Kanty Alumni Website

Kanty Reunion 2007: Ed "Sham Sham" Szemraj, his wife Geraldine and Ron "Boots" Butkiewicz, his wife Helen at Castellos restaurant. Class of 52

September 19, 2007

Dear Brother Kantyite:

Benedicamus Domino…Deo Gratias!

The eagerly anticipated 50th reunion of the class of “57 is now a fond memory.

Friday afternoon provided an opportunity to tentatively meet each other in the hospitality room and identify names with faces. Later in the day we were able to separate from the larger group and seek out dinner enabling us to look in each others faces and get more familiar with a friendly personage and his loving spouse.

Saturday morning started with a buffet breakfast in the motel courtyard. Many more new faces arrived and once again the same process of familiarization began to solidify us into a family.

We adjourned to the hospitality room to commiserate and inspect the various memorabilia brought to the display tables.

A noon time business meeting was brought to order addressing the members concerns, present the treasurer’s report ($2,543.16 balance) and elect the following year’s officers.
Alumni Officers:
President: Arthur Oleszkowski ‘53
Treasurer: Richard Cywinski ‘55
Reunion 2008 Team: Daniel Karlinski ’58 and Ronald Buchner ‘58

The remainder of the afternoon we spent comparing memory vignettes, singing to Fr. Lou Dytkowski’s music and much laughter and nostalgia.

Saturday evening cocktails and dinner hour came accompanied by soft music and more enjoyment of each other’s endearing personalities. The evening concluded too soon even for the elders who were regenerated by the moment.

Sunday morning led us to the beautifully awesome St. Adalbert’s Church, truly Fr. Carl Urban’s home. He arranged 11 vigil lights on the main alter with the names of our ’57 classmates who have gone forward before us. Mass was quite emotional evoking cherished memories of our classmates and those family members in the prior classes.

Fr. Carl provided a superb catered brunch for all to feast together once again. It was regretfully time to go and parting as the song goes is sweet sorrow. I look forward to the next reunion on the third weekend of September 2008 in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Shalom,

Michael E. Zimmer ‘57

The St. John Kanty Prep 2007 Reunion Plans:

Reunion dates: Friday, September 14th through Sunday, September 16, 2007

Place: Holiday Inn in downtown Schenectady
100 Nott Terrace
Schenectady, N.Y. 12308-3197
Phone: (518)393-4141
Details:
Arrival time Friday 3PM to?
Room rates: $99 plus tax per night either 2 double or king size beds available.
There will be 30 rooms held for us until August 15, 2007. This block will be released and rooms will be on a space available basis only after this date.

Check-in time is 3PM and check-out time on Sunday, 12 noon. (Sharp)
One comp room will be available to any of our Priests.
Please encourage our alumni to contact the Holiday Inn for their reservations ASAP, and refer to St. John Kanty Class Reunion, to receive these special rates.

A shuttle bus is available at no charge from the Albany International airport to the Schenectady Holiday Inn. When making your room reservations, please advise the Holiday Inn that you will be needing transportation to the hotel.

A complimentary hospitality room that will be open for our exclusive use after check-in on Friday and Saturday from 8AM to 4PM. We will be allowed any snacks that we wish to bring for the hospitality room. Beverages must be purchased from the Holiday Inn. Beer, soda, wine and hard liquor, by the bottle, can be purchased by us for the hospitality room.

Friday night if anyone needs dinner, there are several restaurants right around the hotel.

Saturday morning, September 15th
We will have a group buffet breakfast at 9AM , and a special seating area will be designated for us. Total cost of breakfast that will be billed to the group will be $11.95 per person plus tax and tip which equals approximately $14.75.

The rest of the day, until 4PM, we can use the hospitality room to renew our friendships and acquaintances in a casual and relaxed atmosphere.
Pizza and/or sub sandwiches brought into the hospitality room about 1PM on Saturday. We will contact a local restaurant to deliver.

Saturday evening, September 15th
We will hold our reunion banquet at the Polish Community Center, 225 Washington Ave Ext. Albany, N.Y. 12205.

Cocktail Hour: 6-7 PM, cash bar with cold appetizers - cheese, pepperoni, crackers, vegetables and fruit platter.

Dinner Entree: (Deadline for choice notice is August 31, 2007)
Choice of 3:
1. Prime Rib
Whole prime rib of beef marinated in olive oil, garlic, thyme and rosemary, slow roasted until medium rare. Served with au jus.
2. Chicken Françoise
Lightly battered with lemon butter sauce
3. Stuffed Scrod
Seafood stuffing topped with a Newburg sauce

Above served with house salad, chicken noodle soup, beverage of choice, and a reunion sheet cake (served for dessert). A merlot red wine and a white chardonnay will be placed on each table. Total cost to us: $29.00 per person.

