Sunday, November 30, 2008 Robert Yan wrote:
 Hello Folks,
I've just returned home two days ago, having had a wonderful & memorable reunion with you and another tour inside our motherland in the uniquely beautiful ChangJiaJieh in Hunan.
Thank you Anthony for arranging the meetings & parties we all enjoyed. Your generous gift books, the cruise & the seafood lunch on Lama. Here we must also thank Sandra as well.
Thank you Joseph Chan for spending time guiding our SF members to Macau. Those who forgot their passports should also thank Joseph's patience.Thanks also for the school ties.
Thank you Levi for trying to orchestrate the singing of our school song, although none of us know the words nor tune we none the less went along just for fun.
Yes, The wines Anthony brought to the dinners. When after a few sips, I started praising , Levi wasted no time to inform me that those were very expensive vintages; $8000 HK.( I subsequently took pride in my improving taste, privately)
There must be others who deserved our gratitude. Let's thank all our HK schoolmates for a job well done. Not the least that Jackie Lam whom I've heard of many times before and finally had the pleasure of meeting. And Peter Nguyen, I thought a judge was not supposed tell such jokes.
Finally, TomTom, Mary, Joe Ku & Ed Tang, you are now honorable members of the HK Mariners Club; they want you to wash dishes in exchange for the privilege.
There's got to be another one ! in two years ?
Robert & Amelia
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November 26, 2008 4:04:48 PM PST Reginald Mak wrote:
Thank you all for your hospitality and your friendship
Dear friends,
As I have returned to U.S. soil, I reflect fondly on my most recent HongKong trip and the wonderful memories of our very first SJC class reunion. The significant impact of these memorable moments on our aging brains can hardly be overstated, especially for those who are residing outside the area.
Do allow me to congratulate Anthony for a great program that he put together. I must also thank him and our other host classmates, Levi Lee, James Choi, Dominic Kam, Kwok-Hay Fung, Joseph Chan and Frank Ching for the Lemma Island outing and the marvelous lunch there. In addition, I appreciate greatly the precious time our classmates and their spouses contributed by their participation and their planning in all the reunion events.
Maybe there will be other grand parties for us again in the future, but I will treasure forever the extraordinary experience of this reunion with all of you guys. Please accept my heartfelt thanks and good wishes to you all.
Hope to see you again soon.
Reginald Mak
Bellevue, Washington, USA
November 26, 2008 5:24:35 PM PST Reginald Mak wrote:
My thoughts on our tour of the alma mater
To most of us, the trip up Garden Road (Hong Kong) on Wednesday (November 12) touring our old school was re-living and validating our past that we all shared. Whatever our paths over the past 50 years may have been, those SJC days were the precious, carefree days we all treasure, when world calamities and human injustice mattered much less than outrunning others to claim our spots in the school compound or getting in queue for a piece of the delicious, steaming-hot sauteed squids from the school canteen, as soon as the recess bell rang.
After all these years, the school buildings still appeared intact, though with some modifications and additions. Classroom furniture was very much the same as 50 years ago. The graying and balding visitors were greeted by the sounds and the vigor of a brand-new generation of youngsters in their green-and-white uniforms, more than half a century their junior. The young folks paid scarcely any attention to the camera-carrying elders who were trying desperately to reclaim a bit of their long-lost past.
A thought did cross my mind. Some 50+ years from now, many of these youngsters may too be making the same tour, bearing the same thoughts, if the school structure is still standing at that time. It's a sure bet that we would not be.
Reginald.
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Tuesday, November 24, 2008, Moses Wong wrote:
Dear All,
I am responding to Joe Ku's email on some other topics which I think will be beneficial to all of us in the near future as well as in the long term. Joe has touched upon several good points about reconnecting with our old classmates. Joe said that his physical reunion in HK has started more email usage. What may be happening is that he ignited the warm fire which may have been simmering within the heart of each of our long lost friend who seems to be eager to re-engage with the oversea-ers via email. Even though I personally missed the opportunity to join you in HK, I have been waiting with elongated neck to hear whatever did transpire en-route and if any exciting incidents occurred during your visit.
