FYI - The Class of 68 will be invited to participate in a multi-class reunion with the 69, 70 and 71 classes. See email below from Denise (Cannon) Bennett for plans that are currently being developed. 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Bennett, Denise 075 
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 3:12 PM
Subject: Reunion Meeting

Wanted to let you know the results of last night’s meeting. We are booked at The Palace in Blackwood for Friday, November 12, 2010 from 7:00 to 11:00 pm. We also booked the band Juicy. One of the band members was in the class of ’70. This band plays at Bisons on the Beach at LaCosta's in Sea Isle City every year. They also provide music between sets and they gave us a great price.

Speaking of price, it will be $60 per person which includes a 4 hour top shelf open bar. We didn’t discuss the menu yet. 

Instead of giveaways, we are leaning toward a photo booth. 

We going to post notices on the website as soon as we can determine if there is someone from the class of ’72 that wants to spearhead contacting those graduates. If not, it will just be four classes – 68, 69, 70 and 71. We are also going to post on Facebook as soon as we figure out how to do that. 

Let us know if you’re still on board and if you have any suggestions. We didn’t schedule another meeting yet, but will keep you posted. 

Denise Bennett

Bisons at the Beach 2009.

Classmates,

This was a really nice event. The weather was great - upper 60's, no humidity, no wind - and everyone had a good time!

Believe it or not, there were many classes that had fewer representatives than the class of 1968.

Our class had Maria Wilk, Charlie Blank and yours truly in attendance, and we will be there again next year.

Hopefully we can have more classmates make this event in 2010.

Regards,

Frank

3rd Annual BISONS AT THE BEACH - An All Class Reunion

Date: Saturday, September 12, 2009, 4 to 8 PM

Place: LaCosta’s, 40th & Landis Avenue, Sea Isle City, NJ 08243 1-609-263-1111

Price: $23.00 per person in advance, $28.00 per person at the door

Includes buffet featuring grilled chicken, kielbasa, hamburgers, potato salad, macaroni salad and condiments, plus unlimited draft beer, house wine and soda. Discounted drinks also available. Also includes music and dancing, and lots of laughter!

Please make checks payable to "St. Joseph Alumni" and mail by September 1st to Kathleen Gehringer, 113 Knox Boulevard, Marlton, NJ 08053

Please include the following information with your check: Graduation Year, Name, Maiden Name, Address, Phone/Cell Numbers and Email Address.

Questions?? Call Kathleen Slupski Gehringer (’61) 856-983-5563 or Denise Cannon Bennett (’69) 856-546-5215

We are emailing and posting this notice on the St. Joe’s Alumni website only. Make sure you pass the word !! 

Get everyone you know to register on the website – SJHSCamden.org.

Frank and Ronnie Piotrowski, John and Jean Giacobbe,
and John and Dianne (DeMusis) Sweeney

Hi Frank,

Hello from Florida,

Here is an update for John Paprzycki
Married for 37 years to Debra Kwoka Class of 1970
Two children - Stacey 36 and Jeffrey 33
Three Grandchildren - Kaitlyn  11 years old - Ashley 8 years old - and Joshua  2 years old
Living in Florida since 1986
President of his own landscape company for the past  21 years in the Tampa Bay area, Florida

Take care up there,
Debbie (John's wife)

dpclaims@tampabay.rr.com

Lillian Korch obituary

CZUBAS, LILLIAN M. (nee Korch) On August 31, 2008 of Stratford, NJ, age 57years.

Beloved wife of Joseph L. Czubas for 30 years. Loving mother of Jason Czubas and his wife Garson of Cherry Hill and Brian Czubas and his fiancée Dana Brandemarte of Glassboro. Cherished daughter of Frank Korch of Browns Mills and the late Irene Korch. Dear sister of Kathy Mitchell and her husband Mike of Wyomissing, PA. Devoted grandmother of Madison, Cameron and Gianna. Lillian will be fondly remembered by those who knew her as being a very generous person, always putting her family, friends, and many others before herself. She loved her family dearly and enjoyed spending time with them, especially going crabbing in the Barnegat Bay. She spent her working years as a transcriptionist in various local hospitals, and for the past 10 years at SJ Radiology in Voorhees.

