Greetings

Do you know the saying "the devil is in the details"? I am confident that truer words were never spoken. It is the details of our lives and our relationships that hold sway over the quality of our lives.

Wow! This is really bad news. You see, humans don't do well with the details. With the barrage of information that blasts us in ever increasing waves, our ability to deal with details will continue to decrease. As the complexity of the world gets dialed up, we will have to give the details over to others. We will be forced to design new systems to manage the details, and we will have to learn to trust the systems. This is a scary thought.

Unless...

Unless you consider the analogy of the Christian who is unable by his or her own reason or power to come to Christ or contribute to his/her own salvation. I know I want to be saved. I know I need another opportunity to enter an eternally blissful relationship with my Creator, and I know I will never be able to understand or execute the details of the perfect God pleasing life.

The Good News is that our Father has taken care of the planning. Since Adam and Eve were evicted from the Garden, God had a plan to restore humankind to the place of favor next to His side. It is all taken care of; the plan has been executed down to the smallest detail.

I will never be comfortable with a computer or a canned phone system being responsible for my financial security, but I can live a joyous life knowing that every detail of my purchase from a life of sin is in the hands of the Almighty.

School News

Make plans to join us this weekend for the performance of the Spring Musical "Singin' in the Rain". The curtain goes up on Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m. The Sunday performance with curtain at 3 p.m. will be surrounded by receptions.

The pre-performance party is for donors from the year 2007. We will reserve seats for these important people and share food and fellowship. After the play the entire Walther Family is invited to be with us as we recognize a total of 85 years of service to the church through Lutheran Education and three individuals who have answered God's call to serve at Walther.

Mrs. Shirley Beveridge, who began her teaching career at St. Paul Lutheran School in Melrose Park and has been at Walther since 2001, is a valued member of our Family. She teaches in the Math Department and is a tireless worker to promote the Drama program.

Mr. Steve Zielke has valuable grade school experience, having served in three different Lutheran grade schools for 19 years before coming to Walther in 1997. Mr. Zielke, Walther's fourth Principal, has put his experience to bear on the start up of the Walther Lutheran Academy at Forest Park where he is providing the administrative leadership.

Mr. Don Gillingham, Walther's only Executive Director, has been at the school for 30 years after teaching Religion at Luther North for one semester. Mr. Gillingham has served in many capacities, including being the author of eNews.

It would be great for you to spend a few minutes here to recognize the service of all Walther workers as we highlight the tenure of these three long time servants. The short recognition reception complete with catered finger food will begin at 5:30 p.m. - so don't take off when the musical ends!

On Friday, April 18, Walther's Introduction to Business class joined business classes from Luther South High School and University of Illinois at Chicago on a visit to Pampered Chef's global headquarters in Addison, IL. The field trip was hosted by Jay Christopher ' 62 and featured lunch with Doris Christopher ' 63. This is the fifth time Walther's class has been invited to tour the offices and warehouse. The students got to visit the "taping kitchen" where Pampered chef's training videos are recorded, a view a history of Pampered Chef in the news and check out the impressive, state of the art technology center. Perhaps the most impressive part of the tour is the fully automated warehouse, where Pampered Chef receives and distributes the many kitchen products that have made them famous.

Congratulations to Mr. Bill Koehne who hatched the idea for a Midwestern Lutheran track meet. The event, now in its third year has become a highlight of the track season for nine Lutheran High Schools. The meet was held at Concordia University Chicago this past weekend, and the Broncos galloped home with a second place finish. There is much value in the efforts of all of those who have made this event a tangible symbol of impact of the system of Lutheran Education.

The Walther Boosters are gathering a leadership group for next year. Two of our grads who are now moms of Walther students, Judy Nelson Virzi ' 82 and Sabine Redenz Scuderio ' 83, have agreed to serve as officers. We are still in need of people to provide leadership for our concessions and fund raising areas. This is NOT a parents club. You do not have to have a child at Walther to be a force in the lives of our students.

The term Walther Family has meaning. Naturally, it has a different meaning for each of us. Too often awareness of these family ties changes with time. One of the greatest challenges we face is keeping the excitement of Walther alive in the hearts of graduates and their parents. The last academic exercise of the year is commencement, and we want to encourage all of those who have walked our halls in the past to remember that graduation is not an end to membership in the Walther Family.