To come to the point. Making physical visits may be few and far in between. Making electronic visits are as easy as pie (but I don't know how to make pie !). I here suggest that we should encourage each of us to send in interesting occurrences, share your plans and personal experiences, happy or sad and no matter how trivial; so that we can stay in touch and get to know how we spend our golden years either apart or close-by.
I start with an example: My daughter took me and my wife to breakfast last week and we had a long talk. She asked what was our plan in the next 10 years, by then we'll be close to 80. She indicated that we would not be able to manage living in a house and it is time we think hard about really retiring and down-sizing our living quarters and perhaps plan to team up with good friends in a condominium dwelling with instant medical help and facilities. Her concerns were absolutely correct and we should be working on it really soon.
My point is that if any one of you have ideas and specific plans about retiring please share with us and perhaps we could all enjoy a collective virtual quality life and grow old together gracefully.
I am grateful we have a diligent and untiring admin like JoeKu and wish you all the best in making our SJC website the magnet of our group of super-achievers of the 58 Alumni.
Moses
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Monday, November 24, 2008, Fung Kwok Hay wrote:
ABOUT OUR GOLDEN JUBILEE
During one meeting, one classmate said that how happy it would be if we all returned to the days of being students at school. I did not appreciate it so much until we had our Golden Jubilee held in HK when we all enjoyed talking about the stories in the past. This sensation reached the climax when we visited our Alma Mater. We all suddenly seemed to return to the days when we had to line up to go into the classrooms as we chatted about the games and the football matches we played.
Thanks to Joseph Ku, Anthony Cheng, Robert Yan and all others who contributed so much of their efforts into making this Golden Jubilee a success. Before we parted, we all looked forward to our next meeting.
Fung Kwok Hay
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Friday, November 21, 2008. Edward Tang wrote:
Having rested up from the return trip from HongKong, I would like to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to all the HongKong classmates and their spouses who participated in arranging the wonderful 50th reunion and made it a great success far beyond expectation. The fact that we had a greater than 50% class participation proves the point.
It was really emotional to have a chance to meet and chat with so mant classmates, many
of whom I have not seen since leaving St. Joseph in 1958. I also was happily surprised to
find out that Robert Yan and I have been schoolmates for 60 years. Can anyone beat that?
The tour of St. Joseph last Wednesday brought back lots of memories of our years together. Some of the classrooms have not changed at all for 50 years. It's amazing!
I enjoyed all the meals you arranged, especially the cruise and the lunch at Lamma Island. It really allowed all those attended to renew our past friendship, to enjoy the jokes (whether clean or dirty), and to see the changing scenery around HongKong on the water. Thank you Anthony and your lovely wife Sandra for hosting this last event.
The only regret is we missed the presence of Lam Chi Chiu, whose wife regretfully passed away recently and thus could not attend the reunion. We send him our sincere condolences.
I cannot wait to view the many photos taken at the reunion when Joseph has put them up on the web site.
Finally, let us start planning soon for another reunion in ten years or may be less. Hope we can have even more participation from Canada and HongKong. This one, even with this year's worldwide financial meltdown, certainly "made my days and year" (as Client Eastwood said in a popular movie)!
Best regards!
Edward Tang
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Thursday, November 20, 2008 Joseph Ku wrote:
This has been a very rewarding experience, meeting many classmates that I have not seen for many years. This reunion allowed for a true "re-union" in the real sense of the word, a re-connection with many that I would have lost touch with forever otherwise.
It is so good to see everyone healthy and happy, and above all, so warm and caring.
It was also wonderful to know that many of the classmates that did not respond to the email contact attempts were not due to their not caring, but, suprising for the 21st century, not familiar with using the internet as a communication tool. It is gratifying to know that my physical presence has broken through this barrier and I now have promises from many to start answering their emails. I also have promises from many to send in their bios and make this re-union experience possible for those that were not physically present for this one.
Please do make an effort to stay in touch and use this web-site as a communication center.
So good to have seen you all.
Joseph Ku
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