Wednesday, September 1, 2010

MR Drive Schedule- For your records

 
Brother Page,
 
MR Drive Schedule.  Will need volunteers in 2 hour shifts between 8-5pm
 
Vons will be Oct 15 and 17
 
Albertsons will be Oct 10,15,17
 
After Church masses- Oct 23rd and 24th

John Ramirez
858-673-1949 Home
858-776-1937 Cell

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1103161961
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-ramirez/8/864/14
To get on my calender: http://tungle.me/JohnRamirez

Friday, April 2, 2010

KNIGHTS CRUSADE #3

THE KNIGHTS CRUSADE OF FRANK STILL 4-1-2010

Frank was born in Danbury, Iowa. He became a 3rd degree knight in Council 539 in Denver, CO, in February, 1947. He came from a family of knights. When his father was married, in Council Bluffs, IA, June 14, 1911, he was already the Grand Knight of the Norton, KS, Council. His father later served as District Deputy and remained active until his death. At the time of his death he was a member of St. Patricks Council in Atchison , KS.

Frank's brother was also an active knight, joining in the early 30's while in the Navy and was a Grand Knight while in the Phillipines. He later served as Grand Knight and Faithful Navigator while living in Orange County, California. When the California State Convention was held in San Diego in 1964, Frank and his brother led the knight's march from the El Cortez Hotel to St. Joseph's Cathedral wearing their white capes and full 4th degree regalia.

After Franks family moved from Iowa to a small farm just outside of Atchison, KS, Frank attended public and Catholic schools and served as a Columbian Squire. He then worked his way through the first two years of St. Benedict's College. In March 1943 Frank was drafted into the Army Air Corps. He did basic training at Ft. Collins, CO, where he organized a Military Holy Name Unit. Each Sunday this unit would march from the base Tech Square to the Catholic Church for services.

Later, while serving mass at the Great Bend, KS, Air Base, Frank was afflicted with a punctured lung. He later suffered other afflictions until finally in November, 1944, he received his medical discharge. He then reentered college and in January, 1948 he received a degree in Business Relations from Regis College in Denver.

His move to Denver brought many other changes to Frank's life. In addition to joining the knights he courted and married Florine Richmeier, a Kansas farm girl who had attended Mt. St. Scholastica Academy and College in Atchison. They met in February, 1947, became engaged in April, and were married February 7, 1948, at Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Denver. They had their rehearsal dinner, wedding breakfast and reception at Council 539. These arrangements were published in the National Catholic Register. The family still keeps a copy of this publication. Their honeymoon was interesting in that they traveled by train to Del Mar, CA, where they enjoyed the honeymoon suite for a rate of $10 per night. They later stayed at the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel for the same rate.

Frank and Florine's marriage was blessed with three sons and one daughter who were able to attend University High School (now Cathedral).

For employment, Frank joined the U. S. Civil Service and was assigned to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Denver. Later he was transferred to several locations which allowed him to carry on his Knights of Columbus Crusade. In Sparks, NV, he helped start Council 4928. This council will celebrate its 50th anniversary, April 10, 2010. During these transfers he served as Grand Knight, Faithful Navigator, District Deputy, State Secretary for the State of Nevada and Chairman of New Council Development for the California Southern District. He founded Councils at Mother of Confidence, Mt. Carmel, University of San Diego, Julian, Scripps Ranch and Rancho Bernardo. He was Grand Knight of Council 9710, Valley of the Angels in 1993-94.

Other events in Franks Crusade were that he grew up knowing relatives of Bishop Charles F. Buddy before he became a bishop. Florine, his wife received her High School Diploma from Bishop Buddy. Msgr. Dennis Mikulanis attended High School with Frank's son, Bob. Father Dennis, while at St. Mary Magdalen, presided at the wedding of Frank and Florine's daughter.