The games can still be exciting; the music will still sound good. Your family will still glory in your success and look for your support. We encourage you to have your name on the roster of those who help insure that the Walther Experience will be available for future generations.

We love to brag on our students when they do good things...this time, one of our favorite reporters, Chuck Fieldman of the Proviso Herald did the bragging for us. CLICK HERE to read what I'm talking about.

Alumni News

Mark Holstein ' 70 serves as the Vice President of St. John Lutheran Church in Forest Park. This year, Walther and St. John have joined together with Concordia University Chicago to plant an elementary school with a new outlook and a 137 year old tradition. Here you can see that Mark is showing a new generation how to care for their classroom.

Going to the "Cell" to take in a game? Stop in on the upper level behind third base and visit Mia Palmer ' 91. Mia has been working at the yard for two seasons and has just moved up to a new custom tee shirt store.

Candra Falls ' 92 is directing her own educational program helping to develop the self confidence that is so important in any career that has an audience. Candra will be visiting Walther to share information about her program and has sent this note to our students...
Break Through Academy is a school that specializes in developing students' self-worth through the Arts. BTA will be at our school on Thursday, April 24th, giving away four scholarships to students who are interested and meet the criteria.

Ken Hubbard ' 78 spoke with Walther's Introduction to Business class on April 16 about his experience in the business world. The students were impressed with Ken's knowledge of different industries and the range of his experiences. Ken gave the students many helpful hints about how to succeed in the business world. He was then joined by fellow classmates Sandy Balcer and Darlene (Wentland) Wiktor to start plans for their 30th class reunion! Class of 1978: hold the date for your reunion...October 3-5, 2008; you will be receiving information regarding the plans soon! The ' 78 reunion group is looking for more committee members; call Anita Ward at 708.344.0404 if you'd like to join in on the fun.

Bill Gargiulo, David Jezl, Debbie (Berghaus) Conley from the class of 1983 met on Saturday to start putting together plans for their 25th class reunion! Bill, Dave and Debbie gave of their time to speak at Career Day recently. They are looking forward to hearing from other classmates to get the party rolling.

If you are from the Class of 1958, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998 or 2003 - this is your reunion year! Call or email Contact Anita Ward at Anita_Ward@walther.com or 708.344.0404, ext. 224, if you would like to be on your class's reunion committee. If you have recently relocated or please forward your current info so you don't miss out!

John Mazeriogoes ' 00 has just returned from Iraq. While overseas he was assigned to the unit protecting General David Petraeus, the four-star general who has led troops there the past year and was just named the head of the U.S. Central Command. John will be in the Bronco coach's box helping the freshmen baseball players gain life experience.

It's great to see recent alumni touching base when they are on breaks from college...Fred Rose ' 07 stopped in to look up Walther gradsin world of finance so he can get some sage advice and summer job leads. Bronco batmen John Preto ' 07 and Richard Orrico ' 07 and have been seen helping out at the baseball diamond and alumni slugger Ashley Solyom ' 07 accompanied the Lady Broncos softball team to the Metro-East Tournament in Edwardsville, IL, last weekend, where she was pleased to be helping in the dugout as the team took 2nd place.

A family funeral brought Victor ' 82 and David Schnurstein ' 76 back to Forest Park. While the two Californians were in the neighborhood they stopped by to see Walther. Vic is in management for a nationwide security firm. Dave is Principal of a Christian School, grades 7- 12. Check out the photo; the older guy is the one with the hair.

As an aside...keep your ears to the ground and you may hear about Micah Schnurstein, Dave's son who is playing first base at Birmingham in the White Sox organization. Perhaps Donna Behnken ' 65, a teacher in Alabama, will have a chance to stop by and talk about family with the youngster. Donna's dad was the principal for Micah's dad and his Uncle Vic at St. John in Forest Park. Ah, the six degrees of separation is usually three or less in the Lutheran church!            

Finally a correction: in our last eNews - we designated Tim Clauss, the force behind the Clauss Family Scholarship as a 1977 grad. The truth is that Tim is a
' 72 grad, and his classmates and family were quick to point out our mistake.

God’s blessings

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