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CLASS BULLETIN BOARD ARCHIVES. These items were submitted by your classmates from July, 2011 through 2015. For earlier 2011 items click here. For older items from 2009-2010 click here. Current items are on the first page of our Bulletin Board. |
We were saddened to learn that Tom Cooke passed away on April 10. For more information, please click here.
Fr. Patrick (Leo) LaBelle has moved to San Francisco and is now living at AlmaVia of San Francisco, One Thomas More Way, San Francisco, CA 94132. His mobile phone is 415-500-1041; his direct landline (to be connected in the next day or two) is 415-349-4062. (For those of you familiar with San Francisco, his new location is just off Junipero Serra Blvd. and Brotherhood Way, about midway between Parkmerced and the Daly City BART station.)
Although Leo is living in a retirement community, he emphasized that he has not retired. The new location puts him closer to his duties with the Western Dominican Province and to the ongoing physical therapy for his legs.
Gene Womack will be inducted into the San Francisco Prep Hall of Fame at a banquet on Saturday, May 17, 2014. He's being recognized for his accomplishments in basketball and track and field at Polytechnic High School from 1954 to 1957. For more information and a reservation form, click here. (Sharp-eyed Gael basketball fans will note that Gene's number (4) was recently retired by the College, joining classmate Tom Meschery's 31. That's because the number 4 jersey was most recently worn by Matthew Dellavedova.)
Attending a high school football game in Lafayette (his grandson was playing) your intrepid webmaster was fascinated by one of the officials. The line judge, a spry elderly gentleman, sprinted up and down the sideline keeping up with the young football players. The more he watched this fellow and marveled, the more fascinated he became. Then the official began to look familiar. Could it be? Yes, it was Dan Leary demonstrating that you are only as old as you feel.
While perusing the Summer 2013 issue of Saint Mary's magazine we noted the name of Colin L. MacDonald '61 in a listing of deceased alumni. We didn't recall Colin and did a little research. Interesting story. He was a Christian Brother who, after 22 years, became a priest. You can read the whole story in his death notice.
You may know that Father Leo LaBelle has spent years recovering from brown recluse spider bites and had moved into Mont LaSalle with the Christian Brothers to continue his recuperation. We are happy to report that Father Leo is healthy and awaiting a new assignment. Here's a photo from an informal luncheon with high school classmates (from St. Vincent Ferrer High School in Vallejo) that celebrated his recovery. Posing with him are high school (and college) classmates Al Cattalini and Dan Leary.
When we receive word of Father Leo's next assignment, we'll post it here.
The Gaels finished their 2012-13 regular season with a 80-67 win over Santa Clara on March 2. They ended up with a 14-2 record in the West Coast Conference and head to Las Vegas and the WCC tournament. Tom Meschery attended the game and was interviewed at halftime by the TV commentators. If you were watching on TV, you'd have seen these scenes.
Tom and Melanie in the stands just before halftime.
We've just learned of the death of Darrell Jones' wife, Mary Ann, on February 8. Services were held on February 18. The death notice is available here.
Our prayers and best wishes go out to Darrell and his family at this difficult time.
Leo LaBelle’s life can be viewed in the context of two religious orders, the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) and the Brothers of the Christian Schools (Christian Brothers). While his Dominican roots and credentials are obvious, he has been closely associated with the Christian Brothers since his undergraduate days at St. Mary’s College. He returned to St. Mary’s years later serving as Director of Campus Ministry, Dean of Student Life, and a member of the Board of Trustees. He now resides with the Christian Brothers at their Mont La Salle retreat in the Napa Valley.
Now, in a rare honor requiring approval in Rome, Leo has been officially “affiliated” with the Christian Brothers. Father Patrick Leo LaBelle, O.P. is now also Brother Patrick LaBelle, A.F.S.C. At a beautiful mass in the College chapel on November 17, 2012, celebrated by Bishop John Cummins, Leo was recognized for his outstanding collaboration with the Christian Brothers, the quality of his personal life inspired by LaSallian spirituality, and his long-lasting participation in the Brothers’ work of education.