Now Frank is residing at Nazareth House in San Diego. Florine will soon join him there and they will embark on their final Crusade with the loving care of the sisters and care givers of the home. Truly this has be a Catholic and Knightly Crusade.

Page Holbrook Watts


John Ramirez
858-673-1949 H
858-776-1937 C

Sunday, January 31, 2010

story

A KNIGHT'S CRUSADE  #2

 

Meet Larry Campitiello - current council officer - 3rd Year Trustee

 

 

My career with the Knights of Columbus started in 1962. My Father and Uncle were both members and I was coerced into joining. They both had a great time teasing me as I went to each degree. Back in the early sixties the degree's were a lot different than today. Needless to say that's for another time. In 1964 my dad, uncle and I made our Fourth Degree together in New York City. The class had over six hundred candidates.  

 

While working and raising a family in my younger days I was not very active. Bowling with the CYO and playing on the company softball team took up a lot of my time. In 1965 Mary and I had the opportunity to move to California. I could return to school nights and continue working in the day time. By then we had two boys and lots of energy.

 

We settled in Whittier California. While registering my oldest son for school at St Mary's, I met a man in the office named Peter McGoldrich. He recognized my Knights of Columbus ring and immediately recruited me to transfer to Whittier Council and I also transferred to Fr Penna Assembly.

 

I faithfully paid my dues to the Council and Assembly but with work, school and family there was not much time left to be an active Knight. In fact I did not become active until 1993 when we moved to San Diego. By then we had three boys, all were out of the house and we were alone. Mary decided that we needed to contact the Knights of Columbus Insurance agent to check on our coverage. So we were put in touch with Brother Sam Watson. Sam came to visit and we discussed transferring to Valley of the Angels council but I told Sam I had no time. That's when the phone calls started. Some guy by the name of Frank Still called about six times. He invited me to come to a council meeting, and with Mary's coxing I decided to go and see what was going on.

 

The night I walked into Room 4 there were only about 10 members in attendance. Frank was presiding and asked if I would take down the minutes. (That was my first mistake.:))

 

A few months later Dick Mears was elected to the office of Grand Knight and I became his Deputy. After Dick completed his year I was elected and served two terms as Grand Knight (1995-1997). I was doing all the things expected of a Grand Knight, going to degrees and Chapter meetings. I began to realize what the Knights of Columbus is really all about. Frank Still got me to transfer to Bishop Buddy Assembly in San Diego.

 

I told Mary that my dad was a Faithful Navigator at my old Assembly and I would like to follow in his foot steps, she agreed and said if that's what you want go ahead. I served in all the chairs at Bishop Buddy and became Faithful Navigator in (1998 – 1999). While at Bishop Buddy I got a phone call from Tony Miller who had two swords he wanted to donate. The swords belonged to his father and he wanted to see them put to good use by some Sir Knight. I asked him why he did not keep them and get himself active but he explained he started work with some lady who was starting the Garden of Innocence to bury abandoned babies. As he explained the reason for the Garden, I started to formulate a plan to get the knights involved. I thought it would be an honor to help escort the babies to the grave sites. I asked if it would be alright if we did that and Tony agreed.

 

As Navigator, I told the Assembly we would be attending a funeral on June 19th, we were going as an honor guard to bury a baby boy named Adam. We were seven Sir Knights in full regalia. That was just the beginning. The Fourth Degree Knights have been at every burial in the Garden and the numbers have grown. In November of 2001, I had the honor of naming a baby boy, we called him Christopher.  When we buried the 100th baby I again had the honor of naming the baby and we called her Ann Marie. We had 84 Sir Knights in Color and at least 20 in tuxes at her burial. On January 9th 2010 we buried Howard, the One hundred and eleventh baby. Now when I go to the Garden on a call out I see many Knights I don't recognize. It's been a wonderful experience for me personally.  

