Alumni News - Saint Paul Lutheran Church

St. Paul Lutheran School

Alumni/Friend Association Fund Newsletter

May 2015

Dear Alumni and Friends of St. Paul Lutheran School,

The National Lutheran School Accreditation visiting team of six principals and teachers came to our school in April to review our school and its programs. They were pleased with what they saw and will recommend to the district NLSA program that we should receive full re-accreditation.

We received a generous grant to make security upgrades in our school this spring and summer. We have replaced some of the interior doors, added exterior lighting, will replace the two sets of doors on the north side of the gym, replace the sagging lintel on the front door, replace the windows in the kindergarten room, and replace the fencing behind the school.

A 2007 graduate of our school, Tyreese Russell, was selected by the Detroit Lions as an unrestricted free agent after the recent NFL draft. After graduating from St. Paul, Tyreese graduated from Walther High School. He played for Eastern Michigan University.

We received a nice note from David Borg, who attended St. Paul in the 1970’s. He remembers fondly Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Anderson. He is presently a teacher and coach at Elgin High School in Illinois. Both of his siblings are teachers as well.

We’ve included in this mailing a copy of the program that was used at the dedication of the gymnasium in 1955. You might recognize some of the names of choir members listed on the back page.

If you are planning to do some traveling this summer around the Chicago area, please stop by St. Paul for a worship service or for a walk through the school. We love to see alumni coming back.

Please let us share newsworthy items in your life. You can call us at 773-378-6644, email us at stpauloffice2@yahoo.com, or write us at 846 N. Menard in Chicago 60651. Our school and church website is stpaulaustin.com. You’ll be able to access news and pictures of happenings around St. Paul.

Sincerely,

Glen Kuck

St. Paul Lutheran School

Alumni/Friend Association Fund Newsletter

January 2015

Dear Alumni and Friends of St. Paul Lutheran School,

The annual Christmas program filled the church. The students witnessed their faith beautifully through words and songs. They were directed and accompanied by Marquita Dixon, a 2000 graduate of St. Paul. In addition to her role as the music teacher at the school, Marquita has also recently become the Sunday morning church musician at St. Paul.

We received a very generous gift from alumni Corey Bulluck, class of 1979. When Corey heard that our gym’s scoreboard had died at the age of 28, he funded the purchase of a new one. Corey has also purchased textbooks and science supplies for our school in the past.

Some of our alumni got together over Christmas break to tear down and rebuild the stairway leading up to the office and grade 7-8 classroom. After decades of use, the stairs were becoming rickety. The carpentry crew consisted of Steve Gibbons, Al Aurrichio, George Veremis (all from the class of ’68), John Gibbons (class of ’73), David Gibbons (John’s son), Pastor Tom Gibbons (class of ’66), Harry Strong (class of ’84), and Robert Larry (a trustee of the church). The new stairs look great and are rock solid. Enclosed in this mailing is a picture of most of the workers. As you can see, none of them have aged a bit since their days as students at St. Paul.

We received word of the death of Ted Meyer, son of long-time teacher at St. Paul, Theodore Meyer, and brother of alumnus Lois Dankenbring. Mr. Meyer passed away in June at the age of 90 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Like his father, Mr. Meyer was a Lutheran school teacher.

Thank you to all those who gave donations to our school in memory of Rev. Enno Gahl. It was obvious from your letters that he was a beloved pastor who played a huge role in bringing the love of God to many, many people.

Sincerely

Glen Kuck

St. Paul Lutheran School

Alumni/Friend Association Fund Newsletter

October 2014

Dear Alumni and Friends of St. Paul Lutheran School,

The school year is off to a good start. Our students have just finished taking the NWEA Measurement of Academic Progress tests. These replace the old achievement tests that many of you took. MAP testing consists of tests taken on a computer. The teachers get next-day access to the students’ scores and are able to pinpoint areas of strengths and weaknesses in math, reading, and language usage.

