Greater Cincinnati’s Jesuit High School
Spring 2010
ORGAN DONATION Serving as a Man for Others
ALSO: A Grand Reunion PART 2: St. Xavier celebrates 50 years at North Bend
WHAT WE ARE WHAT WE WERE WHAT WE STRIVE TO BE
A M D G
ANCIENT EGYPTIANS believed they would be asked two questions when they died; the answers would decide how their journey in the afterlife would proceed. The first question was, “Did you bring joy?” The second was, “Did you find joy?” In the case of my recently departed grandfather, I feel confident answering those two elemental questions easily and in the affirmative. For 93 years Grandpa brought joy to occasions great and small. None of the significant days of my life went without him—birthdays, holidays, First Communion, graduations, plays, sporting events, confirmation, hospital stays, moving days. Grandpa was always there, proud, encouraging, loving, leading by example. Not by accident was he born on All Saints Day. Did Granpa find joy? Unequivocally yes. He grew up a farm boy in the Congregationalist Church, but obtained an Ignatian view, finding God and finding joy all over the world, in all creation. He wore out three camper vans traipsing the United States after he retired from a 42-year career at P&G. He found joy in the waters and beaches and sunsets of the Florida Keys, in the big sky of Montana, in the fall foliage of his native Massachusetts, the Iowa cornfield, the Wisconsin bluffs and dells. He found it at Blarney Castle, in the canals of Venice and while riding a camel in Morocco. For all his wanderlust and interest in the people of the world, Grandpa found his truest joy close to home. He found it in nearly 70 years of married life with his one true love, my grandma. He was a living example of the marriage vow, a sacramental life of love, honor, and respect, of trust, friendship and service. He found his joy in his four children—my mom, aunt and two uncles. He found joy with his six grandchildren. And he found joy in a fourth generation of his family with his seven greatgrandchildren. He found joy in hearing us
FOR THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD
tell about our days and our friends, making them part of his life, too. He found joy in the simple, everyday successes of his family and friends. Grandpa believed in common sense, personal responsibility and hard work. He believed in family first. He believed in a God who gave us His Amazing Grace. I think it’s safe to say Grandpa found joy imparting those increasingly rare values. I am who I am and do what I do in large part because of Grandpa, who was a master story teller. At the core, so am I (minus the master part, I fear). I enjoy nothing so much as talking with people, hearing their stories, asking them questions, sharing their answers. That I ply my trade at St. Xavier High School is one of the great gifts of my life. Incoming freshmen repeatedly are told they are gift and story. Over their four years here they share and explore their stories, examine who they are, contemplate who they will become. We hope—among other things— their gifts will include a desire to live simply, humbly, faithfully. We hope they will be men for and with others. Christ, of course, provided us the ultimate example of how to live. St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier gave examples how to follow Christ. I was gifted with another example how to be a man for others in my grandpa. Scripture says in Proverbs “Good men must die, but death can not kill their names.” George Hawthorne’s name does not die with him. I’m proud to carry Grandpa’s memory, his stories and his life wherever I go. I feel honor-bound to share them, to take the example of his life and spread it around. To bring and to find joy in what is genuinely valuable—namely one another. I love you, Grandpa, and miss you.
MARK D. MOTZ, ’87 EDITOR MMotz@stxavier.org
CONTENTS spring 2010
VOL. XXXVIII, NO. 2, SPRING 2010
COVER FEATURE
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“He who has God lacks nothing, though he has naught else.”
EDITOR Mark D. Motz, ‘87
—St. Ignatius Loyola
ART DIRECTOR/DESIGNER June Pfaff Daley
cover story Strength of Will Donating Kidney Helps Grad Serve as Man for Others by Mark D. Motz, ’87
CONTRIBUTORS Rev. Dennis P. Ahern S.J., ’56 Cheryl L. Asper Sylvia M. Betz Richard P. Klus Heidi B. Eveleigh John Schrantz ’96 Mark D. Motz, ’87 Ralph A. Nardini, ’77 Michael A. Sadouskas, ’74 Anthony E. Schad, ’81 Jynefir D. Slusher Catherine Smith ADMINISTRATION Rev. Timothy A. Howe S.J., President Mr. David B. Mueller, ’72 Principal Rev. Ed L. Pigott, S.J. ’55, Rector
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features Strength of Will, page 14.
The Best of Both Worlds St. Xavier Celebrates 50 Years
BOARD OF TRUSTEES Mr. David J. Cassady, ’75 Mr. Robert J. Davis, ’84 Rev. Joseph D. Folzenlogen S.J., ’58 Rev. Michael J. Graham S.J. Mr. Richard A. Haglage, ’73 Mr. Steven L. Hils, ’71 Dr. J. Richard Hirté Rev. Timothy A. Howe S.J., Ex Officio Mr. Michael K. Keating, ’73, Board Chair Mr. Lawrence A. Leser, ’53 Rev. Patrick E. McGrath S.J. Mr. Michael S. McGraw, ’73 Dr. Gerri S. Mosley-Howard Rev. Edward L. Pigott S.J., ’55, Ex Officio Mr. Timothy J. Reilly, ’76 Mrs. Patricia P. Robertson Mrs. Bettina H. Ross Mr. Timothy J. Schroeder, ’75 Mr. Andrew E. Sweeny Jr., ’68
by Mark D. Motz, ’87
departments
Grand Reunion Builds on Initial Success
2 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 3 WE ARE ST. X 9 PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE 20 ALUMNI X-CERPTS 23 DONOR Q & A 24 X-PEDITIONS 29 CALENDAR
Grand Reunion, page 18.
PRINTING Joseph Berning Printing Company St. Xavier Magazine is published three times a year by the alumni, development and public relations offices. St. Xavier High School 600 W. North Bend Rd. Cincinnati, OH 45224-1499 Phone (513) 761-7815 ext. 121 (513) 761-7600 ext. 121 Fax (513) 761-2586 http://www.stxavier.org e-mail mmotz@stxavier.org Alumni Hot Line 1-800-572-5340 ext. 114 Direct all Letters to the Editor, address changes, or other correspondence to the above address.
Postmaster: Send address corrections to: St. Xavier Magazine, 600 W. North Bend Road, Cincinnati, OH45224-1499.
PRESIDENT’S
they choose a Jesuit education for their sons. And I’m grateful that we have so many people willing to make that financial sacrifice to offer their sons a gift the TV commercial would call “priceless.” So many other good friends sacrifice too, to give this priceless gift to families who couldn't do it without their support. The immense generosity of our current parents, alumni and friends helps us ensure that every young man who is academically qualified to come to St. X has that opportunity. Our challenge is to demonstrate to all of our benefactors that the sacrifice they make is worth their while. We must continue to be good stewards of their alms and continue to maintain our long-standing place as a community of faith, of learning, and of service. Moreover, we believe that from the sacrifice of Jesus issued resurrection: new and more abundant life for him and for us, his followers. Our adult faith team provides books of daily scripture and reflection for Lent, as well as offering adapted versions of the Spiritual Exercises for the faculty and staff. Our students, in particular, have used the gift of alms to assist those in need around the world. Recent natural disasters led them to purchase X-Tend a Hand to Haiti t-shirts, to convert the ongoing Donuts for Darfur campaign into Pastries for Peru, and to direct weekly mission collections to places most in
MESSAGE
BY T I M OT H Y A . H OW E , S . J .
T
he central tenet of our faith is the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his Passion and death. As we delve into Lent—a season of preparation we began with an all-school prayer service on Ash Wednesday—we use the familiar traditions of fasting, prayer and almsgiving to prepare our bodies and souls for the rising of Christ triumphant from the tomb, the Savior delivering us from the grip of sin and death. Certainly Lent is a time of sacrifice. The evangelists chronicle Jesus’ 40 days in the desert before beginning his public ministry. They describe how the devil appeared, tempting Him with offers of food, power and dominion. Jesus rejected the offers and—as Luke 4:13 says—“when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed him for a time.” When we sacrifice meat on Fridays, when we give up soda or chocolate, we sweep out of our lives what is of secondary importance in order to focus on what really matters. For most of our families, sending their sons to St. Xavier is a sacrifice. With good public school options available,
“When we sacrifice meat on Fridays, when we give up soda or chocolate, we sweep out of our lives what is of secondary importance in order to focus on what really matters.” 2
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need of relief. Practicing the Jesuit notion of contemplative in action, a busload of students from St. X and other local Catholic schools went to Washington D.C. in January to participate in the annual March For Life, just as other students are preparing for upcoming prayer vigils outside prison walls. Even closer to home, events like the Canned Food Drive and several clothing drives this winter have provided food and warmth for hundreds of families in need. By donating and by acting, these young men and their teachers engage their local, national and global communities. They struggle every day to bring new life out of death as they work toward the ideals of the Graduate of Graduation, living with a commitment to doing justice. I’m proud to be part of such a giving community. In addition to preparing for Easter, this Lent I’m preparing to work side by side with students giving of themselves on our Peru mission trip this summer. I invite you to join us on our mission, if you are able, and help fund a student’s life-altering experience.
We Are...St . X
NEWS AND NOTES AROUND THE ST. XAVIER CAMPUS
The Fifth Sun Shines Light on Justice IN LIVE THEATER anything can happen. When Theatre Xavier performed The Fifth Sun 20 years ago, a sound cue of helicopters and machine guns failed as actors silently convulsed and began squirting blood for no apparent reason. Legend has it director Michele Mascari—in remarkably calm fashion— went to the control booth and said, “It is imperative that we have gunfire,” and walked back to her seat. No such troubles for Ms. Mascari or the sound crew during the November run of The Fifth Sun 2009. Senior Tommy Boeing played Archbishop Oscar Romero— a Nobel Peace Prize nominee —who was murdered by El Salvadoran government death
squads in 1980. Mayan and Catholic culture meet in The Fifth Sun. He became a threat because he stood up for the poor of his country in the face of U.S. and Soviet military aid funneled to his country in the midst of the Cold War. The story weaves Romero’s words and actions—his dealing with staffers, Church superiors and El Salvadoran military something as difficult and as officials—with Mayan cremeaningful as this show. ation myth and tomb ritual. “It’s quite striking. To “Despite the serious see these four magnificent nature of this show, we’ve Mayan gods encircle Romero laughed a lot,” Ms. Mascari and push him toward his said. “That’s one of the destiny as the fifth sun, the things I love about this comone who gives the world munity; we enjoy one anothlight, is heartbreakingly er’s company and have fun beautiful. The message of the with one another, play is clear and it’s right in even when doing
line with what we profess at St. X. Have a deep conviction in your faith, stand up for your beliefs, actively help the poor who cannot help themselves. It’s what we’re called to do in whatever way we can. Romero and the Jesuits were and are heroes to the poor, and they are examples to us.”
