Our St. Patrick’s Day celebration on March 17, 2014, was a little low-key this year.  Because of Father David LaPlante’s health issues, our annual St. Patrick’s Day Mass was cancelled at St. Patrick’s Church.  We heard from so many of our attendees from previous years expressing their disappointment at the cancellation—thank you for letting us know.  Hopefully with Father LaPlante’s continued healing, March 17 of 2015 will be a very special occasion at our 160-year old historic church.

We were pleased, though, to see the number of folks who braved the elements on a cold Monday morning for the 34^th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.  We cannot thank Jeff Kraft of the Erin Inn enough for convincing Randy Ehrenberg to provide our parade vehicle and Scott Henke (former Hartford mayor and nephew of Ev and Nancy Henke) to be our St. Patrick complete with flowing, white beard.  We heard that “convincing” them took place AFTER drinks at the Erin Inn but that is just a rumor . . .  Randy and Scott were invaluable in the float decorating department as well.  We warned Scott that he would be called many things other than St. Patrick (the Pope, Archbishop Listecki, Archbishop Dolan, etc.) along the parade route—maybe next year our float will read—“WHO AM I?”  We hope Randy and Scott will make their participation an annual event.

Mary Hasslinger (daughter of Evarist and Nancy Henke) has finished photographing Old St. Patrick Cemetery.  Next step is to merge gravestone information with pictures and linking the information at our website—www.savestpatrick.com.    

St. Patrick Preservation elections were held in May.  The results:   President/Secretary – Maureen Fitzsimmons-Vanden Heuvel, Vice President – Robert Schwengel, and Co-Treasurers – Margaret Van Beckum and Joan Coffey.  The Board of Directors also includes Wilhelm and Joyce Weber.

Membership renewals began June 1, so if you would like to renew your membership or 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 150^th 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.