120516  Morton Wayne, head of the music department while were at PHS, died on May 16, 2012.

Bob O'Connor and Paul Venti played golf with Mort, who beat us both! He met socially with members of the dance band from 1957 in 2009 and  attended the PHS luncheon in 2010 where he met with many of his ex-students.

Here is a note from Bob regarding Mort's funeral:

Hi Paul,

In response to  your letter, when I first met Mr. Wayne about 7 or 8 years ago, he introduced himself to me as Mort Wayne. Having met Mort the first time at Berkshire Hills Country Club when I was about 65, I never knew him in high school as I was not musically inclined. However for you to refer to him as Mr. Wayne, I can understand your proper approach for addressing a senior, especially in high school.

When I attended Mort's funeral this past Sunday I would estimate 100 or so family and friends were in attendance. It was a beautiful ceremony presented by Rabbi Kaufmann. After the ceremony, I spoke with Mort's daughter Judy who in addition to writing her father's very complete obituary, she also spoke at the funeral where she revealed that her father served in several Infantry campaigns in WWII including the Battle of the Bulge. Rabbi Kaufmann also spoke of Mort's involvement in the war effort. In a more humorous note, Judy spoke that as a young teenager, she wondered why her family after traveling all over the world, moved to the little town of Pittsfield and settled in the wilderness of Partridge Rd where there was no public transportation and seemingly miles from civilization.

So, as you can see, our Mr.Wayne had volumes of life experiences in addition to teaching music at Pittsfield High School.

Bob O'Connor

Another comment from a classmate:
Since most of my friends were in the band and since I wanted to join (only played the piano), he gave me a glockenspeil and said 'welcome!'
Posted By: Administrator - 05-18-2012
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