Hello everybody,

Beautiful fall day, 30 degrees and sunny with 19 of your Cretin classmates sitting around watching the  Mississippi river  barge traffic and the ever increasing slabs of ice floating by.(see attached photo)

Before we sat down for lunch we had a moment of silence as we recalled several very sad events happening in three of our classmates families the past few weeks. Ray Altier lost his youngest son Steve on Oct 25th. Pat Vitek lost his 13 year old grandson in a traffic accident on Nov.1st and as Joe Brooks reported today that he had spoken with classmate Larry Neuman who had lost an infant grandchild. So please keep the Altier, Vitek and Neuman families in your thoughts and Prayers.

I heard from Tom Rubbelke who is doing well and plans to get to one of our lunches VERY soon. Can’t wait to see you back in your old spot Tom!

We passed around a couple of copies of our classmate Tom Golden’s new book, RABMLINGS of a BABY BOOMER wannabe. Fun read, Joe Schufman and I have both read it and know the rest of you guys will really enjoy Tom’s musings about growing up in St Paul and moving on through the challenges of adult life. Let Tom Golden know what you think of it at   golden436@comcast.net  A few photos are attached of guys looking at Tom”s book.

Veterans Day this past Monday and take a look at the photos class of 63 Vets that were with us today. Thank you Men!

Mark your calendars for the next Class of 63 lunch on Thursday December 12^th.

Thank you and HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all.

Tom Troskey

Click on any photo below to enlarge it …

Earlier this evening I received an email from our classmate Tom Golden letting me (and now you) know his book is finally available!  Ted Krammer gave it a positive review (see “Recent Comments” on our website).  I think it will be a good read.

Below is some pertinent info, including an option for you to preview sections of the book without laying out any money.   Worth a look in my opinion.

Joe Schufman

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Ramblings of a Baby Boomer Wannabe is now available through your favorite bookstore.  Here’s the pertinent information for ordering:

Title:  Ramblings of a Baby Boomer Wannabe

Author: Tom Golden

Publisher: Covenant Books

Book #: ISBN 978-1-64559-319-5

It’s also available in print and digital form on Amazon (Kindle) and Barnes and Noble (Nook). 

Amazon gives you the opportunity to preview several stories in chapter one.  You can find a direct link to the book on Amazon by going to my books Facebook page:  Ramblings of a Baby Boomer Wannabe. Or you can click here.

My publisher keeps promising that they will have a promotional website for my book, but as the old saying goes:  “Talk is cheap – it takes money to buy whiskey”.  

Tom Golden

You can link directly to the new page by clicking here.

Making progress… but glacial.  I finally got the 10 comp books as promised to me by Covenant Books.  I’m reading it again to be certain that everything is in order.  It looks good, but unfortunately, many of the color photos that I used inside the book, which were converted to black & white,  did not reproduce particularly well.  But overall, I’m satisfied. 

Once I give Covenant the final okay, they will print books for stores and digitize it for on-line.  A “Ramblings” web site will be created so that people can order directly from it.  The book price is $16.95, and from what I’ve seen on other book web sites, the digital version (Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes and Amazon) will probably sell for $9.99.  I get to purchase my printed books at half the cover price plus shipping and handling costs.  I’ll also order specially designed Ramblings bookmarks and sell sheets from Covenant to include in my media and bookstore mailings.  I’ve got to tell you, this is really time consuming … not to mention EXPENSIVE.

It’s been nearly 4 years since I embarked on this adventure.  I’m so glad to see it finally coming to fruition. I’m hopeful that some books will sell and that this journey hasn’t just been a very long  ego trip. 

My best, guys. 

Tom Golden

Hi Everyone,

Rainy gloomy day in St Paul today but not at the  lunch with 17 of your Cretin classmates. The  guys  there today  were Joe Brooks, Dave Britz, Rick O’Connor, Charlie Evans, Dave Tyree, Roger Neils, Pat McDonnell, Dick Butler, Frank Villaume, Joe Schufman, John Lentsch, Joe M McGrath, George Bonfe, Tom Schleck, Mike Swenson, Gene Bovy and Tom Troskey.

We started off the meeting with some thoughtful silence in memory of two of our classmates who passed away this past month; Pat Curran in August and Rodger Slater this week. Please keep those guys and their families in your prayers.

Dave Britz who took over as the organizer of the annual class golf outing after the death of our classmate Charlie Schuldt in 2016 has procured a traveling trophy for the group each year that wins the annual CHARLIE golf outing.

This year the winners were Joe Schufman, Ed Sund and Bob O’Malley and you’ll see in one of the photos Dave presenting the trophy to Joe—–something for the rest of us to shoot for next August.

Don’t forget the Cretin High School Alumni banquet next Thursday the 19^th—A separate email was just sent out with details for the event. Hope many of you will be able to attend.

