well as fight and die for our country.

As for our music, we were turned on early by the Beatles, because for us Elvis had indeed left the building. Then later we rolled with The Stones and were led by Zeppelin after Janis, Jimmy, and Jim all packed it in.  Later our brothers in music became the Allmans and Doobies. Then our culture combed out Broadway with musicals like Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar. Our music is so powerful that it still exists anew today almost a half-century later, having been supplanted but never replaced, as every other generation (like our parents) had been before. Disco made an attempt first, but we threw a lot of rock at it. Since then there have been a lot of variations on our original creations, but the saying rock and roll will never die, by now we can all see why.

As for our parents, they couldn’t understand us, society couldn’t stand us, and even we did not know where things were going to go. Values shifted and morals sifted through the change as we rode the winds of a teenage wasteland, which excited us and incited our parents. Hair went long, hemlines went short, sex became prolific, and profanity monolithic. Again, we created a norm that still exists today.

As for our country, in 1973 we had the greatest home-court advantage in the history of the world and used it. We were able to fight a war and civil unrest at home and did not Apollo-gize for continuing to send men to the moon, and through all of this our economy stayed strong. Try that one today!

As for the wide world of sports, New York was the best place to be. The year we graduated and became freshman in college the Mets won the World Series and the Knicks an NBA championship, which was a repeat of our other freshman year (high school) when both teams did the same along with a guy by the name of Namath, who guaranteed a Super Bowl victory for the Jets and did it, thus reaffirming to us that anything is possible. So all this kind of makes you feel that we were born at just the right time, in just the right place.

We then started making our way in the world through the rest of the seventies and beyond, as sons became fathers and daughters gave birth to their own. In the eighties, we hit our thirties, and in the nineties, time stopped, as being in our forties seemed surreal because it once seemed so far away back in the day. When the new millennium hit, it meant the passage of time, which gave us perspective on life and our own bottom line. Now we watch our children become us, as they become parents too.

Then our grandchildren will see the world through the eyes the size of wonder as we once did. Then they will become teenagers in high school with their own graduating class, and isn’t that where this whole reunion thing started.

Through it all, each one of us has kept our own class friends from back then, which is part of why and how we all came together again. So this is for the class of 1973 and how we came to be.

Editor's note: As a public service, MyhometownBronxville publishes articles from local institutions, officeholders, and individuals. MyhometownBronxville does not fact-check statements therein, and any opinions expressed therein do not necessarily reflect the thinking of its staff.