Our St. Patrick’s Day celebration at St. Patrick’s Chapel
came a day early this year with over 30 people attending a 30-minute
Morning Prayer Service at 8:30 a.m. on March 16, 2013. Due to St.
Patrick’s Day falling on a Sunday this year, Father David LaPlante,
pastor of the merged parishes of St. Patrick’s and St. Kilian’s was
unable to say Mass on March 17. Father Wally Vogel, Pastor of St.
Patrick’s from 1996 until the parish closed in 1999, was also in
attendance, and Steve Tennies filled our historic chapel with his
beautiful voice. Even though Father David had been on a well-deserved
vacation just hours before the service, he still found time to bake
plenty of his famous St. Patrick’s Day cookies.
March 17, dawned early for parade goers with a 9 a.m.
start time this year. We would like to thank John Fitzsimmons (who
drove in from Oshkosh) for providing his truck and building expertise
and Erin Mueller for her decorating ideas. It is amazing what you can
create in 60 minutes even with clumsy winter gloves on. St. Patrick,
John Kaczor, made sure he had plenty of “Holy Water,” as parade watchers
always look forward to his annual “blessing”. We were very grateful to
“squeeze box” extraordinaire, Dillon Connor, WTKM’s Sunday morning host,
who rushed to make the early parade start time. Although, the weather
was chilly, there were plenty of folks along the route. We would also
like to thank Jill Badzinski and Linda McAlpine of the Daily News for
their beautiful stories and pictures recounting our annual celebration
of St. Patrick’s Day.
St. Patrick Preservation elections were held at the May
14, 2013. The results: President – Maureen
Fitzsimmons-Vanden Heuvel, Vice President – Robert Schwengel, Secretary
– Peggy Kenealy and Co-Treasurers – Margaret Van Beckum and Joan
Coffey. The Board of Directors also includes Wilhelm and Joyce Weber.
For continued updates, please visit our newly updated web site (thank
you Joe Van Beckum) at
www.savestpatrick.com
(check out the latest pictures) or join us the second Tuesday of each
month at 7 p.m. at the Erin Town Hall.
If you would like to become a member of the St. Patrick
Preservation Fund, Inc. (reasonably priced at $5/Single and $10/Family),
please contact Maureen Fitzsimmons-Vanden Heuvel at 262/670-0975 or
E-mail her at SaveStPats@aol.com.
Remember all donations to the St. Patrick Preservation Fund are tax
deductible. To get a copy of the 150th Anniversary History
Book of St. Patrick’s Church, please contact Nancy Henke at 262/673-5219
or E-mail Mary Hasslinger at
mary.weddingday@att.net.
