The Official Unofficial

XAVIER HIGH SCHOOL New York City

Class of 1964 - 35th Anniversary Reunion

    Well, the 35th Anniversary Reunion of the Class of 1964 is now history.  Sixty-four members of the class signed up for the Saturday night affair, but unfortunately six had to cancel for one reason or the other at the last minute.

The festivities began on 16th Street with a Mass in the Student Chapel celebrated by Fr. Joseph Latella, the defacto Chaplain of the Class of 1964.  About twenty of us were able to attend this early in the afternoon.

Mass was followed by a tour of the School conducted by the staff of the Alumni Relations office.  We wended our way up and down back stairs and hallways, visiting facilities both old and new.  Highlights were a visit to the new library and a view of the computer lab located right next door.

We saw the new band room located exactly where it was 35 years ago, but unrecognizable with its raised platforms and brand new instrument lockers.

After stopping for a few memories of Monday morning assemblies and the last senior Basketball game against Lew Alcinder and his team, we ended the tour in the quadrangle where many of us had spent long hours of "Jug" walking off our punishment tours.  The quad is a little smaller and a little more student-friendly now with benches to sit on for a few moments of relaxation.

We regrouped in the lobby where Fr. Gatti greeted us and we were able to see the many plaques commemorating those Sons of Xavier who gave their lives in World Wars I and II, as well as Korea and Vietnam.  We also saw the names of some of our generous classmates on the donor plaque for the Sesquicentennial campaign.

Piling into a number of private vehicles, we traveled uptown to the Columbus Club for the evenings festivities.  The cocktail hour passed all too quickly as more and more members of the Class arrived and were greeted by friends that some had not seen in 35 years.  Frank Dorritie traveled all the way from San Francisco to attend his first reunion ever.  Mike Catalano came in from Colorado.  Some of us traveled all the way from northern New Jersey or Queens.

We had a great dinner, punctuated by various toasts and reminiscences, and even a few startling revelations.

The evening ended with Frank Dorritie playing the piano in the lobby while good-byes were said and promises to get together in five years or sooner were exchanged.  A few hearty souls (about half the group) continued the festivities at one of the many uptown drinking establishments until the wait staff put us out the door so that they could go home.

Sunday morning dawned all too early for some of us, and a smaller group made its way with spouses and families to the Douglaston Club in Douglaston, Queens for a wonderful Sunday brunch.  More stories were told, some explaining to spouses the late arrival home of the previous night, and much of the conversation revolved around children and careers and hopes and dreams both fulfilled and not yet fulfilled.  It was a relaxing, enjoyable afternoon, and a pleasant end to another reunion weekend.

To those of you who joined us, it was great to see all of you.  To those of you who couldn't be there, please know that you were missed.  We're planning to do it again in five years, so pencil it in on your calendar before you get too busy.

We're going to try to maintain this website as a link for members of the class to keep in touch.  If you have comments or questions or just want to reminisce about old times, please join the mailing list.  Please send an introduction so we know where you are and what you're doing.

We hope to put up a password accessible class directory in the near future, so bookmark this page and watch for updates.

And finally, I personally want to say thank you to the committee that helped put the reunion together, especially our three co-chairmen, who worked so hard to make it a great success.

The Class of '64 Reunion Committee