This Web site is by and for the students of the Hunter College Elementary School Class of 1947.

HCES is New York City's famous experimental teaching school for intellectually-gifted children. Our Class of 1947 was the first of its high-IQ-selected classes to graduate with attendance all the way from Kindergarten. We received unusual attention then, and some professional studies later.

In August 1999, some HCES '47 graduates began to reassemble a comprehensive list of our old classmates. We want to say hello to each other, so please help us to complete this list!

A First Class of 1947 Reunion was held in NYC on Friday, June 8, 2001. Contact was Aben Rudy, 11Z (see below).

An Informal 11X Reunion was hosted in Westbury, Long Island on Sunday, June 24th, 2001. Contact was Alice Lowenbraun Funk, 11X (see below).

* The School (HCES descriptions, building photos and Web links)
* Professional studies of HCES (and our class)
* Our classmates
* To volunteer further information, etc.

The School (HCES descriptions, building photos and Web links):

HCES's own Alumni/ae Page

HCES's own History Page

HCES Newsletter (first issue is May 2001)

"Genius School", Life Magazine, March 22th, 1948, pp.113-117 (not March 27th, as published in some books!).

During the past decade Hunter College in New York City has been interested in finding ways and means of conserving and developing the superior abilities of mentally gifted children. Ever since 1941, when the Hunter College Elementary School was set up as an experiment for the education of the gifted, the school has been making a contribution to the existing knowledge about these children. The study has had the aid and support of many persons who believe that the cause of democracy will be furthered by better provision for training the gifted. The school, now internationally known as a laboratory for the study of gifted children, has steadily exerted leadership in all phases of experimental work with the gifted; it has served as a center of information about the gifted, as a training center for teachers of the gifted, and as a source of assistance to other institutions working toward the same goals.
   The following HCES teachers (and our HCES Principal, Dr. Florence N. Brumbaugh) participated in the workshop and served on the committees that prepared the preliminary report: Margaret Maybury, Gertrude Czinner, Nancy Farris, Elaine Pairaudeau, Alice Hunt, Margaret Rooney, Elizabeth Barry, Gertrude Dever, Katheryn Fitzpatrick, Helene Kilcullen, Grace Crystal, Julia Duffy, Jane Carey, Catharine Carney, Lillian Rice, Providence Gambaro Rini, Marie Boylan, Anna C. Chandler, Minnie R. Hopstein, Helen Rustland, William Pollard, Mary Burgess.
(From the 1952 preface to Educating gifted children at Hunter College Elementary School.)

From 68th to 69th, from Lexington to Park,
There stands an elementary school that makes its own landmark.
Chorus:
Oh, Hunter, you we hail. Your precepts never fail.
Alma Hunter! Oh, Alma Hunter! You're our Mother School!
(As we sang it then.)

Hunter College Elementary School initiated its new policy as a school for the intellectually gifted in 1941... High-IQ children residing within specified geographical parameters (including most of Manhattan) were solicited, screened, and selected. Three floors of a wing of Hunter College's new Park Avenue building ... were allocated to the new school. Within minutes of the finest museums, art galleries, libraires, and theaters, Hunter's high-rise campus held promise for its newest clients as a facility that offered better and more numerous cultural resources than perhaps any other in the world.
     Requirements for admission to Hunter's campus school were so stringent that it earned a reputation as one of the most highly selective grade schools in the nation... A score of 130 or above on the individually administered 1937 revision of the Stanford-Binet test (Form L-M) was required for entrance... The second screening involved detailed observation and interviews with parent and child.
(from Genius Revisited; High IQ Children Grown Up)

Hunter College Elementary School, New York City, is a lab school for gifted children.  In general, the children who attend Hunter College Elementary School are self-motivated, independent, and inventive. They tend to be curious, persistent, and questioning youngsters who love the challenge of learning new concepts. They often have artistic/creative talents in addition to their strengths in school tasks. Most of the students have outstanding verbal skills and have developed large vocabularies. The children are also characterized by having good memories and exceptional critical thinking skills.
(From Hunter College's own current HCES Web site)

