Class gathers 50 years later

Fifty years ago, Jeff Falace, Mary Martin and Laurene O'Brien were students at St. John the Evangelist School in Schenectady.

After spending two years tracking down all the surviving members of their class (and finding one nun and one priest that taught them in the process), the three pulled together a recent reunion of the class of 1956.

Eighteen fellow alumni and their spouses headed back to Schenectady for the get-together.

Pinned together

The graduates, now in their early- to mid-60s met for pizza and chicken wings at the Fireside Pizzeria; gathered at the home of Mary Martin Nowak, a retired St. John's gym teacher, for dinner; and attended Mass at St. John's -- wearing their eighth grade graduation pins.

"The graduation pins had our school letters, SJES and a little chain that connected the year of our graduation, '56, on them," noted Ms. O'Brien, who added "I was amazed at how many still had those pins!"

Old teachers

Mr. Falace said that the organizing group was surprised when the search process turned up the former teachers.

Sister Mary Arthur, now Sister Gladys J. Bourdeau, SNJM, is 98 and resides at the Mercy Motherhouse in Albany. She was unable to attend the reunion, but the group signed their names to a greeting card for her.

The class's religious instructor, Rev. Edward Cantwell, now in his 70s, lives in Hudson. "We invited him to the reunion, but he was already committed to an out-of-town wedding for the weekend," noted Mr. Falace.

Said Ms. O'Brien: "He was 27 when he was assigned to St. John's. He used to take his turn turning the jump rope for the girls, who all remembered that."

Memories

Ms. O'Brien contacted everyone by email to ask them to write their memories and a short biography. She compiled the information into a small book.

As the weekend unfolded, the classmates recalled good times and special school events, including a football game between the boys of St. John's and nearby St. Mary's, "the Polish parish school only a block away," Ms. O'Brien noted.

She was amazed that the "boys" easily remembered the entire game, play by play, after 50 years. "Of course, none of the girls remembered," she said. "But, to the boys, it was as if they had just played that game."

Travelers

Some classmates came from as far away as Wisconsin and Florida, bringing their spouses as well as pictures of their children and grandchildren.

As they looked reminiscently at Ms. O'Brien's memory book and shared meals together, they all agreed that they would gather again in the near future.

"We aren't going to wait another 50 years," Mr. Falace quipped.

(Recalls Laurene O'Brien: "In eighth grade, I was aware that Brigid Weiss was beautiful and that I was not. She rinsed her hair with vinegar and that made it shiny, so I rinsed my hair with vinegar and imagined that I now had shiny hair, too.")

(8/24/06) [[In-content Ad]]