2017 St. Aloysius/St. Francis Alumni Banquet

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

~50 Year Graduates~

~Class of 2017~

Banquet held at Farrell Hall.

Pretty table arrangements.

Only three Class of 1959 graduates attended the 2017 annual alumni banquet.  Left to right, Myrtle Loviza Alvarado, Marian Ann Love and Sue McNamara Fowler.  No classmates from St. Aloysius High School attended.

Mrs. Lauderdale, her daughter, Jane Lauderdale Flowers and daughter Christin Flowers Matthews sat with us at the table.

Mrs. Lauderdale getting a big hug from Father P. J. Curley.

Peter Pikul speaking at the banquet.

Roll Call of Classes by Lindsey Doyle Bradley, '02

Secretary/Treasurer, Alumni Association

Introduction of the Class of 2017 by Chesley Sadler Lambiotte, '96

Senior Sponsor, St. Aloysius High School

Message from the Class of 2017 by Olivia Curtis

President, Class of 2017

Remarks from the Class of 1967

by Tricia Guider Sadler ~ St. Francis Xavier Class of 1967

by Peter Pikul ~ St. Aloysius Class of 1967

Charitable Trust Presentation by Rob Amborn, '01

President, Alumni Association

Development Foundation Report by Ann Farrell Roberson, '94

Director of Development and Alumni Affairs

Vicksburg Catholic School

Benediction by Reverend P. J. Curley

Pastor, St. Michael Catholic Church

58th Year of Graduation ~ Class of 1959

Our Class of 1959 from St. Aloysius/St. Francis Xavier Academy will be celebrating our 58th graduation year this evening with a 5:30 Mass at St. Paul Catholic Church and a social/banquet to follow at Farrell Hall. We had 20 classmates from SFXA and 19 classmates from SAHS.  I'm not sure how many of our classmates will attend tonight but here is a picture of us taken at our 25th class reunion many years ago at Maxwell's.

Attending were 23 of 39 classmates: Mickey Sullivan, Ivan Cunningham, +Walter Little, Theresa Martin Kitowski, Ina Lott Whittington, Sue McNamara Fowler, +Katherine Meyer Turcotte, Marlene Wilson Langston, Myrtle Loviza Curro, +Lynn Stegall Hauserman, George Evans, +Larry Miller, Robert Witty, Kay Hess Simms, +Vera Marshall Brown, Marian Love Boyd, Bill Adams, Louis Logue, Gordon Sutton, Eddie Habert, Johnny Hennessey, +Roy Turcotte, +Jackie Mackey and +Joe Lindigrin. (I'm to the far right with black/white trimmed dress with red tie.

Rest In Peace!  SFXA classmates:  Lynn Stegall Hausermann, Patricia "Patsy" McNamara LeBlanc, Margaret McCormack Tice, Marie Braun Yowan, Katherine "Speedy" Meyer Turcotte and Vera Marshall Brown.

Rest In Peace! SAHS classmates:  Franklin "Eddie" Crevitt, Alexander "Jackie" Mackey, Joseph "Joe" Lindigrin, Phillip Logue Doiron, Walter Pitts Little, Loren "Larry" Miller and Roy "Skeeter" Vernon Turcotte

Survivor ~ Sister Mary Patricia, RSM

Sister Mary Patricia, a Religious Sister of Mercy, used to laughingly describe herself as a tourist attraction.

She was sacristan at St. Paul Cathedral for 36 years and at the Mercy Sister’s mother house on Barry Road. But many years before she came to Worcester she was involved in one of the great sea tragedies in history.

Her name was Ellen Mockler, before she became a nun, and her older sister lived in New York City. She said she decided to leave her native Galway in Ireland, and come to the United States “for the adventure of it,” she could not have imagined the adventure, and the tragedy, she was about to experience.

She and four of her friends, three boys and a girl, boarded the RMS Titanic in April 1912, for its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. It was a smooth crossing until 11:40 p.m. April 14, 100 years ago tomorrow.

Then the Titanic, one of the biggest ships ever built, a ship that was called “unsinkable,” scraped an iceberg that ripped a hole in its starboard (right) side. It later was said that if the damage had been confined to four or even five so-called watertight compartments, the ship might have survived.
But six compartments were torn open, and the Titanic was doomed. About 2 1/2 hours after the collision, the huge ship broke in half and sank. Of the 2,224 passengers and ship’s crew on board, 1,513 drowned or died from exposure  in the frigid water. Only 711 survived.

