Congratulations Pat and Carol! Hope you celebrate many more.

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Patric and Carol Vitek married 60 years Nov 28th 1964

Hello all,

Nice group of classmates (14)  gathered today for lunch.

As we do each November we take a photo of the men in our class who are veterans. Left to right—Joe Schufman, Dick Butler, Dave Britz, Jim Hudak, Joe Brooks, Tom Schleck, Larry Moser, John Runyon THANK YOU MEN

Click on image to enlarge…

Here is a good surprise—for the first time in about two years all those that signed up were there and no non sign ups showed up. This makes the restaurant quite happy but know that if you show up without letting me know you will always have a place.

Joe McGrath who is very regular at the lunches was not there as he is again going through chemo treatments for cancer but Joe tells me he is handling it well. Prayers for you Joe!

We passed around the program for the Annual CDH Community awards dinner which was held Oct 21^st at the St Paul Hotel. Our classmate Tom Schwartz received the very prestigious Bishop Cretin award.

Also passed around the Annual letter CDH sends out with some detail on how the class of 63 – 40^th anniversary scholarship money is used. The details on the recently established Bonfe/Ryan scholarship were not yet available.

A few of the snow birds have already left, Gary Stoffel in Arizona, Gene Bovy in Arizona and Tim Valento in Florida. I bet there are others!

A few months ago we discussed having an    80^TH   class of 63 birthday party for all of us during the summer on our regular Thursday lunch schedule—–that is still on the radar screen—-your comments are welcome.

Mark your calendars for December lunch on Thursday Dec 12^th.

Count your blessings and have a fine Thanksgiving Holiday.

Tom Troskey

Each year Cretin-Derham Hall honors alumni and friends from Cretin, Derham Hall and Cretin-Derham Hall with Community Awards. Those awards recognize the significant accomplishments of our distinguished alumni and friends, and the recipients receive their awards and recognition at an annual banquet. Our class has been honored with three of these awards over the last decade, the most recent classmate so honored being General (Ret.) Thomas Schwartz. We have added a page to our site that highlights all of our classmates that have been honored with a Community Award. You can view that page at CDH Awards Honoring Our Classmates.

Blood and Brillance by Jim Hudak

At our last class lunch, Jim mentioned his upcoming book, which is in the process of becoming a hard-cover offering. It is a sci-fi story set in the future, both pre- and post-nuclear apocalypse. Much of the technology he weaves into his story is available today and is evolving to become even more powerful. Creative and interesting it is .

If you would like to listen to a podcast with the synopsis of the story, here is the link –

Worth a listen. It is about 12 minutes in length.

Joe Schufman

Hello all,

Another beautiful day in St. Paul – a last gasp of summer with a high near 80.   A great day for a gathering of 14 of our classmates for lunch at the Pool and Yacht Club.

Much banter and story-telling today (most of the stories told will stay in that room), so the mood was upbeat.  

Jim Hudak mentioned the book he has written is now a google doc, a step on the way to publishing a hard copy.  Here is a photo of the book cover –

Click on image to enlarge  

Tom Troskey was not able to join us.  He is on holiday with his wife Linda.   Here is a photo he sent – appears to be on top of the world.   It was taken on the observation deck of the Sears Tower in Chicago.

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There was, sadly, some serious news that was shared.

Pat McDonald told us he had recently talked to our classmate Dick Skinner.   In June Dick learned he had prostate cancer and that it had metastasized.  He is about to undergo treatments (post surgery).  Please send some prayers Dick’s way.

Joe McGrath was asked how he was doing and, positive as always, said good.   He is undergoing a new chemotherapy session for his lung cancer, which had been subdued for the last few years.  Prayers helped Joe in the past so please send many more his way.

Click on image to enlarge

Our next luncheon is scheduled for Thursday November 14 at the Pool and Yacht Club. 

Joe Schufman

Hello everyone,

Beautiful day (a little too hot at noon– 82 degrees) along the banks of a very calm Mississippi River as 17 of your classmates gathered for lunch and to socialize.

We opened our meeting today remembering two of our classmates who we recently learned passed away since our last lunch.

We took some time to remember both Pat Keenan and Jack Jay Morrison.

Some very sad news we just found out about in recent days, our classmate Tom Rubbelke’s 25 year old grandson was killed in a car accident over Labor day week end in western Wisconsin.

May they rest in peace and may God bless these families as they deal with the sadness of losing their loved one.

