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In MemoriamMonique Hirschler ('66), Philip Haentzler ( '70), Julie-Ann Krewer ('69), and Helene (Nguyen) Ommont ('84)Jacques Hirschler '67, brother of Monique Hirschler '66, informed us that Monique passed away of breast cancer in 1991. She left behind 3 children. (see Promotion '67) ----------------------------- Through the Staten Island Advance newspaper, the AALFNY, Inc. learned that Philip Haentzler '70, a legal administrative for Kidder Peabody/UBS Paine Webber (located on the 101st floor of WTC Tower 1) perished on September 11th, 2001- he left behind his companion Patricia Thompson and his mother Madeleine Debolt. The following article was published in the Staten Island Advance: Lives Remembered Philip Haentzler, 49, legal administrative officer St. George resident had coffee with wife every morning for almost 20 years Date of Death 9/11/2001 By Leah Karnatski Advance staff writer Wednesday, 09/26/2001 Every morning for nearly two decades, Philip Haentzler would get up early and make a pot of coffee. He would pour a cup, place it on the table with a spoon, and peruse the New York Times for stories relating to social work. If he found one, he would place the story, face up, on the table next to the coffee and wait. It was a ritual, but it wasn't for himself. Mr. Haentzler, a resident of St. George, did this every morning for his love, Patricia Thompson, who would wake up from a peaceful slumber once the powerful and soothing aroma of morning reached her. Now, the social worker hardly sleeps, and she's been sipping her treasured morning coffee alone since Mr. Haentzler became one of the missing victims of the World Trade Center attacks. Mr. Haentzler was a legal administrative officer for Kidder Peabody/UBS Paine Webber on the 101st floor of Tower 1. "I started my day with Philip, and I ended my day with Philip," said Ms. Thompson. "He was so supportive of me, and gave me a love so grand that it pains me to realize he's no longer with me." Born in Manhattan, Mr. Haentzler was brought to Queens as a baby. His parents were born and married in France, and Philip attended Lycee Francais on the Upper East Side. All of his classes were in French. He had an immense talent for languages, Ms. Thompson said. Already fluent in French, Latin and Spanish, he was working on his German. He was also a voracious reader and "read everything he picked up," she said. Mr. Haentzler earned a degree in history from Haverford (Pa.) College, and a degree in paralegal studies from New York University. After college, he spent three years in Paris trying to make it as a writer. An aspiring playwright, he kept his work at the office, so Ms. Thompson never had a chance to read his newer, incomplete projects. He finished a one-act play about the American Revolution that was critiqued by the former Minstrel Society of New York in the 1980s. The couple met at Kidder Peabody in 1983, when she was a legal secretary. "He had piercing eyes," she said. "Our first date was on St. Patrick's Day. We went out for a drink after work, and went out every night after that." They frequented puppet shows, off-off-Broadway theater, and often went to a film house in Greenwich Village that showed short films. The audience would sit on pillows to view the films, after which Mr. Haentzler loved to critique them for hours. "He was a walking encyclopedia," Ms. Thompson said. "We talked all the time, and had a perfect relationship as far as communication." In the fall of 1983, he was transferred to a Kidder Peabody office in Houston, and Patricia followed. They remained in Texas for seven years. After returning north, they rented an apartment in Manhattan, but moved to St. George the following year because the commute was easier. They bought a house next door to their apartment building in March 2000, where they could share their morning coffee on the balcony off the main floor. The couple preferred outdoor vacations, and visited towns throughout Pennsylvania together. "We both preferred a rustic vacation," said Ms. Thompson. They also traveled to Vermont, Lake Placid, N.Y., and Canada and had recently purchased a time-share condominium in the Delaware Water Gap, Pa., area. A favorite destination was a certain mountain resort in Pennsylvania, which Mr. Haentzler had visited many times as a child. When his father died, he spread his ashes there. "This was a very sacred spot for him. He created a memorial for his father there." Patricia said. In addition to Ms. Thompson, Mr. Haentzler is also survived by his mother, Madeleine Debolt. There will be a memorial service Saturday at 1 p.m. in St. Peter's R.C. Church, New Brighton. ------------------------------- Classmates and the Lycee Remember Julie Ann Krewer ‘69 From Peter Laurence ('69): Julie Ann Krewer ('69) , daughter of Elsa and Semyon Krewer, passed away of breast cancer on January 26th 2002. Julie and I were classmates from Douzième through Première. Julie was an only child and starting very early in life it was clear that she was determined to succeed. She won the