Ellen Mockler was one of them. She and her friends were cabin-class passengers.

This is the story she told The Catholic Free Press in an interview in 1953.

When the collision occurred, “I heard a slight noise above and a slight jar. Then there was a great deal of talking and shouting.”

She and her friends, along with many others, went to a public room on the ship and sat for about an hour.

“Most people didn’t know what had happened or, if they did, how extensive the damage was,” she said.

“One of the boys scouted about and learned exactly what had happened and then took us to the first class deck where there was all sorts of confusion, and where they were trying to lower the lifeboats.

“This same boy then knelt down and started the rosary. Most of the people around joined in, then two priests who were aboard gave absolution.

(She did not identify the priests and perhaps there were several on board the Titanic. What is known is that there was a priest on board named Father John Montvilas. He was Lithuanian and was on his way from Rome to be pastor of a new  parish in Athol which was to be opened for Lithuanian Catholics. He  did not survive the sinking.  The opening of that parish was the next year, 1913, when Father Francis Meskauskas from Lithuania arrived in Athol be the founding pastor of that new parish, which was named St. Francis after his patron saint.)

“I remember that someone very excitedly announced that a boat was coming to our rescue, and that this friend from Galway said calmly ‘we’ll finish the rosary.’”

She said she didn’t know how it happened, but she was put into the last lifeboat to leave the ship.“They didn’t let it down slowly by the pulley ropes, but cut the rope and let the boat fall into the water because there was so little time. We were in the water only 15 or 20 minutes when the Titanic sank out of sight.”

Three of her four Galway friends, all  the boys, were lost with it. She told The Catholic Free Press that the 10 or 15 passengers in the canvas lifeboat with her were afraid that they would be sucked  under water and drowned when the Titanic sank. They rowed frantically to avoid that.

Then, after a while, their lifeboat began to leak. A woman on board stuffed her hat into the hole.“Why she was wearing a hat, I don’t know, but it probably saved our lives,” she said.

They were in the lifeboat from about 1:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. when they were rescued by the passenger liner Carpathia, which had  heard the Titanic’s wireless calls for help, had steamed about 60 miles to the scene and pulled survivors from lifeboats and the water.

The wireless, invented by Guillermo Marconi, was in its infancy then and ships that had them did not keep their wireless rooms operational for 24 hours a day, and ships closer to the Titanic than the Carpathia did not respond to her CQD distress calls. CQ was code for “anyone listening,” and the D was code for “distress.” It later was replaced by the universal distress call, three dots, three dashes and three dots – SOS.

The fact that the Carpathia’s wireless operator was on duty and heard the Titanic’s CQD distress call was responsible for many lives being saved.

“They were wonderful to us on that ship,” she said. “There wasn’t nearly enough food to go around, they had picked up so many. But they shared everything with us.”

The Carpathia arrived in New York four days later. She was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City and, two days later, was discharged. She said she never thought to let authorities know she survived the Titanic’s sinking, so her parents in Ireland and her sister in New York were grief-stricken when her name appeared on a list of the missing.

She said her sister refused to believe she was dead. She enlisted the help of her parish priest and they went to the hospital several times until they were able to locate her and her one friend from Galway who had survived. They sent cable messages back to her family and friends in Galway, assuring them that she was alive. But her name continued  to appear on lists of the missing for some time.

She worked for the National Biscuit Factory in New York for five years. Then a Jesuit from Worcester, Father Leo Butler, told her about the Sisters of Mercy in his hometown. She came to Worcester in 1917 and joined the Order. She died in 1984 at age 95 and is buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Leicester.

Mercy Sister Frances Carberry and Mercy Sister Mary Regis Reardon both knew Sister Mary Patricia. Both said she had a delightful sense of humor and was very popular in her community. They said she would talk about her Titanic experience but didn’t dwell on it.

An article in The Mercy Word, a newsletter that was published by the Sisters of Mercy at Barry Road in 1979, said that “still full of life and joy, even in retirement, Sister Mary Patricia delights in her cup of tea and her regular Saturday trips to McDonald’s. Little did she realize as she reluctantly climbed into that lifeboat in 1912 that an order of fries would bring her joy in her old age. We, her Sisters, thank God for this life – a true gift of the Lord to the Sisters of Mercy and to the total Church.”

