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for God on the best-seller list
A roundtable discussion
PROLOGUE
Where God lives
When He cursed the serpent, God con-
demned him to slither on the ground and
feed on dust. How strange! The serpent will
never be hungry. Is that a curse? Yes, and
a dreadful one.
Rav Menahem Mendel of Kotzk
As a rather long-term resident of
this jittery, alarming and exhaust-
ing century, I have learned to take my
theology wherever and whenever I can
get it. Books have at times been a fairly
reliable source, and poetry in particu-
lar. Hopkins' line "Mine, O thou lord
of life, send my roots rain" has at some
moments seemed to me worth a year's
supply of sermons, as has Blake's
"Nurse's Song" — as have some works
of music, and even TV on occasion.
Last summer, for example, I was laid
up after minor surgery. Alone in the
house one afternoon, I was drifting in
the easy chair between pain and
Percocet and awoke to find the TV
running and tuned to "Club Dance,"
which emanates from a country-
western palace in Texas, where people
as real as you and me dance past a
camera that unblinkingly broadcasts
their earnest graces and valiant mis-
steps as well as the corporeal evidence
of every folly, vanity, vice and misfor-
tune that can't be concealed by a 10-
gallon hat, loose clothing or sunglasses.
They were waltzing when I joined
them. Man and woman, kid and crone,
beer belly and Soloflexer, comb-over
artist and femme fatale, on the make
and on the mend, they turned and
floated across the screen — a line dance
out of Brueghel by way of the Ponde-
rosa. It took me a moment to find the
gentle pulse to which they were mov-
ing and then to discern the song that
propelled them on its chorus of conso-
lation: "But when I get to heaven, I
know He'll let me in." In my weakened
state, the scene moved me to tears, a
healing moment when I surely needed
one. I was still glowing from the expe-
rience (or maybe the Percocet) when
my wife came home. "I've seen Truth
on television," I said.
Once asked by a provocateur
whether he could revive the
dead, he responded coolly,
"Of course I can, but I prefer
to revive the living. "
Rav Menahem Mendel of Kotzk,
one of the few theologians from whom
I take my theology these days, would
certainly have understood. "Where does
God live?" he once asked a group of his
followers. They were puzzled. God lives
everywhere. No, Menahem Mendel
replied, "God lives where man lets him."
The Hasidic movement, of which
MenahemMendel (1787-1859) was the
last great interpreter, took root in early
18th-century Eastern Europe as a re-
vivalist reaction to stricter forms of
scholastic Judaism. It was revolution-
ary and daring, a sanctification of joy
and fervor. It was jazz as compared with
the rigorous classical forms that came
before it, and Menahem Mendel was its
final, iconoclastic genius, its Miles
Davis — rueful, brooding, minimalistic,
provocative. The Hasidic movement
survived Menahem Mendel, as jazz sur-
vived Miles, but it's all repertory now.
Menahem Mendel left no printed
works behind. What survives comes
from memories. The result is a shim-
mery pointillist portrait of a man who
took every risk, who preached, "The
middle of the road is for horses."
He was a rabbi who praised the
biblical Pharaoh for his bravery in stand-
ingup to God; who settled in the village
of Kotzk, Poland, after the local Jews
greeted his arrival with a fusillade of
stones, leading him to remark, "A good
omen — they aren't indifferent here";
and who once told a follower who com-
plained that a hard life kept him from
study and prayer: "And how are you
sure that God doesn't prefer your tears
and suffering to your study and prayer?"
Remarks like that cost him friends
and followers, but in his search for
truth, Menahem Mendel gave no quar-
ter and asked for none. "Holy revela-
tion [has] deteriorated into habit," he
said. Habit, even the habit of miracles,
was suspect in Kotzk. Once asked by a
provocateur whether he could revive
the dead (and so prove himself a won-
der-working rabbi in the Hasidic tradi-
tion), he responded coolly, "Of course
I can, but I prefer to revive the living."
Elie Wiesel called Menahem Mendel
"a stranger to his own generation." In
the end the alienation was too great a
burden. At age 52 he had a breakdown.
He spent the next 20 years a recluse,
writing his thoughts each day and burn-
ing the manuscript each night. One
night, alone in the room, he cried out to
the passing watchman, asking if he'd
heard the footsteps. What footsteps?
the watchman asked. "My ears can still
perceive the sound of His steps, but His
voice no longer reaches me," Menahem
Mendel replied. If no other of his words
remained to establish his kinship with
our own time, those would do.
Our story on late-20th-century ef-
forts to hear transcendent sounds be-
gins on page 16.
Ben Birnbaum
SUMMER 1995
VOLUME 54 NUMBER 3
EDITOR
Ben Birnbaum
SENIOR EDITOR
Charlotte Bruce Harvey
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Bruce Morgan
SENIOR WRITER
John Ombelets
•
ACTING DESIGN DIRECTOR
Susan Callaghan
•
PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR
Gary Gilbert
PHOTOGRAPHER
Geoffrey Why '88
•
CONTRIBUTING STAFF
Valerie Sullivan '90
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Boston College
^HCHlVEt
magazine
Spirituality lite 16
A roundtable discussion
Four BC faculty examine America's quest for a new — and prefer-
ably paperback — road to salvation.
Deliverance
28
By Bruce Morgan
Raised in a gritty New Hampshire mill town, Peter
Callahan '96, could never see much of a future for himself.
Sudden blindness at age 26 would change all that.
The return
of the Weston 1 1
37
By Jan Wojcik '68
A quarter century ago they were part of a startling exodus
from the Jesuit order. Last fall they held their first
reunion. The tales of a lost generation.
DE PARTME NTS
Letters 2
Linden Lane 4
News & Notes 1 1
Advancement 44
Q & A 46
Works & Days 49
ALUMNOTES (follows page 24)
Authentic ignorance
David Plante's memoir of childhood ["Na-
tive son," Spring 1995] is delightful reading.
The sprinkling of Canuck patois lends the
piece an ethnic authenticity that rings true.
Poor benighted Canucks! A cultural island
with no James Joyce to translate their expe-
rience into English. They make fine material
for an elitist snob like Plante.
Plante's piece is a good example of dis-
guised but continuing "Sambo" literature.
Delightful, but not much truth to it, in fact
not much to it at all, reflecting more on its
author than on its subject. It is soon forgot-
ten, a curiosity to be sneered at later.
It is curious that a place like BC should
continue to be so ignorant of a great, relevant
and defining Catholic tradition as is the
Franco-American here. Perhaps the history
of Church persecuting Church is too much
to bear for BC's Irish roots. In any event, this
Canuck invites the BC community out of its
narrow ghetto into the wide, wide world of
Catholicism. Invitation accepted, BC may
even learn what is means to be a university.
J.R. BRETON '57
Walpole, Massachusetts
Absolute nonsense
Your article ["Absolute Drinan," Spring
1995] needs further clarification as to the
reason Fr. Drinan voted for Medicaid fund-
ing for abortion. If you are correct, his rea-
soning now is that "if it is legal for the rich,
it must be for the poor." This is nonsense.
Just because the rich are able to kill their own
children, it does not follow that the poor
should have the same right. In any event his
support for abortion rights has had disas-
trous consequences because of the cover it
gave to politicians such as Tip O'Neill and
Ted Kennedy and others in the "personally
opposed but . . ." camp.
JAMESJ. MORANJD'4<'
Prairie Village, Kansas
I graduated from BC in 1967 and was imme-
diately thrust into the Vietnam dilemma. I
was drafted, served honorably and came back
to make a life for myself. I was disgusted by
LETTERS
some of Fr. Drinan's rhetoric. I was ashamed
of him as a BC graduate and as a Roman
Catholic.
I concede that he was right about Richard
Nixon (I never voted for him). But Drinan's
vote on abortion funding from Medicaid
funds is an absolute disgrace. On a moral
basis it opened the floodgates to millions of
abortions (many of which were an alterna-
tive for birth control).
What troubles me most is the absolute
lack ot challenge and objectivity in the ar-
ticle. Fr. Drinan and his admirers are not
alone in their concerns for social justice. It is
people like Bob Drinan who turned the crimi-
nal justice system upside down and inside
out. Why no question on that? A simple
question: "Fr. Drinan, do you think that Bill
Clinton supports the values and goals of the
American working family?" I, for one, would
expect that he would answer in the affirma-
tive. Out here in the real world, this presi-
dent is viewed as a disaster. Here is a lawyer
who never tried a case. His main goal in life
was to be elected to higher office. As a law
professor, what is Drinan's view of such
political animals?
DAN SULLn/AN '67
Bedford, New Hampshire
Misdiagnosis
Some of the things discussed by Judith
Shindul-Rothschild ["Careless: hospitals cut
too close to the bone," Q&A, Spring 1995]
are certainly true. Hospital lengths of stay
are shorter, there is a tendency toward man-
aged care, and hospital costs are not low. But
that's about all that I agree with. First of all,
the nurse is not and never should be the focal
point in health care. Yes, the nurse is an
integral part of caring for a patient. Yes, the
nurse should be well trained and well paid.
But the use of licensed practical nurses and
certified nurses aides is appropriate and nec-
essary in today's health care scene.
The focus of health care always rests with
the physician. The doctor determines diag-
nosis, treatment and length of stay (govern-
ment regulations aside). My guess is that if a
physician was asked the same questions
Shindul-Rothschild was asked, the answers
would have been substantially different.
Perhaps the next time you venture into an
arena as complicated as this one — and I be-
lieve that you should — you may wish to ques-
tion a panel of a physician, a nurse and a
health care administrator. The answers might
be a bit more balanced and reasonable rather
than biased and pointed toward the well-
being of nurses. And don't get me wrong, I
love nurses. I'm even married to one. But
health care management does not deserve
the incessant raps that it has been receiving
from one component of the industry.
But then, I've been a health care worker
and administrator for only 45 years. And, I
know, I don't have all the answers.
VETO F. TAMBOLI '56
St. Louis, Missouri
Believers
As one who left Catholicism for agnosticism
and later moved through that to eventually
become a priest in an alternative religious
faith, I was refreshed by Suzanne Matson's
essay ["Coming out"] in the Spring 1995
Linden Lane. The inclusion of this essay in
BCM helps me to feel that there is room for
people like me in the BC community. In this
urgent, late time in which we find ourselves,
it seems that only by actively cooperating
with and tolerating each other, no matter
our beliefs or lack of them, will we ever touch
peace in our lifetimes.
JOHNVIEIRA71
Washington, D.C.
Look homeward
"Homeward bound" [News & Notes, Spring
1995] reminded me of why I vowed never to
contribute a dime to BC (although the ab-
surdity of a foreign monarch exhorting the
Class of 1993 to be "socially conscious" is
pretty fresh in my memory and still makes
me gag from time to time).
The last time I checked, the homosexual
"lifestyle" was still considered an abomina-
tion by Catholic doctrine. The last time I
checked, BC was still considered a Catholic
institution.
Hence my problem: why was a syrupy
article concerning a student's transcendence
2 BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
into homosexuality and his family's unques-
tioning acceptance printed in the periodical
of a Catholic university? And furthermore,
what exactly is the function of the Commit-
tee on Sexual Diversity within this same
Catholic university? Am I naive to hope that
this committee is not officially sanctioned
and gets no funding from the school? Bisexu-
ality was fashionable when I was at BC; is it
part of the core curriculum now?
Out of this idiocy, one thing seems clear.
Boston College, like so many other of our
once-vaunted institutions, is only too willing
to pander slavishly to the vapid political
fancies of the times and thinks nothing of
carelessly discarding our ancient values like
so much useless refuse.
ANTHONY P. SCHIAVO, JR. '93
Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania
Editor's note: The Committee on Sexual Di-
versity was created in 1993 to provide a
forum for topics related to sexuality and to
sponsor educational programs that explore
related developmental issues.
Thank you for "Homeward bound: a gay
student and his family talk of transformation
and continuity." I was so pleased to read
about the forum at which the Greers spoke.
As the gay community continues its struggle
for civil rights, it is people like Joe and his
family who are leading the way in breaking
down negative stereotypes.
MELANEEDANA'84
Somerville, Massachusetts
I am extremely proud that Boston College
presented such an important program. It
proves once again that Boston College is a
great university that understands that the
exchange of ideas should not be feared; that
instead, such an exchange should be aspired
to as fulfilling the highest ideal of an institu-
tion of learning. I applaud the Greer family
for their courage and love. They clearly
know the real meaning of "family values."
JANE HOFFMAN 75
New York City
I was present in the Fulton Debate Room
when Joseph Greer and his family shared the
story ofjoe's "coming out." The Committee
on Sexual Diversity has carried forward on
the Boston College promise to end the si-
lence within our community on matters of
sexual orientation. The Greer family witness
carries forward that work with dignity, in-
tegrity and reconciling potential for lesbian,
gay and bisexual graduates, faculty and ad-
ministrators.
Silence on the issue of human sexuality
has been a profound disservice of universi-
ties that have otherwise hoped and worked to
be fully attentive to the needs of students.
We must take responsibility for the silence
of the past and for current opportunities to
teach and to heal.
DAVID A. MILLS '64, JD'67
Danvers, Massachusetts
Editor's note: The writer is co-founder of the
Lambda Association, an organization of gay
and lesbian BC graduates.
Kudos to the Greer family for their courage
and their honesty. Their process of accept-
ing Joe's homosexuality can teach us all a
lesson about struggles, acceptance and love.
ANNE VOSS PEARLSTEIN 79
Nashua, New Hampshire
As a Catholic campus minister I feel it cru-
cial that our educational and religious insti-
tutions address the issue of sexual orientation
with honesty, intelligence and compassion
rather than from a posture of fear, which
unfortunately distinguishes our current so-
cial climate. I work with many faith-filled
young adults who painfully, and perhaps
unnecessarily, struggle as they confront their
homosexuality, particularly within the
Christian community, which often demon-
izes such persons.
JOAN E. PEDERSEN NC75
Eemdale, Michigan
I have one question concerning the printing
of "Homeward bound." Cut Bono?
NICHOLASJ. SOTTILE '41
Waltham, Massachusetts
The Greer family is truly a model of Chris-
tian love and relationship. In presenting this
family's story, Boston College reaffirms what
is best in its Christian humanist tradition and
demonstrates the importance of this tradi-
tion to contemporary American social and
political culture.
PATRICIA RAUBE- WILSON '82, MA'93
STEPHEN RAUBE-WILSON '82JD'86
Binghamton, New York
I laughed when I saw the article entitled
"Coming out" about a non-Catholic
professor's struggle with Boston College's
Jesuit identity because I thought that's as
close as BC would ever come to acknowledg-
ing that anyone has anything to "come out"
about. So I was thrilled to flip the page and
see "Homeward bound."
I stayed in the closet while a student out
of both self-loathing and genuine fear of
harassment, and the two are well connected,
as "Homeward bound" points out. I am glad
that BC is now running support programs
for gay and lesbian students and their fami-
lies. The highest Jesuit ideal is care of the
person — and this means all persons. The
programs described in "Coming out" and
"Homeward bound" are critical to the suc-
cess of Boston College because through such
programs all persons can learn positive ways
they can contribute to the Jesuit mission of
the school and to the world beyond.
SHARON M. MEAGHER '82
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Bravo and thankyou for "Homeward bound."
I thought the article was well written and
courageous, especially in light of the climate
of hatred and prejudice against gays and
lesbians. Such injustice has cancerous effects
on our communities and, unfortunately, I
have seen it at work in the Boston College
community. It is essential that Boston Col-
lege be an example of strength, compassion
and injustice. Our Jesuit tradition challenges
us to answer God's call to seek justice and to
build loving relationships and families.
KIMBERLY FRAPPIER '93
Seattle, Washington
I was one of many contributing gay and
lesbian members of the BC family. Due to
the rather extreme level of homophobia at
BC, however, we were almost invisible until
recently. Thanks to individuals such as Joe
Greer and to the Committee on Sexual Di-
versity, BC is on its way to becoming a place
where being gay doesn't automatically mean
having to lie about one's sexual identity.
ANTHONY VARONA '89, JD'92
Washington, D.C.
BCM welcomes letters from readers. Letters
must be signed to be published and may be
edited for clarity and length. Our fax number
is (617) 552-2441, and our e-mail address is
<bcm@hermes.bc.edu>.
BOSTON COLLI GI UU.AZTNE 3
LINDEN LANE
Silence and dust
Fifty years after the Nuremberg War Trial, a former prosecutor makes his reckoning
Senator Robert A. Taft and other
illuminati once cursed the Nur-
emberg Trial as a war crime in itself —
the victor's justice out for blood. That
judgment reminds me of a comment one
of my distinguished colleagues made
about Senator Taft: he had the finest
mind in the U.S. Senate until he made it
up. I submit that Nuremberg was more
than the idle chatter of inconsequential
jurisprudential apparatchiks; I think it
will last until lips are silent and tongues
are dust, for three solid reasons.
