Class of 1963 50th Reunion

See Class of 1963 Yearbook Pages! Click on photo below!

Dear Classmates,

Although the calendar tells us it’s the Summer of 2012, please stop for a moment and think ahead to the Spring of 2013. Specifically, we’d like you to keep in mind the weekend of May 31-June 2, 2013. Why is this a weekend to save? Because that is the weekend the great Prep class of '63 will gather together to celebrate our 50-year reunion! It seems hard to believe how quickly time has passed since we walked the hallways, studied, ate in the cafeteria, cheered at the games, celebrated Mass, and served JUG, but for one special weekend we’ll turn back the clock and remember the friends, teachers, places and events that made our four years at Prep so special.

While this promises to be an event worthy of our class, there is a lot of work to be done between now and then. Tracking down lost classmates, planning events, communicating the event, securing a high attendance percentage and soliciting for a 50th reunion class gift are just a few of the areas that need to be addressed in order to ensure a successful reunion.

As the old saying goes, “many hands make light work”. It is with this thought in mind that we ask for your help by serving as a member of the reunion committee. We were always a class that worked well together and now we are presented with a unique opportunity to once again show our loyalty to each other and to Prep. In today’s age of technology, you don’t have to live close to Prep in order to be a committee member. With a strong committee, and with the help of the Prep alumni office, we can make this an event that we’ll remember fondly for many years to come!

You can reach us at the address information below, or contact the Prep alumni office at 203-254-4237 or email 50th.reunion@fairfieldprep.org. You may also respond by sending back the enclosed response form in the envelope provided. If you are in touch with a classmate who expresses an interest to join the committee with you, please ask him to respond as well. Thanks for your consideration! I conclude by hoping this finds you and your families well.

God bless and warm regards,

David Nassef '63

Class of 1963 Reunion Committee Members

Mr. Henry Anderson
Mr. Ronald L. Barrett
Mr. Larry Carroll
Deacon Raymond J. Chervenak
Mr. Peter L. Coughlin
Mr. Anthony Stewart Esposito
Mr. Thomas W. Fraher
Mr. Michael Giarratano
Mr. Timothy Hunn
Dr. James P. Lyddy
Mr. Kevin F. McCarthy
Mr. David T. Nassef
Mr. Vincent P. O'Connor
Mr. Richard J. Piazza
Mr. Mark D. Renshaw
Mr. Donald J. White
Mr. John Zelinski
Mr. Robert Zimmerman

Reunion Schedule:

Hotel:
- Best Western Black Rock Inn, 100 Kings Hwy Cutoff, Fairfield
  Special Pricing: $99
  For Reservations you can call - (203) 659-2200 - or online

- Trumbull Marriott, 180 Hawley Ln, Trumbull, CT
   Special Pricing: $99 (until May 3) www.marriotttrumbull.com enter arrival    
    and departure date, click on special rates & awards and enter in the group 
    code, FCPFCPA or by calling (800) 682-4095 and mention the Fairfield College 
    Preparatory room block 
 
Keep checking the website for updates!  
Call the Development Office with any questions (203) 254-4237 or email  50th.reunion@fairfieldprep.org

A Letter from Joe Selling '63

Dear fellow prep-sters,

My inability to attend the 50 year reunion of the class of 1963 has at least something to do with my current residence, which is in Brussels, Belgium.

After graduating from Prep, as we called it and it was appropriately called, I entered the seminary, going first to St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, CT. (two years), then to St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, MA (two years) and then was sent by the Diocese of Bridgeport to the ‘American College’ at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, in Leuven (Flemish) or Louvain (French/English) Belgium to study Theology. I studied there for two years, 9/1967-6/1969, in French, and eventually determined that my vocation was not to the priesthood.

Returning to the USA, I taught religion at Notre Dame Girls’ High School (in Bridgeport, CT) for three years, (9/1969-6/1972) where I had the good (and probably undeserved) fortune of meeting my future spouse, Marcella Sires. During my stay in the US, I discerned that my vocation was really the study of (moral) theology. In September 1972 Marcie and I set out for (my return to) Leuven, Belgium where I enrolled in the Faculty of Theology (now a bilingual,  Flemish/English) institution and earned my STB (1973), STL (1975) and STD/PhD (1978). I returned to Belgium so that I could study under Prof. Louis Janssens, a master in his field and an inspiration for all who studied with him.

In academic 1977-78, I began teaching part time at the Faculty of Theology and in 1978 became full-time guest-docent, tenured in 1981, and eventually became full professor (1989). In the Spring of 2011, I became emeritus professor (Belgian Law required retirement of university professors at the age of 65). Marcie, who is a psychotherapist, sexologist and life-coach continues in her work while I busy myself with playing golf and writing a book about how theological ethics actually works. It will be called “Reframing Theological Ethics” and is currently about half way finished.

Marcie and I have two children, Jason (1977) who currently lives in Brussels, and Mieke (pronounced me’ka, 1980) who lives in Florence, KY, and works in Cincinnati, OH. The entire family have dual citizenship (USA-Belgian) and Marcie and I will probably live out our days here in Belgium, which has probably the best restaurants in the world (and produces 350 different kinds of beer), a very reasonable, rather un-rushed life-style, and a central location in Europe that affords access to the entire continent, as well as easy access to Africa where Marcie spends a good deal of her time supporting her sister in Eldoret, Kenya where she runs Home Homes International (please contribute to this most worthy cause: http://www.hopehomesinternational.org/).

I wish to salute the Jesuits at the Fairfield College Preparatory School (J ‘Prep’, as we all knew it) who helped to make me think, evaluate, critique, and ultimately ‘discern’ (probably ‘the’ Jesuit word) what it is that I was seeing, experiencing, and attempting to come to terms with. They showed me the door I had to go through in order to become an adult, responsible member of the Christian community. I salute my fellow prep-sters who were part of the community that was my crucial, adolescent experience. You were a huge part of my world between the ages of 17 and 20. You probably didn’t know any better than I did what was actually happening at the time; but we made it, didn’t we!

I hope you have a lovely, enjoyable, meaningful and inspirational gathering at the 50^th reunion. I am sorry that I cannot be there (especially that I will not be playing golf with those who choose to do so) and I wish you all the fond, but I hope still challenging, memory of what the Jesuits tried to teach us: be more, make a difference, be a disciple of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Joe Selling '63