Class of 1957

Villanova University
Class of 1957 Web News
Note that comments are in reverse chronological order:
keep current or read upwards. ;-)
Scroll to end to get links to lost and deceased classmates.

Vin Cardella writes:
Despite Chuck Brockman's .. uh .. rather partisan comment about tenors (ha), I would like to participate in singing the Alma Mater. I sing in a large DC-area suburban chorus. Has anyone come up with the four-part version we sang? I enjoyed Dick McEntee's commentary on the origin of the Alma Mater. I am somewhat of a buff of the same music. I do a sing-a-long at a senior day care center and "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" is a favorite.
Vin

Tony LaRosa emails 8 September responding to a wry file about the "joys" of aging:
I don't know about you guys...but I just hit 1000 miles for the year on my bike including a recent Vermont/Quebec trip.Will also be doing the MS City to Shore to Ocean City next weekend.
Just a thought ...any of you class of '57 guys interested in doing the '07 City to Shore as a team?Would be fun if a group of us 50 year guys could do the 50 mile MS route or also do the same thing at the Cancer Society Bike a Thon next July.
Still not over the hill Tony LaRosa

James Schuster writes:
From james.schuster@villanova.edu Sat Sep 9 13:53:12 2006
Ol,
   My wife Jackie and I had lunch with Jack O'Rourke '57 at the ceremonies for the inauguration of our new President, Fr. PeterDonohue.
   Jack looks great and is living with his sister on Florida's east coast while assisting at two parishes in that area. We reminisced about our classmates, good times and profs e.g. Emil Amelotti, Bill Driscoll etc. and he looks forward to seeing us all.
   He does not have access to a computer, but would like to hear from
the '57 class.
            Jack O'Rourke
            3330 S.E. 16th Place
            Cape Coral, FL 33904
            Phone (239) 549-5829
   He would appreciate your passing this on.
                                    Jim Schuster '57

Chuck Brockman emails 22 July:

I met with Dr. Connie "Moose" Urban '56 and Judge John Padova '56 the day after their 50th reunion dinner on campus. Their one regret was the singing of the Alma Mater by the attendees...they said the sound was terrible. It was led by Joe Valenta who has a great voice BUT he's a tenor...and you know what they say about tenors...and only a few knew all three verses; there was no printing of the lyrics available.

Long story short...I suggested to Connie, (the first President of the Singers, the first accompanist of the Singers and the co-founder and back-up conductor of the Singers), that he return to the Class of '57 reunion dinner and conduct the Villanova Singers Alumni, Class of 1957 in a rousing, rendition of all three verses of our beautiful Alma Mater at the dinner celebration. Connie said: "I shall return".

He had one important request. Connie wants to know if we can get our hands on a copy of the version of the Alma Mater that the Dean Harold Gill Reuchlein arranged in 1957 when the Villanova Singers first started. Some of us read music and he feels we could get back on track after a short rehearsal. He also suggested even though most of the current underclassmen are home by reunion week, it would be so lovely to have a combined new and old members help in the singing. Perhaps we who were the first members of the Singers can start a new tradition. What do you think?

I have already spoken with several Villanova Singers, Class of '56, who promised to be at the reunion dinner, (if they're still around). This moment in time could be a very special additive to our celebration.

Please pass the word to our classmates regarding a copy of Dean's Alma Mater arrangement...someone might have a copy.

Warm regards, Chuck Brockman '57

Jim Judge emails:18 July
     Bill Jones is coming to Michigan this weekend to play in my golf invitational. We'll talk about and get Bob Powers and some other Philly locals involved. There will be a class of '57 golf outing!! I talked to Eric Q about it when he and Kerry Kittles were out for the Detroit Alumni outing and he supported and said it should be a Friday AM event. Will keep you posted. jim judge

Ray Muench emails:17 July
The past couple of reunions the dorms we have stayed in had conference rooms which were of decent size. Also the lobby is quite large and could be used for some things.
    In the past we have had a large enough attendance to "take over" a complete dorm.
    Ol has paid for a hospitality suite on his own... but believe they might not be large enough for our group.
    I would like to get up there early fall 06 and look things over... maybe we could arrange a planning meeting.
    While I understand the music from T&T was 'tossed' I wonder if the yearbook, newpaper, or photo club might have any stuff from our era. (Dick - you spent a lot of time with the photo sections... any ideas?)
    Joe: Anything I can do to help with the CD production??? $$$?
ray

Bob Strayton responds 17 July:
Dick's thoughts of tying the Alma Mater's 75th to our 50th is a good one.
It is a great Alma Mater. Let's maximize that angle for the good of all.
(Where is Joe Burke's nephew, or shouldn't I ask?) Only rule: all members
of class of '57 must be able to sing it without recourse to the crib sheets
they used so often as underclassmen.
Re golf: if the best we could muster is three foursomes for golf, then the
party the night before must have been awesome or we have a bunch of pansies
as classmates. Surely we can do better than 12 guys now that we have age as
an excuse for every blown shot. I volunteer B ill Jones and Jim Judge to
arrange the golf outing. They've been shaving strokes for years. Strayton

