{"id":4705,"date":"2021-04-28T14:24:31","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T21:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/class69reunion-1203976.netsolhost.com\/?page_id=4705"},"modified":"2021-06-21T16:05:48","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T23:05:48","slug":"30-mass","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.class69reunion.org\/?page_id=4705","title":{"rendered":"Reunion Mass"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first joint activity scheduled for the reunion weekend was a Mass for classmates, family, and friends, celebrated by Father Richard Perl, S. J.<\/strong> at Fordyce Chapel on St. John’s College campus on Saturday at 5:00 PM.<\/P><\/p>\n

Attending<\/h2>\n

Francisca<\/strong> Pook, n\u00e9e Sutherland; Iola<\/strong> Ellis, n\u00e9e Nicholas; Josephine<\/strong> Fraser, n\u00e9e Vel\u00e1squez; Judith<\/strong> Bodden, n\u00e9e Usher; Linda<\/strong> McCarthy-Remkes; Manuela<\/strong> Scott, n\u00e9e Hern\u00e1ndez; Olga<\/strong> Barber, n\u00e9e McFadzen; Ruth<\/strong> Garbutt-Tillett; Shirley<\/strong> Card, n\u00e9e Waller; Therese<\/strong> Casey, n\u00e9e Engelton; Victoria<\/strong> Codd, n\u00e9e Day; Vincent<\/strong> Neal, n\u00e9e Gill<\/p>\n

Our special guest was Derick Gongora’s sister and SCA graduate Linda L<\/strong>ewis.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ann<\/strong> Wiltshire, n\u00e9e Alpuche; Antonieta<\/strong> Cardona Mart\u00ednez; Carli<\/strong> Scott; Christine<\/strong> Heusner Robinson; Eloisa<\/strong> Bradley; Ester<\/strong> Heusner, n\u00e9e Hern\u00e1ndez; Gloria<\/strong> Saldano, n\u00e9e Atkins; Ina<\/strong> Retreage, n\u00e9e Boyd; Ivy<\/strong> Leslie-Blease; Jennifer<\/strong> Neal, n\u00e9e Brown; Joyce<\/strong> Perdomo, n\u00e9e Gough; Ligia<\/strong> Alpuche, n\u00e9e G\u00f3mez; Lydia<\/strong> Balderamos Loskot; Mar\u00eda<\/strong> Scott, n\u00e9e Villanueva; Minerva<\/strong> Gordillo de Maldonado; Rita<\/strong> Stuart, n\u00e9e Young; Rosilia<\/strong> Ord\u00f3\u00f1ez, n\u00e9e Vega; Ruby<\/strong> V\u00e1squez; Veronica<\/strong> Jones, n\u00e9e Usher<\/p>\n

Adrian<\/strong> Roe, David<\/strong> Alamina, Derick<\/strong> Gongora, Francisco<\/strong> Allen, Gary<\/strong> Gonz\u00e1lez, Gowayne<\/strong> Bradley, Gustavo<\/strong> Dubois, Hugo<\/strong> V\u00e1squez, Jos\u00e9<\/strong> Perera, Juventino<\/strong> (Jay) Cruz, Louis<\/strong> Robateau, Marsden<\/strong> Skeen, Roger (Rogie<\/strong>) Rodr\u00edguez, Roy<\/strong> Young, Stan<\/strong> Mart\u00ednez, Vicente<\/strong> Vernon, Wayne<\/strong> Espat<\/p>\n

Our special guest was former SJC teacher Rafael Reyes<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Renewing Acquaintances<\/h2>\n

By 5:00 PM, the doors to the chapel were still closed, so the reunion crowd gathered outside. This gave us time to exchange greetings and hugs with friends of old and to meet the husbands, wives, brothers, sister, sons, daughters, and friends who had accompanied them.<\/p>\n

\"[mass]\"<\/a>
Rita (right) meets Gowayne (left) as Ina (center) looks on<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The reason for combining the reunions from three schools is that most of us have good friends who attended the two other schools. As more people collected, we saw classmates from high school and elementary school as well as friends, neighbors, and playmates from our childhood.<\/p>\n

Although the afternoon was hot and still and the mosquitoes were out in force, the gathering was lively. In response to the sights of flashing cameras and the sounds of laughter and exclamations of surprised recognition, heads turned constantly, as we tried to capture the entire event.<\/P><\/p>\n

Assembling<\/h2>\n

When the chapel doors opened, the group gradually moved inside to find the chapel beautifully decorated with several arrangements of white and yellow flowers. As people continued to file in, Father Perl made a point of going around between the pews and introducing himself to as many of us as he could. Someone brought out missals to pass around. Some of the SJC alumni scurried around looking for fans. Although their search was successful, it was in vain because the power was off at the nearby outlets.<\/P><\/p>\n

Mass<\/h2>\n

The Mass was an opportunity for more serious reflection about our reunion. It was a time for us to be thankful that we were able to attend the reunion; a time to be thankful that we have the strong and long-lived friendships that made us want to attend; a time to remember classmates who were unable to attend because of health or financial difficulties, family emergencies, prior commitments, or family or business obligations; a time to remember classmates whose addresses we haven’t found and who might have attended the reunion had they known about it.<\/P>
\n

\"[mass]\"<\/a>
Father Perl celebrates the reunion Mass<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

Father Perl introduced himself to the group. He had come to SJC as a scholastic in 1970, after we had graduated. He told us that, because he is roughly our contemporary, he could relate to our enthusiasm for getting together with friends from 30 years ago. Father Perl chose themes for the Mass that were particularly fitting for our reunion: friendship, working together, and helping our fellow human beings.<\/p>\n

Father Perl made everyone feel included, asking for a show of hands from the Class of ’69 of each of the three schools in turn; then for families of the classmates; then for those who has traveled from the US, from Mexico, and from various other countries.<\/P><\/p>\n

\"[mass]\"<\/a>
Father Perl asks members of each group to identify themselves with a show of hands<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A representative of each school played an active roll in the Mass; readings were given by Rita of SCA, Vincent of PHS, and Vincente of SJC. Antonieta led the singing of several old hymns, familiar from our high school days. (Good thing, too, because there were not enough missals to go around and some had to rely on memory for the words to the hymns.)<\/P><\/p>\n

Parting<\/h2>\n

After the Mass, classmates and friends milled about, greeting those they had not seen before. Some stayed in the chapel to talk to friends, some moved outside to talk. Members of the SJC Class of ’69 gathered inside for a group photo.<\/p>\n

\"[mass]\"<\/a>
Attendees from SJC Class of ’69
Front row: Gowayne, Hugo, Derick, Marsden, Francisco, Roy, José, Mr. Reyes
Middle row: Vicente, Stan, Louis, Gary, David
Back row: Adrian, Rogie, Gustavo, Juventino, Wayne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first joint activity scheduled for the reunion weekend was a Mass for classmates, family, and friends, celebrated by Father Richard Perl, S. J. at Fordyce Chapel on St. John’s College campus on Saturday at 5:00 PM. Attending Francisca Pook, n\u00e9e Sutherland; Iola Ellis, n\u00e9e Nicholas; Josephine Fraser, n\u00e9e Vel\u00e1squez; Judith Bodden, n\u00e9e Usher; Linda … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Reunion Mass”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4890,"menu_order":30240,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/description.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4705","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.class69reunion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.class69reunion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.class69reunion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.class69reunion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.class69reunion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.class69reunion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4705\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.class69reunion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.class69reunion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}