It’s snowing like crazy here in Colorado and the weather brings back fond memories of Rochester’s lake affect snow (is that affect or effect?). So I thought I’d slog down memory lane and list a few of the great things I remember about Cardinal Mooney. Please add to the list by posting a comment!

CARDINAL MOONEY MEMORIES:

• Sister Lisette’s art class where we got to listen to the radio while working on projects
• The year Mooney didn’t have a play a group of us performed in the Aquinas production of ”Fiddler on the Roof”; the year we did “Annie Get Your Gun” and ‘74 alum, Ann Short had the lead as Annie
• Hiking up our hemlines by rolling up our skirts under those dorky sweater vests
• The newspaper drive
• 100 Days
• The fence bordering Mooney property and the shopping mall where smokers would congregate
• The ladies who worked in the cafeteria - saints, all of them!
• How big the school seemed and how overwhelming it felt in those first Freshman weeks
• Latin class (puer/boy, puella/girl)
• Ski club trips to Swain Ski Resort

Swain ski resort in Upstate New York

 Ahhh, the good old days!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Please forward this post to anyone who graduated in 1973. I’d like to help the 1973 Class Reunion Committee get wider distribution. They’ve been hard at work on this for quite some time! (I love the “Cardinally yours” close!)

Laura

“…we need your email addresses and any other known classmate addresses. Contact us at cm73reunion@gmail.com with any suggestions and updates. Tracking 360+ people is quite a challenge, but with your help we can do it! Stay tuned for more info and fun photos. This reunion will be worth waiting 35 years for! –Cardinally yours, cm73reunion committee”

Talk about a small world!

This weekend my sister Lisa hosted a 50th BD party for other sister, Cindy Francis, formerly Cindy Schickler. (Can you believe we’re now in our 50’s?!?) Among the many friends and relatives who attended, was my second cousin, Jenny. Her parents still live in Rochester, but she’s lived all over the world, including volunteering in Alaska for the Iditerod race where she used her vet tech skills to take care of the dogs.

On her way out the door at the end of the party, she mentioned a friend had sent her an article about Abbott’s Custard. She said the article came from a high school blog.

She had no idea that the blog she referenced was this one! (The post she referenced was the one on Abbott’s Custard and Other Rochester NY Memories!)

What a surprise! I’m so glad to know that the posts on this blog are making their way around the US to CM alumni friends and family!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Laura Benjamin (aka Laurie Schickler)

A faculty update from Suzanne (Langelotti) Fox:

I do not believe Mr. Nietopski has NOT passed yet…I found this fairly recent article…read below….

Also, anybody remember Mr. Cy Resch? He taught Social Studies and Gym.  Well, to my surprise my older son had him as a Social Studies Teacher in 9th grade at Churchville Chili  Junior High School in Churchville, NY. He lookes the same…as we all do right? He also teaches Drivers Education. (Small world)…

Also, my home parish is St. Lawrence. (I now attend St. Pius X, in Chili, NY ) I have known Fr. Haycock since I was in 1st grade.  He knows my family well. My parents still attend St. Lawrence.  He is a wonderful man…..

Here’s the article…
Monday, May 08, 2006
What do they do at Nietopski Sports? I’ve walked past the sign on the door a few times and always wondered what they do at Nietopski Sports, so I decided to stop by and find out.

If you’ve lived in the Greece area for any length of time, you’ve certainly heard of Ed Nietopski. He is the beloved (recently retired) baseball and basketball coach from Cardinal Mooney and Bishop Kearney. I assumed Mr. Nietopski ran the business but was pleasantly surprised to learn that his daughter Theresa is the founder and President of Nietopski Sports.

Theresa started the business thirteen years ago after graduating from St. John Fisher College. She began selling sporting goods and team wear but quickly grew to include business gifts, promotional premium items and advertising specialties. They essentially add logos to products such as hats, golf balls, pens, water bottles and just about anything else. A sample of the name brands they offer are Carhart, Nike, Adidas and Under-armour, just to name a few. They service sports teams, universities, schools, political campaigns and golf tournaments. The business grew so quickly that she brought her sister Margaret and family friend Joyce Daly on board to help keep up with demand.

If that weren’t enough, Theresa is an avid volunteer and sponsors many events in the Rochester area. She was recently named a board member for the New York Branch of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and is on the boards of Golisano Childrens’ Hospital, National Kidney Foundation and the Red Cross. She volunteers at Hope Hall and School of the Holy Childhood. Nietopski Sports also sponsored the Monroe County Girls Sports Festival.

While it’s wonderful to recognize all the good that big companies do for our communities, it’s also nice to highlight some of the things small businesses are doing.

If you’d like more information about Nietopski Sports you can access the website at http://www.nietopskisports.com or phone (585) 663-8180. They are located at 550 Latona Road, Building C, Suite 307, Rochester, NY 14626.

From Chuck Cooper (Class of ‘73)

A very dedicated group of the class of 73 are planing a 35yr reunion. We need updated info, so please send a message to cm73reunion@gmail.com with your contact information. When we have a firm date we can send out information and invitations.

Boy, it’s been a while since I’ve posted to THIS blog, so my apologies to folks for the delay. However, great news prompted me to bust a move and refocus my attention.

Our own John Larrere co-authored an article published in Business Week, entitled Advice for Obama’s First 100 Days.

The article is very good and no matter whom your preferred Presidential candidate, the points made in this article apply to anyone in a leadership role, formal or informal.