Prix d' Excellence every year that I can remember, and remarkably was very good at literature and at science, though I think the latter may have come less naturally to her. She was also a wonderful artist. She spoke German, French, Russian and Hebrew. But Julie was also a sweet and generous human being. I recall her spending hours with me on the telephone, helping me with my homework. Julie went on to Radcliffe and then on to the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. This proved to be both the most wonderful and the most difficult period of her life. I saw her there when she first arrived and the shy, reserved Julie had turned into a beautiful, self-assured and glowing woman, who reminded me of Kathleen Turner and Candice Bergen. Ten years passed till I saw Julie again and learned that she had felt enormous pressure at Penn and had not finished her degree. Julie did not recover from or reconcile herself with this experience for many years. But from the testimonies we heard at her memorial service, in her final months and days, she found the key to unlocking the riddle of her life. In a touching moment during the memorial, someone said that Julie had asked " Is it OK to tell someone that you love them ?" and we were told that she was referring not just to her friends and family, but to her nurses at the hospital and others who showed her kindness and companionship in this final phase of her life. July was a perfectionist, very demanding with herself, but kind and generous towards others and, as my friend Paul Bernstein ’69 commented, never arrogant nor a prima donna, even when she was at the top of the pack. Unfortunately this perfectionism was responsible both for her success and for the enormous pain her difficulties at Penn caused her. But she never complained about it. It was more as if the life -force had simply gone out of her and she knew that in the second phase of her life she would set more modest goals for herself. She just wouldn't try to force what didn't come naturally anymore. Julie, we loved you and are going to miss you. Peter Laurence ‘69 From: Steve Goldschmidt ‘69 What sad news. I only remember Julie as shy, unassuming, yet somewhat intimidating from an intelligence point of view. I do remember, though, that I had particular problems in Math with Mme. Mutin, and Julie just came over to me one day (it was in the Spring) and asked me why I looked puzzled and would I need help. That kind of collegiality was rare in such a competitive environment. From: Denise Jacobs '69 I was saddened to hear about Julie. It's truly scary when your own generation starts falling away. I know she was smart and well respected. From: Jean-Francois Galy '69 I was very saddened to hear about the passing away of Julie who was a great supporter of the Lycée and my father. Every year she would send a note to my mother. As a classmate, I remember her as a great and intelligent student who was at the top of the class. From: Charlotte (née Coleman) Tyler ‘69 Please offer my condolences to [Julie’s] loved ones. I was in the same class as Julie in 1960, when I first arrived in NY after spending my childhood in Europe ... I am very sorry she had to go before her time and would have liked to reminisce with her. From: Sandra (Kremnitzer) Mintz '69 (I am) saddened and shocked to hear the news of Julie's untimely passing. My only recollection is of an attractive quiet girl who took her studies very seriously and always performed well in school. From: Puck Wullenweber '69 I'm sorry to hear about the passing of Julie Krewer. Even though I left the Lycée 36 years ago, when I saw your e-mail I immediately remembered who Julie was and that I first got to know her in Neuvième. That summer of 1960 I sailed with my parents to Le Havre on the SS Liberté and ran into Julie not two hours after we set sail from NYC. We spent the next five days running around that ship and getting into all sorts of escapades. Even though we had not been close friends before or since, we made an immediate connection because we were from the Lycée. One really can't discount the friendships one makes even at such a young age, for the memories truly stay with you. My sincere condolences to Julie's family. From: Paul Bernstein ’69 I have a general memory of Julie as being one of the brightest and most successful students in the class, always getting the highest grades, always vying for the Prix d'Excellence. But from her outward demeanor, one would never have guessed how driven she was to succeed academically. There was not a trace of arrogance in her. She was always kind and solicitous toward her classmates, and almost never spoke about her accomplishments. From: LFNY "Printemps 2002" Magazine Commentaires d’Yves Thézé lors des obsèques de Julie-Ann Krewer: "Julie-Ann Krewer ’69 entra au Lycée Français de New York en septembre 1957.Elle fut une élève modèle et reçut les félicitations du Conseil des professeurs et le prix d’excellence à plusieurs reprises lors de sa scolarité au Lycée. On la décrivait comme consciencieuse, coopérante et bien-aimée: une élève