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Friday, March 14, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
Welcome to SLS Class of 63 Virtual Reunion
Hello Fellow Classmates,
My name is Dan Youra. I graduated in the Class of 63 from St. Lawrence Seminary in Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin. Yes, I am a Hill Topper, an alum of the Poor Boys Seminary, a proud graduate of The Hill of Happiness, not to be confused with The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, the 1958 Ingrid Bergman film we did see one movie night, sitting on those creaky wooden chairs on the basketball court.
I began checking around with fellow classmates, whose email address I have or who show up in my Friends list on Facebook, to see if there were any plans for a 50th class reunion. Of the three addresses/Friends I have (Ahern, Kedinger & Niederehe), it became apparent that we'd have problems coordinating a reunion date, so I proposed a Virtual Reunion to see how many classmates we could find (who haven't died - Requiescant in Pace), who might like to share a few thoughts with other 1963 Poor Boys on how they ended up where they did, what they would have done differently 50 years ago, and their current insights into the meaning of meaning.
So what is a Virtual Class Reunion? I don't know, but I thought I would try to put something together that might work. I've been programming computers since 1968. I figured I'd create a blog, the SLS63.com blog, which is what this website is. It will be a long way from working with Don Becker on our 1963 Laurentian Yearbook, drawing graphics such as the scroll with our class motto – Quid Christus nunc faciat? Do you remember what that means? Blogging won't be as messy as that crusty ink bottle and that drippy quill pen. Those were the days! Listening to Greenfields by the Brothers Four on the radio, I inked our names onto our class picture.
I created 6 pages (see TABS across top of each page) each with one page from our Graduating Class yearbook. In this blog each classmate has one page to use to describe anything you want related to your life that you'd like to share with your classmates. To share information about yourself, send me an email with your Magnum Opus and I'll copy and paste it into your own page. Your page will be linked from the same page where your yearbook photo is. You can see my entry as an example. My link is on Page S-Y (under the yearbook page), which goes to my one page. There is no limit to how many words you can submit. Sure, email some photos, too, if you want. Three pictures equals how many words? Three thousand, right? Do you know how long it would have taken Franczak, Gilgenbach and Father Vianney to set type for 3,000 words?
To help the interactivity of these pages, you'll notice that there are boxes for COMMENTS beneath the PAGES and beneath the POSTS.
To increase the distribution range of this SLS63 blog, we need those of us who participate in our Virtual Reunion to dig up email addresses of other classmates and share them with the blog, plus encourage classmates to go to SLS63.com. George Niederehe shared 4 email addresses. Now I have a total of 8 – George's 4, my 3 and mine. George also suggests that some of us might have the email addresses of classmates who were with us in the three years before we graduated. Let's include them. It is not the fact of graduating that is the big deal. Being part of the class spirit is where it is at. How many times did the padre coaches tell us, "It's not the score at the end of the game, it's the moral victory that counts?" As we hover around 70 years on the planet, do you think that advice is still valid?
I'll keep adding features to this blog to make it more interactive, hopefully enjoyable and easy to use.
Notice that there is a way to SUBSCRIBE to this blog. Enter your email address in the box in the left column and you'll receive an ALERT, whenever a new POST is published. Each new entry for a classmate will be a POST. You don't want to miss any. This blog will be a sort of gathering place. What was your favorite gathering place on The Hill? The Chapel, the Canteen, the Food Locker or the Moron's Club? This blog will be the 21st century version of all four. It will sculpt together meditation on Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Eskimo pies, mom's home-made, peanut butter cookies and plastic rosaries. You don't want to miss a memory!
That's about it. Lights out at 9:20 pm.
Dan
dan@youra.com
Do You Still Have Your Diploma
Click image to enlarge
Become an Author on this blog
You are invited by become an author on this blog. It is easy!
Send me an email dan @ youra.com indicating that you'd like to be an author.
I'll have an email sent to you, Inviting you to respond.
You respond.
Bingo! You're an Author!
You are now able to POST information on the blog.
As an author you'll notice a link NEW POST in the upper right corner of your browser.
Click "NEW POST"
Enter a Title in the narrow Title Box.
Start typing your POST in the larger POST Box.
You'll see a PREVIEW BUTTON you can click anytime to see how your POST will look.
When you are ready to Go Live, hit the orange PUBLISH BUTTON
To edit your post you'll see small symbol of a wrench in the lower right corner of the POST. Click on the WRENCH ICON and start editing. Again you can PREVIEW your work. When ready, hit the orange PUBLISH BUTTON again.
When you ready to get fancy, use the icons across the top of the POST BOX. To learn what each icon does, hover your mouse arrow over each one. To add a photo, set you mouse's insertion point where you want the photos and click on the PHOTO IMAGE ICON. Follow the navigation to your hard drive to upload your photo.
To activate a link, choose the text you want to link, select the Link icon, type in URL. It's linked.
Notice the 5 links on right column = Labels, Schedule, etc. Use LABELS to add KEYWORDS to you POST. SCHEDULE sets the time the POST is made. You can use SCHEDULE/PUBLISHED ON to change the date/time to change the sequence in which the POSTS appear. Use LOCATION if it is relevant to the POST. SEARCH DESCRIPTION is a short description to make the POST discoverable by search engines. BLOGGER, where this blog is hosted, is owned by GOOGLE.
Remember to hit the DONE button, when you add info and update info.
Remember to hit PUBLISH when ever you upload and update POSTS.
Couldn't be easier.
Dan Youra
Send me an email dan @ youra.com indicating that you'd like to be an author.
I'll have an email sent to you, Inviting you to respond.
You respond.
Bingo! You're an Author!
You are now able to POST information on the blog.
As an author you'll notice a link NEW POST in the upper right corner of your browser.
Click "NEW POST"
Enter a Title in the narrow Title Box.
Start typing your POST in the larger POST Box.
You'll see a PREVIEW BUTTON you can click anytime to see how your POST will look.
When you are ready to Go Live, hit the orange PUBLISH BUTTON
To edit your post you'll see small symbol of a wrench in the lower right corner of the POST. Click on the WRENCH ICON and start editing. Again you can PREVIEW your work. When ready, hit the orange PUBLISH BUTTON again.
When you ready to get fancy, use the icons across the top of the POST BOX. To learn what each icon does, hover your mouse arrow over each one. To add a photo, set you mouse's insertion point where you want the photos and click on the PHOTO IMAGE ICON. Follow the navigation to your hard drive to upload your photo.
To activate a link, choose the text you want to link, select the Link icon, type in URL. It's linked.
Notice the 5 links on right column = Labels, Schedule, etc. Use LABELS to add KEYWORDS to you POST. SCHEDULE sets the time the POST is made. You can use SCHEDULE/PUBLISHED ON to change the date/time to change the sequence in which the POSTS appear. Use LOCATION if it is relevant to the POST. SEARCH DESCRIPTION is a short description to make the POST discoverable by search engines. BLOGGER, where this blog is hosted, is owned by GOOGLE.
Remember to hit the DONE button, when you add info and update info.
Remember to hit PUBLISH when ever you upload and update POSTS.
Couldn't be easier.