Al Cattalini and Jim Bahan pose with Father/Brother Patrick LaBelle.
In a beautiful and poignant ceremony on Veterans Day 2012, Steve Hanson ’61 and Tim Martin ’04 were recognized for their ultimate sacrifice with the dedication of a new memorial plaque on campus. Steve’s classmates, Bill Baumgartner, Al Cattalini, Paul Desrochers, Paul Forney, and Frank Lopez, and their wives attended the ceremony. Others, who couldn’t attend sent remembrances. For more about Steve, the event, and photos from the ceremony, click here.
I would like to announce the arrival of a new book. It’s called "Boris", a historical novel about an old friend from my Bishop O’Dowd days, Boris Kastel. He lived an incredible life, almost beyond belief, and I have tried to put it into a tale that brings out both his adventures as well as his wonderful personality. It ranges from his father’s imprisonment and escape from a Russian gulag during WWI to Boris’s WWII days in the Italian and Yugoslavian undergrounds to his arrival in New York in 1950 after a time of Nazi hunting in South America.
I hope you will enjoy it. It is available as an e-book or hard and soft cover at Barnes and Noble or Amazon, or other Internet sites. Just google "jackdold"
Jack
This plaque is in the courtyard next to the chapel.
When the Alumni Association dedicated this plaque in 1994, Steve Hanson’s name was omitted, apparently because for the previous 27 years, he was officially Missing in Action and not Deceased. He had been missing since his helicopter was shot down during a rescue mission in Laos in 1967. In 1999 the DNA analysis of remains recovered in Laos positively established Steve’s heroic death in 1967. (For more information click here.)
Classmates have asked for years that Steve’s name be added to the plaque but things moved very slowly in Moraga. Finally, a combination of factors (the College sesquicentennial, a growing appreciation of veterans, and "squeaky wheel" Ted Tsukahara ’62 who hounded the bureaucracy on this matter) produced results. On Veterans Day, Sunday, November 11, 2012, some 45 years after his ultimate sacrifice, Steve Hanson will be recognized when an updated replacement plaque is dedicated.
The dedication ceremonny will take place at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 11 in the chapel courtyard by Oliver Hall. A reception will follow. More information, and an RSVP link, are available on the College Website.
When the Class of 2012, the largest graduating class in St. Mary’s history, graduated on May 19th they heard an inspiring speech by our own Tom Meschery. The featured commencement speaker, addressing a record 674 graduates, advised them to cherish their SMC experience and embrace their creativity as they enter “the next quarter” of their lives. He likened the arc of life to the quarters of a basketball game. The graduating students are wrapping up the first quarter, he said, and entering the second and third, where “so much happens - careers, relationships, marriages, children” -- while he is entering the fourth quarter. Looking back on his life, the 73-year-old Meschery said: “Of my many transformations, athlete, teacher, and poet have meant the most to me. Sport has sustained my life, teaching has inspired my life, and poetry has nurtured my life.”
He encouraged the graduating seniors to “roll up their sleeves” and extolled the virtue of continual practice, quoting one of his favorite Zen sayings:
“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”
Jack Dold reports, "I am thrilled that my first book just got published. It is called "Crosshairs", a novel about domestic terrorism. Lord knows where it came from? But it can be found on most book seller lists in hard and soft cover and e-book. The least expensive is on Barnes and Noble. Hope you enjoy it."
Your Reunion Committee arranged for a dedicated photographer to record our July 16 cocktail party and banquet. We thought we were pretty slick projecting these photos that very evening as we dined. And we promised that we’d post them on our class website right away. But it almost never happened. Why?
The College lost (or misplaced) the photos. The photographer disappeared. Whatever. We pushed for four months for the Alumni Office to find the photos. And, thanks to hard work by Associate Alumni Director Courtney Carmignani, they were located. We have more than 100 photos taken that evening. You can view them here.
If you want a quality, full size (4 MB, 3888 x 2592 pixels) JPG file of any photo, let us know. We’ll send it to you. If you’d like a CD-ROM with all the photos, we can do that too. Just email your webmaster a bottle of fine red wine.
