First a thank you to those who organized it, both college team members and celebrating alumni.
Second a sadness that at least 29 of our 132 members are deceased.
Third a sadness that so few showed up. There was talk as the last attendees left that there needed to be a "post mortem". I suggest a "post partum". One of the lessons to be learned might be that organization of the events was not started soon enough. By several decades. A graduating class exists as a community up to the point of graduation. After that, it takes work to maintain any community.
Fourth joy at seeing those who showed. My personal sincere thanks for that.
Fifth the class of 2013 baccalaureate Mass or should I say Mess. The point where the liturgical incense set off the smoke detectors, may have been prophetic, or merely a point made by the Spirit that form is less important than substance.
requiescant in pacem to those who have gone before
ad multos annos to those who remain
See: Villa Madonna College
Monday, May 13, 2013
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
rak_1
previously
Covington Latin School (good history at link including group picture in 1929 contining our father) today would be called a prep school. My father, a maternal uncle, both brothers, a paternal first cousin and at least one maternal cousin (Lubbers) graduated from the school.
The curriculum was heavy on the classics lead by Latin (prima forma - the first year - 7 of 30 weekly class periods were Latin; then 6 5 5 and culminating in an oral test before the bishop). When Bishop Malloy started a seminary, he sent high school students to CLS.
At the time I attended (1955-9), all faculty were local diocesan priests, except for Sr Evangelista OSB who taught 5 of 6 math classes, Omer Westendorf who taught chant and led the Bishop's Choir staffed by students, and a drill sergeant who had a drill class for prima forma to make up for our having no athletic facility.
The curriculum also included Greek. Initially it was one period a week. After the first year, it expanded to three periods a week.
<>
I graduated and received the Schwegman science award. I also received a two year scholarship to Villa Madonna College.
<>
Somewhere around this time, or perhaps earlier, I had a few customers cutting their lawns, besides cutting our lawn. One was the SFM city Hall. Once or twice I cut the lawn of the lady next door on Dixie Hwy.
I also cut Gertrude Trimpe's lawn at 115 Highland. She had bought a top of the line lawn mower. Instead of being stamped metal, it was cast. It was very heavy. It was "self-propelled" by a friction drive on the back wheels - a rotating metal rod w/grooves in the ends.
To get the machine to the back yard was quite a task. I couldn't lift it, so I had to take it down concrete stairs.
One time, when the grass was quite high in the back, I had tilted the rotor so I could get through the grass. Unfortunately, the back yard had metal posts in the ground, into which, at one time, clothes line posts were placed. I succeeded in breaking the shaft on the lawn mower. As I remember, I continued to cut the grass for free.
<>
Another adventure occurred when Dad came home and said the windows at City Hall needed cleaning. It was apparent they had not been cleaned for time (years?). Since most people smoked at that time, the dirt was partially smoke deposits. I had never cleaned windows and didn't know what I was doing. First I used newspaper and plain water to cut through the mess. Don't remember what I used for final cleaning nor what I was paid.
continued here
Covington Latin School (good history at link including group picture in 1929 contining our father) today would be called a prep school. My father, a maternal uncle, both brothers, a paternal first cousin and at least one maternal cousin (Lubbers) graduated from the school.
The curriculum was heavy on the classics lead by Latin (prima forma - the first year - 7 of 30 weekly class periods were Latin; then 6 5 5 and culminating in an oral test before the bishop). When Bishop Malloy started a seminary, he sent high school students to CLS.
At the time I attended (1955-9), all faculty were local diocesan priests, except for Sr Evangelista OSB who taught 5 of 6 math classes, Omer Westendorf who taught chant and led the Bishop's Choir staffed by students, and a drill sergeant who had a drill class for prima forma to make up for our having no athletic facility.
The curriculum also included Greek. Initially it was one period a week. After the first year, it expanded to three periods a week.
<>
I graduated and received the Schwegman science award. I also received a two year scholarship to Villa Madonna College.
<>
Somewhere around this time, or perhaps earlier, I had a few customers cutting their lawns, besides cutting our lawn. One was the SFM city Hall. Once or twice I cut the lawn of the lady next door on Dixie Hwy.
I also cut Gertrude Trimpe's lawn at 115 Highland. She had bought a top of the line lawn mower. Instead of being stamped metal, it was cast. It was very heavy. It was "self-propelled" by a friction drive on the back wheels - a rotating metal rod w/grooves in the ends.
