The Reunion

The reunion was held at Horizons Conference Center in Saginaw. The banquet center was a beautiful facility and the room was set for 865 people. Everything went so smoothly and it was an exciting fun evening.

Jim Storey and Jim Shea headed the program and Bishop Carlson was the guest speaker.

There were several interesting items:

We had reservations for 864 people (graduates, spouses, teachers, clergy, etc) and 576 of them were graduates of St. Mary Cathedral High School.

They came representing residences in 29 states. We used Google map from doorstep of St. Mary’s at 615 Hoyt Street to the address listed in our master roster. So this distance is not as the “crow flies.”

Richard & Leslie Mikulich – Class of 1966 from Santa Rosa, CA 2439 miles! Rich and Leslie received a bottle of champagne. And close runner up was Howard Korth – Class of 1937 from Piedmont, CA 2415 miles!

Louise Becker LaVere – class of 1933 was the oldest attendee. Louise also received a bottle of champagne again a close second was Howard Korth – class of 1937

The most graduates attending from a Class were 26 from the Class of 1968.

A BIG Thank You

Reunion Committee: Stella Thelen and Jim Shea – co-chairs

Committee members: Ann Kerns Shea, Carol Newas Moody, Jim Keyes, Mary Ellen Shea Clifford, and Cindy Shea.

St. Mary Cathedral Staff - Past and present - for help with printing, postage, fielding phone calls, mail, etc.


The Diocese of Saginaw for providing the souvenir bricks that graduates received.

And last, but certainly not least, to those who participated in providing our Catholic education at St. Mary’s. Pastors, sisters, teachers, coaches

Monetary Donations Made To Our Reunion

Denny Troester – Class of 1953

Arlene Coty Holtman – Class of 51

John & Mary Beth Looby – Class of 70

Carol & Claude Creswell – Class of 54

Special Thanks
Steve Dise – who provided the video of the school building.

The Labarum Staffs through the years. Without those precious history books from each graduation year, so much of the documentation of our heritage would be lost!

Liturgy at the Cathedral - August 9, 2008

The reunion began with a liturgy at the Cathedral. Bishop Carlson presided. As the liturgy began, I thought about the many times we celebrated Mass together when we attended St. Mary High School and how so many of us found classmates to sit with at this liturgy - the bonds that began so many years ago were so evident last night.

The picture above was taken from the balcony at Communion. I realized how many decades of classes these people represented - all joining together to thank God for the blessings we have had in our lives; including the experiences we had at a great school with good teachers.

It was a good way to begin our 2nd St. Mary High School All Class Reunion.

TONIGHT!

The long anticipated event is now just hours away. This will be such fun - to see so many friends in one room at one time. The reunion committee has worked so hard to make this event a memorable one. Thank you so much for all of your dedication and commitment to plan such a fantastic night.

This blog will continue - don't forget we are still looking for some of the yearbooks. (Listed on the left side of the blog.)

Continue to log on - sign up and make comments - and I'm looking forward to seeing you tonight.

Catholic Museum

Click on the link below to read the article at the SAGINAW NEWS section of MLIVE.com.

An article in the Saginaw News this morning reports there will be an exhibit honoring the diocese's five bishops from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday in the basement of the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw, 5800 Weiss in Saginaw Township.

Welcome

This is a blog for the St. Mary Cathedral All Class Reunion. The committee for the All Class Reunion

Jim Shea and Stella Mudd Thelen co-chairs
Ann Kerns Shea
Jim Keyes
Carol Newas Moody
Cindy Shea (Jim's Wife)


I am Mary Ellen Shea Clifford, Class of 1970, and I have offered to monitor the blog. This will be a place for memories, posting information about the reunion, asking if you have addresses for people we are still looking for to contact, etc. Have fun looking back on articles from different years - catching up with friends - keeping informed on the activities for the 2nd All Class Reunion.

Is there something special you remember about St. Mary's? Do you have a picture you want posted? Scan it and send it to Mary Ellen. mesclifford@charter.net

So - welcome - we look forward to hearing from you!

