{"id":8372,"date":"2024-07-10T12:00:39","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T16:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/?p=8372"},"modified":"2024-07-10T12:00:39","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T16:00:39","slug":"the-lucky-ones-alumni-have-shared-lifes-joys-and-pains-for-50-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/2024\/07\/10\/the-lucky-ones-alumni-have-shared-lifes-joys-and-pains-for-50-years\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lucky Ones: Alumni have shared life’s joys and pains for 50 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PeopleIf it’s Wednesday, you can bet that a reunion of sorts will be taking place over lunch at Mt. Chalet in Royal Oak.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s where a close-knit group of alumni, many of whom met while attending University of Detroit and Mercy College of Detroit at the end of the 1960s and early \u201970s, routinely meet.<\/p>\n

Lunch is just one of the many activities that this group, which consists of 27 alumni and 13 couples, has participated in together over the past five decades. They\u2019ve shared life\u2019s joys, pains, milestones and experiences, from going to college and raising children to enjoying retirement and traveling the world.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re a family,\u201d said Anne (Haaser) O\u2019Karma \u201972. “It\u2019s not just fun, fun, fun. We also have each other\u2019s backs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are the odds of this group staying together through 50-plus years?\u201d Dan O\u2019Karma \u201970 said. \u201cIt\u2019s really unique.\u201d<\/p>\n

On this particular Wednesday afternoon in late March, 15 people from the group \u2014 which has no name but uses the \u201cTitans\u201d moniker while traveling together \u2014 gathered at Mt. Chalet to reminisce about their college days. Their longtime waiter, Donovan, made his way from person to person while a grandchild, visiting from Chicago, scurried between grandparents.<\/p>\n

\"People\u201cSomebody said to me recently, \u2018how do you find stuff to talk about every week?\u2019 It\u2019s not hard at all,\u201d said Karen (Geraghty) Hannan \u201972. \u201cThe guys talk sports; the girls talk life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greek life was a big part of the group\u2019s college experience, as all the U-D alumni were in fraternities or sororities. It not only made for a lively campus, they said, it helped create a sense of home for everyone. Deborah (Pardy) Schneble \u201975 remembers her Mercy College classmates visiting U-D for these social gatherings and basketball games.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many of this group are from out of state,\u201d said Dan O\u2019Karma. \u201cI think being on campus and in the dorms kind of solidified a lot of that. We would hang out a lot. I think that was key.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having a big friend group was especially important for Ann (Denver) Madden \u201972, who came to U-D from Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went home twice a year, Christmas and the end of the school year, so I relied on a lot of the people I met in the dorms,\u201d she said. \u201cU-D was great because some people liked euchre, some people liked other things. You would just find a table, sit down and before you even knew it, you were part of a group.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because you graduated doesn\u2019t mean you still can\u2019t be friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

The friends include Gary Drainville \u201972, \u201979; Chris (Lilly) Drainville \u201972; Tom Empric \u201972; Dana (Gineitis) Empric \u201972; John Fernandez \u201972; Donna (Pellerito) Fernandez \u201971; Don Goergen \u201972; Cathy (Elliott) Goergen \u201972; John Griffin \u201972; Denise (Wissman) Griffin \u201972; Ed Hannah \u201972; Joe Loibl \u201969, \u201974; Tom Madden \u201973; John Madden \u201972; Jay Reynolds \u201972; Dan Schneble \u201972, \u201975; William Wales \u201972,\u201973; Sue (Dion) Wales \u201972, Rudy Wilson \u201972; and Kathy (Hill) Wilson \u201972. Suzie (O\u2019Connor) Loibl \u201975 was part of the group until her death in 2018.<\/p>\n

Despite the ebb and flow of life, Hannan said, the alumni have prioritized these regular get-togethers over the years. There have been New Year\u2019s Eve parties, weddings, bowling nights, annual golf trips, vacations at summer homes and abroad, and many milestone events involving their children.<\/p>\n

\"People\u201cWe made a pact long ago that when our kids got married, we would be at their wedding, no matter where it was at,\u201d said Kathy Wilson. \u201cWe\u2019ve pretty much done that.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also stay connected to University of Detroit Mercy with season tickets to basketball, attendance at annual events and by serving on alumni and other boards.<\/p>\n

Lunch outings started to become a regular thing about 20 years ago, when the women took knitting lessons in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d go to lunch after,\u201d said Wilson, \u201cand then as the guys started retiring, they joined us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve outlasted restaurants,\u201d added Anne O\u2019Karma, noting that the group has called Mt. Chalet home after their previous spot, Max and Erma\u2019s, closed.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the secret to keeping the group together for so long? It depends on who you ask.<\/p>\n

For the men, it\u2019s a simple Detroit style combination of Buddy\u2019s Pizza and Titans basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost all of us have been season ticket holders since we left U-D,\u201d said Dan Schneble. \u201cAnd that\u2019s been the real glue that\u2019s held the guys together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The women, on the other hand, remember bringing their children along when they were young. The group became an extended family for them, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started when our kids were babies,\u201d said Anne O\u2019Karma. \u201cWe got together for lunch on Fridays, and every single one of us would take a turn. The houses were beautiful when everyone showed up, and they were chaos by the time everyone left. We let the kids have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

After more than 50 years together, the alumni are thankful that U-D and Mercy College brought them together to form a group that has withstood the test of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we just consider ourselves lucky,\u201d said Hannan. \u201cWe\u2019re just such a lucky group of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If it’s Wednesday, you can bet that a reunion of sorts will be taking place over lunch at Mt. Chalet in Royal Oak. It\u2019s where a close-knit group of alumni, many of whom met while attending University of Detroit and Mercy College of Detroit at the end of the 1960s …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":8375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[13,9,17,4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2024\/07\/side-1.jpg?fit=600%2C315&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Kcng-2b2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8372"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8376,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8372\/revisions\/8376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}