Grace....and a few notes

Hello classmates,

Just a few quick notes on this Sunday morning.  If we have your email address,  you will be receiving the contact info for classmates within the next day or so.  I cannot guarantee that every single person’s  information is correct if there is no email address for that person, but I am confident about most of them.  I just took my best guess on some that were hard to find. 

If you have photos that you would like to share, please email them to stmarysclassof66@gmail.com and we will try to get them posted both on the website and on the St. Mary’s Facebook page.

I have quite a few laminated class photos left and about half a dozen mugs.  If anyone wants one and is willing to pay postage if they can’t pick it up at my house, please let me know.

Lastly,  Sister Jon Julie gave a beautiful blessing at our reunion luncheon.  I asked her for a copy and here it is:

Grace

 

We want to say “Thank you” for all that has nourished  us for 50+ years. We have been hungry in so many ways. Still are.

 

We thank you, God for our lives, given to us one day at a time. We thank you for all who have been given to us as family down through several generations.

 

We thank you for the people who have created the food we have been eating, for the ones who knew we had hungry hearts and found ways to love us that made us feel full and glad.

 

We thank you for all the places on this earth that have fed our hunger for beauty and peace, for the gift of the ocean, lakes, flowers, fresh air, clouds and stars.

 

We thank you for opening the doors of our spirit when we have been hungry for understanding all the hard things that can happen, do happen, have happened to us and we were fed by the tender loving goodness of others – all of which helped us know wounds heal.

We thank you for all tears, for all the laughs, for all the times we have been unable to speak because of your Goodness to us.

 

We know that when that happens, when we don’t know what to say, “Thank you!” is enough.

 

Bless us O Lord. Amen

 

Let’s celebrate our connections and our deep roots as we move forward into our next chapters of life.

 

Ellen

 

 

 

 

 

Endings and beginnings

Hello classmates,

Well, our reunion weekend has come and gone and now it will be placed in our St. Mary’s memory banks.  It was wonderful to see all of you after all of these years.  I’m sure that many of you share my regrets that there just wasn’t time to visit with everyone to the length and degree that we had hoped.  At least we are now reunited.  Let this be the beginning of many future gatherings.

For those of you who live out of state and had other commitments that prevented you from attending, please let one of us know if you will be in the area and we will try to get a group together.  Many of the “locals” are already planning to get together several times a year at various restaurants, etc.

Many of you who are on Facebook have already been sharing photos.  If you have some that you would like to post on our website, you can email them to me.   We will be putting photos under the ATTENDEES tab.  Remember, not everyone is on Facebook…including me!

That’s all for now.  More later!

Ellen

 

Let the festivities begin!

Hello all,

The cocktail reception at Jocelyn’s last night was a great success.  It was wonderful to see so many faces after so many years and to discover what has gone on in classmates’ lives during these past decades.  

I look forward to seeing those of you who are attending the Friday evening event.  It will be a lovely  opportunity to reconnect with our own St. Mary’s classmates and those ‘66ers that we knew from Central Catholic.

Some of you are attending the Central breakfast this morning and the tour of Notre Dame Cristo Rey on Saturday morning.  Neither school looks much like it did during our time.  I hope those attending will take photos to share. 

When you arrive at the luncheon on Saturday, just walk straight ahead and you will see our greeter’s table with name tags and program. I can guarantee that from then on you will find yourself in the midst of many interesting conversations and lots of stories about our years at St. Mary’s.  We’re are in for a good time!

See you this weekend!

Ellen

List of St. Mary's classmates attending the Friday night event

Hi all,

Several of you have inquired about the Friday night Dinner and Music at the Wyndham.  Here is a list of those who are planning to attend.  And, yes, there are quite a few of us who will be going alone.

Here is the list:

Mary Ellen Davis (2)

Elizabeth Devlin

Rita McConaghy (2)

Rayma Kinsella (2)

Patricia Haugen

Alana Prunier

Ann Tierney

Noreen Collins (2)

Shirley Poirier (2)

Mary Ellen Gallant (2)

Jane Spindler

Virginia Mele

Linda Enaire

Kathy Mancini

Ellen Pendergast (2)

Ellen Cashman

If you decide to come along and join the party, please call Tammy Stott at Central Catholic to register.  978 682 0260

We hope to see you there!

A note from Central Catholic's Jim Dziadosz Class of '66

Greetings, classmates.

Jim asked if he could post the following message about the Central Catholic events, so here it is!

 

Hi to all! 

After sitting in on meeting after meeting with Ellen and Rita, I just want all of you to know how happy we, the Central guys, are for all of you who decided to come back to your roots and celebrate with your classmates.

