Reunion 2007 in Houston Tx
October 19-22
Reporters: Paul
Murphy and Ed HerndonThis was the first of what is hoped to be a recurring alternate year reunion in Texas.. Previous reunions have been held on Even number years at Strawberry Island and most recently at Holy family Retreat House near Windsor.
Invitations were posted early and we beat the Hedgerows to get participation especially from the many Texas Basilians and Former Basilians who had never attended before. Many participants had not seen each other for as many as fifty years... And that's too long.
The Barry House was where
we met
Our hosts were the Dick Barry extended family. The
photo below
includes Dick & Mary Ann and John & Leti Hosty. Mary Ann
& John are sister & brother and Leti is the sister of Enrique
Bravo, C.S.B. - now deceased.
They have to be four of the most generous people on the planet. The Barrys made multiple trips (at least one hour round-trip) to the airport to collect guests or return them. They chauffeured guests to and from the various hotels. Mary Ann and family prepared breakfasts, lunches, brunches and most of the arrival-evening buffet along with the local former Basilians. The Barrys provided the soft drinks along with the beer, wine and liquor. They were constantly either preparing meals or doing dishes. All they accepted was $15 (and that was weak U.S. $) for the catered Texas-Barbecue. Their home was completely open to us for the whole time - they didn't even ask us to take off our shoes.
They have to be four of the most generous people on the planet. The Barrys made multiple trips (at least one hour round-trip) to the airport to collect guests or return them. They chauffeured guests to and from the various hotels. Mary Ann and family prepared breakfasts, lunches, brunches and most of the arrival-evening buffet along with the local former Basilians. The Barrys provided the soft drinks along with the beer, wine and liquor. They were constantly either preparing meals or doing dishes. All they accepted was $15 (and that was weak U.S. $) for the catered Texas-Barbecue. Their home was completely open to us for the whole time - they didn't even ask us to take off our shoes.
They moved into their new home just last March. Dick Barry's five
children tried to talk him out of building such a huge house for just
the two of them but Dick wanted to build it to welcome his
grandchildren. The photo includes ten of the thirteen
grandchildren; the first eleven were all girls but now they have
six-week and six-month old boys. The house has obviously been
designed for children: a huge playroom, two indoor pools, indoor
basketball court, croquet, etc., etc.
Dick Barry is from Detroit but the Basilians sent him to teach at St.
Thomas High School. He continued to teach high school after
leaving the Basilians. However, he didn't think he could afford
the $166 per month mortgage on the house they wanted to buy. He
saw an ad for a job at I.B.M. and the rest his history. When he
founded his own computer company, he made his niche the Mainframe
DB2. He has only three competitors but they are the likes of
I.B.M. He has subsidiarys in Britain, Germany and France and has
just now got a toe-hold in China. We asked him to give us a tour
of his office in Houston. He rents ($30,000 per month) the whole
5th floor of an office building for his 30 employees - very
impressive.
Thank you Dick & Mary Ann and the whole extended family for such a
fantastic Texas welcome.
Saturday Sessions
We had a very serious "sit down and pay attention" meeting on Saturday morning - actually it was not that serious but a lot of tributes were paid to the Basilian community. Dwyer Sullivan invited all to give a 30 second accounting of their life story. He then proceeded to use about three minutes... His was longer tale. Everyone soon picked up on the fact that there would be no enforcement of the 30 second time limit. We all appreciate very much the experience we had with this great community of men.
The magical round the of story telling
Eugene Bammel, Ed Herndon, Pat Gibbons, Dwyer Sullivan, Bob Boykin, Phill Beers, Larry Elmer, John Hosty
Bob Duggan CSB, Barry Smith, Pea Cock, Joe Goeters, Al Gaelens CSB, Cyril Doherty, John Bosco CSB, Bob Klem CSB
Paul Murphy, John Magee, Ken Cashion, Dick Stromatt, Dwyer Sullivan, Jack Wilson CSB, Dick Barry, Fred Allnoch
Lei Bammel, Sally Beers, Charlotte Goeters, Marion Herndon, Leti Hosty
The Group Photo
Dear Former Basilians and Houston
Basilians,
Wow!! Wasn't that a party!! It was fantastic!! We had a terrific turn out. Here is a list of those who participated:
Wow!! Wasn't that a party!! It was fantastic!! We had a terrific turn out. Here is a list of those who participated:
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Local Basilians:
Al Gaelens Ron Schwenzer
Bud Pare Don Kuder Jim Carruthers John Boscoe Jack Wilson Jay Walsh Gerry Dillon Bob Klem Joe Mitrano Carl Belisch Wilf Canning George Hosko Bob Duggan Jim Gaunt Roy Oggero Vince Dulock |
Local Former
Basilians:
Dick & Mary Ann Barry Barry
& Sally Smith *
John &
Leti Hosty *
Joe &
Charlotte Goeters *
Ed &
Marion Herndon
Pat &
Cynthia Gibbons *
Ken &
Mary Catherine Choyce*
Dick &
Carol Stromatt*
Gene &
Sandra Oser*
Fred &
Joan Allnoch*
Dick Bormet *
Jim Boland* John Magee * Note First time at an AOFB Reunion |
Former Basilians from afar: Phil & Sally Beers Ken &
Mary Catherine Cashion
Paul & Anne Murphy Bob &
Kathleen Boykin
Gene &
Lei Bammel
Dwyer Sullivan
Cyril Doherty
Larry Elmer
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Group Photo
With the List above the challenge is to identify as many as you can.
Click here to get the Big Version
From Rochester 53: Ed Herndon, Bud Pare, Jim Carruthers, Don Kuder, Fred Allnoch
Touring
The local former Basilians did a fantastic job of organizing the reunion and recruiting participants. Al Gaelens was outstanding in getting the local Basilians involved and organizing the tours and Basilian presentations. Ron Schwenzer gave us a detailed tour of St. Thomas High School.
You will note that Ed Herndon and Cy Doherty are not paying very close attention. Larry Elmer & Dwyer Sullivan, who had taught there many, many years ago, were very impressed with the expansion and renovations.
Jim Keon, C.S.B. assisted in the tour of the University of
St. Thomas and we also had a chat with Pat Braden, C.S.B. during the
course of the tour. The university Basilians are very
proud of their new chapel and the numerous upgrades to the campus.
St Basil Chapel
St Basil Chapel
Stations are most unusual
St Thomas University Campus
Mass at The Barry chapel
Fr. Bud Pare led us in the
celebration of the eucharist. It was fitting that it should be
Bud since it was he and Bill Coughlin who initiated the founding of the
Association of Former Basilians. At our reunion
at Holy Family Retreat House near Windsor from July
18-20, 2008, we will be honoring Bud Pare on our 20th
anniversary. We are hoping that we will get not only Texas
former Basilians to join us but Texas Basilians as well.
Gathered for the Eucharistic Celebration
Gathered for the Eucharistic Celebration
Sunday Brunch and Farewells
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After the Sunday brunch at the Barrys, some went sailing with Ed Herndon and others went for a tour of the Galveston area with Joe Goeters.
Paul and Anne Murphy,
Marion and Ed Herndon, Dwyer Sulluvan, Larry Elmer
Cruised Galveston Bay and Dined at Babins on Kemah Boardwalk
The Texas Reunion will be a hard act to follow but
we will do our best at Reunion 2008: July 18-20 just outside of
Windsor, Ontario. Cruised Galveston Bay and Dined at Babins on Kemah Boardwalk
Souviner 2007 Reunion Programme