Dick McEntee writes 17 July:
    Please include me in the discussions/planning re our Reunion in June '07. At
the 45th we had three foursomes playing in the Reunion golf tournament and
had a great time--mostly Litmus Blues--maybe we can repeat it. I have
another idea for a tie-in that may be of interest to some members and to the
University (unless others classes or groups have made the suggestion in the
past):
    As you know, the music and lyrics for Villanova's Alma Mater were composed
by the highly regarded Broadway, Hollywood and Tin-Pan alley team of Al
Dubin and Joe Burke. (When I dabble at my piano, I play a lot of 20's, 30's
and 40's music including theirs as a team and with other writers and
composers). They wrote such classics as, 'For You', 'Dancing with Tears in
My Eyes' and the ever popular, 'Tip-toe Through the Tulips'. As I
understand it (and I 've never gotten the full story), Joe Burke's nephew
was a Villanova College student in the early 30's and got the Dubin/Burke
team, at the height of their popularity, to write the Alma Mater, which, by
the way, is listed in their discography in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
You may be able to get the story straight.
    Getting to the thought--I have a copy of the Alma Mater sheet music which
shows a copyright of 1934 by Villanova College. That suggests that it may
have been composed around 1932, so its 75th anniversary coincides with our
50th. I subscribe to Sheet Music magazine that appears to have an interest
in this sort of thing. I will write to the magazine about our 50th and the
association with Dubin/Burke. If you know of or can find a definitive
origin and let me know, my letter to Sheet Music will be more factual. I
would hope that the magazine will give some public recognition at our
reunion. Recognizing that this would be just one of a group of ideas, do
you think it would be of enough interest to pursue?? Dick McEntee

Bob Lima emails some suggestions February 2006:
1. we should have a "wall" in remembrance of those no longer with us; pictures would make it special (send to Alumni Office?).
2. mini-reunions for those in our class who were in Belle Masque, Villanova Singers (we were the founding class), Turf and Tinsel, Track, Football, Basketball, Fraternities, etc.
3. Ray Muench has proposed that "the music of our years" be played; he has a great selection.
4. a tribute to Bob Schiller & the Villanovans is in order.
5. each of us should contact classmates who haven't come to past reunions
6. Let's all plan on being there!!!
Dr. Robert Lima, OIC
Professor Emeritus, Spanish and Comparative Literatures
Fellow Emeritus, Institute for the Arts and Humanities
Penn State University University Park, PA 16802
Visit my Home Page at http://www.personal.psu.edu/rxl2

Bob "Bomber" Smith offers us the Alma Mater in Latin:
translation by Rev. Karl Gersbach, O.S.A. '57 http://www.ahi.villanova.edu/libalma.htm
with notations on life stages by Bob.

Dulcem Dominum

Bob Lima '57 has added two more choruses:

"Tolle Lege" reads the motto
on the seal that we all know.
And we picked up books and read them
as we had been told.
Saint Augustine heard these same words
in dim ages past
and they molded him forever,
as we too were cast.

As Alumni, we remember
All the things we did back when
in the halls of Villanova
we lived college days.
Now we're here to celebrate her
in our lives since then.
We return to Alma Mater,
to give thanks again.

***************************************

Lou Isern C&F emails: HI OL. PLEASE KNOW THAT I INTEND TO JOIN YOU AT THE REUNION NEXT JUNE, GOOD LORD WILLING. WE CAN'T BE SURE AT OUR AGE.WAS CONTACTED BY BILL HAMBURGER, A CLASSMATE AT ST. JOE'S PREP. INCIDENTALLY. ANOTHER CLASSMATE, BILL VERNA (C&F) JUST PASSED AWAY. THOUGHT I'D PASS INFO ALONG. REGARDS LOU ISERN.

June 2006:
OK - now we are in the On-Deck circle for out 50th Reunion in June 2007. I'll work at keeping this page up to date with such items as people may submit to me. Send your comments to Ol Ludwig OLIVER.LUDWIG@VILLANOVA.EDU.

Here is a group of our Class who couldn't wait for our 50th reunion, so we celebrated out 47th with the 5-year classes.

Our Classmate, Herb Rammrath, was awarded an honorary doctorate at the May 2003 Commencement. Here's a picture of Fr President Dobbin and Herb. (That's your reporter, Ol Ludwig, sandwiched between them, Herb having fished me out of the crowd of VU faculty for the picture.)

Villanova's Music Activities Department held a Memorial Concert for Bobby Schiller on 20 October 2001. John Dunphy (VU Music Activities Director, whose idea the concert was invited the audience to a post-concert reception: Post-Concert

And here's a very serious Schiller leading the 1998 Villanova Marching Band: Alma Mater

About 50 of us celebrated our 45th Reunion over the 7 June 2002 weekend. Here's some of us, courtesy of Dan Bartolini: Picnic.