CAN-STRUCTION Signals Start of CFD MATH AND SCULPTURE intertwine— (22x16) + (2x32) = 416. The equation (22x16) + (2x32) also equals X. Just the letter, not the algebraic wild card. The can-struction sculpture of the letter X in the main stairwell landing—assembled Nov. 11 by students Nick Young, John Schoewe, Emanuel Zalants, Luke Verhagen, Marcus Battle and E.J.Swisshelm, with the help of Brandon Guyer of MSA Architects—helped kick off the annual Advent Canned Food Drive at St. Xavier High School. The CFD opened Nov. 13 and closed with delivery day Dec. 12. Along the way, St. X obliterated its old collection record, taking in and distributing more than 146,000 pounds of food. The giant X took 416 cans of
chicken soup to construct. Jerry Herstenberg, manager of the Meijer store on Harrison Avenue, donated a portion of the cost of the soup cans MSA—owned by alumni parent Michael Schuster—helped design it and Guyer helped the students implement the plan. The 70-plus tons of food helped feed more than 500 families and stock the shelves of many Cincinnati and Appalachian service agencies. “It’s a really neat thing they were able to build,” said Rosemary Schuermann of the community service office. “We had a big job ahead to collect that much food, and we wanted people thinking about how they would be able to help. This was a tangible reminder, but one eventually used to help feed our neighbors at the same time.” SPRING 20010
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We Are...St . X
Successful Open House Shows Off ST. XAVIER HIGH SCHOOL’S annual open house for prospective students and their families drew nearly 2,000 people through the doors Nov. 15, with boys as young as third grade taking a look at what might be their future high school home. “As I walked around the building, I remember saying to myself, ‘This might be the best open house I’ve led,’” said Rod Hinton, director of admissions “Numbers show we had 615 families attending. Considering the programs we have developed that allow us oneto-one contact with prospective families throughout the admissions process, I am pleased with our numbers.” Many of the prospective students came with entire families—three
generations worth, in some cases—to check out all the school has to offer. Administrators and board of trustees members greeted guests in the Ellis Gym Lobby, as did the sound of music played by student pianists. About 200 National Honor Society students gave guided tours through the facility. When demand for tours exceeded the number of available guides, members of the faculty and staff pitched in to show families the school. Each academic department set up displays and had faculty members on hand to discuss school work. Artists in theater, instrumental and vocal music performed in several areas of the school, while visual artists worked on projects of their own. Athletic coaches,
cocurricular moderators and students manned booths showing off the depth and breadth of possible involvement at St. X. According to a note from the father of prospective students, all the effort appeared to pay dividends. “I just wanted to share with the staff of St. X my compliments on today’s Open House,” he wrote. “My wife and sons were very impressed with the school and all it has to offer. My son was most impressed by the welcoming atmosphere. He commented, ‘Everyone is so friendly.’ All did a wonderful job, most especially the student tour guides.”
The visitors get younger and the event
gets better. 4
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Pieces of Moon Land at St. X
Biology teacher Terry Hale shows off a snake to prospective students and families during Open House 2009.
School The St. X string ensemble performed in the chapel lobby and members of the baseball team talked up the program in the gym, while hundreds of families crowded the hallways learning about all the opportunities available at the school.
NORTH ADAMS HIGH SCHOOL— contrary to what some west siders may believe—is considerably closer to St. Xavier High school than the dark side of the moon. Thanks to North Adams, in fact, St. X is now a little closer to the moon. Principal Steve Schad (’75) sent North Adams honors physics teacher Randall Dunkin and three of his students—“the Rockette dream team” he called them—to North Bend Road to discuss the moon with St. X freshmen in the integrated science course. Dunkin and students Elizabeth Gilpen, Brooklyn Jefferson and Kerry Gregory each spoke on aspects of the moon and its makeup. They brought rock and soil samples from earth’s nearest satellite neighbor, collected on the Apollo 11 mission 40 years ago. Dunkin applied to NASA to borrow the
samples from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Guidelines for protecting the moon rocks are stringent—the sample case must be stored in a bank vault every night, for example —because of their exceptional rarity. “We spent more than $100 billion—1994 dollars, not the present value —to bring these rocks back to earth,” Dunkin said. “There’s no gold or silver or platinum, but we’re looking at maybe half a million dollars worth of rocks and dust in this one little sample. It’s just so rare, such a finite amount, and we may never go back to the moon to get more.” “This is helpful to us and to our students,” said St. X science faculty member Dr. Mike Haskins. “We will be teaching space to the freshman after Christmas, and this is a great gateway to those lessons.”
Bridge to Rwanda Crosses to St. X HER NATION IS LANDLOCKED in Africa, making food is difficult to import and expensive to put on tables. Her nation reels from genocide and has heavy population losses because of AIDS. Still, Franciscan nun Sr. Pat Mukanyonga of Rwanda labors in hope and faith. “She’s amazing,” said St. Xavier High School religion teacher Lora Pateras. “I met her about five years ago and from the moment I met her I felt like I was in the presence of a saint. She’s been called the Mother Theresa of Rwanda. She got away and survived the genocide, but she saw these children starving and said she had to go Religion teacher Lora back and care for them.” Pateras, left, invited Sr. Pat to discuss Sr. Pat visited St. X Nov. 11, a guest of the speaker’s bureau. Her chari- Mukanyonga Rwanda with St. X students. ty, Bridge to Rwanda, was the recipient of the school’s mission collection Nov. 18. Bridge to Rwanda cares for about 200 children left orphaned as a result of the Rwandan genocide. Sr. Pat’s talk was an opportunity to learn about the atrocities of discrimination, prejudice, and violence, and see the lasting consequences of these atrocities. “Study hard,” Sr. Pat advised the students. “In the future I hope you are one who makes decisions and you will be somebody who will free the whole world.” “She’s providing the necessities of life, not just food, shelter and clothing, but education and medical care, too,” Pateras said. “It’s $400 a year for one kid to go to secondary school; 15 of her 200 kids are in that age group. They go through about 70 pounds of rice per day at the orphanage. All the expenses add up and it would be great for our community to be able to help this cause.” In addition to Sr. Pat, Tom Blankenmeyer (’74) was part of the presentation, speaking on behalf of Engineers Without Borders. He has been to Rwanda and helped design water retention systems for villages in desperate need. SPRING 2010
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We Are...St . X Archbishop Celebrates St. Francis Xavier’s Feast ST. FRANCIS XAVIER died Dec. 3 in Goa off the coast of China in 1552. Fast forward 457 years to Cincinnati, Ohio, where the high school bearing Xavier’s name celebrated his feast day with its traditional all-school Mass. More than just the patronal feast day, though, the Mass served as a chance for St. Xavier High School to welcome Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr to the community as celebrant. Archbishop Schnurr took over as sole Archbishop in late December.
“I am happy to be here with the St. Xavier community,” Archbishop Schnurr said at the beginning of Mass. “It’s my first time here at St. X and I’m grateful for the opportunity to celebrate this feast with you and to renew my relationship with the Jesuit community.” The archbishop’s homily dealt with both St. Francis Xavier and with the concept of vocation. Xavier was called by God and missioned by Jesuit founder St. Ignatius Loyola to be a great missionary, a fulfilling vocation of priesthood and conversion. Even thought the word has connotations toward religious life, the archbishop said everyone has a vocation. That vocation is our gift back to God. More than simply a career path, a vocation is our purpose in life and how we live it. St. X President Fr. Tim Howe S.J. presented Archbishop Schnurr with a long-sleeved St. X shirt as a token of thanks for celebrating the feast, a thanks greeted by a robust ovation from the student body. “I don’t know the last time I was so cheered in an athletic arena,” Archbishop Schnurr quipped. “I don’t know that I’ve ever been so cheered in an athletic venue. I appreciate your kindness and I appreciate the gift St. Xavier High School is to the Archdiocese.”
Reception Recognizes Generosity ST. XAVIER HIGH SCHOOL’S Named Endowments Reception drew a record crowd of more than 300 people Oct. 13. The annual event was an opportunity for the school to offer thanks to its benefactors, but also for the donors to meet some of the people their investment in the school assists. Both students and faculty mingled and snacked with benefactors in the theater lobby before going in for a program featuring live music from Something Blue and Men in Black, the St. X vocal and string ensembles, respectively. “My job is easy tonight,” said emcee Ralph Nardini (’77), development director. “I get out of the way and let you see for yourselves how you make a difference for our students and faculty with your generosity.” In addition to the music and a video presentation, comments from President Fr. Tim Howe S.J. and featured talks by senior Nigel Muhammad and religion teacher Paul Rieselman (’71) capped the evening. “The word benefactor comes from the Latin bene and facere, to do the good,” said Fr. Howe. “That is what you have done as you express your gratitude to God for what
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St. X has done for you, by making sure that another student can receive the same wonderful St. Xavier education that has meant so much to you and your family. Because of your generous sacrifices, my hopes and our families’ hopes can be a reality. You get a chance to see and hear tonight how you have opened doors, how you have changed lives and why we are all so grateful to God and to you for what we accomplish together.”
Above, featured speaker Nigel Muhammad (’10) visits with Paul Kelly (’50), while below scholarship students enjoy some snacks.
Phonathon Connects Students With Alumni
Director of Development Services Tony Schad (’81), right, and some of the Student Development Chairmen show off some pledges during the Annual Fund Fall Phonathon.