Dan Youra
Paul Kedinger
Paul Kedinger (’63) “Fifty Years --- That’s amazing. I can still close my eyes today and visualize myself and classmates at SLS. I still remember the Fond du Lac Reporter ran a news story that we were the 100th freshman class in 1959. The friends I made there are still my closest friends, though hundreds of miles may separate us now. I would love to reconnect with my classmates. I had seminary “flashbacks” when my youngest son, Daniel, entered the seminary for the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana. He made it to first year theology before deciding the priesthood wasn’t for him, he is now married to the daughter of a Catholic deacon and the father of two girls and a boy. My others sons, Victor and Gregory, have been the joy of my life and I thank the Good Lord for directing me to sit down next to my future wife, Wanda, on the first day of graduate journalism school at the University of Wisconsin. We now live and work (still) as the managing editor of the Rayne Acadian-Tribune, in a city renowned as “The Frog Capital of the World” in Louisiana, her home state. If any of my 50-year-older classmates want to reconnect, my email is paulkedinger@gmail.com.”
Published in The Laurentianum, Summer 2013, p. 22
Monday, February 10, 2014
Abbott Harris
I’ve some remembrances from my three years at the “Hill of
Happiness” which warm my heart and will no doubt awaken like memories in yours as
you read through this.
Despite having flown in from Saudi Arabia in the Fall of
1961, the oncoming Wisconsin Winter was in no way my first exposure to the
sub-zeros. My father’s work on the
construction of Montreal’s oil refinery in the Winter of ’54 was my baptism in
arctic-like conditions. From where
our family lived, you could watch the ice breakers plow shipping lanes through
the St. Lawrence River.
A year or so ago I read in some SLS alumni organ that
Brother Dismas had passed on to his reward. From the obit, I learned of his having served in the Korean
War as a medic before later joining the OFM Cap.s. So it was inevitable that he should become the Seminary’s
Infirmarian. But what I never
understood was his leading the toboggan charges down through the apple orchards
below St. Mary’s Hall every winter; it was as if he were trying to recruit
patients for his ward from the lower classmen crazy enough to find joy in crashing
along the way…
And then there were the Sunday afternoons spent watching
Vince Lombardi’s Packers whop virtually any NFL team that came along-- of
course they did it in black & white-- don’t ever remember a color TV during
my years on the Hill… But I
remember Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Jim Taylor, Ray Nitschke, Jesse Whittenton, Max McGee, Herb Adderley, and Elijah
Pitts to name a few.
Speaking of sports, who of us can forget the annual pilgrimage
to Milwaukee for a Braves game in May?
I believe this was some kind of reward for those who toiled away
preparing mailings in Fr. Crispin’s “Loyalty Club” in the Laurentianum
basement. I never spent much time doing
that, but it seemed like the whole student body went to the game. I remember Warren Spahn pitching a rare,
not-so-good game one of those three years that I was lucky enough to attend. I also remember certain seminary mates straying
away from their designated seating areas-- as you could, once inside County
Stadium-- seems they were more interested in encountering the magic of teenage
GIRLS during the brief outing we all enjoyed. I’ll name no names, but you all know who you were!
My Sundays were kind of open format since I never had
family visiting; the only person I came in contact with was the lady who took in
laundry. I spent the afternoon
studying, often squirreling away in my favorite hideaway in the attic over the
St. Thomas Hall stage. There was a
small window up there where you could look out over the whole surrounding
countryside as far away in one direction as St. Cloud. Mostly I tried to catch up on my U.S.
History text so I could joust with Fr. Ronald, one of my favorite teachers on
the faculty. And though you wouldn’t
consider me a Latin scholar, I enjoyed Father [ “O Di Immortalis!” ]
Emil’s Third Year Latin class and the Catalinian Orations we had to slog
through. Hell, I even survived
Virgil’s Anead in our Senior year, but have no specific recollection of
who it was that passed (and/or pitied--) me.
Looking through our ’63 Yearbook-- correct me if I’m wrong,
Dan, it was the first one of its kind-- I see numerous references to Rogers
& Hart’s “I’d Rather Be Right,” the play we performed in our Senior
year. What puzzles me is that
there is no Yearbook reference to the Seminary’s production of Gilbert &
Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, which we actually “took on the road” to a
theater in Fond du Lac. Maybe that
production was later in the year and beyond the publisher’s deadline for the
Yearbook. Any guesses?
Truth be told, I would say that our band (there weren’t any
strings to make it an orchestra) was marginally on key and up to tempo-- mostly
through the tireless efforts of Eddie DeGroot and Father Myron. I remember Fr. Myron arranging a trip
for us band members to go to Appleton’s Lawrence College to attend the
Conservatory’s choral performance of Handel’s Messiah, which was a real
Advent treat before we broke for Christmas.
Ah, Christmas breaks, and Easter ones as well. I traveled by train to St. Louis where I
spent the vacation with my brother who was in medical school there at the
time. Lugging my suitcase between
stations in Chicago made me feel a little like Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye. Come to think of it, I don’t believe I
ever got Fr. Crispin’s Nihil Obstat to possess-- let alone read-- that book,
but read it I did, by the nightlight at the foot of my bed in St. Anthony’s
Hall dorm after lights out.
Just leaving the seminary for
an afternoon was a welcome excursion into the outer world. I remember the “adventure” of walking
down the Hill to Mt. Calvary for a dental appointment, or for a cholera booster
vaccination before returning to Saudi Arabia for Summer vacation. And who can forget the trips to Fond du
Lac some of us took, with the upperclassman driver having to place the obligatory
Colonel Sander’s KFC order to be brought back to the multitude of seminarians
placing their orders (remember a lot of seminarians had “food lockers”) in the
basement of the Laurentianum. I
don’t think this in any way detracted from the virtuous labor of the Sisters of
Christ the King at our Refectory-- I just don’t recall much about the food they
prepared, except that it was breakfast, dinner, and supper, not lunch
and dinner! Anyone remember
much, or anything, about our food?
All I remember were the army surplus stainless steel trays it was served
on.
I recall the beginning
construction of the new gymnasium in our Senior year (St. ????’s Hall). Maybe someone who returned for their
fifth year can chime in and tell us about how it handled Hilltopper basketball
games or Sunday movie nights as compared to St Joseph’s Hall, which handled
both events rather well and had four bowling lanes in its basement!
Speaking of sports, who can
forget the annual Field Day events, capped with a faculty/student softball match
in which Fr. Vernon invariably hit an out-of-the-park home run; our student
team wasn’t that bad-- didn’t Jim Gilgenbach pitch for us?-- but I seem to
remember a story about Fr. Vernon turning down a tryout offer from the
Pittsburgh Pirates at one time.
But that’s about it for
now. I’d love to hear any of your
recollections of what, for me, were three years of my life well spent.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Steve Koszarek
( I had a new shoulder replacement in September so I am still a little limited, so this typing effort may be a little clumsy)
I finished my six years at SLS and entered the St. Paul Seminary for two years of philosophy ( so my BA degree is in Philosophy and Latin - not the most marketable degree if you are not ordained) and then went on for two years of Theology. I spent two months bumming in Europe with a classmate in 1969. In fact we were at Lourdes when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. I returned to the states to begin a year off from school and began working at a treatment center for emotionally disturbed children.
I worked there for five years while I went to graduate school to get a degree in social work. I began working for Douglas County ( Superior, WI) in 1974 as a social worker. I was fortunate enough to transfer to Juvenile Court after 4 years and began working with delinquents. It was a great job working for the Judge ( who would also take me golfing at Northland Country Club) and I liked working with that population. I still get approached by some of those "kids". It is nice to know you made a difference in their lives.
I married Barbara Flint in 1970 and my daughter,Carrie was born in 1971 and my son Steven Rees was born in 1974. I held a second job tending bar for 6-7 years to make ends meet, so when I had a chance to return to Human Services as a supervisor, I did in 1980. I supervised Child Protection and was actually on national news as the County spokesman when a newborn was abandoned in the local mall. I became the deputy director and then the Director of Human Services around 1994.