Anyone else out there have something they’d like the group to know about? Please email it over to me or post a comment!

All my best, Laura Benjamin (formerly Laurie Schickler)

Well folks, we’re back in Rochester for a family reunion and have rented a beautiful cottage on Honeoye Lake. The reunion went great, the weather has been unbelievably perfect (one full week of no rain and sunny skies) and my daughter and I are having ourselves a great time.

However, in some ways it’s been a little sad. We brought the memories of the way things were tucked neatly inside the zippered compartments of our carry on luggage. But they didn’t quite fit the reality once we unpacked the car.

People have changed and moved on with their lives, places we lived and played are overgrown or deteriorated. And everything seems so, well - unfamiliar! You spend a good deal of your life somewhere, then you move away and within a very short time you can’t remember how to get from A to B.  

(Watch the drama unfold as I stumble down this philosophical path…)

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has ever been told, “Silly girl. Dontcha know? You can’t ever go home again!”

But it’s easy and so self-indulgent to glamorize a place when you’re living half a continent away!

Ever wonder if perhaps it would have better not to know?

Nawww! And here’s why!

Reasons Why It’s Great to Go Home Again

(Hummed to the tune of “You know you’re from Rochester when…”)

1. I look at things with fresh eyes and see the beauty I didn’t fully appreciate when I lived here. Like the rolling hills, sparkling lakes and amazing green-ness of Upstate NY. In Colorado, it gets pretty brown and dried out by the end of the summer and water is always in short supply!

2. We love the roadside fruit and veggie stands. We don’t have them where I live, so it’s a real delight to know the stuff you’re buying has come straight from the field.

3. Coming from a farming family, there’s nothing quite so satisfying as seeing rows upon rows of corn stalks waving in the breeze and rows upon rows of freshly plowed soil. (We have tons of rock and sagebrush in our end of Colorado, but they don’t easily bend to the will of a plow!)

4. We don’t have grape pies. I can highly recommend Cindy’s Pies in Naples on #5 Academy Street.

5. It’s gratifying to hear that a whole new younger generation (much younger!) are going to the same grammar school you attended. (St. Pius X School) Especially in an era where Catholic schools are closing right and left, I’m particularly happy to see my grade school alma mater is still alive and well.

6. Former co-workers at the Rochester Institute of Technology haven’t changed a bit! And they were gracious enough to say the same about me! (Thanks Sue and Paula! It was wonderful to see you both again!)

7. You realize how much you’ve learned since you last lived in a particular place. Dare I say, you realize how much you’ve matured? When does one know you’ve become a “grown-up” anyway? When you’ve got children of your own? Grandchildren? The name of a plastic surgeon in your rolodex?

8. You trot your young adults around to all the historical places your parents took you and they’re actually interested! Surprisingly, you learn a few things along the way too!

9. You see the improvements made within the community that didn’t exist when you lived here like roadways, college expansions, playgrounds, etc. You also realize that every community struggles with crime, gangs and drugs, so where you came from and where you now live aren’t really so different in that regard.

10. It’s comforting to know that family are still family. No matter how far we travel or how long we’ve been gone, it only takes one look into the faces of aunts, uncles, neices and cousins to see reflections of grandparents long gone. And then you realize how many lives and how much living has gone into making us who we are!

Please spread the word about this blog to anyone who attended or taught at Cardinal Mooney High School in Rochester NY. We welcome your stories, photos and updates!

Laura, writing from Honeoye Lake until Saturday when we head to Burlington VT!

Hi folks! Here are some of the most recent comments and updates:

- Mary Beth Campbell Judd is trying to reconnect with class of 1970 alumni. Please contact her at: judlul (at) comcast (dot) net.

- Class of 73 reunion (tenatively in 2009, don’t ask…) I’ve just gotten word from Bev Payne that the ‘reunion committee’ is meeting on Sept 23 at a location in Rochester area. If you want to be part of that committee - contact me at gshevrin at gmail dot com and I will put you in touch. I don’t want to post their email addresses without permission. Enjoy!! Gini Snyder Shevrin

- Attention Class of 1973: I heard from Beverly Payne. She and Tony DiMartino are trying to get a reunion together. If you are interested in sharing ideas or helping to organize, we will be at Johnnys Irish Pub, 1382 Culver Road Rochester, NY 14609 on September 23rd at 6pm. Hope to see you there.

Laurie Schickler Benjamin, Class of 1974, back in Rochester this week from Colorado visiting family. Enjoyed a Zweigle’s hot dog tonight. Sure have missed ‘em!

Here’s a “howdy” note from Ann Short, Class of 74:

Oh John Larrere! Just seeing your face brought back so many happy memories of high school. So happy to see you doing so well! I live in Ithaca, NY; my daughter is working in marketing in Manhattan, working for the firm that handles “Wicked”, and I am, in fact, visiting her there this weekend, 8/22-24/08. I quick thanks to Teresa Ringholz for forwarding me this website. Laurie Schickler! Great job! Can you believe it will be 35 years in ‘09? Holy —-! Hi to all alum I was honored to matriculate with! Ann Short

Hi folks! We’ve had two questions come in the past few days I thought I’d post here:

1. From Jane Danielson Rickard at jdr2431@yahoo.com

Jane wants to know if there are any Mooney grads in the Chicago area. Please respond to her directly.

2. From Chuck Cooper Chas177@aol.com asking if there’s any news on a 1973 reunion. Please let him know if you have that information!