Here are two items I (we) would like some feedback on.

1.

The idea of having an 80^th birthday party for all of us at one of our 2025 summer luncheons is being considered.

No details have been discussed and this idea was motivated by the class of 1965 who a couple of years ago had a 75^th birthday party at lunch time for their class members and had 45 guys attend. Jim Hannigan of “65” told me about it and how well it was received.

So, can you guys give me feedback on if you think it is a good idea and if you will attend a noon time 80^th birthday party for all of us at a local venue.

If this seems like a good idea I would like to ask two maybe three of you ( a committee) to volunteer to put this together. I will be involved in sending out what ever is necessary to contact and get a count.

PLEASE RESPOND SO WE CAN GET A FEEL FOR WHETHER THIS SHOULD MOVE FORWARD OR NOT.

2.

Joe Schufman suggested that we extend an invitation to the new president of Cretin Derham Hall (Jeb Myers) to see if he would like to have lunch with us. We would meet  socialize with him and then ask him to give us some updates on what is going on at CDH. Do you like the idea and would you attend? We would hope for great attendance.

PLEASE RESOND SO WE CAN DETERMINE WHETHER TO MOVE FORWARD OR NOT.

Here are a few other things

Tomorrow night CDH plays St Thomas Academy at the Vikings performance Center in Eagan. A special twist, the coin flip will be done by two men who have VERY successful coaching careers with each school. Mal Scanlan of Cretin and Jerry Brown of STA.

Class web site—-   https://cretinclassof1963.org 

Joe Schufman’s photography web site—this is a favorite of mine and I did not mention to Joe I am putting it on this email    https://jlouisiiiphotography.org/posts/

Next class of 63 lunch is October 10^th  mark your calendar

Tom Troskey

Click on image to enlarge

Hello Guys,

A few things to chat about. This week we had two events with class of 63 guys, 8 guys golfing at Highland National on Wednesday and 13 guys for lunch at the Pool and Yacht Club on Thursday.

Perfect conditions for golf and river watching. You will see who played golf by looking at the attached scorecard showing results to the always fun Britz Scramble. The winning foursome received a Dozen new Titleist’s with the CDH logo provided by the alumni group at CDH—-Thank you Megan Smith.

Our golf chairman Dave Britz has some ideas for next year’s golf outing that he will share as that time approaches.

Great turn out for lunch. A long commute for classmate Frank Marzitelli who flew in from his home in Daytona Beach—Frank’s first Class of 63 lunch! Glad you made it Frank.

School year about to start and the link below gives some info on what CDH is putting together for alumni—check it out.

A few guys have asked about the CDH /St Thomas Academy game and that is  Friday the 13^th of September at The Viking Performance field in Eagan. You can get more info by clicking on the following link –

https://www.cretin-derhamhall.org/alumni-advancement/event-calendar/homecoming2024

Our next class of 63 lunch is Thursday the 12^th of September—Mark your Calendar.

Take care guys

Hope to see many of you in September.

Tom Troskey

Click on an image to enlarge…

At lunch yesterday we had a group of 13 guys attending.

A few things were  discussed including the fast approaching annual golf outing—-The Charlie—-

Dave Britz has been organizing this event since  2017. As many of you recall this event was started by our classmate Charlie Schuldt in 2014. Charlie died in 2016 and Dave has kept this annual event very much alive.

The 2024 Charlie is schedule for

WEDNESDAY August 7^th

Highland National in St Paul

Mid-Morning tee times have been reserved.

Contact Dave Britz at 651 459 1858 or britzie37@aol.com  for more info and to sign up to play.

A couple of months ago I spoke with Jim Hannegan from the Cretin class of 65 who also have monthly class lunches. Jim told me about an event they held that was very successful in 2022. They held a all class of 65 —-75^th birthday party.

This sparked a thought that maybe we should hold one of these events. So, at the class lunch yesterday we put out that idea that next summer the class of 63 should hold an   80^th   birthday party for all. So, with that said it was suggested that this event be held during lunch time, spouses included. Looking for any comments you may have!!!  What do you think about this?

Spring sports at CDH—girls fast pitch 2^nd place in the State Tournament and our classmate John Berthiaume’s granddaughter is on the team —-boy’s golf finished 6^th in State with individual Sam Udovich a junior finishing 3^rd in State.

That’s all for now and mark your calendar for next month’s lunch—Thursday July 11^th.

