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 are doing well and had a chance to see some of the 80th anniversary ceremonies of D Day.

Please enjoy the summer.

Committee Sit Rep: For the first time we marched in the Wilmington Memorial Day parade, reportedly

the oldest continuous Memorial Day parade in the country. We walked behind the Sallies marching band.

It was like walking through a Norman Rockwell painting. We will put this event on our annual calendar.

We now have 261 alumni vets registered! We believe there are many more out there. If you know an

alumni vet, please ask them if they have registered. You can register at the Alumni page of the school

website or contact Joe Rapposelli at jrapposelli@salesianum.org.

We had an amazing Giving Day in May. Thanks to a $5,000 challenge donation from John and Sharon

Riley (which was matched) and several other large donations, we raised about $13,000 for the Veterans

Scholarship Fund in the endowment. Thanks to everyone who donated! The fund now stands at $28,660.

If you would like to donate to this fund, you can mail a check, made out to Salesianum, to John Helmick,

Salesianum School, 1801 N. Broom Street, Wilmington, DE, 19802. Please indicate on a separate note

that the check proceeds should be deposited into the Veterans Scholarship Fund in the endowment.

Thanks in advance for any assistance here.

In the last E Mail Call, we wrote about our intent to explore a video which would educate our school

community about the service and sacrifice of our alumni vets (including Oblates) over the years. Our

newest committee member, retired Colonel Bill Knightly ’68, took the project on himself and with help

from the Oblates, Joe Rapposelli, our alumni vets and a few of us, completed an amazing PowerPoint

presentation which we intend to show to the entire community. This presentation symbolizes our

mission. When you see it, I think you will be very moved, as I have been.

Bill spoke about his work and showed the presentation at our well-attended summer reception on June

19th . From comments after the show and emails later, the presentation was very well received. This is a living testimony. Bill will add new, compelling stories to the presentation as they come in.

Tom Kardish, the Sallies president, told me that a spot has been selected for a veterans memorial on the

upper fields, which are undergoing major upgrades. Stay tuned for more news.

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