Fall Sports Spin Successful Seasons Autumn athletic teams at St. Xavier performed well in 2009. So well, in fact, they have put the Bomber athletic program in the lead for a third consecutive GCL All Sports Trophy after one third of the school year. St. X teams won three of the four possible GCL championships in the fall, taking the title in football, soccer and cross country. The head coaches in each respective sport— Steve Specht (’86) in football, Henry Ahrens (’87) in soccer and Mike Dehring (’88) in cross country—earned league coach of the year honors. While the golf team finished third in the league standings, don’t feel too badly for head coach Brian Shircliff (’92) and company. It should speak volumes for the GCL that his Bombers took second in the state tournament in Columbus. The cross country team also finished second at the state meet. The Bombers easily outdistanced second-place Moeller, building up a 28-20 lead in the All Sports Trophy race. Elder is third with 18 points and LaSalle is fourth with 14. “We always strive to be a wellrounded program,” said John Sullivan, athletic director. “I want people to think of every St. X team as being good, not just our football or basketball teams. We really want to compete with our brothers across the GCL, because playing against the best prepares you well come tournament time.” Senior golfer Colin Stelljes tees off during the 2009 Ohio Division I state championship; Stelljes and the Bombers finished second in the state.
IT STARTED—as it normally does—with a simple phone call, but this 2009 Annual Fund Fall Phonathon story didn’t end there. A student reached an alumnus to solicit a donation. The graduate agreed to make an investment in St. X, helping bridge the gap between the price of tuition and the actual cost to educate the students. But, being a man for others, he had a proposition. He would double his pledge if the student would sing the alma mater for him. The student, always striving for the magis, did him one better and rounded up half a dozen of his buddies for a rousing rendition to secure the double pledge. So it went during the Fall Phonothon, which ran in October and November. More than 250 students volunteered their time to give back to the school, raising close to $200,000 in the process. “The kids all did a great job,” said Tony Schad (’81), director of development services. “The kids like to talk with the alumni; they can get a sense of where they might be 10, 20, 50 years from now. The alumni like to hear from the students so they can get a first-hand glimpse of what’s going on at their alma mater. “The Annual Fund is such an important part of supporting our mission of educating the young men of St. X. It is so gratifying seeing these young men put in the time and effort to give back to this institution. The kids know they have a job to do and they are glad to be doing it. We have great faculty coordinators in John Cole (’85), Ed Nardini (’81) and Jim Telles, a great team in development led by our assistant Cheryl Asper, and the 18 senior chairmen who really rally their fellow students and take ownership of the Phonathon.” The Student Development Chairmen who are running the phonathon this year are seniors Kevin Asper, Kyle Bedinghaus, Nick DiTullio, Matt Dombrowski, Nick Gerbus, Ian Kerr, Andy Keys, Nick Lewis, Nathan Mechley, Mathew Miller, Patrick Phillips, Craig Raffenberg, Steve Redden, Michael Siemer, Andrew Spitznagel, Jay Telles, R.H. Tonnis and Dylan Waters. The Spring Phonathon dates are April 13, 14, 15 and 20. If you want to make your donation now, you can either mail your contribution to St. Xavier High School c/o the Annual Fund, or give online via credit card. Go to www.stxavier.org, click the “Giving to St. X” tab and click the “Online Giving” link. Call Tony Schad at 513761-7815 ext. 140 for assistance or to ask any questions.
SPRING 2010
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We Are...St . X Freshman Spread Christmas Cheer THE THREE TENORS they ain’t. But whatever they lack in vocal acumen, the young men of Ignatius House in St. Xavier High School’s freshman class more than make up with enthusiasm. Ignatius House continued its yearlong relationship with second-grade students from nearby Winton Hills Academy, celebrating Christmas with the kids Dec. 16. Festivities included snacks, gifts, a visit from Santa (a dead ringer for Ty Domhoff in one room and Sam Buse in another), one of Santa’s elves (who bore a striking resemblance to Mark Boehm) and Christmas carols sung by the boys to the youngsters. The singalong featured loud—if not especially tuneful—renditions of favorites like “Jingle Bells,” “Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman.” St. X students came armed with both presents and donations of art supplies so the Winton Hills kids could color, cut, paste and create their own
Christmas ornaments and decorations. They also came with copies of Give and Take Care, a book written and illustrated by students from Maddux Elementary. Henry Ahrens (’87), John Cole (’85), Dave Eby and Alison Roberson serve as faculty mentors for Ignatius House, one of five houses in the class of 2013. Scholastically, houses share teachers and often do cross-curricular academic projects in religion, social studies and English. The Christmas party at Winton Hills is a house service highlight, but only part of the relationship St. X has with the school. Students become pen pals through the year. Thanksgiv-ing letters let the St. X guys know what presents their counterparts would like for Christmas. Each student then raised $25 to $30 to purchase and wrap the requested gifts.
In addition to the letters—which will continue through the school year—the Winton Hills students will spend a gaming day at St. X in the spring with their housemates. They also will join their Bomber buddies for a day at the zoo in April. “We want these kids to have a great relationship, for our guys to be good examples to the little guys,” Eby said. “It’s part of who we are as a school. The sooner—and more often—we can expose our guys to service projects, the more likely they are to continue in service, both at St. X and after they graduate.”
Freshmen from St. Xavier’s Ignatius House sing Christmas carols for their friends at Winton Hills Academy.
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PRINCIPAL’S
MESSAGE
English teacher Michael Marchal, author of The Spirit at Work: Conversion and the RCIA (World Library/ Paluch). In this book Mr. Marchal presents the theory of religious conversion and then cites the application of the theory in the experiences of actual people whom he has guided through the RCIA process at Bellarmine Chapel at Xavier University for more than 30 years. “The book is founded on work by a classmate from graduate school, a Jesuit priest who went on to teach at the Jesuit school of theology at Berkeley,” Mr. Marchal said. “Over 30 years he did a lot of work on exploring the dynamics of conversion based upon an insight by Bernard Lonergan S.J., but then carrying it much farther to the point where he said that he viewed conversion as a fivefold dynamic process. “I write seriously in the summer. I’m obsessive-compulsive when I write. I write for a limited amount of time in the day because it makes me physically and mentally tired. I write and then set it aside and come back to it. The first draft tends to be one extended blurt. I still write doublespaced on tablet paper. What that means is that what’s going on the paper is my second draft. The
BY DAVID B. MUELLER, ’ 7 2
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or most university professors, the reality is publish or perish. On the other hand, for at least three St. Xavier High School teachers who recently published books, the reality is publish and thrive. Instead of writing out of necessity for professional survival, they write for the satisfaction of organizing important ideas on paper. All three of these faculty authors acknowledge the act of writing is hard work. All three recognize their writing and teaching reinforce each other. As principal, I admire how these three —and many others on our faculty and staff who have been published in magazines, professional journals, newspapers, literary collections or have gone to the length of writing a book of their own— bring their writing experiences to the classroom. Our faculty, like our students, are lifelong learners. Every time they bring pen to paper, they learn a little more about the craft of writing. Our students reap the benefit of their efforts, both in the classroom and in cocurricular activities.
process is slow. I’m proofreading, editing and revising while I’m writing, whereas if I do it at the computer it’s much more like a first draft. It makes me appreciate the challenge my students are faced with as they learn to write. From experience, I know that you really can proofread and edit and revise while you write if you discipline yourself to achieve focused consciousness. I frequently assign in-class writing assignments to my students because the pressure leads them to focus. “I find it interesting to be a ‘bridge person.’ As a writer, I like the challenge of bridging the theoretical and the practical on paper. As a teacher, I like bridging rhetorical theory with the actual students in my classroom.”
(Continued on page 28.)
“Instead of writing out of necessity for professional survival, they write for the satisfaction of organizing important ideas on paper.” SPRING 2010
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St. Xavier C E L E B R AT E S
50
years
St. Xavier celebrates the school’s 50th year atop North Bend Road with a series of stories looking back at how St. X arrived in the suburbs after more than a century downtown. This is the second in a threepart series about the beginning of the so-called Finneytown Hilton.
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THE BEST
OF BOTH WORLDS
CLASS OF ’62 STARTS IN CITY, FINISHES IN FINNEYTOWN
C
ue the music. Cue Rod Serling. And… action. “There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.” Serling’s popular science fiction television series debuted with the above words in the fall of 1959, just about the same time the St. Xavier High School class of 1962 began its second and final year at Seventh and Sycamore streets downtown. By the time the first Twilight Zone season ended the ensuing spring, those Bomber sophomores were, in fact, stuck in that middle ground, having spent the first two years of high school in the heart of downtown Cincinnati. The dilapidated old school, though (to say nothing of its faculty, staff and thousand or so students) was set for an enormous change as it moved to the suburbs. The move resulted in a mix of apprehension and anticipation, of excitement and ennui, of wonder and wistfulness. By 1964, The Twilight Zone was gone from the airwaves. Gone with it were any students who had attended the old St. X. Downtown had passed into legend, superstition, leaving the class of 1962 unique in the annals of St. Xavier history having spent equal time downtown and at
Bulldozers grade the land in front of what was to become St. Xavier High School on North Bend Road, across the street from the building commonly known as Girls Town.
the new 62-acre campus in Finneytown. Fifty years after the switch, several members of the class shared their recollections of the move and of the early days at the new school.
