The catalysts for starting this web page are at least three-fold. First are my mostly fond memories of my attending Saint Joseph's College for six years. The second reason is that I am curious about my classmates: where they are, what they have done, and how they are doing. And thirdwas that this was all brought to a head by the recent untimely death of one of our classmates, John Leslie, whom I haven't seen in at least thirty years. His passing has made me, Joe Barile, and my old Campus Crew buddy, Ed Chiosso, re-realize that these were important (formative) years; and that we would like to reconnect with as many of our former classmates as possible... while we still have the time. This web site is one attempt to do so.

Such a reconnection will undoubtedly be bitter-sweet, both as times past and youth lost are, but also because of the turmoil experienced by many of us in the turbulent 1960's, for our country and for the Catholic Church, with whom we all thought, at one time or another, we had a calling to serve. There was something there, a generosity if you will, which still I believe, along with our experiences and education at St.Joe's or St.Pat's, set, and sets, us apart.

Seeing our dreams change and/or our institutions crumble (literally in the cast of St. Joseph's whose tower was felled by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake) were, to say the least, painful. To lose our dreams, to have them changed by the violent shaking of the changing church was for many of us equally traumatic. Some of us may have never recovered.

And yet most of us have rechanneled our dreams to run a different course, but the source of that new vocation is probably the same: a belief and a willingness to make a difference. And somehow, most if not all of us have survived, and in some way have, I believe, made a difference.

Can you relate to any of this, or am I just projecting myself all over the place?!

The hope and the premise of this web page is that we are ready to revisit our youth, and reconnect with our classmates, heal if necessary, and recognize that those years we spent together, however many, were not spent in vain. As we got older, we rebuilt ourselves, found new careers, maybe raised families, and met our responsibilities; I hope time has healed any wounds, and fulfillment has whetted our desires to reconnect with our past friends and classmates.

His dictis (sorry, I couldn't resist), if you support the concept of trying to reconnect with your classmates, let Ed or me know via e-mail (jobarlives@yahoo.com or echiosso@earthlink.net ). If you want to give us a little update on what you been doing for the past forty years (wow, tempus really does fugit), or even attach a photo of yourself or your family, or pictures you have of St. Joe's--really needed; please do so. If you want to mail copies of photos which I can scan, you can send them to me at 1227 Foothill Street, Redwood City, Ca.,94041.

Just as important, we need the word to get out. Please e-mail or mail this introduction (http://idisk.mac.com/jobarlives/Public/sjs/sjs.html) on to classmates whose e-mail or addresses you may know. We do not have any lists. I hope we can make this happen. I believe it's well worth the effort, and I hope you agree. Thanks

.--Joe Barile, November 22, 2005