St. Joseph's College
Class of 1957 - Comments Received
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From Bill Wall (Rhet '63) (4/19)I am very
impressed with your website. I understand that about 50 members of your class
will be attending your 50th Reunion at St Pats on April 28. That's great. I
read with great interest the description of the average day at St Joes on your
website, which gave the time for each activity. A while ago, I wrote a 22 page
typed document titled "A Day in my Life at St Joseph's College". This story
covers the same infomation but gives more detail and backgound about what the
typical day was like there. If anyone is interested in reading it, I can E mail
or mail you a copy. Just let me know.
NOTE: Bill's description of a day at St. Joseph's (much more detailed
and eloquent than the one on this website) can be found at
http://www.saintjosephscollege.ws/memoirs_bill-wall-day.html
(which you can also reach at this address: http://tinyurl.com/2qr9qz)
From John O'Brien: (4/20)On
Thursdays, those of us needing tonsorial work, made appointments with Dr. Tonna
and the other "barbers in residence" to get clipped. Jim cut my hair and I
never complained. The price was right! Thanks Jim.
From Joe Humphreys: (4/4)J.J.s
mention of roommates brings back many memories. I had forgotten that many in
the class had roommates in first high. Also, Con Doherty's
picture collection includes this view
of one of our rooms in the "old wing" featuring Tony Dariano (I think)
polishing his shoes (I don't think I did that much). I can see the bed, the
window, and a bit of the chair. I believe the only other furniture was a small
dresser that we had to bring with us from home. Also there was a wash basin.
Our Thurday morning ritual was to pick up our clean laundry in a blue bag
marked with our number. I seem to remember that we went down to the basement
area to retrieve the bags which had been set out by the nuns who cooked our
meals and did our laundry. Do you remember those little white laundry tags with
red numerals that we had sewn onto every article of our clothing, even each
handkerchief. (Thank you, Grandma.) I think my number was either 282 or 288.
The laundry bag also included a clean pillow case and one clean sheet. So we
would take the bag up to our room, make the bed using the old top sheet as a
bottom sheet and replacing it with the clean sheet. Then we would work on
getting our room swept and in shape to pass inspection, shove our week's dirty
clothing into the bag, take the bag back to the basement and enjoy the rest of
our free Thursday morning.
From J.J. McCarthy: (4/4)"Joe, I echo
everyone's comments on the awesome website. In fact, I was awed months ago when
the irrepressible J. Tonna informed me there was one. To me, the computer is
like the brain, or the ocean - a vast, unknown gathering of marvellous
possibilites. So thanks, from a grateful classmate! Having entered this space
for the first time, I realize it can be addicting, so I'm limiting my exposure.
I'm writing just in response to Jim Simpson's comment about John Waters. I
don't know if anyone else has informed him, but John, who was my room-mate -
remember room-mates? - was never ordained. He spent time in the US Army, and
died very prematurely of natural causes, mainly inoperable conditions in his
intestines. He was a good and gentle soul, a fine mind trapped in a seriously
defective body. Little children of the Hebrews, have a wonderful Easter!"
From Loring McAllister: (2/18)""Wow, Joe!
You are doing a fantastic job as webmaster for the SJC 1957 website! You, Jim
Tonna, John O'Brien, John Hunt and all the rest are really pulling all of this
together and making it possible for all of us to have a memoriable reunion. And
yes, classmate Walsh, you were on the short side in stature, but exalted when
it comes to character and example! I am really looking forward to our reunion
in April! "
From Dan Walsh: (2/5)"Great work on
bringing all these items together. The photographs are great. I didn't think I
was that short."
From Jim Simpson: (1/21)I think the person
(far right) identified with the letter " i " may be me. My wife agrees. Maybe
an interesting side note: I dated a young lady in high school named Patricia
Campion for a long time. In fact at my high school reunion two years ago some
of my classmates asked about her but I had lost track of her more than forty
years ago. About 2005 she communicated with my sister and it turned out she had
married a former priest, a fellow named John Waters. How amazing to see him
pictured as one of my classmates at St. Joe's. We probably knew each other
although I have no memory of that.
[Editorial note re John Waters--See JJ's comment above]
From John O'Brien: (1/19)Rich,
I just read your comments. This is a low budget affair! Our expenses will be
the barbecue luncheon on April 28th. We will ask those who can to help us with
those expenses. We will send that info out with the invitations and rsvp stuff
in March. The prestigious accounting firm of Calegari and Morris will audit all
expenses, and handle receipts and disbursements. They need the business! We put
a letter in the mail today to seventy one classmates to bring everybody current
on our progress. We still have twenty two we have not been able to locate. As
you read the letter and look at the roster, help us find those who are missing.
God bless. JOB
From Joe Humphreys: Expenses
at the website end have been trivial but the West Coast team may have more of a
burden so that is a good thought, Rich. From the web perspective, my main need
is to have in-kind contributions in the way of photos and especially
recollections and bios to share. As far as getting photos to me, you can send
them electronically or by mail. If you don't have my email or address, leave a
comment here and I will email them to you.
From Rich Monahan: Now that so
much has happened to get this thing off the ground for April 28th, I hope John
O'Brien will let us know how much money we should all contribute toward the
party. I can't expect John and Joe to carry the whole burden. So far, things
are looking great on this web site. How can we add photos to the albums
here?
From Joe Marcellin: Thanks to
JOB for the kind e-mail welcoming me to the "found list" and to Jim for pulling
it off. And, Joe H, this website is awesome, especially meaningful to me, since
in a relocation move many years ago I had lost a "memorabilia" box that
contained much of the photos and recollections from St Joe's.This brings a lot
back. Also, Joe, I think you need to make a special effort to attend the
reunion to do an "encore" excerpt of your memorable performance of Elwood P.
Dowd in Harvey. That would be a highlight! Looking forward to seeing everyone
in April.
From Joe Humphreys: Well, like
so many things our class did, this has become a real "class" effort. I am
really enjoying working with everyone on it if only from afar. Both John OB and
B.J. have contributed some great photos that I am trying to find time to
integrate into the website. (Even some video if I can figure out how to make
that work!) Jim Tonna has become a veritable sleuth and tracer of lost
classmates. And I know much other work is in progress. I certainly share John's
comments about the value of our shared experience as a member of that wonderful
class and I hope I can manage to get back for the event in April. Joe.
From John O'Brien: Great to
hear/read from George how he is doing in Reno. This is a marvelous opportunity
to reconnect, share our memories of growing together, and renew the friendships
of 50 years ago. We are four months away from our gathering at Saint Patrick's.
We pray for a large turnout of our classmates. I thoroughly enjoyed and
benefited from my experience and friendships at Saint Joe's. Those years
fashioned my life. I look forward to April 28th with excitement. And, thank you
Joe, for your effort in helping us connect through your SJC57 web site. JOB
From George Wolf: Gentlemen,
Way to go on the new website! Nice to see all the interchange among the guys.
I'm still in the trenches in Reno - although I have told my people that I'm out
of here when I reach 70 and the summer of '08. So I am thinking of next to last
things. I have lots of good memories of St. Joe's and my two years there with
everyone. One of these days I'll sit and share some memories. Best of the
Christmas season to everyone. George