Movin’ On Up “At the end of my sophomore year I was hired for the summer along with a handful of other students to help move furniture and equipment out to the far reaches of civilization where the new school was,” said Chuck Eastlake (’62), who is now a professor of aerospace engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach. “We loaded and unloaded a rental truck for weeks, supervised by a stocky, youngish priest whose name I cannot recall. He was something of a comedian, but not the world’s best driver. After several near sideswipe incidents in the narrow downtown streets, he allowed me—with my freshly-minted driver’s license—to drive the truck. He insisted that the parked cars kept edging sideways out into the street in front of him and hoped that I would have better luck. I did. “I had the privilege of being coached by both Tom Ballaban and Dick Berning. My recollection is that the ‘Finneytown Hilton’ name came out of Tom Ballaban's inimitable sense of humor. When the level of effort at football practice was not up to his expectations, he would ask us somewhat sarcastically if we wanted to be known as ‘the cake eaters from the Finneytown Hilton.’ The precise significance of the phrase was something I always wondered about, but the message was
TEXT BY MARK D. MOTZ, ’87
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A view of the new school from across the street, high atop the Girls Town building.
crystal clear—that along with telling us he was going to bring his daughter Patty Ann out to show us how to play football. Patty Ann was about four years old at the time, and actually did appear at the field on occasion.” “The old school was just that, it was old,” said Lou Bohn (’62) “The gym floor had ripples in it and when you made a layup in basketball, you ended up on the stage. It was cramped and crowded, but we didn’t know any better. (Moving) was wonderful. The cafeteria was called the Rainbow Room. We had the student lounge under the gym (where the wellness center is now), where the smokers could smoke. If you got jugged you went outside and planted trees and shrubs, or helped clear rocks from the fields. The Jesuits made us feel invested in the new place.” “The old building gave me a strong sense being a participant in history,” Eastlake said. “Going down through the gym to the locker rooms in the basement still puts a picture in my head that gives me the feeling of a walking tour through the catacombs. And I have strong memories of the discomfort of a football practice field filled with cinders, between the railroad tracks and the Ohio River bank somewhere west of downtown. I nearly cried the first time a saw a blacktop parking lot where the school used to be.” “Mass in the old St. X church is one of my favorite memories of downtown,” Bohn said. “It’s such a beautiful old church. But every guy would have his own favorite memory. If you got a bunch of us together, you couldn’t keep up with all the stories they were 12
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telling. I remember in football taking the bus out to Riverside with Berning and Ballaban, which was always a treat. Those are two of the legends of St. X. Those daily bus trips stopped when we got out to North Bend. The old school held a lot of memories for a lot of people, a lot of families. I’m happy I was a part of it, even for two years.” “It was neat to have had the downtown experience, and it was an experience,” said
Dave O’Toole, now retired after a career in education, largely in the West Clermont district. “It seemed like they were always putting up a new building when we were down there. It was an exciting time to be downtown. The new place was exciting, too, though. We were dreaming about air conditioning, which didn’t really happen for us, but still, it was an amazing place. We liked the new chapel because it was beautiful, but the old place felt more like church. At the new place you didn’t stay with your class all day like we did downtown. We actually changed rooms and the teacher stayed put, which was new. Maybe some of the more subtle differences were kind of lost on me at age 16, but overall we were excited to be part of the first group in the new school.”
Suburbia
St. Xavier High School’s public relations director Fr. Dan Foley S.J. checks some brick samples for the new school to be built on North Bend Road.
There was nothing subtle about the change in facilities. Gleaming new classrooms and labs. Open spaces, inside and outside. “Going to any school as a freshman is such a transition and the new school was so awesome and so big that the surprise was just the size of it,” Bohn said. “It was such a wonderful place, with so much more than we were used to having. Finding your way around, it was almost like you were a freshman again, just learning the building. But I think of the science classes and Fr. (Fred) Middendorf (S.J.) and Doc Brennan, and how much they had to work with in the new school, and I knew it inspired them; the faculty loved it as much as us.”
The distance to the new school was challenge for some. “(The move) was good news, bad news,” O’Toole said. “Living in Mt. Lookout, downtown was incredibly convenient. A lot of us hitchhiked to school, even the upper classmen, because there just wasn’t room to park like you have now. There was kind of an emotional attachment to the old place, I feel, but we were promised this fantastic palace. And it was a fantastic palace, it turned out. That it was located at the end of the world in the middle of nowhere, and was a long 45-minute drive out there, that was the only down side.” “It was a challenge to get there,” Eastlake said. “Back in those days most families had only one car and there was no bus transportation from the east side of Cincinnati out to the boondocks. So my older brother Bill (’61) and I hitchhiked to school every day. Bill was in the first class to graduate from the new school. We ended up in jug for being late to school—one of the things Fr. Fay was strict about—a few too many times. My dad bought us an old Nash Rambler to drive. We paid for the gas by carrying a couple other students who lived in our neighborhood. The hill on North Bend Road had a particularly steep section in the last few hundred yards at the top and the old car had a clutch that slipped. So we had to get it speeding absolutely as fast as it was capable of going on the flat section partway up the hill so that we had enough momentum to make it to the top. Sometimes it did not make it and we had to get out and push.” As it happened, the Rambler brought more than the Eastlake boys to school. It had a supporting role ushering in even more change at St. Xavier. “In 1961 a young football player named Phil Cox wanted to come to St. X, but transportation was an issue in his decision,”
“The school could continue to grow in ways we never imagined.” Eastlake said. “He lived in or near Norwood, which I passed through on my way to school. My brothers—now including Mike (’64)— and I were all football players, too. We went to his home, met his family, and agreed to have him ride with us. To the best of my knowledge, Phil was the first black student to attend St. X. (Editor’s note: Phil Cox was the first African American graduate of St. X, a member of the class of 1965. He now serves on the board of trustees at the University of Cincinnati.) This transpired several years before civil rights laws were passed, which I have always viewed as appropriately consistent with the forward-looking philosophical history of the Jesuit order.”
Still Looking Forward “Just because of the room we had, it couldn’t help but be a better school,” O’Toole said. “But when I look at the athletic facilities now, how you can see the whole campus from the top of the football stadium, and see how it’s continued to grow, it’s amazing. The natatorium, the science wing and chapel, the arts wing. We’ve added soccer, lacrosse, the track, all the things that weren’t there when we moved out there. Just the parking we never
had; the parking alone helps all the extracurriculars to thrive. “I see the profound evolution of the campus, but the spiritual side and service size has had an evolution, too. We had a lot of Jesuits teaching us and we had their example, which was great, but it’s different now. I see this from my nephews (Joe (’08) and Brian O’Toole (’13)). When I see their feelings about Kairos and how they have class masses and everything they do to bring the idea of being a man for others into practice, that’s what strikes me as the really important growth, that spiritual side. I think the paradigm has really exploded in almost every direction. The kids have every opportunity in the classroom, in extracurriculars and in their faith lives. That is the growth that I think is critical and just so wonderful. That’s why moving was such a good idea. The school could continue to grow in ways we never imagined.” “The campus now is so massively improved from what I experienced that it hardly seems like the same world,” Eastlake said. “St. X is a wonderful institution and I am pleased to have played a small part in its history.” X
A view of the back of the Finneytown Hilton, as seen from the fields behind the school, in 1960.
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Strength of Will Donating Kidney Helps Grad Serve as Man For Others
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Matt Jacobson (’94) and Joe Kees clown around before the transplant operation, Jake digging for a kidney and Joe holding the cooler to take it to the hospital.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. And where there’s a Will, there’s a very good way to save a life. WILL HAPPENS TO BE the nickname Matt Jacobson (’94) gave his kidney. Sure, most people don’t go around giving vital internal organs a nickname. Then again, most people don’t go around donating those vital organs to people in need, either. The name came about last fall before Jake—as he’s better known— traveled to the University of North Carolina Hospital to provide the kidney for his 50-yearold uncle, Joe Kees, on October 2, 2009. “A friend of mine suggested I see this Chinese acupuncturist before I left for North Carolina,” Jake said. “So I went, and the guy told me, ‘This kidney is the seat of your will. Don’t be surprised if after you give it away, you find your will has gone.’” Far from it, as it turned out. A mere two weeks after the operation, Jake was in Cincinnati and at St. X, catching up with classmates and friends during Grand Reunion Weekend. Two days after that, he was back to work in Chicago. Kees is a systems engineer for RTI International in North Carolina. Like many members of his family, he suffers from polycystic kidney disease, a hereditary condition that leads the kidneys into failure. According to the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation web site, PKD “affects an estimated 1 in 500 people, including newborns, children and adults regardless of sex, age, race or ethnic origin. A normal kidney is the size of a human fist and weighs about a third of a pound.
However, with the presence of PKD, cysts develop in both kidneys. When many cysts develop, the kidneys can increase in both size and weight, sometimes weighing many pounds each. There may be just a few cysts or many, and the cysts may range in size from a pinhead to the size of a grapefruit. Symptoms of PKD include high blood pressure, chronic pain or heaviness in the back, sides or abdomen, blood in the urine, urinary tract infections and kidney stones.” “We were lucky Joe knew about the condition,” Jake said. “His kidneys were just starting to go and he began looking for a donor before it got too bad. They usually want the donor to be family if possible. I’m about the only person in my family who doesn’t have PKD and I’m a universal donor. Joe is a universal receiver, so we had a match there and we were able to work it out.” Jake and Joe always had a special relationship. Growing up in West Virginia, Jake had a chance to become part of the Boys Hope program, but it meant leaving his family behind as a freshman in high school, moving to Cincinnati
Organ donor Matt Jacobson (’94)
TEXT BY MARK D. MOTZ, ’87 SPRING 2010
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From Science Fiction to Saving Lives ST. XAVIER HIGH SCHOOL BOARD member Tim Schroeder (’75) doesn’t know Matt Jacobson (’94), but there’s a good chance his company had a hand in the success of the kidney donation Jacobson made to his uncle. CTI Clinical Trial and Consulting Services—Schroeder’s company—is at the forefront of developing the drugs making such transplants possible. CTI began 11 years ago after Schroeder left a biotechnology company he co-founded in the San Francisco Bay Area that went public. Now in Cincinnati, Schroeder works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, helping guide their ideas through studies and testing, through the maze of federal regulatory controls and safely to the public. “Some of (the ideas) are so science fiction you can’t imagine at first, but eventually they become the standard, the preferred therapy for a given problem,” Schroeder said. “My eight years of Jesuit education here and at XU really influenced how I look at things. We’re lucky we get right in the middle of it, working with people at the beginning of an idea and seeing it through the other end to the patients. You think of the east and west coasts when you think of some of the best pharmaceutical development, so it’s neat this company headquartered in Cincinnati has had such an impact on the field. “Everybody has a job, but we’re fortunate. We’re getting paid to do what we love, we can—on a day-today basis like very few other professions—see how our work really impacts people. We have people who are passionate about making other people’s lives better.” Transplant patients are a special passion for Schroeder, whose company has no less than a dozen people with family members who have either given or received organs or are transplant professionals themselves. “It’s the only area of medicine that depends on the generosity of others,” he said. “If you break your arm or you need a heart bypass, you find a doctor who can do the job and get it done. But with transplants, it really is a testament to society that people are as altruistic as they are.” Still, Schroeder said we have a long way to go before everyone who needs a transplant of some kind can get one. More than 100,000 people in the United States are waiting for organs, while only about 20,000 transplants are performed every year. “The more we can educate people about the need, the better we will be,” he said. “People can literally give the gift of life to another. I’d encourage everyone to be an organ donor.” Several members of the S. X family have done just that, notably Kevin Le (see sidebar on page 17), but also alumnus T.J. Bradley (’08), who donated stem cells to his sister Natalie during her courageous fight with cancer last year. St. X athletic director John Sullivan did the same for his sister in Pittsburgh; she recently passed the five-year milestone cancer free. Assistant Principal Craig Maliborski’s wife, Amy, successfully donated one of her kidneys to a patient in February.