First, Nuremberg established in in-
ternational law the proposition that ag-
gressive war is the greatest of all crimes;
it comprehends all the other sins and
offenses that are even conceivable. If to
plot and plan and carry into execution a
war of aggression, with all that went
with it, is not criminal, how can we hold
pickpockets and share pushers and land
developers in jail?
Second, Nuremberg laid down the
proposition that there would be indi-
vidual accountability for individual par-
ticipation in the planning, waging and
carrying out of a war of aggression. In
other words, if aggressive war comes,
not only do the GIs and the corporals
die, but so do the captains and the kings,
the industrialists, the financiers, the
bankers, the generals and the admirals,
the presidents, the prime ministers, the
secretaries of political parties, and all their
cabals, coteries and co-conspirators. Into
their hands, as Nuremberg's first chief
prosecutor, Justice Robert H. Jackson,
By Thomas Lambert, Jr.
said, "we will pass the poisoned chalice."
Third, as far as I know, Nuremberg
was the first postmortem analysis of a
totalitarian state: how does it come about?
What are the forces that drive and shape
it? What are its ends and aims? How can
God-fearing, brother-loving people con-
front it and oppose it?
John Wyant, the former governor of
New Hampshire, and the U.S. ambassa-
dor to Great Britain during World War
II, once told me the lesson we were
learning from the Nazis was that next
time we must not wait until the sun is
gleaming on the bayonets. You take this
dragon of totalitarianism when it is an
eggshell and stamp it out and do not wait
until it is ordering democracies from the
menu a la carte.
I submit to you that the record of
Nuremberg is an anvil that will outlast
the hammers of the critics. Justice Jack-
son was not his own best PR man — in
fact, he had a disdain for the concept of
public relations — but he had vision. He
was a man of high vision and low visibil-
ity, not one of low vision and high vis-
ibility. We had those, too, atNuremberg,
but he was decidedly not one. He showed
us that a trial lawyer needed to be at the
same time a master of the microscope
and a master of the telescope. I think of
the story of the New Englander who was
out climbing the mountains in Califor-
nia with an Indian guide. The New En-
glander had a lot of trouble. When he
kept his eye on the polestar, he didn't get
lost, but he kept stumbling, fumbling,
\
falling all over the trail. When he kept
his eye on the trail before him, he didn't
stumble, fumble or fall, but he kept
getting lost. The Indian guide said that
the white man needs the near look and
the far vision. And that's what we got at
Nuremberg from Justice Jackson.
He said we are here to punish wrongs
which in their enormity and their calcu-
lation were not crimes of inadvertence
or ingrained stupidity; these were
planned and plotted and carried into
execution by an evil fusion of science,
technology and lunatic efficiency that
was designed to occupy Germany and
dominate the world. There were des-
pots before Hitler, but here, for the first
time, you had the industrial urban state:
you had people who knew how to be
masters of the mobilized, moronic mind;
you had an orchestration and a deploy-
ment of all the resources of the modern
state. That made this particular chal-
lenge to the rule of law unique. The
Nazis made modern barbarism almost
contemporary and chic.
Justice Jackson was not without a
sense of humor. I remember one night at
a skull session he said, "Don't try to
make your case by an overinvocation of
legal history. That's too much like oxtail
soup; it's going too far back to find
something good." He said you mustn't
give a talk, you mustn't hold a confer-
ence, you mustn't write a song unless it's
an ice pick to break up what Franz Kafka
called "the frozen sea inside us." The
opposite of love is not hate, but apathy.
4 BOST< )N COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Thomas Lambert (far right) and his former colleagues with Chief Nuremberg Prosecutor Telford Taylor (front) on the Law School campus.
What do I mean by applying that to
Nuremberg? After Nuremberg I lec-
tured at synagogues from Portland,
Maine, down to Key West, Florida, and
I always found I had the same trouble
when I would say "the systematic perse-
cution and killing of 6 million Jews." I
would look at the faces before me, and
that figure made little impact. It was just
like saying 6 million Suzuki Samurais or
6 million billiard balls; it didn't reach
people. A statistic is a human being with
the tears wiped off. But what would reach
them was the story of Anne Frank — a
child-girl, in her teens, waiting at the
top of the staircase with the din of the
storm troopers' bullets in her ears, trem-
bling on the threshold of destruction.
That's the ice pick.
Another example is the testimony of
SS General Ohlendorf. He was in civvies
when I saw him. Amild-mannered man —
diminutive, not without his own special
breed of inverted charm — cool, laid back
like the vice president of a bank in charge
of the loan department. "How many
people were your Einsatz-gruppe respon-
sible for the systematic killing of?" he
was asked of one of his operations.
He hesitated. He was thoughtful.
"Well, it was somewhere between 90,000
and 100,000," he said, a small smile play-
ing around his lips. "You must allow me
a margin of error." We pointed out that
other small special-action groups which
followed the armies into the east claimed
more than his total. He spat back, "But
my methods were more efficient."
"What do you mean they were more
efficient?"
"They used gas vans," he said. "And
toward the end of the war with the
disorganization it became harder and
harder to get replacement parts for the
gas vans. Also, we would tell the inmates
that they were just being relocated, but
they knew, and the wailing, the lamenta-
tions for the dead, would begin when
Wow many people were
your Einsatz-gruppe re-
sponsible for the systematic
killing of?" Ohlendorf was
asked. He was thoughtful.
"Well, it was somewhere
between 90,000 and
100,000, " he said, a small
smile playing around his
lips. "You must allow me
a margin of error. "
B< >STON COLLEGE MAGAZINE 5
LINDEN LANE
these vans were driven through the coun-
tryside. The German civil population
would hear it, and it depressed their
morale. Gas vanning was hard on the
German civil population. My methods
were more efficient."
, "What do you mean more efficient? "
"Well, after my men shot them, I
allowed them to shovel dirt on them. It
relaxed their nerves. You might say I did
it out of consideration of humanity."
Now I know and you know that in
every part of the world there are serial
killers — psychotics. But this Ohlendorf
was not a sporadic psychotic thrown up
from the bowels of the earth by cosmic
forces. Nazi civilization was designed to
breed the Ohlendorfs of the world. I ask
you to consider briefly: if they had got
the V-weapons program operational six
months earlier and it had shattered the
invasion ports from which Operation
Overlord was mounted, would we have
ever been able to do it? And if the Nazis
had carried out their final plan, using
Germany as a springboard from which
to dominate the world, they would be in
charge of your media, your law schools,
your schools of theology and your medi-
cal schools — not only those, but also your
kaffeeklatsches, your backyard fence and
your PTA.
We have not, of course, suppressed
all aggressive wars around the
world. But isn't it better — even if we
cannot banish them from the face of the
earth — isn't it important and gratifying
that sometime in our long, painful climb
upward from the caves and savage isola-
tion into the cities and a semblance of
civilization that we've stood up and said,
"Even if we can't abolish it, we condemn
it"? In our condemnation we crystallize
our conscience. From now on it will be
easier for those so minded to condemn
the aggression into Kuwait than it would
have been before. Nuremberg couldn't
do everything. Something had to be left
for you and your children and the on-
going life of reason. The work is incom-
plete, but the precedent has been laid
down — the power of the beaten track.
Lastly, I believe international law does
not consist of a set of treaties and com-
pacts and assurances, merely. It also has
its invisible line of growth. As Roger J.
Traynor, that magnificent magistrate,
chief justice from California, once said,
"the common law is not finished, and
with luck it never will be." Why cannot
the same be true of international law? It
grows, as one of my colleagues said, with
glacial speed. It's invisible but verifiable.
Every now and then you see on TV a
volcanic island being born before your
eyes. Nuremberg was such a moment,
when the life of reason leapt forward,
took high ground and held it.
If this is so, we can narrow the gap
between where we are and where we
ought to be, and it may yet well be the
dawn and not the dust of the gods. And
there is always the ultimate injunction of
the Sisyphean legend: it isn't necessary to
hope in order to persevere.
Thomas Lambert, Jr., holds an endowed profes-
sorship in his name at Suffolk University Lais
School. He was one of six Nuremberg prosecutors
who spoke this spring at the seventh annual
conference of BC Law School's Owen M.
Kupferschmid Holocaust and Human Rights
Project. This essay is taken fro?n his remarks.
The decision
In a letter to student petitioners, Fr. Monan details BC's reasons for
turning down a registration bid from a gay student group
Editor's- note: The following is an edited
version of a letter from Fr. Monan to gradu-
ate students David Leonard and Kathleen
Mackin and Ryan Brady '96. The three had
earlier this year petitioned the University
for formal registration of a gay student
group. [See story on page 1 3.]
June 15, 1995
Dear David, Kathy and Ryan:
I am writing in response to your request
for registration of a student organization
under the title of the Lesbian, Gay and
Bisexual Community at Boston College.
Since, at your request, I have met and
discussed the matter with some of you
and have personally heard from a num-
ber of other members of the community,
I have chosen to convey a decision on
your application in my own name.
. . . Your request did not arise within
a cultural vacuum. Three years ago the
University received a request for regis-
tration of an almost identical constitu-
tion. At that time we devoted very
extensive study and consultation to as-
certain what means would educationally
and developmentally best serve the Uni-
versity and all of our undergraduate stu-
dents in better understanding the role
and importance of their individual sexu-
ality and successfully integrating it within
their total personal development. That
study resulted in the formation of a
creative organization that had the chal-
lenging task of promoting educational
programs to assist in the successful for-
mation of individual personality for all
students during the transitional years of
undergraduate education.
The College did not believe at that
time that the formal registration of a
student organization of gay, lesbian and
bisexual persons was in the best interests
of the College or individual undergradu-
ate students and therefore declined for-
mal registration. The College continues
in that belief.
The reason for this position in no
way reflects an obligation stemming from
the Catholic character of Boston Col-
lege. The background materials you pro-
vided indicate that you are already aware
=
6 BOSTON COLLI (, I MAGAZINE
of our own clear understanding that the
University is under no religious obliga-
tion as a Catholic institution to refuse
registration to every form of gay, lesbian
organization. Both the Catholic Church
and most other religious traditions rec-
ognize that sexual orientation, whether
homosexual or heterosexual, is in no
way morally blameworthy or sinful. Al-
though constitutions of gay, lesbian stu-
dent groups differ significantly from
institution to institution, a number of
Catholic colleges and universities have
recognized some form of student orga-
nization based on sexual orientation.
This is precisely the course, however,
that Boston College chooses not to fol-
low. Sexual orientation is perhaps one of
the most personal and private elements of
an individual's personality. The full
achievement of one's sexual identity and
its integration within total personality is a
complex developmental process whose
stages are markedly different for entering
first-year college students and for ad-
vanced graduate students. If students wish
to communicate their orientation to oth-
ers, and there is today an increasing will-
ingness to do so, they should enjoy
complete freedom to do so. On the other
hand, whatever the practice at other uni-
versities, Boston College does not con-
sider it to be in the best interests of our
students or of our community to establish
structures that categorize students on the
basis of characteristics as personal and
private as their sexual orientation.
The categories we use to define one
another are always in some sense self-
defining and limiting. They in some
sense reduce what we are to one aspect
of our personhood. Although the use of
categories in self description is a neces-
sity of language, Boston College consid-
ers it singularly reductionist to create
institutionally recognized structures that
categorize students according to their
sexual orientation.
Finally, I wish to reflect briefly on the
observation contained in both our con-
versation and your document to the effect
that registration would add nothing sub-
stantive to the understanding and sup-
port which the University already provides
to our gay and lesbian students, but that
it would be symbolically important as
proof of their acceptance as students and
as persons by the College. On the con-
trary, the University's policies and un-
ambiguous actions carry the implicit and
more powerful message that, no matter
whether students are heterosexual, ho-
mosexual or as yet struggling with ambi-
guity, each is fully accepted as a person
and a valued Boston College student.
... As a private institution, Boston
College does frame its policies and ex-
pectations regarding student conduct
on the basis of moral values, some of
which derive from its Catholic charac-
ter. As noted, it has long been the posi-
tion of the Church that, since homosexual
orientation is not a freely chosen human
act, it is no way blameworthy; together
with many other religious groups, how-
ever, the Church's consistent position
has been that homogenital acts are mor-
ally wrong. While respecting the diver-
sity of religious and philosophical belief
among the student body, there are nev-
ertheless a number of University poli-
cies regarding conduct that reflect the
University's distinctive moral values,
[and] I want to avoid any misunder-
standing others may have with regard to
the College's prerogatives in establish-
ing standards of campus conduct.
The fact that you have attached a
particular symbolic meaning to the pro-
cess of registering student organizations,
will, I recognize, make this response to
your request a greater disappointment
than it otherwise might have been. I can
assure you, however, of Boston College's
continued uncompromising dealing with
any form of harassment or intolerance
based on sexual orientation. More im-
portantly, the University will seek your
continued assistance in providing its
many substantive forms of educational
and social support to all of our students
through the critical intellectual and per-
sonal development of their undergradu-
ate years.
Sincerely,
J. Donald Monan, SJ
President
Doston College considers
it singularly reductionist
to create institutionally
recognized structures that
categorize students
according to their sexual
orientation.
BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE 7
LINDEN LANE
Orphaned
From a new book, a theory on why the Boston Irish came to value
family over individualism, and security over personal achievement
By Thomas O'Connor
In the 19th century the
death of Irish fathers in
their late thirties or early
forties was so common that
Boston V Theodore Parker
referred to these men as a
"perishing class" and
observed that he rarely
encountered a 'gray-haired
Irishman. '
Early 1 9th-century Boston was a city
of fatherless boys — Irish-American
sons whose fathers had died young, bro-
ken by poverty, hard labor and disease.
When their mothers took menial jobs to
keep their families together, the sons
did, too, dropping out of school at an
early age. It's a pattern so striking that it
is impossible to dismiss as mere coinci-
dence. Some of Boston's most promi-
nent politicians came from these
circumstances: Martin Lomasney, Pat-
rick A. Collins, Patrick Kennedy, John
F. Fitzgerald, James Michael Curley.
The premature death of so many heads
of families left a tragic mark on the
community, and its legacy haunts the
Boston Irish still.
In the first decades of the 19th cen-
tury, positions for unskilled laborers were
so scarce that immigrant fathers took
jobs no one else would take. They wore
themselves out digging, shoveling, lift-
ing, hauling and dragging, laboring for
10, 12, 14 hours a day with seldom a
breakand never a vacation. Ralph Waldo
The fate of a working man — a crew lays gas pipes beneath the streets of Dorchester, Massachusetts, July 26, 1901.
8 BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Emerson once wrote his friend Henry
David Thoreau describing his astonish-
ment at discovering Irish laborers who
regularly worked a 15 -hour day for no
more than 50 cents. Considering the
nature of the jobs, the long hours and
the general inexperience of the immi-
grant workers, it is not surprising that
they fell victim to industrial accidents at
a staggering rate. One Irishman was
struck by the almost daily litany of disas-
ters reported in the papers: "an Irishman
drowned — an Irishman crushed by a
beam — an Irishman suffocated in a pit —
an Irishman blown to atoms by a steam-
engine — 10, 20 Irishmen buried alive."
The hours, the poverty, the over-
crowding and the unsanitary conditions
in which workers were forced to live
caused outbreaks of tuberculosis, influ-
enza, cholera, typhus and other illnesses
that carried off still more young immi-
grant fathers; cardiovascular disease took
an extraordinary toll of Irish-American
males and continued to do so for gen-
erations. Indeed, the death of Irish fa-
thers in their late thirties or early forties
was so common that Boston's Theodore
Parker referred to these men as a "per-
ishing class" and observed on one occa-
sion that he rarely encountered a
"gray-haired Irishman."
Because there was seldom enough in-
surance or other financial assistance to
support the widows and children, the
mother usually became central to a
family's will to survive after the father's
death, impressing upon her children the
necessity to "stick together." To support
the family, she scrubbed floors in a nearby
hotel or rooming house during the day-
time, or took up lodgings in a private
home in the Back Bay or nearby Brookline
as a domestic servant. Children accepted
their responsibility to help maintain the
family as a fact of life — the inevitable
consequence of living in this vale of tears.
They went out into the streets at age five
or six to peddle newspapers, run errands,
shine shoes, pick coal or rummage
through the junkyards for salable items.
At 12 or 13, they usually left school and
took full-time jobs handling freight on
the piers or carrying hods of bricks on
construction projects.
Although in most cases, with every-
body working and with help from aunts,
uncles and cousins, families were able to
survive and even occasionally prosper,
the impact of this personal trauma and
social dislocation must have produced
incalculable psychological effects. Wil-
liam Shannon, author of The Irish, has
suggested it "pulled the family inward."
The death of the father focused the
children more intensely than ever on the
importance of the family in their lives
and often made family the consideration
upon which they based decisions for the
rest of their lives. It also centered the
love and devotion of the children on the
mother, who assumed an almost mythi-
cal position in Irish-Catholic society.
With this collective history, many Irish
Americans in Boston persisted in the
personal insecurity and national paro-
chialism their ancestors brought with
them from Ireland long after those char-
acteristics had disappeared among other
ethnic groups and even among the Irish
in other parts of the country.
