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Class Updates
Brother Paul Diveny
There’s not been a lot of change for me since our 40th. I am still Headmaster at Delbarton and the job continues to provide me with enough challenges to keep me from getting bored. In the summer months I manage the abbey’s almost 1 acre organic vegetable garden – this has become my true passion. Eat your vegetables! Looking forward to tonight.
Br. Paul Diveny, OSB Headmaster Delbarton School 230 Mendham Rd. Morristown, NJ 07960 |
Rich Lee
As a Grateful Dead fan, the lyric “What a long strange trip it’s been” provides a good description of my life over the past 45 years. I worked as a reporter for about 15 years, including a stint covering rock’n’roll in the early 1980s. I eventually ended up covering government and politics in New Jersey and then went to work for the people I had covered. Among my various PR jobs, I served as a Deputy Communications Director for NJ Governors McGreevey and Codey. I slowly drifted into academia, teaching college courses as an adjunct and running a public policy institute in New Jersey while I earned a Ph.D. at Rutgers, finishing just before my 60th birthday. Five years ago, I returned to St. Bonaventure University to teach journalism. I earned my B.A. at Bona’s and met my wife Anne here. It is somewhat surrealistic for the two of us to be back here teaching 40 years after we were students. I missed our 40th reunion because we were in the process of relocating to Western New York, so I am really looking forward to catching up with my Benedict’s classmates. |
Tom Meister
I left the Hive in 1971 with a deep admiration for those who had taught us and thought I would follow in their footsteps, only to find a year or two later that the bottom had fallen out of the teaching market, so I turned my sights to practicing law. I spent about 10 years in a legal aid office in York, PA, followed by another 15 years in private practice. Frustrated with the practice of law, I gave in to my original desire and taught for a few years in high school and middle school, which led to some of the worst weeks and the best moments of my working years. About 10 years ago, I returned to practicing law, but with a very different perspective on life, due in no small part to several surgeries (all successful) and other medical problems in my family. Two years ago I found an ideal way to ease toward retirement: I work like crazy for 3 or 4 days and then enjoy a long weekend, traveling, gardening and chilling out. My wife Karen and I will celebrate our 25th anniversary next year. I was blessed to be able to adopt her daughter Lauren, who never ceases to amaze me--she has gone from struggling to get through high school biology to success as a veterinary technician, not to mention her being the mother of our 6-year-old granddaughter Ariana. Karen and I are still wondering how we ever deserved to become the beloved Oma and Opa of such a delightful little lady! At our age, most of us are starting to tell the story of how we had to walk uphill to school, both ways, in 90-degree weather and 6 feet of snow on the same day. Fortunately, due to my 4 years at St. Benedict's, I can put a fresh and truthful spin on that. Like the rest of you, I started in September 1967. Springfield Avenue was still smoldering from the riots that summer the first day I rode the 72 bus. People in my suburban town must have thought my parents were crazy for sending their 13-year-old son to Newark for an education. To be active in theater, I often had to stay after the last bus had left. In winter, that meant walking a mile up Broad Street, or taking the short cut up Washington Street, along the Rutgers campus in the dark. Believe it or not, no one ever laid a hand on me or took a dime from me, perhaps because they thought that any kid crazy enough to be walking there after dark had to be dangerous. Needless to say, I got more than just an excellent academic education from 4 years at St. Benedict's! Every time we get together or I see pictures of classmates, I'm reminded that life appears to have been good to us. There have been surprisingly few in memoriam e-mails, and we're amazingly well-preserved. May the years continue to be kind to us! Ad multos annos! |
Gerry Egatz
I’m looking forward to seeing some of my classmates at the Reunion. Thanks to Jim Walron, mike Farrell and Bill Halloran for putting it together.
Some bullet points: · Graduated from Rutgers U in 1975 with a double major in Music and Theater Arts. · Was and still am a rock and roll guitar player. Never quite made the 1st choice of outside linebacker for the NY Giants. · Worked for 22 years for Comcast/Suburban Cablevision managing inventory and purchasing. A day job at best for a musician at heart, but it paid the bills and bought the house. · Divorced twice – just needed to confirm that the first one wasn’t a fluke. · I have 3 great kids. Stephanie is 36 working and married, Bridget is soon to be 29 and working in a hospital while she goes for her Master’s degree in Education, and the baby is Alex- 18 and about to start basic training in the US Army as a Combat Engineer. They are my absolute precious jewels! No grandkids yet. · My girlfriend Helen is a public school music teacher. She is an accomplished violinist with a Masters in Music from Rutgers and has performed at Carnegie Hall and now plays rock and roll too. · I’ve had my own original rock act Accent On Travvel and Filthy Rich with Videos on MTV and elsewhere back in the 80s when MTV actually played music videos. Rich Lee actually did a live show review of my band back around 1984 for The Aquarian Music publication. Thanks for the kind words Rich! You’re a sweetheart. · I took the stage name of Gery Hatrix in the 80s and you can find lots of videos on You tube if you type in Gery Hatrix, Accent On Travvel, Filthy Rich, Gravity, Relic (my current band), etc. Yep, still a kid blasting out Marshall guitar licks! · I’ve also been working at HB Communications for the last 15 years or so as Senior Project Manager and now as a Project Estimator. Lots of musicians at this company! Pays the bills. · I got into tennis in the late 70s and have stayed with it ever since. 2 spine surgeries later, I’m slower on the court but can still break a racket with the best of them.