Entertainment: a guitar-vocalist to play during our cocktail hour and background music for dinner and maybe an hour after dinner for our listening and dancing pleasure.

The PCC will be available to us until 11PM. A cash bar is available all evening.

Sunday, September 16th
Mass will be held at 10:30 AM at St. Adalbert's Church, 550 Lansing St., Schenectady, N.Y. 12303. Celebrant/Pastor Father Carl Urban, class of 1957; This will be a Memorial Mass honoring the memory of our deceased brother alumni. Following the Mass, Brunch will be served at the church hall; courtesy of Father Carl.

Directions to the Holiday Inn, Polish Community Center and St. Adalbert's Church can be obtained on Map Quest.
St. Adalbert's Church is approximately 10 minutes from the Holiday Inn.

Cost to Attendees: Recommendations:
Refreshments and snacks for hospitality room: - $10.00
Pizza and/or subs for Saturday - $10.00
Saturday breakfast - $15.00
Saturday banquet & entertainment - $30.00 plus $10.00
Total per person: $75.00

Nb. 1.Contact Holiday Inn directly prior to 8/15/07 for your room reservations.
2. Contact us below prior to 8/31/07 with your $75.00 check indicating your PCC dinner entree choice.
Stanley Karpinski 528 Lakeside Dr. Mayfield, N.Y. 12117 (518)661-6355
Michael E. Zimmer 53 School St. Lancaster, N.Y.14086 (716)683-6820

Benedicamus Domino...!
Hello from Lancaster, NY
Stan Karpinski & I have made arrangements for the Kanty Reunion to be held in Schenectady NY 9/14-9/16/07;
We have been unable to secure an updated mailing list so I will attempt to forward it to Gary to display in this web site for all to view;
Bear with me as I am not computer proficient;
In hope and anticipation may this lead to an informative and entertaining forum,
Deo Gratias!

WEST POINT MILITARY ACADEMY—The American Association of the Friends of Kosciuszko at West Point, in concert with the Kosciuszko Squadron of West Point and the Polish American Congress divisions of the Northeastern United States, invite you to commemorate the 261st anniversary year of the birth of Tadeusz Koscuiszko on Saturday, April 21, 2007.
The observance will begin at 9:45 a.m. with the celebration of Mass at the Catholic Chapel of the Holy Trinity. Rev. Carl Urban of the Church of St. Adalbert in Schenectady, N.Y. will be chief celebrant.

Conrad Czaplicki has been working hard scanning the 1959 yearbook as some other resources. THANK YOU! You can find these in the new "Kanty Yearbooks" section on the left sidebar.

He's done a few other contributions, and I'll be sorting them into their own departments sometime this week.

Again, Thanks Conrad!

After 5 1/2 months of ill health which consisted of open heart surgery, 5-vessel bypass and a new aortic valve, 2 months of physical rehabilitation, I'm finally back at home w/ my wife Carolyn. Looking forward to exploring the kantyalumni website, and catching up w/ old friends.

Thanks to Danny Kij for giving me the web address.

Dan Kij G48I just got off the phone and had a great conversation with Dan Kij, president of the Kanty Alumni Association. It was great hearing that he likes the site, and it led to some great new ideas and discussion. We'll be moving a huge alumni directory that Dan created years ago, and with the help of his friend David Newman, we'll make it a private part of the site so that every member can eventually get a printed directory.

Also it's obvious Dan has volumes of information about Kanty and Alumni. So, again, any tech-savvy volunteers out there are much needed to get things online.

You can now reach Dan at the convenient email address . Or, you can use the contact form on his profile page.

There are some more great images from Bill in the Nostalgia and Sports gallery. The Class of '53 definitely is getting the best representation on the site these days! I'll have to start pestering my '75 classmates to do the same.

Also, here's a trick: If you use the recent posts link in the left-hand menu you can see all the new posts and images which have gone on the site since you last visited. That makes it easy to quickly visit and see if anything is new.

Again, thanks to Bill for all the new photos!

I added the first section to the "Kanty Prep History" collection (left) called "How It All Began". It's a paraphrased version of an article I found in the May 1976 Prepster that Mike Trott was kind enough to upload. The article was really informative to me and so I thought it was a worthy start to the history section.

Kanty Station Map DetailOne interesting thing mentioned in the article is that, with the backing of the Mayor, "a Railroad siding was constructed and the station-stop 'Kanty' came into being". I remember the railroad tracks but not the station. I guess the class of 1975 was too late for the train. But, it prompted me to dig up some historical maps, and sure enough I found one with both the school and the train stop. You can see the the full map by clicking here.

It would be great to get more historical information about the school. Old scans like this are probably one of the best starting points.