This is a place to post comments, photos, whatever...about growing up in the Hialeah Area...or anything else that is on your mind. In the past, we've been using our individual webpages for this purpose, but now we have a dedicated forum on our website. Please note that this forum is "not secure" and that comments you make are available to anyone that visits this website.  

If you post a comment about a deceased classmate in this section, please also post one on the classmate's "In Memory" page. Your comments here get lost in the many other comments over time while whatever you post on a classmate's "In Memory" page can easily be found by our classmates and family members of the deceased. 

Vince "Vinny" Rusinak

Toni Canonico (Nasco)

A HUGE THANK YOU to each of my HHS Classmates for your kind BIRTHDAY WISHES posted to this old gal!!!! Such loving memories of each of you!!! Blessings, Toni

Ian Seecof

I doubt that many, if any, of you would remember me as I was not much of a conformist nor a spoke in any wheels. I only recently discovered these HHS pages, but would like to attend a class of 1964 reunion. My wife and I are snowbirds and have a home in St. Pete where we have spent winters for about 20+ years.It seems that previous reunions have been in months of warmer temperatures when Cheryl and I are on our bicycles exploring various destinations.

I am surprised that reunion-months are not relatively winter events, since many classmates may be sun-seekers. In any event, if a proposed date is posted, I would endeavor to attend now that I know where to look. As I scroll through posts I recognize many names from a very distant past. Best wishes to all.

Vince "Vinny" Rusinak

Click on the Home Page link (top left) to see the announcement providing details of the upcoming 60th HHS Class of 1964 Reunion.

Bill Coffeen

Book your room for our 60th reunion now before the rooms in the main building are gone ... see you Sep 24th and 25th at Capt Hiram's

Bill Coffeen

Luis Fernandez (Salvat)

FYI: Albert Gamble died on April 30, 2015. He was a great friend. Al and wife Sandra lived in Eustis Fl. He was a highly decorated veteran of the U.S. Army and served a tour of duty in VietNam as a medic. Later on he became the Chief Code Enforcement Officer in the City of Hialeah. His obituary was published in the Miami Herald.

FYI: Ed Stella (actually Edgardo) died on March 13, 2012 from diabetic complications. He lived in South Miami for many years and workd for FP&L (in an engineering capacity). In his last few years of life he lived in Texas. He was also a true friend. His obituary can be found under his name, Edgardo Stella.

The 3 of us were very close friends for many years. Submitted by Luis David Salvat (formerly Fernandez)

Vince "Vinny" Rusinak

A note from Nancy Lundblom Blizzard

To all my former classmates from theHialeah High Class of 1964:

Please consider attending our 60th Reunion In Sebastian, Fl, this year.  Let’s face it folks, we’re not getting any younger and this may be the last chance we can get together as a group.  

I have attended several multi-class reunions at Captain Hiram’s and it’s a great place to get together.  It’s very casual and laid back and food and drinks are reasonable.  There are many activities to participate in that don’t require a lot of effort.  For example, there is a 2 hr boat ride 3 times a day in which you can bring your own coolers and snacks and enjoy a leisurely trip down the river to see dolphins and wildlife.  The cost is only $36 per person and if we get a group together of 40 people we can reserve the entire boat!  If you stay at the Hiram's Resort you can get free bike rentals with trails you can follow.  If the beach is your thing, it’s just a few minutes drive from the hotel.  Live music is available every afternoon and Happy Hour is from 4-6 pm.  We have planned a pool party each day (no, you don’t have to wear a bathing suit!) and will serve light refreshments.  You can bring your own drinks and extra beach chairs if you prefer.  We have some rooms reserved poolside and will open them up for our group.

This will be the perfect opportunity to catch up with old friends and maybe even make some new ones!  We are all OLD and no one will be judging you.  We left that all behind us 60 years ago!

Please spread the word, and let’s see if we can get 100 attendees.  The class of 1964 has much to be proud of,so let’s celebrate!!

Hope to see you there!

Nancy Lundblom Blizzard

Bruce Nierenberg

Greart message Nancy. Its true we are getting older but the class of 1964 is a great one from the greratest generation. It  will be great to see many of our classmates. My wife Kim and I will be there. Look forward to seeing you. 

