60s for 60 Party

We didn't make  The New York Times society page, Vanity Fair, the Seen column in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, or even the Aspinwall Herald, but the party of the year was held on Friday, October 25, at the John Paul I Pastoral Center, St. Juan Diego Parish in beautiful downtown Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania.

I'm referring of course to the "60s for 60" party which celebrated the 60th birthday of Rosanne Saunders and myself.  About 130 wacky friends joined us to celebrate both the 1960s and our milestone birthday way back in 1953, and raise money for Sisters Place, too.  Sisters Place is a supporting housing community committed to assisting single families who are homeless in Southwest Pennsylvania.  Sisters Place's mission is to assist families toward self-sufficiency by providing housing and supportive services.  For more information, or to donate, check out their website.

Both Rosanne and I are former board members of Sisters Place, and have supported Sisters Place for years.

Let's get the boring part out of the way.  Our very generous guests and friends exceeded Rosanne and my personal goal of $10,000, and raised over $12,500 for Sisters Place.  Give yourself a hand!

Now to the fun.  To my amazement, most of our guests took up the invitation to come in costume to the party.  And what costumes!!!!

We engaged Pics and Poses Photo Booth to bring their travelling studio to our party, and the photos on this post are from their collection.  To see all the crazy photos yourself, go to their website and click on "Photo Gallery" and then on "10/25/2013 Sisters Place."  

Yes, we had fake nuns and real nuns, fake hippies and real hippies, bobbie soxers and cheerleaders, and just about every other nutcase from the 1960s.

Food was provided by the great people of  Bistro to Go from the North Side of Pittsburgh.  The 1960s themed menu included appetizers of Buggles with onion dip, Tang, celery sticks filled with peanut butter and cheese.   The main menu included Swedish meatballs, Mrs. Paul's fish sticks, mac and cheese, sliders, broccoli surprise, and fried chicken .  Salad was two kinds of jello.  Dessert was a massive Pittsburgh-style cookie tray.  

Father Dan Whalen did his best MC imitation, failing miserably to get the crowd to stop laughing.  The children of St. Vitus School produced a dynamite five minute video tribute to me. 

Connie Vaskov and her art students at Penn-Trafford High School did their best Andy Warhol impression with wild 60s themed posters.  Father Nick Vaskov used photos from the personal photographic archives of Rosanne and myself to offer a revealing rolling slide show, interspersed with some of the iconic photos and events of the 1960s.

Alice Kulikowski edited a delightful commemorative program.  Sister Mary Parks (a real nun who came dressed as a hippie), who in real life is the energetic executive director of Sisters Place, thanks the gathered assembly on behalf of the moms and children of Sisters Place.  Jeff Anderson and his ever-helpful wife Sue made the dozens and dozens and dozens of cookies appear.  

Sister Liguori Rossner, also a real nun, came dressed in the garb of a 1960s vintage Sister.  (As Rosanne noted, Sister Liguori touched both of our lives.  She was a teacher of Rosanne at the Bishop Boyle High School, Homestead, in the 1960s, and worked with myself and several others to found the Jubilee Soup Kitchen in 1979.)  Father Jim Garvey, a real priest, walked in with more hair on his head than he had in the 1960s.

What would a party be without a surprise?  Rosanne and I secretly practiced playing our childhood musical instrument, the accordion, and appeared to the tune of "You Are My Sunshine," with a duo of "With a Little Help from My Friends" by the Beatles.  Let's just say that the video of this travesty was rejected even by the spying NSA file-grabbers, and that we accordionists quit while we were ahead.

The staff of St. Juan Diego Parish couldn't have been more helpful, including pastor Father Mike Decewicz, and Rose, Rosie, Mary Ann, Scott and Jerry.  Kudos to long-suffering Martin Saunders, Rosanne's real life husband, who had to put up not only with six months of planning, but also six weeks of horrific accordion practice.  

And a great time was had by all!

MC Dan Whalen and myself imitating a nerd.

Newly 60 Rosanne and loving husband Martin.