Notre Dame Class of 1968 Notes Contact: Tom Figel, 312-223-9536 office
February 3, 2014 tfigel@lake-effect.com
State of the Great 68 Address
President Tom Weyer’s State of the Class address delivered to the class council during late January included a call for continuation of a hallmark of the Weyer administration, class contribution inequality. “Looking in the rear view mirror or 2013,” the President said, “we had a fantastic 45th reunion, wonderful get-togethers at our tailgates, and we suffered the loss of dear classmates. During 2014, the year the Class of 68 turns 68, this administration pledges itself to protection of all the high average contribution rate privileges created by the recent generosity of Matt Walsh and Joyce.” His administration, the President said, will support the plans for stadium enlargement while paying great attention to any encroachments that threaten the Mary Weyer memorial plantings honoring her parents and Honest John and Annie Weyer.
January ended with an Evanston, IL get-together occasioned by the death of Moose Krause’s daughter Mary Carrigan, who succumbed to cancer six months after the death of Sandy Carrigan.
Mary Krause Carrigan
Aug 17, 1946 – Jan. 16, 2014
The four Carrigan sons and their sister Jill amused and saddened the memorial service audience with reflections on a lovely woman who had raised her own family while being Mom (“Mombo” in the Carrigan family) to many others. The 68 contingent – Tom Weyer and Mary, Tom Gibbs and Sheila, Dave Kabat, Tom Moore, Bryan Dunigan, Dennis Toolan and Mary Lou, Tom Figel and Nancy – heard son Chris remember that the romping Carrigan kids “tested the laws of physics, Mombo’s patience, and the limits of our health coverage.”
Bryan Dunigan, of a family with generations of ties to the Krauses, said that his grandfather had known and helped the young Moose. The grandfather, for whom Bryan is named, was in charge of printing for the Sears Roebuck catalog (“like being in charge of the Internet,” said Bryan.) Bryan’s own immense email directory shows that management of contacts is in the Dunigan DNA. Frank Leahy, who took care of the grandfather’s yard work, was being recruited from Boston College when Notre Dame asked Grandfather Dunigan to help with the wooing. Bryan said his grandfather flew to Cleveland for the successful pitch.
January also saw a Chicago get-together organized by Shaun Reynolds and his family in memory of Shaun’s brother Damien, whose world-roaming, friend-gathering life included appearance in a Life Magazine photo taken at Woodstock. Dave Hirschboeck, John Walsh and Dia were there with Nancy Figel (still Nancy Carlin SMC69 to Shaun, and to me). .
John Walsh and Dia organized a dinner evening with John Flemming, when John came to Chicago from New Orleans for presentation of his art at a December show. The onset of Chicago winter had no apparent effect on John’s happy spirits and laughs about the late Eddie Kurtz’s novels as John visited with Geof Thornton and Christine, Peggy Barber O’Rourke, the Walshes and Figels.
An Evanston, IL high school class seeking to interview U.S. war veterans during January received help – and powerful remembrances – from classmates Gene Cavanaugh, Tom Condon, Bill Brennan, Pat Collins, Joe Kernan, Mike Browning, and Mark Lies as well as Tom Nerney, three years behind us. Gene Cavanaugh, seeking respite in Chicago from the cold of South Bend, visited the classroom during some days spent with his daughters and grandchildren in Evanston. The reflections of people then slightly older than the Evanston students were revealing, generous and often painfully assembled. .
Pat Collins was one who called Tim O’Meilia, the former Observer editor and popular Palm Beach County, FL journalist whose cancer has him confined to home, though typically upbeat. A couple classes behind us, Tim was a reporting godsend when Pat was Observer editor.
After considering the magazine pages devoted to class notes, John Grima sent this optimistic reflection: “It strikes me that, in magazine terms, the life of a Notre Dame class might be said to be 26 pages; that we have lived 18 of them and still have eight to go. That feels pretty good for a bunch of 67 and 68 year olds. A lot of time gone by, still plenty to look forward to.”
Mike Baroody, Gonzaga High School, 1964, Washington, D.C.
In addition to photos, including a bow-tied Mike Baroody from the Gonzaga High School yearbook, our blog has instructions about using Notre Dame’s database for simple location of all alumni friends. If you enjoy seeing old men and their young wives, see www.ndclass1968.com.
Stay in touch – Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626, tel. (off) 312-223-9536, tfigel@lake-effect.com.
Jan. 29, 2014: Tom Gibbs, Tom Weyer, Gene Cavanaugh, Dave Kabat, Dennis Toolan, Bryan Dunigan, Tom Moore, Tom Figel