To get the machine to the back yard was quite a task. I couldn't lift it, so I had to take it down concrete stairs.
One time, when the grass was quite high in the back, I had tilted the rotor so I could get through the grass. Unfortunately, the back yard had metal posts in the ground, into which, at one time, clothes line posts were placed. I succeeded in breaking the shaft on the lawn mower. As I remember, I continued to cut the grass for free.
<>
Another adventure occurred when Dad came home and said the windows at City Hall needed cleaning. It was apparent they had not been cleaned for time (years?). Since most people smoked at that time, the dirt was partially smoke deposits. I had never cleaned windows and didn't know what I was doing. First I used newspaper and plain water to cut through the mess. Don't remember what I used for final cleaning nor what I was paid.
continued here
rak_0
I was born in Covington KY at William Booth Memorial Hospital at the mouth of the Licking River. The obstetrician was a woman. I was baptized in Covington, with Bill Trimpe and Emma Kuebbing as sponsors.
<>
Mother was living on Holman street, which had a streetcar. I remember nothing about the place except a vague memory of it being on the second floor. As you went down the street, it was on the left side.
<>
Her father- and mother-in-law lived on Pike Street with their daughter Emma in a three room house w/indoor bathroom & basement. The Pike Street front yard was tiny. The house sat on the property line on the left side (when facing the house). It had a paved right side yard which gave access to the door to the kitchen, which was the main entrance.
The front room was the bedroom. It was narrower than other rooms because of a covered external porch on the right side. The porch gave access to a door to the middle room.
In the back yard grandpa had previously grown and bred roses and peonies. The yard sides had fences, probably wrought iron. The back of the yard was a wall with a fence on top of it. The yard behind was several feet higher than my grandparents' yard. In the far right corner was a compost pile. I think my attraction to green issues and to composting comes from my paternal grandfather Joseph.
The house was still standing 2013May when I went to my 50th college reunion
<>
For the first several years of my life, my father was in the Army in the South Pacific. I think he did gun repair.
<>
My mother found me an inquisitive child. To keep me quiet, she bought or was given puzzles. She claimed I quickly grew to solve 1000 piece puzzles. I attribute my ability to do analysis to this training.
<>
While living on Holman street, there was an episode where I went with other children to a place where there was standing water. I took off my shoes and walked around. I got a piece of glass in my foot. It is somewhere in my baby book.
<>
We moved to South Fort Mitchell before I started kindergarten.
I went to kindergarten at Beechwood School on Beechwood Rd in SFtMitchell. It was what in TX would be called an independent school district. All schools were on one site. The school was highly rated because most elementary and many high school students went to Catholic schools. In addition, its catchment area was above average income. The tax base was strong and the children came from middle class families.
At the time, Blessed Sacrament School in SFM did not have a kindergarten. The church was one of the wealthiest in the Covington diocese. There was a story that Fr Streck (sp?) asked the bishop for permission to start one. He even offered to support a kindergarten at ever school in the diocese. He was turned down.
Mother said she walked me to kindergarten every day since we had to cross the Dixie Highway. I have only the fragment of one memory about going to Beechwood and it is not clear.
<>
The first six elementary grades I spent at Blessed Sacrament School. It was staffed by Benedictine nuns, who had a spacious convent next to the church. During my time there it went from one room per grade to two. While I never experienced it, there was one room that was split between two grades. I think just before I entered the school, a large three story addition was made on the back. The lowest level of the addition was the cafeteria.
The BSS cafeteria was run by one paid employee (Nellie Willen?) who lived up Highland on the right from us just past the Ross interesection. (I might be confused with Nellie Wallace, who lived between Mrs Willen and us on Highland.) The cafeteria was staffed by the mothers of students. The meals were good and somewhat nutritious. I say somewhat because this was the time of the federal milk support program. The schools got free milk, cheese and butter. Mrs W used butter to "season" the vegetables she used. Because this was before the wide availability of frozen vegetables and before cheap fresh vegetables became available, the veggies were canned.
One of my favorites was "chili". It was soupy chili, not "Cincinnati recipe". But one mother would have a large pot of it in the middle of the lunchroom for seconds.
Because the neighbor across the street was one year ahead of me in elementary school and high school, and since both schools were Catholic, and since we went to the same high school, at the end of each school year my parents would go across Highland to the Colette's house and buy the next year's books.
