In this edition of the Prep '58 Blog...
We were offered the opportunity to share a Zoom call with Dr. Michael Gomez, president of SPP. It was a great meeting. You can see the story in this edition.
Thanks to Bob Bennett, we now have 42 Bio's, and we're hoping to make it 50 before long. You can see all the Bio's we have, including Bob's, right here...
We started a new feature last month when Walt sent in a story, and got a response from Randy Orlowski... We're calling it I Remember. This month we heard from Bill Turnier and Bob Bennett who sent in a few of their own recollections of Prep, which you can read here. Send in your stories... we'd love to see them.
A peek at another issue of the Petroc takes us into the second half of our freshman year, into the heavy lifting portion of the basketball season. See the issue later in this edition.
Another delicious recipe from Desserts with Stephanie...
...and a Kid, G'Kid & GG'Kid photo from the Editor.
Petroc Retrospective - Winter Freshman Year
We have been highlighting an issue of the Petroc in each edition of the '58 Blog and we welcome your comments.
This issue is heavy on hoops, with 4 pages of scores, and basket-by-basket reporting of some close games. A story on the success of the freshmen basketball team that was sporting a 7 and 0 record at the time, mentioned Randy Orlowski, Don Melega, and Don McLaughlin, among others.
The swim team was also mentioned, and our own Bernie Whalen was cited for his success in the 150 yard individual Medley.
The Sports Dinner also got some space, as did college Day, where more than 400 students and parents attended to gather information on colleges as they got ready to make their decision on where to go after Prep.
Here's the NYT front page from February 9, 1955, in the middle of the escalating cold war with Russia. The Cuban missile crisis was still 4 years away.
Just in case your memory is as iffy as the Editor's, we found a site that lets you access the top news stories from back in the day. You can select the year and month, and the major news events for that period will be shown. Below are a few of the stories we found from 1955 from the thousands that are available.
- February 24: Formation of the Central Treaty Organization.
- April 12: The Salk polio vaccine having passed large-scale trials earlier in the United States, receives full approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
- April 18: Death of Albert Einstein.
- May 14: Signing of the Warsaw Pact.
- August 18: First Sudanese Civil War begins.
You can see all the headlines and stories from the 50's right here!
We've had some great Zoom calls since we started them six years ago, but none quite like the call on Feb 9th, when we were joined by Dr. Michael Gomez, President of SPP.
Dr. Mike, as we are fond of calling him, shared his pride in the achievements of the Prep, and gave us his perspective on the future for "the greatest school on the planet."
Needless to say, it attracted the largest audience by far in the history of the Zoom Cuppa meetings.
Four of us showed up at the REO Cuppa on Tuesday Feb 10th. Joe Machewirth, Bob Pipchick and Frank Geremia joined Vince for lunch and conversation. We're hoping that better weather will make for better attendance....
The Reo was accommodating, as usual, and let us hang out for a couple of hours.
Conversations about weight loss, former jobs, pensions and our upcoming Zoom call with Dr Michael Gomez were the topics of the day.
January Snow Storm - The Editor's Place, Jackson NJ
Like millions of Americans who suffered thru the snowstorm in late January, Vince & Stephanie had to make a path thru the snow while they waited for the heavy equipment to come by and dig them out.
"We got about 10 inches," they said, "and it kept the snow removal guys busy for the first two days and nights - like up 'til midnight - to get things in order.
We haven't had to deal with snow like this for quite a while, having lived in a 30-story apartment building for the past 24 years, but we managed and all is well - at least for now.
Spring can't come soon enough for us."
Prep '58 Website - Check it out...
On a recent Zoom call, we had a discussion about the Prep '58 website, and discovered that several guys on the call did not know that there was such a thing as a Prep '58 website. Some thought that the Blog was the only thing available for viewing.
Vince went thru a very quick report on the website (see image of the Home page to the left) and invited everyone to check out all that's available. And there really is a whole lot to see!
- The entire collection of Petroc's from our 4 years at Prep;
- the '58 Book Library with reviews by the gang; various photo and video collections, and other features of interest.
- We have all six of the photos from our senior retreat at Gonzaga, with most of the guys identified.
- G'Kid photos sent in over the years;
- Links to the '58 Petrean, Reunions, the After '58 Bio's, and a whole lot more.
If anyone has a suggestion for another feature for the website, send in your idea to Vince, and we'll give it a look.
Click here to visit the Prep '58 website.
Happy browsing!
We started the Blogtoons feature to share some of the humorous cartoons we get from time to time.
Some of them are not technically cartoons, but they all got a chuckle out of the Editor.
Most of them are from '58 guys, but occasionally we will get contributions from a few others...
If you come across one you think the gang would enjoy, send it in to Vince in an email.
Here's a peek at the best of the bunch, so far.
42 Bio's, and counting...
A big Thank you to Bob Bennett, for sending in his Bio! He can expect a baker's dozen of Stephanie's famous chocolate chunk cookies!
If you would like some cookies, and have not sent in a Bio, send yours in and we will get them right out to you! Take a look at the Bio's we have.
'After '58' got started in March, 2017, when we received this suggestion from Bill Kretzer to collect stories from the '58 gang about what they did after graduation.
"I think there would be a bushel of interest in interviews with each & every ‘58 graduate. I for one, since I went away to college and never returned to NJ, didn’t keep in touch as much as I should have and would be curious to hear how everyone’s life turned out."
Bill sent in his Bio, and 8 years later, we are at 41. We hope every one of the '58 gang will pick up on Bill's suggestion and send in their story in an email to Vince.
It takes no more time to put your story together than it would to tell it to your grandkids, so how about it? We will return the favor by sending a baker's dozen of Stephanie Grillo's famous Chocolate Chunk cookies. We've already shipped out over 500 of the best cookies you've ever tasted, and there's more where they came from.
Kids, G'kids and GG'kids
Vince reports...
"It doesn't seem like enough time has passed to have grandkids, and here we are - with 9 of them - and even a great grand kid!
Here's my daughter Lisa (sunglasses) with her niece Kortney, one of our 9 Grandkids, and Kortney's 4-year old son Rylee - my Great Grandson - out for a walk on a sunny winter day.
It's been a treat to see them as often as we have since we moved to our new home in Jackson, and we jump at every chance we can to see them."