The Hunter College Campus Schools (HCCS) consist of an elementary school (nursery  grade 6) and a high school (grades 7-12), with enrollments of approximately 360 and 1,200 students, respectively. The schools are publicly funded (tuition-free), chartered by the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York, and administered by Hunter College. The Campus Schools serve as coeducational laboratory schools, organized as research and demonstration centers for students who exhibit superior cognitive ability.
History of the Campus Schools
In 1869, The Female Normal and High School was established to educate young women for the teaching profession. In 1870, the name was changed to the Normal College of the City of New York; the school encompassed both high school and college-level courses. In 1902, the high school and college courses were separated. In 1914, the High School and the College were named for their first president, Dr. Thomas Hunter. The High School was officially designated as a "laboratory school for the education of intellectually gifted girls" in 1955, and in 1974 boys were admitted for the first time. For many years Hunter College High School and Hunter College were on the same campus. Since 1977 the Campus Schools (Hunter College Elementary and Hunter College High School) have been located on 94th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues in Manhattan.
Hunter College High School is a combination junior and senior high school. It is a six-year program that begins in the seventh grade. Each year approximately 2,500 sixth-grade students from the five boroughs of New York City take the Hunter College High School entrance exam, competing for roughly 240 spaces in the entering class. The seventh grade is the only entry point.  Students must remain New York City residents as long as they are in attendance.
Hunter College Elementary School was established in 1870 as part of the Hunter College Teacher Education Program. It was originally known as the Hunter Model School; its name changed to its present form in 1941.  Its curriculum includes instruction in foreign languages, art, computer technology, math, music, science, and physical education. Children who are admitted to the HCES may continue their education at the high school as long as academic, residency, and personal conduct requirements are met. The elementary school is open to students who live in Manhattan.
(From a 2001 news release:; but note that a lot more than the name changed in 1941!)

Richard Miller's June, 2001 photographs of the 69th Street entrance to Hunter College: looking west past Park Avenue to Central Park, the side entrance just to its east, and a close-up of that side entrance. Hunter College Elementary School has moved elsewhere, but you can still see where the words "Elementary School" once welcomed us into that side entrance (and the elevator to our upper floor) every school morning.

Professional studies of HCES (and our class):

"A School for Gifted Children", Childhood Education (20:325),
   1944 Dr. Florence Newell Brumbaugh.
Educating gifted children at Hunter College Elementary School,
   1952 Hildreth, Gertrude Howell,1898- [LC3983.N4 H5 1952].
Educating gifted children at Hunter College Elementary School,
   1970 by Gertrude Howell Hildreth, in collaboration with
   Florence Newell Brumbaugh and Frank Thompson Wilson [LC3995.N5 H5 1970].
The Hunter College campus schools for the gifted : the challenge of equity and excellence,
   1992 Elizabeth Stone [LD7501.N5145 S76 1992].
Genius revisited : high IQ children grown up,
   1993 Rena Subotnik, Ellen Summers, Lee Kassan and Alan Wasser
   [BF723.G5 G365 1993].
A Brief History of the Education of the Gifted Child,   
   2004? by Ellen Summers
(from its pp.16-18)
In 1940 a conference on the gifted paid homage to Dr. Leta S. Hollingworth of Teachers College, Columbia, who administered the Speyer School, an experimental venture in a public school that catered to the highly gifted student. The classes, called Terman Classes, in recognition of the man who had brought a wealth of valuable information to the field of gifted education, were centered around a course of study inspired by Dr. Hollingworth’s “belief that high ability students should be provided with an educational program that promotes both cognitive and affective development” (White, Renzulli, p. 89). Enrichment, rather than acceleration, was the key change in philosophy practiced and advocated by those who observed the Terman Classes.

Dr. Hollingworth and Dr. Jacob Theobald, principal of P.S. 165 in Manhattan, initiated a project whose goal was to carry on an intensive study of the gifted. Having intensively investigated those children of prodigious mentality, with IQs of 180 or higher, Dr. Hollingworth was singularly equipped to contribute to the field. She offered a course on educating gifted children at Columbia University, and experimented with the gifted of The Speyer School (a component branch of P.S. 55, established at the end of the l9th century) that set the stage for a 1935 policy of providing special classes for the gifted.

Before l940, Hunter College administered a model elementary school to serve as a training ground for its students intending to become teachers. As a result of Dr. Hollingworth’s Speyer School work, it was revealed that among many other factors, highly gifted children present special challengers to teachers, administrators and to themselves; that to a large degree, the success or failure of such students later in life is contingent upon their early education; the earlier the recognition and tailoring of special programs for the gifted, the better for them; those who have made the best adjustment in life are those who received parental and professional recognition early and were guided by those experts of gifted education; and the most well adjusted students of superior intellect are those who are educated with their peer group, a relatively small but elite portion of the general population.