In 2001,I applied for the position of County Administrative Coordinator. After serving in that capacity for a year I became the first County Administrator in Douglas County. I supervised twenty different department managers ( in name only when you think of elected officials like the Sheriff and Judges) responsible to a County Board of 28 people. It was an interesting and challenging job, as it was my responsibility to hire and fire and handle the politics involved. I walked into a controversial 44 million dollar building project, so it was a baptism by fire. I was in that position for 8 years. It was challenging but also a great opportunity that also gave me a comfortable retirement. I retired in 2010 after 36 years with the County.
My marriage, unfortunately, did not work out ( more my problem than hers) and I was divorced in 1991. I remarried in 1998 to Mary Perrault. Mary had three children, so we have 9 grandchildren between us. The last 15 years have been really great. We moved to Duluth because we had 5 acres in the woods and decided to build a simple retirement cabin there. It grew to something much bigger and elaborate, but it is a pretty spot on a hill above Lake Superior and life is good even if it includes an artificial hip and shoulder.
My daughter, Carrie, is married with two children and lives in Superior. My son, Steven, has been in the military since he was 18. He has had three tours of duty in Iraq and three in Afghanistan. He is there now, with over ten years of combat and hazardous duty. He is a Green Beret medic and it is his calling, that band of brothers thing. Two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for valor. He was married four years ago and his wife, Jill, is a nurse, who was just elected to her college Hall of fame as a soccer player.
My recent operations are the result of too many years on a basketball court and baseball diamond. I may have been the "secret weapon" at SLS, but I went on to play on some good basketball and softball teams into my late forties. Last year I was still playing hand ball regularly at the Y. I still enjoy golf, cross country skiing, hunting, and bird watching. Mary and I have been blessed with opportunities to travel and have spent time every winter in Arizona and Mexico. We have been to Europe twice and last winter vacationed in Costa Rico. Still hoping to visit friends in New Zealand one of these years.
This contact has reminded me of the fun and classmates of those youthful days at SLS. I am saddened to see so many have passed. Guy Thorn and I took a two week camping trip with two other classmates into the Canadian Rockies in 1967. Joe Kolb contacted me several years ago and we had a chance to talk. (I was also contacted by the Milwaukee Archdioceses because of the abuse charges filed against Father Gale. But nothing ever happened when I or my brother, Bob, were at SLS. Bob was ordained in 1974, is a priest in Eagle River, Wi and retires next year)
I remember the plays, (actually had a lead in a comedy at St. Paul), the sports, writing class wills and prophesies with Don Becker, the SomeOther Brothers with Don (or was that in college?), the dorm riot that got us all grounded as freshman, and all the other craziness. It was a good time and place. And it helped make us what we are today. I still enjoy going to the symphony because of the classical music they used to pipe into the reading periods. What I know about art, I received at SLS. Still love old movies (some I may have first seen in the SLS gym).
Sorry to get long winded and nostalgic. But I am reminded again how blessed my life has been and it makes one grateful for the classmates of your youth.
I finished my six years at SLS and entered the St. Paul Seminary for two years of philosophy ( so my BA degree is in Philosophy and Latin - not the most marketable degree if you are not ordained) and then went on for two years of Theology. I spent two months bumming in Europe with a classmate in 1969. In fact we were at Lourdes when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. I returned to the states to begin a year off from school and began working at a treatment center for emotionally disturbed children.
I worked there for five years while I went to graduate school to get a degree in social work. I began working for Douglas County ( Superior, WI) in 1974 as a social worker. I was fortunate enough to transfer to Juvenile Court after 4 years and began working with delinquents. It was a great job working for the Judge ( who would also take me golfing at Northland Country Club) and I liked working with that population. I still get approached by some of those "kids". It is nice to know you made a difference in their lives.
I married Barbara Flint in 1970 and my daughter,Carrie was born in 1971 and my son Steven Rees was born in 1974. I held a second job tending bar for 6-7 years to make ends meet, so when I had a chance to return to Human Services as a supervisor, I did in 1980. I supervised Child Protection and was actually on national news as the County spokesman when a newborn was abandoned in the local mall. I became the deputy director and then the Director of Human Services around 1994.
In 2001,I applied for the position of County Administrative Coordinator. After serving in that capacity for a year I became the first County Administrator in Douglas County. I supervised twenty different department managers ( in name only when you think of elected officials like the Sheriff and Judges) responsible to a County Board of 28 people. It was an interesting and challenging job, as it was my responsibility to hire and fire and handle the politics involved. I walked into a controversial 44 million dollar building project, so it was a baptism by fire. I was in that position for 8 years. It was challenging but also a great opportunity that also gave me a comfortable retirement. I retired in 2010 after 36 years with the County.
My marriage, unfortunately, did not work out ( more my problem than hers) and I was divorced in 1991. I remarried in 1998 to Mary Perrault. Mary had three children, so we have 9 grandchildren between us. The last 15 years have been really great. We moved to Duluth because we had 5 acres in the woods and decided to build a simple retirement cabin there. It grew to something much bigger and elaborate, but it is a pretty spot on a hill above Lake Superior and life is good even if it includes an artificial hip and shoulder.
My daughter, Carrie, is married with two children and lives in Superior. My son, Steven, has been in the military since he was 18. He has had three tours of duty in Iraq and three in Afghanistan. He is there now, with over ten years of combat and hazardous duty. He is a Green Beret medic and it is his calling, that band of brothers thing. Two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for valor. He was married four years ago and his wife, Jill, is a nurse, who was just elected to her college Hall of fame as a soccer player.
My recent operations are the result of too many years on a basketball court and baseball diamond. I may have been the "secret weapon" at SLS, but I went on to play on some good basketball and softball teams into my late forties. Last year I was still playing hand ball regularly at the Y. I still enjoy golf, cross country skiing, hunting, and bird watching. Mary and I have been blessed with opportunities to travel and have spent time every winter in Arizona and Mexico. We have been to Europe twice and last winter vacationed in Costa Rico. Still hoping to visit friends in New Zealand one of these years.
This contact has reminded me of the fun and classmates of those youthful days at SLS. I am saddened to see so many have passed. Guy Thorn and I took a two week camping trip with two other classmates into the Canadian Rockies in 1967. Joe Kolb contacted me several years ago and we had a chance to talk. (I was also contacted by the Milwaukee Archdioceses because of the abuse charges filed against Father Gale. But nothing ever happened when I or my brother, Bob, were at SLS. Bob was ordained in 1974, is a priest in Eagle River, Wi and retires next year)
I remember the plays, (actually had a lead in a comedy at St. Paul), the sports, writing class wills and prophesies with Don Becker, the SomeOther Brothers with Don (or was that in college?), the dorm riot that got us all grounded as freshman, and all the other craziness. It was a good time and place. And it helped make us what we are today. I still enjoy going to the symphony because of the classical music they used to pipe into the reading periods. What I know about art, I received at SLS. Still love old movies (some I may have first seen in the SLS gym).
Sorry to get long winded and nostalgic. But I am reminded again how blessed my life has been and it makes one grateful for the classmates of your youth.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Fred Ruscher
I finished
my 6 years at St. Lawrence and
attended St. Francis in Milwaukee for 2 years and received my BA in
Philosophy. During my last year
there we studied the history of philosophy and I loved the tenets of
Existentialism - I think therefore I am.