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and attending St. X. No easy choice at any age. “When I came to Cincinnati, not everyone in my family understood,” Jake said. “Joe and his girlfriend (Diana)—now his wife—they did. They understood the dreams I had for myself. They understood I wanted to have an opportunity at a great education and an opportunity to make something of myself. I wanted to go to St. X more than anything and it meant everything to me. It was the turning point in my life, giving me the chance to grow academically and spiritually. “When I made the mission trip to Ivanhoe, Virginia, that wasn’t very far from where we lived and they didn’t think it was a big deal to come visit me while we were on the trip. Looking back, nobody else did either. They came to my graduation. They came to everything. They were the first people who showed me what it meant to live the magis—to be open to being present in the moment, to being open to looking at a bigger picture. That support from them has been everything to me.” Jake took that support and continued his Jesuit education at St. Louis University, where he earned his undergraduate degree in theology. He has a master’s degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University in Chicago, where he now works as a chaplain and a coordinator in
faith and service. He will earn a second master’s degree—this time in divinity— from Loyola this semester. “Being a man for others, that’s been a part of who I’ve wanted to be as long as I can remember,” Jake said. “And truthfully, I’ve been preparing my whole life to donate a kidney. So many people in my family have PKD—and I don’t—that I knew it was just a matter of time before I donated. That it was Joe who got it though, that makes it that much more special for me. After all he and Diana have given me, it’s the least I could do for them.” Jake said Will wasted no time exerting his will on Kees, relieving Joe of much of the pain he’d endured leading up to the transplant. “The night of the operation I walked up to his room and he looked 10 years younger, just in that few hours since he’d gotten him,” Jake said. Guarding against organ rejection, doctors had to leave the diseased kidneys inside Kees for several months while Will took hold. In early February 2010, Jake returned to UNC Hospital to be with Joe as the bad kidneys finally came out. “They were about 15 inches long each (about triple the normal size of a kidney),” Jake said. “It was like he gave birth to twins having them out, and he’s doing great.” Kees has about six weeks of recovery time before he can return to work following the second surgery, but appears to be well on his way to good health. And Will seems to be thriving in his new home, even dictating some of Kees’ post-op appetites. “Will liked bacon when he was with me,” Jake said, laughing. “So Joe’s been craving a lot of that since he got him. Seriously, though, it’s been a blessing for both of us to be able to go through this experience. We’re grateful.” X
St. Xavier Student Lives On In Others WHEN KEVIN LE passed away in September 2009, nine days after being hit by a car while crossing the street, the St. X community was shaken. But months later, as the healing process continues, Le remains a vital part of the Long Blue Line. The popular junior lives on not only in the hearts and minds Organ donor Kevin Le of his family and friends, but also in the bodies of three people who received organs harvested from his young body. A 54-yearold man from New York received Kevin’s heart. A 38-year-old diabetic woman received a kidney and pancreas and now no longer needs dialysis. A 48-year-old woman received a liver transplant. Both women are mothers; one is a teacher and one is a nurse. Kevin’s own mother, Diane Le, received some comfort in her son’s generosity. “I felt really good about the donation,” she said. “I did not hesitate in giving it because I knew that’s what he would want. There was no question. The thought that I would be able to meet the people he helped at some point was tremendous. That was my benefit.” Prior to the accident that claimed Kevin’s life, Diane said her family was not well versed in organ donation. “Within our family there was a lot of ignorance,” she said. “We came from a third-world country where this kind of thing was not even a possibility. On all of our driver’s licenses it said no to organ donation, but that has changed. “If this didn’t happen we would still live in ignorance. I saw the respect they gave his body, the maximum time they allowed for him to live until the time the organs would be no good any more. I would say they cared for him more and they treated him with such respect that it totally changed my view. That experience was overwhelming and there are no words to say how grateful I am for it. “It all goes back to Kevin. He fought hard and he certainly did give us a lot of healing. Those nine days were a miracle. He gave us those days so we could say what we needed to say, to say goodbye. In so many ways he gave us all he could. Even in dying, he was giving.”
Opposite page above: Matt Jacobson (’94) had a lot to smile about after donating a kidney to his uncle, Joe Kees. At left, Jake and Joe see no evil after the operation. Inset: Will, the kidney Jake donated to his Uncle Joe.
There are many online resources available to learn more about organ donation. One of the most comprehensive is organdonor.gov, with current donor statistics and information on how to become an organ donor. SPRING 2010
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Grand
t. Xavier High School’s second Grand Reunion Weekend turned out to be a success in the eyes of the alumni who attended and the school staff who put it together. Alumni from the classes of 1964, ’69, ’74, ’79, ’84, ’89, ’94 and ’99 combined for a single reunion the weekend of October 16 and 17. While the weather wasn’t as cooperative in 2009 as 2008— gloves and stocking caps were part of the attire for many alumni— participating graduates enjoyed a chilly golf outing at Glenview Golf Course, followed by a cookout dinner, music, school tours and class pictures in the Berning Gym on Friday.
On a brilliant blue Saturday afternoon, hundreds of attendees took in the St. X-Lakewood St. Edward football game and saw the Bombers record one of the most unusual victories in school history, a baseball-sounding 3-2 win against the northern Ohio state power. After the game, people retreated to the Chapel of the Holy Companions for a Mass celebrated by St. X President Fr. Tim Howe S.J., and dined on the ever-popular Taste of Cincinnati Dinner. Finding Skyline, Montgomery Inn, LaRosa’s and Greater’s all in one meal was a hit with locals and out-oftown guests alike. “For the second year in a row, the
Graduates across 45 years of St. Xavier history convened for the second annual Grand Reunion Weekend in October.
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’
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’94
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Builds on Initial Success
alumni have shown up in large numbers to support this new reunion format,” said John Schrantz (’96), alumni director. “It was a great success and the feedback from these classes was overwhelmingly positive. I’m grateful to the alumni for that. They love this school and they love getting together. As a department, we’re always happy to do whatever we can to have them out here and having a good time. We will continue to learn and make this weekend an even bigger success than it has been in these early stages. “On a selfish note, the weekend was a
lot of fun for us, too. Our co-worker Mike Sadouskas was in the reunion class of ’74, so it was good to see some of his friends and hear some stories about his high school days. Plus there were guys a year or two ahead or behind all of us on the staff with whom we’re friends, so it was nice to catch up with some of them. That’s one of the great things about the Grand Reunion, you get to see a wide collection of your Bomber brothers. Or in several cases, Bomber fathers and sons who shared the Grand Reunion Weekend.” The 2010 Grand Reunion Weekend is
set for October 22 and 23. The classes of 1965, ’70, ’75, ’80, ’85, ’90, ’95, and ’00 are invited back to school for their respected reunions on those dates. The 2010 Grand Reunion will follow the same format as 2009, with some new twists to the Grand Reunion Weekend format to make it even bigger and better than the first two years. Witnessing the Long Blue Line together spanning decades is special. Please mark your calendar for the event next year. We look forward to seeing you in the fall. X
More Alumni Opportunities
WHILE GRAND REUNION WEEKEND is the centerpiece of alumni gatherings, the St. Xavier High School alumni department has a lot more opportunities for grads to get together. One of the longest-running alumni traditions received a facelift in February, as the monthly First Friday Mass-and-luncheon gatherings at St. Xavier Church downtown moved from noon to 11:30 a.m. President Fr. Tim Howe S. J. said Mass and served as the featured speaker Feb. 5. Keep an eye out for head football coach Steve Specht (’86) and athletic director John Sullivan as featured First Friday guests as the school year winds down. Cost is just $7. St. X unveils a new-look website March 15, 2010, and invites your comments and suggestions when it goes live. In addition, please check out our Facebook (St. Xavier Alumni) and LinkedIn (Bomber Alumni Network) pages online. Both have been up since the fall and have been a great tool for alumni communications. And, as usual, there are a series of class- or geography-specific alumni events throughout the year. Many classes meet for monthly or quarterly luncheons. The legendary Golden and Then Some Reunion for classes more than 50 years out is set for May 11, and the Northern Kentucky reunion will be May 27. Please contact John Schrantz (’96) at jschrantz@stxavier.org or 513-761-7815, ext. 116 to get involved with any and all alumni activities. SPRING 2010
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Alumni X-Cerpts
40s
’47 BILL CLEARY had a total hip replacement in April 2009, plus a total knee replacement in June. He fell twice after rehab for the knee, and has suffered since his second fall in rehab and therapy, but is making progress. ’48 MARK CARROLL recently moved to Mt. Washington and Guardian Angels parish, where he is enjoying his grandkids and his retirement.
50s
’54 ROGER KANET is a professor at the University of Miami in Oxford. He published two new books dealing with international politics: A Resurgent Russia and the West: The European Union, NATO and Beyond (2009) and The United States and Europe in a Changing World (2009). ’56 HOWARD GLEITER retired from a career in commercial real estate. ’56 DON WENKER published a new book of poetry—Poems by a Father— through Losantiville Press; it’s available at Joseph Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati.
Above left, the class of 1953 gathered for its annual pre-game luncheon and reunion before the Bomber football team took the field this fall. Above right, the class of 1961 had its annual Christmas lunch at Pompillio’s in Newport in December. Below, St. X President Fr. Tim Howe S.J. joined the class of 1962 for its annual Christmas luncheon downtown at the University Club.
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’58 H. THOMAS BLUM is enjoying an active retirement in Serenbe, a new environmentally sustainable community on the outskirts of Atlanta. ’59 RICHARD BERESFORD retired from Northrop Grumman in 2006 and moved to Largo, Florida, in October of 2009.
years with the FDA. Timohty now is an independent consultant working as the Quality Director at Hill Dermaceuticals, MedX and does periodic work for Qhub and Parexel Consulting.