At a time in American history when
individual ambition was encouraged and
personal achievement applauded as cri-
teria for success, the loss of a father
caused many young Irishmen and Irish-
women to subordinate their personal
and professional aspirations to the in-
terests of the family. Tied to the family,
rooted in the neighborhood, devoted to
the mother, committed to siblings, the
emerging Irish American in Boston was
more concerned than ever with the im-
mediate comforts of friendship, security
and close family ties than with the more
distant prospects of riches, refinement
and renown.
Emeritus Prof essor of History Thomas 0 'Connor
'49, MA '50, has written widely on Boston his-
tory. This essay is excerpted fro?n his most recent
hook, "The Boston Irish: A Political Histoty"
(Northeastern University Press, 1995). It is
reprinted by permission.
Telltale heart
Sometimes things go right but still feel wrong
An administrator writes:
One hot morning in late June, I
went to a campus meeting with
some BC colleagues and a guest — a busi-
ness consultant. When it was over, a
colleague and I adjourned to her office
to continue the discussion. We'd hardly
been there a minute when our guest
returned, his face dark from a four-
flight climb. Someone had broken into
his car and stolen his cellular phone.
The car was parked in one of the
University's outdoor lots, and the three
of us went there to wait for the BC
Police. The rear window on our guest's
car was smashed — a hole just large
enough to admit an arm.
Next to his imported sedan was an
old American car, painted an unlikely
dull black. Maybe it was wall paint. Cer-
tainly, it was a shade that had never seen
the inside of a showroom. Curiously,
although the car appeared to be locked
and the windows were rolled up and
whole, the interior showed signs of a
thorough pillaging. Where the radio
should have been, four wires dangled,
and the seats were neatly slashed in a
pattern of precise, large X's that were
incised edge to edge in the seat cushions
and back rests, bleeding gray fluff.
As we stood looking at this car, won-
dering if it, too, had been broken into, a
young man appeared. None of us saw
him walk up. He simply appeared. He
stood and looked at the car in silence, as
if he were considering buying it.
"Yours?" we asked. "My brother's," he
BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINI 9
LINDEN LANE
I could see from the look on
the face of our guest that he
knew the boy was lying. We
stood and waited for the
police. The boy went and
waited in the sunlight
beside his car, not moving,
as though his feet were
anchored in the asphalt.
said; and, showing us the stub of a bro-
ken car key, he told us he was waiting for
his brother to come with a spare so he
could go out for lunch. He was about 1 7,
a boy really, with a reedy mustache and
a reedy Hispanic accent. You work at
BC? we asked. Yes, he had a summer job
in a nearby office. We asked if the radio
had been stolen from his car. No, he
replied, that was how the car was. Our
guest showed the boy his smashed win-
dow and asked if he'd seen any suspi-
cious activity. No, the boy said, looking
sympathetically at the damage, he hadn't.
Our guest asked him how long his car
had been parked there. The boy replied
that it had been there since eight that
morning. I could see from the look on
the face of our guest that he knew the
boy was lying. We stood and waited for
the police. The boy went and waited in
the sunlight beside his car, not moving,
as though his feet were anchored in the
asphalt.
I went to talk with him. He told me he
was a junior at a public high school in
Boston and that he'd gotten his BC job
through a city program that found sum-
mer work for Boston teenagers. To keep
us out of trouble and off the streets, he
said — or words to that effect. The high
school he attended had recently gained
local infamy by losing its academic ac-
creditation, and I asked him how he was
going to graduate under that condition.
He told me that it wasn't a real problem —
the diploma would be issued by another
of Boston's high schools. Ah, I said, as
though that made sense to me. He said
the school he attended wasn't as bad as
the media had made it out to be. We then
talked about his BC job, which consisted
of filing pieces of paper and delivering
other pieces of paper around the campus,
and he agreed with me that it was a very
good summer job, no heavy lifting — or
words to that effect. He told me he planned
to go into the army when he graduated
from high school and to save enough
money to go to college. He said he wanted
to go to college full-time, without having
also to work. I told him I had worked
while going to college, and it had taken
me seven years to finish my degree. The
boy made a whooshing sound and smiled.
"I could never do that," he said. I said it
wasn't so bad, and once you had the
degree, you had your life ahead of you —
or words to that effect.
Then a patrolman on a bicycle ar-
rived, and soon after came the detectives
with fingerprint kits and other crime-
detection paraphernalia. Questions were
asked of us, and the answers recorded in
notebooks. A reported witness was
sought. IDs were confirmed and stories
reconfirmed. It was approaching noon
and groups of lunchgoers paused to
watch the activity before driving off. I
saw a middle-aged man who worked in
the office where the boy worked go up to
him and ask if he was all right. The boy
nodded, his jaw set, not looking in any
particular direction. I saw a detective
whisper something to the boy. The boy
nodded, and the detective quickly pat-
ted the boy down from behind. The
middle-aged man from the office the
boy worked in had backed away. He
stood and watched, looking like the ac-
cidental witness to a car wreck. My col-
league and I had to leave for a scheduled
lunch meeting. As we walked away, I
heard the boy say to a BC patrolman,
"You don't think I did this, do you?"
"That's a funny question to ask," I heard
the patrolman say. "Why would I think
that?"
When we returned to the parking lot
an hour later, the lunchgoers were gone,
and the boy was gone, but some of the
police were still there, and so was a lock-
smith, who was on his knees, working on
the trunk of the black car. I returned to
my office. My colleague called me later
that afternoon, just before I left for home.
They had found the telephone and a
crowbar in the car. The boy had given
up an accomplice, a pal with a reportedly
impressive record of criminal activity.
The boy had been arraigned; the accom-
plice was being sought.
Everything had worked the way it
was supposed to — the investigation, the
apprehension of a suspect, even the re-
turn of the stolen property to our guest.
So why did I go home heartsick? •
newsr_?
CTnotes
Capstone
Student center project is reborn as part of a new
Gothic-style development on the main campus
The complex (above)
comprises a new
academic building
(labeled 1 ), a student
center (2) and a replace-
ment for McElroy (3).
BC has announced plans to com-
plete the last underdeveloped sec-
tion of the Middle Campus in the
Gothic architectural style of the
University's hallmark buildings.
The linchpin of the project is
the relocation of the proposed
student center from a planned
site behind the O'Neill Library
to the corner of Beacon Street
and College Road — the current
site of McElroy Commons and
its parking lot. The new plan
calls for a three-building com-
plex comprising an academic
building, a student center and a
replacement for McElroy. The
project also includes the renova-
tion and expansion of Carney
Hall, adjacent to McElroy, in the
same Gothic style, and an under-
ground parking lot.
Pending approvals, construc-
tion of the academic building and
student center will begin in March
1996 and conclude in September
1997. McElroy will then be torn
down and its replacement erected
by December 2000. The work on
Carney Hall will begin in 1997
and conclude two years later.
Trustees approved the plans
in June, the same month in which
the University was to have broken
ground for a new student center
on the Lower Campus. Executive
Vice President Frank Campanella
said the change in plans was driven
by an opportunity to "revitalize"
the southwest area of Middle
Campus, add a new academic
quadrangle to an architecturally
neglected area, and recapture the
University's architectural style for
the campus gateway at Beacon
Street. The new plan also allows
BC to house student organiza-
tions in one area rather than split-
ting them between the Lower
Campus center and a refurbished
McElroy, as had been planned.
"These buildings are going to be
here for 100 years," Campanella
said. "We need to take a good long
look at what's going to be involved
and do it right."
BC is now seeking responses
to, and support of, the project
from neighbors and municipal of-
ficials in Newton and Boston.
NEWS & NOTES
Kiefer wanted to
market Pops on the
Heights ball caps.
"We told her it
wouldn't be a good
idea," said Stone.
"Students take their
caps seriously; their
caps say something
about them."
Summer stock
Pops on the Heights takes on a youthful cast with
help from a youthful cast of planners
Conte Forum dressed up as
an enchanted forest?
Hardly your father's Pops on the
Heights. But this year the three-
year-old rite of fall — the Boston
Pops concert to benefit BC's
scholarship fund — is aiming for a
younger affect: sort of Disney
meets Sousa. According to Karen
Kelly Kiefer, BC's behind-the-
scenes Pops maestro, this year's
event will feature more student
singers and musicians on the bill,
some performing at the pre-
concert cocktail reception and
others at small stages thrown up
around Conte.
Driving it all is the Pops on
the Heights Student Task Force
and its auxiliary group in set de-
sign; all told, some 25 peppy
young men and women who are
spending the summer toiling on
the September 15 show. Junior
Megan Kerrigan's mood — a con-
tinual bubbly simmer — is repre-
sentative. "It's a great event," she
says. "There's nothing else like it
on campus the rest of the year,
and it benefits students, so I re-
ally want to make it work."
The student set designers are
puzzling out the enchanted-
forest look — which plays on this
year's student-driven theme of
"To change, to grow, to become."
Unfurling his design drawings at
a late-June task force meeting,
Greg Park '97, directs attention
to a plastic and somewhat surreal-
looking wishing well, explaining
that when singing groups are not
using the well as a performance
venue, people can climb on it, use
it as a prop for family snapshots —
even toss coins into it. "It's part
of a whole interactive design we're
working on to encourage the au-
On site — with a summer of work still ahead of them, members of the Pops student planning
group gather at the Conte Forum venue.
dience to be part of the show,"
the theater arts major says.
The task force members,
meanwhile, have been address-
ing mailing labels and gently
prodding potential sponsors —
while also lending their youthful
vision to the proceedings. "We're
representing the student point of
view, and that's something
they've missed in the past," said
task force chairman Keith Stone
'96. It's already paid off, he said.
Kiefer wanted to market Pops on
the Heights ball caps to students
in addition to the T-shirts that
have been standard. "We told
her it wouldn't be a good idea,"
said Stone. "Students take their
caps seriously; their caps say
something about them, so they
won't wear just anything." The
idea was shelved.
At the same meeting that fea-
tured Park's wishing-well con-
cept, Kiefer broke the news that
John Williams could not con-
duct due to movie commitments,
and that composer Marvin
Hamlisch would be filling in.
"How should Hamlisch be mar-
keted?" she asked.
Once they found out who
Hamlisch was, the students
warmed to the task. Emily Tiberio
'97, who is writing copy for the
Pops program, opined that BC
students would respond to public-
ity focusing on Hamlisch's movie
and stage credits. There were vig-
orous nods all around. "If he's
done the music for A ChonisLine,
he's got to be good," shrugged
Tim Gavin '98, a task force mem-
ber who has benefited from a Pops
scholarship.
Then, like a general walking
her lieutenants through a battle
plan, Kiefer flew on to the next
topic — student ticket sales. The
lieutenants listened closely.
There were 1 1 weeks to go.
1 2 BOSK )N COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Private lives
Gay and lesbian student group is declined in bid for formal registration
Calling sexual orientation
"one of the most personal
and private elements of an
individual's personality," Boston
College has turned down an ap-
plication for formal registration
of a gay student organization.
The decision was conveyed in
a June 1 5 letter from University
President J. Donald Monan, SJ,
to the three student petitioners
for the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual
Community at Boston College
(LGBC).
The president said in his let-
ter that while homosexual orien-
tation was of itself "in no way
morally blameworthy or sinful"
and that several Catholic colleges
had recognized gay student or-
ganizations, "this is precisely the
course . . . Boston College chooses
not to follow." He said that stu-
dents who wished to communi-
cate their sexual orientation to
others should have the freedom
to do so but that Boston College
would not "establish structures
that categorize students on the
basis of characteristics as personal
and private as their sexual orien-
tation." Observing that all terms
of self-identification are to some
degree limiting, Fr. Monan added
that the practice of creating "in-
stitutional structures" to identify
individuals by sexual orientation
was "singularly reductionist."
[Editor's note: an edited version
of Fr. Monan's letter appears on
page 6.]
Petitioner Ryan Brady '96, a
co-director of LGBC, said he be-
lieved the University's decision
SCOUTING REPORT
ran counter "to the progress and
change that has been unfolding
in recent years." David Leonard,
PhD'96, another of the petition-
ers, said that while LGBC was
still considering its formal re-
sponse, its members were "heart-
ened by expressions of support,
both before and since the
president's announcement."
According to Dean of Stu-
dents Robert Sherwood, gay and
lesbian students currently are al-
located space for meetings and
programs and receive funding for
educational programs through
the Committee on Sexual Diver-
sity, which was founded three
years ago to sponsor and pro-
mote programs dealing with
sexual identity.
When I was asked to speak to you today, my mind raced ahead of the invitation, imagining
what bromides of advice, truth, profundity, could serve to solemnify this important
occasion. I was on the point of refusing — why embarrass both of us with the paucity of my
wisdom — when [A&S Associate] Dean [Marie] McHugh mentioned that my time could
be filled anyway I pleased, with a reading of my poems, for instance. Now, any poet snaps
to attention at an invitation to read her work, and my mind then began working in a
different direction: how many poems would I read, which ones, and how would I relate
them to your accomplishments, which we are gathered to celebrate? The idea of offering
poems as a way to mark this celebration seemed right: poems, like any made art, are by their
nature gifts to others. They are the traces of the poet's attention to things; as such, they
bear witness to another's way of being in the world. Poems are our signposts, our
touchstones. They do not so much offer advice as much as they reenact experience and the
thought accorded to that experience. Think of them not as linguistic artifacts but rather
as voices in the air waiting to include you in the conversation. Because of this notion of
conversation, let's call it the sociability of poetry, I decided not to read to you only from
my own work. Poems I would read and, yes, a few of my own among them, but a solo
performance seemed the wrong approach to take today. What I bring is a small chorus of
contemporary poets' voices with me — W.S. Merwin, Sharon Olds, Denise Levertov,
Philip Levine, Elizabeth Bishop and Mary Oliver: scouts reporting back to you on what
it is like to be grappling with life at the close of the 20th century.
English faculty member Suzanne Matson speaking at the Cross and Crown honor society
induction ceremony in May. Matson's ?nost recent book of poems is Durable Goods.
GOOD FELLOWS
Three of this year's gradu-
ates received Fulbright Fel-
lowships. Scott McGehee, a
doctoral candidate in history,
will attend the University of
Rome researching 1 8th- and
19th-century Italian agrarian
life. At Trier University in
Germany, Jennifer Burkart
'95, will research manu-
scripts produced during
Charlemagne's reign. And,
at the University of Potsdam
in Germany, Neil McDevitt
will study links between
fascism and 1 9th-century
German ideological history.
NATIVE TALENTS
The Law School's Immigra-
tion and Asylum Project has
completed its inaugural year
offering pro bono legal rep-
resentation to indigent asy-
lum seekers and immigrants
facing deportation. With a
grant from the U.S. Depart-
ment of Education, 1 5 BC
law students have been
working through the BC
Neighborhood Resource Cen-
ter, in Brighton, and the Im-
migration and Naturalization
Service's detention center in
Boston. Clients have included
natives of Liberia, Haiti,
Nigeria, Afghanistan and
Guatemala.
TROPHY HUNT
Is a piece of goalpost from
the 1941 Sugar Bowl gath-
ering dust in your attic? A
ticket stub from the 1 949
NCAA hockey championship
in your desk drawer? The
Athletic Association and
Varsity Club are stocking
new trophy and memora-
bilia cases in Conte Forum.
Equipment, uniforms, game
programs, photographs and
awards will all be consid-
ered for placement along-
side the likes of Doug
Flutie's Heisman Trophy and
the women's field hockey
team's 1994 championship
cup. Potential donors and
lenders are asked to contact
Reid Oslin at Conte Forum.
BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE 1 3
NEWS & NOTES
BLOWING TIME — Bubble gum helps one member of the Class of 1995 pass Commencement morning. The soon-to-be-alumni saw BC
confer honorary degrees upon Northern Ireland's Social Democratic and Labor Party leader John Hume, U.S. poet laureate Rita Dove,
former Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek, Wall Street wizard Peter Lynch '65, and Museum of Fine Arts curator Cornelius Vermeule III.
Words apart
Intent of new academic journal is to develop a conversation
between religious faith and the arts
Boston College is the home of
a new quarterly journal that
will explore religious experience
and its expression in the verbal,
visual and performing arts, ac-
cording to editor and English
Professor Dennis Taylor.
"We look for discussions of
modern artistic works that seek
out religious terms, and for new
ways of talking about traditional
religious experiences in the arts,"
he said. "We're trying to pro-
mote a conversation about the
role of religion in cultural studies
and its expression in painting,
sculpture, film, architecture and
other forms of art — about how
you integrate religious and secu-
lar ways of speaking to these
matters."
Religion and the Arts, which is
scheduled to debut next March,
is an outgrowth of faculty discus-
sions that began at the Boston
College Jesuit Institute in 1990.
In 1993, a grant from the
McCarthy Foundation provided
support for start-up costs, and a
planning committee was formed.
Taylor was appointed editor last
year, and an advisory board in-
cluding such luminaries as
JaroslavPelikan, Harold Bloom,
Elie Wiesel and Czeslaw Milosz
was named.
