Welcome

Dear Parents, Alumni, and Friends, Dear Friends of St. Cecilia —

Welcome
and thank you for attending the 13th annual Comedy & Cuisine. We are so grateful for the overwhelming support of the parish, alumni, parents and friends who have gathered tonight to
“Celebrate Our Students”.

Our honorary chairpersons represent the longstanding commitment to the Cathedral parish that has come to define our parish. Joe Archibald, Dave Gurney, Fred Sommer, and Jim Watson were members of the first deacon class for the archdiocese in 1973. We thank them for their contributions to the spiritual development of our parish.

St. Cecilia Cathedral parish has been blessed with many families who have remained committed to the school and parish for many generations. We honor Leo Wilwerding and his family as our Great Family. Our school has been blessed with a Wilwerding in the halls for the last 60 years, and there are still 8 grandchildren or great grandchildren in our school. We thank them for their countless behind the scenes acts that have been so instrumental over the last six decades. Our great families are our tradition.

Where would we be without the dedicated faculty of St. Cecilia grade school? We honor them tonight in a very special way. The selfless devotion of these individuals to the mission of a faith-based education defines the character of St. Cecilia Grade School. We can not celebrate our students without honoring and thanking our faculty – they truly are our treasure.

This event would not be possible without the countless volunteers who are dedicated to St. Cecilia Grade school. We thank Fr. Gutgsell, Paulette Rourke, the entire faculty, past chairpersons, and all the dedicated volunteers who spend countless hours to make this event a success. We sincerely thank the chairpersons for Comedy & Cuisine 2011, Christopher Burbach and Judith Nygren, and Brian and Lyn Rhoten, and we wish you lots of luck! And finally, we thank our own children for their patience over the last several months, and for reminding us of the importance of this great event and wonderful school.

Finally, thank you for being here tonight. Your dollars raised at this event will further the school’s mission of excellence in Catholic education. Join us as we celebrate our students – they are our future.

Enjoy the evening!