I went to UW
at Madison for a year studying science subjects. Uncle Sam came after me for Vietnam so I took on a teaching
contract in Milwaukee at a Catholic grade school teaching science to the 6th,
7th, and 8th grades. I did this for 3 years and stayed out of the army. I got married in 1969 and had a
son in 1970. My wife never
recovered from what we would call now post partum disease. The doctors treated he badly and she
had to be institutionalized. I got
a divorce and sole custody of my 2 year old son. I was working in construction now and the winters were too
cold.
I left
Wisconsin in 1972 for California.
I had a sister who had moved to the LA area. I stopped at my Aunts in
Phoenix on the way and got another construction job. I was laid off at one time in 1973 and made some portable
glass display cases for some turquoise dealers. I did not know it at that time but the display cases took on
a life of their own. I named my
company Arizona Case and ran it
for 20 years. At one time I had 15
employees. My son and I had
traveled in 44 states doing gem shows selling display cases before he was 10. I
sold the business in 1993 and took a 6 year payout. The business is still going at www.arizonacase.com .
In 1981 I got
married again and had a daughter with my second wife. In the mid 80’s I decided
to find all I could of the occult books we were not supposed to read. I just knew inside that there had to be
more truth that was hidden than we were being taught. In 1987, when I was in a small bookstore, a being came next
to me and actually handed me a book of the shelf. There was no one else in the
store except the cashier, and I did not see the door open and close. The book was “The Keys of Enoch: The
Book of Knowledge” by Dr. J.J. Hurtak.
I met the author in 1989 in Sedona. We had a study group in Phoenix
every two weeks and because of my ability to make displays I started to make
the 5 platonic solid shapes. We still have a study group meeting in Sedona 2
Sundays a month.
I met Drunvalo
Melchezidick, author of “The Flower of Life” in 1991. My studies led me to the science of Sacred Geometry. After selling my business in 1993, I
spent the next 7 years reading, studying, making the flower of life and
platonic solids, attending sweat lodges, walking on fire. My funds from the
sale of my business ran out in 1999 and I needed to find some work again. I went to Las Vegas in 2000 and worked
as a pit boss in the casinos for 3 years. I got divorced again in 2001 as my
wife at the time wanted to stay in Phoenix. We are still great friends. In 2003 I got heal spurs from standing
on my feet 8 hours a day and had to quit that job. I sat and meditated and ask spirit where I was supposed to
go. I was only 58. I felt I was to move to Sedona and
asked my son who lived in Flagstaff to come and get my stuff with his truck and
trailer. At first, I worked hotel
desk jobs in Sedona. I was able to
set up my wood shop again while there and by 2005 was making enough from my
hobby to support myself. 
I have lived in Sedona 10
years now. I got a laser engraving
machine in 2006 and learned how to draw in autocad from my son. I drew the designs found in the crop
circles of England and the laser engraved the designs and cut them out of 1/8
inch thick maple. I had a new product to make and sell so I went to England in
2008. I sold the product to a
couple of stores near Stonehenge and Glastonbury. I also sell to some stores in Sedona and Mt. Shasta. I have
been across the pond 4 times now and also went to Australia in 2012. I put up a
website -www.geocosmicarts.com so my sales keep on increasing.
In 2007, the
Author, Dr. J.J. Hurtak asked me to speak on sacred geometry at his annual
conference. I was happy to so and
have done so every year since then.
I went with him to the Yucatan - Chechen Itza pyramids in 2008 and 2012
to speak. I also spoke at
one of his conferences in Europe in 2009.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Jerry Schweitzer
Celebrated 42 yrs as priest on August 28th. Am pastor of three parish communities in the Diocese of Gary IN. Been involved in Retreat work, biblical studies and Lecturer. It has been fantastic journey. I have a Facebook Jerry Schweitzer with a boat in harbor Lake Michigan as logo. I am invoked in photography as a hobby. Thanks for taking the time to connect. Hope to share more and hear more from others.
With my prayerful best. Jerry.
With my prayerful best. Jerry.
Michael Mertaugh
I graduated from Kalamazoo College in 1968, and the same
year married a college classmate, went to work in Washington DC, and got
drafted into the Army. I finished
a PhD in economics at the University of Michigan in 1975, went to Seattle and
worked for four years at the Battelle Institute and climbed many of the peaks
in the Cascades. We drove across
the country with three small children in 1979 to take up a job in New York with
the Population Council (working mostly on population and development issues in
Africa), then moved to Washington DC in 1981 to accept a job at the World Bank,
where I have been ever since. Over
the past 22 years, I have worked on development projects in Morocco, China,
Indonesia, Jordan, Turkey, Bosnia, Serbia, and many other countries. These days, most of my work is in
Central Asia – in Kyrgyzstan, where I am developing a project to improve rural
schools throughout the country.
I’m also developing a project to provide educational opportunities for
the Roma (gypsies) of Central and Eastern Europe.
Joe Kolb R.I.P.
Joseph R. Kolb
ELKHART - Joseph Robert Kolb, 63, of Elkhart, died at 9:48 a.m. Tuesday, May 26, 2009, at his residence.
He was born July 14, 1945, in East Chicago, Ind., the son of Clarence and Betty Seroczynski Kolb. He married Jeanine Czepiel in 1966 in Hammond, Ind. He was preceded in death by his parents.
Mr. Kolb was a CNA at the Villa Healthcare East Nursing Home in Sherman and was also owner and operator of Elkhart Oil. He was a member of St. Patrick's Church of Elkhart for many years, serving as Eucharist minister and CCD teacher. He was also a Dominican associate. He was a volunteer fireman in Elkhart and a 4-H leader, tee ball and softball coach. He also loved fishing, horses, dogs and music, especially the piano.
Surviving are his wife, Jeanine Kolb of Elkhart; two daughters, Maura (Suzanne) Kolb of Missouri City, Texas, and Bethany (Tim) Romer of Bloomington; a son, Joseph (Nancy) Kolb of Petersburg; four grandchildren, Bradey, Christian and Kendra Kolb and Timothy Joseph Romer; two brothers, Justin (Barbara) Kolb of New York, and Edward (Bonnie) Kolb of Texas; and several nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be held from 3-7 p.m. Thursday, May 28, 2009, at Fricke-Calvert-Schrader Funeral Home in Mount Pulaski and from 9 a.m. until time of services at 11 a.m. Friday, May 29, 2009, at Christ the King Church in Springfield with Monsignor David S. Lantz officiating. Interment will be in Elkhart Cemetery in Elkhart.
Published in The State Journal-Register (Illinois) from 5/27/2009 - 5/28/2009
John Ebert R.I.P.
John Herbert Ebert
Obituary
EBERT, John Herbert, age 64, of Chester, Virginia, passed away on Thursday, October 1, 2009. He was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, son of the late Herbert and Laura Wettstein Ebert. Mr. Ebert was a teacher at Carter G. Woodson Middle School and a retired Sergeant Major with the United States Air Force. Mr. Ebert is survived by his wife, Wanda K. Ebert; daughters, Wendy S. Dorf and husband, David, of Austin, Texas and Cindy S. Bridges and husband, Daniel, of Dinwiddie, Virginia; grandchildren, Zachary, Allison, and Jonathan Dorf, all of Austin, and Katelyn and Jacob Bridges, both of Dinwiddie; sister, Mary Meier and husband, Eugene, of Wisconsin; and nieces, Carrie Hamer and husband, Paul, of Richmond, Virginia, Chris Buell and husband, John, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Cathy Hernandez and husband, Scott, of St. Louis, Missouri. A memorial service will take place at the Chesterfield Chapel of J.T. Morriss & Son Funeral Home & Cremation Service on Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 7 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 22718, Oklahoma City, Okla. 73123-1718. Condolences to the family may be registered at www.jtmorriss.com.