"We have a pretty good sense
of the scholars who might be in-
terested in the journal, " said Tay-
lor, who has begun soliciting
charter subscriptions and articles
from scholars and artists for the
new publication. "We are asking
for submissions, recommenda-
tions and general advice, and thus
far the idea of the journal seems
to have aroused a lot of interest."
14 BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Point after
BC shares national award for football players'
graduation rates
Boston College was one of
three institutions to receive
this year's College Football As-
sociation (CFA) Academic
Achievement Award for the high-
est graduation rate in the nation
for football players. The rate of
94.4 percent was calculated for
the 1 7 students on football schol-
arships who entered the Univer-
sity in the fall of 1989. Players at
Duke and Wake Forest compiled
identical records over those years.
An affiliation of 67 colleges
who play football at the Division
IA level, the CFA calculates
graduation rates based on five
years of attendance, but all of the
graduating players from BC's
Class of 1993 graduated in four
years, according to Kevin Lyons,
who directs academic advising
for the University's student ath-
letes and who also was recog-
nized by the CFA.
BC had previously won the
CFA award in 1992 with a 100
percent graduation rate. Duke,
Virginia and Notre Dame are the
only other institutions to have
won the award twice or more.
"There's nowhere to hide on
this campus when it comes to
academics," said Athletic Direc-
tor Chet Gladchuk. "Student
athletes attend the same courses
as other students so they are not
only competing at the highest
levels on the field but also in the
classroom. As a result, our [gradu-
ation] numbers are real. They
reflect something clearly earned."
In the 1 5 years since the CFA
began giving the award, the aver-
age graduation rate for football
players among its members has
increased from 49 percent to 58.6
percent. •
STAR IS BORN, FINALLY
When Lorie Conway decided to hire History Professor Emeritus
Thomas O'Connor for a television job, she had never met him. She
had, however, listened to his voice-mail message three times, and
she knew he was right for telling tales of former Boston
Mayor James Michael Curley and Scollay Square on
"Boston: The Way It Was," a history program she was
producing for Boston's WGBH-TV. "There was
something about his voice that stuck in my head, very
easy on the ears, peppered slightly with a Boston
accent," she recalled. That O'Connor happened
to be an expert on Boston history (see page 8)
didn't hurt, either, of course, and then neither
did what turned out to be his hitherto-undis-
covered affinity for the small screen. "A natu-
ral," said Conway. "Completely accessible with an
unusual ability to communicate." In fact, O'Connor narrated
the hour-long program in one take, after reading the script for less
than 30 minutes. And "Boston: The Way it Was" became one of the most
successful fund-raising programs of the year for the PBS affiliate, leading Conway
to hope nobody else discovers O'Connor and ruins his "unspoiled quality" — at least
not before she can sign him for her next program. O'Connor said he had indeed
planned to let stardom go to his head. But then he ran the show's videotape for his
two-year-old grandson, who, expecting Barney, burst into tears of disappointment
at the sight of Grandpa.
HISTORIAN APPOINTED
Gerald P. Fogarty, SJ, the
author of works on American
and modern Catholic history
and a professor at the Univer-
sity of Virginia, has been ap-
pointed the Thomas I. Gasson,
SJ, Professor for the 1 995-96
academic year. Fr. Fogarty is
working on a book about U.S.-
Vatican relations during World
War II. He will teach and
present two public lectures dur-
ing his residency. Founded by
the Boston College Jesuit Com-
munity, the Gasson Chair is the
University's oldest endowed
professorship and is reserved
for Jesuit scholars.
TOP CHOICES
Marc Molinsky '95, is one of
14 scholarship athletes to re-
ceive a 1995 NCAA scholarship
for postgraduate study. The
third-best three-point percent-
age shooter in BC basketball
history and only the seventh
player to participate in every
game of his collegiate career,
Molinsky was this year's Big
East Basketball Scholar-Athlete
of the Year. Currently poised
between an auditor's job at a
Big Eight firm and the possibility
of an overseas pro basketball
career, Molinsky has five years
to use the $5,000 scholarship at
a university of his choice.
DEATHS
•Francis O. Corcoran, SJ, dean
of the College of A&S from 1 95 1
to 1954, on April 7, 1995, at
age 89.
•Margaret M. Gorman, RSCJ, a
member of the theology and
psychology faculties at Newton
College of the Sacred Heart and
at BC since 1959, on May 16,
1995, at age 75.
•Spencer C. MacDonald, director
of admissions at the Graduate
School of A&S from 1 982 to
1994, on May 26, 1995, at
age 66.
•Francis J. Kelly, a professor of
counseling psychology in the
School of Education since 1965,
on July 3, 1995, at age 69. •
BOSTON COI I K.I \1U.\ZI\F 15
Four BC faculty discuss America s quest
for a new — and preferably paperback —
road to salvation
Spirituality
lite
AMERICANS LOVE A SOLUTION. WE LOVE PEOPLE TO
show us the way. We love Dale Carnegie and Ann Landers
and Dr. Ruth. We love books that tell us how to fix our
bodies, our marriages, our businesses — even our souls. For
the past decade U.S. best-seller lists have chronicled our seemingly
insatiable hunger for books telling us how to rediscover the angels within
and around us.
It's not an unprecedented phenomenon. Henry David Thoreau's
Walden has been in publication for nearly 150 years. But if Walden has
endured, it was not an immediate hit. In Pilgrims in Their Own hand: 200
Years of Religion in America, historian Martin E. Marty points out that
shortly after Waldetfs publication in 1854, Thoreau commented that his
personal library numbered 900 volumes; 700 were copies of Walden,
returned by the publisher. The spiritual best-sellers of Thoreau's day are
now obscure, Marty notes — flashes in the pan of pop history.
BCM recently assigned a reading list of current spiritual best-sellers to
four members of the faculty. On April 1 3 we brought them to a quiet room
in Bapst Library and turned on a tape recorder. The discussion, which
follows, was moderated by Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Arts
and Sciences Patricia De Leeuw.
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Patricia De Leeuw: Let's begin with the
phenomenon. In the past year seven
books relating to the quest for spiritual
fulfillment have made the New York
Times's lists of best-sellers. Collectively,
they have sold almost 1 3 million copies.
One of these books, Scott Peck's Road
Less Traveled, in fact, has been on the
paperback list for more than 10 years
and has sold more than 6 million cop-
ies— one for every 16 households in the
United States. Clearly there's something
going on worth talking about.
Paul Schervish: It's that old Boston prob-
lem: how do you get from here to there?
People have a yearning for a spiritual
life. What Peck, for example, offers in
rather available terms is a methodology
for getting there. Peck is also very clear
about discipline and energy and lazi-
ness, and these are, I think, enduring
American traits — hands-on self-devel-
opment in the pragmatic tradition.
Maryanne Confoy: And I think Peck's
pragmatism addresses issues that people
are working on. It's a methodology in
relationship to the issues of family, try-
ing to love, trying to grow. Peck points
out the way people are open to growth
but at the same time resistant. The book
is so personal that one feels engaged.
And this makes his methodology seem
useful. I think lonely people can feel
they're having a conversation with an
expert.
De Leeuw: For the sake of the five or six
BCM readers who may not be aware of
what The Road Less Traveled and Further
Along the Road Less Traveled are about,
perhaps I should state Peck's message in
brief. It's that if we just do what our
mothers always told us to do — delay
gratification, confront problems, take
responsibility and face reality squarely,
using the "basic tools of discipline," as
he calls them — Peck, who is a psychia-
trist, promises that we can overcome
the original sin of laziness and respond
with love and readiness to God's grace.
Willemien Often: But I'll tell you, I didn't
like that "conversation with an expert"
tone that Maryanne mentions. Ulti-
mately, there is something in Peck's
vision that makes you eternally depen-
dent on some expert — that everyone is
basically neurotic and that everything is
linked to psychopathology. He actually
believes everyone can benefit from psy-
chotherapy. Maybe so, but I think it's
good for people not to move too quickly
in that direction. I think Thomas Moore,
in Care of the Soul, moves beyond that
dependency.
I
oukt out own baptnoL T
■of ourwiffingnew to 6ve fully, tohyi
in, and therefore to be blcxcd, a* the (J
higher fiihejoda prwcamgiphn; 5i ?*
™ c""'w 7^-»=» o«Bted this K^T
m not sure there's much
spirituality in Scott Peck's book,
either. If there is, it's a very secu-
larized form, with the psychia-
trist replacing the confessor. The
curate — the man who takes care
of your soul — is relegated to the
background. So where is
God in all this?
Schervish: Moore is a little more Euro-
pean, a little less Freudian, a little more
Jungian.
Ernest Fortin: Moore wants the care of
the soul, not therapy of the soul.
De Leeuw: Again, it might be prudent
simply to note that in his best-seller
Moore says we will find fulfillment only
if we listen to and care for the soul, that
"quality or dimension of experiencing
life and ourselves" that, as he puts it,
"has to do with depth, value, related-
ness, heart and personal substance." He
says we care for the soul by turning away
from the modern myths of growth,
progress and success. Moore, I gather,
lived in a Catholic religious order for
more than a decade and has been trained
in theology and philosophy as well as
Jungian psychology.
Fortin: You know, Maryanne mentioned
loneliness. It needs to be said that Peck's
book addresses the loneliness of most
people in our society, and that's a deep
problem. People don't have much to
dedicate themselves to in our society.
It's characterized by intense individual-
ism, which is part of the American psyche
now.
That struck me about all these
books — the focus on the individual in-
stead of looking at what the individual
would need to do in order to grow. In
fact, I think people are better off if they
think less about themselves and more
about the things they might be doing,
assuming there are opportunities to de-
velop themselves in those things.
Confoy: That's interesting, Ernie, be-
cause in Further Along the Road Less Trav-
eled, Peck comes back to the need for
community. He talks about coming back
to be baptized, but still he won't be
baptized within a specific confessional
tradition. He deliberately makes it an
ecumenical baptism into the whole of
Christianity, which again, I think, con-
tributes to the individual and piecemeal
flavor.
Fortin: Someone was telling me this week
that Moore converted to Catholicism.
De Leeuw: What about Moore's notion
of the unconscious equaling God? Is
that compatible with Christianity?
Schervish: I think his notion is not that
the edge of consciousness is equal to
God, but that it's the window to God —
the pathway. Take a hierarchical model
of consciousness, from self-reflective
consciousness down to the unconscious.
Is the normal working of our conscious-
ness a window to God? I would say yes.
If I'm experiencing God, there is no
window but my consciousness.
De Leeuw: That's hardly an insight on
his part, though. And I wonder, in fact,
if any of you believe there's anything
new, of real value, in these books? Are
any of these classics that will be read 20
years from now?
Schervish: I would say that any book
that's sold 6 million copies is a classic.
And Peck's now part of BC's Capstone
Courses, so there's another 70 or 80
copies a year that are going to be sold.
But there is something to be skeptical
about. Look at the shiny faces on these
book jackets— they're all the same —
they're all one person. And they're all
writing sequels. They have an industry
here.
But at the same time I take it seri-
ously. I don't spend enough time caring
for my soul, and I am lazy about it, to
use Scott Peck's terminology. Remem-
ber the Neil Young song about "mining
for a heart of gold?" Well, I need to be
reminded of the importance of panning
18 BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
THE PARTICIPANTS
for gold. Yes, these books could be cat-
egorized as dangerous; if everybody fol-
lowed these shiny faces, we'd go off the
deep end. But there is another way of
reading these books, and that is to ask:
what are they doing for me? Reading
these books, however superficial they
may in part be, is like a good liturgy, a
reminder of what I have abandoned and
what I'm yearning for. If I read them
seriously, I am forced to experience the
distance between what I'm yearning for
in spiritual life — an edge of transcen-
dence— and what I actually have. So
each one of these books, for me, is a
grace.
Often: I have no trouble with the idea of
finding God in your consciousness, as
the great Christian mystics did, but I do
think the danger is as Ernie stated it.
The vision here is too individualistic. I
come out of a Protestant tradition in
which we strongly value the transcen-
dence of God. And if you have a tran-
scendent God, God can act in history;
you can see God in society. In this re-
gard I found Peck to be very negative
about politics. For instance, in The Road
Less Traveled he shows no interest in
people's being citizens. I think
God acts not only through
individual consciousness but
also in society, and I believe
we can collaborate in that en-
terprise.
By the same token, the
book is dated. When he talks
about parenting, the women
are cooking and cleaning, and
from time to time the men do
a little bit of their share. It
seems to reinforce traditional
structures, which I think
Christianity can coincide with
but doesn't necessarily. Chris-
tianity can be on the edge of
transforming society.
Fortin: You're right about the
politics, but I'm not sure
there's much spirituality in
Peck's book, either. If there
is, it's a very secularized
form — the psychiatrist replac-
ing the confessor. The cu-
Be/ow, from left to right:
Paul Schervish
is an associate professor of sociology and director of BC's
Social Welfare Research Institute. He writes about the roots and role of
charitable giving in American culture. In 1994 he edited a series of essays
analyzing American cultural consciousness of wealth. Schervish lives in
Belmont, Massachusetts, with his wife and three children.
Willemien Often
joined the theology department last fall as an assistant
professor specializing in the history of Christian life and thought. She is
particularly interested in medieval intellectual history and is working on a
book about the development of theology prior to the rise of scholasticism.
She lives with her husband in Newtonville, Massachusetts.
Ernest Fortin, AA
has been a professor of theology since 1971. He has
written widely on the relationship between Christianity and the political
order from antiquity to modern liberal society, focusing on the moral
issues that arise when Christians take part in imperfect civil societies.
An Assumptionist priest, Fr. Fortin resides in Boston.
Patricia All win De LeeuwF
jnel moderator, is associate dean of the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and has taught graduate and
undergraduate courses in theology since 1 979. Her academic specialty is
church history in the early Middle Ages, with a particular focus on pasto-
ral care and popular piety during the period. She has a book in progress
on the parish in early medieval Germany. De Leeuw lives in Lexington,
Massachusetts, with her husband and two children.
Maryanne Confoy, RSC
is an adjunct associate professor of theology and
a member of the Australian congregation of the Sisters of Charity. She
writes on feminist and liberation theology and spirituality and recently
served as a contributing editor for a collection of essays on Australian
feminist theology. She lives in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
rate — the man who takes care of your
soul — is relegated to the background,
and someone else has now occupied the
space that has been vacated. So where is
God in all this?
The political thinker Leo Strauss once
said that the two most important things
in life were God and politics, and today
we have neither. I think these books are
symptomatic of that condition.
Schervish: Let me read that complaint
as Thomas Moore might read it. Why
does it bother us so much that these
writers don't talk about politics or citi-
zenship? When Robert McNamara's
book came out this spring, it struck a
nerve — about the betrayal, the empti-
ness of politics, the lack of courage in
our political leaders, which in that in-
stance cost 25,000 U.S. lives because of
his continuing silence. I don't miss poli-
tics in Peck's book. I am more and more
convinced of the intercession of
agency — that is, unless the heart is
touched, there is no politics. Our poli-
tics has for too long been based on the
absence of this yearning for spirituality,
and it's time to take a rest from declar-
ing who our political enemies and
friends are. I don't think this will last
forever, but it's important for us to step
back and examine the personal spiritu-
ality within which we do our public
living. It's the classic reversal of Dor-
othy Day's notion that if you wish to
care for your soul, you must care for the
community, and your soul will follow.
I'm saying if you care for your soul, the
care for the community will follow.
Confoy: Peck does emphasize personal
responsibility; he pushes that with the
Orestes myth, saying, It was not the
gods; it was I. What I see missing in
Peck is community accountability.
McNamara has made himself account-
able to the community for what he saw
as his personal responsibility and his
failure. Peck focuses on the person as a
person — at the expense of accountabil-
ity to the larger society. I think part of
that comes from his idea of God. He's
bought into the "New Age god" with a
Jesus flavor.
But when I came to the sequel, I did
think it would say, Well now, having
seen the privatizing possibilities of this,
I begin to see the need to belong to a
community. But Peck doesn't see him-
self as accountable to a community with
whom he shares an identity. By being
baptized generically Christian, he is say-
ing, "I am Christian, but I won't be
accountable for Lutherans; I won't be
accountable for Catholics; I won't be
accountable for Baptists."
Schervish: Well I won't, either. But I
will be accountable for a Baptist. I will
be accountable for a Catholic. I will be
accountable for a child. But I am not
accountable for groups anymore.
Confoy: But don't you have account-
ability for how that group engages
itself?
Schervish: Yes, once I can figure out
what the policy should be. But we don't
have a clue. I think this reflects the crisis
of politics, the crisis of Utopia. When
these writers say, Here's a way of man-
aging the microdecisions of daily life, a
way of raising your children to be open
to the flow of the spirit, the power of
grace, we grab for the help. At this point
in my life, with three little children, that
is an amazing task in and of itself.
