Greetings again to the Great Class of 1974,
Fantastic news on reunion activities! Due to the generosity of fellow anonymous classmates, all events will be FREE (except for golf and individual bar tabs). Our sponsorships have assured that as many classmates as possible can attend and the reunion triumphs!
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
11:00 a.m.: Our reflections about our time at STA, along with informative Q & A with President (Headmaster) Brian Ragatz ’98: STA Past, Present, and Future.
For further information, please contact Terry Friedrichs, at tpfriedrichs56@gmail.com or at 612-859-9676.
Noon-1:45 p.m.: Lunch and tours (So many great changes).
2:30 p.m.: Formation and Hames Award to this year‘s distinguished STA alumnus.
2:50 p.m.: Tours for those who will be arriving in the afternoon.
3:30 p.m.: Memorial Mass (14 of our classmates have passed away).
5:00 p.m.: Dinner in Holtz Gym, 1974 graduates will be the guests of honor! Dinner is FREE for each ’74 graduate and a spouse/guest.
Family members of our deceased classmates and surviving teachers will also be invited to join us free for dinner.
Questions? Contact John Barnes at jbarnes@cadets.com 651.683.1549
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
8:30 a.m.: Golf at Keller Golf Course (with 1974 Cretin graduates).
• Contact Mark Mazzitello at mmazz56@aim.com, 612-865-8099 for more info.
11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.: NEW! Pickleball!
• Contact Joe Thibodeau at thibodeau@jf-thibodeau.com, 651-485-4060, Text Message Preferred.
5:00-10:00 p.m.: Evening stag at Patrick McGovern’s on W. 7th in St. Paul. FREE for 1974 graduates. Hors d’oeuvres, sandwiches, pasta/potato salad, and dessert will be served.
5:00 p.m.: Open 12-Step Meeting at West Seventh Street neighborhood of St. Paul.
• For more information on this event, consult this website: https://westendaa.org/
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
6:00 p.m.: All -School 1974 Reunion (STA, Cretin, Derham, Vis, OLP) at Mendakota Country Club. FREE for 1974 STA graduates and a spouse/guest.
We hope to see everyone in September. If you’re in contact with classmates, please check to see if they have received the reunion information.
Have a great summer!
Sincerely,
The Class of 1974 50th Reunion Committee
P.S. To be included in email communications about the 50-year reunion and other Class of 1974 activities please make sure that we have an up-to-date email address. Confirm or update your email with Mark Mazzitello (mmazz56@aim.com). Thank you!
MORE FROM THE CLASS OF 1974 REUNION COMMITTEE
CLASSMATES BIOGRAPHICAL UPDATES
Thanks to everyone who has sent in their biographical updates from their years since STA. We look forward to hearing from the rest of you in the Class of 1974 as soon as you can!
Submit your valued contributions to our 1974-2024 Reunion Yearbooks:
Find the link online HERE
SHARING OUR 50-YEAR REFLECTIONS WITH STA LEADERSHIP
On another front, during our reunion week, our 50th anniversary class will inaugurate what we hope will be a new STA tradition. We are scheduled to have a 50-year interview to share our reflections with STA President (Headmaster) Brian Ragatz ’98 about the school’s lasting contributions to our lives and what might have made our STA education better. This event has been scheduled for 11 a.m. to Noon on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. For hungry folks just getting off the plane or just having driven a distance for Reunion Weekend, please know that we anticipate having sandwiches. For those who cannot attend this gathering, we hope that you can join us via cyberspace. Stay tuned for more details, as they become available on this exciting event! For more information, or to help plan this event, please contact Terry Friedrichs at tpfriedrichs56@gmail.com
CLASS GIFT
Again, thanks to a number of classmates, we are happy to announce that all expenses for Alumni Weekend will be covered by STA and our class sponsors. With that, we now turn to the 50 Year Class Gift. This gift has been a long standing tradition at the Academy and we are setting a goal of $74,000 for our class. Your gift may be composed of several components - cash, stock transfer, a 3-5 year pledge and /or an estate gift directed to Saint Thomas Academy.
The proceeds of our class gift will be either a designated scholarship, endowed scholarship or a specific gift requested by the Academy. For the scholarship, our intent would be to offer an STA education and experience to those young men whose families would not normally consider STA. Such families would include those with Military Veterans, First Responders and/or single parents who would qualify for financial aid. Feel free to reply with your preference or other uses for the gift. We are working with John Barnes of the Advancement Department at STA on this project. Should you have any questions, you may also contact John at 651-683-1549 or jbarnes@cadets.com. You can also contact Joe O’Neill or Dennis McGuire. All correspondence and discussions regarding your contributions will be confidential.
