WEST ORANGE, NJ – Five alumni gathered at Edison Middle School on Nov. 13 to celebrate their 80th birthdays and over 65 years of friendships formed at their alma mater.
Principal Steve Melendez and Assistant Principal Dr. Keri Orange-Jones enthusiastically greeted their special guests, taking them on a tour of the school and presenting them with a birthday cake. Students in Bonnie Pomeroy’s EMS Honors Choir sang "Happy Birthday" and the EMS orchestra, under the direction of Angel Liu, also performed. The five were visibly touched at the welcome, taking photos and videos.
Alumnus Gordon Swanson coordinated the visit with the school and met up with his old friends Jim Liccardo, Tony Cocozza, Frank Spendlove, and Tom Petrowski and walked up the steps of Edison. The five have reunited every few years to catch up and spend time together.
They met with Melendez and Orange-Jones in the office to reminisce about the old days. At the time they attended EMS, it housed grades 7-9. They graduated in 1959 and went on to West Orange High School, graduating in 1962. Liccardo grew up on Whittlesey Ave. and now lives in South Carolina. Cocozza grew up on Ashland Ave. and now lives in upstate New York. Spendlove grew up on Eagle Terrace and splits his time between his homes in Morris County and Florida. Petrowski lives in Parsippany, and Swanson in California.
While chatting about EMS and West Orange High School, they talked about how all the neighborhood families knew each other. They walked through some of their old classrooms and recalled old teachers. They laughed about how their old gym was actually the rear of the stage and how several of them enjoyed basketball careers at the high school. They also remembered the diversity of the township, even back in the 1950s and 1960s, and how much they enjoyed growing up in West Orange.
“We are blessed to have had such special lifelong friendships,” noted Swanson.
(L-R) Jim Liccardo, Tom Petrowski, Frank Spendlove, Gordon Swanson, Tony Cocozza, EMS Asst. Principal Dr. Keri Orange-Jones, EMS Principal Steve Melendez
Liccardo, Swanson, Spendlove, Petrowski, and Cocozza
Watching the presentation
Edison choir and orchestra students perform for alumni
