Memorandum

Subject: Class – 1973 Reunion, September 8, 2023

To All: Class of 1973 - Don’t know if I’m posting this message correctly. If anyone knows of a Class 73 Email group please let me know, I don’t Facebook.

Kim Braun’s piece inspired me to wright these thoughts and observations after our 50th class reunion. I apologize now for the length but, perhaps think of it as a poem. Thinking back to previous reunions speaking with classmates and wondering about others that didn’t attend. I discovered that quite a few classmates had migrated to Florida as I and that some I asked about are no longer on this earth.

The Nostalgia Eve at Giardino’s was a joy even though I struggled to communicate with others because of my hearing loss and it was so loud. The Giardino’s location was very nostalgic to me because I grew up directly across the street. I lived there until I was 14 when my parents moved to Captains Village in South Yarmouth.

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Thinking back wondering about people of the generation before mine, coworkers, fiends and relatives my age and if they are still on this earth. My parents are far gone away, I have no Uncles and only 3 Aunts left one 100 one 102. My family and friends on Cape Cod are getting smaller every year.

When observations spark the reality that (you can never go back) that’s when I realized why we have the reunions, because having memories of the good times past makes us feel good!

Growing up in West Yarmouth was a wonderful place. I think back and imagine sitting in the clouds above Cape Cod facing north above West Yarmouth in around 1965 looking down at my house. To the right or east there was Fruitland store. On the west side the Real Estate office, Raymond's TV service, Ellis’s summer cottages, Monroe’s Gulf gas station, the Miniature Golf course, Gingerbread House Ice cream, and seasonal Carl’s Restaurant at the top of the hill. Across the street coming west to east the Mill Hill Club, Rainbow roller skate rink, Everett’s Sunoco station, Bowling Alley / later A&W Root beer, Dairy Queen, Bill & Thelma’s Restaurant, the Thunderbird Motel, Silver Seahorse nightclub / later Johnny Yee’s Restaurant, Tasty Tower Pizza / Giardino’s, and Mather’s Esso gas station.

In the winters of 64 - 67 it was fun to sled down hill to the Mill Pond or on the iced parking lot from Carl’s Restaurant to the Gingerbread House. You could ice skate on the cranberry bog at the Barefoot Trader. Summer was good at Colonial Acres beach, walk over to the Gingerbread House or Dairy Queen then play some miniature gulf. On weekend evenings I snuck over beyond the Gingerbread House to a large gated fenced area where semi pro wrestling matches were held. I could see through the cracks in the fence. Every July the carnival set up in that field where the Cove is now.

In the early 70’s I still hung out in West Yarmouth, Giardino’s, A&W and the Mill Hill Club. When I turned 18 June 1,1973 congress lowered the drinking age from 21 to 18. I never drank that much, but could now get into the clubs, and we boogied down LOL! Saturday nights we’d club hop, in Yarmouth the Compass Lounge, Mill Hill Club and Rascals, Hyannis at the Mooring, Velvet Hammer, the Swamp Fox was the most fun. Dennis had The Improper Bostonian Sun Dancers, and Rum Runners. I can’t leave out the Woodshed in Brewster. The summer drive-in theaters we’re great as well! Oh how that Big Block Trans Am’s deep exhaust note sounded sweet and handled and looked as we drove our hot rods on the streets of Hyannis, Yarmouth and Dennis.

Still sitting up in the clouds looking down at West Yarmouth 1974 I see before me the A&W our hot rods with food trays on the side windows. In the heavy summer air I smell the burgers frying. Behind me the Atlantic stars coming out on a summers night and everywhere the twilight falls on America. To the west, Hyannis and its clubs. To the east, South Yarmouth, Dennis Port and Brewster with their special hang out spots. To the North, Boston with our colleges Wentworth Institute, Northeastern, MIT, Boston Collage, Emerson, and Simmons to name a few.

I don’t know about anyone else but I feel it was a privilege to live, work in Yarmouth and attend D-Y RHS. I am so thankful to Fred and Phyllis for making my families home in Yarmouth and for the great classmates I have at D-Y RHS.
I don’t know if I'll attend the next reunion or if I will still be on this earth, only God knows that. Good Lord willing I’ll see some of you in between that time.

I want to offer special thanks to Debbie Bryant and the others who worked to put our 50th reunion together. You did an excellent job!!!

God bless you all.

Mark D Gonsalves, Class – 1973