Wizner Family - 1965

ALL FROM ONE FAMILY - "A typical Saginaw St. Mary Cathedral family" is Msgr. Eugene A. Forbes' tongue-in-cheek evaluation of these 10 Wizner children who are scattered from the first through the 12th grades at St. Mary school this year. Above Msgr. Forbes welcomes five-year-old first grader Marion on opening day. Others in order of age and height are John, 18 and Kathy 17, both seniors; Mary 16, a junior; David 15 a sophomore; Noreen 13, 8th grade; Ruth 11, 6th grade; Joseph 10, 5th grade; Nanette 9, 4th grade; and Cheryl 7, 2nd grade. Still at home are Christopher 4, Suzanne 3, and Michael, one month. The 13 are children of Mr. and Mrs. John Wizner, 1418 Crapo, Saginaw.

This picture was in the Catholic Weekly dated 9/10/65 and the Detroit Free Press dated 9/18/65.

5th Grade Boystown Basketball

THIS IS A 5TH GRADE BOYTOWN PICTURE OF THE CLASS OF 1955.

TOP ROW LEFT TO RIGHT--MIKE GREEN, MIKE HARDEN, JOHN PENDELL, CLARENCE WEISENBERG, JIM ROCCHIO, DICK ALONSKI.
BOTTOM ROW LEFT TO RIGHT -- TOM SCHULTZ, FRANK DECORTE, TERRY WARD, JOHN NICKODEMUS,TERRY MCINERNEY, TOM NIKODEMUS

PICTURE SUBMITTED BY TERRY MCINERNEY

Baccalaureate - 1948 and 1970

Class of 1970

B A C C A L A U R E A T E

St. Mary Cathedral High School

Saginaw, Michigan

June 7, 1970

Baccalaureate Mass 9:15 A.M.
Breakfast - Cathedral Auditorium

Breakfast Program

Blessing - Rt. Rev. Msgr. Eugene Forbes, J.C.D.
Salutatory - Laura Hendrick
Musical Selection - Cathedral Chorale Accompanist, Susan Siers
Presentation of Honors - Monsignor Forbes
CIVITAN Presentation - Mr. Thaxton Schneider
Address - Mr. Howard G. Sheltraw, Director of City Planning
Class President's Address - Paul Slaggert
Valedictory - Susan M. Siers
"The Bells of St. Mary's" - The Graduates

Master of Ceremonies - Anne Marie Witchger, Student Council President

Acknowledgement, St. Mary's PTA

Frank Walsh

Stella sent this picture of Frank Walsh, who used to own a book store here in Saginaw and who died this year in Florida - she thought that he was a graduate of 1946. His children also went to St. Mary's and he lived on Hoyt Street down my Genesee I think.

Cathedral Courier - 1970

In the 70's the Cathedral Courier was filled with stories, information and drawings. In this particluar issue:

Fr. Kenneth Yaroch was named new assistant - an article was written by Paul Slaggert
The Honor Roll was listed
A Festival of One-Act plays were to be held
14 Seniors achieved semifinalist scores on the Michigan Competitive Scholarship Exam
Mrs. Joanne Marquez joined the faculty teaching History
The Diocesan Representative, Sr. Agnes Clare, visited the school
Actor Sebastian Cabot visited Saginaw and an article was written by Georgeann Kilts
Kathy Wynes wrote about turning in car keys to the office every day and an article about Seniors attending a "Day of Renewal" with songwriter Sebastian Temple.
Tom Zummer had several drawings
Mary Beth Sowulewski had drawings
Paul Slaggert wrote about new assistant-Fr. Charles Klinshirn
Kerry Shea wrote about the Juniors Dance
An article about the ski club traveling to Caberfae at Cadillac with Fr. Bala
Mike Clark wrote an article about sports.

Athletic Association - 1981

I remember in the 70's going to the bingo's with my Mom. I even won $200 one time! The workers were a group of very dedicated parishioners. A few of them are in the picture above (I assume my brother Jim took this picture because he was always working the bingos!)

Back Row; L to R: Terry Ewing, Bob Symons, Joe Powe, Dave Estrada
Front Row; L to R: Ed O'Brien, Jim Sullivan, Stan Krajkowski, George Thelen

Romeo and Juliet - 198....

