THE SCRATCH SHEET
(REVIVED) Vol. 2,
In
this issue:
A. Plans for the 45th
reunion.
B. More “Mighty Masters” found.
C. “Till our hearts be still”:
a. Ed Coccagna
b. Bob Himmelrich
c. Judd Johnson
d. Dave Paulson
e. Jim Ritchie
D.
Contributing to the Hum
Rocco D’Amico: 301-229-0834 email Roccodamico1@aol.com
Ed DiRomaldo 215-365-5965 pomodon@comcast.net
Dennis Gries 941-927-3757; email dgries@comcast.net
John Kane 215-343-5769 EMAIL JJK91642@AOL.COM
Ron Saracini 352-237-9690 r.saracini@att.net
A. Plans for the 45th
GC60 45th
LOCATION:
1160
610-337-2000
ROOMS/RATE: 20 Rooms have been blocked under Girard
College Class of 1960
$109.00 + tax per room
DATES: Rooms blocked for following dates:
Same rate will apply if you need rooms for Thursday or Sunday
nights. I did not blocked any rooms for those nights but there
should be some available. The earlier you call and make your
reservations, the better it will be.
ITINERARY:
Mountain.
have
the affair catered .
Founder’s Day at the Hum
Meet on campus (anyone who may need a ride, we can coordinate at
Adam’s house the night
before). Chapel service is at
12PM
Alumni Box Lunch in the Armory
We will be setting up with the Valley Forge Visitors Bureau a tour of
wish to go to the Hum.) If anyone would like to take the tour they need to let John Kane know. Also, there is complimentary service to the King of Prussia Mall from the Radisson Hotel.
3 PM Hospitality Suite at the Radisson.
We will have a suite at the hotel, which will
open at
6:30PM Dinner/Show:
$44.00/person includes tax and gratuity.
Lily Langtry’s Victorian Restaurant and Showplace at the Radisson.
900AM – Meet for Breakfast prior to departing for home.
Logistics for the Weekend
Rather than
charge individually for the catering at Adam’s house, and the cost of the
hospitality room we hope to cover those costs through individual
donations. The reunion steering
committee has contributed $500. If you
are able to contribute please let John Kane know. Any excess will be placed in the Class of 60
fund. For those attending the dinner
show, John has to know the count of who will be attending no later than May 13th
and the payment by May 16th to Lily Langtry’s. Please forward payment to him at
Dress for the
weekend: casual for all events. If you’re a suit and tie guy, feel free, but
casual is fine for all functions.
FINALLY IT IS
CRITICAL THAT YOU INFORM JOHN KANE IMMEDIATELY IF YOU PLAN TO: 1) COME TO ADAM
DEVENEY’S, 2) WILL VISIT THE HOSPITALITY ROOM ON SATURDAY PM, AND/OR 3) COME TO DINNER ON SATURDAY
EVENING. ALSO PLEASE SEND THE COST OF
DINNER, AND ANY DONATION YOU CAN MAKE TOWARD THE PARTY AT ADAM’S, AND THE
HOSPITALITY SUITE ASAP.
Final details on the
B. More “Mighty Masters” Found
Dennis Gries, “the genius of genealogy” has been
pounding the internet, and calling all over the country, with help from Ron
Saracini. Here is his latest
report.
This is a report of a quest to locate the several classmates not present on a recent GCAA alumni membership list.
After accounting for the one death, and the three
“associates” on the list, we have 63 members at about
As I started this project again, I knew of 15 deceased, which is three more than my last report in Oct 2000. Two were noted at length in the email chains of our class: Ed Coccagna and Bob Himmelrich, both in 2004; and I quickly located the death of Manny Sheitelman in Dec 2000 (only shortly after I visited him at the VA hospital in Coatesville).
This left 24 members to be brought up to date as I really got into research. Since John Gearhart had become actively known, and provided a new address, we then had 23 remaining. The searching and calling, etc. has located and contacted all but 9. The located and contacted ones are bolded (maybe I should get part credit for Ed Shockowitz).
I need to add that the search found one more deceased classmate, and another who was on the GCAA list has been reported as deceased, for a total of 17. A supplemental schedule has them in some detail. For completeness, perhaps we should have a “In Memoriam” list that would have the full dates, and a bit of other information.
At a point, I was spending too much time searching, and bothering too many people who were not correct, so I spent $20 on Intelius access for 24 hours. That was critical in giving me solid leads and eventual contacts with almost a dozen classmates.
So far only Bob Franco and Ken Werley have asked not to be contacted in the future. All others have given oral permission to release the non-public information. As we get closer to 2010 (thinking positively), perhaps contact can be attempted, if only by mail, to see if a change in heart is possible.
Please note that there are no thumbnails for the following:
Pretty well located but still need a personal
conversation: Chachkin (North Jersey),
Ross (
1. Joseph Charles (Joe) Baji is at
2. Donald Albert (Don) Beck had listed himself on Classmates.com but
has not been responsive to emails
from Rocco D. (we must remember that this is a database with email addresses
valid at the time of entry, and if the email address changes, the message will
not go through and there will be no reponse).
