By:Vince Proto
The W.C. Mepham High School Homecoming parade will kick off at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30, at Bedford and Pettit avenues. This year, the school's Alumni and Sports Booster associations are posthumously honoring Richard Wilgenkamp, a member of the class of 1958, and his brother, Jan Wilgenkamp, class of 1956, as Mepham's 2004 Homecoming parade grand marshals.
Richard Wilgenkamp, founder and first president of the Mepham Alumni Association, died in February, only months after he helped start the Mepham Pride Is Alive campaign to bolster school spirit in the aftermath of the football hazing scandal. At the school, he showed enormous concern for the students and distributed Mepham Pride buttons, leading everyone at the school to affectionately call him the "Button Man." In the May 2004 issue of the school's student newspaper, the Buccaneer, Brooke Seligman wrote, "The thing that Mr. Wilgenkamp instilled most in me, the feeling that I will never forget, is honor and love for my school and its community." My sentiments exactly.
The Mepham Alumni Association has established the Mepham Pride Award, to be given annually in Richard's memory to the student who has exhibited pride in his alma mater, and its values and traditions. Anyone wishing to assist in this endowment should make a check payable to the "Mepham Alumni Association," note "Wilgenkamp Fund" and send it to: Mepham Alumni, 2401 Camp Ave., Bellmore, N.Y. 11710.
Not to be overlooked is the service to Mepham provided by Jan Wilgenkamp. Jan played a creative role in the early years of the Alumni Association, devoting leadership, energy and initiative in the production of a number of Mepham Alumni Choir reunion concerts and has remained an active member in the association. Music is his passion, and Jan has been described as a fine, resonant bass-baritone. A resident of Lafayette, N.J., Jan has taught music in that state since 1994, including chorus and the performing arts. It's expected that Jan's wife, Maureen, his five children and Richard's daughter Kelly will help celebrate Homecoming together.
Mepham's Alumni Breakfast will precede Homecoming on Saturday, and will be held from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in the school's west cafeteria. All alumni, students, parents, faculty and staff members, and administrators are invited to attend.
The Pirates football team will play its final regular season home game against Sewanhaka at 2 p.m. The Outback Steakhouse of Merrick, Mepham's number-one supporter, will provide hamburgers or chicken sandwiches at $4 each. Food tickets will only be sold at the Sports Boosters table, with proceeds benefiting Mepham's students.