Fortin: That's absolutely true, but this is
the problem of our time that has to be
addressed. It's not a normal human ex-
istence to live outside a larger commu-
nity. People have not always been in
that situation. We are, in a very acute
way. Can we be individuals and take
care of ourselves as individuals and de-
velop a sense of responsibility for our
families and all of that unless we're part
of a larger group that sustains our lives
and makes them possible? We don't live
in the wilderness; we don't live in the
desert. The only place we can develop is
within this larger group that you claim
not to be terribly interested in.
Schervish: I'm not saying I'm not inter-
ested in it; I'm saying there is no larger
group. There's Pat [De Leeuw], and
there's you; there's the kids at the Cam-
pus School [for multihandicapped chil-
dren]. As I said, what's the agenda for
the group? If you tell me what to do in
regard to the group, you're going to put
me face-to-face with individuals. And
you're going to ask me how I'm using
my time, and you're going to talk about
my consciousness, you're going to be
dealing with my generosity, with my
commitments. None of that has to do
with the group.
Fortin: But you're part of the group, and
you can't help being influenced by a
group of which you are a part.
Schervish: I think it's a facade.
Fortin: Well, we disagree.
Otten: The point of talking about poli-
tics and citizenship is to construct a
better future. I feel Peck's book appeals
largely to an audience that probably has
a pretty nice future ahead of it anyway.
But I taught in Chicago for the past four
years; why would somebody on the
South Side read this?
Schervish: I'll tell you why. Because the
very first chapter asks what the crisis of
child rearing in the inner-city family
has in common with the child-rearing
crisis of the middle-class family. The
content of people's lives won't be the
same, obviously, but the issues are. For
instance, this issue of delayed gratifica-
tion— that's a terribly important prob-
lem whether you're on the South Side
of Chicago or in Newton.
Otten: Poor people need all their energy
just to get by, to survive; they have no
time to delay anything, let alone gratifi-
cation. I think a more urgent matter for
people on the South Side would be to
get an education, to vote.
Schervish: But this is how they can do
that; this is why they don't vote. It's not
because they're immoral people but be-
cause they lack social capital. The re-
sources of grace are not available to
them, just as they might be unavailable
to me or to some of my neighbors.
Look, we were poor growing up; they
came and towed our car away. We didn't
have money for a Christmas tree one
year. We didn't take vacations. We went
to the neighbors and asked for food. So
we were poor, so we studied our butts off.
Confoy: Can I slip in for just a moment?
20 BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZIN I
Often: No. I was born in a condemned
house, pretty poor also. And if one of
Peck's concerns is to address an audi-
ence other than the middle class, this is
nowhere evident in this book. The only
thing Peck says about politics is that it
corrupts and that power is bad. If he
wanted to give a positive message to the
South Side, maybe he should have said
that after you are able to abide by these
rules of delayed gratification, you be-
come a more balanced citizen, and life
goes on, and then you can help build a
better future for the rest of us.
Confoy: Can I comment that I think a
strength and a weakness of this book is
that it's given up on society and that it's
taking individuals so seriously? Peck says
the only way we'll transform society is
through local communities.
Schervish: You theologians want us to
take care of society. I'm a sociologist; I
want us to take care of the soul. Can you
give me one example of how society can
be transformed?
Often: First of all, vote.
Schervish: How is that transforming
society?
Often: Well, for one thing it's going to
get us a more representative govern-
ment. I've taught doctoral students who
never voted. That lack of concern for
the breadth, the wholeness, of society is
astonishing to me.
Schervish: Or is not voting a spiritual
statement of ennui — the discernment
that there is no choice? I'm not going to
vote on whether Saddam Hussein is a
maniac and whether the United States
should have beaten the daylights out of
him. That's not my choice. There may
be great wisdom in not voting.
Confoy: But voting does give you power.
If you back off, don't you give your
power to the people who do vote?
Schervish: That is what Peck meant when
he said we need the courage for a while
to refuse to have the choices be either-
or. I'm not saying we will never have a
political agenda. I'm not abandoning
this as the ultimate hope. But I am im-
pressed by the need to reject the alter-
natives we have right now.
H
ow do you know what
the soul is? These writers never
define it. If you want to under-
stand the soul, you look at what it
can do. The soul reveals itself in its
activities. How else are you going
to know it?
SPIRITUAL JUDO
Often: Maybe I'm too endemically a
Christian, but when Peck was talking
about good and evil, I felt there were
strong Manichaean tendencies. There
was a sense that evil's out there, and we
can't do anything about it, so let's just
hope it doesn't triumph. In the Chris-
tian tradition — in St. Augustine, for ex-
ample— evil has no existence as a
separate power. It's the absence of good.
In the moral sphere it's the perversion
of will. So when you see evil or things
that come across as evil, you have a
strong responsibility to change them. I
did not feel that responsibility in Peck's
book.
Fortin: That's a fundamental problem:
the distinction between good and evil
has just disappeared. I'll tell you a story
from a former student of mine who now
teaches writing at Hampden-Sydney
College. He asked his students to write
about heroism or what a heroic life might
be. They were to write about a young
man who had been very successful in
this town; he'd starred on the football
team and he went on to play profes-
sional football. In the summertime he
went back home to Alabama, where he
liked to hunt 'coons — raccoons. So was
this kid a hero? Very dutifully, the stu-
dents wrote essays on that. And one
black kid in the classroom said yes, al-
BOSTON COl.l.l ■(.!■ \1A(,\/INK 21
THE READING LIST
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A New Psychology
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A Book of Angels
Sophy Burnham
Ballantine Books, 1990
Copies sold: 925,000
New York Times best-seller list:
July to October 1 994
Care of the Soul
Thomas Moore
HarperPerennial, 1994
Copies sold: 1,000,000
New York Times best-seller list:
March 1 994 to present
The Celestine Prophecy
James Redfield
Warner Books, 1 993
Copies sold: 2,700,000
New York Times best-seller list:
March 1994 to present
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen
Health Communications, Inc., 1993
Copies sold: 2,000,000 +
New York Times best-seller list:
September 1 994 to present
Further Along the Road Less Traveled
M. Scott Peck
Touchstone, 1993
Copies sold: 250,000 +
New York Times best-seller list:
October 1 993 to December 1 994
The Road Less Traveled
M. Scott Peck
Touchstone, 1978
Copies sold: 6,000,000 +
New York Times best-seller list:
October 1983 to present
though he wasn't absolutely sure. I don't
like very much this business of shooting
blacks in your spare time during the off-
season, this student said; but if that's the
way they do it down there, who am I to
judge? It's not easy to distinguish be-
tween good and evil if you've been
brought up in the kind of atmosphere
that prevails in our culture.
De Leeuw: Isn't that much more a prob-
lem in Moore's book than in Peck's? In
Moore, you just embrace everything as
it is; it's all there in the soul — good and
evil — and it's all part of me. I found that
frustrating.
Schervish: I think we're all engaged in
some kind of spiritual judo. What I mean
by that is you take a situation and you
get a creative twist on it, and that's
grace. You don't accept it as it is. In
Moore, you don't deflect it or try to
conquer it. So you're neither to em-
brace evil nor simply to ward it off;
you're to transform it.
Fortin: Moore is a Jungian. In his view,
you don't try to change things; you try
to understand them and look for some
kind of balance. He doesn't talk about
problem solving, he talks about difficul-
ties. Well, is someone else supposed to
take care of you if there's a problem to
be solved, if there is that kind of need?
There is something passive about him, a
resignation to whatever exists, through
which you try to understand a little bit
better and, possibly, by so doing, to
improve.
I was annoyed by Moore. His is a
much more profound book than Peck's
but it's ultimately disappointing. He
wants to retrieve the soul. All of these
writers want to retrieve something lost.
There is every reason to want to recover
this notion of the soul that has disap-
peared. Just talking about the soul is
old-fashioned. If you want to be up-to-
date, you talk about the self. But how do
you know what the soul is? These writ-
ers never define it. And it's not that easy
to find out what the soul is. If you want
to understand the soul, you look at what
it can do. The soul reveals itself in its
activities. How else are you going to
know it? You go from the act to the
power that generates the act. And, fur-
thermore, you know what the soul can
do when it does it. We don't know what
the power of the soul is beforehand.
That's not written in the sky some-
where.
Often: I like Moore better than Peck
precisely because Peck is so problem
solving. His is a mechanics of life: if all
the parts are connected, then it works,
and you don't have to talk about it again.
Moore has a more enriching vision, talk-
ing about a soulful life and how families
should have soulful fathers. I think that's
a valuable message — one applicable to
Newton and the South Side of Chicago,
one that leads you beyond the sheer
mechanics of life.
Confoy: Peck is a carpenter, whereas
Moore is an architect. I agree that there
is a certain passivity in the spirituality
that Moore professes, but I think that's
possibly where he wants us to be artists
and observe more carefully.
Fortin: The one thing they never talk
about — that's completely taboo — is the
rational soul.
Confoy: It seems that he's trying to
counter the emphasis on the rational
soul with the aesthetic dimension of the
human person. The task of the soul is
"to thine own self be true," and one
can't be true unless one knows oneself.
I found that helpful and very positive.
Fortin: Do you know why these writers
are so reluctant to talk about reason,
which was the most important part of the
soul? They confuse reason with Carte-
sian reason — with an abstraction that ne-
glects all the aspects that Moore is trying
to bring back by his emphasis on artistic
experience. But the Cartesian notion of
reason is a relatively recent one, and it's a
terribly impoverished one.
Schervish: I don't understand. Help me.
What's so crucial about reason?
Fortin: Well, because human beings used
to be defined as rational animals; if you
wanted to understand them, you had to
make room for reason in your account.
I don't see Moore or Peck leaving much
room for reason. And I think what preju-
dices us against reason is the triumph of
Cartesian reason in the modern pe-
riod— mechanical reason. Not reason
that perceives human existence as a
whole, but reason that divides, compart-
mentalizes this life and retains as its
focus of interest only those things that
can be measured or quantified.
Often: In the medieval view, reason defi-
nitely would be a part of the soul. These
days people quickly move from a
commonsensical, ordinary life to an eso-
teric one in which there is mystery but
not much structure. I don't think theo-
logical reflection used to work in that
manner. It was very logical, with a pur-
pose. What do you replace that with? A
fuzzy feeling or just a celebration of
mysticism? To me, it's important that
what you think about the divine be some-
how logical. Because even there you are
accountable — to society, to the church,
as well as to yourself.
Schervish: It strikes me that several of you
are saying these writers have missed a set
of issues — citizenship, rationality, com-
munity— that you feel are dangerous to
overlook. And while I share some of that
concern, my experience of these books is
not that they have failed to touch on these
issues, but that I can't yet get anywhere
near the dimension and the depth of spiri-
tual life that they're saying is available to
me as an individual person.
Often: But spirituality precisely involves
the whole person, so omissions like these
seem to indicate that these writers are
not quite doing what they're saying they
set out to do or have done.
Schervish: But I haven't internalized
Peck's one-sided view enough to get to
the point where it's unbalancing me. Do
you see what I mean?
De Leeuw: What does Moore say you
can do that you don't do?
Schervish: When I sit and read this book
in a coffee shop, and I've had two espres-
sos, I start to say, What a life this would
be. Life is so rich, my children are so
rich, the paschal mystery is so rich, my
teaching is so rich. I may have a glimpse
of the depth of what happiness in this life
is about, a glimpse of what my spiritual
life is about, a glimpse of who God is for
me, a glimpse of who my children are
and what they can become. I get the
BOSTON COLLEGE jMAGAZINE 23
sense that there is layer upon layer upon
layer that I haven't even gotten to. And
the fact that Moore may have missed
the rational part of my soul is so far
below the level of my concern because I
have only begun to touch upon these
other things.
Fortin: That's fine, that's fine, except
that I'm afraid that when you leave hu-
man reason out of your account of the
soul, that account will be truncated. You
will lose some of the richness.
Confoy: I see Care of the Soul as a valu-
able accompaniment to the rational
stance that theology has taken — a useful
complement. The book is billed as "a
guide for cultivating depth in sacred-
ness in everyday life," and it's an exquis-
ite expression of the sacred in ways
ordinary people can grasp — the idea that
there is something more to life.
SIMPLE GIFTS
Fortin: The two books on our reading
list that I liked best were Chicken Soup
for the Soul and A Book of Angels. With-
out denigrating the other books for what
they were, I'll say they didn't move me.
These did.
Often: I liked Chicken Soup because it
was the least pretentious, and in that
sense it completely fulfills its modest
goals. Chicken Soup is a very simple medi-
cine— really nice stories.
Confoy: Well, I respect your opinions.
But when I looked at Chicken Soup, I
thought that another title for it would be
McNuggets of Inspiration for the Nonnally
Neurotic. For a man like yourself, Ernie,
with your depth, obviously you can pick
it up, and it can recharge your batteries.
My problem is that it's a short-term sat-
isfaction, a sugar high. I can see where
you've gone with it, but my problem is
it's too easy to take short-term, saccha-
rine solutions to lifelong problems.
Schervish: I don't know anyone who
does that. And the reason is because
short-term solutions falter, and our bod-
ies and our emotions and the grace of
the universe tell us they're unsatisfying.
There is a great blessing in the fact that
evil or sin or unhappiness is not really
satisfying. That's kind of the grace of
history.
Confoy: But how different are books
like Chicken Soup from TV evangelism
in their effect?
Schervish: I don't know. All I know is
that TV evangelism is absolutely fine if
it helps one person find the depth of the
spiritual path.
De Leeuw: For five minutes or for a
lifetime? And can't TV evangelists
hinder a person's spiritual development?
Schervish: TV evangelists can hinder a
person's spirituality, but so can the
Catholic Church. So can the pope. So
can the latest encyclical. So can a bad
sermon. And so can not having women
priests. But one of these stories may
bring insight.
Fortin: On the other hand, you do have
to raise the question of the more perma-
nent solution: real virtue, a permanent
disposition that transcends you in the
face of the evils we all have to face, and
that enriches your life in a more pro-
found and lasting way. Not just the fix
that the stories give you — as much as I
like them.
The other book I wanted to praise is
Sophy Burnham's Book of Angels. I get a
little annoyed with the certitude of sci-
ence, psychological science, Freudian
psychology. It goes back to Descartes
again — to finding the bedrock, the sure
path of science, as Descartes used to put
it, the unshakable foundation. "I think;
therefore I am": that's the principle on
which modern science is founded. Or
else there's existentialism, anguish. A
Book of Angels is different insofar as it
tries to inculcate the sense of wonder —
not anxiety, not the sense that you should
be pulling your hair out, that you'll never
get to the bottom of things, or that you
should ditch the whole thing and live
and be merry if you can. Yes, there are
angels around. She's not making a theo-
logical pronouncement, but just that
this is a way in which we express all
these things within us that are really
inexpressible but that mean something
nevertheless. Wonder used to be con-
sidered the fundamental mood. Hamlet
instructs Horatio, "There are more
things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Why not be open to that? It's one of the
most hopeful things one could think of.
Often: I agree with that last statement,
but I did think that this was the absolute
worst book we read. I was also ashamed
that it was the only one written by a
woman. I was ashamed of my gender.
There is no structure, there is no argu-
ment; it's just the flower-power genera-
tion having a midlife crisis and needing
some sort of otherworldly experience.
Many of the historical facts in it are
wrong, and where she could have stressed
imagination and mystery, she wants
these angels to be real the way some
people believe UFOs are real. And she
doesn't weigh sources; everything is
equal as far as she's concerned. If it has
an angel in it, it winds up in the book, no
matter where it comes from. This fasci-
nation with angels is a fad; it's spiritual
entertainment rather than spirituality.
People have angel earrings; there's a
whole angel industry.
Fortin: Well, I'm sorry to hear that. I
won't pass the book around.
Confoy: I was intrigued by this book
because there is so much of human ex-
perience that touches mystery and won-
der but touches it without knowing quite
where to go with it. When I came on the
chapter on "angelology" in the middle,
which gave the appearance of science, I
was very discomforted. The integrity of
Chicken Soup is that it's simply that. But
this does try to be more; this is much
more pretentious than either Moore or
Peck.
TRUE CONFESSIONS
De Leeuw: Let's talk about The Celestine
Prophecy. Paul, I know you liked it. Does
it matter whether it's true?
Schervish: Is the gospel true, Pat? Every
one of these books is about stories: the
story of a person coming to Scott Peck
or to Tom Moore for therapy, or the
stories of the angels. The Celestine Proph-
ecy is the story of a guy who goes to
Peru, where he and his companions dis-
cover a manuscript. It's revealed to them
24 BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
1995 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
A Look Back
Alumni Association
President
John H. MacKinnon '62
Broadened apos-
tolic programs; a
new alumni di-
rectory; Laetare
Sunday better
than ever; the
"strike year"
graduating class
returns for its
twenty-fifth re-
union; a Legends
Luncheon pre-
cedes the BC-Notre Dame football game;
and the Alumni Association takes a criti-
cal look at alcohol abuse. These are just
a few of the programs and issues which
fell to my stewardship as your alumni
president this year, and I'm happy to give
you a wrap-up report.