Vince "Vinny" Rusinak

A note from Caryl Gardner Broaderick

Hi former ‘64 classmates,

We have a fantastic opportunity to connect and reconnect with fellow members of our class. Several other classes have selected Captain Hiram‘s resort in Sebastian, Fla as a fun, affordable place to put on their reunions. Many activities are available to do if you want. Some are, but not limited to: daily boat rides at $36 a person (and they allow you to bring your own food and drinks); free bikes if you are staying at Hiram‘s; close by beach access; centralized meeting areas: a pool party every day…very casual dress (bathing suits only if you wish)😘with light refreshments included. Please make this very special 60th reunion a MUST DO for you. Aren’t we thankful and blessed to be able to come and have fun catching up with each other. We are definitely younger at heart than years, so come as you!!!  How great not to worry about that stuff anymore. Let’s have a huge turnout and perhaps make some new friends. We all have one thing in common: we are all T-Breds 🐴🐴🐴🐴 

Hope to see you there. 

Caryl Gardner Broaderick

Caryl Gardner (Broaderick)

Want to wish my dear friend, Jennifer Dennis Munro a very happy birthday. I tried to send her a message but an error message popped up. Would absolutely love to see you at our 60th reunion. I think Captain Hiram's in Sebastian, Fl.isn't too far from you. Please let me hear from you.  Caryl

Vince "Vinny" Rusinak

I received the following email from a current teacher at Hialeah Senior High School (https://hialeahhigh.org/). If you are not aware, HSHS now includes grades 9-12 and has a total of just over 1600 students...compared to us having grades 10-12, when we were there, and a student population of around 4200 students. 

Hello, I hope that this message finds you doing well. I am a teacher of students with special needs at Hialeah Senior High. I am just now finishing my 6th year at Hialeah high but I have actually been teaching for the past 18. Needless to say, I love this school and it's history. I see Mr. Everett Pease's plaque every day and wonder what he was like. I am very family-oriented and I loved seeing the pictures in your site. It is nice to see how you've remained connected and consider each other family. This year, our principal, Mr. Rodriguez started a tradition. On a monthly basis, he invites alumni for the faculty to meet. I told him about your website and he was very excited to hear about it. I would love to get your contact information. Mr. Rodriguez would like to see if there was a way to organize something for your group. Please reply to this email so that we can collaborate on putting something together.Thank you kindly for your time. Guillermo Marcia

My response to Mr. Marcia's email was that, although there are only a small number of alumni from our class living nearby, we definitely want to support Mr. Rodriguea's program when possible. I invited both Mr. Marcia and Mr. Rodriguez to join our website as guest members. I am sure by now that you have been notified that Mr. Marcia has taken me up on my invitation and joined our website. Please welcome him to our website, and if you wish to contact him, the best way to do so is by going to his individual webpage and sending him a personal message. 

I find it very interesting that this website has not only helped all of us in the HHS Class of 1964 reconnect, but it has also now enabled us to reconnect with the current teachers and staff at the high school we all attended. 

Beverly "Fran" Tish (Whitaker)

Vince "Vinny" Rusinak

Guillermo asked me to pass the following to all of our classmates and guests on our website: I am sure you will have lots of questions about, at least, one of the items he mentions in this email. 