Published in Richmond Times-Dispatch on October 4, 2009
- See: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/timesdispatch/obituary.aspx?n=john-herbert-ebert&pid=133863962#fbLoggedOut
Guy Thoren R.I.P.
Rev. Guy S. Thoren
July 8, 2012
The Mining Journal
MARQUETTE, Mich. - Rev. Guy S. Thoren, 66, went to be with the Lord on Saturday, December 17, 2011, in Largo, Florida, after a short illness. Fr. Thoren served as a priest in the Diocese of Marquette prior to his retirement to Florida.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday, July 13, 2011, at 11 a.m. at St. Michael Catholic Church with the Rev. Larry Van Damme officiating and concelebrated by priests of the Diocese of Marquette. Deacons Gregg St. John, Scott Jamieson and Warren Vonck will assist. The Thoren family will greet relatives and friends at the church from 9 a.m. until the time of the Mass. Burial will take place in the Holy Cross Cemetery.
Those wishing to make an expression of sympathy are kindly asked to consider St. Louis the King Catholic Church Building Fund or St. Louis the King Council
#6447 Knights of Columbus 264 Silver Creek Road, Marquette, MI 49855.
#6447 Knights of Columbus 264 Silver Creek Road, Marquette, MI 49855.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Donald Becker
Hi, Guys! Thanks for posting your "bios". You brought back some pleasant memories; and I was impressed when reading about your life journeys since SLS. Here's what I've been doing. I must say that life is good. My life journey falls into 5 phases: Pre- seminary, seminary, priestly ministry (15 years), New York Social Worker (25 years), and retirement (beginning March 21, 2014).
I grew up in Two Rivers, WI with the "middle child syndrome". The middle of 3 boys I felt unloved and struggled for attention. (Paul Kedinger often said, with some justification, that I was always seeking attention while at SLS.) To get attention, I became an overachiever in grade school. The nuns loved me. I noticed that they liked priests. So, to get more attention, I told them that I would be a priest. They loved me even more. And so my "vocation to the priesthood" was born in 3rd grade. A high point in grade 8 was being on the best basketball team our school ever had. In 8th grade we won 32 games and lost none; we earned 7 first place trophies. It was a heady experience. The key to our success was teamwork; we were taught that we did so much better when we played as a team rather than trying to get glory as an "individual" player. The lesson to be a team player has remained with me throughout my life.
My SLS years were fun and confusing as I grew older (I hesitate to use the word "matured"). Some fond memories are the "blowouts"; getting attention by eating a lot and staying skinny; playing basketball 2 or 3 times a week with Steve Koszarek, Larry Koontz, and Mike Trainer, among others; Field Days, especially because I could smoke cigarettes for one day; impromptu parties in the TV Lounge on Sundays, especially after Packer games; involvement in plays; singing in the choir; and, in Senior year, sneaking down to the basement of St. Anthony's Hall at 1 am twice a month with Abbot Harris and others, whose names escape my memory, to smoke cigarettes, have "important, adult discussions", and feel very good because we never got caught. A very pleasant memory is that of entertaining the school with Steve K. as the SomeOther Brothers. I was jealous because Steve got most of the funny lines. Besides being a lot of fun, this helped me begin to learn how to "work the crowd", which was valuable later on in preaching and in giving retreats, etc. I also enjoyed being a driver to Fondy, along with Jim Gilgenbach, and others. The confusing part of those years was struggling with hormones, not knowing what to do with sexual feelings, talking about it in Spiritual Direction without getting any real "direction", frequent confessions before mass, and never getting an answer to the question, "What are 'particular friendships?" I was proud of the work we did on the Field Day Committee, introducing the B Level track and field events so that all could contribute to their class' scores and not just the "basketball jocks". And it was my idea to add french fries and milk shakes/malts to the Field Day Menu. I completed the seminary phase of my life at St Francis School of Pastoral Ministry. I responded well to the awakening in the Church with Vatican II, but there was a lot of confusion among seminarians and professors as things "loosened up". There were two highlights in this time. One was being director of the Madison Carolers. Although I lived in the Green Bay area, I joined the Madison Carolers because the Green Bay Carolers had more members than they needed, while the Madison group needed Basses. (Jim Gilgenback joined the Madison group, too, and we were buddies, goofing off a lot.) After 2 years they asked me to be Director, which I did for 4 years. It was a thrill to bring Christmas joy to people in the hospitals and nursing homes in the Madison area; and we had some crazy fun for four years. The other highlight was a feeling of pride when the director of the annual play stepped down and those involved in plays voted for me to be Director of the production of Macbeth. I used the "team approach" so that it was "our play" not "my play". During practices, I got a lot of good ideas from the others, ideas that I would not have thought of. Everybody felt that it was "their play". It was a success and I was proud. (We had 17 people covering 28 parts - I played the comic relief part of the Drunken Porter.) While at St Francis, I went into psychotherapy, for the first time, and struggled with accepting myself as a gay man.
The priesthood phase started in May of 1971 and lasted 15 years. For the most part I enjoyed ministry. I tried to help the parishioners develop their ministerial skills and offer their services on various committees and in ministries. I tried to convince them that no one's "job" was more elevated than another's, i.e., priests are not more important than the people; at certain times each one's job will be more prominent. (The Trustees make the parish run more than the priest does and the janitor is essential to the parish in may ways.) This attempt of mine to come down "off the pedestal" was not wholly successful, although some people caught on. I particularly fostered women offering their gifts to the community. Among my brother priests I never felt that I fit in. No one ever said this, but I think that most of them thought I was too idealistic and naive. I found only a few that I could be myself with. I struggled mightily with my sexuality, trying to find a way to develop it and express it that was congruent with my theological and moral sense. I was convinced that it would be spiritually and emotionally unhealthy to ignore or suppress my sexuality. I helped start a clandestine Gay Priests Support Group. Overall, I related well with the people, gave real challenges in interesting homilies, and particularly enjoyed working with some excellent nuns. I was very saddened when I saw quite a number of priests reject nuns who were better educated, had better people skills, and a better sense of ministry; I was convinced that these priests were simply afraid that the nuns would outshine them and they would lose power and prestige. During these years I developed a love of travel. I visited Malaysia, where I saw an 8 foot long leatherback turtle lay her eggs on a beach. I went to Bali, Indonesia 5 times and also visited a site in Sumatra, where an agency re-introduces "pet orangutans" into the wild. I spent a week running around naked with the Auca "Indians" in the Amazon jungle in Ecuador, topped off with two nights in the Andes Mountains. After that I spent a week camping in Glacier Bay, Alaska. I did a whale watching trip off of Baja, California and touched a baby gray whale that came up to our skiff to inspect us. I did scuba diving, including one night dive, in the Cayman Islands; later I did scuba diving in Belize. A big trip was one month in a mission parish in Tanzania, Africa, with my Dad and my brother; we camped one week on the Serengeti Plain and saw the migration of the wildebeest; also saw lions feeding on a kill and two lions mating. I took a trip to Brazil and saw the Iguazu Falls. And I did a week-long sea kayaking trip in the Sea of Cortez. I joined a group for a week-long trip to the Holy Land. Also visited Mexico City and Acapulco twice. Another thing I did for fun and adventure was to buy a small airplane with a friend and got my single engine pilot's license. The thrill was soon gone because flying a small plane is too noisy (you can't converse) and very soon all the topography looks the same; so we sold our plane after 5 years and bought a cottage on the bay of Green Bay. It was easier to share this with friends than to share an airplane. After about 12 years I joined the Green Bay Chapter of Dignity (a lay run Catholic LGBT organization) for whom I presided at liturgies with and for gay/lesbian people. In my 13th year, I knew that I could not continue this way. At that time the Diocese offered a Doctor of Ministry Program in which the Diocese would pay for half of the cost of the Doctoral Degree. I finished the courses in my 15th year, took a sabbatical, and got the degree. I thought that a Doctor of Ministry Degree might be helpful in the future, since I knew I was leaving the active priesthood. The doctoral studies were helpful in a general way, but I did not use the degree in any professional way. In my letter of resignation I stated that I had serious issues re. the official Church's refusal to allow/accept women in decision making roles in the Church, an attitude which I regarded as sinful. And I differed in the Churches stance on human sexuality, which I was convinced was outdated, scientifically inaccurate and harmful to many people. I stated that some can stay in the Church and fight to make changes, but that my spirit was not so constituted and my spirit would die in that kind of stress; I needed to leave the official priesthood and work for change from outside the Church. So I went on sabbatical in 1987 in New York for Social Work school and resigned from the priesthood 2 years later. I have not regretted this decision; indeed, it was a step forward. It was hard on my parents. They were so proud when they heard people praise my priestly ministry. However, they were supportive of me and of my work with Dignity; they even came to some of the Dignity Masses. Eventually they came to think that my ministry to the LGBT Community was more valuable, that is, had more impact than parish work.
