Great-Grandson & Granddaughter Graduating

Emma Claire Nicholas

Fredericksburg, VA

Tidus David Barnhart

Great Falls, MT

I will fly to VA next Tuesday to see my granddaughter graduate on June 1, 2025. I also wish to see my Great-Grandson, Tidus, graduate on May 31, 2025, but I will not. I am so proud of both of them and love them so much. 

Forever Grateful

 

Joan Hennessey Koestler Dies

Joan Hennessey Koestler, a lifelong resident of Vicksburg, Mississippi, was born on February 11, 1933, and departed this life on May 3, 2025, at 92.

A 1951 St. Francis Xavier Academy graduate, she attended St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, Terre Haute, Indiana. After many years as a devoted homemaker, she joined the family firm of P.L. Hennessey, Inc., as a real estate agent in 1979 and worked for 30+ years in the business. She was an active member of the Vicksburg-Warren Board of Realtors and a past member of the Vicksburg Junior Auxiliary.

She was a life-long communicant of St. Paul Catholic Church in Vicksburg, where she served as secretary for the St. Paul Altar Society.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Lawrence H. and Margaret H. Hennessey; sons, John R. and Christopher H. Koestler; a brother, Lawrence H. Hennessey, Jr.; and a sister, Catherine Mulhern. She leaves behind daughters, Joan “Missy” (James) Arnold, Charlotte (John) Booth, Patricia (Preston) Williams; sons, Michael R. (Carla) Koestler, Robert M. (Donna) Koestler, Jr., and Lawrence H. Koestler; a brother, John A. (Joy Ann) Hennessey (Class of 1959); 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

The holy rosary will be recited Friday, May 16, at 8:30 a.m., followed by Visitation until 10:00 a.m. at Fisher-Riles Funeral Home, 5000 Indiana Avenue, Vicksburg. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. at St Paul Catholic Church, Vicksburg, with interment ensuing at Cedar Hill Cemetery. 

The grandsons, H Stewart Patterson, Thomas R. Duffey, Jr., B. Carlisle Koestler, John P., and William R. Williams, will be pallbearers.

The family would like to thank the Heritage House Nursing Home and Pax Hospice staff.

Instead of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Paul Catholic Church, 713 Crawford Street, Vicksburg, MS 39180, or Storehouse Community Food Pantry, PO Box 804912, Vicksburg, MS 39182.

Pope Leo XIV

*Quote from Pope Leo X1V.*

" Brothers, sisters…

I speak to you, especially to those who no longer believe, no longer hope, no longer pray because they think God has left.

To those who are fed up with scandals, with misused power, with the silence of a Church that sometimes seems more like a palace than a home.

I, too, was angry with God.

I, too, saw good people die, children suffer, grandparents cry without medicine.

And yes… there were days when I prayed and only felt an echo.

But then I discovered something:

God doesn't shout. God whispers.

And sometimes He whispers from the mud, from pain, from a grandmother who feeds you without having anything.

I don't come to offer you perfect faith.

I come to tell you that faith is a walk with stones, puddles, and unexpected hugs.

I'm not asking you to believe in everything.

I'm asking you not to close the door. Give a chance to the God who waits for you without judgment.

I'm just a priest who saw God in the smile of a woman who lost her son... and yet she cooked for others.

That changed me.

So if you're broken, if you don't believe, if you're tired of the lies...

come anyway. With your anger, your doubt, your dirty backpack.

No one here will ask you for a VIP card.

Because this Church, as long as I breathe, will be a home for the homeless and a rest for the weary.

God doesn't need soldiers.

He needs brothers.

And you, yes, you...

are one of them."

Robert Prevost (Leo XIV)

Looking Back at Lynn Stegall Christmas 1991

I recently found a greeting card written by Lynn Stegall (Class of 1959) in February 1992.  She sent me this picture of her son Brian, a friend, Fern, and Lynn getting ready for a Christmas party.  Lynn has since passed away, but it's the only picture I have of her, except when we went on our field trip to MP&L in Jackson during our Senior year.  Thought you would like to see it.  When this was taken, her son was a dance major in Music Man and Sound of Music at Galveston Island Outdoor Musicals.  

Brian, Fern (a friend), and Lynn heading for a Christmas Party (1991)

To Learn to Love

December 17. 1936 ~ April 21, 2025

Blessed Easter Weekend Classmates