RAN - Summer 2005 08.indd - Regis High School
RAN - Summer 2005 08.indd - Regis High School
RAN - Summer 2005 08.indd - Regis High School
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<strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2005</strong> 17<br />
in the classroom. If you have a new or updated<br />
e-mail or residential address; please send the<br />
information to either Ron or Tom who will make<br />
certain it gets circulated.<br />
1954<br />
John Conroy, 180 Forest Ave.,<br />
New Rochelle, NY, 10804, jmconroy1@aol.com<br />
Class representative Jack Conroy writes: During<br />
my spring phone encounters with many of you I<br />
picked up the following news: George Majeska is<br />
leading a river trip from Moscow to St. Petersburg<br />
this fall with the University of Maryland. Traug<br />
Lawler will be doing the same for Yale in the<br />
Greek Isles. Tom Tierney is able to bear life in Sun<br />
Valley reasonably well and he and Peg travel the<br />
country frequently to visit their dispersed children.<br />
This summer he hopes to get on the golf course<br />
with Billy Collins, former Poet Laureate and fellow<br />
Holy Cross alum. Tom was just elected chairman<br />
of the board of the Hospice of the Wood River<br />
Valley. The Hospice provides end-of-life care free<br />
of charge to residents of Blaine County, Idaho. It<br />
also conducts grief support groups and summer<br />
bereavement camp for children (all free). Ed<br />
Wilson has come along very well since his open<br />
heart surgery and continues as an outpatient<br />
at Rusk Institute. Frank O’Regan has settled in<br />
at Hilton Head although he frequently travels<br />
to civilization (NYC) for continuing trials and<br />
arbitration. Fred Burgess just moved, literally<br />
across the street, to accommodate his expanding<br />
family on visits. With the birth of their latest<br />
grandson, they are now up to 8 grandchildren from<br />
three of their four married children-their “third<br />
caboose” is at Loyola University in New Orleans<br />
and is graduating in 2006, into the Navy like his<br />
eldest brother. Their kids are spread out: one in<br />
Fairfax, VA; one in San Diego, CA; one at the US<br />
Naval Academy en route to a Port Hueneme, CA<br />
command this summer. While Fred is still doing<br />
some consulting and expert work, Patty is a nurse<br />
Practitioner and Acupuncturist. Fred still gets to do<br />
some big boat competitive sailing, as a navigator.<br />
James J. O’Brien’s daughter Eileen graduated<br />
from Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, on Sunday,<br />
June 12 with Master of Education and Master of<br />
Computer Science degrees (Summa Cum Laude).<br />
Her goal is to develop computer software for<br />
those with learning disabilities. Phil Trainor flew<br />
up for Father Duffy’s funeral and, together with<br />
Traug Lawler and me, had a mini-reunion in New<br />
Rochelle where he was able to tour his ancestral<br />
home. Ben Trigani continues to relish his teaching<br />
at Convent Station and the company of his many<br />
grandchildren who all live nearby. He sends<br />
warm regards to all. John McLaughlin and his<br />
wife have moved into an assisted living facility in<br />
Pennsylvania because of the neuropathy which has<br />
limited his walking. Chris McKenna is abandoning<br />
Nieman Marcus and San Francisco to take up<br />
residence in Connecticut. Jim Perrone’s son is a<br />
junior at Fordham and joined Jim, Jim Carr, Bill<br />
Monaghan, Tom Cahill and me at the Fordham<br />
Gym when <strong>Regis</strong> beat Niagra Prep for the Catholic<br />
high schools state championship in March. These<br />
past months have been a time of significant loss<br />
for us which has brought a host of memories from<br />
that time that Hank Radowski described so well,<br />
“Vanished are the youths, unkempt in shirt and<br />
tie, / Who hurled their boundless energy at the<br />
rectangular sky.” The “J”, Don Kennedy, and Father<br />
Duffy were all in different ways both sources and<br />
objects of that energy. The variety of responses to<br />
our experiences with them makes clear the lasting<br />
significance of those four years which come alive<br />
so easily in conversation sparked by their deaths.<br />
More immediately the loss of Gerry Cahill, Steve<br />
Sarsfield and Joe Binsack on the heels of our 50th<br />
make the progress of time all too real. Gerry was in<br />
the midst of chemo in the winter and spring of ‘04<br />
but was determined to get to the reunion which he<br />
did. He was especially delighted because it was his<br />
wife’s first trip to NYC. He died in October. Steve<br />
looked so well both at the Reunion and at Jug<br />
Night that his death in December came as a real<br />
