CLASSMATE UPDATE: Dean Copely

I grew up in a house on Front Street, between 6^th and Roosevelt in Massapequa Park, and as a result, many of my earliest memories involve the sound of trains.  My father was a Family Physician, and his practice was attached to our house.  Since he was also the Director of School Health for the NYC Health Department, his private practice office hours were generally afternoons or evenings.  He had no nurse or receptionist to help him, so my mom answered the phone every time with “Dr. Copely’s office?”  For years growing up I was not allowed to answer the phone.  When my Dad was with patients, we had to keep the noise level down in the house, but occasionally he would call me in to see something he thought I should see.  For instance, if he didn’t want me to climb trees, he might call me in to see a neighbor’s child who came in with a broken arm.  

My Dad was a very strict, classic 1950’s father and my Mom was doting and protective.  My brother, Richard was ten years older than me, and because of the age difference, we were never really close. My parents loved to laugh and they also shared a love of music.  I can remember my Mom singing while she worked around the house—she had a great voice.  My parents passed two important things to both me and my brother:  a love of music and an interest in the medical field.  Today, my brother and I are both in the Health Care field, and we both play the guitar.  Our cousin Gene, who had several hit records on the radio in the late 50’s, including one in the top 100 called Golly Gee, was also an important musical influence for both my brother and me.

I enjoyed High School and my hands-down favorite class was A Capella Choir with Lee Holdridge.  We still keep in touch.  I enjoyed the concerts every year. Within the choir was an informal group that called itself the “OK Choral”.  We would carol every year at nursing homes and neighborhoods during the holidays.  I also loved the Drama Club and the plays we did—especially loved the cast parties. I was one of the original members of the band Good Friday, along with Michael Schiano, Howie Silverman, Joe Lauro and George Masone. 

 I worked on The Beacon with Tom Dye and Geoff Watoff and I enjoyed that very much.  We all shared the work of preparing The Beacon for printing, and I was also the photographer. My brother’s friend came home from the military with a few cameras from Japan and I got a nice Pentax with several lenses, which kicked off one of my longest running hobbies.  For Christmas one year, I got a film developing and printing kit which allowed me to develop black and white film and make contact prints from negatives.  I bought a used enlarger from the Buy Lines so that I could make 8 X 10’s.  I was hooked on photography and loved having my own darkroom in the basement.  To help support my photography hobby, I used to take pictures of our Football team quarterback, print them and sell them to his Dad.

Taking the train into NYC is another fun memory from my high school years.  Friends and I often went to the City to watch tapings of Concentration, Jeopardy and the Match Game.  Once we went in to see a taping of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.  By then, my Dad was the Medical Director of Conrail, and I would visit him at his office below Madison Square Garden.

I always wanted to be a doctor, and so after High School, I attended William and Mary as well as the University of Florida majoring in Psychology.  My first two years of college, I spent too much time in the frat house, but I buckled down the last two years. 

While visiting my brother in Orlando, I met my future wife, Sandra.  Sandra is an artist and has worked in all media—acrylics, oil, ceramic, clay, porcelain and wood.  We married in 1978 and moved to D.C., where I attended Georgetown Medical School.  D.C. was an interesting place to live and during that period, President Reagan was shot, Flight 90 fell into the Potomac, and Howard Stern was the local DJ.  In med school I had an 11 piece rock and roll band called “Aldo Sterone and the Steroids” and life was good. 

While I was in Medical School, a Dr. Clifton Leftridge sparked my interest in Radiology, and so, after med school, I did a 4 year residency in Diagnostic Radiology, followed by a year fellowship in Interventional Radiology.  Today my specialty is Diagnostic Radiology, and my practice is limited to breast cancer imaging—mammograms, breast ultrasound, breast MRI, as well as minimally invasive image-guided breast biopsies.    I find a lot of satisfaction in my work and it is gratifying that the advent of breast MRI screening has resulted in a huge improvement in cancer detection at a curable stage.

Sandra and I have two children:  Katherine (Katie) was born in 1988 and Dean Jr. in 1989.  Both of my kids have been competitive figure skaters, (ice dance), from a very early age.  Sandra had always skated and soon the kids were hooked, too.  Sandra turned her creative talents to designing and sewing skating outfits for the kids and their skating partners.  When the kids began to compete seriously, it became necessary to take them out of private school and home school them so that they could skate every day.  The family moved around the East coast based on where the best rinks and coaches were and that’s what finally brought our family to Michigan.  My kids were coached by Igor Shpilband and Marina Zoueva, who are considered the best coaches for ice dancing in the world.

 Katie and Dean Jr. trained alongside skaters with multiple world and Olympic medals and we attended competitions all over the country as well as Japan, China, Germany and Austria.  In 2009, my daughter and her skating partner were ranked 10th in Europe and 14th in the world, which qualified them for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, but a hip injury prevented her from going.  My son and his skating partner were the US Junior Champions and World Junior Bronze medalists in 2010.  You can Google their names to see their pictures and videos on line, as well as the beautiful costumes that my wife made for them.

In Michigan, I was offered a position as Director of Breast Imaging at a hospital here in Kalamazoo.  It is a perfect spot for me and I enjoy my work very much and I still have time to indulge my passion for music.  Despite this town being the original home of Gibson Guitar, I have been unable to find guitar players to jam with here.  So, I put a studio together in the basement and have obtained several eBay rescue guitars, keyboards, drums, bass, etc.  I have enjoyed buying older, used guitars and learning to rewire and recondition them.  I am also learning to use a software based recording system, examples of which you can find on my Facebook page (from SoundCloud.com). 

 My schedule has prevented me from attending my High School and Med School reunions these past few years, but Facebook has helped me keep in touch.  I am hoping to attend the 60th Birthday party, though I am only admitting to 49 these days.

Although I have had houses in at least a half dozen states over the years, Massapequa Park will always be my home.  When I smell burning leaves, or see kids chasing fireflies at dusk or playing stick ball in the street, it brings me back to my childhood on Long Island.  And each time I hear Jerry Seinfeld tell a joke or watch Alex Baldwin beat up a photographer, I am filled with an overwhelming sense of pride in the old neighborhood.

Written by Carolyn Hammer through email interviews with Dean Copely