 

In the spring of 1997, while attending a Chapter testimonial dinner honoring Harley "Lee" Harris, I was asked if I would consider becoming a District Deputy, I agreed and served as a DD (1997- 2001) As a District Deputy I received 4 consecutive awards from the MR Foundation for my district. I also started St James the Greater Council in Solana Beach and received a Star District award.  

 

In the year 2000, Jack O'Rourke, Sal Acampora, Vince Giracello and I approached Master John Beckman to start the Joseph T. O'Callahan Assembly. He allowed us to split from Bishop Buddy Assembly. I was the Charter Admiral, and went on to become the third Faithful Navigator (2002-2003)

 

When I completed my term as District Deputy, I decided to go through the chairs at the San Diego Diocese Chapter and became the Chapter President (2003-2004) As Chapter President I received awards for raising $17,265.00 for the Columbian Retirement Home, and $71,563.30 for the M.R. Foundation. It was during my term as Chapter President that we had the Scripps Miramar Fires. Supreme Director Joseph Schultz asked if I would distribute $10,000.00 from the Supreme Council to the fire victims in and around San Diego. I turned the money into $50.00 gift cards to be distributed and I spent several weekends in Harbison Canyon, and at St Louise de Marillac Church in Crest giving away money to needy families that came to the church for help. I then expanded my reach to the Indians near the Valley View Casino. Fire burned so hot there it turned black top driveways into dust. The Indians need help with clean up and FEMA erected shelters but the Indians had to hook up their own water and electricity. I got them some help from the local Council, along with the gift cards to ease the pain.  

 

About five years ago I asked Monsignor Dennis if we could do something for the Marines at Camp Pendleton. With his blessing and the help of Neil May, the Council and members of O'Callahan Assembly I started the Semper Fi Fund at San Rafael.

 

In September 2004, I was asked by the new Master of the Fourth Degree Bernard Gardner if I would become his secretary, I agreed and completed the assignment in 2008. Following Bernard's retirement, I was appointed Master of the Fourth Degree for all of Southern California District. That represents 34 Assemblies and over 7000 Sir Knights in my jurisdiction. My term as Master ends in September 2012.

 

Along the way I have had many other positions with the State Council and many of the assignments I had were done while holding other positions.

 

August 2007 Delegate to the 125th Supreme Convention held in Tennessee.

State Program Director (2008-2009)

Assistant Convention Chairman for San Diego (2008-2009)

State Chairman for membership Statistics (2004-2008)

Chapter Chairman for MR Foundation (2004-on going)

President of the Horseshoe Arrowhead Desert Valley/ San Diego Chapters (2006-2007)

State Chairman Civic Involvement (2004-2006)

State Chairman for Fire Disaster Relief (2003-2004)

State Chairman for New Council Development (2002-2003)

Convention Chairman for Hospitality (2000-2001)  

 

Many of the assignments have a story but I won't bore you with all the details. If you ask, what was the most rewarding thing I have done as a Knight; it would be meeting wonderful Brother Knights and their Ladies from all over the State of California. The Knights of Columbus are my extended family.  

  

Vivat Jesus   

Larry Campitiello

Page Holbrook Watts


Blog

Friday, January 29, 2010

Fw: please forward to all ministry leaders to forward again

> >
> >   
> >   
> >     
> >       Worthy Parishioners:
> >        
> >       Please help support
> San
> > Rafael's own Missionary Kate
> >       Mattoon this Sunday at
> the Mission Pancake Breakfast.
> > Kate has dedicated
> >       her life to teaching
> orphans and poor children in
> > Honduras for the next
> >       three years.
> >       Come by and have
> Breakfast or
> > come to the Parish Hall
> >       and make a small
> donation.
> >        
> >       Vivat Jesus,
> >        
> >       Page Holbrook Watts
> >       
> >
> >  
> >
> > 
> >
>
>
>
>

Monday, December 28, 2009

Crusade #1

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS CRUSADES

                                        CRUSADE # 1 BY JOHN DUSSAULT

 

            This is the first of a series of articles written by long time Knight John Dussault.  Purpose of the series is to high light some of the things that occur when one is an active member of the greatest men's organization in the Catholic Church.  Crusade # 1 tells the history of the author, John Dussault, in this fraternity.