70s 60s ’60 THOMAS MARKEY is retired living in San Antonio, Texas, where he serves as a cathechist in the RCIA program. ’62 CHRSITOPHER CROWLEY Is in third year in Iraq, where he serves as the director of USAID. ’66 NEIL KEATING lives in Santa Rosa, California, with his wife, Christine. Neil has lived in California since 1972 and visits family back in Cincinnati when he can. He reports “There are 45 wineries within 25 miles of me. Somebody has to do it. The school has changed dramatically for me, and since my last visit has changed even more. Keep in touch. Keeps me young.” ’69 TIMOTHY COUZINS retired from the United States government service including the EPA, NIOSH and 33
’71 PAUL JACOB is the first in a series of three St. X graduates to serve as president of the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors. Paul was the 2009 president, followed by Tim Mahoney (’76) in 2010 and Pete Kopf (’91) will serve in 2011. The Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors includes 5,000-plus members and is the second largest board in Ohio. ’72 BART FLANNERY retired from Glenbrook North High School after 28 years of teaching mathematics. ’73 JOE DOUD was recently named community partner of the year by Tender Mercies. ’74 MATT GRUBER moved to South Carolina to attend Columbia International University for a Masters Degree in intercultural studies. ’78 ED WOHLWENDER is in his third year as CEO of POP Displays. His son Tom recently finished his first football
season at Williams College.
80s
’80 HOWARD HUGHES II is the owner-operator of WorXmart.net Computer Services. ’81 ERIC WERNER served on the White House review team for the nation’s cybersecurity policy. After a decade in the private sector practicing communications law and litigation in Washington D.C., he left his law firm in February 2002 to enter government service, working in the areas of homeland security, cybersecurity and national security and emergency preparedness communications. He now serves as serving as Director for Cybersecurity on the National Security Council staff. Eric and his wife Terry have been married 14 years and have a 13-year-old son, T.J. They live in Alexandria, Virginia. ’82 GREGORY GROSS PH.D. and his partner Rafael Esquer have launched alfalfa-seeds.com, a new brand of quality graphic T-shirts. Seven Deadly Sins is the debut collection, followed by Seven Latin Divas. Greg and Raf live in Manhattan where they work as creative directors in advertising and design, respectively. Say hello at gregorywgross@gmail.com.
Above, John Schellman organized a San Francisco Bomber reunion for the Crosstown Shootout Dec. 13. Chris Mack (’88) and the Muskies beat the University of Cincinnati in double overtime as attendees Dave Miller (’03), Mike Salcido (’03), Steve Uphaus (’04), Barry Malinowski (’01), John Schellman (’98), Bob Palasek (’64) (UC ’68), Erich Sylvester ’66 (UC '70) and Bryan Beischel ’02 (UC '08) cheered their favorite teams. Photo to right, St. X Vice President for Development Ralph Nardini (’77) joined Boston-area residents for an alumni event in November. ’82 G. TOM DONOVAN JR. is serving in Afghanistan on his third year-long tour. This tour Tom is the advisor to the Chief of Staff of the Afghan Army, their highest ranking officer. ’83 MICHAEL BUHR transferred with Bayer to Raleigh, North Carolina, where his is responsible for procurement of technical materials and services. ’86 DAVID BURLEIGH joined the Cincinnati law firm of Buechner Haffer Meyers and Koenig after nearly 15 years with DBL. He will continue to practice in the area of closely held businesses, business litigation, estate litigation and private foundations. ’88 CHRISTIAN WALTERS was recently promoted and is now the managing director of Harley-Davidson Japan, located in Tokyo. Christian and his wife Kristin and son Joseph relocated from Milwaukee to Tokyo. ’88 RALPH SCHMITZ recently deployed to Iraq for the third time.
90s
’94 RYON STOFFER earned a promotion to GG-15 and was selected to serve as Chief of Africa Command Foreign Disclosure. ’95 DAN REITZ was named an Ohio Rising Star for 2010 by Super Lawyers Magazine. Ohio Rising Stars are
chosen by their peers as being among the top up-and-coming lawyers in the state of Ohio. Only 2.5 perent of Ohio attorneys receive this honor each year. Dan is a commercial real estate partner at the law firm of Graydon Head in Cincinnati. He was previously named an Ohio Rising Star in 2005 and 2009. ’95 MARK STEPHENS got engaged to Jeanne C. Schaefer (with a wedding set for Sept. 25, 2010 ) and moved back to Cincinnati in April of 2009. ’97 DUSTIN WYGANT is an assistant professor of psychology at Eastern Kentucky University. He has been selected as the 2010 John E. Exner Scholar by the Society for Personality Assessment. The award honors the memory of John E. Exner, a pioneer in personality assessment, by supporting the research of a young personality assessor. The Exner Scholar receives an honorarium to help defray research costs. Wygant, who is a licensed psychologist in Kentucky and Ohio, joined the EKU faculty in August of 2009. ’97 KEVIN LIVNGSTON finished his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in computer science (specializing in natural language understanding, a subfield of artificial intelligence), and now has a position as a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Computational Pharmacology at the University of Colorado Denver. “It should be a great opportunity,” Kevin said. “I've been here a few months. Things are good, but there is a lot of molecular biology I
need to learn. Not that Mr. King's class wasn't great and all, but …” Kevin will work on the next generation of language understanding systems to extract knowledge from the mountain of biomedical literature being published every day, so it is useful to the biologists. He also will help create other types of software and tools biologists use since no human can keep up with the nearly 2,000 journal articles being published daily. ’97 MATTHEW R. KOOP is deployed to Operation Enduring Freedom on board the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier. ’98 MARK HILLIARD moved to a different law firm in Los Angeles, Hawkins, Parnell & Thackston. He joins the firm as a member of the Toxic Tort & Environmental Litigation Group. He has successfully represented Fortune 500 companies in all phases of product liability, mass tort, and complex commercial litigation. ’98 ANTHONY BUSHMAN begins production of his thesis film, entitled Found, in late April 2010. Check it out at www.foundthemovie.com
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’00 MATTHEW HANNAHAN joined the law firm Graydon Head & Ritchey as an associate in the downtown Cincinnati office. A former Graydon Head summer associate, Hannahan’s practice focuses in the areas of labor and employment law, banking and creditors’ rights. Matthew is a 2009 graduate of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Some of his law school honors include the 2008 Herman Competition “Best Oralist” award and the “Moritz Leadership Scholar” scholarship in 2007. Hannahan also worked as a student intern at the Ohio State Student Housing Legal Clinic where he assisted OSU students with legal issues related to off-campus housing. ’01 NICK DECENSO accepted a job with Crestone Capital Advisors in Boulder, Colorado. Nick and his wife Amy are moving to Denver. ’01 BRIAN BERNINGER is working on his MBA degree at Webster University in St. Louis.
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’01 ANTHONY BERNAS & ’01 BRAD MANILLA left careers in chemistry and industrial design to start a company together and work with nonprofits. They decided to help nonprofits tell their stories using web video. They specialize in marketing nonprofits with two- to three-minute web videos perfect for Youtube, website embedding, and e-mail campaigns. The special niche they offer is a tutorial service. “Rather than providing a fish for a day, we are trying to teach them to fish for a lifetime,” they said. “Our service teaches nonprofits how to take a volunteer or entry-level staff member and a $100 web camcorder and start producing web videos inhouse. It covers the process from beginning to end allowing them to drastically cut the cost of their marketing. This keeps the videos authentic, tells their story accurately, and establishes strong relationships with donors and volunteers.” The company launched in early August 2009 and is off to a good start. ’02 DAN PERICA currently works in sourcing capital equipment at the corporate level. He also serves a coach for a U-10 boys soccer team. ’03 DANIEL REEDER is on his second combat deployment with the 1st Battalion 3rd Marines “Lava Dogs,” this time to Helmand Province, Afghanistan. “Last year when I was in Iraq, I was able to send back a picture of me holding up a St. X. magazine, and will try to do so again, although Afghanistan is a bit more primitive, so it could be difficult. Take care.” ’03 PETER KELLER is a 2006 University of Dayton business grad with majors in entrepreneurship and accounting, and a minor in finance (he graduated a little early.) This past
Former St. X alumni director Jeff Meyrose (’98), kneeling center, posed with Bomber family members at his wedding in October.
August he married the former Ashley Leuenberger. After working a few years at Battelle and Battelle in Dayton, he is now working with his father us at Integrated Protection Services. Peter and Ashley purchased a new home in Franklin, Ohio. ’04 MATTHEW HOTT got engaged to Kimberly Stevens. ’05 STEPHEN MOFFAT recently climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. ’05 ALEX BUDKIE graduated from Case Western Reserve University in May 2009 with a degree in computer engineering. He started working for IBM at the beginning of November after moving to Raleigh, N.C. ’05 CLINT GIBLER Graduated from Case Western University in 2009 and enrolled at the University of California Davis for graduate school.
Members of the 1999-2000 basketball team celebrated the 10-year anniversary of their state championship run during a Bomber home game in January.
