The address of the St. Mary's of Wayne Alumni Association (SMWAA), is:
SMWAA
c/o Steve Schwartz
38348 Carolton Blvd.
Westland MI 48185-8700
Contact Steve if you would like to receive the annual newsletter.
12th Annual SMWAA All-Classes Reunion
Friday, September 23, 2005
St. Mary Parish Activity Center
Sims Street, Wayne, MI
7:00 pm to 11:45 pm
St. Mary’s of Wayne Alumni Newsletter Summer 2005
PRESIDENT’S
MESSAGE
by
Steve Schwartz, ‘68
Your Alumni Association is embarking on its 12th
year. It hardly
seems that long ago when my wife Donna and I approached the school office about
borrowing the graduating class pictures that hung on the walls in the second
floor hallway. Those pictures with the names of the graduates became the basis
for our first alumni membership list back in 1994. Thanks to the many hours
Donna spent in those early days doing telephone research, contacting class officers and reunion organizers, that list of
names expanded to include contact information and become our first mailing list.
From there, we relied on those members we could contact to provide more
contacts. Those efforts have continued to this day bringing our current
membership newsletter mailing list to 1187 addresses.
But the work is not done. We are a mobile
society so we need to keep up with all the
relocations that occur. We have 455 alumni members for whom we have never had or
no longer have a valid mailing address. That’s too many to list in the
newsletter but each edition we do list those from the classes being honored at
the next reunion. This year you will find those “missing”
alumni from the classes of 1960 and 1970. Any information you can provide to
help us locate these people would be appreciated.
Speaking of relocating, please note that the
Alumni Association address has changed. Donna and I moved back from the
downriver area and now live in Westland only a hop, skip and a jump from our two
grandkids.
Along
the way of gathering alumni contact information, we have learned of 190 alumni
and staff who have died. To the families and friends of those deceased alumni,
we extended our sympathies including the Nolan, Gayner, Deaunee, Nowicki,
Oldenburg, Dani, Russell, McHale, Maher, Antczak, and Fisher families who lost
family members whom we learned about in the past year. Our sympathies and
prayers also go out to Kathleen Shanahan Lawver ‘52, whose husband of over 52
years, Jerry, passed away 4 days after last year’s reunion. And to Mr. And
Mrs. John Simonds ‘52, whose daughter also passed away late last year.
Occasionally we receive a suggestion or request
that I would like to address here in the newsletter. First, for those of you who
have who have asked if we could identify, the people in the pictures taken at
the previous year’s reunion to help you know who’s who, you will be happy to
see that we attempted to list the names of every single person who posed for a
group photo for Hugh Hartsell, our very dedicated photographer. We hope that we
did note make any mistakes but we did spend many hours cross-referencing the
sign-in books and yearbook pictures with the class pictures Hugh took last
September. Please let us know if we erred on the names in any way. Second, for a
couple of’ out of towners who wrote us about having the All-Class Reunion on a
Saturday rather than a Friday night to facilitate traveling, I can only say that
we did try that about 6 or 7 years ago. After a few years of a generally slow
but steady growth in attendance on Fridays, we did switch to Saturday based on
the limited number of responses we received to a membership-wide poll we sent
out through the newsletter. Our attendance that year plummeted to just over 50%
of what it was our leanest year previously, so we reverted back to Friday night
the next year. Our attendance jumped back up to previous levels and since then,
especially over the past 4 years, has resumed its slow, steady increase. Last
year 154 people attended the reunion and for the first time in 11 years, there
was at least one representative from every single one of the graduating classes
1951 1 through 1971 plus members from the classes of 1972 and 1973 as well. The
board did discuss the question but unanimously concluded that we needed to b
stick with Friday night.
Before
closing, I would like offer my congratulations to the three alumni who were
selected for the Outstanding Alumni Awards presented last fall. I thank those
people who nominated their sibling, spouse or classmate. I encourage everyone to
read about these individuals and to think about some alumni member they know who
is deserving of similar recognition. Nomination details are contained within
this newsletter.
And
another big thanks to all those who helped with last year’s reunion, our best
ever by the assessment of some, and to the 100+ people who donated money to
subsidize our annual event and this newsletter, and whose generosity allowed the
Association to contribute, again in the name of all St. Mary alumni, $1000 to
the parish’s building debt reduction program, and also this year, $500 toward
a replacement for the life-size nativity screen displayed in the city during the
Christmas season, a community-wide project spearheaded by Father Baker and St.
Mary’s.
And finally, if you have any school days pictures that you can share with us for possible use in future newsletters, please contact me. We have exhausted nearly all of the usable photos in the association archives and will need your help to be able to continue the Memories section in the newsletter.
Pictures from the All Class Reunion on 9/12/2003:
Pictures from the All Class Reunion on 9/12/2001:
Class of '59 web site.