I remember my first day of school as if it were yesterday.  It was Sept. 1948 when I entered Ivy Street School's morning kindergarten class.  My teachers were Mrs. Elizabeth Carley and Ms. Pearl Lux.  Each day, we began with a song "Good Morning to You, Good Morning to you.  We're all in our places with sun-shiny faces.  And this is the way we start off each day!"

        Years passed, and occasionally I would think back to those days at Ivy Street School, and try to remember some of my classmates and teachers.

        One day in the middle of July, 1987, on a Tuesday evening, I was in my living room with my then 16 month-old son Daniel.  I was sitting on the piano bench, and Daniel was happily banging on the piano keys.  I started to play the "Good Morning to You" song for him, even though I had not thought about it in years.

        Two days later, (Thursday) when I arrived at my office, I opened up the Newark Star-Ledger, and when I got to the obituary page, there was a story about Mrs. Carley.  She had died at Brick Hospital on Tuesday evening at the age of 87.  Ironically, she spent her last days in Toms River, where I have lived since 1972.  I never ran into her in all that time, but somehow I thought of her the very evening she passed away.  I realize that this is probably only coincidence, but I guess I will never know.

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