 

            My first encounter with the Knights of Columbus took place in 1950 when I was a senior at St. Benedict's College in Atchison, Kansas.  I attended this college on the GI Bill after my discharge from the U.S. Navy in 1947.  During my senior year several of we veterans discussed the possibility of starting a Knights of Columbus Council at the college.  We found the interest among the students but we also found that being seniors who hoped to graduate at the end of the year was not the place to start.  We had to create interest  among the underclassmen.  St. Benedict's, being an all male college was a good place to create this interest.  I should mention that later the college became coeducational and the name was changed to " Benedictine ", which it still is today.  The created interest by the underclassmen also grew and a couple of years later a council was formed and continues today.

 

            After graduating with a BA in Mathematics and Physics in 1951 I became a teacher of math and science in the Senior High School of Guymon, OK.  Guymon is located in the Panhandle of Oklahoma.  There are very few Catholic Churches in the area.  St. Peter's Church in Guymon drew parishioners from a 60 mile radius.  When my wife, Helen, and I attended our first mass there a gentleman came up to us, held out his hand and said, "You must be the new teacher at the high school."  I said that I was and he said, "are you a member of the Knights of Columbus"?  At the same time he was saying this he was pulling out a form 100 and telling me that he was going to be my shadow until I signed the application to join the knights.  This man's name was Tim Clawson and he ushered at the one mass held every Sunday and was a one-man membership committee of St. Peter's Council 3309, not unlike our own Bill Ashley at council 9710.  After the application was filled out it was voted on at the next council meeting, held a week later, and the week after that initiation was held.  Because of the large distances people had to travel I found that initiations were held on Sunday, after the one mass and it consisted of first, second and third degrees all being administered the same day.  To illustrate how few Catholics were in the area, I found that I was only the second Catholic teacher to be hired by the Guymon public school system.  The area was known as being a part of the"Bible Belt" and all public school teachers were expected to attend all of the funerals that were held involving relatives of any of the students in the school system.  There were many Protestant Churches in Guymon, consequently we attended many funerals during the school year.

 

            We stayed in Guymon for two years, then in June, 1953, I was hired by Cessna Aircraft Company in Wichita, KS., to work in their Commercial Division Engineering Department.  We moved to a suburb of Wichita, a city called Derby.  The parish there was St. Mary's and it did not have a Knights of Columbus Council but one was in the process of being formed.  I became a charter member of the new St. Mary's Council 4458 and later became part of the first degree team and after that served one year as Grand  Knight.

 

            We bought our first house in Derby and lived in it for eight years.  During this time we adopted two children, a boy and a girl, and then had two more children by natural birth, a girl and then another boy.  With four children the house we thought would last us for years suddenly became quite crowded.  We found a larger home to buy in Wichita, so in 1961 we moved once more.  This time our new parish was All Saints.  We were happy that  All Saints had a parochial school through the eighth grade.  Since our new home was only about six miles from St. Mary's Council in Derby I continued to be an active member of council 4458.

 

            In 1967, after completing a general managers training course at Cessna I was promoted to Division General Manager of the newly acquired McCauley Accessory Division in Dayton, OH.  I took the new job in January of 1967 and Helen and the children remained in Wichita until the school term ended in May before they moved.