shock. Jim Carr, Traug Lawler, Jim McGroddy,<br />
Bob Stibler, Ben Trigani and myself were able to<br />
get to Steve’s funeral and there were many stories<br />
of Steve’s basketball wonders and his exploits on<br />
City Island. Thomas Finnegan and his wife Mandy<br />
wish to thank all of the members of the Class of<br />
1954 and the other classes for their expressions<br />
on the death of Steve, Mandy’s brother. Joe<br />
Binsack regaled many of us at the reunion with his<br />
outdoor exploits, especially his biking trip to the<br />
north country with one of his grandsons. He died<br />
suddenly on May 30 after “a walk in the woods at<br />
the base of his beloved mountain, Mt. Chocorua,<br />
in Tamworth, NH.” Dick Ward recalled playing<br />
basketball with Joe on the courts at the pier in<br />
New Dorp. Sam Milana remembered Joe cutting<br />
his nails in a serrated pattern so that he could<br />
throw a better curveball when he was pitching for<br />
the Varsity. Please keep in touch; the easiest way is<br />
by e-mail to: jmconroy1@aol.com<br />
1955<br />
Karl Brunhuber, 35-44 167 th St.,<br />
Flushing, NY 11358<br />
John M. Morriss, 3 Salem Pl.,<br />
Valhalla, NY 10505, jmorriss11@aol.com<br />
Father Stephen Duffy, S.J., was a special friend<br />
of the Class of 1955, especially those of us who<br />
studied Greek with him for three years. The respect<br />
and affection were mutual during and after <strong>Regis</strong>.<br />
Our deepest condolences to the Duffy Family.<br />
Father Duffy was a superb teacher of Religion and<br />
Greek who taught thousands of students with<br />
scholarship, excitement, wonder, insight, precision,<br />
and humor. Those traits were also instilled in<br />
his students in a life-long way. He had a keen<br />
understanding of the maturing and development<br />
of teenage American boys. He also had a deep<br />
interest in Catholic Jesuit missions and in all the<br />
developments of the post-Vatican II Church. He will<br />
be missed, will not be forgotten, and will always<br />
remembered as one of us! R.I.P.<br />
‘55 TAKES ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY TO THE TOP!<br />
Reported by the Co-Class Rep, John Morriss<br />
Our 50th Reunion took place on May 20-22, <strong>2005</strong>.<br />
On Friday, we had a delightful evening at Moran’s<br />
Restaurant on West 19th Street, in Old New York<br />
(fitting for a school that opened its doors in 1914).<br />
There was much bonding, storytelling, a speech<br />
by Gene McGuire, and singing from Arthur<br />
Weisenseel. On Saturday, we had a great tour<br />
of the school, which is very state-of-the-art and<br />
very 21st Century. Mass was concelebrated by<br />
Rev. Joseph A. O’Hare, SJ ’48, Ned Murphy, S.J.;<br />
and the Rev. Harry Burke. We prayed for our<br />
deceased classmates (21), by name, during the<br />
Mass. The singing of the <strong>School</strong> song at the end of<br />
Mass was full-throated and particularly poignant.<br />
The weather was picture perfect for the cocktail<br />
hour en plein air in the Courtyard. Dinner in the<br />
Auditorium was first-rate, accompanied by stirring<br />
speeches from Paul Anderson, Bill Brennan,<br />
Bill Delaney, Peter McNamee, John Morriss,<br />
Ron Polant, and Joel Sherlock. All speakers<br />
and classmates agreed that in a unique way <strong>Regis</strong><br />
prepared and motivated us toward excellence<br />
(“magis”) in all areas, love for God and country<br />
(“Deo et Patriae”), and concern for others and the<br />
rest of the world (Ignatian, or “Men for Others”).<br />
Dessert was topped off by the singing of Arthur<br />
Weisenseel. On Sunday, we had a wonderful<br />
brunch at the home of Arthur and Connie<br />
Weisenseel in West Nyack, NY, in a seaside setting<br />
reminiscent of the Bay of Naples. Many thanks to<br />
all who attended the Reunion and best wishes to<br />
those who could not. Preliminary planning is under<br />
way for mini-reunions and our 55th. Attendees<br />
came from 11 states, plus South America. Joe<br />
Ramos came 10,000 miles from Chile. The Class<br />
sent get-well cards to Jim Carney, S.J. ‘43, who<br />
was recuperating from pneumonia. During the<br />
evening, John Morriss lauded “Mr. Carney,” in<br />
absentia, for his highly positive and motivational<br />
influence on the Class, both in the classroom and<br />
on the basketball court. John also pointed out that<br />
the Class has acquired over 200 academic degrees<br />
and has produced over 200 children and over 200<br />
grandchildren, and thus our legacy will endure<br />
forever. We have lived in 30 States and worked<br />
Kevin Dumbach ‘80 Paul Squitieri ‘80 Marty Barry ‘80 John DeGregorio ‘80 and Mark Moss ‘80<br />
at the class of 1980’s Silver Anniversary Reunion on April 30 <strong>2005</strong>.