Main Corridor of St. Mary High School - 1924

The main Corridor of St. Mary High School in 1924 was bright with sunshine. In the late 60's the area that brought in all that sunshine was remodeled into the school library.

Varsity Basketball 1953-1954

Top: Larry Moriarity, Lloyd Bishop, Rudy Gonzales, Tom Hiser, Pat McCarty
Bottom: Terry McInerney, John Blondin, John Nickodemus, Tom Storey, Tom Schultz, Jim Rocchio

Girls Basketball - 1977

Top: Junior Varsity Basketball Team
Standing: Manager Angie Powe, Assistant Coach Kim Krajkowski, Lori Stoll, Sharon Banasek, Julia Dilas, Adrian Bell, Yolanda Davis, Jackie Floyd, Coach Cyd GaffieldSitting: Kathy Frost, Olivia Soto, Vercie Morris, Chrissy Watkins, Barb Bailie, Beth Witchger, Lisa Carelli

Middle Left: The referee recoils as Beth Witchger goes against an Ubly defender for the jump.

Middle Right: Raiders start another game with a tip won by Marquietta Davis.

Bottom: Varsity Basketball Team
Front: F. Ray, K. Sullivan, J. Colcher, P. Schaeffer, L. SmithBack: Coach K. Krajkowski, M. Meatte, C. Scott, M. Davis, C. Dugan, Mgrs.: T. Schreiber and D. Symons

Saginaw News - Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Demolition of St. Mary Cathedral High School - 2008

I watched Bierlein Construction Crew begin to tear down our school building this afternoon. I stood with Fr. James Wm. Bessert, the current Rector of the Cathedral, watching the crane struggle with the job. Fr. Bessert mentioned that the crew told him this morning that the building was so well constructed that it would take most of the week to complete the job. The diocese also will put aside a limited number of bricks from the demolition to make available to St. Mary Cathedral School alumni.

I have mixed emotions about the demolition. I know the building had to be torn down but as I watched the crane tear down Sr. Roberta's classroom and the fact that my Mom, Elinor Shea, was the secretary in the grade school the last 20+ years it was in existence, I realized how much the building meant to me.

The building, strong and true, is a true comparison of how I think of the alumni of St. Mary Cathedral High School and all the people that made it possible fo us to attend. We can thank our parents and grandparents for their support and dedication and we can thank the good sisters and priests and wonderfully dedicated lay people that cared so much about us and our faith that they worked for years making St. Mary's a great school.

So even though our school building is being demolished this week, each and every one of us holds the spirit of that school within us. WE ARE ST. MARY'S.

CAN I STILL SEND IN A RESERVATION?

YES, YES, YES, YES, YES

There are still openings available for the all class reunion. I met five different people this past weekend that thought they were too late to sign up for the reunion. You don't want to miss this special get together - it will be good to renew old acquaintances and meet people from many different classes.

Send in your check TODAY!

Contact JIM SHEA by clicking on the link below.

jiml82@aol.com

St. Mary's Times - 1929

The St. Mary's Football Lettermen

This picture belonged to Armond Armstrong - pictured in the left hand corner of the back row in this picture.

Left to right, back row: Armond Armstrong, William Korth, Anthony Albosta, Raymond Hertzberg, Vincent Wruck, Robert Wynes, Kenneth McLaughlin, William Shea, John Burton, Merle Ecarius, (Capt.), John Muir.
Left to right, front row - John Greiner, Frank Sullivan, John Ryan, John Devereaux, Edgar Barnett, Brian Weadock, Ernest Kretchmer, William Nickodemus.

Hoyt Street in 1878

Above is Hoyt Street in 1878 - At left is the second Church (1863); center is the Rectory (1874); and right is St. Mary's Academy (1878).

In 1878 the Catholics of the parish were burdened with the debt of St. Mary's Hospital which Fr. van der Bom founded in 1874 so they could not afford to build a new school. The original church building which had housed the school was too old to continue using it. So at the expense of the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana a new school was built.