 

            When the family arrived in Dayton we moved into a new home in North West Dayton.  It was near St. Rita's Parish Church and the nearest Knights of Columbus Council was the Marian Council 3754.  Council 3754 had its own facility which was very nice and it was only one block away from our new home.  The facilities of this new council which serviced several parishes consisted of a meeting hall, complete with kitchen, offices, extra rooms for initiations, several acres of grounds which had a base ball diamond, basket ball goals and other play ground equipment.  It was a very active council which had frequent dinners, dances, bingo games, dance instructions and other parties.  The facilities were sometimes rented out to help generate funds to support it.  I was not as active in this council as I would have liked as my new job required considerable travel.  The division I managed not only serviced our parent company, Cessna, but also sold aircraft equipment we manufactured  world wide.  In fact, I was traveling so much that I even took a withdrawal card from the knights for awhile.  We lived in Dayton from 1967 until 1985.  In 1982 General Dynamics acquired Cessna.  As a result of this acquisition several officers of Cessna were offered early retirement if they met certain qualifications.  As a Vice President and Divisional General Manager I met these qualifications and took early retirement January 1, 1983.  This ended most of my traveling, consequently I became active again in Council 3754.  The youngest of our four children was now 23 and all of them were on their own so my wife and I did some pleasure traveling for about six months.  I then took a one year contract to be Executive Director of the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton.  I had been on their Board of Trustees for several years before retiring.  In addition I kept busy doing some consulting on aviation structures and repairs and stayed active in Council 3754.

 

            As a result of our travels we found that we were attracted to the area of San Diego in southern California.  By the spring of 1985 our youngest son had established a business in San Diego and one of my sisters and her family lived there.  We decided to sell our Dayton home and move to San Diego.  We moved in August, 1985 into a new home in a subdivision named Scripps Ranch..  The closest Knights of Columbus Council was Good Shepherd Council 9076 in Mira Mesa, another nearby subdivision.  It also was a part of Good Shepherd Parish.  This was a very active council and I became quite involved by chairing various activities.  They participated in a 4th of July Parade every year in both Mira Mesa and Scripps Ranch and  having just bought a new pick up truck I volunteered to build a parade float.  It was called "Lady Liberty" and depicted the Liberty Monument on the back of the pick up, while playing recorded patriotic music on the truck radio.  The Grand Knight of  9076, Tom Murphy, kept turning up the volume on the radio so high that he fractured both of the truck's radio speakers.  We did win first prize.  At this council I was also active on the membership committee, chaired several dances and participated on the first degree team.  One of the dances was a Holloween dance.  In addition to Ghosts and Goblins we incorporated a Western Theme.  This involved having bales of straw around the dance hall and we wanted a paper mache horse if we could find one.  We finally found one in Tijuana, Mexico.  It was quite large so I picked it up in my pick up truck.  When crossing the border returning to the USA the Border Guards were very suspicious of this paper mache horse in the back of the truck and almost destroyed it trying to insure that it contained no drugs or contraband.  After gluing the horse back together it became a big hit at the party.

 

            In September, 1985 a new parish was formed in Scripps Ranch and was named St. Gregory the Great.  We became charter members of the new parish and soon started work on the establishment of a new council of the Knights of Columbus.  I was elected president of the steering committee to help form the new council.  The new council representatives of the State Council were Lee Harris, former Charter Grand Knight of Good Shepherd Council 9076 and Frank Still, a long-time knight who is past grand knight of Council 9710 and also former Secretary of the Nevada State Council.  Lee Harris is now disceased but Frank Still is still a member of Council 9710 and Bishop C. F. Buddy Assembly 2022.  The new council was chartered in 1986 and was named the Scripps Miramar Council 10094.  The name was selected because we also helped service and had several members from what was then the Miramar Naval Air Station.  I was also elected the Charter Grand Knight of the new council.  Later the council was renamed the St. Gregory the Great Council and the Naval Air Station became the Marine Corps Air Station.  Council 10094 was a very active group.  It was the only men's organization in the new parish and as such involved themselves in all phases of the parish operation trying to truly become the right arm of the pastor.  The council members served as lectors, members of the building committee, members of the choir, ushers, fund raisers, handymen on the parish grounds and were volunteers for all parish activities.

