Keegan to Keynote 9/11 Observance

Keegan to Keynote

Hudson Catholic 9/11 Observance

‘Honor Roll of Highest Sacrifice’

to be unveiled October 2nd

Hudson Catholic’s Uniformed Heroes Mass at St. Aedan’s Church will honor and offer thanks and prayers for our active and retired alumni who have served in civil service and the military.

At the Mass, our intentions will include six alumni who we have designated as members of the Honor Roll of Highest Sacrifice - those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. Following Mass, at the school, and immediately preceding the 9/11 Observance, our six heroes will be memorialized as we dedicate an Honor Roll plaque containing their names, class years and branch of service.

The 9/11 Observance will welcome families and provide remembrances of our nine Hudson Catholic community members lost that day, along with keynote remarks for the 20^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by retired Port Authority Police Department Lieutenant William Keegan ’73, who led the rescue and recovery teams through the guantlet of the Ground Zero site as the Night Commander, 7 days a week, until the site was fully cleared in May of the following year.

Following these solemn events, all who gather will be invited to join together for community and refreshments, during which we expect to make some important scholarship announcements.

Please let us know you are coming at hudsoncatholic.org/heroes.

WE ARE OPEN!

Entire Student Body

back in school full time

On the strength of an incredibly successful 2020-21 school year dealing with challenges of virtual attendance, class scheduling, instruction delivery, adding a sixth period while slightly shortening all class periods and eliminating the lunch period, the challenge for this 2021-22 school year will be to bring all 520+ students back to campus full time with no option for virtual instruction, and maintaining mask and social distancing requirements.

Our talented and dedicated Administrative Team proved to be more than up for the challenges wrought last year, and look to be ready for the tasks at hand for this school year!

Visitors to campus will quickly notice a 40x40 foot tent standing in the Courtyard. This will be used to accommodate the planned student overflow from the cafeteria necessitated by social distancing requirements. The plan is for the tent to remain in place throughout the 9+month school year, at a projected cost of $45,000. This is a late-breaking development due to the evolving pandemic conditions and State mandates, consequently, a significant unbudgeted expense. We plan to cover this expense from unrestricted gifts to The Fund for Hudson Catholic, so please be generous during our upcoming appeal.

The Legacy Continues!

In The Sequel,

The Kahles are King

The ink on the last issue of Building The Legacy was barely dry when word came that we had missed a few important Hawk families. One of these is a rather large oops!, as it involves a former Assistant Principal of xx years. In fact, we overlooked perhaps the most prolific Legacy Family in Hawk History -- the Brothers Kahle!

Three brothers, Dave ’74, Joe, ’76 and Frances ’79 managed to produce five offspring who are now Hawk Alumni!

The most significant consequence of this oversight is the passing of the title of first Father-Daughter Legacy Hawks from John’ 79 and Kristin ’15 Cunning, who now move to second on the list, to David ’74 and Erin ’14 Kahle!

Twelve classes of alumni may remember Dave Kahle as our Vice Principal from 1991 through 2003.

Joseph ’76 delivered not one, but two, Hawk sons -- Jeffrey ‘01 and Timothy ’17, all according to proud mom Gail, who served as President of the Mother’s Guild from to 2015 through 2017! And Frank ’79, also entrusted two sons to the Nest -- Paul ’04 and John ’10!

Three additional Legacy Hawk Families have been identified. Father-Son combos include Bill Regan ’72 and son Terence ’05; Joe Castagna '74 and sons Jospeh '02 and Anthony '05, and Robert Coughlan ’68 and son Ryan ’98 -- making Robert the earliest (that I know of) Legacy father among graduates.

Besides being red-faced, we are thrilled that alumni are getting in touch with us on this and other topics. We know you are engaged, with Hudson Catholic on your minds!

Send your Legacy photos to advancement@hudsoncatholic.org, and we'll publish them!

John '79 & Kristin '15 Cunning, second Father-Daughter Hawk Legacy

The Bender Legacy

After we published our initial article about Legacy Hawks, we received two great photos of the Bender Legacy. Below left, are three generations of Thomas F.X. Benders. While Senior's high school days preceded the opening of Hudson Catholic, he did secure his place in Hudson Catholic history, as a founding member of the vaunted Hudson Catholic Men's Club, a group of fathers that did a lot to see to it that the school could field a football team every year.

Junior quietly has followed in those footsteps over the years, making sure the kids are able to have their awards dinner, transportation, game refreshments, whatever may be the need of the day. TFXBJr '69 has been a great friend to Hudson Catholic and Hudson Catholic Football for decades! TFXBIII '04, a four-sport star and All County QB & Punter (who broke all of Dick Dreiss' ('73) punting records), has served our country in military service (below right) and now is a Homicide Detective for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office on loan from the Essex County Sheriff's Office.

Thomas F. X. Bender Sr., III, & Jr., circa 1993

Thomas F. X. Bender Jr. & III, circa 2019

Alumni Spotlight

Left: Mark Fugel '73, comes to us from Rocky Mountain National Park, following back surgery at the Jersey Shore that laid him up for quite some time. (Or was that the recovery at D'Jai's?!)

Above: 1979's five blocks of granite renew acquaintances and catch up on old times at the Alumni Golf Outing in June at Galloping Hill in Kenilworth. Not sure how anybody could not know them, but they are: Bob Bertolini, Mark Wintjen, John Cunning, Joe Pellagatti and Bill McGrath.