Services and interment will be held privately at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in memory of Lillian may be sent to the American Cancer Society, 1851 Old Cuthbert Rd., Cherry Hill, NJ 08034. For more info or to email condolences, please visit www.lpwooster funeralhome.com

 PLEASE NOTE NEW LOCATION FOR THE REUNION 

I have just set-up the official SJHS Class of 1968 YouTube Channel.

If you have video files that you would like to post, please let me know and I will provide you with the Username and Password, or you could e-mail the video file to me and I can post it for you.

Here is the first video that has been posted.  Its title is "The Bison Cheer."

Ray Kopakowski was robbed! Cops get a "mighty" thank you!

Ray Kopakowski, left, owner of the Mighty Cup Coffee House at 7021 North 57th Avenue in downtown Glendale, thanks Glendale police for their professional handling of a robbery at his shop May 8.  Standing at the front counter is Office Corley McClung, the first officer on the scene.

Ben Stein and our own Steve Kondracki

Hi Frank !

I do remember you from high school.  Janet (Cori) B. just sent me an e-mail saying you added my name to the "other classmates" list.  Thank you.

Yes, I'd like you to add my e-mail address to the site - paulawtaylor@comcast.net. It will be nice to hear from others in our class.

I left SJHS and graduated from Audubon High School because my parents moved.  It's funny, I went to Audubon's 25th year reunion, and most people didn't remember me. (Kids in my home room did though.)  They remembered all the ones that stayed in NJ or had gone to school with them since grade school.  By Junior year, most kids had their cliques and specific circles of friends.

I moved to Hallandale Beach, FL 4 years ago.  It's just south of Ft. Lauderdale.  I lived in or around Pittsburgh for 25 years.

I hope all is well with you and your family and look forward to hearing the occasional news about old friends.

Paula (Jozwiak) Taylor

Frank,

My twentieth bike tour of Europe started in Luxembourg in early June. I traveled with Jim Hall, a photographer and retired school principal, who had joined me on four previous trips. After visiting "Lux City", and the American military cemetery, we cycled to Trier, Germany, then along the Mosel river for about 4 days, until it joined the Rhine in Koblenz.

For the next two weeks we traveled along the Rhine through Germany, France, and Switzerland, until reaching Lake Constance. The large lake forms the border between Germany, Switzerland and Austria, in a major wine region, and is an extremely popular tourist destination for Europeans. The lake shores are dotted with resort cities and towns, connected by passenger ferries which criss-cross the lake frequently. From the lake we cycled towards Munich for two days, where we encountered the only hills on the whole three-week trip. Easy hills, really, but they slowed us down enough so that we decided to travel the final 50 or 60 miles by train to Munich, where we toured the city's beer gardens for two days. After that, Jim's wife joined him for two weeks of bike-free sight-seeing, and I returned home to plan next year's trip.

We cycled nearly 900 miles, but we had great weather, the route along the rivers was nearly all flat, and more than 95% of the route was traffic-free, bicycle-only roads.

One of the highlights of the trip was when we were finishing dinner at an Italian restaurant in Lindau, and  "Snow White" and her 19 "Gnomes"  trickled into the dining room. It was Snow's batchelorette party, and as per local custom, she was selling kisses for 50 (euro) cents apiece. Jim and I each bought two. The gnomes urged me and Jim to stay, even buying us another round of beer. We shared our table with half a dozen gnomes, and had lively conversation, furthering international understanding, and making for a memorable evening for us. You just don't see many gnomes in the U.S. At least not 19 at a time.

Steve

Hi Frank,

We had a mini get-together yesterday with Janet and Drew Bartoszek, and Barbara and Paul Christy. What a great time! We met at Janet and Drew’s house and enjoyed a sumptuous luncheon prepared by Janet and Drew, and spent time catching up on each other’s lives. The guys then took off for the golf course and the girls to – where else – the mall. It was such a nice day and such a joy to know that the friends we had as teenagers can now be friends in adulthood (although I think all of us feel 18 inside still!). We went for a late dinner at the Cheesecake Factory – a favorite down here where we managed to snap a few shots. Too bad we never took pictures when we all gathered at Green Valley Farms – now those would have been interesting.

We think of you often and hope to see you if/when you come down this way.

Take care and I’ll keep you posted on any more gatherings.

