18 Octos or soon to be Octogenarians gathered today to socialize for a few hours. Beautiful summer day and lots of conversation.
Our classmate Joe M McGrath has much memorabilia from our years at Cretin including ALL the issues of The Comment. Thanks for sharing Joe! I passed aroundthe Sept and October issues from 1963. Included is a photo of the front page from each paper.. Also included is a photo of the whole group that came today.
Ed Kurhajetz reminisced about the 10 classmates that who shortly after graduating from Cretin left to see if they had the calling to become Christian Brothers. I asked ED if he can recall who the 10 were. We do know Fred Ehrmantraut (Bro. Dominic) is a CB and is living in Memphis.
If any of you reading this has Cretin Memorabilia you would like to share let us know.—Thanks
Also John Runyon has several photos from the 40th birthday party last month that are not on our web site but he will pass on to Joe Schufman for use on the web site.
That is it for today and hope to see many of you at the Oct lunch on Oct 9th
Last week over 40 of our Cretin classmates and a special guest gathered to enjoy one another’s company playing golf and/or celebrating the 80th birthdays of all of us.
On Wednesday, we played 18 holes of golf at Highland National with perfect weather and using the always fun Britz Scramble format. The next day we met for lunch and an 80th birthday party at the Pool and Yacht club. The accommodations, food and service were superb. The opportunity to connect and socialize with “old” friends could not have been better. Thanks to everyone who helped put these wonderful events together and to all who attended.
Sure hope that many of our class will join us regularly at the monthly lunches which have been going on since January of 2014 when Dave Britz started the monthly lunch tradition. Always the second Thursday of the month—-notice always sent out the week prior. If you have not joined us for one of the class lunches—please give it a shot!
NOW, some great news. Joe Schufman has retrieved many photos of the golf and the 80th activities. Joe put the photos together with commentary and created a section on the class of 63 web site.
Great turn out today. The more the better. 18 guys today.
For the past three months Dave Tyree who has been digging into finding classmates who we have lost track of with success. However, in his efforts today Dave advised us of some sad news. The passing of one of our guys this past fall, Bob Sanders’ wife visited with Dave and told him that Bob had been dealing with dementia for some time. Also, Dave spoke with Tom Winterhalter and Tom has been dealing with some very serious health issues for several years and will undergo heart surgery next week. Please keep these fellows and their families in your prayers.. Thank you Dave for the persistence in trying to locate guys from our class.
Classmate Jim Hudak brought in some copies of his recent book—I asked Jim how he thinks up the science fiction used for his book and he just said it comes to him often. In the days of micro chips and AI Jim has a science fiction thriller—BLOOD AND BRILLIANCE. THANK YOU JIM
Lots of discussion about the two upcoming events we have for the class in August
—The annual golf outing THE CHARLIE on Wednesday August 13th headed up by Dave Britz.
Here are the details
ANNUAL CLASS OF 63 GOLF OUTING (THE CHARLIE )
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 13TH
HIGHLAND NATIONAL GOLF COURSE IN ST. PAUL
ARRIVE BY 9:30 AM WITH FIRST GROUP OFF THE TEE AT 10:00 AM
SENIOR RATE OF $52.00 INCLUDES CART—-PAY AT THE COURSE
FORMAT IS THE “BRITZ SCRAMBLE”—-FUN AND EASY FORMAT—-no pressure on anyone
The class of 63 – 80th birthday bash on Thursday August 14th
Here are the details
Cretin class of 63-80th birthday bash
Date: 8-14-25
Time: 11:30AM –1:30PM
Place: Pool & Yacht Club
Full buffet lunch; includes Chicken Picata, Walleye, Vegetable, Potato, House Salad, Rolls and Butter
Cost: $30.00
Cash Bar available
Surface parking and valet parking available
Please register and pay by 8-1-25.
We need a firm count to reserve room and advise the Pool & Yacht Club of how many to prepare for.
FYI——As I write this email I have 20 guys registered and paid
Finally, if any of you are interested in finding or contacting classmate but you do not have current contact info let me know. I have a pretty good directory and will send you what I have on them.
Sign up for these two great upcoming events and hope to see many of you in August
I just got back from having lunch with 16 class of 63 guys—-an enjoyable two hours to say the least!
Lots of socializing and discussion of upcoming events.
Wednesday August 13th Annual class of 63 golf outing (The Charlie) at Highland National in St Paul. Separate email will be sent out next week with details and how to sign up—-LOOK FOR IT!
Thursday August 14th 80th Birthday Bash for all class of 63 members at Pool & Yacht club in Lilydale. Separate email will be sent out next week with details and how to register to attend—-LOOK FOR IT!
You will see a link that follows that will bring you to the Class of 63 web site; it shows some recent obituaries for our classmates. Our classmate Tim Sullivan passed away in 2022 and we only became aware last week when Joe Schufman tried to contact Tim. May Tim REST IN PEACE. (Link to obit is In Memoriam 2025 ; Tim’s is the last entry).
At CDH spring .sport state tournaments are in full swing and CDH is well represented.
Fast pitch softball—-state tournament consolation champions
Baseball—- they are playing in the semi-final of the state tournament as I write this email. If they win they will play Saturday at Target Field.
Golf—-Boys are team state Champions and have the individual big school state champion as well in Sam Udovich who finished the 36 hole final at 10 under par.
Next class of 63 lunch is Thursday July 10th —Mark your calendar
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 80th 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 13th Highland National golf course 10:00AM start tee times $52 with cart per person The BRITZ SCRAMBLE will again be the format.
80th BIRTHDAY BASH — Thursday August 14th 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 80th 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.
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) 80th Class Birthday Party was discussed. Tom Schleck raised the questions of whose 80th 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 8th at the Pool and Yacht Club.
Hope to see many of you at our 80th Birthday Bash on August 14, 2025.
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 3rd 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 80th 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 80th 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 10th——see you then
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.
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—80th class of 63 Birthday party will be Thursday August 14th 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.
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.
