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Memorial Mass and Annual gathering -- Sept. 23, 2006
　・Report by George Koyama (1969)



We couldn't have wished for a better day than what we had on September 23 -- not too hot or cold with our jackets on. A s in the case of last year, Jimmy and I took our regular bus and struggled up the hill breathlessly through Ferris before reaching Sacred Heart Cathedral, well in time for the Services.

The turnout this year exceeded that of last year with some 35 OB's present. Our sincere thanks go to Hans Enderle and Harry Quinny for leading the group through our solemn prayers for the 10 schoolmates and teachers who have passed during the course of the year.

Yuzz, our co-op and maestro "archiver," on the way to the little memorial park, has taken some shots of landmarks on the Bluff that may bring back tons of memories to a lot of you who once were a part of St. Joe's. As I promised George DeCouto last year, a short write up will follow soon, so do keep an eye on our website. While Yuzz, Jimmy and I were totally engrossed in shooting snapshots with Yuzz's top of the line, super hi-tech Nikon digicam, we lost sight of our senpai ! Very surprisingly, they walked at an unbelievably quick pace to the memorial park, and were already observing and appreciating our memorabilia. Looks like our plaque needs a little cleaning, Henry. For those who don't know, Henry Akashi is now in charge of the Bluff Clinic (formerly the Bluff Hospital as many of you know), just in front of the memorial park, once the main entrance to St. Joe's.

From here, some of us visited the Berrick Hall, now owned by the Yokohama City Government and converted into a museum, while others headed straight to the Foreign Cemetery to offer our prayers for our teachers and friends buried there and of course, to Our Lady of Faith and Fortitude. Fortunately, we didn't lose a soul when we arrived at Mutekiro for lunch. Special thanks goes to Nobuharu Suzuki for hosting all of us at his deluxe French restaurant for some superb French cuisine, and at such a reasonable cost ! On top of that, believe it or not, since we had the whole floor to ourselves, we even had musical entertainment provided by George Ozawa...and much more from volunteers at the Karaoke machine ! Incidentally, the entire Motomachi Street, as well as the back street running parallel to it, all the shops and restaurants were packed with shoppers from all over the country because this date marked the beginning of the annual "Charming Sale" as many of you will recall.

As always, we enjoyed the day and each other's company. We certainly hope to see more of our schoolmates next year at this heartful gathering.


First Row from left: (kneeling) Yutaka Nakayama '91, Yuzz Kanda '69,
(standing) Boon Oyama '66, Peter Nakaike '55, Luke Schneider '51,
Miguel Matsuura '57, Tamotsu Satake '51, James Henry Goto '55,
Yoshiro Matsushima '55, Laurence Ebihara '54, Hideaki Sakurai '48,
Larry Tanabe '57, Shigeyoshi Kimura '57, George Okuhara '68,
George Koyama '69, Utz Reiff '63,

Back Row from left up to the stairs: Eddie Kobayashi '59, Franz Metzger '58,
James Patterson '78, Harry Quini '58, Cecil Baclay '52, Shun Shindo '65,
Francis DeBrito '51, Hans Enderle '58, Bob Saji '53, Frank K. Yip '58,
Willy Mahr '58, Thomas Ikegai '59, Roy Hay Suzuki '58, Nobuharu Suzuki '67,
George Ozawa Mayes '64 with his hat, Ko Rian '67, Hideo Nakanishi '64,
Ian Walker '66, Aloysius Kikuchi '59, Thomas Fujiwara '59

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Memorial Mass and Annual gathering - Sept. 23, 2006



It is time again to pay homage to our beloved teachers and schoolmates who have passed away during the year. As always, we will start off with a special mass at the Sacred Heart Cathedral followed by lunch at Mutekiro in Motomachi.

Details of the event follow:

Date: Saturday, September 23, 2006
(Make sure you mark your calendars now!!!)

10:00 -Gather at the Sacred Heart Cathedral (Thanks to Cecil Baclay for all the
arrangements and to Hans Enderle for being the MC for the day. ) 　
11:00 - 11:20Walk to the memorial park for viewing of our memorabilia and plaque
11:30 - 11:40Offer prayers to Our Lady of Faith and Fortitude at the Bluff Cemetery
12:00 - 14:00French buffet lunch at Mutekiro in Motomachi. Lunch will be yen 2300
all inclusive. Drinks will be on your own.

Kindly make reservations now and be sure to spread the word to as many alumni and friends as you possibly can.

Please make sure to make reservations by contacting Boon Oyama by e-mail at: choboon@aol.com
or by phone at (090)3512-3317 or fax at (046)802-7066.

RSVP by no later than Sept. 15, 2006.

Hope to see as many of you as possible on Sept. 23 !

Boon Oyama
President, St. Joseph Alumni Association