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WEDDINGS ’91 CHRISTOPHER RILEY and Traci Michele Gahn, 11/7/09 ’94 RICHARD BOEHMER and Kathy Rauck Quigley, 11/25/09 ’98 JEFF MEYROSE and Colleen Pratt, 10/10/09 ’03 JOHN DENTERLEIN and Jennifer M. Hopkins, 8/22/09 ’03 TONY DEBLASIO and Katie Hollstegge, 11/18/09
BIRTHS ’89 TONY AND LIBBY BROCK, Aiden Galvin and Lucy Cecilia, 06/07/09 ’92 PAUL AND LESLIE RINDERKNECHT, Leo Clifton, 10/2/09 ’95 DAN AND AMY REITZ, Natalie Danielle, 9/23/09 ’96 SALIL AND NICOLE GUPTE, Rohann Jay, 9/28/09 ’96 PATRICK AND SARA RICHARDS, Colin Patrick, 7/20/09 ’96 JOHN AND ERIN SCHRANTZ, Henry Austing, 1/9/10 ’97 BRIAN AND JILL AUBERT, Quinn Barbara, 7/22/09 ’97 CHRIS AND AMY PASTURA, Luke Anthony, 11/29/09 ’97 NICK AND ERIN EVANS, Parker Lee, 1/14/10 ’98 MIKE AND MELISSA MEYER, Thomas Philip, 1/18/10 STAFF DARRICK AND SARAH MURPHY, Jillian Margaret, 12/2/09 BRIAN AND ANGELA SCHAEPER, Maximilian Thomas, 12/23/09
DEATHS ’31 JOSEPH L. FLYNN ’31 CYRIL GUNDLING ’31 JOHN A. HOCK ’31 HOWARD J. PHILLIPS ’32 WILFRED J. MENKE ’35 ALBERT J. HOBDAY
’36 GEORGE T. MUEHLENKAMP ’38 DONALD E. FULLER ’39 ANTHONY J. GROLLIG ’39 WILLIAM F. HERBERTH ’39 FRANCIS LEIBOLD ’41 JAMES E. MILLS ’42 ROY J. MOSER ’42 ROBERT G. ROBSON ’42 ROBERT H. SAALFELD ’42 GEORGE J. TENOEVER ’44 LEO H. BROERING ’44 LAWRENCE F. LAMPE ’45 ROBERT J. RAMLER ’45 HERB A. STEGMAN ’46 DONALD L. SCHUMER ’47 EDWARD F. KENKEL ’47 EUGENE G. LUKEN ’47 NORMAN A. MAUS ’47 GEORGE E. RESING ’47 WILLIAM C. TILLMAN ’48 MEL B. KELLEY ’50 OLIVER J. BROCKMAN ’51 ROBERT C. LINTZ ’51 WILLIAM J. LUTTMAN ’52 PAUL W. BRUNS ’55 JOHN W. RAWLINGS ’57 ANTHONY T. GEORGE ’57 JOHN W. THOBE ’57 PAUL G. WEHR ’58 LOUIS L. YOUNG ’59 DONALD G. RYAN ’59 FREDERICK R. WAGNER ’62 ROBERT W. PEINING ’63 VERNON J. RODEN ’64 THOMAS B. MAGUIRE ’66 JEREMY L. KING ’66 WILLIAM D. SAAL ’68 FRANK A. KOWATSCH ’69 STEPHEN J. PIECUCH ’70 BRUCE M. LINNEMAN ’70 STEPHEN P. PICKENS ’70 WILLIAM A. REES ’74 MARK G. FETTE ’74 CHRISTOPHER R. STIRES ’85 MICHAEL E. THOMAS
Donor Spotlight ST. X: How did you come by your passion for assisting Catholic high schools? DOYLE: The concept was we had been blessed and wanted to give back, and our first choice was Catholic Secondary education. Lois and I were products of Catholic schools and believed they were an important part of our own development and wanted to assist others to get the education we received. Cincinnati’s Catholic high schools do great and important work. We love St. X, but we knew all of the schools needed assistance, and so we have attempted to do for many of them what we have done and will continue to do at St. X.
ST. X: Do you have a specific goal in mind when you make a gift? DOYLE: What we try to do with each of the schools is ask the alumni directors and development offices to find some people who have a capacity to make a significant gift, but who—for whatever reason—haven’t yet done so. From there we try to make a gift in their name, something they will be excited about, want to participate in and match. It's a way we can honor someone else and leverage our gift into something bigger and help the schools get more people involved who can help the next generation of students have a first-class experience and education.
Dennis and Lois Doyle
Dennis and Lois Doyle are passionate about Catholic secondary education. Catholic school grads themselves—Denny from the since-closed Aquinas High School in Columbus and Lois from Regina High School in Cincinnati—they sent sons Brian (’89), Mark (’91) and David (’98) and daughter Mary Beth (Summit Country Day ’94) to Catholic high schools. They have stayed involved with St. X in a variety of ways, supporting everything from X-Travaganza to the Annual Fund, from the mission trip scholarship fund established in former president Fr. Walter Deye S.J.’s honor last year, to helping the class of ’72 with a challenge gift to honor a deceased classmate. And the Doyles have more scholarship plans up their sleeves. ST. X: You’ve started seven such scholarships at St. X over the years and plan to do more. What remains appealing about the school? DOYLE: Of course our sons went and had great experiences there. I guess it’s what a lot of people say. It’s an excellent high school. There’s great competitiveness academically and there’s something there for everybody who looks. But the intellectual rigor of the school and the kids pushing themselves and each other academically is very appealing.
ST. X: One of the more recent projects was a matching gift for the Class of ‘72/Tom Robben named scholarship. How did that come about? DOYLE: Bill Keating (’72) approached me and said the class wanted to honor Tom, who was not a big star athlete or the valedictorian. I thought it said everything about St. X that a class would want to honor him, notwithstanding
some of the very accomplished people in that class, somebody who maybe didn’t have the easiest time in high school. It was the classic men for others scenario.
ST. X: How do you pick the scholarship endowments you want to fund? DOYLE: We’re trying to identify different people with very unique St. X stories. One we’re working on now is a gentleman with five generations of family at St. X. My dad (Edmund Doyle ’26), went to St. X, and my sons did, but we’re technically not even three generations. To see five generations, that’s pretty unique. Hopefully as we do more of these, we’ll be able to tell some very important St. X stories and get people inspired to get involved. We tell prospective donors that we all stood on the shoulders of those who preceded us and it is our turn to stand up for those that now follow.
Members of the Class of 1972 gathered at St. X for their monthly luncheon in December. At the luncheon, the class unveiled a plaque in memory of the late Tom Robben (’72), whose family was present for the event. Denny and Lois Doyle made a matching gift to the school helping the class raise more than $60,000 for a named scholarship in Robben’s honor.
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X-Peditions ON THE GLOBE, the long blue line is the equator. In St. X parlance, the Long Blue Line of our alumni and student body appears all over the globe. Bomber blue turns up all over the map and we want the evidence. Send us your pictures wearing St. Xavier High School gear or hoisting a copy of St. Xavier magazine at an exotic locale or local landmark. Maybe a picture of Bombers at the Pyramids of Egypt or posing at the Pit. Either way, let us know where you’ve been displaying your X pride. Send your high-resolution digital images to mmotz@stxavier.org or mail prints to Mark Motz c/o St. Xavier magazine, 600 W. North Bend Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45224.
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1. Steve and Pat Robertson, Max and Jeanie Schellman and Nancy and Dick Klus showed off their St. X gear to some of the grass-skirted islanders of Hawaii. 2. Ed (’65) and Jean Quinn, parents of Sean (’04) and Drew (’05), showed their Bomber pride along the cannons of Morro Castle in San Juan, Puerto Rico during a sixisland cruise in November. The Quinns celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on the trip. 3. Jeff Thiemann (’86), Steve Buerkle (’87), Mike Scheible (’87), future Bomber Conner Kasson, Chuck Thiemann (’81), Chad Thiemann (’12) and Brian Kasson (father of Luke (’12) and Matt (’11), who aren’t pictured here) enjoyed a successful duck hunt on the Great Lakes in November. 4. John Tillotson ('06) deployed to Iraq with the 182nd AW out of Peoria, Illinois, for four months from May to September 2009. 5. Bob Fitzgerald— former theology teacher and grandfather of current Bombers Alex Jacob (’12), John Jacob (’13) and Scott Cupito (’11)—was all smiles after the 160 shutout of Colerain to open the St. X football season Aug. 28, 2009. 6. Former St. X President Fr. Walter Deye S.J. (’66) ran across Bomber buddies who are now students at the University of Michigan, on a visit to Ann Arbor in September.
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4. 3. 1. John Weller ('64) poses at the entrance to the 1877 Big Hole battlefield site, part of the Nez Perce National Historical Park, during a bicycle tour of southwest Montana in August 2009. 2. The Locaputo family (from left) Heather, Molly, Beth, Bailey (the poodle), John, Maggie (the poodle), Jeff Bradshaw, Drew (’91) and Ella enjoyed a July 2009 trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina, spending a week at Tim (’75) and Lisa Schroeder’s house, an auction item during X-Travaganza 2009. 3. Derek Smith (’99) and his wife Lauren traveled in Italy in September 2009. This photo was taken while hiking through the Cinque Terre. 4. Dr. Dan Meakin (’84) went on a seven-day canoe and camping with his children in Algonquin, Canada, where he enjoyed great wildlife and very few humans. 5. Ted Dawson (’57) is the Executive Director of the Columbus (Indinana) Economic Development Board. The photo was taken at the Wuxi, China, International Sister Cities World Forum on Urban Construction and Development in October 2008. Ted also has been to Japan and Europe in his role as Executive Director. 6. Jerry Weber (’75) and son Dan (’10) took a trip to the premier Boy Scout camp, Philmont, and embarked on a hike of 81 miles in 10 days at an average 9,000 feet elevation. The peak of the trip, both physically and metaphorically, is the hike to the top of Mount Baldy at 12,400 feet. Dan received his Eagle Scout this year, and his project was computerizing and cataloging the library at St. Boniface grade school. He is also a tenor drummer in the marching band and rows for the Cincinnati Junior Rowing Club. 7. The Broderick family soaked up some sea and sun on the isle of Capri, Italy. Pictured from left are Tim (’11), Katie, Julie, Donna, Joe (’74) and Joe (’02). 8. Bob Mackey ('61) visited classmate Bill Eastlake (’61) this summer for three weeks of fishing, hiking and catching up. Bill and Bob met the original famous potato, Mr. Potatohead himself, at his home in Tetonia, Idaho. 9. Jake Daggett (’11) and his father John took a summer canoe trip to the Canadian border boundary waters, where they displayed their Bomber gear. 10. Paul Kuhn (’05) stands on top of Volcano Irazu (11,260 feet to the bottom) in Costa Rica, where he spent three months working as an intern for Boston Scientific in 2009.