Well, enough said here. See you at the Reunion.
Gery I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now...
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George Young
Pressed the button today. Retiring. Information Technology was not my first love. I put down my horn 35 years ago and made a mercantile choice. Smart. Good. Fun. It worked for everyone. Saw the world. And not done; Music's back. Again. |
Paul Fagan
A recent note from Paul Within a few hours of abandoning plans to attend the HOF dinner turning around and heading back home, I got an email from my daughter that Charles Cawley had passed away. I’m sure you know Mr Cawley from your work over the years with Benedict’s but I met Mr Cawley at our parish church in Camden, Maine, before I knew he was a St Benedicts alum. It wasn’t until I saw Fr Ed at a Mass one day and asked him what brought him to Maine that I learned that. Small world….Anyway over the last 15 or so years I would occasionally see Fr Ed, or go watch the Benedicts soccer team play in a tourney up here. To make a long story short, Fr Ed, Mike Scanlon and 4 or 5 recent grads of the Hive were at Mr Cawleys’ funeral on the Saturday after the HOF dinner. Fr Ed gave a stirring eulogy and Benedicts presence added to the tribute to Charlie and Julie.Thought you might enjoy the story. |
45th Reunion
We have a decent turnout but not as good as we had hoped for. We hope that all will visit this page and watch the videos of what makes St. Benedict's such a special place. Hopefully we can get a better showing in our annual giving. We are always looking to increase our total giving but would really like to see more people give something. We will be posting photos and we look forward to seeing everyone now and in the future. |
Peter Tunison
2016 finds my wife and myself both retired and living in St Paul MN. Turning 60 in 2013 meant mandatory retirement from the US Air Force so after clearing up some medical issues, I headed west to rejoin the family after 8 years in Washington DC. Since then we have traveled around America and spent some time in Europe but now with the passing of all parents and our three children spread around the US and not married or any grandchildren, we have decided on a change. We have gotten rid of most things we own, rented a storage unit and filled it, rented out our house and a few weeks after the reunion we head to Europe for a few years of traveling around while we have our health. One suitcase each plus electronics, the kids can visit us.
pete l 201 438 3480 l Saint Paul, May 10, 2016 |
Jim Waldron
The last 5 years have been pretty eventful for me. Right after our reunion my oldest daughter got married to Matt Daley. Just before the wedding Matt let me know that he had been signed by the Yankees as a relief pitcher, He had spent his previous 6 years with the Colorado Rockies working his way up to his final 3 years with the big club. Shortly after a rehab period he debuted with the Yankees against the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium.. one of my most memorable events as a spectator but not most. That came on September 26, 2013 when Matt relieved Mariano Rivera in his last game at Yankee Stadium. Several years later Matt became a scout for the Yankees and he and my daughter Clare gave me a wonderful grandson Connor James Daley who may just become the next Yankee in the family. I also hit a career milestone by being the longest serving Bankruptcy Clerk in the history of the bankruptcy courts. Of course that just means that I was able to avoid getting fired over a long period of time. Also, I was inducted as a Fellow into the American College of Bankruptcy and completed my 14 year run as the Clerk Advisor to the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules of Court. It will all come to and end when I retire this coming January after 41 years working for the US Government and 32 years as the Clerk of the Court. |
Joe Knipper
First I, too, want to thank the committee for the endless time that they have put in for the upcoming event. Upon leaving the Hive in '71 I spent then next 4 years at Stonehill College in Mass. I graduated with a degree in elementary education and was the senior class president and played all four years varsity soccer. I then had two stints of teaching and working for Sunshine Biscuits. I have three daughters from my first marriage. The oldest, Jaimie, who is an OBGYN in the the Air Force completing her residency at Penn State Medical in Hershey Pa. She was one of 45 students accepted 6 years ago where the Air Force has paid for three years of her education. She also had the first and only grandchild, Carter Joseph, who is now 18 months old. The next, Melissa, graduated from Quinnipiac and teaches in an autistic school in Eatontown. And the youngest, Heather, just graduated from Lafayette and will be attending Seton Hall Law School. Thank god I have written the last college check. Currently I now work for ADT Security as a sales manager in the office in Edison, NJ. For my leisure time I have been a state certified wrestling official for 30 years and have been ranked high enough to have been selected as one of the six officials to officiate the state finals. I also am a state certified high school soccer official for 25 years and have done many state playoff games. I also am the commissioner for a 30 team softball league in Freehold for the past 16 years and still currently play and pitch for two modified softball teams. I have been married for the last nine years to Sharon and live in Freehold. I look forward to seeing many familiar faces next week as it seems incredible it has been 40 years since we left. I still remember the days of walking down to Broad St to catch the bus and the morning bus which was loaded with many St Benedict's kids. Also who can forget Mr. K. In health class, Father Basil making you squat in the aisle for talking, Father John throwing those recorders when you weren't paying attention, Father O'Leary's detention classes standing completely still, and Dick Tapp's English vocabulary quizzes. And the battle of German, French and those Latin classes. I'm sure we all have so many memories. Looking forward to next Saturday. Joe Knipper |
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