Pictures from 1953-54 - From Dick Baisley (email)

From Dick Baisley (Feb 2001):

I was a student at Venard in 53-54 would have been ordained in 67. After leaving, graduated from Peekskill High School then went into the Marine Corps. After service married in 1960 and worked for post office for nine years then moved to Fla, in 69 where I became a police officer, continued my education and after ten years of police work, my last case, a fraud case, that I happened to be working with a postal inspector. The inspector and I became friendly and he convinced me to go back to the post office. I retired two years ago and love retirement.

My wife and I are very active in our parish and have been for the past 32 years, although we do spend a lot of time on the road in our motor home. We just got home in Nov, after seven months traveling through the US.

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Note from Charlie Kircher (Monday, February 26, 2001) (email)

I attended the Venard '53-'57 and was in the class with Dick Baisley. I've just recently contacted Dick as there is a planned reunion this year at Maryknoll, N.Y. with all those classmates associated with the ordination class of '66. I don't know if we would have been able to locate so many classmates if it hadn't been for the Internet.

I visited the Venard about 15 years ago with my wife and boys. It brought back a lot of memories and it was also sad to see the changes. I found myself walking into the chapel; reaching for the holy water font and preparing to genuflect when reality shock hit with the sight of bookshelves and study tables. My family and I went all through the school -- everything was open. We got up into the tower and there were water tanks up there. Oh yes, the refectory was just below the chapel.

I was especially proud to see the old road that went from Venard Road, past the nun's and brother's residence to the back of the school. It was the delivery entrance and had been built Roman style under the auspices of Fr. Slattery. He was one road building fanatic. During Manual Labor, those assigned to the road detail would dig up boulders in the back fields; haul them to the site; break them up in smaller pieces and then fit them together on end jigsaw puzzle-wise -- higher stones in the middle, smaller on the edge. Then gravel was poured, raked and tamped to fill in the spaces between the rocks. It was a slow, hard process and went on no matter the time of year. Then there were some, myself included, who would get this detail during our meager free time as punishment for our transgression of the rules. All we needed was striped shirts and chains to complete the image. But the road still stands, unbeaten by the ravages of Pennsylvania weather.

My Mom years ago while cleaning house tossed out boxes of photos including the ones I had of the Venard, so it was a pleasant surprise to be able to see the place again.

Dick Baisley vvvvvvvvvv

vvvvvvvv Herman Hudepole (Hudepohl?)

left to right: Vince Buonello, Paul Czja, and ??Herman Hudepole (Hudepohl?)