Inside the Portage County line By GENE KEMMETER of The Gazette PERSONALIZING HERITAGE: St. Peter Catholic Church in Stevens Point celebrated its 125th anniversary, with some longtime parishioners recalling little anecdotes about their lives. Roy Shafranski and Leonard Glodowski talked about events of 50 years ago and earlier during a special dinner at SentryWorld. Glodowski talked about St. Peter School and how as a student he helped move the desks from the old building in 1931 into the new building, which is the present school. The desks, he pointed out, were attached to wooden slats, so there were several desks together that had to be hauled down a steep stairwell. The task sometimes required six to eight students to carry them, he said. (Similar desks are in the school at Heritage Park in Plover operated by the Portage County Historical Society). The parish purchased houses on the block where the school is located, he said, and developed an athletic field, which included lights so ball games could be played under the lights. That led to the formation of the St. Peter's Athletic Association, and Glodowski said the organization held fund-raising events on the field, using tarpaulin on the fences so people paid to get into the area to see the event instead of watching through the fence. That didn't stop people from trying to peek through, though, he said. Shafranski reminisced about the pleasure he got as a boy attending St. Peter's Holy Name Society breakfasts, when the food served included old-fashioned hot dogs that were usually connected together and had to be cut apart. Someone would grab a hot dog and several would come along, until they were cut apart, he said. Students at the school would go on field trips, Shafranski said, recalling that they usually rode in the back of trucks from Lullabye Furniture Co. and Belke Lumber Co. to Lake Emily County Park. They didn't use buses, he said. At the lake, Sister Adalbert, dressed in the flowing black habit that nuns wore in those times, would be riding around in a motorboat, he said. One thing she was wearing that nuns didn't normally wear, he said, was sunglasses. He also recalled a camping trip to Yellowstone National Park he and four other Scouts made with an assistant pastor at the parish. Parents sent bacon and angel food cake, he said, and they got to Yellowstone without eating it. The bears got into the food there, eating the cake and bacon. They toured Yellowstone but never cooked a meal outdoors, Shafranski said. The priest took them to drive-ins. The stories were enjoyable, and even though most people in the audience didn't necessarily know the individuals personally, one could certainly equate the stories with events and people in their own lives.