In 1989 I got my Masters in Social Work and started working on a psychiatric ward and in the psych ER of a hospital in the Bronx. I also did individual and group psychotherapy at a Gay/Lesbian Counseling Center in Manhattan and had a small private practice. I entered a relationship with Herb D. in 1988, which lasted 5 years. I left when he started smoking crack and became verbally abusive and threatened me. In 1988 I joined the Bass section of the New York City Gay Mens Chorus. Until it became too expensive in about 2000, all our concerts were in Carnegie Hall; a GREAT venue to sing in! It was powerful to stand up and sing publicly and proudly as a gay man. In my 24 years in the chorus, we helped change many lives for the better through our singing. We helped many gay and lesbian people in our audience to embrace their own gay identity and be proud. I also joined in two European tours with the Chorus. During these years I presided at liturgy for 3 Dignity groups in the New York area. Though these Masses were illegal by Canon Law, since I was resigned and not connected to a diocese, I provided a much needed service to these Catholic Gay and Lesbian people. I helped them get in touch with God; how can this be wrong? They find in Dignity what they cannot find in a parish (although this is beginning to change): they find a place where they can fully be themselves and still worship in a "Catholic" liturgy. After my hospital work, I spent 7 years in a drug/alcohol treatment agency. When that became too stressful, I got a job doing group work and psychotherapy in a day program for mentally ill senior citizens in upper Manhattan. I found this work fulfilling, but draining. In 1994 I met Daryn Hassell. We dated for over 2 years before entering a relationship; I was very cautious about committing after my experience with Herb D. We've been together now for over 18 years. Daryn is a very sweet, gentle and good man. Though we both worked in Manhattan, we lived in Jersey City for about 7 years because it was cheaper. On Oct. 29, 2013, we got married in Jersey City. It feels GOOD to claim equality in society by publicly referring to him as "my husband" at a store counter, introducing him to others, etc.
On March 21, 2014 I began the fifth, and probably last, phase of my life. I retired. Daryn had left his job on Dec. 31, 2013. We found that we could not afford our mortgage and lifestyle in the New York area on "retirement income". But we knew that we could get the same kind of condo in Chicago for 1/4 the price of our Jersey City condo. So we made the move and bought a condo without a mortgage in Chicago. Daryn, who was born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens is learning to love Chicago. And I have come full circle, back to the Midwest where I was raised. Starting a new life in a new city at age 69 is daunting, but invigorating. I have to meet new people and learn a new city. But there is help: Chicago has a Dignity chapter and a gay mens chorus and I am exploring places where I can volunteer my time, skills and energy. Still skinny, I am now145 pounds; my health is good. The only problem is an enlarged prostate - sound familiar? So I/we embark on this new chapter with vigor and enthusiasm. Life is good!
Growing up with you guys was a really good experience. I treasure all the good times, fun and support we shared at Mt. Calvary and hope that you do, too. Thanks! Elements of the Calvary Spirit do live on.
I grew up in Two Rivers, WI with the "middle child syndrome". The middle of 3 boys I felt unloved and struggled for attention. (Paul Kedinger often said, with some justification, that I was always seeking attention while at SLS.) To get attention, I became an overachiever in grade school. The nuns loved me. I noticed that they liked priests. So, to get more attention, I told them that I would be a priest. They loved me even more. And so my "vocation to the priesthood" was born in 3rd grade. A high point in grade 8 was being on the best basketball team our school ever had. In 8th grade we won 32 games and lost none; we earned 7 first place trophies. It was a heady experience. The key to our success was teamwork; we were taught that we did so much better when we played as a team rather than trying to get glory as an "individual" player. The lesson to be a team player has remained with me throughout my life.
My SLS years were fun and confusing as I grew older (I hesitate to use the word "matured"). Some fond memories are the "blowouts"; getting attention by eating a lot and staying skinny; playing basketball 2 or 3 times a week with Steve Koszarek, Larry Koontz, and Mike Trainer, among others; Field Days, especially because I could smoke cigarettes for one day; impromptu parties in the TV Lounge on Sundays, especially after Packer games; involvement in plays; singing in the choir; and, in Senior year, sneaking down to the basement of St. Anthony's Hall at 1 am twice a month with Abbot Harris and others, whose names escape my memory, to smoke cigarettes, have "important, adult discussions", and feel very good because we never got caught. A very pleasant memory is that of entertaining the school with Steve K. as the SomeOther Brothers. I was jealous because Steve got most of the funny lines. Besides being a lot of fun, this helped me begin to learn how to "work the crowd", which was valuable later on in preaching and in giving retreats, etc. I also enjoyed being a driver to Fondy, along with Jim Gilgenbach, and others. The confusing part of those years was struggling with hormones, not knowing what to do with sexual feelings, talking about it in Spiritual Direction without getting any real "direction", frequent confessions before mass, and never getting an answer to the question, "What are 'particular friendships?" I was proud of the work we did on the Field Day Committee, introducing the B Level track and field events so that all could contribute to their class' scores and not just the "basketball jocks". And it was my idea to add french fries and milk shakes/malts to the Field Day Menu. I completed the seminary phase of my life at St Francis School of Pastoral Ministry. I responded well to the awakening in the Church with Vatican II, but there was a lot of confusion among seminarians and professors as things "loosened up". There were two highlights in this time. One was being director of the Madison Carolers. Although I lived in the Green Bay area, I joined the Madison Carolers because the Green Bay Carolers had more members than they needed, while the Madison group needed Basses. (Jim Gilgenback joined the Madison group, too, and we were buddies, goofing off a lot.) After 2 years they asked me to be Director, which I did for 4 years. It was a thrill to bring Christmas joy to people in the hospitals and nursing homes in the Madison area; and we had some crazy fun for four years. The other highlight was a feeling of pride when the director of the annual play stepped down and those involved in plays voted for me to be Director of the production of Macbeth. I used the "team approach" so that it was "our play" not "my play". During practices, I got a lot of good ideas from the others, ideas that I would not have thought of. Everybody felt that it was "their play". It was a success and I was proud. (We had 17 people covering 28 parts - I played the comic relief part of the Drunken Porter.) While at St Francis, I went into psychotherapy, for the first time, and struggled with accepting myself as a gay man.