I finally located him at 3458
Don married first a long time ago, and has a 30 year old son, and a second marriage about 15 years ago. He has been in touch with Joe Baji, and will be sending me Joe’s email shortly.
3. Victor
John (Hector) Carlson. Spoke to
Victor on Feb 9. He was an engineer with
the Navy until retirement a short while ago, and has recently married for the
third time. Three children from his live
apart. His address is
5. Robert David (Franks) Franco – I spoke to a neighbor, on Feb 16, and she confirmed that the Francos lived next door, and agreed to pass my message and phone number to them. Bob called me on Mar 7th. He is fine, married since 1989 to his present wife, gives his best to his Girard Classmates, esp. Cohrs, Culver, and I forget who else, and is saddened by the loss of the several classmates to date. However, he does not want his address, etc. shared (I do not have caller ID), and says that he knows where to call, i.e. the GCAA or me if he wishes contact in the future.
6. Leland Charles (Lee) Giannini – a real security specialist – noted criminal investigator (FBI), and Certified Protection Professional. There is one special commendation about him found by using Google, and his professional affiliation.
Spoke to him at work on
I failed to get his home phone number.
7. Richard Lee (Dick) Hemmerle – found him easily and spoke to him on
Nov 6. He’s just a short hop up US 41
from me at
8. Paul Stephen (Paul) Jayne – was last on the GCAA list not that many years ago.
Found him at
9.
Michael
Frank (Mike) Lane. Located at
Hey!
Peace and goodwill to all you guys!
"By the stars, what means this,
that honored and loved friends of past well gone
who traveled with me as treasured ghosts
should once again take on solid form and happily
advance the weary day into rich and hearty night?"
God bless.
10. Michael Francis (Mike)
11. Edward Yarnell (Ed) Miller went to UofP, and then earned a PhD from
Harvard. I found him (by using search
engines) at
12. Stansbury Charles (Stan) Minemier is better known as Stan. From what I see from Google, he is involved with the American Culinary Federation as a member, and has organized and volunteered in fund raisers to stop hunger, and apparently spends time on the golf course. I tracked him down on Nov 9, and he called back, said he was the one, and said he would call later, which he did and we chatted for awhile.
Stan lives at
13. Carl
Robert (Carl) Sehl was located in Phila
at phone 215-924-9662 on Feb 10.
Carl is at
14. {{Edward Paul (Shock) Shockowitz}}. I called brother Bernie of a later
class. Ed lived in CA, where his mom
died, and married Irene Stronge many years ago. I spoke to Irene very briefly
and the divorce was some 30 years ago (c. 1974). There was a child from Irene’s previous
marriage: Christopher - stepson (now about 38 – but apparently formally
adopted); and a child by their marriage:
Susan I. Shockowitz (born Feb 27, 1973 in Santa Clara Co, who was in the
Folsom (CA) High class of 1992.
Susan/Susie married ---- Ricci.
The Folsom HS class historian has passed my email on to Susan, but there
has been no response. They live in
.
15. Robert James (Bob) Siren --
Found a family tree through Google, which had a link to one of his sons. The tree indicated a death of that Robert
Siren, and I confirmed through the Social Security Death Index that an RJ Siren
that died in 1994 had the same birthdate as our classmate. I sent an email to Chris Siren on Nov 4, and
he responded with a very interesting and somewhat sad history the next day –
confirming that indeed his dad was our classmate, and later with the exact date
of death and place –
16. Robert Lloyd (Turrs) Turring has been in the LA area for many
years. From what I see on Google, he
is the main contact for Technical Illustration Services at Caltech in
Spoke to him on
He very much plans to be at whatever 50th anniversary celebration, and planned to contact Girard at the appropriate time about it.
17. {{Kenneth Osville (Ken) Werley}} has been on and off the GCAA list, and was fairly easy to locate at RR 1 – Andreas PA 18211. Phone is 570-386-3624. Andreas is in Schuylkill Co, a few miles above where the corner is with Carbon and Lehigh Co.
Dennis Gries left a message on Feb 9, and Ron Saracini spoke to Mrs. Werley on Feb 14 and was told that there was no interest in Girard and for us not to contact him. We should try to track him in the future, at the same time respecting his wishes.
C. “Till Our Hearts Be Still”
Following are some obituaries on our classmates who
have passed away. Dennis will be
attempting to find newspaper announcements on others for future issues. If you are in a position to put together one
on any of our deceased classmates, please let us know. At the end of this Scratch Sheet is Dennis’
best list of those who have gone on.