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1. On the left, Steve Linkenfelter ('72) and on the right Bill Overbeck ('72) in Xiamen, China. Steve lives in Xiamen. He is an Executive Director at Crown Plastics and is responsible for the company's China manufacturing operations. 2. Maj. Paul Sand (’85) USAF is deployed to Afghanistan, executing construction projects for the Afghan National Security Forces. The picture shows him in front of the chapel at Camp Phoenix in Kabul, where he played the keyboard at Mass. In December he moved to Camp Stone in western Afghanistan, working Afghan police projects for Regional Support Team-West and continuing his music ministry service. He expects to return stateside in March, 2010. 3. Brothers Tom (’77) and Peter Wimberg ('80) rode their bikes down the Blue Ridge Parkway, starting at the northern end in Waynesboro, Virginia, and finishing 470 miles and five days later at the southern end in Cherokee, North Carolina. Pete rode all 470 miles; Tom unfortunately missed one day of riding due to mechanical problems with his bike. The photo is from the final day of the ride on the crest of Mount Balsam, the high point of the Parkway at 6,053 feet. 4. From left to right, 2003 classmates Adam Johnson, James Sand, groom Christopher Tracy and Steven Mollmann, show X marks the spot of Tracy’s wedding June 20, 2009 in Holy Spirit Chapel, at Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana. 5. Ryan Motz (’10) on the left and Geoff Motz (’07) appear 100 feet below the surface at Molasses Reef off West Caicos Island in the Turks and Caicos. Both recently received their advanced open water certification. 6. St. X assistant strength and conditioning coach Ron Hatten vacationed with sons Nolan and Brennan in Naples, Florida, in April 2009. They were joined, from left, by 2009 graduates Mike Vance, Pat Muldoon, Billy Douglas, Sam Edminston and Mike Hervey for lunch at Cheeburger Cheeburger. 7. Former English teacher Jim Downey donned his St X cap during a November trip to Angor Wat, Cambodia, his ninth major trip since retiring. 8. Marc Brooks (’94) finished the Ironman in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in June 2009, where he proudly made an X at the finish. 9. The Roth family—including from left Jerry (’69), Jerome (’11) and Ed (’08)—displays its copy of St. Xavier at the Washington Monument in Washington D.C.
X-Cerpts/X-Peditions What is up? You can let us know in a variety of ways—send a photo for our X-Peditions feature or tell fellow Bombers about your wedding, a recent move, your latest promotion, a family addition, your retirement or other news via the Alumni X-Cerpts pages. Just fill out and send in the form below. We’re looking forward to hearing from you soon. Mail the form to: St. Xavier High School (Magazine), 600 W. North Bend Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45224. FAX 513-761-2586 or e-mail: mmotz@stxavier.org
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4. 1. St. Xavier grads and moms enjoyed their St. Xavier magazines at the Ohio State University/Alpha Tau Omega Mom’s weekend. The moms brought the St. Xavier magazine to their sons to read over the weekend. Included in the photo are Bomber brothers turned fraternity brothers in Brian Holbrook (’08), Brian Ulliman (’08), Scott Feltrup (’08), Zach Sparks (’08), Michael Matthews (’08), Joe Uphaus (’06), Francis Larkin (’05), Evan Butler (’05) and their respective mothers. 2. Former St. X President Walter Deye S.J. (’66) caught up with some Bomber grads now at Boston College, including Phil Gill (’08), Ignacio Martin (’09), Albert Vontz (’08) and Alex Albright (’06). 3. Kareem Khozaim (’00) graduated with a BA in Arabic from Washington University in St. Louis in 2004 and now is a fourth-year medical student at UC College of Medicine. Kareem spent last year in Kenya doing reproductive health research and capacity building, including a month working specifically on obstetric fistula repair. The photo also features Dr. Hillary Mabeya and anesthesiologist Dr. Kiboi in the simple operating room after a day of surgery at the Ortum Mission Hospital in Ortum, Kenya, in July 2009. 4. Brian (’04) and Kevin Mueller (’06) stand in front of the relic of St. Francis Xavier’s arm at Il Gesu, the Jesuit mother church in Rome, Italy, in September of 2009. 5. Michael Roelker (’05) and parents Carol Leigh Roelker and Stephen Roelker pose in front of the USS Truxton during the commissioning ceremony for the ship— an event sponsored by Carol—April 25, 2009 in Charleston, South Carolina. 6. Matt Imfeld (’78) and his father J.C. were in Rome watching the Bengals beat the Steelers at an Irish pub in November 2009, and ran into Andrew Fitzwater (’07), who spent a semester studying abroad in the Eternal City.
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(President’s Message, continued from page 9.) appreciated. I learned that writers need to learn to take rejection of their work lightly, because the reality is that your work will probably be rejected several times before it is published. “The book signing at Joseph Beth was one of the most rewarding experiences of the whole process. It was like being a celebrity for an hour. A couple of my students showed up. I had always dreamed about doing a book signing.” English teacher Joseph Rouse, co-author of Puller’s Runner (Rowan & Littlefield). This is a book of historical fiction about Marine General Chesty Puller, who commanded in the Pacific theater during World War II and later in Korea. It is co-authored by Nick Ragland, a Marine veteran who served in Vietnam, who is the father of two St. Xavier alumni. “Nick Ragland and I wanted people to know about Chesty Puller,” Mr. Rouse said. “People know about Army generals— McArthur, Marshall, Patton—but not about Marine generals. Every Marine knows about Puller as a legendary general remembered for brutal training because he wanted his troops to be very prepared in combat. “A runner is a liaison between a commanding officer and his troops. The story is told from the point of view of the runner. It took me a year and a half to talk my coauthor into writing it from the perspective of a runner. Originally he wanted to do it in third person and I wanted to do it in first person. We decided to use a narrator who is very apprehensive about this man he was serving under and then to grow to appreciate his style and his leadership. “The idea for the book developed gradually. Nick approached me about writing a play about this Marine legend after he’d just seen Mark Twain Tonight by Hal Holbrook. For a few months we worked on a play version, and then met with some folks from Playhouse in the Park. They said it would be too overwhelming to try to do a one-man play. So we decided to make it a book. Nick was the military expert who had already written a well-researched biography of Puller. I contributed the idea for the narrator and put flesh on the story. Nick and I wrote and then compared drafts. It took a special relationship to do what we did. It took us just under six years. “Writing the book helped me in being moderator of the school newspaper. Because of the experience, I can explain to students what writing is like and how hard it is to be
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Religion teacher Mike Daley, co-editor of Reclaiming Catholicism: Treasures Old and New (Orbis Books). Mr. Daley said in this book co-editor Thomas Groome and he seek to express “what it was like to be Catholic in what some people say was the heyday of American Catholicism, to give people who didn’t experience life before Vatican II an appreciation of their grandparents’ experience of Catholicism.” “Writing for me is a time of prayer,” he said. “The topics that I write about span from scripture, to theology, to spirituality. Often I’ve been able to integrate my experiences as a father and what that has brought to bear in my own life and connect that with the Christian tradition. For me, as hard as it is to pray, writing is a wonderful opportunity for me to think about my relationship with myself, with my family, and the Christian tradition that I’m a part of. Given that a lot of my writing is based on spirituality as it reflects parenthood, my writing has taught me that I’m the Catholic who I am, the father who I am, and the human who I am because I discover God in the context of my parenthood. I’m convinced that I’m not called to go anywhere else to find God and to develop my relationship with Jesus but in the context of parenthood. That’s a key
experience of grace in my life. One thing that calls me to be attentive to that is writing. I tell myself if I’m not writing, I’m far more easily distracted in terms of doing things that aren’t going to lead me to a healthy and authentic life. “Some of my writing is based on my experiences in my classroom. The lives I’m in front of every day in the classroom, the honesty with which the students struggle to live out their tradition, and the energy that’s in the classroom find expression in my writing. There’s a mutuality between my writing and my classroom. One feeds the other.”
“There’s a mutuality between my writing and the classroom. One feeds the other.”
St. Xavier High School
CALENDAR Fans applaud the Bomber golf team during the state tournament in Columbus.
spring 2010
DATE TIME
CLASS/GROUP GATHERING
LOCATION
MARCH 5
11:30 A.M.
First Friday Mass/Luncheon
St. Xavier Church
12
7:00 P.M.
X-Travaganza First Night
Ellis Gym
13
5:30 P.M.
X-Travaganza 2010
Berning Gym
Third Quarter Exams
St. Xavier High School
24-26 APRIL 2-9
Easter Vacation—No classes
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9:30 A.M.
Alumni Baseball Game
South Campus Diamond
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5:30 P.M.
Class of ’44 Annual Reunion
Chapel/Reynolds Room
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7:30 P.M.
Opening Night TX’s Urinetown
DeyePerformanceCenter
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Class of 1950 60-year Reunion
St. Xavier High School
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Commissioning Mass
Berning Gym
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First Friday Mass/Luncheon
St. Xavier Church
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9:30 A.M.
Father-Son Communion Breakfast
Holy Companions Chapel
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5:30 P.M.
Golden and Then Some Reunion
Chapel/Cafeteria
Senior Exams
St. Xavier High School
MAY
Thank you to everyone who joined us for Grand Reunion Weekend October 16 and 17, 2009. We’ve already begun planning Grand Reunion 2010 for the classes of 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995 and 2000. To get involved in the planning for your class, please contact Alumni Director John Schrantz (’96) at jschrantz@stxavier.org, Local phone: 761-7815, ext. 116 Toll free: 800-572-5340, ext. 116 Reunion information always is available on our web site at www.stxavier.org. Click on the alumni tab.
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Northern Kentucky Reunion
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Baccalaureate Mass
Berning Gym
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Memorial Day—No classes
JUNE 2-4 3
7:30 P.M.
Fourth Quarter Exams
St. Xavier High School
Class of 2010 Graduation
Cintas Center
Senior Ryan Seminara works on a portrait project during Open House 2009.
The cast of Theatre Xavier’s The Fifth Sun has a moment of levity before tackling issues of faith and justice on stage.
Non-Profit Org. U.S. POSTAGE
PAID 600 W. North Bend Road Cincinnati, OH 45224-1499 www.StXavier.org
Cincinnati, Ohio Permit No. 5253
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Chairs Roseanne and Gene Colleran, co-chairs Mary and Jim Thacker and the St. X family call you to the post for all the X-citement of X-Travaganza 2010: A Derby Night X-acta Saturday, March 13, in the Berning Gymnasium.
THE 2010 X-TRAVAGANZA LIVE AUCTION will be like no other—veteran bidders will be amazed and new bidders thrilled by the lineup of X-traordinary items, including an afternoon with Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong for a personally guided tour of Wright Patterson Air Force Base; a Kentucky Derby package with four tickets to the Kentucky Derby in Millionaire’s Row, two nights at the famed Galt House in downtown Louisville for Derby weekend, dinner at Jeff Ruby's in Louisville and limo; a GTI Sea-Doo with trailer; a one-week vacation stay in five-bedroom home in Italy, an hour north of Rome, and the donor will help you plan your trip during a home-cooked Italian dinner; as well as many other unique items, experiences and vacation opportunities. Visit the St. X web page at www.stxavier.org, click on Live Auction for featured items with pictures and more details. For more information on any aspect of X-Travaganza, please call 761-7815, ext. 113 or 117.