By William T. Clew

Happy Trails My Friends

THE END OF AN ERA

The young guns may not understand the meaning of this, but you should!
The Roy Rogers Museum in Branson, MO has closed its doors forever. The contents of the museum were sold at a public auction. Roy Rogers told his son, if the museum ever operates at a loss, close it, and sell the contents.
He complied. Note the follow-on article is truly the end of an era.
Here is a partial listing of some of the items that were sold at auction.
Roy's 1964 Bonneville sold for $254,500. It was estimated to sell between 100 and 150 thousand dollars.
His script book from the January 14,1953 episode of This Is Your Life sold for $10,000 (EST. $800-$1,000).
A collection of signed baseballs (Pete Rose, Duke Snyder, and other greats) sold for $3,750.
A collection of signed bats (Yogi Berra,Enos Slaughter, Bob Feller, and others) sold for $2,750.
Trigger 's saddle and bridle sold for $386,500.
One of many of Roy's shirts sold for $16,250 and one of his many cowboy hats sold for $17,500.
One set of boot spurs sold for $10,625. (He never used a set of spurs on Trigger).
A life size shooting gallery sold for $27,500.
Various chandeliers sold from $6,875 to $20,000, very unique and artistic in their western style.
A signed photograph by Don Larsen taken during his perfect game in the world series against the Dodgers on Oct. 8, 1953, along with a signed baseball to Roy from Don, sold for $2,500.
Two fabulous limited edition BB guns in their original boxes with numerous photos of Roy, Dale, Gabby, and Pat sold for $3,750.
A collection of memorabilia from his shows entertaining the troops in Vietnam sold for $938. I never knew he was there.
His flight jacket sold for $7,500.
His set of dinnerware plates and silverware sold for $11,875.
The Bible they used at the dinner table every night sold for $8,750.
One of several of his guitars sold for $27,500.
Nellybelle sold for $116,500.
A fabulous painting of Roy, Dale, Pat, Buttermilk, Trigger, and Bullet sold for $10,625.
One of several sets of movie posters sold for $18,750.
A black and white photograph of Gene Autry with a touching inscription from Gene to Roy sold for $17,500.
A Republic Productions Poster bearing many autographs of the people that played in Roy's movies sold for $11,875.
Dale's horse, Buttermilk (whose history is very interesting) sold below the presale estimate for $25,000. (EST. 30-40 thousand).
Bullet sold for $35,000 (EST. 10-15 thousand). He was their real pet.
Dale's parade saddle, estimated to sell between 20-30 thousand, sold for $104,500.
One of many pairs of Roy's boots sold for $21,250.
Trigger sold for $266,500.
Do you remember the 1938 movie The Adventures of Robinhood, with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland?
Well, Olivia rode Trigger in that movie.
Trigger was bred on a farm co-owned by Bing Crosby. Roy bought  Trigger on a time payment plan for $2,500.
Roy and Trigger made 188 movies together.
Trigger even outdid Bob Hope by winning an Oscar in the movie Son of  Paleface in 1953.
It is extremely sad to see this era lost forever. Despite the fact that Gene and Roy's movies, as well as those  of other great characters, can be bought or rented for viewing,
today's kids would rather spend their time playing video games.
Today it takes a very special pair of parents to raise their kids with the right values and morals.
These were the great heroes of our childhood, and they did teach us right from wrong, and how to have and show respect for each other and the animals that share this earth.
You and I were born at the right time. We were able to grow up with these great people even if we never met them.
In their own way they taught us patriotism and honor. We learned that lying and cheating were bad, and that sex wasn't as important as love.
We learned how to suffer through disappointment and failure and work through it.
Our lives were drug free.
So it's good-bye to Roy and Dale, Gene and Hoppy, the Lone Ranger, and Tonto.
Farewell to Sky King and Superman and Sgt.Friday.
Thanks to Capt. Kangaroo, Mr. Rogers, and Capt. Noah and all those people whose lives touched ours, and made them better.
It was a great ride through childhood.
HAPPY TRAILS MY FRIENDS
P.S. Don't share this with anyone under 50.....
they won't understand or care!