Our apostolic outreach work, which
began with Second Helping seven years
ago, last year grew to four distinct pro-
grams, as we added to our list a partner-
ship with Mother Caroline Academy. A
group of alumnae have taken on the
responsibility for arranging Friday
evening socials for these young women
from the inner city. Second Helping
cruises along in its two food trucks, sup-
ported by our annual food drive and the
traditional Second Helping Gala, which
this year exceeded all expectations. Sixty
volunteers participated in a major cleanup
and paint job at Allston's West End
House as part of April 29th's Christmas
in April, and the year concluded with
alumni descending on BC's dormitories
at the end of the semester to collect
usable clothing, non-perishable food,
furniture, and appliances. Over 30 grate-
ful social service agencies benefit from
this project which we call Operation
Cleansweep.
Benefits and services continued to
flourish. Over 7,000 alumni have re-
quested their own library card, and gradu-
ating classes are now automatically added
to the list. The 1995 alumni directory is
in the hands of all who ordered it and is
the subject of many compliments; and
12,500 alumni now hold our privileged
MBNA Visa bank card. To date, we have
distributed over $40,000 in scholarships,
thanks to the Visa program.
It is difficult to imagine that our
Laetare Sunday Communion Breakfast
could continue to be a renewable suc-
cess; yet, March 2 6th witnessed the gath-
ering of 1,050 alumni and friends who
heard a magnificent talk by Washington
punster, Mark Shields — so excellent it
earned him a standing ovation. The lit-
urgy was highlighted by the participa-
tion of four priests from the silver
anniversary class of 1970, a figure future
jubilee classes will find a challenge. I
won't dwell on the year's other fabulous
events — like the Christmas Chorale Con-
cert, Family Day, or Boston College
Alumni Night at the Pops (at which we
gave Keith Lockhart a rousing BC wel-
come)—but let me mention the pre-
game BC-
continned on next page
BOSTON COLLEGE
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
1995-96 Board of
Directors
President
John P. Connor, Jr., Esq. '65,
law '68
Walpole, MA
Vice President/
President Elect
Richard J. O'Brien '58,
GSSW '60
Springfield, VA
Treasurer
Thomas J. Martin '61
Canton, MA
Secretary
Karen McCabe Hare '87
Cape Elizabeth, ME
Past President
John H. MacKinnon '62
Hingham, MA
Directors
Dennis J. Berry, Esq. '70,
LAW'73
Way/and, MA
Amy Allegrezza Donahue '90
Holliston, MA
Donald J. Emond GSSW '62
Taunton, MA
Donald A. Garnett '77
Boston, MA
Jean M. Graham '90
Arlington, MA
Kristina D. Gustafson '96
Seattle, WA
Robert F.X. Hart '60, GSSW '62
Denver, CO
Philip C. Hazard, Jr. '78
E. Providence, Rl
Carol Donovan Levis NEW '63
Attleboro, MA
Andres J. Lopez CGSOM '82
Wellesley, MA
James J. Marcellino, Esq.
LAW '68
Providence, Rl
Keith S. Mathews '80
Providence, Rl
James F. Nagle '89
Medfield, MA
Edward J. O'Brien, Jr.,
MD'63
St. Louis, MO
Kristin A. Quirk '90
Walertown, MA
Rhonda C Raffi NEW '75
Arlington, MA
John M. Riley '82
Watertown, MA
Jeanne C Salvucci '84
Wellesley, MA
Louis V. Sorgi '45
Milton, MA
John D. Sullivan, PhD '50
Osterville, MA
Thomas M. Sullivan '89
Washington, DC
Executive Director
John F. Wissler '57, CGSOM '72
Class Notes Editor
Maura King Scully '88,
GA&S '93
Assistant Editor
jane M. Crowley '92
Boston College Alumni
Association
Alumni House
825 Centre Street
Newton, MA 02158
(617) 552-4700
(800) 669-8430
ALUMNOTES
We must accept our
obligation as role
models for the
students, regarding
alcohol consumption
continued from previous page
Notre Dame Legends Luncheon.
Over 1 ,200 alumni and friends of
both schools gathered at the
Castle at Park Plaza to appropri-
ately launch this now "home and
home" rivalry.
The University has asked us
to join in the effort to reduce
alcohol abuse on the campus.
Among other things, alumni con-
tribute to an unfavorable image
just by the way we display alcohol
at tailgate parties and other pub-
lic events. At the conclusion of
the year, we adopted a mission
statement and added some tan-
gible suggestions to help the pro-
gram along. Next year, we'll be
talking to alumni class leaders
about the problem and how they
can help. We must accept our
obligation as role models for the
students, regarding alcohol con-
sumption.
Picking up on a suggestion by
Father Monan, I chaired a gath-
ering of alumni to examine how
we might enlist AHANA alumni
to recruit qualified high school
students of color, an area of ad-
missions where we feel we can do
a better job. The meeting was
very constructive, with several
excellent recommendations
adopted. The Alumni Associa-
tion clearly can be a part of the
solution. Also, on admissions,
after a few years of disappointing
results, our alumni children ad-
missions took an upswing this
year. Fully 1 3 percent of the fresh-
men class will be alumni chil-
dren, moving toward our goal of
15 percent. This is good news.
Career planning services re-
main a high priority for us, and I
can promise that my successor,
Jack Connor will continue to
press ahead on this issue. We
recognize that this is one of the
most important ways we can con-
structively serve you.
Reunions were better at-
tended than ever. Of note, the
class of 1945 had an 80 percent
attendance, with 98 percent con-
tributing to their class gift of
$384,000. These three figures are
all record-breakers and quite a
challenge to succeeding Golden
Eagles. The class of 1970 experi-
enced a marvelous reunion, as its
members recalled with wry smiles
that 1970's graduation was in far
more tempestuous times than the
silver anniversary celebration.
Class members also proved by
the "good time had by all" that
time does heal all wounds. On
Saturday of Alumni Weekend,
over 3,000 alumni, spouses, and
guests were on campus for their
reunion parties.
The year for me has been most
fulfilling. I wanted to advance
our goal of service to members
while serving the University, and
we have done that. There is no
end to the possibilities for your
alumni association, and you can
help make things happen by your
support and involvement.
I leave the association leader-
ship in the capable hands of Jack
Connor '65, and I wish him and
the '95-'96 Alumni Board great
success in the coming year, while
I extend my heartfelt thanks to
the '94-'95 Alumni Board, the
association staff and all the vol-
unteers who made my year as
president a joy.
'95 Election Results
Spring Elections bring ten new members to the
Alumni Board ofDirectiors
The ballots have been tallied
and the results in from the
Spring 1995 Alumni Elections.
Incoming Alumni Presidentjohn
P. Connor, Jr. '65, LAW '68 an-
nounced the winners during this
year's Reunion Weekend, held
on the Heights May 19-21.
The Board of Directors will
welcome ten new members in
the fall, representing a range of
ages, interests and geography.
Joining the board for a three-
year term will be Richard J.
O'Brien '58, GSSW '60 of Spring-
field, VA. O'Brien will serve as
vice president/president-elect for
'95-'96, president for '96-'97 and
past-president for '97-'98. Newly
elected treasurerThomasJ. Mar-
tin '61 of Canton and secretary
Karen McCabe Hare '87 of Cape
Elizabeth, ME will serve for one
year, and will run on next year's
ballot for vice president/presi-
dent-elect and treasurer, respec-
tively.
Freshmen two-year term
members include: DennisJ. Berry
'70, LAW '73 of Wayland; Robert
F.X. Hart '60, GSSW '62 of Den-
ver, CO; Jean M. Graham '90 of
Arlington; Keith S. Mathews '80
of Providence, RI; Rhonda C.
Raffi NC 75 of Arlington; John
D. Sullivan, PhD, '50 of
Osterville; and Thomas M.
Sullivan '89 of Washington, DC.
The Board of Directors is the
volunteer governing body of the
Alumni Association which directs
programs and services for Bos-
ton College's 113,284 alurnni
world wide. The Boston College
Alumni Association is the largest
Catholic university alumni asso-
ciation in the world.
2 BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES
Reunion '95
May 19-21 brought over 3,000 alumni, family
and friends back to the Heights for a weekend of
remembering, reminiscing and celebrating. Re-
union classes from the 50th — the Class of '45, to
the 5th — the Class of '90, joined in the weekend ' s
revelry which included the annual BC Night at
Pops at Symphony Hall on Friday; the all-alumni
barbecue, the Chestnut Hill Grill, on Saturday
and individual class parties at locations all over
campus Saturday evening.
Alumni from non-reunion classes came back for
Alumni Day on Saturday to participate in the
day's events, including the Continuing Learning
programs offered as part of Reunion Weekend.
Next year, Reunion Weekend will be held May
17-19, when classes ending in 1 and 6 will have
their turn to rediscover the people and places
that make Boston College.
BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES 3
CLASSES
25
William E. O'Brien
900 Arbor Lake Dr., Apt. 304
Naples, FL 33963
(813)592-0393
Talked to Ed O'Neil on the phone
this morning. He is fine, but is the
only classmate I hear from. I would
appreciate a call or note from any-
one else alive and kicking — let's keep
the Class of 1925 represented in
these Alumni Notes!
27
c/o BC Alumni Association
825 Centre Street
Newton, MA 02 1 58-2527
On May 17, Boston College lost one
of her greatest alumni, Joe
McKenney. He will be remembered
by his classmates and others for his
athletic prowess, his record-setting
coaching career at BC, and for his
class leadership — including many
years as class correspondent. In ad-
dition, his attention to classmates
and other alumni at their time of
illness and death occupied many
hours of his later years. Father
Monan called him "our most be-
loved alumnus," and who could ar-
gue with that? Joe received all our
honors, including the William V.
McKenney award and an honorary
degree in 1983, when the "third gen-
eration Joe McKenney" graduated
from BC. His funeral Mass at St.
Ignatius, fittingly on Alumni Day,
was celebrated by Father Monan and
a throng of concelebrants. From us
at the Alumni Office, who knew and
loved him, we offer this remem-
brance while extending our sympa-
thies to his family. — John F. Wissler
'57, CGSOM '72, Executive Director
28
Maurice J. Downey
1 5 Dell Ave.
Hyde Park, MA 02 136
(617)361-0752
Heartfelt sympathy is in the ascen-
dancy when it is reported that three
of our classmates have entered eter-
nity since the last issue. Dr. John
O'Loughlin was a quintessential
teacher and educational administra-
tor, as evidenced by his many teach-
ing assignments at Somerville High,
BC and Emmanuel, to name just a
few. • Atty. Edward Monahan, a
graduate of Harvard Law, was for
many years of the bar in his native
Lowell. • Joseph McKenna died
recently in California after a long
and fruitful career as a teacher in
Cambridge. • To those they have
left behind, we offer our sincere
condolences. • Word reaches me
that Bernard McCabe, a retired
Boston schoolteacher, was featured
in an article in one of the Cape Cod
newspapers. • The lucidly written
biography of our classmate, Wallace
Carroll, is now available. The chap-
ter dealing with the years he spent at
BC is especially interesting. • May
our football team have a successful
season, highlighted by another vic-
tory over Notre Dame.
29
Robert T. Hughes, Esq.
3 Ridgeway Rd.
Wellesley, MA02181
(617)235-4199
Very little news to pass on to you at
this time. • Saw Barr Dolan re-
cently and, as usual, he looked fine.
He is still active in the insurance
business and sends his best to all of
you. • Talked with president Jim
Riley on the phone, and he indicates
that the class will line up some activ-
ity in the fall. He was pleased with
the showing at Laetare Sunday. •
We received a letter from Evelyn
Cronin informing us of John
Cronin's death on February 26.
Evidently it came as a blessing, as he
had been bed-ridden for the last
seven years. They had been living in
Roanoke, VA. May John's soul rest
in peace. • On a brighter note, BC is
looking forward to a great football
season. They have been selected to
open the national campaign by play-
ing Ohio State, and their other
games — including Notre Dame —
present them with a very difficult
schedule. We understand that most
of the home games are already a sell-
out. • My grandson, Ryan Quinn,
has just completed his freshman year
at BC and was among the top in his
class. • Let's hear from you. Ad
Majorem Dei Gloriam.
30
Charles A. McCarthy
208 1 Beacon St.
Waban, MA 02 168
(617)244-9025
Although it was a relatively mild
winter (for Boston), Mary and I spent
most of it in Naples, FL. We just
can't take the ice, snow and wind like
we used to. St. Anne's Church in
Naples has a 17-year tradition to
celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a
parade. While it doesn't compare
with South Boston's, it provides en-
tertainment and excitement for the
"snow birds." This year, I was sur-
prised and pleased to see a small but
vocal contingent of BC alumni
marching and singing "For Boston!"
These young alumni are everywhere !
• With sadness, I report the death of
Bill Toomey who died in N. Cam-
bridge, Dec. 29, 1994. 1 first met Bill
in old Freshman G, always cheerful
and up-beat. Our condolences go to
his widow, Irene, daughter Ann, and
grandchildren. • I had hoped that
the baseball strike might revive in-
terest in the college game. Remem-
ber the junkets to Worcester each
May 30 for the BC- HC contests?
That was real baseball. I recall a duel
between HC's Owen Carroll and
BC's FrankMcCrehan before 40,000
fans at old Braves Field. There used
to be a picture of that event hanging
in the old A. A. office at the Heights.
With memories like that, who needs
the Fenway millionaires? As Casey
Stengel would say "You could look it
up." • Some of you may have known,
but it came as a surprise to me that
our late classmate John Haverty
was a Civil War buff and had col-
lected a valuable and extensive li-
brary on the subject. His widow,
Margaret, has graciously donated this
collection to BC in memory of John
and her brother, the late Cardinal
Wright. • Bill Tobin attended the
Washington, DC reception for Fa-
ther Monan. He sends his regards to
us. • Don't forget the concert com-
ing Sept. 1 5 , Pops on the Heights, to
raise funds for scholarships. This
will be the third year for this event
which has already provided funds
for 14 scholarships.
31
Thomas W. Crosby, Esq.
New Pond Village Suite B306
1 80 Main St.
Walpole, MA 02081
(508)660-1174
With sadness we report the death of
Reverend Monsignor Edward B,
Flaherty, retired director of Regina
Cleri Home. During World War II,
he served as an Army chaplain in the
Pacific Theater (Guadalcanal). Fa-
ther Ed was director of Regina Cleri
from 1974 to his retirement in 1990.
As we may recall, he was the brother
of the late Reverend Monsignor
Anthony, Reverend Monsignor
Walter and Dr. Albert. He is sur-
vived by his brother Paul. The fu-
neral Mass was celebrated by
Cardinal Bernard Law in St. Charles
Church, Woburn on May 27. • The
class was well represented on Laetare
Sunday by the attendance of Mike
Curran; Mary Rowlinson, accom-
panied by her granddaughter, Jenni-
fer Thalman '98, who as a freshman
is carrying on the BC tradition, as
her mother, Jane, is '70; and Tom
Crosby, accompanied by his grand-
son, Neil Deininger '96, just now
completing his junior year. • A bit of
nostalgia: Recently Mike Curran
and your scribe were invited guests
at a luncheon sponsored by the Jo-
seph Coolidge Shaw Society. The
luncheon was held in our senior class
lecture hall (now known as Gasson
100) and to their surprise, their as-
signed table was in the exact location
of their classroom seats some 64
years ago. • Our class contribution
to the 1994 Annual Fund is worthy
of mention. Number of gifts: 38;
total contributions, $13,77 5 .00, with
Mike Curran being noted as a Fides
Patron. • Phone conversations with
several of our classmates were most
pleasant and we report the follow-
ing: Bill Bennett up Gloucester way
is busily engaged in getting his boat
on the water for summer cruising;
Father Bill Donlon travels from
Natick to Scituate every Tuesday to
visit Dr. Frank West; John Gill is
his usual "happy self as a resident of
St. Patrick's Manor; Tom Maguire
is on the golf course at least once a
week; Frank Romeo is a weekly
bowler; and Johnny Temple, as an
ardent baseball fan, is overseeing the
trials and tribulations of the Red
Sox. • May we all enjoy a healthful
fall season again; telephone calls from
you and your family members will
be most appreciated.
32
John P. Connor
24 Crestwood Cir.
Norwood, MA 02062
(617)762-6377
On June 1, we had a very fine 63rd
reunion. It started with Mass, cel-
ebrated by classmate Fr. Ed Nowlan,
SJ, and continued with a delicious
meal and con-fab with one another.