Through the generosity of the Chicagoland Lutheran Educational Foundation, we were able to get 14 new iPads for use by our upper grade students. The use of these iPads has allowed our students access to individualized tutorials online which help them work on the weaknesses that were discovered in the MAP testing.

Our enrollment is 86, which is down from last year. We were able to get only 8 new kindergartners after graduating 16 eighth graders last June.

We received word that Marianne McCarty passed away in late May at the age of 48. She attended St. Paul in kindergarten in 1970. She had been living in Northhampton, MA.

If you would like to purchase a St. Paul coffee mug, please let us know. The mugs have the name of St. Paul on them and were part of the china tableware sets which were probably purchased the 1950’s. They have been stored in the school kitchen, unused for many years. We would like to get them into homes where they will be used once again. If you live far from St. Paul, we can arrange to have them mailed to you.

We included the front and back covers of the worship folder that was used in 1965 to celebrate the 25 years of service as a teacher by Arthur Busch up to that time. Many of you will remember Mr. Busch who served as the principal of St. Paul from 1952 to 1978. He passed away in 1990.

Sincerely,

Glen Kuck

St. Paul Lutheran School

Alumni/Friend Association Fund Newsletter

May 2014

Dear Alumni and Friends of St. Paul Lutheran School,

The school year is drawing to a close. We will be graduating ten kindergartners on June 4 and sixteen eighth graders on June 6. We thank God for His blessings throughout the school year and pray that our graduates will continue to grow in wisdom and faith.

Our church has entered into a partnership with Trinity Lutheran Church in Roselle. As a result of this partnership, one of Trinity’s assistant pastors, Tom Gibbons, will become the new vacancy pastor of St. Paul. Pastor Gibbons is a 1967 graduate of St. Paul. His mother, Jean Gibbons, taught at St. Paul from 1967-1979. We look forward to having Tom begin at St. Paul as we work together to revitalize the ministry of our church and school. Tom will begin on June 15.

We are saddened to report that Ruth Hafeman passed away on April 6 in Arizona at the age of 94. A memorial service for her was held at St. Paul. Her sister Pauline Nardulli continues to worship faithfully at St. Paul.

We included a newspaper clipping from 1949 of the groundbreaking for the present church building. Some of you may remember some of the names listed in the article, and many of you will remember the man pictured, Rev. Enno Gahl. The new church was built a few years after the previous church, built in 1900, was destroyed by fire.

Sincerely,
Glen Kuck

St. Paul Lutheran School

Alumni/Friend Association Fund Newsletter

January 2014

Dear Alumni and Friends of St. Paul Lutheran School,

Our school just finished a successful review by the Illinois State Board of Education’s Recognition program. The school maintained its status as being a fully recognized non-public school and drew the praise of the state examiners for its academic program and the atmosphere within the school.

Our upper grade basketball teams are in the middle of their seasons. As of this writing, the boys’ team has a record of 9-1 and the girls’ team is 13-3.

We’ve been blessed by the letters and visits of some alumni recently. Warren Twietmeyer wrote to say that he and his wife Betty recently celebrated their 59^th wedding anniversary. They have three sons and twelve grandchildren. Warren has served Concordia University Wisconsin as a regent and now as a Foundation Board Member. They live in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

Tyreese Russell, a 2007 graduate of St. Paul, came to speak to our 7^th and 8^th graders while he was home on Christmas break. Tyreese is a junior at Eastern Michigan University and is the starting tight end on their football team. He spoke about the discipline involved in playing collegiate sports and maintaining a high grade point average. He is majoring in criminal justice.

We always appreciate visits from former students. If you’re ever in the area, please stop by.

Congratulations to PJ Spencer, a 1992 graduate of St. Paul. She passed the bar exam. Her son is in our 4^th grade.

A donation was given by James Bercos, in memory of his brother George who passed away in 1996. A donation was also given by Vicki (Anderson) Barry, in memory of her parents, Margaret and Peter Anderson.

We’ve included in this mailing the worship folder used for the dedication of the parish hall in 1955. Many of you will remember some of the names of choir members listed on the back.

Sincerely,

Glen Kuck