I am sorry to say I don't remember any of my elementary school teachers. I remember first grade as being large -- perhaps 50-80 students -- 5 or more columns of 10 or more students. I remember no students, but a few last names like Ruh. I don't remember any of my classmates joining me at Covington Latin School.
continued here
<>
Mother was living on Holman street, which had a streetcar. I remember nothing about the place except a vague memory of it being on the second floor. As you went down the street, it was on the left side.
<>
Her father- and mother-in-law lived on Pike Street with their daughter Emma in a three room house w/indoor bathroom & basement. The Pike Street front yard was tiny. The house sat on the property line on the left side (when facing the house). It had a paved right side yard which gave access to the door to the kitchen, which was the main entrance.
The front room was the bedroom. It was narrower than other rooms because of a covered external porch on the right side. The porch gave access to a door to the middle room.
In the back yard grandpa had previously grown and bred roses and peonies. The yard sides had fences, probably wrought iron. The back of the yard was a wall with a fence on top of it. The yard behind was several feet higher than my grandparents' yard. In the far right corner was a compost pile. I think my attraction to green issues and to composting comes from my paternal grandfather Joseph.
The house was still standing 2013May when I went to my 50th college reunion
<>
For the first several years of my life, my father was in the Army in the South Pacific. I think he did gun repair.
<>
My mother found me an inquisitive child. To keep me quiet, she bought or was given puzzles. She claimed I quickly grew to solve 1000 piece puzzles. I attribute my ability to do analysis to this training.
<>
While living on Holman street, there was an episode where I went with other children to a place where there was standing water. I took off my shoes and walked around. I got a piece of glass in my foot. It is somewhere in my baby book.
<>
We moved to South Fort Mitchell before I started kindergarten.
I went to kindergarten at Beechwood School on Beechwood Rd in SFtMitchell. It was what in TX would be called an independent school district. All schools were on one site. The school was highly rated because most elementary and many high school students went to Catholic schools. In addition, its catchment area was above average income. The tax base was strong and the children came from middle class families.
At the time, Blessed Sacrament School in SFM did not have a kindergarten. The church was one of the wealthiest in the Covington diocese. There was a story that Fr Streck (sp?) asked the bishop for permission to start one. He even offered to support a kindergarten at ever school in the diocese. He was turned down.
Mother said she walked me to kindergarten every day since we had to cross the Dixie Highway. I have only the fragment of one memory about going to Beechwood and it is not clear.
<>
The first six elementary grades I spent at Blessed Sacrament School. It was staffed by Benedictine nuns, who had a spacious convent next to the church. During my time there it went from one room per grade to two. While I never experienced it, there was one room that was split between two grades. I think just before I entered the school, a large three story addition was made on the back. The lowest level of the addition was the cafeteria.
The BSS cafeteria was run by one paid employee (Nellie Willen?) who lived up Highland on the right from us just past the Ross interesection. (I might be confused with Nellie Wallace, who lived between Mrs Willen and us on Highland.) The cafeteria was staffed by the mothers of students. The meals were good and somewhat nutritious. I say somewhat because this was the time of the federal milk support program. The schools got free milk, cheese and butter. Mrs W used butter to "season" the vegetables she used. Because this was before the wide availability of frozen vegetables and before cheap fresh vegetables became available, the veggies were canned.
One of my favorites was "chili". It was soupy chili, not "Cincinnati recipe". But one mother would have a large pot of it in the middle of the lunchroom for seconds.
Because the neighbor across the street was one year ahead of me in elementary school and high school, and since both schools were Catholic, and since we went to the same high school, at the end of each school year my parents would go across Highland to the Colette's house and buy the next year's books.
I am sorry to say I don't remember any of my elementary school teachers. I remember first grade as being large -- perhaps 50-80 students -- 5 or more columns of 10 or more students. I remember no students, but a few last names like Ruh. I don't remember any of my classmates joining me at Covington Latin School.
continued here
Sunday, January 13, 2013
HB poem 2013Jan13
In the corner of the yard Where the bushes are Where the weeds grow Where the flower tree is Where the bees go That's where my dad shined my bike Where I once did my homework That's where the shed is near-HB 2013Jan13
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
New Year's Day
My son and his mother are in the kitchen at 8939 Turriff Houston TX on New Year's Day. The kitchen window looked out past the utility room door and past a large oak tree. It had twin trunks each about 18-24" in diameter.