Love,
Peg

Hi Frank,

I recently moved from Bumpass, VA back into the west end of Richmond, VA and while unpacking the numerous boxes came across the post card you sent out in 2002 letting us know about the SJHS web site. I noticed that the information I provided you back in 2002 has changed a little and wanted to give you an update. 

My e-mail address is jmzb1b7b@hotmail.com. I am currently employed by Sedgwick CMS as a Safety Consultant working with self insured construction companies, wood product manufacturers, school systems and retail business. My two daughters Claire (30) and Jenny (28) are both married and I have one grandson age 8. My son Jim (22) is going into his senior year at Radford University and his major is Business Management. Plan to retire in a few years and move south to FL to enjoy the warm weather, great sunsets, fishing, golf and dining out.

Thanks again for keeping this web site up and running and bringing back so many good memories!

Thanks, Jim Zolty

Frank,

I've had some interesting jobs lately, but this week, I had one of the neatest experiences in my career as a cameraman. I covered the visit of Queen Elizabeth to Jamestown, Virginia, as part of the official crew for Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg. Security was extremely tight for the event. I had to submit an application to the British Embassy in order to get credentials, and the amazing thing is, I passed the background check! Apparently they didn't have access to the records kept by George Plocharski at St. Joe's.

I didn't get particularly close to Her Majesty, but very few outside her official visiting party did. I shot the attached photo with one hand, while operating the TV camera with the other. That's Dick Cheney on the left.

Our video was made available to all news organizations, and was on NBC, ABC, and other network newscasts on Friday. I guess I did OK, because I'm going back to Jamestown next weekend to cover the President's visit. (It's the 400th Anniversary of the British arrival there).

Cheers,
Steve

P.S. In the last few weeks, I shot live satellite interviews for the O'Reilly Factor and The CBS Early Show, and for Inside Edition, I was an off-camera reporter, interviewing a witness in the New Jersey "suitcase murderer" trial.

Frank,

Another mini-reunion! 

For several years in the mid-to-late '60's, a group of St. Joe's students from the Atlantic Avenue and 10th Street section of Whitman Park serenaded the neighborhood with Polish and English Christmas carols. Since 2003, we've been getting together after Christmas, and on Friday, Dec. 29th, the 4th annual reunion of "The Seven Sons" was held at The Pub near Camden. This year, six of the seven reunited.  Joe Marini (Class of '69) was unable to attend.  We didn't sing Dzisiaj w Betlejem, but we did break out into a chorus of Sto Lat, in memory of Monsignor Strenski!

In the exterior photo are Steve Kondracki, Larry Nelson and Joe Perpetuino (Class of '68) Denny Barolin ('67) Joe Pierzynski ('68) and Tom Kasprzak ('69).  In the photo at the table are Joe and Pat Perpetuino, Joe and Carol Pierzynski, Steve Kondracki, Denny Barolin, Larry Nelson, and Irene and Tom Kasprzak.

By the way, this is the 3rd year we've met at the Pub. It was a good dinner and a good atmosphere (and a couple of us worked there in the '60's).

Steve Kondracki

Hi Frank,

Hope you had a great holiday season and that the New Year is good to you! Ed and I finally got together with Janet and Drew Bartoszek this past weekend. We met at The Cheesecake Factory in Boca Raton and spent about 2 ½ hours reminiscing about old times – it was great! Attached are a few pix that we managed to take.  We hope to remain in touch now that we have reconnected. Any other Floridian’s in the area – contact us and we’ll see about getting everyone together. Again the invite stands – if you’re going to be in the area and want to get together – contact us and we’d be happy to have you at our place!  

Peace, love and happiness to all in the New Year!

Peg and Ed Kuzniasz

Hi Frank,

My sister Conni was diagnosed last February with fallopian tube cancer. She has had several operations and now that the surgeon has cleared her, she will be finishing up with her chemo in the next couple of months. She asked me to contact you, and ask if you would post it on our St. Joe's web page.  She just would like for those who remember her, would keep her in their prayers. She would really appreciate it.

I would like to thank you for keeping up with the class of 68, I enjoy visiting the site and seeing all the faces from the past.

