our mission

Greetings:  Hello from the Sallies Alumni Veterans Committee.  

The committee includes Frank Vavala, John Riley, Rod Baumert, Bill Knightly, Jason McDowell, Sam Kalb, Steve Bart, Trevor Fulmer, Mickey Devlin, Joe Rapposelli and me, Jim Burke.

Hope you all had a great summer and pray you will have a great autumn.

Committee Sit Rep:  This July the committee celebrated its fifth year of operations.  While we were sidelined for over a year due to Covid, with significant help from Joe Rapposelli, our committee members, and the Advancement Office, we have accomplished the following:

• Joe set up a database and we now have information on 270 alumni vets.
• We email this distribution list quarterly with news about our activities, the school, and alumni news.
• We created our recognition pin.
• Joe provided us with a trophy case in the school to showcase memorabilia.
• Joe sends consolation to deceased alumni vets.
• We hold two annual events and are adding a third. 
• Steve Bart '08 created our website – Salesianumveterans.org – including a wall of honor.
• Bill Knightly '68 created an emotional, 12-minute, PowerPoint presentation skimming 100 years of service and sacrifice of our alumni vets.  We are working to make this presentation easily available to our whole community.  Here is the link to view this powerful piece. Veterans Video 
• We established a Scholarship Fund in the endowment for the sons of Veterans and active-duty military.  The fund now exceeds $31,000, thanks to many generous donations, including from committee members.

We are currently working on the following:

• Continue to register alumni vets.
• Consider adding additional events.
• Work with school leadership on a veteran’s memorial on the renovated athletic fields.
• Work with the Advancement Office to stock the bookstore with alumni veterans hats and apparel.
• Work to show the PowerPoint presentation to our entire community.  Update the presentation as new, compelling stories come in.
• Consider possible service opportunities for the school.
• Continue to add appropriate content to the website.
• Grow the Scholarship Fund

Our fellow committee member John Riley '64 has created a wonderful fundraising opportunity for the Scholarship Fund.  On Friday, November 8th, the school will hold a fundraising breakfast in Centenary Hall.  The guest speaker will be retired Vice Admiral Tim Szymanski '80, who was the deputy chief of all special forces, commanded the Navy Seals, and worked for years in the Seal Teams.  We hope everyone, who is local, will join us for this amazing breakfast.  A formal announcement will be sent out by the school but there is a registration link below.

If you would like to donate, you can mail a check, made out to Salesianum and send it to the address below.  Please indicate on the note line that the check proceeds should be deposited into the Veterans Scholarship Fund.

Salesianum School

Attn: John Helmick

1801 N. Broom Street

Wilmington, DE 19802

You can always donate online at This Link.  When donating online please go to the Designation>Endowment>Alumni Veteran's Scholarship.  Thank you in advance for any assistance here. 

Please also mark your calendars for our Veterans Day mass and reception on Monday, November 11th, at 6 pm.  Mass will be held in the school chapel with the reception in Centenary Hall.  Our guest speaker will be retired Lt. Col. Allen Davies, USMC.  Dr. Davies functioned as a cardio-thoracic surgeon in Vietnam.  He subsequently practiced for many years here in Wilmington.

Dr. Davies just released a book on his time in Vietnam along with our own Dennis Skirvin '65, a combat-wounded Vietnam vet.  The book is titled “The Backside of the Firefight:  A Surgeon’s Shop Notes from Vietnam”.  A formal invitation and registration will be sent out by the school.  Please don’t miss this event. The registration link is below.

If you would like to start your Christmas shopping, we are graced with several published authors including John Riley, Bill Knightly, Denny Skirvin, John Reardon, and Edward Palm.

Sound Off: If you have any ideas to help us acknowledge and honor our living and deceased alumni

vets, please email me at jburke1946@aol.com.

Thank you all for your service and for you Vietnam Vets – a Hearty Welcome Home!

Jim Burke ‘64