Beyond the utility room door, on the outside wall was successively, the electric meter and the window of the bathroom for the "master bedroom" which was a converted two car garage.
There was a walkway of concrete pavers that paralleled the outside wall. Just beyond the electric meter, there was a gate to the backyard fence. The fence, six (?) foot chain link I had installed my self, was perpendicular to the outside wall.
After the gate, the fence turned toward the house at a 45 degree angle to the gate. The tree was inside the fence. Just beyond the fence on that end of the back yard, was a fig tree, a shed and another fruit tree.
The fence went to the back property line where it turned again to follow the line to the far corner of the lot. Later this part of the fence was torn down by the neighbors behind us (without my knowledge or permission) and replaced with a six foot wood fence.
It had been raining and the ground was soaked.
She is preparing black eye peas and telling our son that Southerners do this on New Year's Day for good luck in the new year. Whereupon the tree comes out by its roots. It falls away from the house. It rips down the electric line, pulling the meter partly off the wall. It damages the phone line. It damages the fig tree, the shed and the other fruit tree. It just misses taking out the neighborhood power, which lines ran along that side of the house.
Beyond the utility room door, on the outside wall was successively, the electric meter and the window of the bathroom for the "master bedroom" which was a converted two car garage.
There was a walkway of concrete pavers that paralleled the outside wall. Just beyond the electric meter, there was a gate to the backyard fence. The fence, six (?) foot chain link I had installed my self, was perpendicular to the outside wall.
After the gate, the fence turned toward the house at a 45 degree angle to the gate. The tree was inside the fence. Just beyond the fence on that end of the back yard, was a fig tree, a shed and another fruit tree.
The fence went to the back property line where it turned again to follow the line to the far corner of the lot. Later this part of the fence was torn down by the neighbors behind us (without my knowledge or permission) and replaced with a six foot wood fence.
It had been raining and the ground was soaked.
She is preparing black eye peas and telling our son that Southerners do this on New Year's Day for good luck in the new year. Whereupon the tree comes out by its roots. It falls away from the house. It rips down the electric line, pulling the meter partly off the wall. It damages the phone line. It damages the fig tree, the shed and the other fruit tree. It just misses taking out the neighborhood power, which lines ran along that side of the house.
8939 Turriff Houston TX
This house was purchased in 1971 while empty for some time for less than $30k. It was occupied late in the year (November?).
With a two car garage converted into a "master bedroom", it had more than 2400 sq.ft.
Starting in the summer of 1980 and finishing the following year, I reroofed this house myself. The roof being replaced was an asphalt roof over a rotting cedar wood shingle roof. The roof had four valleys and therefore four separate ridges.
After removing both roofs, I replaced about 25-33% of the 1x4s used to support the wood shingles. I also replaced one of the rafters.
It took about 100 sheets of plywood to replace the roof.
I moved to Pittsburgh late October 1986 to work at Duquesne Systems. The children came up January 1987 by Greyhound bus. Their mother came up in the middle of the year (May?) and we looked at houses. We purchased 3823 (?) Baytree around July. I moved the family and some household goods up August 1987.
Summer of 1987 S returned to this house and stayed beyond of the summer. She returned only after a discussion she and I had on the subject.
She returned to this house for several additional summers.
This house was sold 1992, probably at a loss.
New Year's Day
With a two car garage converted into a "master bedroom", it had more than 2400 sq.ft.
Starting in the summer of 1980 and finishing the following year, I reroofed this house myself. The roof being replaced was an asphalt roof over a rotting cedar wood shingle roof. The roof had four valleys and therefore four separate ridges.
After removing both roofs, I replaced about 25-33% of the 1x4s used to support the wood shingles. I also replaced one of the rafters.
It took about 100 sheets of plywood to replace the roof.
I moved to Pittsburgh late October 1986 to work at Duquesne Systems. The children came up January 1987 by Greyhound bus. Their mother came up in the middle of the year (May?) and we looked at houses. We purchased 3823 (?) Baytree around July. I moved the family and some household goods up August 1987.
Summer of 1987 S returned to this house and stayed beyond of the summer. She returned only after a discussion she and I had on the subject.
She returned to this house for several additional summers.
This house was sold 1992, probably at a loss.
New Year's Day
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