The Hunter College Elementary School administration decided to devote their efforts in the Model School to serve high IQ children from nursery school to sixth grade. New York City schools in the private sector, while not specifically exclusive to superior students nevertheless attracted and enrolled a major portion (75%) of the gifted. Horace Mann and later The Lincoln School, both under the auspices of Teachers College, attracted students who exhibited superior intellect. Townsend Harris High School, Stuyvesant High, The Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Technical High School later followed the pattern of accepting only the most outstanding of students from the elementary schools of New York City. While schools like Townsend Harris, Bronx Science, Stuyvesant and Brooklyn Tech were designated for boys only, Hunter College High School was established solely for girls of exceptional ability in 1955. It later became co-ed along with the aforementioned schools.

The students in our three classrooms:
(where AU=Address Unknown, AC=Address Confidential)
Please help us to complete this list!
 

Graduating Class: 11X Homeroom Teacher: Miss Julia Duffy	Top row: Billy Joseph, Johnny Friedman, Richard Miller, Marie Caspe, Joan Gershweir, Victor Braunstein, Morton Gumpel.  Middle row: Candace Orcott, Mary Carol Davies, Dora Lilienthal, Miss Duffy, Gay Sourian, Alice Lowenbraun.  Bottom Row: Judy Smith, Mara Unterman, Ellen Fogelson, Jane Fass, Diana Lilienfeld, Elizabeth Kaplan, Carolyn Weir, Norma Stinson.
Faith Avidon (Wohl) HCES K-10, HS of Music and Art,  Adelphi University	One Great Circle Road., Newark, DE 19711  302/234-8418  FWohl@childcareaction.org
Walter Benenson	6111 Skyline Drive, East Lansing, MI 48823  Home: 517/351-1848; Michigan State Univ., NSCL: 517/333-6312  Benenson@nscl.msu.edu  and http://www.nscl.msu.edu/~benenson/
Susan Berlin Bronx HS of Science In 1982, Susan interviewed about half of her 11X classmates.	66 Sugarbush Rd., Lanark, Ontario, CANADA K0G 1K0 613/259-5036 susan@susanberlin.ca Ways We Live : Exploring Community (1997, Susan's text for TV documentary series)
Leah Binger (Lenney)	1019 Esplanade, Pelham Manor, NY 10803
David Bloom	Died Jan. 24, 2003. Mrs. Sherri Bloom 90 Pinewood Road, Apt. 1B, Hartsdale, NY 10530
Victor Braunstein	175 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011  212/243-4387
Marie Caspe	80 Waller Avenue, White Plains, NY 10605
Mary Carol Davies	AU
Jane Fass (Kavy)	24 Grace Lane, Ossining, NY 10652
Ellen Fogelson (Liman)	1 East 87th Street, New York, NY 10128  Or, is she now at  435 East 52nd Street, New York, NY 10022
Ellen Franzen (Kaplan)	106 Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02139  617/876-4693  Kaplan@math.harvard.edu
John Friedman	AU
Joan Gershweir (Kadushin)	131 Bank Street, New York, NY 10014  212/989-3701
Morton Gumpel	AU
William (Billy) Joseph	229 E 80th Street, Apt. 3C, New York, NY 10021  212/734-9054
Karen Kagey (Brink)	730 Main Street, Shrewsbury, MA 01545 (moved)
Elizabeth ("Liz") Kaplan (Woy) HS of Music and Art	13-K Academy House, 1420 Locust St., Philadelphia, PA 19102  215/732-8968  SecorWoy@snip.net
Diana March Lilienfeld	Died ca. 1989.
Dora Linenthal (LoBianco)	66 Lockwood Road, South Salem, New York 10590
Alice Lowenbraun (Funk)	Died January 2006. Her husband is Alan Funk, 1966 Ladenburg Drive, Westbury, NY 11590-5918  516/997-9049
