Sixteen members of the class shared memories at the Youngstown Club.

Sixteen members of the class shared memories at the Youngstown Club.
By ROSA MERCADO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Seventy years have passed since Carmel Naples Curtain roamed the halls of The Rayen School.
It seemed like only yesterday when she was walking to school from the Catalina Avenue home her family once occupied.
She said she had great teachers. "We were very obedient students," said Curtain. "Everybody was just wonderful."
She recalled classmates from some of Youngstown's well-known families. "Some of our schoolmates were driven to school by chauffeurs," Curtain remembered. "They mixed in with us, and we were just fine."
Curtain is one of the 16 remaining members of Rayen's Class of 1932 who celebrated their 70-year reunion Wednesday at the Youngstown Club.
Kept him busy
Elbridge "Bud" Wick remembered how much he enjoyed his extracurricular activities -- and the girls. "I had an interest mainly in music and sports," said Wick, a Youngstown resident. "I wasn't too great in the academic end of it."
He was on the track team and the concert and marching bands. Wick didn't just run on the track field, however. "I was chasing the girls because we had some pretty girls at that time in our class," he recalled. "I was running after them all the time."
After high school Wick went on to study marketing and business at The Ohio State University.
"I loved the teachers, and I loved the students," said Helen Mrmosh Granito, another graduate. "I enjoyed every day of my classes -- every day the teachers and the students were nice," recalled the Boardman resident.
Sitting beside her was James Granito, her husband of 65 years, and a member of Rayen's class of 1924.
Parents were immigrants
Curtain said she didn't hang out with her friends after school like many teens do today. "There wasn't too much socializing -- everybody went home," the Liberty resident recalled. "I was an older child, so I had to go home and help my mom."
She added that some kids liked to go to Mill Creek Park to hang out.
Her parents, Ralph and Carmen Naples, went from Italy to Pennsylvania, where Carmel was born. The family then moved to Youngstown because there were relatives here.
Curtain's fond memories of her high school days and of Youngstown have made her loyal to the Valley.
"I was a baby when we came to Youngstown, and I've been here ever since," she said. "I wouldn't think of going anywhere else."
rmercado@vindy.com