Marty Molidor just pointed out to me that Frank Bonaccorso's reflections after the Oct. 28th Reunion never hit the blog site, so we'll change that now. This went out as an email, but emails go the way of the daily newspaper I fear (here today, gone tomorrow).
Enjoy. And thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, Frank.
Holy Cow:
I miss all you Monarch's already. It was far too short a time together. There were too many of you I wanted to talk to and just never found in the time available. I love you all.
We are all older (
Some of my personal favorite highlight moments:
Al (Ponchie) Covarrubias telling me, "Hey, what happened, Frank, we used to be the same height at Alemany!" Answer: "
Finally, after 40 years getting to meet so many of the "girls" for the very first time! Many of you ladies mentioned how you did not get to know very many "boys". Maybe that was my biggest disappointment from Alemany, not having the opportunity to know half my classmates because we had separate classes except for ILAP.
Having a conversation for the first time ever with Peggy Jones! When I arrived at the post-reunion El Presidente bash, this lovely lady that I did not know kept motioning me over to sit down beside her. I did. Initially, neither of us knew who the other was, but we figured we went to St Ferdinand's for eight years together (although in different classroom sections) and four more years at Alemany and neither of us remembered ever having had a conversation together until the late night overtime at El Presidente. Peggy, you are terrific! I learned from Peggy that because she was the tallest girl in our class she was the very end of the graduation line to receive diplomas. And because there were fewer boys than girls graduating, she had no boy to walk down the aisle beside in the march to the podium (everyone shed a few crocodile tears for Peggy before reading on!). Peggy, I would have gladly waited to be last in line with you, if only I had know how much fun you are. Maybe we can have a recreation of the "last graduate" to receive her diploma at the 45th
The retake of our Graduation Night at
Getting reacquainted with Mr. Diaz and Father Wagner and finding they remembered me. Also hearing the letters Danny read from Coach King and Ralph Rath. We all need to write to Ralph and tell him how awesome a teacher he was, he seems to downplay his effectiveness in teaching the boys English literature and the girls Religion ( I would have liked to have sat in on one of those Religion for the Girls classes!). Robert Blake (Tiger, tiger burning bright), the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, that celebrated jumping frog from Calaveras County, Robert Frost's "Road Less Traveled" and many more still stand vividly alive in my ears with the booming voice of Rapid Ralph Rath expounding the intricacies of symbolism and allegory and onomatopoeia. As all of you now know, I took Frost literally and kept taking the lesser traveled, often vine covered, roads to
The way our Master of Ceremonies, Danny, called us to show by standing, how many teachers, lawyers, medical providers, entrepreneurs and inventors, clergy, cancer survivors, etc. we had produced. We have significantly changed the nation and the world for the better.
The Last Brunch with about 20 of you Monarchs this Morning (Sunday) back at the Odyssey! And meeting yet a few more of the girls I never knew.
After the Brunch, I went to visit parents of my dear friends, Bill Danaher and Art Fonseca: Robert and Cleo Danaher (Bill's parents) and Angie Fonseca (Art's mom). We all have been close before, during, and after Alemany. Bill D. and I were born 20 days apart and lived next door to each other for 14 years, and Art was only a few blocks away. My mother passed away in August and both Cleo and Angie told me that now they were both my mother. Joe Fonseca, Art's dad also passed this year. He was a warm-hearted gentleman with a huge smile who loved music and dancing. He is missed. I was glad to see Kathy Gordon's mom at the reunion banquet (but again time did not permit introducing myself to say hello to Kathy or her mom). In my opinion, we Boomers turned out pretty good for three big reasons. First, because of the balance of love and discipline that we received from the World's Greatest Generation (in words of Tom Brokaw), our parents. My mom was a Rosie the Riveter at Lockheed building the B-17 Flying Fortresses for WWII and my father (alive at age 91 and healthy) accompanied General Patton from the beaches of
I saw so much love among all of you and not an unkind word was heard. I could not sleep until the dawn came following that night just from thinking all of these events, over and over and over. I am thankful so many of us could enjoy this event, and saddened by the loss of so many of our classmates, may they rest in peace. Whether we knew each other well, just got acquainted, or still have not yet really got acquainted, I will jump for joy to receive email (tons and tons of it) to be in touch. My heart and my home are open to everyone ( I mean everyone) that might find a way to visit the
and may peace
be with you,
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