The priesthood phase started in May of 1971 and lasted 15 years. For the most part I enjoyed ministry. I tried to help the parishioners develop their ministerial skills and offer their services on various committees and in ministries. I tried to convince them that no one's "job" was more elevated than another's, i.e., priests are not more important than the people; at certain times each one's job will be more prominent. (The Trustees make the parish run more than the priest does and the janitor is essential to the parish in may ways.) This attempt of mine to come down "off the pedestal" was not wholly successful, although some people caught on. I particularly fostered women offering their gifts to the community. Among my brother priests I never felt that I fit in. No one ever said this, but I think that most of them thought I was too idealistic and naive. I found only a few that I could be myself with. I struggled mightily with my sexuality, trying to find a way to develop it and express it that was congruent with my theological and moral sense. I was convinced that it would be spiritually and emotionally unhealthy to ignore or suppress my sexuality. I helped start a clandestine Gay Priests Support Group. Overall, I related well with the people, gave real challenges in interesting homilies, and particularly enjoyed working with some excellent nuns. I was very saddened when I saw quite a number of priests reject nuns who were better educated, had better people skills, and a better sense of ministry; I was convinced that these priests were simply afraid that the nuns would outshine them and they would lose power and prestige. During these years I developed a love of travel. I visited Malaysia, where I saw an 8 foot long leatherback turtle lay her eggs on a beach. I went to Bali, Indonesia 5 times and also visited a site in Sumatra, where an agency re-introduces "pet orangutans" into the wild. I spent a week running around naked with the Auca "Indians" in the Amazon jungle in Ecuador, topped off with two nights in the Andes Mountains. After that I spent a week camping in Glacier Bay, Alaska. I did a whale watching trip off of Baja, California and touched a baby gray whale that came up to our skiff to inspect us. I did scuba diving, including one night dive, in the Cayman Islands; later I did scuba diving in Belize. A big trip was one month in a mission parish in Tanzania, Africa, with my Dad and my brother; we camped one week on the Serengeti Plain and saw the migration of the wildebeest; also saw lions feeding on a kill and two lions mating. I took a trip to Brazil and saw the Iguazu Falls. And I did a week-long sea kayaking trip in the Sea of Cortez. I joined a group for a week-long trip to the Holy Land. Also visited Mexico City and Acapulco twice. Another thing I did for fun and adventure was to buy a small airplane with a friend and got my single engine pilot's license. The thrill was soon gone because flying a small plane is too noisy (you can't converse) and very soon all the topography looks the same; so we sold our plane after 5 years and bought a cottage on the bay of Green Bay. It was easier to share this with friends than to share an airplane. After about 12 years I joined the Green Bay Chapter of Dignity (a lay run Catholic LGBT organization) for whom I presided at liturgies with and for gay/lesbian people. In my 13th year, I knew that I could not continue this way. At that time the Diocese offered a Doctor of Ministry Program in which the Diocese would pay for half of the cost of the Doctoral Degree. I finished the courses in my 15th year, took a sabbatical, and got the degree. I thought that a Doctor of Ministry Degree might be helpful in the future, since I knew I was leaving the active priesthood. The doctoral studies were helpful in a general way, but I did not use the degree in any professional way. In my letter of resignation I stated that I had serious issues re. the official Church's refusal to allow/accept women in decision making roles in the Church, an attitude which I regarded as sinful. And I differed in the Churches stance on human sexuality, which I was convinced was outdated, scientifically inaccurate and harmful to many people. I stated that some can stay in the Church and fight to make changes, but that my spirit was not so constituted and my spirit would die in that kind of stress; I needed to leave the official priesthood and work for change from outside the Church. So I went on sabbatical in 1987 in New York for Social Work school and resigned from the priesthood 2 years later. I have not regretted this decision; indeed, it was a step forward. It was hard on my parents. They were so proud when they heard people praise my priestly ministry. However, they were supportive of me and of my work with Dignity; they even came to some of the Dignity Masses. Eventually they came to think that my ministry to the LGBT Community was more valuable, that is, had more impact than parish work.
In 1989 I got my Masters in Social Work and started working on a psychiatric ward and in the psych ER of a hospital in the Bronx. I also did individual and group psychotherapy at a Gay/Lesbian Counseling Center in Manhattan and had a small private practice. I entered a relationship with Herb D. in 1988, which lasted 5 years. I left when he started smoking crack and became verbally abusive and threatened me. In 1988 I joined the Bass section of the New York City Gay Mens Chorus. Until it became too expensive in about 2000, all our concerts were in Carnegie Hall; a GREAT venue to sing in! It was powerful to stand up and sing publicly and proudly as a gay man. In my 24 years in the chorus, we helped change many lives for the better through our singing. We helped many gay and lesbian people in our audience to embrace their own gay identity and be proud. I also joined in two European tours with the Chorus. During these years I presided at liturgy for 3 Dignity groups in the New York area. Though these Masses were illegal by Canon Law, since I was resigned and not connected to a diocese, I provided a much needed service to these Catholic Gay and Lesbian people. I helped them get in touch with God; how can this be wrong? They find in Dignity what they cannot find in a parish (although this is beginning to change): they find a place where they can fully be themselves and still worship in a "Catholic" liturgy. After my hospital work, I spent 7 years in a drug/alcohol treatment agency. When that became too stressful, I got a job doing group work and psychotherapy in a day program for mentally ill senior citizens in upper Manhattan. I found this work fulfilling, but draining. In 1994 I met Daryn Hassell. We dated for over 2 years before entering a relationship; I was very cautious about committing after my experience with Herb D. We've been together now for over 18 years. Daryn is a very sweet, gentle and good man. Though we both worked in Manhattan, we lived in Jersey City for about 7 years because it was cheaper. On Oct. 29, 2013, we got married in Jersey City. It feels GOOD to claim equality in society by publicly referring to him as "my husband" at a store counter, introducing him to others, etc.
On March 21, 2014 I began the fifth, and probably last, phase of my life. I retired. Daryn had left his job on Dec. 31, 2013. We found that we could not afford our mortgage and lifestyle in the New York area on "retirement income". But we knew that we could get the same kind of condo in Chicago for 1/4 the price of our Jersey City condo. So we made the move and bought a condo without a mortgage in Chicago. Daryn, who was born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens is learning to love Chicago. And I have come full circle, back to the Midwest where I was raised. Starting a new life in a new city at age 69 is daunting, but invigorating. I have to meet new people and learn a new city. But there is help: Chicago has a Dignity chapter and a gay mens chorus and I am exploring places where I can volunteer my time, skills and energy. Still skinny, I am now145 pounds; my health is good. The only problem is an enlarged prostate - sound familiar? So I/we embark on this new chapter with vigor and enthusiasm. Life is good!
Growing up with you guys was a really good experience. I treasure all the good times, fun and support we shared at Mt. Calvary and hope that you do, too. Thanks! Elements of the Calvary Spirit do live on.
