UPCOMING CARDINAL MOONEY CLASS REUNIONS

Class of 1975: Our 35th reunion will be July 24. It will be held at the Hilton Fireman’s Exempt Hall in Hilton New York. We would like to be able to make a weekend out of it. More details to follow. Please email Deb Adams Rondo at debrondo@gmail.com with name, address and email so we can get the information out soon.

Class of 1980: It will be held Friday, November 26, 2010 – that’s Thanksgiving weekend – at Ridgemont Country Club. That’s all we have so far. Our fb page is Cardinal Mooney Class of 1980 Reunion

Class of 1985: Our 25th Class Reunion will be held on Saturday, July 24, 2010 from 6pm-2am at Red Fedele’s Brook House Restaurant and Party House, 920 Elmridge Center Drive, Rochester NY. We will have activities all that weekend from Friday 7/23 through Sunday 7/25 for you to attend. WEB PAGE: Please visit www.cardinalmooney85.com as updates to the web page will be made soon and you will be able to stay up on activities planned for our 25th Reunion Weekend.

Class of 1984: Is there a reunion scheduled for this class in the near future? If anyone knows, please let us know.

Class of 1973: Saturday, July 24, 2010 A very dedicated group of the class of 73 are planing a 35yr reunion. We need your email addresses and any other known classmate addresses. Contact us at cm73reunion@gmail.com with any suggestions and updates. Tracking 360+ people is quite a challenge, but with your help we can do it! Stay tuned for more info and fun photos. This reunion will be worth waiting 35 years for! –Cardinally yours, cm73reunion committee

Class of 1989: The class of 1989 class reunion will be coming up next year. Please look for information, or email me at LaBue@mail.com. Hope to hear from you.

And it got me thinking about all the folks who impacted my life in a very positive way at Cardinal Mooney High School. Because I can’t list all my friends here, I’ll start by thanking just a few of the faculty and staff who I had personal contact with. They ALL deserve a big thank you, including those I don’t mention!

Please add your own list in the Comments below!

Some of the Good Folks Who Impacted My Life at Cardinal Mooney High School in Rochester NY

• Sister Lisette, Art Teacher: kind, gentle, supportive, encouraging
• Sister Mary Eymard: Even though I flunked Freshman Latin, she let me down easy!
• Sister Gloria Ruocco: My homeroom teacher in Freshman year – a cheerful bundle of energy – always wonderful to see her smiling face at the beginning of the day
• Mrs. McHail and Mrs. Puleo in Secretarial Practice: you’d be proud of my keyboard skills! Hopefully you never discovered I used the mimeograph machine to publish the “Flockette Gazette”!  (I still have them)
• Miss Joann Hinz: You had a steady, positive influence and it’s wonderful to know you’re still connected with CM grads!
• The Office Ladies: Mrs. Grace Paul in the Principal’s Office and Mrs. Florence Michaloski in the Assistant Principal’s Office – smiling, gentle ladies
• The Cafeteria Ladies: Mrs. Betty Kuhn and Mrs. Tina Barbato were the faces I remember most, but they ALL deserve a thank you!
• Mrs. Irene Rose Piedici: God bless you for your patience with me in Math!
• Mr. (formerly Brother) John Larrere: Music teacher, always positive, upbeat (pun intended!), energetic and encouraging
• Mr. David Ameele: Dedicated and fun! He wrote in my yearbook – “Good luck to the best Schickler (sorry cousins and siblings, but I couldn’t resist!), keep in touch and remember Syracuse!” (but I don’t remember what happened with Syracuse!)
• Mr. Frank Camiola: Happy and patient; I enjoyed his jokes – thank you for making Chemistry fun and interesting!
• Brother Thomas Gallagher: How me maintained his patience with our pranks in the Library, I don’t know, but I remember him as a kind man
• Brother Robert Hyde: another calm, happy, helpful person with a smile on his face!

Teachers and staff don’t always realize the impact and influence they have on students.

We graduate and go on with our lives and they have a sea of new faces to get to know each year. They may retire or move on to new occupations without realizing the influence they’ve had over our lives.

I’d like to close by saying, “Your work is important. Thank you for making our lives a little bit brighter, more informed and certainly better able to face the world!”

March 3, 1956 – January 22, 2010

Kevin P. Newman, 53, of Beloit, WI, unexpectedly went to be with his Lord and Savior on Friday, Jan. 22, 2010, in Beloit Memorial Hospital surrounded by his family. He was born March 3, 1956, in Rochester, NY, a son of Burton G. and Betty A. (Brown) Newman. Kevin was a 1974 graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School, Rochester, NY. He attended the State University of New York at Alfred and University of Wisconsin Rock County. He married Patricia E. Dresselhaus on Oct. 6, 1979, in Estes Park, CO. Kevin was the owner and operator of Landek Specialties. He enjoyed remodeling his home, spending time with his family and going to church and work. Kevin was a member of Central Christian Church, where he was a trustee. He was also instrumental in the construction and landscaping of the new facility at church.

Survivor’s include his wife of 30 years, Patty Newman; three children: Seth Newman, Haley Newman and Raquel Newman, all of Beloit; his father, Burton (Ginny) Newman of Rochester, NY; sister, Linda (Ron) Nortier of Clinton, WI; brothers, Tom (Lori) Newman of Portland, ME and David Newman of Beloit; in-laws, Milton and Betty Dresselhaus of Beloit; sisters-in-law: Kathy Cikar, Nancy (Greg) Ferguson, Beth (Ron) Koopman, Carol (Tulio) Duran and Debbie (Sam) Eljoundi; an aunt, Alice Macdonald of Webster, NY; many nieces, nephews, close friends and business associates. He was predeceased by his mother, Betty.

