Mary Palmieri Gai, Broker

Yes, fellow Stapleite, we had the best high school in the country. It was certainly the coolest. We had a 9 building campus that was an open campus. We had a student lounge that was about 3000 sqare feet. It housed WWPT radio station and had no supervision from teachers or parents. It was completely separated from the rest of the school. It faced the athletic on the southeast corner of the building in the basement and there were no class rooms with entrances anywhere near it. (what were they thinking??) . We hung out, we played cards and we did anything but study.

The campus was filled with kids, We had 2000 students on which also included Weston High School students. We were an open campus which meant we could leave at any time and go to the Crest (where Playhouse Square is now), or to Carrols hamburgers, (present day Arby's). Sometimes we'd go downtown or to the Liverpool shop which was near the Ice Cream Parlor just up from Colonial Green. Big Toppe Shoppe was the class favorite with those wickedly savory spare ribs and incredible duck sauce. And hamburgers so good they "dare serve em rare"  Not only are they gone but I am sad to say that their sister store, the one in New Haven is now gone as well.

Who can forget our historic walk from campus to downtown by the movie theatre, or the peace signs made with our hands that made it onto our yearbook. But Staples would not be the cool school it is today without the historic bands that played there. I know so little because I was simply a spectator. I went to the Cream concert there and fell in love with real rock and roll with Eric Clapton just  a few feet away and Ginger Baker, the famous drummer, doing what seemed like a 20 minute solo that rocked my world. I saw the Doors there, Sly and the Family Stone TWICE there.. and the Guess Who, the Yardbirds, and ones I couldn't get tickets for were the Animals, the Young Rascals, and others. Just how did these miracles happen that turned our school into the best high school in America? Check out http://smollin.com/staples  and look at the photo archive for a look at some photographic evidence of this miraculous cool time brought to us by Dick Sandhaus, brother of my classmate, Ellen Sandhaus. And don't forget to register there for our next reuinion which we have every 5 years.

Tribute to Jim Calkins. Principal of Staples HIgh School during the drug and sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s, Mr. Calkins is lauded with doing something that built our character probably more than anything else, he trusted us. His tenure at Staples rendered a successful generation of entrepreneurs, artists, CEOs and pillars of the community most of which joined the establishment and went on to have children of their own.  He was a mentor and personal friend to many and never hesistated to give freely of his wisdom and council long after leaving Staples and Connecticut. His beloved Outer Banks where he summered each year for the last many years of his life was the scene of happy times and family get-togethers.

Yardbirds Chris Dreja, Jimmy Paige, Jim McCarty take tea in Sandhaus basement post-concert 1966
Photo by Ellen Sandhaus

 http://smollin.com

check this site for the most amazing artwork from one of our famed classmates, Mark Smollin

 http://www.w-financial.com/

from our classmate attorney and financial genius Marc Bailin