Peter Quinn, at the reunion, an-
nounced his retirement as class presi-
dent after many years of doing a
wonderful job. We are going to miss
him very much and thank him for his
4 BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES
untiring efforts in holding the Class
of '32 together. Have a happy,
healthy and peaceful retirement,
Peter. • Fred Meier was chosen to
succeed Peter and we know he will
do a great job. • Those attending the
reunion were Josephine and Fran
Curtin; Fr. Ed Nowlan, SJ; Mary
and Ed Hurley; Jerry Kelley; Ed
Herlihy; Nancy and Peter Quinn;
Walter Drohan; Louise and Fred
Meier; Mary and Dan Larkin;
Mildred and Jim Donovan; Lillian
and Emil Romanowsky and their
daughter Ann; Frank Moynihan;
Mrs. Alvin Richie; Mrs. Edmund
Brennan; Mrs. DiVirgilio; Dante
DiVirgilio; Mr. and Mrs. Arthur
O'Keefe; Mrs. Charlie Callery; and
Helen and Barbara Callery. • Due to
the illness of his wife Josephine, Paul
Stacy was unable to attend but
wanted to be remembered to all.
Due to unfortunate circumstances,
my wife and I were also unable to
attend, but hope we were remem-
bered to all. Eva and Tom Connelly
were unable to attend, being in Ber-
muda. • Sorry to have to report the
passing of three of our classmates:
John Collins in April, who left his
wife Regina, sons John, Peter, James
and Daniel, and daughters Ann and
Mary; Tom Collins on Aug. 20,
who had retired from Boston Edison;
and James Hayden, former super-
intendent of schools for New
Bedford, on April 10. Jim left a son
James and a sister Vancini. We offer
our sincere condolences. • Got a
nice note from Chris Nugent stat-
ing all is well but he was unable to
attend the reunion this year. So, he
stayed home in Sarasota, FL. • Re-
ceived a letter from James Cleary
'50, asking me to promote the return
of Pops on the Heights on Sept. 15.
• Ed Gallagher's daughter Susan is
a teacher and lacrosse coach at the
Belmont Hill school.
33
John F. Desmond
780 S. Main St.
Centerville, MA 02632
(508) 775-5492
34
Herbert A. Kenny
804 Summer St.
Manchester, MA 01944
John A. Long of Westwood, for-
merly of Newton and Needham, a
well-known real estate attorney, died
at his home in May after a brief
illness. His wife and ten children
were at his bedside. John was the
first great-grandfather in the class.
He was a triple eagle, graduating
from BC High in 1930, from BC in
1934 and from BC Law in 1943. He
was a member of the Mass. Bar Asso-
ciation for 5 1 years. John was a se-
nior partner in the law firm of Lyne,
Woodworth and Evarts in Boston,
and a long-time member of the Bos-
ton Catholic Lawyers Guild, estab-
lishing the annual Boston Lawyers
Retreat in 1944. The Martindale-
Hubbell Law Directory gave him its
highest rating for legal ability. As a
real estate attorney, he represented
many major banks, insurance com-
panies and developers. Two of his
classmates, the Rev. Jack Saunders
and the Rev. John Caulfield were
on the altar with several other priests
at his funeral mass at St.
Bartholomew's church in Needham.
He is survived by his wife, Gervaise
(nee Kelley); three sons: William P.
of Irvine, Calif; Francis X. of West
Newbury; and Robert J. of Scituate;
and seven daughters: Gervaise Haley
of Hull, SusanneMcInerney-Hickey
of Southborough, Valerie Cooper
of Derry, NH; Mary -Jeanne Kuehn
of Tustin, Calif.; Lynnie Mahoney
of Bridgewater; Jacquelynne
Gardiner of Derry, NH; and Vir-
ginia Martins of Southborough; 3 1
grandchildren and four great-grand-
children; and one sister, Mrs.
Madeline Long Grady of Chestnut
Hill. • Bill Joyce is back in Osterville
after his winter sojourn in Florida. •
Msgr. John Dillon Day gave the
invocation for the Boston City Coun-
cil in May and made the papers. •
Msgr. Russell Davis is mending at
his sister's home in Duxbury after
major surgery at Norwood Hospi-
tal. • Your correspondent has not
been idle. His novel, Paddy Madigan,
will be published this summer.
35
Daniel G. Holland, Esq.
164 Elgin St.
Newton Centre, MA 02 1 59
As these notes were being prepared,
the class was looking forward ea-
gerly to our 60th anniversary cel-
ebration to be held on June 7 with
Mass and luncheon arranged through
the courtesy of the Alumni Associa-
tion. All who could do so were ex-
pected to show solidarity of Class by
supporting the reunion effort made
possible by the enthusiastic coop-
eration of the Alumni Association
staff. • The Laetare Sunday celebra-
tion consisted of Mass at St. Ignatius
Church and breakfast at McElroy
Commons at which the principal
address was given by the noted po-
litical analyst and syndicated colum-
nist Mark Shields. Laetare greetings
to the Class were received from Bill
Hannan and Dr. Bill Nash. • The
Class also received a very touching
note from Catherine Dougherty of
Brick, NJ, widow Dr. Bill
Dougherty. • The Class shared in
the honor of the Development
Office's Volunteer Award Presenta-
tions by the class agent award given
in the name of John Griffin. This
was the first year the award was pre-
sented; Samuel S. Church '43 re-
ceived it for his work on the BC
Fund. John's devotion to BC and his
years of dedicated service invested
this award with special meaning. •
Jim Cleary '50, chairman of Pops on
the Heights concert with the Boston
Pops Esplanade Orchestra and the
BC Chorale, is working overtime to
assure the success of this year's gala
event on Fri., Sept. 15 which pro-
duces funds for scholarships to wor-
thy students. This worthwhile and
challenging undertaking has raised
funds in excess of one million dollars
over the past two years. If you are
interested in tickets, call 617-552-
2234. • Our Class notes with sad-
ness the death of our former coach
and dear friend Joe McKenney '27.
36
Joseph P. Keating
24 High St.
Natick, MA 01 760
(508) 653-4902
Thanks to Brendon Shea, the an-
nual class luncheon held in May was
again a most enjoyable take-in.
Those at the luncheon were: Julie
and Al Burgoyne, Grace and Gerry
Burke, Rita and Dr. Bob Condon,
Madeline and Dennis Dooley,
Helen and John Fahey, Virginia
and John Haggerty, Steve Hart,
Dorothy and Frank Hilbrunner,
Mary and Joe Keating, Mary and
Bernie Kelley, Frank Mahoney,
Phyllis and Tom Mahoney, Gerry
and Jack McLaughlin, Bishop
Lawrence Riley and Brendon and
Mary Shea. Also joining us were
Ursula Mahoney, PegMcCarthy and
Terrie Provenzano. Helen and John
Kilderry and Kathleen and Charlie
Sampson planned to attend but were
unable to make it. The good Bishop,
Larry Riley, said grace and benedic-
tion and Jack McLaughlin signed up
the accordion player to lend music
to the affair. In addition to the above,
Brendon heard from the following:
Paul McGrady from Indian Hills,
CO, who will be visiting in Maine in
mid-June — too late for the luncheon;
Dr. Jack Burke, who wrote from
Hilton Head and felt the 1 500 miles
to Boston was a little bit far to come;
Leo Horgan, living in Pompano
Beach, sent regrets and hopes to be
here for our 60th; Fr. Tom Navien,
presently confined in Regina Cleri;
and Johnny Fiumaro from Bryan,
TX — time and distance stopped him
from coming but not from "joining"
us; he and his wife Anna went to
lunch the day of our luncheon at the
Hilton Hotel and in that sense was
with us. All of the above wanted to
be remembered to everyone in the
class. All seemed in great shape, es-
pecially Leo Horgan who, from his
letter, is certainly young at heart! At
the luncheon, Tom Mahoney sug-
gested that, since various 50th anni-
versary celebrations of victory in
Europe were occurring, it would be
appropriate to remember that two
of our classmates, Arnold Red
O'Donnell of Attleboro, and John
Rusty O'Brien, of Jamaica Plain,
had been killed in action. Bishop
Riley led us in prayer for those two
and all our classmates, especially
those who had died since our last
meeting. • Peg Mahoney, wife of
George Mahoney, died in mid-
April; I'm sure many classmates were
at her wake. Among those attending
the funeral were Gerry and Jack
McLaughlin, Mary and Phil Tracy,
Mary and Joe Keating, Mary Shea,
and Tom Mahoney. Bishop Riley
was on the altar and gave the homily.
He also gave the final prayers and
blessing. • Mrs. Mary Dacey wrote
to inform us that her beloved hus-
band, Joseph E. Dacey, passed away
on May 7. The class is saddened by
the news and our heartfelt condo-
lences to Mary and the rest of Joe's
family. • Also, I have to report that
Dr. Fred Howard of Chestnut Hill
died in March; and Helen Connors,
wife of Jim Connors of West Ha-
ven, CT, died in April. You are asked
to remember all of the above and
their families in your prayers. • Next
year will be our 60th. Brendon plans
to form a committee to come up
with suggestions as to what we might
do for this big anniversary. If you
have any ideas, send them along to
either Brendon or me. Of all the
suggestions received at our luncheon
as to how best to celebrate the 60th,
Bishop Larry's table came up with
the best: "Survive!" Hear! Hear!
BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES 5
CLASSES
37
Angelo A. DiMattia
82 Perthshire Rd.
Brighton, MA 02 135
(617)782-3078
It is my sad duty to report that sev-
eral classmates have been called to
their eternal reward. First I want to
report the passing of Edward J. Hart
on Dec. 26, 1994 at his home in
Bradenton, FL. This news came to
me from Charlie Iarrobino. Hart
was former personnel manager of
Chrysler Corp. at Newark assembly
from 1960 to 1971. In 1971 he was
transferred to the same post at the
firm's Ann Arbor, MI plant. He re-
tired in 1975. He is survived by his
wife Jane, two sons: Stephen J. and
ThomasJ.; and daughter, Rosemary
T. Kessberger of Florida. We ex-
tend to them our condolences. • Dr.
Charles J. Quigley died on Jan. 7 in
Salem, NH. He owned and operated
Quigley and Sons Consulting Pe-
troleum Engineering for several
years. He leaves his wife Constance
and his children Dr. Charles Jr.,
Clarkson, Joan and Jill Quigley
Roberge. We extend to them our
sympathy. • As I mentioned in my
previous notes, Fr. Edwin Crowley,
SJ passed away on Jan. 14. Much of
Fr. Crowley's life was spent at BC
High where he held many service
positions, including moderator of
the mothers' guild from 1958 until
1992 when he retired to the Cam-
pion Center in Weston. He leaves
one cousin, John P. Sullivan of Hyde
Park. • Next was Arthur Durkin on
Jan. 29. Arthur was a chemistry ma-
jor and became a successful business
man. He was self-employed and
owned the American Metal Process-
ing Co. in Wakefield. I can attest to
his knowledge of chemistry as he
was a classmate of mine in the BS
program at the Heights. We extend
to his wife Catherine, his son Arthur
Jr. and his two daughters: Priscilla,
who teaches Latin at Boston Latin
High School in Boston, and Nancy
Orazem, our most sincere condo-
lences. • I must add that I have lost
a very dear friend. I received a note
from John Keary of Fairhaven who
informed me about his wife's pass-
ing on Feb. 24. She died after a long
illness and is survived byjohn; their
four sons: Thomas, Michael, Timo-
thy and Paul; and daughter, Ann
Marie Toraya. We extend our sin-
cere condolences. I regret to an-
nounce that John has had his share
of illnesses. • Hazel Lomax and
Casper Ferguson celebrated their
50th wedding anniversary at the old
mansion where they were married at
Chester Park in the South End. This
mansion is in need of repair, so the
Fergusons eschewed anniversary
gifts and asked their guests to make
a donation to the building fund. The
strategy raised $2,500 for restora-
tion! • Prayers are solicited for our
ill clergy who are at Regina Cleri
and also for the many in our class
that need prayers for recovery. In
your kindness, remember my wife
Julia who has suffered another stroke
on May 5. Andrew Gaquin, Eric
Stenholm and I believe there may
be some others who have not been
brought to my attention. • I wish to
make a correction from the last is-
sue: Dr. Jack O'Hara changed resi-
dences in Athol.
38
Thomas F. True, Jr.
37 Pomfret St.
W. Roxbury, MA 02132
(617)327-7281
John Janusas has been voted into
the Varsity Club Hall of Fame. He
will be honored at a dinner in Conte
Forum Oct. 20. A large number of
his family, teammates and '38ers are
expected to attend. The following
day at the BC-Army game, John and
the other inductees will be intro-
duced to the fans. • We recently
learned of the passing of Dr. John
Duffy and Walter Lepiesha last
fall. John had been living in
Manchester, NH and died last Oct.
Walter made his home in Worces-
ter. To their families, we offer our
sincere sympathy. • In the last issue
we neglected to mention that Dr.
Ed Ryan had sent along his year-
book along with the letter. We for-
warded it to Jim Cahill as he had
requested. • Although we were sad-
dened to learn the news that it con-
tained, we want to thank Gene Soles'
brother for sending us the follow-
ing: "It is with deep regret and sad-
ness that I must tell you of the death
of my brother Eugene Soles. He
died suddenly from a rare pneumo-
nia on May 1 . He was 79 years of age.
He lived in New Castle, NH for 45
years and was a retired VP of Dunphy
Corp. He is survived by his wife
Jeanne; his sister Geraldine of
Clearwater Beach, FL; and his broth-
ers, Jerome of Dennis and Thomas
'44 of Harwichport. Our condo-
lences to Gene's wife, sister and
brothers. • Our '38 foursome had
their annual get-together again this
year — Bill Finan, Paul Mulkern,
Charlie Kimball and Frank Hunt.
No mention was made as to whether
their scores had improved since last
year. • We have lost another loyal
classmate, Fr. John McLaughlin.
Bill Finan and I paid our respects at
St. John's Church in Beverly. While
there we met John Caselli with Paul
Chavane. At the Church we had a
brief reunion with Charlie Logue
and Fr. Bill Guindon, SJ. Charlie
wanted to be remembered to Joe
Home. Bill tells us that he is at the
Jesuit House at 300 Newbury St.;
Fr. Joe Keaney, SJ is at the same
residence. In appreciation of all that
Fr. McLaughlin had done for the
Class over the years, we sent a dona-
tion to Regina Cleri in his memory.
• My grandson, Thomas F. True rV,
graduated from Colby College this
year. His brother John is entering
Fairfield Univ. in Sept. • While Bill
Finan was in Florida, Paul Mulkern
took care of arrangements for
Laetare Sunday. At our two tables
were Barbara and Frank Hunt, Tom
O'Connor, Ellie and John Marshall
(who won a book written by guest
speaker Mark Shields), Ruth Castelli,
Phyllis and Paul Mulkern, Ruth and
Tom True, Fr. John McLaughlin
(who also concelebrated the Mass),
Carol and Jim Cahill, Phyllis and
Tony DiNatale and Peter Kirslis.
The Guthries were in Florida at the
time; and Dick Canavan had sent
his payment for a ticket, but couldn't
make it. • Plans are underway for a
Memorial Mass, luncheon, get-to-
gether, etc. in the fall.
39
William E. McCarthy
39 Fairway Dr.
W. Newton, MA 02 165
(617)332-5196
On April 30 — under the chairman-
ship of our president Paul A. Keane
and a committee consisting of
Charlie Murphy, Al Branca, Pete
Kerr and Bill McCarthy — the
'39ers enjoyed an afternoon of the-
atre at Robsham with the produc-
tion of "Company," followed by a
cocktail party and dinner. Those at-
tending were: Nancy Norberg, Ann
Peyton, Larry Fitzgerald, Bill Hol-
land, John Donovan and Bill Flynn.
All the following, with the exception
of Simeon Legendre, who came
with his son-in-law, came with their
wives: George Devlin, Arthur
Sullivan, Al Branca, Pete Kerr, Bill
McCarthy, Herb Chernack and
Paul Keane. • Received a letter from
Jim Cleary '50, chairman of Pops on
the Heights, reminding people of
this upcoming event on Sept. 15. It
features conductor Marvin
Hamlisch, the world-renowned Bos-
ton Pops Orchestra and the BC
Chorale, and has raised funds well in
excess of $1 million over the past
two years. Those who are interested
in attending would give a big boost
in providing scholarship assistance
to qualified students. • We had a
great turnout for Laetare Sunday
under the chairmanship of Charlie
Murphy. We had an excellent
speaker, Mark Shields, the political
analyst and syndicated columnist.
Those attending were George
Devlin, Nelson Erickson, Larry
Fitzgerald, Peter Kerr, Mary and
John Donovan, Gina and Bill
McCarthy, Natalie and Charlie
Murphy, Barbara and Ed Quinn, Ann
and Frank Sennott, Mary and Arthur
Sullivan, Kathleen and Paul Nagle,
and Fr. Joe Fallon, SJ. • Received a
note from Paul Needham regard-
ing the 60th reunion from Lawrence
Academy, which he and Bill Flynn
attended. Paul's grandson Brian
graduated from Assumption College
in Worcester, where he was captain
of the football team, and Paul's
granddaughter Diane graduated
from Middlebury College. Hope that
Paul's wife Kay is improving after
her recent illness. • Received a letter
from Frank Brennan saying that his
son, Jack, will soon become CEO of
the $150 billion Vanguard Mutual
Fund. The Wall Street Journal states
that Jack has been Vanguard's presi-
dent since 1989 and has completely
bought into the tightfisted tradition;
in fact, he recently got a letter from
a Vanguard institutional client who
was "so happy to see him get into the
back of a rented Ford." • Received a
note from Frank McBride's widow,
Mary, with an obituary from
Norwalk, CT. After graduation from
BC, Frank attended Southeastern
Univ. Law School in Washington,
DC prior to his appointment as a
special agent in the FBI. After re-
signing from the FBI, he joined
Stamford Rolling Mills Co., where
he served as director of industrial
relations. Later on, Frank was man-
ager of personnel and labor relations
for Westinghouse Corp. He was also
finance chairman of the Norwalk
Republican party in 1 966 and a com-
missioner of the Norwalk Redevel-
opment Agency. He was a founder
of the Connecticut Catholic Con-
ference, was president of Norwalk
Catholic Charities, and was awarded
knighthood in the Order of St. Gre-
gory the Great by Pope John Paul II.