A. Richard Miller Richard (a.k.a. "Dick" to newer friends) created this Web site.  Richard was the only K-11 student from Queens; from Kindergarten, he commuted by subway.  JHS 125, Brooklyn Tech, RPI, Queens College	A. Richard Miller, Partner, Miller Microcomputer Services  61 Lake Shore Road, Natick, MA 01760  508/653-6136, 9am-9pm  TheMillers@millermicro.com and http://millermicro.com/ Richard has been an engineering physicist at Polarad Corp., Kollsman Instrument Corp., Block Engineering, and Edgerton, Germeshausen and Grier (EG&G). He's been Executive Director of the Lake Cochituate Watershed Assn., and as an environmental activist he has participated in projects and conferences in Massachusetts and nationally. He and his wife Jill are partners in Miller Microcomputer Services. He has helped develop new medical equipment, worked to save lakes and to build trails, developed MMSFORTH and other computer software, and has his own garbage on the Moon.
Jeremy Musher	Jeremy died of brain cancer in 1974.
Joel Norman HCES K-10  Joel emigrated to Israel in 1946.	Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, ISRAEL  +972-48249675; Fax: +972-4-8240546  JNorman@psy.haifa.ac.il
Candace Orcutt	313 Herrick Ave., Teaneck, NJ 07666  201/836-5881  (also: 45 Eastern Promenade, Portland, ME 04101)
Prudence Schwabe (Peterson)	61 West Rayburn Road, Millington, NJ 07946
Anthony (Tony) Segal	AU
Judy Smith (MacDonald)	AU
Gay Sourian (Cropper)	188 E. 109th St, New York, NY 10029  212/369-4639
Judy Smith (MacDonald)	644 W. Melrose, Chicago, IL 60657  (moved; no forwarding addr.)
John (Johnny) Steele	AU
Norma Stinson (Liberty Stinson Bain)	Died 2005. Was: 6216 Agee St., Apt 114, San Diego, CA 92122  858/558-6440  LibertyBain@aol.com
Maureen Sweeney	AU
Jerome Tarshis	25 Sanchez Street #424, San Francisco, CA 94114-1142  415/436-9082  (E-mail unlisted.)
Mara Unterman (Rivera)	15 Bessie Street, San Francisco, CA 94110  415/824-2738
Carolyn Weir	386 Plaza Road North, Fairlawn, NJ 07410  201/797-5928
Graduating Class: 11Y Homeroom Teacher:  Mrs. Katheryn Fitzpatrick
Hubert Cecil Birnbaum	3425 East Utopia Road, Phoenix, AZ 85050  602/569-3433
Theodore (Theo, Ted) Cosmides	Deceased, November 15, 2000  2604 Arbor Dr, Madison, WI 53711-1980  608/231-2602
Jane Croll (Wolfe)	1420 Gerard Street, Mamaroneck, NY 10543
Jeri Fluegelman (Josephson)	3 Hanover Road, Scarsdale, NY 10563
Earl Ford PS 6, Stuyvesant HS	Earl P. Ford  536 Wadsworth Avenue, Plainfield, NJ 07060  908/561-5128  EPF536@bellatlantic.net
Anne Marie Frieden (or Friedin, Freiden?)	AU
Ernest Gilbert Trinity Prep, PS 6, Music and Art	3513 North 27th Street, Waco, TX 76708  254/755-7879  EGilbert@swbell.net
Joan Handleman (Lazerson)	935 Glenhaven, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272  310/454-0727
Miriam Herman (Hoffberg)	39 Vardon Road, West Hartford, CT 06117  860/232-0337  MiriamHoffberg@hotmail.com
Jeffrey (Jeff) Krebs	390 Birch Lane, Irvington, NY 10533  914/591-5733  JCK1936@cs.com
Paula Kurzband (Feder)	PO Box 68, Centerbrook, CT 06409-0068  860/767-1725
Barbara Loebenstein (Michaels)	336 Central Park West, Apt. 6F, New York, NY 10025  212/662-4986; Fax: 212/531-0193  BL_Michaels@msn.com
Maxine Marcus (Boshes)	5450 Diller Avenue, Culver City, CA 90230  310/391-9884
Herbert Morris Brooklyn Technical HS (grad. June 1953)	AU
Lois Otten (Robbins) Left before graduation	40 East 88th Street, New York, NY 10128  212/722-7447 lor.mdr@verizon.net
George Patterson PS 6, Stuyvesant HS,  Webb Institute for Naval Engineering	301 Sand Pine Road, Indialantic, FL 32903  407/777-3721 George3141@aol.com
Lawrence Posner	AU
Ruth Prager (Cogen)	2010 Hillyer Place NW, Washington, DC 20009  202/387-0274  RPCogen@aol.com
Eva Preminger	Surrogates Court of the County of New York,  1 Chambers Street, New York, NY  Attn: Judge Eva Preminger  Premeva@aol.com