ED COCCAGNA
Our class president
passed away early in April, 2003 from a massive stroke at the young age of 61,
while caring for his mother Dorothy in
When he used to show
up on Founder’s Day, late as usual, his greeting to his classmates was
always: “I love you, guys.” Obviously, the feeling was mutual. While living in
Rocco
D’Amico & Sylvia Coccagan
ROBERT E. HIMMELRICH
Bob was a true Hummer
from the day he entered Girard College in the first grade until the day he
passed on October 1, 2004. At the Hum
Bob was involved in all sports, the glee club, the battalion, and he was a good
student. Bob matured faster than most of
us and had a beard before we knew what shaving was all about.
Bob, known as “Huck,”
enjoyed his classmates, teachers, governesses, and housemasters. On his many trips back to Girard he loved to
reminisce and often became quite emotional when talking about his 11 year
tenure. No doubt Girard made a
difference in his life as it did for so many.
Bob attended the
He was a competitor
at the Hum and a competitor throughout his life. Huck was an avid and excellent golfer who
enjoyed singing. He had a wonderful
natural voice and sang Karaoke in
Bob is survived by
his wife, Virginia, who attended a military ball at Girard just before
graduation. Their two sons are Bobby, an
electrical engineer, and David, a recent college graduate. Bob has one granddaughter, Mollie Cannon, but
sadly never saw his grandson, Robert Holt, who was born earlier this year.
Bob loved Girard, was
happy to talk about being a Girardian, and sentimentally enjoyed his visits to
the campus. He was the ultimate “kidder” and cherished quality time spent with
his classmates. The Class of 1960 is
very proud that one of its members,
Robert“Huck”Himmelrich, was inducted into the Girard College Soccer Hall
of Fame.
Bob was a good and
dear friend who will be missed by me and his classmates.
Myron “Toby” Caplan
JUDD JOHNSON
Judd was a late
arrival in the Hum, probably fourth grade.
He came from
He was Dr Haskell’s
“best friend”, which paid off in a scholarship at the
He then assumed a
position with Ford in
“Dear Dennis:
Your words of sympathy
meant so much to me. Thank you for taking the time to write.
Judd and I were
married only 14 months. I find life unbearable at times without
him. Buy I try to find comfort in knowing he is finally at rest.
The Vietnam War took its toll, including my beloved husband.
Judd was very
dedicated to Girard – and I shared what I could with him at the last Founder’s
Day and the Christmas Concert of 1978.
Again, thank you for your kind thoughts.
Sincerely, Mary Johnson”
Sorry we can’t provide more detail. Judd was a driven man, and we assume that when his plans failed, he decided it was not worth it.
Rocco D’Amico
DAVE PAULSON
After graduating from the Hum, Dave worked
at his stepfather’s gas station in Drexel Hill, Pa. and continued to live at
home in Phila.
His mom and step dad had a summer home on
the Eastern shore of
With a subsequent move to Gales Town,
He and Nancy then moved back to
Ron Saracini
JIM RITCHIE
JAMES F. RITCHIE
Jim Ritchie, class of 1960, passed away on
After serving in
He was an adventurer at heart, ever
planning his next dig, next trip, next move.
Throughout his life, he periodically went on archeological digs, mainly
in the
` He and his wife, Karen, had three
children, and five grandchildren at the time of his death. After a string of four boys, we were
anxiously anticipating the upcoming births of two grand daughters. Isabel was born in December and named after
Hurricane Isabel, which kindly visited
Lovingly
written by Karen Ritchie for the April 2005 Girard newsletter
D. DONATIONS TO THE HUM
There
are three main ways that you can contribute to the Hum. We believe all of these contributions are tax
deductible. But you should be sure by
checking with the recipient and your tax advisor before committing yourself
1. The
This fund is controlled by the administration of the
Hum. Funds go into the general administration account of
the Hum. Pete Shoemaker and John
Sosinski have been major contributors in the last few years. We may be missing others, our apologies but
it is a long list. Phone # if you want
to contribute: 215-787-4442.
2. The
The Alumni Association has a number of targeted
programs which pay for multiple activities:
Senior Class trip, Good Citizenship Awards, Senior Commencement Dinner,
Scouting , Christmas presents for needy students etc. etc. For info on contributing call Charles Kalata,
Director of Alumni Relations: 215-232-8882.
3. The Class of 60 50th
year fund.
Traditionally each class provides a gift to the Hum
on their 50th year anniversary.
A number of our classmates have expressed the sentiment that since we
were the largest class to have ever graduated that we should have the largest
gift. We think the largest gift
up-till-now has been in the $30,000 range, but the class of ’59 is already
reaching that level. These numbers pale
relative to some contributions recently received. For example, Michael Franco, ’29, recently
gave $500,000 for scholarships.
Nevertheless we may want to set a benchmark for future classes, most of
which are much smaller than we were. At
the current time our contributions are $4377.45. One advantage of this contribution is that we
get to designate the use of the money.
If you can contribute you should send a check to “Class of 60, 50th
year fund” to the Alumni Office. That’s
Girard College Alumni Association,