Reunion 2018

We did it!  Eight of us (with spouses) gathered at the church on May 5.

We met the principal, Chris Reid, at the entrance to the gym/cafeteria at four o'clock.  I think everyone was excited to see each other.  Bert and I checked out the new tables that fold into the walls to make for a cafeteria.  One was broken, but it looked as though they worked the same way we remembered.  The gym floor had three-point arcs painted that were not part of the game back in 1963.

The stage looked pretty much the same, although I imagine half a century of kids' heels have taken its toll on the front of the stage.  I remember students would sit on the stage to watch rainy day recess basketball games.

I wouldn't mention it, but, since Carolyn Pesce Keane insisted on visiting the storage closet, the scene of her alleged trysts with Bubba Winkler, I had to get a picture.  I remember it storing folding chairs for turning the gym into an auditorium.  Does anyone recall where those stairs went?

There was a lot of talk among the ladies about recreating their stunt of filling a bathroom stall with girls, but discretion prevailed.  They did say they were discovered by the principal, Sister Grace, but never revealed their punishment.  And there must have been punishment.  There was always punishment.

We tramped up the back stairs proud that we could all do so.  There followed several debates regarding which classes took place in which of the present day classrooms.  It seems we all have different memories of those classrooms from fifty plus years ago.

Chris briefed us on the ongoing plans to close the school (and others in the Jubilee program) and reopen as charter schools.  Bert seemed to know a good deal from the Catholic High perspective.

There's a special bond when you spend eight formative years with people.  Most of us went all the way through elementary school together.  We entered school, most without the benefit of kindergarten.  We went through various Catholic initiation rites together, had the same teachers, played under the same coaches. entered puberty together. 

Here are more pictures from our visit to the school and a group picture.

Left to right:  Patricia Nowak Maffei, Al Mulrooney, Carolyn Pesce Keane, Jim Coleman, Phyllis Bernard Bethea, Bert Bailey, Judy McCarver Phillips, Jack McCormack.

And then there's this group:

These two banners, made by past graduating classes give some clue to the diversity found at the new De La Salle at Blessed Sacrament.

Next, it was time to go downstairs and see what changes have taken place in the church.  The sanctuary did not seem to me to be much changed, with the exception of the two angels on either side of the altar.

The organ/choir platform had been removed and replaced with a confessional.  The new organ was over on the side where the old confessionals had been before Penance became Reconciliation.

I sneaked into the old priests' sacristy to see if it had changed.  Less than I expected as it turns out.

Next, it was time for our dinner party at Al and Mary Mulrooney's house in Collierville.

Mary and Al had a great barbecue spread along with all the great sides you'd expect:  Cole slaw, potato salad, the works.  Add the right amount of adult beverages and we were set to go.  I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was having too much fun catching up with all these characters.

 A special shout out to my mother for being a good sport about joining us.  Not that I'm biased, but I was glad she could hear compliments like, "When she walked up I kept asking 'Which classmate is that?'"  Nobody could believe she was almost ninety-two.  Later, she told us again and again that she had such a good time.

When we graduated, I only had two siblings.  My next brother was born in August of '63, another in March of '65, and I think everyone either laughed or were struck dumb when I said that my mother was also the only pregnant chaperone at my senior prom.  My youngest sibling, a sister, was born in October of '67, as I was starting college.

 Tim Keene and Linda McCormick.







Phyllis Bernard Bethea.







Regina Coleman (IC class of '76).