Leonard R. Prosnitz, M.D.	114 Stoneridge Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27514-9772  919/942-7296  Department of Radiation Oncology, Box 3085,  Duke Univ. Med. Center, Durham, N.C. 27710  919/660-2110; Fax: 919/684-3953  Prosnitz@radonc.duke.edu
Ariane Ruskin (Batterberry)	1100 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10028  212/744-4514
Fred Synes	Died ca. 1949.
Anne Walker	P.O. Box 502, Millwood, NY 10546
Mary Lou Weiss (Kavaler)	360 West 36th Street, New York, NY 10080  212/268-0176
Robert Yaris	7241 Maryland Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63130  314/726-0518
Graduating Class: 11Z Homeroom Teacher: Miss Grace Crystal
Donald Aronson	77 Brayton Street, Englewood, NJ 07631  201/568-6751  DAronson@worldnet.att.net
Bessima Bach	AU
Louise Bender (Hecht) Cooper Union	1055 Malbrough Drive, Alpharetta, GA 30004  770/410-9010
Faye Bergner Bronx HS of Science	264 South Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90212  310/277-2275
Ilene Edelstein (Beckerman)	P.O. Box 112, Hampton, NJ 08827  908-537-1122  gingyib@earthlink.net
Nancy Fish	8834 Hollywood Hills Rd., Los Angeles, CA 90046  323/650-1203  MissNFish@aol.com
Abby G. Frank	111 Third Avenue, #8D, New York, NY 10003-5520  212/228-4844
Judith Gellert (Haun)	16540 Akron Street, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272  310/454-7911  310/454-8611 fax  J.Haun@gte.net
Marilyn Gellis The Dalton School, Cornell University	From Palm Springs Obit (California):  Marilyn J. Gellis, 66, of Palm Springs died on March 16, 2002, at home. She taught at Palm Springs Unified School District for more than 30 years, and was nominated for its Teacher of the Year award. She also taught at Charter Hospital. An author, she founded the Public Awareness Institute.
Adam Goodman	115 Central Park West, New York, NY 10023  212/362-6401
Helen Hanson	AU (was child model)
Miriam Kaplan	3 Washington Square Village, New York, NY 10012  212/533-3191
Henry Lambert	171 East 80 Street, New York, NY 10021  212/570-2918
Alan Landis	18 Patrick Lane, Westport, CT 06880  203/227-6112
A. Michael (Mike) Lipper	47 Maple Street, Summit, NJ 07901  908/273-2772
Jean Lowrie	AU
Linda Marcus (Nelson)	50 East 79th Street, New York, NY 10021  212/288-8883  SKN01@aol.com
Susan Masback (Thomsen)	Died Fall 2006. Was: 1591 North Siano Loop, Florence, OR 97439  bobsusie@mymailstation.com
Margery Marton	Institutionalized; Aben Rudy is in contact with her brother.
Betsy Miller (Landis)	14 Colonial Road, White Plains, NY 10605  914/949-6337 home; 212/824-2240 work  LandisBD@ix.netcom.com
Lucy Pederson-Krag (Baddeley)	1011 Grant Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405  310/452-3612  emmaj@apexmail.com
Billy Rosenblum (William F. "Bill" Rosenblum, Jr.)	199 Highland Rd., Scarsdale, NY 10583  914/725-5319
Michael Rosenwasser	1366 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021  212/737-0059
Aben Rudy Aben, assisted by others, builds this list of addresses.	5051 N. Sabino Canyon Rd., Apt 1103, Tucson, AZ 85750  520/615-1415  Lobster@ultrasw.com
Carl Schiffman	210 Devoe Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211  718/388-3878
Evelyn Schnabel (Hunt)	Evelyn S. Hunt, Attorney  84 Sotelo Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94116
David Silver left early for Fieldston Academy	AU
Merle Skoler (Becker) HS of Music and Art	3800 Atlantic Avenue, Apt. 803, Virginia Beach, VA 23451  Phone probably is 757/437-9633  MLSBecker9@hotmail.com
Iris Slater, M.D.	245A East 61 Street, New York, NY 11211  212/988-5165
Barbara Weil (Fox)	47 E. 88th St., New York, NY 10024  212/289-5322

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