Best to all

Tom Troskey

Click on image to enlarge…

Meeting Current Recipients of Scholarships from Class of 1963 Endowments

Hello Guys,

We had our regular class of 63 monthly lunch at CDH yesterday May 9^th.

Rob Bollinger Vice President of CDH and Teri McCloughan President were our hosts and during the two hours introduced us to two of the three students who are current recipients of class of 63 scholarships and gave us much information on what is going on at CDH.

The three recipients of class of 63 scholarships are pictured below. With us today were Monte Duncan a sophomore who received funds from the scholarship our class established in 2003 at our 40^th reunion and Nathan Leber a senior who received funds form the scholarship our class established last year in honor of two of our classmates George Bonfe and Mike Ryan. Nathan is the 1^st recipient of the Bonfe/Ryan Scholarship. Not able to join us at lunch was Issac Garcia who is also a recipient of the class of 63– 40^th  scholarship. In the photo below Issac is pictured holding the John Ireland award he received last week at CDH.

We had an opportunity to have a Q and A with the students along with Rob and Teri.

Quite a bit going on at Randolph and Hamline.

Enrollment– 930 students and expected to be at that level for the next two years.

Tuition—16,000+ per year

Construction at School—internal construction going on in several areas to improve utilization of space.

Staff—new president coming on June 1^st—Jeb Myers

Sports—in full swing with baseball, softball, lacrosse, golf- boys and girls, track.

Twilight Parade -– last night, perfect weather.

Finally, it was a treat to meet the recipients of class of 63 scholarships. A very sincere thank you to all the class of 63 members who continue to support CDH and make these scholarships possible.

Next class of 63 lunch is Thursday June 12^th—mark your calendars.

Check out the web site   https://cretinclassof1963.org    

Best to all

Tom Troskey   

Click on image to enlarge

Cretin Class of 1963 40th Anniversary Scholarship ISAAC GARCIA – CDH CLASS OF 2024 Recipient of the 2024 Archbishop John Ireland Award –

Isaac Garcia ‘24 Honoring the contributions of Archbishop Ireland, Cretin-Derham Hall recognizes one outstanding young senior for his faith, zeal, leadership, integrity and commitment to service and social justice. He receives this distinction having been chosen by his peers. This student was chosen by his peers because he is generous. He shares his snacks, helps others with work, and even gives cash to a classmate on their birthday. He is present and cares about others. He started a non-profit to help the dear neighbor in the Dayton’s Bluff area and his classmates truly respect him for this initiative. His compassion and sense of responsibility stand out as he marches to the beat of his own drum. For these reasons and more, the Cretin-Derham Hall Class of 2024 recognizes Isaac Garcia for this prestigious award.

ADDENDUM –

Tom & Joe,

Good morning and happy Friday!  Thanks again for organizing the Cretin ’63 class meeting yesterday…always fun to get together!

FYI – I attended the very impressive JROTC Twilight Parade yesterday evening and I took this picture of Isaac Garcia (back from his college visit) and Nathan Leber.

Rob Bollinger

Hello all,

Beautiful spring day down on the Mississippi where 14 of the class of 63 gathered today to socialize.

In the photo attached you will see the guys (click on image to enlarge)

A few things to share; Joe Schufman alerted us that the May 9^th Class of ’63 luncheon is VERY likely to take place at CDH where we will meet in the commons for lunch and meet three current recipients of scholarship funds provided by the class of ’63. A great way to connect with current students and let them know we are glad they choose CDH and see what they have to say about their time at CDH. Exact details on this will be sent out around the 1^st of May.

We talked about the winter sports programs at CDH where some great success took place in Girl’s Gymnastics finishing second in the State, Boy’s hockey finishing 3^rd in the State big school division and Boys’ basketball finishing 4^th in the big school division. CDH has 900+ students and the big schools they played had 2500+. Nice Work!

Boy’s golf is just starting and the team looks strong with 3 boys who finished in the top twelve state meet last year including the boy who finished second, he is a junior this year and another junior has a bit of a resume having twice won the Drive Pitch and Putt competition at Augusta National.

CDH has a new President in place (JEB MYERS) and his official duties start June 1^st. Some of you might appreciate he is a Johnnie.

Dave Britz is on top of things—-the annual golf outing (The Charlie) is scheduled for WEDNESDAY AUGUST 7^th at Highland National—–mark your calendars!

Hope I did not forget anything — until next time all the best to you

Tom Troskey