Sincerely,
Carol (Szczech) Thomas

Hello Frank,

My name is Chris Gehringer and my mother is Kathy Slupski, class of 1961.  I am a Cherokee H.S. graduate (1992) and currently a Cherry Hill resident.  I'm currently working on a project and wanted your help in contacting all the members from the class of 1968.

I recently have set up a web site for St. Joe's that allows individuals to register themselves and maintain their own profiles, email and mailing address.  This is a free site.  My business is to sell this service to local schools, but for my mom I have set up a site for St. Joe's and hope it will help each of the classes keep in better contact with alumni.

I see you are keeping things active for the class of 1968 so I wanted to invite you to contact all the members of your class to join the new site.  I didn't want to confuse your class members so I thought you could decide if it's best for '68 and share the news with them if you decide it's okay.
Please let me know what you think.

http://stjoe.schoolalumnisites.com

For four years I have been working with local schools on a web-based alumni service for local high schools.  It's a customized, automated Alumni Database solution and thought that it might be something that would be an interest to you.  I have just contacted most of the other email addresses on the Salt Lick site for the other classes.  The site offers class directories, discussion forums, news posting, photo gallery links, and reunion postings.

My solution allows for alumni to self-register and self-update with no interaction needed from an administrator.  This saves valuable time by allowing alumni to easily get posted and start sharing information with each other about happenings in their lives as well as upcoming reunions.  At any time reunion planners would have access to the names, addresses and email addresses of all registered alumni for use in reunion planning, school notices, fundraising letters, etc.  And any registered SJHS alum can email another alum at any time.

The site has been successfully set up in several local schools and over 13,000 students have self-registered.

Sincerely,
Chris Gehringer

Dear Frank,
Have enjoyed your website concerning the class of “68” and noticed that you did not have our e-mail addresses. Please add them if you will. I was very surprised to see that we actually had a reunion in 2003. We were told that plans fell through and there was not going to be one.  Janet and I sure enjoyed the photos.

Just a brief note about Janet and I.  We have been in SE Florida for 20 years and survived a vicious hurricane season last year; we just had a wedding for our younger son Eric who is a commercial pilot and our older son Ian is a biologist in the Everglades.

Regards,
Drew Bartoszek 

Hope to hear from you 

Janet Bartoszek (nee Cori) gatormom@acninc.net
Drew Bartoszek drew@fredbrowninc.com

Buon Giorno!

Well, I'm back. Sorry for the lack of updates, but internet access was difficult to find in Italy.  And enjoying the food, wine and weather was more fun than emailing anyhow.

A quick summary: Four of us completed the 3 weeks by bicycle: me, Jim, Lanney and Naran.  Steve O'Rourke only had 2 weeks vacation, and Lee finished the 2nd half by train (he's 82, you know).  We had GREAT weather, rode over 600 miles, and ate dozens of pizze!  The ice cream was especially good, but I still managed to lose 10 pounds.

The Italian people are friendly, and seem to like Americans.  The motorists are very accommodating to cyclists, and everyone we asked was helpful with directions.  Northern Italy is densely populated, however, and the roads are very busy, even in the countryside.  We managed to find bike trails and quiet roads on most days. 95% of the route was flat.  No flat tires or major mechanical problems.
The highlights of the trip were Venice (of course), Bergamo, Verona, Chioggia, and especially the lakes, Como and Garda, which were exceptionally beautiful.  We also stayed in places we'd never heard of, which were very pleasant, like Salo, on Lake Garda.  No place was disappointing, except for Milano, one of the least appealing large cities in Europe.

As soon as I figure out how to resize my photos and attach them to email, I'll send a few pictures.  In the meantime, if you have any questions, please ask.

Happy Memorial Day weekend.
Steve

Ciao from Italia!

Well, the trip started out OK, six cyclists arrived at Milan Malpensa airport nearly a week ago, however, only 5 bikes arrived. One lost in transit. So we spent a day at a small hotel in a village near the airport, and awaited the arrival of bike six, 24 hours late.

So we started off on our journey a day late, but had a wonderful day cycling from Milano airport to Pavia, on a bike path along a canal almost all the way (43 miles) with little or no traffic, and great weather.

The second day, we followed what we thought was to be a small country road to Cremona, only to find that we were on a busy car/truck route. The weather was great, though. Since then, we have stayed mostly on small roads through farm country.

