Stratton Park Message Board

JUST ABOUT SAYS IT ALL...<:~)


JohnT

John you are absolutly correct only the fonts for WOW are too small. What an incredible event this was, A tip of my cap and a twirl of me kilt to ALL the committee for an outstanding job. WELL DONE and I actually mean it. Those of you who know me know I don't pass out compliments lightly.

To see so many old friends and meet new friends, stories and past glories. All I can say is I'm blessed to have been a part of this reunion and darn(family board) lucky to to know so many good people.

Best thoughts , wishes and prayers to all who did and didn't make it.

Tom Anderson

Guys can not say it any better but I would like to triple that WOW.Like the song goes,"O What A Night",fantastic as well as the school tour on Sun.To all a special thanks.May the good Lord keep you safe in his loving arm's always and St.Anthony we love ya.

It is not often that an event surpasses your expectations - we have all had experiences where we build something up and when it actually occurs, it's a huge disappointment.

I don't think anyone cay say that about the events of this weekend. I still haven't come down back to earth. Saturday night was spectacular. Sunday was awesome. Cardinal Egan made it seem like he was one of us. The Mass was beautiful and left us wanting more.

Buffet lunch hit the spot and what can I say about the tour of the school? It brought it all back home. How surreal to sit in those classrooms again and remember the words of Sister Margaret, Sister Cornelius and all the faculty who imparted words of wisdom that we carry with us to this day. Also saw a few rulers (yes, the implements of torture are still there).

I could go on and on but I will leave it here for now in anticipation of other comments and observations. We prayed for good weather. St. Anthony delivered!

Just wanted to add to the sentiments posted so far. The re-union was tremendous, the setting, the music, the food and most of all the company. Many thanks to all those responsible and Cathy, you can breathe now, it went off without a hitch. It was great to see so many faces and friends from the past and present. Father time catches up with everyone but I think we all have "aged well". A quick story that shows a bit about our neighborhood. I was talking to Joe Maloney and spoke of us playing basketball at "Teen Club" in the 60's. Joe proceeds to open his wallet and produce his "Teen Club" membership card.
Sorry I couldn't make it Sunday. Arthritic hip was not quick to recover from Saturday night. I guess I haven't aged as well as I thought.

Jimmy Carolan

What a great time!Thank you to all the people who worked so hard behind the scenes to put on such an event. Everyone enjoyed themselves. The food and the company was terrific. It was amazing to see so many people and to see had good everyone looked.I bet it was all the Bronx water we all drank growing up. The tour of the classrooms was very nostalgic (At times it felt like one of the sisters was going to come up behind you) . St. Anthony was defintely looking down on us. Thanks again

Joanie, you did it! Welcome to the message board. I hope this will be the first of many postings. No matter how many stories people tell of the old neighborhood, there is always something new to share.

Thank you to all the organizers of the Centennial Party and School Tour. It reminded me that these are the best of days of our lives. How lucky to be able to say that we have all known each other for nearly 40 plus years and even more remarkable are all still friends. Unfortunately, it now takes me several days (maybe weeks) to recuperate from a good time. Also, I'm sorry I didn't grab one of those wonderful table signs with the street names. Patty Lamasney

Hello All, hope all is well. I'll echo the sentiments of all the above, Truly, a wonderful experience down memory lane, one that exceeded all expectations. Thanks to all who manifested a plan for the celebration and make it just absolutely fantastic. Patty, I was the last to leave the Mount and I believe in my dismantling of the displays I have a few of those signs. I'll double check and let you know. Hope to see a lot of folks at the picnic in July. Love, Peace and Happiness, Matt Keenan

I hope everyone had a good time at the reunion and got to catch up with some old friends. It was great to see some people whom we haven’t seen in a while.

Everyone on the Executive Committee was involved with the planning and execution of the event, with special thanks to Harry Kelly who acted as MC and arranged for the refreshments and bartenders (thanks go out to Bob Healy and his crew ), and Mike and Marion Cronin whose website was instrumental in processing and publishing ticket requests. Furthermore, the slideshow put together by the Cronins was exceptional.

There were other volunteers whose efforts focused on the reunion. Many thanks go to
Jimmy Carolan (how about those signposts?), Patricia DeStefano, Alanna Smyth, Noreen Horan, Sue Hetman, Kathy Lawless, Annie Tell, Bobby Carolan, and Marty Dulin. A special thanks also to Joe McCormick who took pictures throughout the night. The success of the event depended on the support of our fantastic neighborhood people, and as usual everyone came through with flying colors.

Thanks to all who helped and all who attended. God bless St. Anthony's and the wonderful Stratton Park neighborhood that bonded us all together.


On another note, kudos to Matt Keenan for the success of the school/church tour. His extensive research and efforts to bring the tour to life was so evident and so well received. Everyone seemed to go back in time as they toured the classrooms. I really enjoyed living the experience through the stories of those with whom I toured. It was the best.

Yes Cathy, it was a great success and those you name truly deserve a round of applause for all they contributed BUT several gremlins(some of whom you name) have told me that one Cathy Merendino was the ultimate party planner/organizer etc. Oh yeah "Little" Buggsy too!!!! WELL DONE to both!!!!!!!!!!

Tommy A

I have to agree with John Tell. This weekend was the best. It made me very proud of my little brother. John, you spent the whole weekend telling everyone I used to get you in trouble when we were in school. Now I think I know why you were always in trouble back then. You were hysterical this weekend and we Kelly girls had a lot of laughs talking about you after the reunion. Honey particularly liked your reenactment of your penmanship class. If you were like that 40+ years ago, our poor teachers probably didn't know what to do with you. I don't think laughing was allowed back then. And one other thing, as Honey and I were driving home yesterday, I had a phone call from Dancing with the Stars. It turns out that Carrie Ann, Len, and Bruno were actually the surprise guests at the event on Saturday. They want to get in touch with Jack and they are looking for his contact info. Can you help?

Take care, I had a great time, it was great to see all of the Clarks, the Clancys, the Mulligans (although I see them all the time), Frank Truglia, Richard Burrell and the rest. Thank you to all.

Kathleen

I'd like to congratulate everyone on what sounds to be a very successful 100th anniversary celebration of St. Anthony's history. I wish I could have been there. It's amazing and moving how people who lived through the Stratton Park era of that neighborhood's history embrace those memories so strongly not only in their minds, but in their very identities, myself included. I feel like the roots we got there, the trials and tribulations that we went through there, gave us a collective soul and heart that will remain with us forever, and lies at the central core of each of us. Although there was plenty of conflict among us, and often we focused on the differences between us, we were also strongly indentifed with one another and fiercely proud of our neighborhood. Looking back now, in many respects we were like a big extended family...at times lots of internal strife, but stood together as one when we needed to, and always a strong sense of community, of family at the heart of things.
It's pretty obvious that this St Anthony's 100th anniversary was much more than that. It was a Stratton Park Family Reunion, a celebration of the successful community of our youth. I hope the current parishoners get even some of the heart that we got from that Church/school/neighborhood.

Thank you to the entire committee for putting in the time & effort for this great weekend! It was a really huge undertaking and came off without a hitch.

Best regards to all!

Don & Ellie Diehl

just want to add my kudos as well. A great job by all on the commitee with special thanks to cathy merendino who never takes credit when credit is due, Harry Kelly the ace in the hole at putting these affairs together and Matt Keenan
for keeping the history or our old great neighborhood in order.. and I can't beleive I got to see "the chick" John Adams after all these years. I hope many of you can make it to the summer picnic on July 19th..details will be posted at a later date