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Hello all,

We had a great turnout for today’s lunch. 16 guys sitting around reminiscing and discussing many things including how did all the years go by so quickly.

This morning just before I left to attend the lunch I received a call from classmate Greg Halbert. Greg had very sad news, he told me that Phil Reichenbach’s sister had called and informed him of Phil’s passing last week. Greg and Phil go back to their grade school days in South St Paul along with a number of our other classmates from South St Paul.

I sent out a separate mailing to all you guys as soon as I returned from the lunch with some info on Phil’s death and services.  Keep this great guy  in our prayers!

In the past few days I have heard from a few guys.

Ted Krammer who lives in Il. Took a fall last week and the result was a broken hip. He hopes to get up and around as soon as possible and hopefully be able to make the 80^th birthday bash for class of 63 guys.

I visited Tom Rubbelke this week at his home in St Paul and Tom is doing OK. He extends a hello to all us ”OLD” guys.

We have some details to share on the two big class of 63 summer events happening in August. MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Annual Golf outing (THE CHARLIE) — Wednesday August 13^th   Highland National golf course    10:00AM start tee times    $52 with cart per person    The BRITZ SCRAMBLE will again be the format.

80^th BIRTHDAY BASH  —  Thursday August 14^th   Pool and Yacht Club   11:30AM till 1:30PM    complete buffet featuring        Chicken Picatta, Walleye, Vegetables, Potato, Salad and rolls. $30

Sign-ups to attend one or both of these events will be sent out in separate mailings in about a month.—-LOOK FOR THEM!

You see a couple of attached photos to this email, one is the group from today and the other is one of our classmates who is coming up from Tennessee to attend the 80^th bash in August. The photo from our freshman year at Cretin reminds us of the special freshman only uniform we wore that first year—know who the guy in the photo is?  There is a hint on the photo!

So, best to all you Octogenarians or soon to be Octogenarians.

Next class of 63 lunch is Thursday June 12^th

Tom Troskey

Greetings from Minnesota where winter lingers!

Fourteen  of our classmates enjoyed each other’s company over lunch today.  There were a few fresh faces we have not seen for a while – Tom Mega, Frank Marzitilli, and Dick Skinner.  Glad they could join us. 

The upcoming (Aug 14, 2025) 80^th Class Birthday Party was discussed.  Tom Schleck raised the questions of whose 80^th birthdays were the earliest in the year and whose were the latest.    Frank Marzitilli chimed in he was a January baby and said he only knew of  two who were older – Steve Nachtsheim and Ted Kramer, with Ted being the oldest.  Tom Schleck is a December baby and believes he might be the youngest.

Terry Bacigalupo sent me an email bringing attention to the small town he and Tom Schwartz live in – Granbury, TX.  Granbury is now a 4-time winner of the USA Today award for the Best Historical Small Town in America!  I passed around a copy of the flyer announcing the award that Terry had sent me.  A snapshot of that is attached.

Dave Britz updated us on the annual golf outing – “The Charlie”.  He has six tee times reserved (24 golfers) for August 13, 2025 starting at 10am.   Fee will be $52 (senior rate) for a cart and 18 holes.  Updates will follow as the date approaches.  

Next class luncheon will be held on May 8^th at the Pool and Yacht Club.

Hope to see many  of you at our 80^th Birthday Bash on August 14, 2025.

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Joe S.

Hello Guys,

Hope all is well, 13 of your Cretin classmates got together today for lunch at the Pool and Yacht club and watched the ice free Mississippi River go by.

What a difference a few weeks made up here.

Dave Britz, a regular at our lunches emailed me yesterday that he was in Florida on the Gulf side. He said to me guess what?—I am going to a Cretin Derham baseball game tomorrow since they are in a tournament in Florida during spring break—how things have changed!  Sounds terrific.

Speaking of CDH the girls Basketball team qualified for the State Tournament and played their quarter final game yesterday against the top seed Monticello who WAS 29-0. CDH won the game and  today the girls played in the Semi final and lost a very close game to Marshall Minnesota. The team will play Saturday for 3^rd place—what a great season. Here is another thing that has changed three of the starting players are 8th graders. Future looks good.

The boys basket ball team has been rated number one in the state all year and will likely be in the state tourney next week—sections are not over yet.

A verry, very sad note earlier this week I heard from classmate Mike Kelly that his wife Loraine passed away two weeks ago. Mike is living in Illinois but plans to get make to Minnesota soon.

