Fort Lee to Rivervale, New Jersey

We moved from Fort Lee to Rivervale, New Jersey around 1953. In many ways it was sad to leave but it really meant a new life for our family. By then I had two little brothers and our family needed to move on. I attended St. Andrew's Catholic school in Westwood for grammar school and then went to Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale which was a regional high school. It was really difficult to get used to public school after attending a private school for 9 years. The first day in Algebra I got laughed at because I stood up when the teacher spoke to me. Also, we didn't have much phys ed in Catholic school. We had ballroom dancing instead. I did not know anything about athletics. It was difficult to make friends. Everyone already had their friends from grammar school. The school was 2 miles away and for the first 3 years I had to walk back and forth in the morning and the evening. By my senior year we had a regular warm school bus like all the other kids. It was an exciting time for, "Rock and Roll" was in full bloom with Elvis Pelvis on the Ed Sullivan show. I screamed at the TV set a lot.