Guillermo Marcia (Current HSHS Teacher) 05/24/24 08:24 A   Good morning Hialeah Senior Alumni, I hope that this message finds everyone doing well. First of all, I would just like to express that I feel a deep sense of gratitude for being allowed as a guest on your website. I have been reading through some of the anecdotes, and I have laughed hysterically. I love stories/experiences so I am thoroughly enjoying reading through your postings. Thank you for posting and if you can think of any more, PLEASE post them. I have a great deal of respect for your class. kudos to all of you for creating this amazing virtual platform and providing on it so many interesting details about Hialeah’s rich history. It's no coincidence that you graduated the same year as one of my favorite songs, Don't Worry Baby by The Beach Boys. There are a few questions: 1. Who wrote the alma mater song? 2. Who sang the alma mater song? 3. Was the temperature lower in the 60s? 4. There is a heater in my current classroom, room 912. Did you have to use it often?(I am in awe that it was ever needed) It is now obsolete and so dusty. 5. Did any of you have any classes in either room 908 or 912, both have been my rooms? 6. Did you have air conditioning while you were at Hialeah Senior? 7. Did Mr. Everett Pease have any assistant principals? 8. Did any of you perform in the Florida Pavilion at the New York world fair? 9. Were there ever any food fights? 10. Were all surrounding roads single-track? I would like to also inform all of you that changes are coming to Hialeah Senior High. I do realize that this may come to you as sad news. There are plans from the district to redistribute the school grounds. The district has noticed a need for these changes. The original building, which is what we call part of the school that all of you attended, will be demolished/removed. The auditorium will remain(Was this auditorium present during your time?). I am not sure about the cafeteria or the gym. There will be a new building on the current field adjacent to 49th St. It is believed(what we at school have unofficially heard) that the building will be built first. We would then be moved to the new building. Finally, the original building would be removed. There are plans to build apartments/condominiums on site, due to the great need for affordable real estate for teachers. Guillermo

Linda Chambers (Vitale)

I dont have many answers but my sister was in the Tropical Knights (TK's) and i believe they wrote and sung the alma matter. She graduated in 62

Nancy Lundblom (Blizzard)

 I think it is wonderful that we are able to connect with the current administration and faculty at Hialeah High.  I want to welcome them to our website and am glad they are interested in HHS history.  If I'm not mistaken, I believe the Alma Mater was written by Mr. Logan Turentine who was the band director.  It was sung at sporting events, pep rallies and on other special occasions.  I met a a graduate of the first graduating class at the annual Hialeah Spring Fling this past April, who told me that the graduation classes of 1958, 59, and 60, voted to adopt the Thoroughbreds as the school mascot, and changed the original school colors from Garnet and White to Red and Blue.  This was something I had never heard before and can't verify but I thought it was interesting so I'm passing it on.

There was no air conditioning when we there, so all windows were kept open and yes, it was as hot then as it is now.  Not only that but we had dress codes that required girls to wear dresses below the knee and boys long pants and shirts with collars.  No sneakers were allowed.  With open windows sometimes mischief makers took advantage.  One day in Spanish II, our teacher had to leave the room for a few minutes and Scott Davis and Ronnie Loehide collected all our text books and threw them out the window.  Luckily our teacher, Mrs. Sejor, took it as a joke and made them go down and collect them.  By the way, we were on the second floor!

Mr. Pease, our principal, was only known to those few students who got in trouble.  I know I never spoke to him the whole 3 years I was there.  We did have guidance counselors and Assistant Principals who interacted more often with us.  We also had some really good teachers  that gave us advice.

I don't remember any food fights in the cafeteria but we did have fun at lunch.  It was a time to socialize and play practical jokes.  By the way, the cafeteria ladies actually cooked in those days. (No microwaves).  Although we weren't supposed to leave the school grounds it was impossible for everyone to fit in our rather small cafeteria, so many students did go off campus for lunch.

The thing that really stands out in my mind was that we had a lot of school spirit.  We used to hold pep rallies in the patio by the old cafeteria and the cheerleaders would get on the roof.  For really big games the entire school would walk to Milander Stadium for the rallies.  It was not unusual to have the stadium filled with overflow behind the fence in the end zones during games.  The Miami Herald once called Hialeah " the field of noise."

It seemed like there was something for everyone if you wanted to participate.  We had numerous service clubs and special interests from art to academics, sports, future farmers, dance, auto mechanics, etc.  I have nothing but fond memories of Hialeah High School and made many lifelong friends there.  I hope it is the same for today's students.
 

Vince "Vinny" Rusinak

From our 1964 Yearbook: 

Now, who was Pat Sullivan? English teacher...Allan P. Sullivan?

Guillermo Marcia (Current HSHS Teacher)

Mrs. Lundblom-Blizzard, thank you very much for your message. :-) I am so pleased that the colors that were chosen were red and blue, my two favorite colors. I guess any chances of you learning any Spanish that day went out the window(pun intended). The cafeteria layout seemed like it lent itself to food fights. I am so glad that you have so many fond memories of your experience at Hialeah High. Personally, I attended a technical school, William H Turner. I learned about agriscience and was a member of the future farmers of America club. So, it is nice to know that the FFA goes way back. I especially love your anecdote regarding your sister and the Palmetto bug. You just cannot make up such a funny story. The truth is so much funnier than anything made up. 

