NORTH WILDWOOD — If there were a playbook for holding a memorable class reunion, the Wildwood Catholic Class of 1976 perfected it.
Forty eight alumni and their spouses descended upon Cape May County to celebrate their 50th class reunion the third weekend in July.
The Dream Team of Greg Grasso, Cathy Aubin D’Allesandro, Mary D’Amico, Jeff Ward, Kathleen Conway, Patricia (St. George) Dowling, Chrissy (D’Allesandro) Catanoso and Jeannamarie Stokes were determined to get as many of their former classmates as possible to attend the reunion — and it paid off. According to Ward, they had the most attendees ever at a reunion, including one who traveled from as far away as New Mexico and two classmates who never attended before showing up for the event.
And what an event it was. The reunion weekend kicked off July 17 with drinks at The Wharf in Wildwood, which is owned by D’Allesandro’s nephew. Some of the alumni were able to take pictures with the visiting Stanley Cup and meet former Philadelphia Flyer Nick Deslauriers of the Caroline Hurricanes.
On the morning of July 18, 30 of the 48 alumni attended Mass at Assumption Church in Wildwood Crest. Stephen Potorti, who was the class president in 1976 and is a church musician in Maryland, played the organ.
D’Allesandro said Father Mazz at Assumption acknowledged the class and the 11 classmates who have died.
A handful of the alumni attended the funeral of Richard John Turco, their former history teacher who eventually served as principal of Wildwood Catholic. Ward said that Turco was planning to attend their reunion before he passed away July 4.
The morning of the reunion was rounded out by breakfast at The Inlet and unearthing the time capsule that was buried on the school grounds.
Twenty years ago, during their 30th reunion, the class dug up their time capsule from 1976. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by water, so they gathered stuff from 2006 and reburied the items with one salvaged letter from 1976 to unearth in 20 years. The capsule was buried in front of where the school playground is located.
The classmates eagerly dug up the capsule the morning of July 18 and, although the container was filled with water, each item was preserved in plastic bags and bottles and the class was able to marvel over 20-year-old newspaper articles, signed T-shirts, a tribute to five of their classmates who had passed away by 2006 and that note that they all wrote messages on back in 1976.
The official reunion was held the night of July 18 at the Overlook at Stowaways on the second floor of the Cape May–Lewes Ferry Terminal. Former Wildwood Catholic English teacher Joe Breslin attended the reunion, quoting Shakespeare to his former students like no time had passed.
“We were a very tight-knit class,” D’Amico said.
“I still can’t believe it’s been 50 years. I feel young,” said D’Allesandro, who lives in Tampa, Fla., but returns to Wildwood every summer to visit her family.
D’Allesandro and her twin sister Chris D’Allesandro Catanoso grew up two blocks from Wildwood Catholic at 16th and Surf and reminisced how they shared one set of books in high school.
Grasso, who also lives in Florida, returns to Cape May County once in the summer and once at Christmas because four of his five sisters still live in the area. Grasso handled the reunion website and D’Allesandro took care of texting all of the classmates.
“It was a nice group effort,” Grasso said.
By JENNIFER HANS/For the Star and Wave