This blog is now more than a few years old and while I’ve neglected it for a while, I have changes in mind for the New Year. Please peruse this list and let me know if you have other ideas I can implement to make this blog even more enjoyable for you!

In 2010…

We’ll have our own dedicated hosting site. Up until now, this blog has been hosted by WordPress, which has served us well for very little money. However, there’s a great deal more functionality available if I move it over to a dedicated domain and use a highly customizable “theme”. So look forward to a new “look and feel” in the coming weeks!

I’d like to add video clips. For those of you who are holding reunions and can capture it on video, please send me the file or the YouTube link and I’ll embed it.

More class links. Dedicated class websites and Facebook pages are springing up all over, so please send me the URL’s and I’ll link them under “More Class Pages”.

Articles. I’m jazzed to post more articles in the upcoming year and have a few ideas of my own (see below). But I don’t have the corner on great ideas, so please send me topics you’d like to see posted. Here are some ideas to start with…

• Top 20 things I learned in life since graduation
• Top 10 people who had a positive impact on my life at Cardinal Mooney
• 17 Reasons why Cardinal Mooney was a blessing (or a curse! haha!)
• 14 Things I remember most as a freshman, or senior
• Craziest things I did at Cardinal Mooney
• Something I did (and will admit to) at Cardinal Mooney that few people know about

Interviews: I’d love to record audio interviews with “mystery guests” and am seeking a few willing victims um, volunteers. So if you have 10-15 minutes of time and you’d like to be interviewed about Mooney related memories and topics, please contact me. (Please, no marketing or political messages)

So that’s my list. Got any other ideas we can use to make this blog bigger and better? Please post in comments below or email me your ideas!

Warm wishes, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Laurie Schickler Benjamin

Laurie Schickler Benjamin, Class of ’74

Cardinal Mooney Class of 1969!  It’s been 15 years since our last reunion!

We’re planning a casual affair with sixties music, hors d’oeurves, cash bar and three grazing stations. Pat  is compiling a slide show of photos; send him yours by snail mail or to buttsy50@mac.com. Price per person is $35. Attire is country club casual (no jeans or sneakers, please). Make checks payable to Patrick Butler and mail to Pat by Oct. 1:  24 Oak Bridge Way, Rochester, NY  14612.

Questions?  Email Mary Lou Studley Newstead, Communications Chair, at ML.Newstead@gmail.com. RSVP for free at Classmates.com and please forward this web page to as many classmates as possible.

Hope to see you in November!!!

Your 40^th Reunion Committee,

Pat Butler, Charlie Manel, Carol Cox Gursslin, Dick Marion, Dan McBridek Karen Pellett, Mary Lou Studley Newstead

Since it appears Facebook changed their policy on Groups (they now charge to promote a Group) I’ve created a NEW Facebook PAGE for Rochester NY Cardinal Mooney High School. You can find it HERE as well as a link located in the sidebar of this blog.  Bear with me while I get the settings in order.

Please tell your friends. If you’re one of the 490+ members on the previous Cardinal Mooney HS Group I started a year or so ago, please follow us on over to the new Facebook Page. I’ll change the settings to include video, audio and links. For a while I’ll have to approve members one by one, but hopefully we can loosen that up if we can avoid the unscrupulous types who try to phish or spam. The previous group has been really good about managing the conversations and keeping things “ship shape”. Thank you for that!

Also, is anyone interested in helping out with this blog? I think it deserves more attention than I have time for and also more content/articles too. Please call me at 719-266-8088 or send me a note at laura at laura benjamin dot com at your convenience if you are interested! We can figure out together how best to manage it going forward.  I’ve been thinking about moving it out from under WordPress and setting it up on its own hosted site using a WordPress template (Thesis). All ideas and recommendations are welcomed!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Your Editor, Laura Benjamin (Laurie Schickler)

Perhaps I was absent that day, but would someone please tell me – what were Mooney Mania Days?

First, from Charlie Yanaitis, Class of ’74

“Laurie, I found this great webpage with a picture and write-up on Mr. Merola, on his induction into the Section V Hall of Fame. I thought you may be interested in posting this. Go Cardinals! (remember that!)”

Tony Merola Section V Hall of Fame inductee

Anthony Merola  split his nearly four-decade coaching career evenly between varsity head coach and program assistant responsibilities, registering nearly unprecedented success at both levels. The Caledonia native (CMCS Class of 1952), a 4-year starter in football (24-6 record), baseball, and basketball for his hometown high school, began as a freshman coach at Mt. Morris and then took the varsity from 0-7 in 1959 to 7-0 in 1962 for the only undefeated mark in school history. That was followed by 10 winning seasons in 13 years at Cardinal Mooney in Greece, with the highlight coming in 1972 as the Cardinals won their only outright City-Catholic League championship.

For the “rest of the story” (as Paul Harvey would say) on Mr. Merola, please visit this page

Next, from Mary Lou (Boehm) Cooper (Class of ’73?) regarding “Where in the world is Sister Lisette?”

“I saw Sr. Lisette a couple of years ago at something at Mercy H.S. I think at that time she was living out in the community somewhere with other sisters. If you called the Sisters of Mercy Motherhouse, I’m sure they could connect you with her.”

Here’s a “p.s.” from the good folks who are organizing the Class of 1974 reunion. Please forward this blog post to anyone you know who has “fallen through the cracks” so to speak!

Laurie Schickler / Laura Benjamin

“Just like the Class of 73, we’re trying to get updated locations on classmates.  Can you add a message for all ’74 classmates to email mooney74@rochester.rr.com with their current email & snail mail addresses, along with contact information on anyone they keep in contact with? Thanks again.  Love the blog!”