Davis Remler: High School Graduate

Parents of BC's class of 2012 had been preparing for this day for the last eighteen years. And yesterday it finally arrived with much pageantry and celebration. After a baccalaureate Mass given by Bishop Gregory Hartmeyer, Benedictine conducted its commencement exercises at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.

The Remlers arrived at the Cathedral considerably early to get a good parking spot, take photos in Lafayette square, and ensure they had a good seat inside. Unfortunately, Davis realized upon arrival that he'd left his National Honors Society stole at home. Oops.

No problem. Stephen made a quick call to Aunt Kelley, who graciously met him at Whitemarsh Shopping Center with the forgotten ornament. While Stephen was meeting Kelley for the drop off, Skippy and I took some lovely photos on the square.

Then we made our way to the cathedral, where we found Hugh and BB, and we took more photos:

And then Davis went downstairs to join his classmates while we handed out the tickets to make sure everyone got inside.

Here he is conversing with Master Sergeant Osorio.

 

 

By the way, no one actually took up the tickets, so to any of you parents with BC juniors, I can give you my tickets if you need extras. Nobody's really going to check the date on them.

The music was beautiful, as was the church. The graduates looked handsome in their maroon and white caps and gowns. And the tribute to deceased faculty and students was heart warming. The valedictorian and salutatorian gave very nice speeches.

See if you can pick out the Remlers and Lawsons in this photo. Here's a hint: They're on the left hand side.

In college, students often graduate cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude. After the Bishop's lengthy homily, everyone agreed that BC's senior class graduated thank the laude.

Again, Aunt Kelley came to the rescue, as she met guests at our house afterward while we were still listening to closing remarks.

Once we all returned to Sapphire Island, we got some good photos of all the BC graduates in attendance:

There were a lot of them:  Davis ('12), PopPop ('52), Aloysius and Stephen ('83), Bob ('75), Brett ('81), Randy ('05), and Michael Tucker ('77). Travis arrived later. I wish we had gotten him in the photo too. He graduated in '11.

And so another milestone has been reached, and now we look forward to August, when Davis departs to the SUNY Maritime College. Although we're all excited about that new adventure, a little part of me hopes this summer goes by really slow.

Winding Down the Senior Year

Davis has had a fun but busy senior year, and his ROTC responsibilities came to a close Tuesday with the annual Senior Review, during which Benedictine's ROTC seniors pass the command over to the junior class. This was one of the less stressful tasks for Davis, who simply had to stand on the reviewing platform and salute as the other cadets marched by:

 

Then he helped hand out awards and medals, such as the tassel atop the banner awarded F Company, which earned the award for the best battalion. F Company was led by senior Thomas Barrow:

There's Davis on the right tying on the tassel. 

Thomas Barrow is behind the cadet on the far left. You can just see his elbow.

But in the photo above this one, Thomas is in the first row of cadets on the far left.

Other seniors receiving awards were Ben Summerlin and Bobby Crider. The role of cadet commander passed on to junior Ben Cannoles (he's the guy out front two photos up), and I'm sure Davis was delighted to let Ben assume those responsibilities. At the end of the ceremony, Davis got his very own sword!

  It has his name engraved on it and everything! The Cleary Sabre is given by the Cleary family every year to the cadet colonel. Mr. Bernie Cleary, Class of 1952, served as cadet colonel, as did all of his sons. So to honor that tradition, he presents a sabre to the outgoing colonel during Senior Review.

I wondered what Mr. Cleary was saying to Davis during this presentation.

I hope it was, "Do not use this thing to shave your face or cut your brother's hair."

Mr. and Mrs. Cleary were very gracious to pose with Davis for photographs, as were his dad and his grandfather, also BC alums. Davis's girlfriend Megan came to the ceremony. 

 

 

Here Davis poses with Mr. Cleary, class of 1952, Pop Pop, also class of 1952, 

Stephen, class of 1983, and Colonel Owens, class of 1951. Or is it 1961?

I think I'm getting all those years confused. 

 But Davis wasn't finished yet, before he could go, WTOC asked him to speak for a brief segment on the evening news.

  I was amused that when the reported asked Davis what he was going to do next, 

Davis replied, "I just want to go home." 

I was hoping he'd say, "I'm going to Disney World!"

So now Davis is finished with classes, and he has graduation next weekend. This sure has been an exciting senior year for him.  And after another year, Lawson will start high school at BC, and I'll get to post photos of him in his military uniform!

St. Peter's Seventh Grade Goes to Fort Pulaski (and the moms get lost)

Monday, May 7th, was the day the tall ships sailed out of Savannah's harbor and back to wherever it was they came from. To wave goodbye, the seventh grade of St. Peter the Apostle School rode out to Fort Pulaski for a perfect view of the ships' departure. Upon arrival, the two dozen or so kids trekked with their teacher, Maggie McAllister, to the fort's pier, while the mamas went to inspect the restrooms. Unfortunately, the mamas lost their way and found themselves wandering along this wooded path:

Yes, it's lovely, just not what anybody had come to see that day. Thank goodness for wireless telecommunications. Miss Carmen placed a call to Mrs. McAllister, and soon the three wayward mamas had reunited themselves with their kids, who were parked on a paved but rocky walkway, waiting for the ships to arrive.

 

They waited....

 and waited...

and waited. Eventually, they broke out their lunchboxes and had something to eat. Afterward, a few boys considered an afternoon nap while the girls played twenty questions:

 

But eventually, the ships did sail by, and what a beautiful sight they were. Brennan, Mark, and Anna took photos. Mills, Adam, Lawson, and Drew rested in the shade with their buddies. Everyone waved goodbye to the tall ships.

 

And then the whole gang piled into four automobiles for the short ride home. 

Not bad for a Monday.

The Eagle Has Landed: And Davis Was On It

Savannah has been abuzz lately in anticipation of the Tall Ships Challenge, which has come to Savannah for a four-day festival. Sailing ships from around the world sailed into Savannah's River Street and docked for the public to tour. Some ships even offer brief excursions.

This is the Alliance.

One of the participating ships is the U.S.C.G. Eagle. To learn more about the Eagle, click here. It's the biggest ship to participate in the challenge, which this year commemorates the bicentennial of the War of 1812.

 The Eagle

Davis's godfather, Aloysius Zealy, is a lieutenant commander in the Coast Guard, so he invoked his connections to secure Davis a spot on the Eagle as it sailed into Savannah. Davis took with him Master Sergeant Reinaldo Osorio from Benedictine's ROTC unit. They got up before the chickens to meet the Coast Guard boat that took them to meet the ship. Then they sailed in under fair skies and calm winds.

I'm sure Rey and Davis took photos with their own cameras, but I took a few of my own from the dock. What a memorable experience at the end of Davis's senior year!