Dick and Priscilla sent some photos they took Reunion Weekend. You can view them here. If you took some photos, please send them in!
When we received Bob’s photo for our Your Classmates — Then and Now section, we also got this great Christmas 2007 photo of Bob and Rochelle with their five grandsons.
Monday’s San Francisco Chronicle had a great article titled "Next chapter in life of ex-Warrior Tom Meschery". It’s now available on the paper’s website and we thought you’d like to read it.
We received a great print-out from the College alumni office of all ’61 alums who RSVPed for Reunion Weekend. It contains the info you input when you signed up — address, email address, phone number, guest name, etc. (No, they didn’t share your credit card info!) We were delighted and suprised to see that missing classmate Thomas O’Neill was on the list. We didn’t know he was coming and didn’t get a chance to chat with him. And, since he was the only one on the list coming with a male partner, we thought we might have noticed him. So your enthusiastic webmaster sent him an email welcoming him to our cyber-fraternity. We were surprised to receive a nice response from a young lady, Class of 1991, who’d been on campus celebrating her 20th reunion. Yes, it was her email address, etc., etc., And the male "significant other" attributed to Tom O’Neill was her husband.
Tom, if you are reading this, please send us your contact information. If any of you met Tom on Reunion Weekend or know where to find him, please let us know. Presumably the accurate information is somewhere in the College’s computer, but so far they haven’t been able to find it.
We’ve received our first batch of reunion photos from the College and have posted them on our website. The group photos taken on the chapel steps are available here. Many more photos from the Saturday afternoon events are here.
Marty Callaghan sent us an email "to bring us up-to-date on my mishaps at the dinner."
First, Fran & I want to express our appreciation to George Walker and his wife for an outstanding evening. The setting at their home was 5-star, the dinner was excellent (I made it through coffee and dessert) and the host and hostess deserve "high-fives" for their hospitality and presentation of the affair.
Now as to my accident...............All that I know is that near the end of dinner I got up from my seat and as I stepped back from the table I got entangled in my chair somehow and fell backwards. I think my leg was still entangled in the chair and as "shit happens", I broke the ankle. Tom & Ann Uniack drove me to the nearby Walnut Creek Kaiser Hospital where medics reset the leg without surgery. The following evening I was transported by ambulance to a Rehab/Physical Therapy facility in Fresno (since I live in the foothills near Yosemite National Park, Fresno was significantly closer than Walnut Creek). I was released from the Rehab/P.T. facility last Tuesday, July 26th, and am currently recuperating at home in Oakhurst CA. I’ll be seeing the doctors again next week, but based on what they previously told me.........the ankle will heal, without surgery, in about eight (8) weeks.
George..............Fran & I really enjoyed the evening. I sure hope that "Klutz" didn’t put a damper on such a fantastic gathering.
Thank You and Warmest Regards.............................Marty Callaghan
Those of you on our class email list (if we have your email address, you’re on the list) recently received a draft copy of Jack Dold’s Gael Memories, 1957-1961. If it’s possible for a college class to write its autobiography, this is it! Jack needs your help to freshen his memory and to include information where he lacks firsthand knowledge.
Al Cattalini has submitted some historical tidbits to Jack. You can read them at our new Memories from the Past page. Why don’t you add yours?
Armando Rendón says he’s on board and hope more classmates will join in. "It would have been fun to hear some of the old stories, which get more and more weird and fantastic as they’re retold, I think. But that’s half the fun of recalling that other world we lived in for a few short years. I’ll work on my recollections, some of which have to do with Mr. Twomey and why the food storage lockers in the kitchen decreased every couple weeks. Hope more of us start doing the same and maybe we’ll put together the real history . . . ."
Reunion weekend ended today — and what a blast! We counted a total of 48 classmates who attended weekend events. A special thanks to George and Gayle Walker for hosting the BBQ, to Clyde Figone who cooked it, to our Reunion Committe (chaired by Paul Desrochers) who planned and organized the weekend, and to Chris Carter and the staff of the Alumni Office for their patience and help.
For earlier Bulletin Board items, click here.