PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Kamuf giving goes back to my first day Inaugural 'Green and White' honors a legacy There are many points in history that are marked and celebrated by the “first.” There’s a daily reminder on the corner of my desk that marks my first experience with Owensboro Catholic High School. It’s a little two-inch square plaque with the words “In the Beginning” engraved on the side. Mounted on top is a little classified ad from the Evansville Courier, which represented the culmination of an ad hoc committee formed in 1987 to start the school’s “first” development office. The gift was presented to me in the fall of 2003 by Kevin Kauffeld, who had recently replaced me at the Diocese. He’d found the ad somewhere in the old desk I left, and he gave it to me as a memento. The first people we talked about then, are the same people it reminds me of now: Charlie and Linda Kamuf. Charlie was one of the first people who greeted me my first days in a new position. He was the chair of the board. He negotiated my contract. And Linda hosted a reception that winter to welcome my family into a new community (which she did again in the summer of 2018 when I returned to work for the school system). There were a lot of firsts for the Lilly family that year, and they evolved into a lifetime of friendships and church (and four children who benefitted from a Catholic school education). A few months into my new role at Catholic High it became evident we needed to start an annual appeal. There are a LOT of details that go into creating this type of effort, and there were many friends of the school and alumnus who volunteered to serve. But in order to create the initial capital needed to invest in a computer, database, publications, mailings, postage and incidentals, we created the idea of a Development Association in the spring of 1988. The idea was a dues paying club that needed about 20 members. The idea was first presented one evening at Taylor’s Pub on Parrish Avenue, and the first two people who heard it, Charlie Kamuf and Phil Roberts Sr. signed right up. They were not only the first, but they helped me get a lot of others on board as well. The Phonathon soon followed, and to date has raised over $4.5 million to provide equipment, assist families with economic need and start the Owensboro Catholic High School Endowment. The Phonathon is everyone’s opportunity to say “thank you” to all of the people who sacrificed and shared their gifts and abilities to make the education more affordable for all. There are literally thousands of people and significant events in the history of Catholic High that we need to celebrate. This publication will eventually get to all of them. There are teachers, volunteers and administrators who carry the torch for a while, and then pass it on and hope others run with it. There are so many families depending on the torch bearers to succeed. In this first Green and White, we thank one of my first encounters in this community, the Kamuf family, who have carried the torch a long time. Linda was actively engaged in school volunteer activities throughout her own three children’s Catholic school lives, and Charlie served on boards and committees while also establishing a long, distinguished law career (which he now enjoys with his son, Charlie Jr.). I wasn’t a “first” in the history of Owensboro Catholic, but the first people I met are the same ones I’m reminded of each day by that little plaque on the corner of my desk. They were some of my first impressions of hospitality and generosity. The Kamuf’s recent purchase of property for Catholic High is a statement about the future. There are plans for growth, expansion and campus improvements. It is an act to inspire others to generosity. It is a statement of appreciation for the sacrifices that others make to provide an outstanding Catholic education. It is the first major step in campus expansion since the original property was acquired in 1948, and we know others will pick up the torch to make sure it’s not the last!
Tom Lilly President of OCS
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THE GREEN AND WHITE n SUMMER 2020