We have some small personality clashes in our group, mainly Lanney, who insists on speaking broken Spanish to the Italians (Spitalian) in a loud voice, and English to us, also in a loud voice. But his enthusiasm is hard to fault. I think he'll have the Italians speaking Spanish within 2 weeks. I have picked up a few dozen words in Italian, and am able to ask directions, get hotel rooms, read menus, etc.

The food has been great, even when we just settle for pizza or a snack. And Italian beer is better than I would have imagined. But where the Italians surpass us in food, they lack ingenuity in plumbing and efficiency in general. And what passes for breakfast is a joke, or would be, if we weren't paying for it. In some cases, it is small toast and jam, and espresso. The best has included some lunch meat and cheese, cereal and yogurt.

Today, we encountered heavy rain in the morning, so we opted for a train to the Adriatic resort of Rimini, maybe 100 miles south of Venetia. Tomorrow we may visit the tiny country of San Marino, and the next day cycle to Ravenna, on the way to Venetia. My bike computer lost all its data, but I think we've gone about 200-225 miles so far.

Hotels have been slightly more expensive than we anticipated, but not enough to break the budget, Tonight, Steve O'Rourke and I are staying in a modern hostel, which will help him stay on budget. I haven't stayed in a hostel since I toured Scotland alone in 1990. This one is very up-to-date.

Internet facilities have not been easy to find, but thankfully, this hostel has free access for its guest, but time is limited, so until next time, Ciao.

Stefano

PS- I have a mobile phone with me, with an Italian phone number, so if you want the latest weather from Northern Italy, or a first-person description of the canals of Venetia, plase feel free to phone me at 011- (from the US), then 39-328-568-5131. My incoming calls are free, but you may have to pay 15-20 cents a minute or more, depending on your long distance company. Italy is 6 hours ahead of NYC, and a good time to call is evening, here 6:00-9:30PM (Noon to 3:30 PM Eastern time) Grazie

Frank,
I visited Joe Perpetuino on Easter Sunday. He had just begun radiation and chemo therapy, and he's lost the ability to speak, but he was in good spirits. Physically, he looked great. He's even put on a few pounds since I saw him at Christmas.
 
In other belated matters, I've attached a photo of the small group of SJHS alumni which met at The Pub on the day after Christmas. (2nd photo, posed group, is better)

Left to right, top row: Larry Nelson and Joe Perpetuino. Bottom row: Steve Kondracki, Joe Marini ('69), Denny Barolin ('67), and Tom Kasprzak ('69) (Not shown: Miss Szumska, who was taking the picture....only kidding!)
We all lived in Whitman Park, Camden, and for a few years in the '60's, we formed a vocal group to sing Christmas carols (in Polish and English) in the neighborhood. Also in our vocal group was Joe Pierzynski.

Steve K

Frank,

I wanted to let you know that Joe Perpetuino underwent surgery for throat cancer about a month ago. His larynx was removed, and he's lost the ability to speak. He was in the hospital for nearly two weeks and went home about two weeks ago.

I was thinking about Joe because Friday, March 24, is his 56th birthday. Joe is staying with his girlfriend Patti at her house in Deptford.  I just got off the phone with Patti and she tells me that Joe is feeling a little stronger, but it's still a struggle, and he faces both chemo and radiation therapy. She doesn't mind if Frank posts a notice for the Class of '68, letting everyone know that best wishes and birthday greetings can be sent to Joe via e-mail at jpp324@hotmail.com or to Patti’s mailing address:

Patti Dalbow
510 E. Penn Blvd.
Deptford NJ 08096
(856) 217-5598

Text or voice messages can also be sent to Joe's cell phone 609-217-4563.

By the way, I'm doing well. I'm planning to tour Northern Italy by bicycle in May, and I expect to be around for the 2008 reunion. I may forward that photo from the Pub, and let you decide if it belongs on the Class of '68 web page.

I hope everything is well with you.  

Steve

Hi Frank,
Our new e-mail addresses are pegkuz@bellsouth.net and ekuzniasz@bellsouth.net – Ed is doing great at his new place and seems pretty happy.  I am taking some time off to decide what I want to do next – volunteer or work for pay! We’ve had a wave of company lately and expect more, so my plans are on hold for awhile.  Can’t play hostess if I’m working!

Better go and get supper started.

Take care,
Peg