Reunion Presentation

It’s an honor to be with you fellow sojourners in life

Since 1958 we have experienced joy, we have weathered strife

But we are here to have fun and celebrate our survival

So let me try to rekindle through some memory revival

The CHS experience of one fifties teenager

Similar yet different from others here I’ll wager

It all began when 2 ninth grade friends, Maureen Curran and I

Decided to attend CHS after graduating from Forest Park Junior High

We took the exam, were accepted…. high school, what fun!

Then reality surfaced, what have we done?

Imagine the angst and such great trepidation

Beginning our experience of Catholic High School education

But up the steps to the hayloft we went that Sept. morn

Looking a little bit bewildered and somewhat forlorn

To meet our classmates and teachers who were already acquainted

We, public school girls, did they think we were tainted?

And the first time for us, being taught by a nun

Was the dynamic duo for sophomore curriculum

Sister Walter Maria and Sr. Patty Joe

Would happy school days be soon filled with woe?

As it turned out in the end we had nothing to fear

When we studied a lot and went into full gear

To the shock of the sisters who were truly floored

We public school girls academically soared

Even more shocking was how well we behaved

We truly were good girls not at all depraved

     Aside:  Once you had to write 100 times “it is not doing the things you like to do but liking the things you have to do that make life pleasant” in perfect penmanship you learned it was easier to ”toe the line”

We understood there was blatant discrimination

Being a girl at CHS had its limitation

Physical education programs were organized around all-boy sports teams

Girls were considered non-athletic it seems

But once those basic issues were mostly resolved

We settled back and thankfully a social life evolved

Maureen was the envy of many a girl

She had so many beaus; her life was a –twirl

I like many a poor teen afflicted

With acne and unbelievably poor image addicted

Finally listened to my mother and put on a smile

And tried to be happy and not filled with bile

We both became involved with activities extra-curricular

Much more fun than chemistry’s all things molecular

Maureen became (before Abba) the Minstrel’s Dancing Queen

I thought the Glee Club was really quite keen

Maureen turned many a youthful boys’ heads

When tiptoeing through those Dutch tulip beds

I became a member of the “Boo Hoo” quartet

A Minstrel group one time performance we all wanted to forget

We agonized over Mari-like dresses for dances

Involved we became in some innocent romances

St. Theresa Club meetings with Fr. McClure

Who strived to make sure we all stayed quite pure

We spent our formative years in a virtual cocoon

Not necessarily ideal for what would come soon

But this was an unusual time in our country’s history

And the innocence that pervaded was quite a mystery We know there were families who were not like those in "Leave it to Beaver”

And mothers that never resembled June Cleaver

But we were in general totally oblivious

To what in later years became a bit obvious

That life wasn’t as simple as the Catholic Church preachings

And there was much to be learned from other faith’s teachings

And although the education was sometimes provincial Much of it became quite beneficial

The nuns taught us to recognize the right from the wrong

And the fathers inspired us on the field and in song

And as students we were prepared for some of the challenges ahead

Then life gave us lessons along the paths we were led 

In the meantime there were:

Football games, basketball games, smoking on the busses

Maureen and I fully engaged but avoided some of the fusses

We enjoyed the friendships of diverse groups

We knew nothing of divisiveness among the many troops

Holy Name, Mt. Carmel, Our Lady of Hope

Parish identity, we didn’t have the dope

So we could remain “Switzerland” in all our relations

Until the class culture became the “League of Nations”

The class learned that life wasn’t about “from whence we came”

Respect and tolerance was the name of the game

By senior year we truly were one

And 50 yrs. later when all’s said and done

It seems we have maintained that wonderful zest

For celebrating life for all of its best

Knowing full well we won’t escape the tomorrows

With its constant challenges and its sorrows

But for tonight let us celebrate and remember

All the good times we had from January to December

Every year we spent as the class of 58

How wonderful that was to have as our fate

So from your treasurer who thought it really quite funny

That in all of her tenure there was never any money

And the secretary who recorded nary a class meeting

Who now joins me in giving this heartfelt greeting

Let’s toast the friendships, the achievements, the laughter, the fun

The fabulous memories that are second to none

And let us remember this wonderful night

When we came together at an occasion truly “out of sight”

With thanks to the members of the reunion committee

Whose praises we sing in this little ditty

So let’s raise a glass of wine, coke or beer

And to the class of 58 sing out a cheer

With hopes that there’ll be more days in the sun

Before life is over and our time here is done

And to us all ……. newest golden panthers who join all the others

Let us go forward as sisters and brothers

To face the future whatever it may bring

And always be there with voices to sing

That we had a very special time and a story

We were part of Cathedral in all of its glory

Here’s to the class of ‘58