parfaite. Julie-Ann avait de bons résultats en humanités comme en sciences,et était excellente en langue et littérature françaises.Après l’obtention de son baccalauréat au Lycée, elle poursuivit des études à Radcliffe College, où elle reçut son BA en histoire et littérature européennes, puis fit des études de médecine, quatre ans durant, à l’University of Pennsylvania. Nous avons été particulièrement touchés par le dévouement de Julie-Ann Krewer pour le Lycée tout au long de sa vie.Elle s’efforçait toujours de rester en contact avec l’école. Récemment, en octobre 1999, elle fit la demande de son bulletin scolaire auprès du Lycée afin de compléter les démarches d’inscription à un Master’s de français à la Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, en espérant pouvoir un jour enseigner au Lycée Français de New York. Julie-Ann Krewer s’est éteinte le 26 janvier 2002 à la suite d’un cancer du sein. Nous garderons en mémoire le souvenir de Julie-Ann Krewer et celui deceux qui, comme elle, représentent à la fois notre tradition et notre vision de l’avenir". ----------------- Cornelia Messing ’84 Remembers Helene (Nguyen) Ommont ‘84 Helene died Dec 17, 2001 in the morning after being brought to the emergency room by ambulance at 8 am. She had spent the previous weekend in the country house she shared with her husband and son in Normandie. Her husband Antoine Ommont said that she had been able to walk and wasn't anticipating the end for a few months at least. I met Helene in 7eme, my first year in the Lycee. We didn't become friends until the second trimester, until we found out we had a crush on the same guy, who knows who he is. We ended up laughing about it and became best friends from that day on until our mid 20's, when life took us on different paths, me to Asia and England and then Holland, and Helene to Paris, where she stayed and got married and had a child. Helene Nguyen was a roller coaster rise. She loved laughing. She had a wicked mind and a wicked sense of humour. She could be really nice but she could also be a bitch. What! You might be thinking. How could you say that! But it was true and she knew it. Everyone knew it. It was part of her charm, part of what made her Helene. She was warm and accessible and could listen to you like nobody else, she listened in an attentive fashion, in a very satisfying manner, but she could also turn elusive at the drop of a hat. You had to let her go then, that was part of a being a friend to her, not to hold on too tightly. She was fiercely loyal to her family, which she loved with a passion unequalled. She was highly intellingent and creative and she had a spark of difference. With her, you could taste new flavours, laugh unbridled and talk for hours, without limits. She could indeed talk up a storm but as I said, she could also listen for hours and more importantly, make you feel like she understood. Helene had charisma. I remember best your laugh, Helene, high pitched, infectious, and often naughty. A lot of guys liked you, a lot of people were intrigued by you but you always left a bit of mystery around you. There was a part of you which you shut off to the world. You were smart, disciplined, a good student. I remember Mlle Labouret in 6e asked if she could keep your book report on "Le Petit Prince" because she was so impressed by it. But you said no. I know, you were proud. You loved eggs, let me see, and pizza slices, and corn and spinach à la creme. You could work hard and you were ambitious. You were also good at sports and often played forward in 'foot'. You were quite fashionable but you always created your own look. You loved shoes and scarves and you always looked good. Other people might try and look good and spend lots of money but still end up frumpy. You could look good in a sack, in a t-shirt. Basically, I think you were pretty cool. You taught me all the dirty words I know in the French language. I can still hear your voice with your bit of southern French accent, swearing like a...worse than that! But then you would laugh! You were always searching in your life, as far as I can remember, for some kind of meaning, for a key...to something secret in you and in the world around you. I don't know if you found it. You were a deep soul. I really believe that. You were a great friend, you were always there when it was tough, you cared, you were loyal. I know you loved your son with an intense devotion. I remember you always told me, try never to become bitter; I hope you never did, even when the blow came. I hope you knew that you were loved by lots of folk you didn't stay in touch with. I always thought I would find you and see you again. There is so much I would have loved to have said to you, had I seen you again before the end, but you know, I think I just would have said: « Salut ma grande! Comment ca va? I've missed you! » I say these words to you now and hope you can hear them and feel the regret in me. I send you much love and hope to see you again, somehow, in the next life. Cornelia Messing ‘84 |
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