Claude Kennedy
Claude Kennedy is originally a Fondy guy, who has lived most of his life in Milwaukee. George Niederehe says, "his family and mine lived a block apart on Fifth Street and we go back to kindergarten times. His email is kennedy08@wi.rr.com. Claude has served as a Catholic deacon for many years."
Michael Sadusky
Michael Sadusky has been a professor of psychology at Pasco-Hernando Community College in New Port Richey, Florida. His email address at the college has been saduskm@phcc.edu, and that appears to still be current (see: http://www.phcc.edu/content/michael-sadusky).
Thursday, May 23, 2013
George Niederehe
After graduating from SLS, I completed college and most of a novitiate year in the Maryknoll seminary system before deciding to leave. I subsequently got drafted and spent time in Vietnam as a conscientious objector Army medical corpsman. Upon returning to the U.S., I did graduate studies at the University of Chicago for the first half of the 1970s, earning a Ph.D. in clinical psychology with specialization in gerontology and geriatrics. During that time, I also married Roberta Staat, who was embarking on a career as a fine arts teacher and oil painter.
After grad school, we moved to Houston, Texas, where I did a postdoctoral fellowship and then worked for the next decade in the geriatric mental health field, mostly doing clinical research and helping run training programs in geriatric psychiatry and psychology – first at research center that was part of the state mental health system and later on the faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Medical School-Houston. During those years, I obtained various federal grants and served on grant review committees. I did research on topics like the impact of depression on memory in older adults, and the family dynamics surrounding care for older adults with dementia. Bobbie and I gave birth to two daughters, who are now in their early 30’s.
In 1987, I was recruited to the National Institute of Mental Health and we moved to the DC area, where I have been working ever since. I have held a number of administrative positions within NIMH, mostly helping run grants programs that support research projects and training of researchers around the country. Much, but not all, of the research which I have helped to promote and have overseen has consisted of clinical trials and other studies of treatment for mental disorders of later life. In my early years at NIMH, I was heavily involved in activities related to Alzheimer’s disease; subsequently this has changed to a focus on other mental health issues. I spend a good deal of time assisting investigators in developing their research plans and grant applications, and to some degree helping with the training of junior investigators. I currently foresee continuing in this line of work for a few more years.
As one of my outside interests, for many years, I devoted quite a bit of effort also to doing volunteer work and serving on the Board of Director for a local nonprofit organization called Beacon House, which operates as a multifaceted community center with various educational and recreational programs for inner-city youth in a particular neighborhood of northeast Washington, DC (see www.beaconhousedc.org).
After many years of mainly holding college and high school teaching positions, my wife Bobbie currently is focusing on pursuing her own artwork. You can see some examples at www.staatworks.com. Our older daughter Alison and her husband both have jobs at American University in Washington, DC and live pretty close to us in Maryland, which is nice because it allows us to see a lot of the two fine grandsons they have given us in recent years – Bence (almost 3) and Akos (1). For the past several years, our younger daughter Kate has been living in Utah and Colorado and finding seasonal work in the area of alternative/environmental education, serving as a field guide for river and backcountry trips, etc. This summer, she is hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada, partly as a fundraising project to benefit several nonprofit organizations. You can see more about this at www.hikingtogetkidsoutside.org.
Though my parents are no longer living, my 5 sisters all remain in good health. My older sister lives in Oregon, while the 4 younger ones still reside in Wisconsin (1 Madison, 2 in Milwaukee area, 1 Fond du Lac).
In terms of SLS classmates, though we have rarely had occasion to meet, over the years I have been in touch occasionally with my SLS “homies” from Fond du Lac (Pat Ahern, Dan Youra, Claude Kennedy), and with several others (Ken Rolling, Joe Kolb until his death 4 years ago).
Dan Youra
ABOUT ME
- Dan Youra
- Dan Youra lives in Port Hadlock on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Dan moved to Washington in 1971 to take a job in state government with the Council on Higher Education and the Washington State Library, where he designed the LIFE Project (Library Information Facility on the Environment) for EXPO 74 in Spokane.
Dan's professional love is drawing editorial cartoons, his avocation that started at St. Lawrence Seminary, illustrating the class yearbook and school play bills, such as inking FDR for How You Like It. In the 1965 Dupage at Maryknoll College he cast Charlie Brown as a cub reporter interviewing Lyndon B. Johnson. Youra’s cartoons appeared in The Advance-Titan newspaper at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where he earned a BA degree in International Studies in 1967.
To make money Youra publishes travel guides and maps.
In 1982 Youra designed a local Hood Canal map to commemorate the reopening of Hood Canal Bridge, after it sank in 1979. The map, published annually since then, continues to be distributed to visitors.
Youra grew up in a family that supported his cartooning and artists talents. He reflects that, “As a little boy, I remember my dad drawing funny cartoon characters for the amusement of us kids.” He had one aunt who was an art teacher and one who was an artist. Both encouraged his artistic explorations.
“I can remember drawing cowboys, Indians, and armies in second grade at St. Mary’s grade school, where Sister Theodocia, asked me to help other students with their art,” Youra recounts. “That was prior to political correctness, when you could still draw guns in school.”
In 1983 he created his first map with all the counties of the Olympic Peninsula. In 1984 he was hired as executive directory of the Olympic Peninsula Travel Association (OPTA), an organization started in 1932. In 1984 he published his first Olympic Peninsula Guide. In 1986 Youra was selected by the Washington State EXPO 86 Commission to publish the Official Guidebook for the Washington State Pavilion at EXPO 86. Youra launched his Ferry Travel Guide in 1988. In 1991 he was elected first president of the Port Ludlow Chamber of Commerce.
In Jefferson County Dan worked for the Community Action Council to help find jobs for residents. He set up Jefferson County’s first office for the Washington State Department of Employment Security. The office in the First National Bank building on Tyler Street served residents with unemployment claims and job searches. As staff planner to the Jefferson County Economic Development Council, Youra wrote the 1975 Jefferson County Economic Development Plan.
While publishing guides by day, Youra continued to develop his cartoon characters by night. He has a whole family and zoo full of his creations. His “U” family is made up of Ulysses, Ureka, Uclid and Urana. His animal friends include Otto, Loony, Gooey and a whole bunch more. Youra’s “U” cartoons are online on the web at www.utoons.com.
Youra has drawn all the presidents since LBJ. Hundreds of Bush cartoons are moving into the archives, while Obama cartoons are now taking center stage. Youra’s technique has evolved from the black and white pen drawings of the 60s to color animations in the 21st century.
Youra’s latest exploration is sending his cartoons to cell phones on the mobile web at www.utoons.mobi.
Dan’s office in Olympia was on the campus of the newly opened Evergreen State College. Friends at the student paper, known then as The Paper (now Cooper Point Journal) discovered Youra’s talent for cartoons and published them. In subsequent years The Paper's cartoonist was Matt Groening of Simpson fame.
In 1971 Youra studied a course in cartooning at the University of Washington with Ray Colins, cartoonist for the Seattle Post Intelligencer. At that time David Horsey was cartoonist for The Daily, the university newspaper, before he went on the Seattle Post Intelligencer and the LA Times.
Youra was born in Wisconsin and received his high school diploma from St. Lawrence Seminary in Mt. Calvary.
As a Fulbright scholar, Youra studied in Argentina for one year in 1968, before entering graduate school at Ohio State University. There he studied quantitative analysis and computer research in the Behavioral Sciences Laboratory for three years. He attended summer school in 1969 at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research and he worked as managing editor of Current Thought on Peace and War, an international digest, published at the United Nations in New York.
Dan's email address is dan@youra.com
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