Last Front Street School grad class reunites

The 1949 graduating class of the Front Street School.

Courtesy Fran Weiner Mouton

The Front Street School class of 1949, clockwise from bottom left, Lynn Whitely Hughes, Lawrence Lorentzen, Walter Lowden, Louis Darienzo, Raymond Hoeffner, Russell Weiss, Patricia Boylan Phillips, Fran Weiner Mouton and Alice Veinot Vorstadt.

Courtesy Walter Lowden

• 
• 

Walter Lowden vividly remembers Dec. 5, 1950, when the Front Street School, where he had graduated from a year earlier, burned down. His uncle drove him there, and he watched as the school, on the corner of East Meadow Avenue and Front Street, was alit in flames. "We witnessed it with interest and awe,” said Lowden, now 78.

Not only was he a student there, but Lowden’s mother, Eleanor, had taught there. “It was very sad and mixed feelings,” he said.

Lowden was one of 30 graduates of the school in 1949, which taught students in grades one to eight, the last graduating class the school would ever have.

And on Monday, Nov. 24, eight of those graduates met at the East Meadow Public Library — which now resides in the school’s old location — for their 65th year reunion since their Front Street School graduation.

Since East Meadow High School had not yet been built, graduates at the time moved on to Hempstead High School, where Lowden’s class graduated from in 1953.

Lowden, who organized the gathering, said the reunion’s foundation was planted when he met with former classmates for his 50th and 55th high school reunion.

With the help of former classmates Russell Weiss, who Lowden has remained friends with, and Fran Weiner Mouton, who still lives in East Meadow, they were able to reach out to other classmates to arrange the gathering.

Lowden now lives upstate in East Chatham, and was the only one of the group who no longer lives in Long Island. Also joining them was Raymond Hoeffner, of East Meadow, who wasn’t among their class, but is a local history buff, who Lowden said joined them for the historical angle.

The group met at around noon at the library. Assistant Director Rocco Cassanno provided them with a tour and a private room to meet in.

Lowden said their time was spent reminiscing, recalling fond memories, as well as remembering where old classrooms were located within the library. “For about an hour, we shared stories, laughs and memories,” he said.

Mouton, who raised her children in Levittown before returning to East Meadow 22 years ago, brought old photographs to the reunion from their Front Street days.