 

            In addition to being active in council 10094 in 1986 I joined the Balboa 4th  Degree Assembly 40 and immediately acquired Color Corps regalia and became active in the Color Corps.  The Balboa Assembly was generally centered in the southern part of San Diego and in 1989 a new Assembly was formed in North San Diego. The Charter Faithful Navigator was Barney Barnes, a member of Ascension Parish.   It was called the Bishop Charles F. Buddy Assembly 2122 and held  meetings at Ascension Parish in Terrasanta.  In addition to being a charter member of this new Assembly, being active in the Color Corps and was named Commander for one year, I worked my way through the officers chairs and in 1993 was elected Faithful Navigator.  After being Faithful Navigator for one year, in 1996 I was then elected District Deputy.  This position I held for two years.  In the district we had five councils.  These  included  2 councils in Poway, one each in Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch and Ramona, CA.  An inactive council in Julian was unchartered during this time.

 

            In the new council 10094 and the new St. Gregory's Parish fund raising was a high priority.  We found that major grocery and drug stores would give a 6% discount on grocery gift certificates if they were purchased in lots of $5,000.  These certificates were the same as cash and could be used to purchase anything at their respective stores.  The parish had no available funds so I and two other Knights contributed $5,000 each to buy certificates from Vons, Luckys and Long Drug Stores.  We and the Pastor agreed that we would sell the certificates to parishioners after all week end masses.  Five percent of the Six percent profits would go into the building fund and we three investors would keep 1% of the profits in return for the use of our money.  Sales were slow initially but after we educated the parish on the process, sales picked up rapidly.  Other parishes and non profit organizations heard about the activity and asked us to sell to them also. We sold to them using the same 1%/5% division we used at St. Gregory.  We took orders weekly and packaged and delivered orders twice weekly.  Our sales at the end of the second year grew to $2.5 million and our original $5,000 individual investment grew to $30,000 each. Because of the risk of carrying around $50,000 or more in certificates, which were the same as cash, we decided to train our customers in the business of buying and selling their own certificates and then turn the process over to each of them. We recovered our investment in the process. This activity continues yet today at St. Gregory the Great  with the proceeds now helping with their new grade school.

 

            In 2001 real estate was selling well in the San Diego area and my wife and I decided that we did not really need our four bedroom home and large yard to take care of and put  Scripps Ranch house up for sale.  It sold to the first buyer to look at it and we had to find a place to move in a hurry.  We were looking for a two bedroom home or condo.  There were none available in Scripps Ranch but we found such a house in Rancho Bernardo located about 10 miles to the north, but still in the city of San Diego.  Rancho Bernardo had a great parish named San Rafael and a great Knights of Columbus Council 9710 called Valley of the Angels.  This council was affiliated with another 4th Degree Assembly. Fr. Joseph T. O'Callahan, 2652.  We were now joining our seventh Knights of Columbus Council and our third 4th Degree Assembly.  In our new surroundings we find ourselves in a fantastic Parish with an absolutely great Pastor, an active council and assembly,  busy women's organizations, wonderful RCIA activities and beautiful facilities which are getting better with a new office and meeting room complex under construction.

 

            In addition to doing the part of Chancellor on the first degree team at Council 10094 I also substituted as Chancellor on the degree teams at St. Michael's council in Poway and the council at Mother of Confidence Parish in Clairemont.

 

            In our new location at San Rafael we find that we can occupy ourselves in every activity we could possibly desire.  Our health has been good enough that we participate in many of the ongoing ventures.  Helen is active in the Ladies Guild and assists the office with mailings.  Both of us have sponsored converts in the RCIA Program.  I have helped in membership campaigns, recruiting, basketball free throw contests, building committee work, Lenten fish fry dinners and monthly coffee and doughnuts and breakfasts.

 

            So our Crusade continues and hopefully it will not end until it is our time to go to our final reward, our FINAL CRUSADE.

Page Holbrook Watts