Ara! Ara! Ara! Class Dinner May 31, 2013

Following Weyer! Weyer! Weyer!, Dennis Reeder recorded Ara! Ara! Ara!  Here is the audio record of the 1968 Class Dinner in the North Dining Hall, May 31, 2013.  Click on the line below:

ND 1968 Class Dinner, 31MAY13

Also, if you have the means and the heart, make a donation to the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation.  You can send your contribution  in care of Skip Strzelecki, St. Andrews Products, 500 Mariner Drive, Michigan City, IN 46360.

Class Dinner May 31, 2013

Class Dinner May 31, 2013

45 Year Reunion Photos

Bryan Dunigan photographed some of the classmates during the 45 year reunion.  Take some yourself?  If you email them to tfigel@lake-effect.com, we can share them here on the blog.

TomMcCannTomMcKennaDaveKabat  (at left) Tom McCann, Tom McKenna (Chicago cuz) and Dave Kabat

(below) Matt Walsh, Tom McCann

and Tom Gibbs

Matt Walsh, Tom McCann, and Tom Gibbs

Paul Nowak, Adrienne Brennan, Bryan Dunigan, Ron Kurtz, Barb Nowak, and Ken Howard.Paul-Nowak-Adrienne-Brennan-Bryan-Dunigan-Ron-Kurtz-Barb-Nowak-and-Ken-Howard

 

 

 

Denny-NancyEmanuel-PatCavanaugh

(at right) Denny & Nancy Emanuel with Pat Cavanaugh

 

 

John Stafford death May 17, 2013

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Dear Tom,
     I am writing to let you know about the death of my husband, John H. Stafford, who was a member of the class of 1968.  John was a past board member of the National Alumni Association and the Senior Alumni Association.  He was active in the Pittsburgh club, was a past president,  and a recipient of their Distinguished Service Award.  He was also the co-founder of a yearly raffle that provides money for scholarships to Notre Dame for students from the Pittsburgh area.  One of those scholarships was named in his honor.  He is survived by me, his wife of 43 years, and four children:  John Jr. who got his MBA from ND in 1999, Meg,  ND Class of 96, Michael, and Joe.  John had retired as a shareholder in a local firm, Schneider Downs and Co., Inc., and started his own consulting business in 2011.    I am sorry that he missed being here for his 50th reunion.  It would have meant so much to him.  Notre Dame was a place very dear to his heart.
Sincerely, Judy Stafford
From daughter Meg Delfausse, a photo of John (left) with three classmates: Rick Porach, John Amer, and Dick Crouch.  The four met at a game each year, probably at the entrance to the wardrobe section of Hammes Bookstore.
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Obituary: John H. Stafford / Notre Dame advocate and family man

Stafford-Family-2011

Feb. 7, 1946 – May 11, 2013
May 17, 2013 12:14 am

By Brittany Horn / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

John H. Stafford didn’t just get a degree from the University of Notre Dame — he ensured that many Pittsburgh residents could do the same.

With a passion and determination recognized by many who knew him, the Fox Chapel resident joined forces with fellow alumnus and the Notre Dame Club of Pittsburgh to raise scholarship money to help fund future students at Notre Dame.

Mr. Stafford died from complications of a brain aneurysm Saturday in North Carolina. He was 67.

Growing up in Mt. Lebanon, Mr. Stafford attended South Catholic High School before moving on to Notre Dame.

In his college days, Mr. Stafford could almost always be found lying on his dorm room bed reading Time magazine, a photo of his soon-to-be wife propped nearby on his desk.

Even though his fourth-grade crush Judy Conley was set to join a convent and become a nun — a thought that friend and classmate Dick Crouch said “crushed” Mr. Stafford — he was convinced she would come back to him.

He was right, as proven by their 43 years of marriage and four children.

“I think he and Judy were more in love than anyone I’ve ever known,” Mr. Crouch said.

The couple settled in Fox Chapel a year after Mr. Stafford received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Notre Dame in 1968.

Mr. Stafford’s son Joseph said his father saw where the future of technology was headed and wanted to be a part of it. He gained his master’s degree in computer systems at the University of Pittsburgh, jumpstarting a career he only “half-retired” from last year.

Known in the computer consulting and technology business for his level head and calm nature, Mr. Stafford was considered a trusted leader by colleagues and clients at Aptech Computer Systems Inc. in O’Hara, Golf Digest Information Systems and Schneider Downs, Downtown, throughout his career. Most recently, he served as president of his private consulting firm, Ruby R. Consulting Inc.

“There was never a question with John,” said Raymond Buehler, president and CEO of Schneider Downs. “You didn’t have to look over your shoulder because you knew John was going to do what was right.”

Mr. Stafford never lost his love for Notre Dame football either, embodying the Irish spirit “down to his toes,” Mr. Buehler said.

At least once a year, Mr. Stafford returned to South Bend, Ind., to relive his days at Notre Dame and share his love for the Fighting Irish with his family.

His daughter, Margaret, and his son John Jr. went on to earn degrees from Notre Dame. Mr. Stafford and his wife most recently attended the BCS National Championship Game to see the Fighting Irish take on Alabama.

“He celebrated the little things in life,” Joe Stafford said. “[He said,] ‘If Notre Dame is in the national championship, we’ve got to go, no matter how much it’s going to cost.’ ”

Today, Mr. Stafford’s work is remembered through the local academic scholarship to Notre Dame that bears his name. He also received the Distinguished Service Award for his work with the university in 1986.

In addition to his wife and son Joseph, of Fox Chapel, Mr. Stafford is survived by his sons, John Jr., of Raleigh, N.C., and Michael, of Fox Chapel; daughter, Margaret Delfausse, of Atlanta; his brother, Regis, of Mt. Lebanon; and seven grandchildren.

Friends will be received from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at John A. Freyvogel Sons Inc., 4900 Centre Ave. at Devonshire Street.

Mass of Christian Burial will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Scholastica Church, 309 Brilliant Ave., Aspinwall.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Notre Dame Club of Pittsburgh Scholarship Fund in care of Susan Hagan, 153 Main Entrance Drive, Pittsburgh; or to the DePaul School for Hearing and Speech, 6202 Alder St., Pittsburgh.

 

Ralph Moore death – May, 2013

Steve Novak, class of 1971, sent this news of our classmate’s death:

I don’t know what the policy is with respect to those who didn’t finish at ND, but I thought I’d pass along the news that Ralph Moore died earlier this month.

    Ralph started with your class in September 64, but was back home by the time I was applying to schools two years later. So he wasn’t there long, but perhaps a few people remember him. How many black guys could there have been in your class? The 28 in ours apparently were a record high, and about half the black enrollment of the school our freshman year.

   With your reunion on the horizon, I thought I’d pass the bad news along.