Please keep Mike in you prayers. May Loraine Rest In Peace.

Another month has past and a few more of you guys have turned 80 and the rest of us are close to follow, so keep the calendar date in front of you Thursday August 14th—The 80^th class of 63 birthday party is being held at the Pool and Yacht at noon time to celebrate this milestone.

In my email last week to all of you I highlighted the name of many of our classmates who we are trying to contact and get email addresses for so we can include them in the class of 63 mailings, please take a look and if you can provide some contact on any of the guys listed let me know—–THANKS

Speaking of thanks—Joe Schufman and Len Mitsch are working on being sure we get info out on the 80^th party, Joe Brooks and Dave Britz are working with the Pool and Yacht to set up food for the party and Dave Tyree has stepped up to work on contacting guys on the lost classmates list I just referenced.

Next class of 63 lunch is Thursday April 10^th——see you then

Best to all

Tom Troskey

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Len Mitsch found some photos of the invitation he produced for our 20th Class Reunion. I reproduce that invite here as a reminder four decades have passed since that reunion. Our 80th Birthday Bash is an opportunity to socialize with classmates from that bygone era. Hope you can make it.

JS

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Hello All,

Beautiful clear sunny day (up to 0 degrees at lunchtime) as 13 of your Cretin classmates enjoyed the winter day .

The photos attached show some of the guys in attendance and the one photo where the people are all dark does show the very frozen Mississippi River in the background.

Speaking of winter I heard from two of our classmates earlier this week as one was walking the beaches on the Atlantic side of Florida (John Runyon) and the other was walking the beaches on the Gulf side of Florida ( Tim Valento)—THANKS GUYS.

The men at lunch today were Don Danneker, Dave Britz, Jim Dimond, Dave Tyree, Joe Brooks, Jim Hudak, Tom Troskey, Pat McDonnell, Dick Butler, Frank Villaume, Tom Schleck, Mike Gaida, Joe M McGrath.

In December we lost three of our classmates Richard Dennis, Jack Hansen and John Decker. We took some time to remember these fellows and it was especially nice to hear from three of our classmates who were long time friends of Richard ,Jack and John.

Joe Brooks told of his lifelong friendship with Richard, Jim Hudak told of his with John Decker and Frank Villaume of his with Jack Hansen. The stories they told us about these fellows were both humorous and certainly heart felt. Thanks for sharing the stories with the rest of us.

Our Friend and classmate Brian Dobie has been in the hospital for the past two weeks with heart issues but came home yesterday and his wife Colleen says his doing a bit better. Keep him in your prayers.

With us today at lunch is Joe M McGrath and as many of you are aware Joe has been battling lung cancer for quite a while, some good news from Joe today. His doctors are pleased with his recent diagnosis and so is Joe. Great news Joe and you are an inspiration to all of us.

Two of our classmates brought in books they authored, Dick Butler brought in his which is out of print—literally and Jim Hudak brought in his new book  Blood & Brillance  which he had copies  he signed for classmates. Thanks Guys.

Some info about what is going on over at CDH, The boys basketball team is number 1 in the state and is lead by 6’11’ 250lb Tom Ahneman, the boys hockey team is number 6 in the state. Best of luck as the state tournaments swing into action soon. Also CDH has a new football coach, Ben Burk who was the coach at Lakeville South. Ben replaces Steve Walsh 85’. Steve called me last week and told me he was not the football coach any longer. It wasn’t his idea.

Steve was the coach for three years taking over a program that had not been successful for 5-6 years prior to his arrival. In the third year Steve took the team to the State tournament and lost to the undefeated team from Owatonna in OT.

I don’t understand it but I do not know Steve well enough to pry further. I am sorry to hear this change.

NOTE—80^th class of 63 Birthday party will be Thursday August 14^th  The venue has CHANGED it will be held at the Pool & Yacht Club, the venue we normally use for our monthly class luncheons.. The change in venue has been made for financial reasons. The time remains the same – 11:30am-1:30pm, maybe longer. Please update your calendars. Approximate cost is estimated at $30.

Work on this event is being done by several of our classmates and I want to acknowledge and thank them for there effort to make this a fun day

Len Mitsch and Joe Schufman —- publicity

Joe Brooks and Dave Britz—- venue selection and food service

Dave Tyree—- searching for lost classmates (about 40 we do not have email addresses for)

Thank you Len, Joe S. Joe B. Dave B. and Dave T.