Next monthly class of 63 lunch will be Thursday October 10^th—mark your calendar.

Thanks and best to all of you,

Tom Troskey

(click on photo to enlarge it)

Our classmate Peter Zierden has provided valuable information for any of our Vietnam veterans. In his dealing with the VA he found that their are compensatory programs for any vet that has health issues related to Agent Orange. We have added a tab under veterans with the specific information Peter would like to share. You can find it on our website by clicking here.

Everything takes soooo long!!!   I’ve been told this is “normal”.  I wouldn’t know as this is my first (and my last) book.

I’ve been working with Covenant Books since last December.  The final step before actual publishing was approval of the cover designs.  I just signed off on them (well, I should have signed off, after all, I designed them).  It just took them a month to copy them!  Sheesh.  I’ve also attached the books first right hand page which I wrote to describe the premise (okay, and to sell it a bit).

The next steps will be printing for stores, digitizing for on-line purchase, creation of a “RAMBLINGS” web site, distribution, and finally, promotion, advertising and marketing.  Based on the pace of things thus far, I suspect that it will be two more months before it is in stores and on-line.  I sure hope that it is sooner… I ain’t getting any younger.

Loved the pictures of our classmates who played golf and had a nice time at George’s place.  I lived on Forest Lake for 16 years and still miss it.  I used to bump into George at a place called Willow Point Resort.  Back then it was a bar/restaurant/convenience store.  Long gone!  Great memories.

RAMBLINGS – first right hand page in book

There are 135 interconnected short stories in this book.  Some are hilarious, some quite serious, many are great fun and upbeat while others are really sad.  Your emotions will go up and down like a roller coaster, but in the process, that ride will be well worth it as you will be thoroughly entertained. 

There are tales of childhood mischief, adventure, hot rods, romance, suspense, parenting, business advice, the newspaper industry, history, heartbreak, a puppy and even slot machines! 

Most of the stories occur in and around Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, Birmingham, Alabama and Omaha, Nebraska.  If you are familiar with any of these cities, you’ll instantly recognize the locales mentioned. 

Interestingly, each and every name in this book is real with one exception, and that one was changed due to a most unsavory deed perpetrated by that individual.  That story will make your blood boil. 

Buckle up for a crazy Baby Boomer ride.  You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, but most of all, you’ll fall in love with RAMBLINGS.

Tom Golden

Hello all,

Could not have been a nicer day weather wise than today at classmate George Bonfe’s house on Forest Lake for the class of 63 lunch at the lake.

Had about 15 guys including two men from—–STMA class of 63—Larry Poppler and Tom Healy. Tom and Larry brought the beer—GOOD ASS BEER. Zoom in on the photo of Joe M McGrath and you’ll see that is really the name. The guys said it was very good. Thanks Larry and Joe. Larry also brought homemade baked beans—best I have ever tasted.

Classmate Tom Racine help get the food prepared and it was all terrific. Burgers, brats, a whole deep fried turkey, salads, cheeses and desserts.

George’s granddaughter and daughter helped put things together.

George —-thank you for sharing your home and putting this on, it is very much appreciated by all.

Next class luncheon is on September 12. Check the Upcoming Events calendar for details.

Tom Troskey

(Click on any photo to enlarge it…)

Hey everyone,

What a wonderful day we had yesterday for the 6^th annual class of 63 annual golf outing. As many of you recall this event is called THE CHARLIE in memory of our classmate Charlie Schuldt who started the event in 2014. Charlie passed away just a few weeks after the event in Sept of 2016. Our classmate Dave Britz took over organizing after Charlie’s passing and with the help of Charlie’s wife Mary has kept it alive and well.

This year the event was held at River Oaks Golf Club in Cottage Grove MN. The first 5 years it was held at Charlie’s course in Elk River MN.

As we played the course and settled into the 19^th hole the conversation often drifted to stories involving Charlie. We all remember him fondly.

The course was in terrific shape, the weather could not have been better and as you will see in the attachments the scores were pretty good. We played a “Britz”scramble and each team shot better than our age—less than 73.

The guys that played were Jim McCormick (pictured in the sand trap) Gary Stoffel, Jim Dimond, Dave Britz, Bob O’Malley (flew in from Phoenix where it was 115 degrees) and enjoyed the cool weather, Joe Schufman, Ed Sund, Ray DiPrima, Don Danneker, Tim Valento, Pat McDonnell, Dick Butler (sank a 60′ putt), Tom Troskey.  We hope to get 20 guys next year so keep your calendar open for the Wednesday before the second Thursday in August 2020.

Great fun and hope to do this gathering for years to come.

Tom Troskey

(Click on any photo below to enlarge…)

To see a video of the presentation ceremony click here