Lawrence will always have a place in our hearts. Since the merger with the girls’ schools in Lawrence, and especially St. Mary's which really was considered the sister school of Central, things have changed dramatically!

Now the population is almost equal young women and young men learning together. The family atmosphere is beautiful to behold. That's a reason to tour on Thursday.  Dave Defillipo said that the students have half a day so you can see them going through a typical morning. Maybe it always should have been that way?

Anyway, just thought I would shout out one more time and ask that you consider the other events, especially the dinner social on Friday night.  Bring along with your spouse or significant other. This is going to be a walk back to the sixties with great food and lots of wonderful music from the late fifties and early to mid-sixties. 

Oh, and probably a chance to meet up with some old grammar school classmates as well!

Come on, give it a go.  Rita and I promise it will be an event that will be special. 

The committee hopes that you really consider every event but we believe Friday night the 27th will be magic! 

It’s like the lyrics of the song " Do You Believe In Magic" by the Moody Blues when they declared " Like the Magic in a young girls heart!"

My Aunt Mary, a St. Mary's grad a few moons in back of all of us, declares that being in our sixties is really the new forties!

Come on, give it a shot! As Ellen says " once in a life time!

Best/Blessings,

Jim

Don't miss the tour!

Hi All,

 

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s update that there is still room for the tour of St. Mary’s which is not Notre Dame Cristo Rey.  Come along and reminisce as you tour the new and impressive facility.  If you are interested, please email Justine Foley Croteau: jcroteau48@gmail.com.

 

Ellen

Think about it....

Hi all,

We have three more additions to our luncheon list:  Kathy Collins, Laura D’Urso and Ellen Whitman.  If any of you know of people who attended St. Mary’s but did not stay until graduation, like Laura, please reach out to them and let them know that we are very happy to include them.  We can still make space for them.

If you are reluctant to sign up for some of the other activities, I want to encourage you to participate in as many of the events as you possibly can.  This is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us.  I doubt that we will ever get this many of us together again, especially those who are flying or driving in from other parts of the country.

You can still sign up for the dinner dance Friday night.  If you are interested, it would probably be best to call Central Catholic and talk to Tammy Stott who is in charge of the reunion events.  So far, there are 16 of us participating, some of whom are bringing spouses, and there are also lots of Central’s class who are attending.  It will be a great chance to do some extra visiting beyond the luncheon.

The Wednesday evening cocktail reception at Jocelyn’s is another opportunity to chat with classmates.  I think there are twelve who  have said they will be coming.  A few of those can ONLY go to the cocktail reception because of other weekend commitments, so it will be your only chance to see them.  There is no need to sign up in advance for that as it is a cash bar, but do consider stopping by.

Central’s facility doesn’t look much at all like it did back in the 60’s.  If you are interested in seeing what it looks like,  attending the breakfast and tour on Thursday morning would be a good decision.

So that’s my sales pitch for today.  Don’t worry about feeling awkward that you don’t know anyone.  We’ll make sure you are comfortable!!

Ellen

The List as of Today

Hello Classmates,

We have a few people who are still not sure whether or not they will be able to attend so this is not a final, but I wanted to let you know the classmates that have confirmed with payment so far.  Most are coming alone and some are bringing guests.

If you have not yet sent in your response, it’s not too late, but please do so as quickly as you can.

If you know people who you think had planned on coming but are not on the list below, please assist by getting in touch with them and encouraging them to come. 

This will definitely be a fun group!

Here is the list:

LUNCHEON LIST

Mary Ann Abraham

Marsha Assad

Pat Bisson

Lorraine Bomba (from St. Anne’s)

Gerry Casey

Ellen Cashman

Judy Cunningham

Mary Ellen Davis

Joyce DeCorpo
Diane Delli Colli

Rena Desroche

Betty Ann Devlin

Elaine DiMauro

Adele Donegan

Linda Enaire

Sharon Falco

Jane Finnichiaro

Justine Foley

Mary Ellen Gallant

Rosalie Gianni

Paula Goolkasian

Pat Haugen

Rayma Kinsella

Donna Lister

Rosemary Lombardi   

Noreen Mallen

Kathy Mancini

Maurita McCarthy

Rita McConaghy

Mary Alice McQuade

Mary Lou McQuade

Ginny Mele

Lynn Montgomery

Elaine Nahill

Mary Jane Nalepa

Irene Nocera

Barbara Panebianco

Ellen Pendergast

Shirley Poirier

Alana Prunier

Linda Routhier

Francine Sciacca

Francine Sciuto

Jane Spindler

Donna Strano

Nancy Theberge

Ann Tierney

Charlene Tommasino

Pat Tremblay

Dora Uliano

Nancy Wilson

Barbara Witkos