A yearbook for the Class of 1990, completed 25 years later

Dan Regovich ’90 remembers vividly the moment when the late Mr. Timothy Robertson ’62 (beloved longtime faculty member of both St. Joseph High School and VASJ) asked for help with the Class of 1990 yearbook.

“I have a very clear memory of Mr. Robertson asking our class in my senior year if anybody wanted to volunteer for the yearbook,” Regovich says. “When nobody raised their hand, he said that he wasn’t going to do it by himself because it wasn’t his responsibility or his yearbook. He said it was our choice not to have a yearbook.”

No one stepped up and a yearbook was never made.

Dan has regretted it ever since.

“I’ll never forget that day,” he says. “For 25 years I have regretted the fact that I didn’t volunteer.  I know that if I would have volunteered, I could have gotten other people to help and we would have had a yearbook.”

Outside of the world of golf, there aren’t too many times in life when you are a granted a mulligan -- a chance to make a different choice than you did the first time.

It took 25 years, but Dan was granted his mulligan.

An old box of photos was recently brought to the school by Mr. Robertson’s wife, Georgeann. Its contents: Pictures from 1989-90 school year. And in true Mr. Robertson fashion (an archivist by nature) he had all of the pictures tagged and labeled.

“He knew in his heart it would happen one day,” says VASJ’s current Yearbook Moderator Gary Minadeo ’74.

It was Gary who received the box of photos and sent an email to some members of the Class of 1990 letting them know the pictures were there and offering the help of VASJ’s current yearbook staff to give the Class of 1990 their yearbook.

Once again, all that was needed was someone from the Class of 1990 to step up.

When the email made its way to Dan’s inbox, he was not about to make the same mistake he made 25 years ago. He responded to the email immediately.

“Count me in. I’ll do it.”

With three kids and his own business, Dan doesn’t exactly have a lot of free time for the project but he couldn’t say no.

“This is my chance. I can make up for it,” he says.

Dan worked alongside Mr. Minadeo, the VASJ students, and the representative from Jostens to once and for all, give the members of the Class of 1990 their yearbook.

And he did.

The book was completed just before Christmas.

"It was great to look through with my mom, dad, and my sister," says Frank Rochon '90 after receiving his yearbook. "Lots of good memories."

More than just a walk down memory lane, the yearbook celebrates and honors the lives of three members of the Class of 1990 who died in a car accident just hours after graduation. 

For the families of Steve Clark, Tom Clark and Fred Blaine, it is a chance to see pictures they may have never seen before and a way to hold on to the memory of the lives that were gone too soon. 

At VASJ's Founders Day Celebration on January 27, the families of the three classmates who died will be presented with a yearbook as well any additional photos of their loved one. 

All members of the Class of 1990 are invited to the Founders Day Celebration as well as a reception that will take place after. 

There are still yearbooks available. They are being sold for $70 each on a first come, first served basis.

“That price will cover the cost of the book and allow us to give any remaining funds as a donation to VASJ,” says Dan.

For more information about purchasing a 1990 yearbook, please email Dan at [email protected].