Mr. Rusinak, that picture provides answer to my questions. Thank you kindly sir. :-)

Thank you all for some of the anwers you've provided.

This is a message that I sent Mr. Rusinak and I hope that it addresses some of your concerns:

I hope this message finds you doing well. Funny problems that we have today are that digital assistants, such as Siri, do not understand other than average last names. That being said, Siri does not really understand your last name. I never imagined that things that exist today whatever exist in my lifetime. However, I am glad that they do. As for the questions that you have regarding the demolition/construction, there are many things that have not been made official as of yet. It is my understanding, per the school security guard that walked with the inspectors from the district, that they said that the building adjacent to 49th St. will contain the new classrooms. The apartments would be where the original building is located. As for who the tenants will be or how they will be chosen, nothing has been made official yet. As you already know, the number of enrolled students that we have at this moment are nothing in comparison to the 4200 that there used to be while you attended. Something that truly affects the number of students that enroll at Hialeah Senior, are the nearby charter and private schools. In fact, yet another one is being built on the Hialeah race track. They are truly not playing a fair game. They allow students to attend, charge the state, and once they notice discrepancies either in their behavior or their academics, they push them right out into the public school system. They keep the funds received for the student. This means that the state funds are double dipped. Why nothing is being done about this? I have no idea. There is no drawing plan at this time as the plans from the district have only recently been approved. It is foreseen that these changes will take place within the next 3 to 5 years.

Guillermo Marcia (Current HSHS Teacher)

A motto that is constantly repeated here is "Once a T-Bred, always a T-Bred." All of you make that motto come to life.

FYI: We recently had Harry Casey(KC and the Sunshine Band) and Bucky Dent visit our school. It was nice that they were also T-Breds.

Guillermo Marcia (Current HSHS Teacher)

Guillermo Marcia (Current HSHS Teacher)

Hello T-Breds,

          First and foremost, I wish a speedy recovery to any of you experiencing health issues. Furthermore, I apologize that I do not have any additional photographs at this time, particularly that of the seal. However, it looks much like the photograph posted by Mr. Roger Browning in the 1963 website. Regarding the seal's future, I can vouch for the current school administration and how much they care about HHS past, present, and future. I am sure that a special place will be made for it. I very much enjoy all of the anecdotes posted by your class. Thank you for allowing me on this amazing time machine. Best wishes to all of you.

Vince "Vinny" Rusinak

Thanks Guillermo for taking and providing us the photos of the school. If you haven't had a chance to visit our high school in a number of years, you might be surprised to find huge new buildings at the east and west ends. On the west side is a multi story parking structure. On the east side, built with parking below, is a multi story building that contains the school administrators, classrooms and much more (maybe Guillermo can fill in on the "much more." 

And all the beautiful trees, beautiful when we were there, have grown to monstrous proportions. The roots probably suck all the moisture in the soil and and the huge canopies block out the sun making it impossible to grow grass. Imagine how tough it would be to cut down those trees...and then remove them! Below is what the courtyard looked like back when we were there. Almost every photo taken for our yearbook was taken in one of the many outdoor areas. 

Caryl Gardner (Broaderick)

Hi T-Breds, Let's keep reaching out to friends  who we would really like to come to our 60th reunion. It really is quite a milestone for us. Reach out, maybe someone just needs a little encouragement. This is really a big deal...60th reunion.  Looking forward to a great REUNION!!!

Bruce Nierenberg

My wife Kim and I are looking forward to joining everyone at the reunion.

Travel safe.

James Ward

See you there 

Genevieve "Dev" Perkis (Steffen)

Oh MY those pictures sure brought back memories from so long ago!  I was a T-Bred 1962, 1963 and a very PROUD graduate 1964! Those HOT days in the class rooms with NO AC. And an auditorium for certain classes with a TV and lots of students. But we were TBRED strong. Wish I could attend reunion but just getting back from one of my many travels. I know it will be an awesome reunion. Enjoy!