our mission

Greetings: Hello from the Sallies Alumni Veterans Committee. 

The committee includes Frank Vavala, John Riley, Rod Baumert, Bill Knightly, Jason McDowell, Trevor Fulmer, Mickey Devlin, Steve Bart, Sam Kalb, Joe Rapposelli and me Jim Burke. We hope you and your loved ones had a wonderful Thanksgiving, will have a blessed and Merry Christmas and a healthy and

Happy New Year.

Committee Sit Rep: It has been an amazing fourth quarter and year for our committee’s efforts.

We now have 274 registered alumni vets with the number slowing but steadily growing. If you

know an alumni vet who you think is not registered, please ask them to register on the Alumni

page of the school website or email Joe Rapposelli (jrapposelli@salesianum.org) and join our

community.

We were all pleasantly surprised that two memorial plaques were installed on the renovated

upper fields as part of the renovation. They are located roughly near where home base was

located on the old varsity baseball field. They are close to an enormous American flag created to

honor our veterans. The plaques honor those alumni killed in action or in the line of duty. This

memorial had been proposed years ago, but is now is a reality. Please stop by and visit this

memorial. We hope to have a blessing and dedication of this space, possibly this upcoming

Memorial Day weekend. We genuinely thank school leadership and Mr. Fusco for creating this

memorial area.

Our committee member John Riley created and executed a hugely successful fundraising idea for

our scholarship fund in the endowment. He invited retired Vice Admiral Tim Szymanski ’80 to

speak at a big ticket dinner and at a fundraising breakfast at Sallies, with proceeds going to our

fund. A number of donors attending the dinner had no relationship to Sallies, but came to hear a

decorated Navy Seal talk about his 30 plus years of active duty. Tim rose through the Seal ranks

to become the commanding officer of all Navy Seals and then the deputy commanding officer of

all Special Operations.

Both the dinner and breakfast were sold out. The net proceeds from these events were about

$100,000!! This brings the fund above $130,000! We thank John, Tim Szymanski, Tom

Kardish, John Helmick and the Sallies Advancement office for supporting these events.

Eligible students should begin to receive distributions from our fund next fall.

You can donate to our scholarship fund from the Giving section of the school website.

Our Veteran’s Day Mass and reception were well attended. At the reception, our own Denny

Skirvin ’65, a combat wounded Vietnam Vet, introduced retired Marine Lt. Col Dr. Allen

Davies.

Dr. Davies is a nationally recognized cardio-thoracic surgeon who served in Vietnam at a

surgical hospital. After he left active duty, he started a long and successful practice in

Wilmington. At the age of 89, he just finished his notes from his Vietnam service with help from

Denny Skirvin (a published author). His book is titled The Backside of the Firefight. I

recommend it.

It was a wonderful end to our Veteran’s Day. We thank Dr. Davies and Denny. We also thank

Joe Rapposelli for managing this event.

On the day after Veteran’s Day Bill Knightly and I were invited to show Bill’s updated veterans

PowerPoint to the Sallies board of trustees at a board meeting. While the presentation was

running, I was watching the viewers. No heads moved. No one sneezed or coughed. Hopefully

they were all mesmerized by the Salesianum history they were watching. Loud applause

followed.

The PowerPoint can be viewed on our website – salesianumveterans.org. I encourage you to

view it on a laptop or tablet, please use the full screen edit and turn your sound up. If you

haven’t seen it I think you will be moved.

Our website also includes a Wall of Honor. Any alumni veteran is welcome to tell their military

story here. If you would like to be included, please send me a military photo and your narrative.

Last year in the fourth quarter, we lost a dear friend and a founding committee member Fr. Bill

Keech. We all miss him. In my memories of Fr. Bill, I wrote:

“We have all lost a wonderful priest, an exemplary Oblate, a gentle soul, a great friend with an

excellent sense of humor, a good listener, a self-effacing personality, a teacher, a man of service,

a theatre lover, an artist and a brother alumni veteran. For me it sometimes feels like I have lost

my father for a second time. God bless you Father Keech! May your spirit live forever in peace with God, your family and friends who have gone before you and the saints you admired and followed.”

Christmas Gifts: Please consider buying books written by our fellow alumni vets, John Riley,

Denny Skirvin, Edward F. Palm and John Reardon.

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