In life, we often find ourselves members of a number of all types of groups we’ve joined, some made up of very special people whom we love and cherish. As we came into this world, there was our Immediate Family One, with our parents and siblings. Then there was our Extended Family One with our grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. After reaching adulthood, some decide to marry and have children, and they have children, then spouses, and kids, which begins Immediate Family Two, and that, for many of us, often creates an Extended Family Two which includes our in-laws, and our siblings and their families. Those are the families that are the most special to us, but they’re only the beginning of the number of families we may be a part of in our lifetime.

Looking back at my life and all I’ve been lucky enough to do, I met and became friends, colleagues, co-workers, and more, whom I worked with, for whatever reason or purpose. They became special groups of people, an extended “Family” Three if you will. (Many I knew for only one purpose), but with whom I became close in situations. Those include St. James Knights of the Altar (altar servers), St. James CYO, Holy Family School, and Holy Apostles Parish.

I recall how I felt in coaching, when we began each season as a “family” and worked to be the best we could be, and acquired life skills that would help us as we moved on. I remember my “family” of baseball and softball umpires, during and at the completion of each season. I recall my years of teaching, where, each year, I was part of a new “family,” helping, guiding, and watching students work hard, grow in their studies, problem solve, mature, and accept challenges. I saw them succeed with special projects including, the Metric Olympics, Selbourn Project, Outdoor Ed Experience, End of Year Excursion, Flag Day Celebrations, Wax Museums, Veterans’ Day Programs, and more, and be proud of themselves, for their successes, and their stick-to-it-ive-ness, if Plan A didn’t work for them. Almost, for that school year, we all banded together like a “family” to accomplish our goals. I also have felt “family” feelings with the Browns Backers of Jamestown, NY, and our friends, who’ve been like “family” at St. Michael Church and Progressive Field in the 216.

I’ve also been lucky to have been in other groups with friends whom I also consider Extended “Families” Three, which I love(d) being part of, and be with (Shoutouts to the Eastside Boys, our Cheers (a.k.a. Pub), and our Parrothead “families”), and my “sister” and “brother” co-educators, co-coaches, and co-officiators I’ve worked with, to reach goals, complete tasks, and with whom I’ve had great times.

In January 1979 the musical group Sister Sledge, released what might be called their greatest hit, titled We Are Family. The song was celebrated even more in the World Series that same year, when the Pittsburgh Pirates made it their theme song, which they rode to the ’79 MLB Championship. The song encapsulated the team, coaches and fans, and was played repeatedly, during the Fall Classic that season. The team, organization, Pirate fans, City of Pittsburgh, and most of eastern Pennsylvania were whistling, humming, singing, and turning up their radios to loud levels whenever the song came into earshot. People at the ballpark were dancing, and I’m sure it was a huge part of their World Championship Parade as the team rode through the city in their “Victory Lap” Celebration. Everyone seemed to meld together as does a family coming together on Christmas, for a Birthday, or Wedding, and/or the like.

As Sister Sledge sang of family, I was extremely lucky to have been (still am) part of a “family” that many of us were part of growing up being educated together. That was my St. James School “family,” with whom some of us spent closely together for as many as ten consecutive years.

In the Fall of 1958, I began Kindergarten at St. James School, 10 Prospect St., Jamestown, NY. In the spring of that year, Mom and Dad registered me in the Afternoon Kindergarten Class, and in September I walked into Mrs. Muzza’s PM Kindergarten classroom beginning my formal education. My sister, Sandy, and Brother, Lou (Tom not born yet), were both students then as well, but being very much older than me (just kidding you two, you were just much older, not very much older) they were only in the same school for part of my tenure at the school named “Sanctus Iacobus,” Latin for Saint Iacobus (Translation: James/Jacob).

For ten years from that September day walking into St. James, I shared a class with near thirty other kids (ten years, same kids each year) whose parents also enrolled their children in the Southside of Jamestown’s Parochial School. Some of us were together for a short time, but many of us went through the entire K-9 years of our education together. You might say “We Were Family,” but that doesn’t describe it completely. We weren’t just classmates with those in our grade class, we were schoolmates with everyone else who was attending St. James before 1958 and who came after 1958, until 1968, when we donned our Caps and Gowns and graduated from the School of Santiago. Many of my classmates had older and/or younger siblings, who also became our “siblings,” creating a “family” so special to us, that we still follow many of each other on Social Media, give hugs to at Church Festivals, Holiday Masses, see each other in restaurants, local watering holes, stores, shops, athletic events, and anywhere else we may run into each other. It was a “family” that brought (still does) many of us to an empty corner wherever we’re celebrating our High School Reunions, for a short time, to celebrate our own San Diego Reunion.

There were times, then, where some of us wished we were in Public Schools, not for anything else, but for the fact that they had more opportunities than what Catholic School could give us. There was music, sports, clubs, and groups that we felt we missed out on, but looking back, long after we left St. James and even more after the building was razed, most of us who felt that way had made so many great memories at St. James, that it made us realize all the things we thought we missed were not as important as the wonderful people we spent time with and are proud to think of “family,” and the special memories we made, and took with us, from the first two-thirds of our education. We were Family!

Come Oct. 11, some six weeks from now, a group who has worked for the better part of six months, has planned a St. James “Family” Reunion at St. James Church Hall at 8 p.m. for those of us who were, no, make that, are, family, whether we were in school for ten years or less, whether we were there before, during, and/or after each one of us were students at the corner of Prospect and South Main streets. If you haven’t contacted anyone from the committee to attend, the VFTB urges you to definitely do so, or contact me and I’ll steer you in the right direction. Be prepared to bring your special St. James stories and be ready to give and receive lots of hugs. We will lend credence to the line spoken by character Terrance Mann in the movie Field of Dreams, “The memories will be so thick, they’ll have to brush them away from their faces.” That will be us, and why? Because, WE ARE FAMILY!