REMEMBER ALL THE CLASS OF 63 GATHERINGS ARE FOR ALL OF OUR CLASSMATES—-THE MORE GUYS WE GET TOGETHER THE MORE ENJOYABLE THE EVENTS ARE.

So mark your calendars,

Next lunch— Thursday March 13^th

The Charlie golf outing —Wednesday August 13

The 80^th  birthday party—Thursday August 14

Best to all

Tom Troskey

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A change in venue has been made for financial reasons.  The 80th Birthday Bash will now be held at the Pool and Yacht Club, the venue we normally use for our monthly class luncheons.  The time remains the same – 11:30am-1:30pm, maybe longer.  Please update your calendars.  Approximate cost is estimated at $30.

I added a new page titled Authors to the site. It now appears as a link in the main menu bar at the top of the home page. Another example of the talent of our class and classmates. It will be updated as we uncover more authors from our class.

JS

A pertinent reminder that tempest fugit. We have planned a get together to celebrate our collective 80th birthdays…

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More to follow…….

Hello Everyone,

Hope the new year is starting out well for you!

Today we had a very spirited group of 15 class of 63 members together for a couple of hours of socializing. If you were not there we sure wish you were. The monthly class of 63 lunch is select group open to ALL class of 63 members. Love to see you!

I have been in contact with the son of our classmate Kerry Knodle and sadly Kerry is dealing with early onset Alzheimer’s and is living at the St Cloud Vets Home. Keep Kerry and his loved ones in your thoughts and prayers.

For those of you who never see ice outside a drinking glass, there is a photo of the ice-covered Mississippi, just in case you forgot what that looks like!

I know that we have quite a numbers of classmates who have authored books and there is a photo of our latest classmate/author, Jim Hudak with his new book Blood & Brilliance. Congrats Jim on this Sci Fi thriller.

Jim’s book can be ordered as follows;

 I would like to ask all the classmates who have authored books to send me an email with your book titles and the year of print. I know I have asked this about 10 years ago but it would be great to put out an updated version. THANK YOU and I know your classmates will appreciate seeing the list of 63’ authors.

One of the photos included in today’s email is a photo from the class of 63 play Tea House of August Moon-Ed Kurhajetz brought it in today and we want to see if you can ID the folks in the photo—please send me who you think each person is.  Hint – look to the class of 63 web site link at the bottom of this note (click on continue reading). Thanks ED. Ed was publicity director of the play!

Finally, we continue to discuss that we are all going to be 80 this year. With that said the plan is to have an 80^th birthday party lunch for class of 63 members  this summer on Thursday August 14^th Details should be forth coming but we need  a couple of guys to volunteer to work on this event. The main items that need to be identified and determined by the volunteers are where to have the party and what the food arrangement should be. Once that is done the communication will be done through emails and the class of 63 website. So please let me or Joe Schufman know if you will take on the task of determining the place and food arrangement.  THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Two other dates to write down;

Next lunch is Thursday February 13^th—————————–Annual Charlie golf outing Wednesday August 13th

Best to all of you and a healthy 2025

Tom Troskey

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“The Teahouse of the August Moon”

Hello all,

Had a spirited group of 10 classmates together for lunch today.

Sorry for the blurred photo of the guys but those attending were Dave Britz, Mike Gaida, Tom Troskey, Joe Schufman, John Runyon, Joe Brooks, Dick Butler, Jim Hudak Dave Tyree, Frank Villaume.

Beautiful day on the banks of the Mississippi—–0 clouds and 0 temperature.

As I mentioned earlier two of the winter season boys teams at CDH are rated VERY high in the Minnesota High School standings Boys b-ball is number 1 and Boys hockey is number 5. Should be fun to watch as the season unfolds.

2025 is a few days away and you know what that means?   2025 minus 1945 = 80 and most of us will reach 80 in 2025. Count our blessings.

We hope to have one of our regularly scheduled class of 63 lunches during a summer month of 2025  designated to celebrate all these 80^th birthdays at once. We will keep you advised and hope that it will be a good reason for many, many to attend. Details will follow in the spring of 2025.

Nothing more at this time but wishing all of you a blessed Christmas and a healthy new year.

Next class of 63 lunch will be on Thursday January 9^th,  2025

Tom Troskey

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