• Our sympathy is extended to Pete
Ricciuti on the passing of his wife
Doris in April, and also to Kathleen
6 BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES
Ash of Clearwater, FL on the death
of her husband, Edward J. Ash. Ed
was a former supervisor in the Mass.
Social Service Dept. Ed was a gradu-
ate of New Hampton Prep and BC,
where he was a baseball star and
member of the Varsity Club. He was
also a former CYO baseball coach.
Pete Kerr, our class treasurer, will
send the spiritual bouquets.
40
Daniel J. Griffin
1 70 Great Pond Rd.
N. Andover, AAA 01 845
Barbara Goodman has again ar-
ranged for a luncheon for the wives
and widows of our class for Sept. 2 1
at the Wellesley College Club. The
affair will begin at 1 1 :30 am and will
include a multi-course buffet, tax,
tip and parking. Ladies interested
should send a check in the amount of
$11.50 payable to Mrs. John
Goodman, 40 College Rd.,
Wellesley, MA 02181. For further
information, phone 617-235-4188.
This is a repeat affair held for the
past few years, and has been enjoyed
by a goodly number of wives or wid-
ows of the famous class of '40. • Our
class is requested to support the Pops
on the Heights concert featuring
conductor Marvin Hamlisch, the
world renowned Boston Pops Espla-
nade Orchestra and the BC Chorale
on Sept. 1 5 . This concert raises funds
for scholarship endowment, and we
should "pop" for a good cause. • The
Pilot on March 24 carried pictures of
3 1 priests celebrating their 50th an-
niversary of ordination this year. In-
cluded was Rev. Lawrence Doyle,
senior priest in residence at St.
Patrick's parish in Lawrence. John
Foristall and I attended the celebra-
tion marking this event on June 25;
his twin brother Walter Doyle and
wife Catherine also attended the cel-
ebration at the parish, along with
many friends and parishioners.
Walter is the retired city clerk in
Beverly, but Lawrence still labors in
the vineyard at St. Patrick's. Also
listed was Rev. William Smith,
OMI, bursar, Oblate Infirmary, and
senior priest in residence at St.
William's Parish in Tewksbury . Rev.
William Carpenger, who died in
1973, was also mentioned. • We
learned of the passing of three class-
mates this quarter. PatrickJ. Ennis,
a retired social worker, died on Jan.
25 in Northampton. Frederick J.
Dobbrats of Hilton Head, SC died
on March 14. He had served as an
agent with the FBI for 27 years. Also
Sidney S. Bogen of Randolph, a
retired manufacturer of leather
clothing, died on April 4. 1 know you
will keep these and all our deceased
classmates in your prayers. •
Catherine and John Foristall re-
cently attended their granddaughter
Kendyl's graduation from Cornell
Univ. where she received a BA in
animal science. Kendyl, daughter of
Ed Foristall '72, plans to become a
vet.
41
Richard B. Daley
160 Old Billerica Rd.
Bedford, AAA 01 730
(617)275-7651
Please remember the following class-
mates, who have passed on. John
Guinee of Somerville, a former
teacher in the Somerville school sys-
tem for 38 years, died on Dec. 3. He
was also a former director of St.
Bernard's Church, past member of
the St. Vincent DePaul Society and
the Holy Name Society. • John
O'Brien died Jan. 2. He was a re-
tired consultant to the Ford Motor
Co. • John Mulvehill died in May.
Classmates attending his wake were
John Colahan, John Jansen, Jim
McLaughlin, Tom Donelin, Nick
Sottile and Jim Kiely. • The open-
ing of our 55 th anniversary for the
Class of 1941 will be the attendance
at the BC-Syracuse football game at
Syracuse. The game is on Nov. 18;
transportation will be by bus and
overnight will be at a local hotel.
Keep this event in mind — it shall be
a winner! • The annual luncheon on
May 23 was a great affair! Sixty-five
classmates and wives were present,
plus a good showing by the clergy.
Those in attendance were John
Kehoe, John Bowes, Dick Daley,
Leonard McDermott, Joe
McCafferty, Gene Goodreaut, Nick
Sottile, John Jansen, Paul Jennings,
Msgr. Tom Finnegan, Frank
Galvant, Jim Kiely, Bob Sliney,
Bishop Joe Maguire, Brendon
Crotty, ST. Colamaria, Jim Murray,
Fred jaquith, Jack Colahan, Ceclia
McDonague, Fr. Jim Rogers, Fran
Bellew, Fran Blouin, Helen Ryan,
John Hayes, J. Warren Heffeman,
Harry Fulchino, Jack Calahan,
George McManama, Ethel Sheehan,
George Kerivan, George Hanlon,
Paul True, Leonard Frisoli, Emil
Slizewski, Jim McLaughlin, Dave
White, Walt Dubzinski, Bill Brewin,
Charles O'Rourke, Fran Hegarty and
Fr. Ed Cowhig.
42
Ernest J. Handy
84 Walpole St. Unit 4-M
Canton, MA 02021
(617)821-4576
I am extremely grateful to John
Fitzgerald and John Irrabino for
sending material from which these
notes are composed. At the dinner in
his honor, held on March 1 8 at the
Ritz-Carlton Ballroom, Washing-
ton, DC, Bob Drinan received the
congratulations of President and
Mrs. Clinton. The opening page of
the tribute booklet reads, "Robert F.
Drinan's name is signed to every
petition in behalf of the persecuted,
because we can always count on him
to raise his voice for the victims who
are forgotten, cheated or betrayed."
Bob closed his remarks that evening
with a quotation from Irish poet
William Butler Yeats, "Think where
a man's glory most begins and ends.
And say my glory was I had such
friends." If interested, contact me
for a copy of his speech. Have you
read the biography of Bob in the
spring issue of BCM? • Thanks to
Tom Hinchey the Class was repre-
sented by 16 classmates at the Laetare
Sunday celebration. In addition to
Tom, Terry Geoghegan and John
Lane were accompanied by their
wives. Unaccompanied included Jim
Boudreau, Paul O'Hara, Gerry
Joyce, Leo Strumski, Dave O'Keefe,
Charlie Ahern, Bucky Harris, Jim
Calahane, Paul Heffron, John
Fitzgerald, Frank Mahoney, Martin
Hansberry and yours truly. • On
April 3, Louise and Jack Hart be-
came the proud grandparents of Sh-
annon Louise who checked in at 7 1/
2 pounds. One month later Jack and
Louise celebrated their Golden
Wedding Anniversary with a grand
reception at the Framingham Coun-
try Club. Jack still envies me the title
"Best Man." • Also celebrating 50
Golden Years together in 1995 were
Winifred and Bob Troy. Marie and
Frank Dever finalized the celebra-
tion of their 50 years of happiness
together with a trip to Italy, courtesy
of their two sons and three daugh-
ters. • Jim Stanton continues to
reign as golf club champ at
Wyndemere in Naples, FL. Shortly
before his return to New England,
Jim shot a round of his age (74) less
2, i.e., he parred the course. Jim still
found time to work with Dan Barrett
and organize our Annual Memorial
Mass, which, this year, also served as
a testimonial to our classmates Tony
Cintolo, Joe Downey, Bill Flynn,
John Kelly, John Lawler and Jim
Maloney, each of whom celebrated
their Golden Anniversaries as
priests. Space does not permit the
listing of the many who attended.
Long distance travelers included
Joan and Jack McMahon up from
Vero Beach, FL. for the summer.
Both are bragging about their 1 6th
grandchild and their 2nd great-
grandchild. Congratulations! • I
look forward to seeing many of
you at the football games this fall.
Before or after the game, as you are
walk through Shea Field, Frank
Dever and I will be pleased to serve
as hosts with refreshments.
43
Thomas O'C. Murray
14 Churchill Rd.
W. Roxbury, MA02132
(617)323-3737
First and foremost, we must begin
with thanks to Ernie Santosuosso
for his great work on the last col-
umn while your regular scribe was
"down south!" • Again, sadly, we
must report the passing of two more
classmates: Dr. Bob Nangle, from
Atkinson, NH, on April 15; and
again in April, Marc Carrigan —
one of the old CBA men from
Newbury Street — after a long ill-
ness in Weston, MA. Marc began
with the old CBA gang "down-
town," left early to join the Air
Force, later was associated with
the automobile industry for many
years, co-founded the NE Shuttle
Co., was a director of Shawmut
Bank and a member of Woodland
Golf Club. To Catherine and his
family, our sincere sympathy. •
Now from notes on hand. Many
thanks to Eddie O'Connor for his
great work on another fine theater
party on April 30. The usual group
was present, but we were pleased
to see Bill Noonan from
Gloucester for the first time in
many years. Also, Ed O'Connor
told us of a nice letter from Fr.
Larry Cedrone, who hopes to
make more class functions in the
future. • Ed McEnroe reports that
Dot and Dan Healy stopped for a
visit with them in Florida, and that
our old fencing "master" Yale
Richmond was a featured speaker
at a world-wide symposium in St.
Petersburg on the negotiations
with Russia. • Best wishes to Jack
Kelleher on his recent hip opera-
tions. • Thanks to Frank Hill for
"late" payment of class dues — ac-
tually, it was in advance!! Also, if
you need some good travel advice,
BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES 7
"Oh, he's been like this ever
since he got his first annuity
check from Boston College. "
"What's up with Ed
these days?"
>e ^
-*^T\ f
* \
J ' - " "JULuJfe
Support Boston College and receive
your first check September 30.
When Ed's CDs were rolling over last year,
he doubled his income by establishing a
Boston College Gift Annuity. At his age, 72 „
he receives 7.2 percent for the rest of his life.
Plus, he received a substantial income tax
deduction. And, for the duration of his life
expectancy, about half of the annuity pay-
ment will be tax-free (federal and state).
If you are age 60 or older and have cash or
securities that just aren'tyielding whatyou'd
hoped they would, return the form below
and see what BC can do for you. The rates
increase from 6.1 percent for age 60 to 11
percent for age 90 and older. The minimum
gift is $10,000.
Yes, please tell me how I can make a gift to Boston College
and receive an annuity for life.
I have included Boston College in my will.
NAME
DATE OF BIRTH
ADDRESS
BC AFFILIATION
PHONE
Please include an example -with ?ny spouse as second beneficiary
SPOUSE'S DATE OF BIRTH
Mail to:
Debra Ashton
Office of Gift and Estate Planning
Boston College
More Hall 220
Chestnut Hill, MA 02167
Telephone: (617) 552-3409
Fax: (617) 552-2894
8/95
8 BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINF.
please see Frank at Global Travel in
Framingham. • Tom Kennedy
sends greetings to all, and Leo Reilly
asks that he appear on the invitation
list to the '95 golf day at Wayland. •
Speaking about that ... we must
thank Jim Harvey for again master-
minding this annual event. Any re-
ports of prizes, great scores, etc. will
be announced in our fall column. •
With thanks to Ernie Santosuosso,
the Alumni Association-sponsored
Second Helping "Magic Ball" at the
600 Club at Fenway Park was a great
success. • Had a short note from
Tom Heath in January, protesting
another attack of malaria — he says
this is malaria country (not Marlboro
country!!) — but checked back in Feb-
ruary in better health. Letters would
be most welcome!! • We hear that
the Bob Rehlings will be in resi-
dence in Cotuit for the summer, and
that Jim P. Connolly had a good
golf day at the Cape Cod Country
Club. • NB: It's mid-'95, but just a
reminder that your '95 class dues are
still payable. Check your records; if
late, please remit now.
44
James F. McSorley, Jr.
1204 Washington St.
N. Abington, MA 02351
(617)878-3008
Harry Roberts let us know he and
Nancy wintered in Stuart, FL, just
north of Jupiter where Charlotte and
I spent Feb. Harry plans to be in the
same place next year. • Frank
Doherty continues to travel to near
and far away places. Last winter he
got to ski with his children and grand-
children in the good old USA. He
also made it to Singapore and recol-
lected the last time he saw the city
was April 15, 1945 while on an un-
friendly sky recon photo mission out
of Calcutta. • In May, theMcSorleys
were honored by the Abington
Council On Aging with an award for
"Exceptional Service to the Abington
Senior Citizens." • The class had
another good representation at the
44th annual Laetare Communion
Breakfast which Tom Donelan
chaired. Among those attending were
John Cataldo, Bill Daley, Frank
Doherty, Tom Donelan, Jim Dowd,
Paul Fleming, Jim McSorley, John
O'Connor, Bob O'Leary, Tom
Soles, Leo Wilson, and Dr. Don
White who is enjoying his semi-
retirement. It was also so pleasant to
see the wives of those attending who
also came. • Phil Carey of E.
Bridgewater and BC Hockey fame
was again elected Town Moderator,
a position he has been re-elected to
every year since 1962. Congratula-
tions Phil! • The class extends its
sympathy to the family of Paul Z.
Vartigian who died Nov. 1, 1994 in
Tewksbury after a long illness which
prevented his working. Paul, how-
ever was able to help his wife with
the care of their handicapped son.
Paul leaves his son and wife Beatrice.
• Our sympathy also to the family of
Frank H. Harris of SOM and Sa-
lem who died on Feb. 1 8. After serv-
ing three years in the Navy in the
South Pacific, he worked as a bank
examiner for 14 years which was
followed by employment at three
other commercial banks as CEO
before retiring in 1987. He was an
ardent golfer as was his whole fam-
ily. Frank was a member and former
president of the Salem Country Club
as well as holder of the course record
there. He was also the recipient of
the Robert Morris Association's
award as Certified Commercial
Lender. Frank leaves his wife
Gertrude, six children and seven
grandchildren. • Our condolences
to the family of Edward J. Duffy of
W. Roxbury who died April 26. Ed
saw service in the Army Air Corps in
World War II where he was awarded
the Purple Heart. He attended Ob-
lates College in Washington, DC,
and then studied at their seminary
several years before opening his own
real estate business in W. Roxbury
from which he retired. He took an
active part in helping rehabilitate
former prisoners in the Mass. Com-
munity Assistance Program which
helped in the parole adjustment of
retarded parolees 14 and 1 5 years of
age. Ed was past president of the
Mass. Parole Officers Association.
He leaves two brothers: Thomas of
Concord and Center Harbor, NH,
and James of Jupiter, FL; 12 nieces
and nephews; and 20 grandnieces
and grandnephews.
45
Louis V. Sorgi
5 Augusta Rd.
Milton, MA 02 186
(617)698-0623
Congratulations, Golden Eagles —
you really turned out for our re-
union weekend! From what I saw
and heard, the class thoroughly en-
joyed all of the weekend's events and
activities. Of a current class of 105,
72 classmates were present at vari-
ous events. For those unable to make
it, I will try and summarize the week-
end. • I told everyone at the reunion
that we were a unique class, and the
first day we proved it. Rain was pre-
dicted for Thursday, the day of our
golf tournament, but on that morn-
ing the sun shone bright and early
with clear skies. Twenty-one of us
teed off at the Commonwealth
Country Club, with yours truly win-
ning the handicap event and Charlie
McKenzie winning the Calloway.
Thanks to Bill Cornyn for a well-
run tournament. Our welcoming
dinner that evening in the Heights
Room of the New Dining Facility
was a great affair, and it gave all of us
a chance to renew old acquaintan-
ces. I saw Charlie Rodgers for the
first time since our Navy days at
Brown. He and Bud Keenan have a
total of 49 grandchildren. Also saw
Joe Bellissimo for the first time in
probably 25 years; he now lives in
Wisconsin. Don McMorrow came
all the way from California, as did
Warren Mills. Warren has a great
voice, which we utilized that evening,
singing our "Alma Mater." After din-
ner, we had dessert at the BC Mu-
seum of Art, complete with a private
tour of the "Memory and the Middle
Ages" exhibit, which has over 100
objects assembled from more than
30 museums and libraries in the US
and France. • On Friday morning,
we had our Investiture ceremony in
Robsham Theater, where Fr. Monan
and Alumni Association president
Jack MacKinnon presented us with
our Golden Eagle pins. Fr. Monan
spoke of the uniqueness of our class,
starting out 500 strong in 1941 and
ending up with 105 in 1995, the
smallest class of Golden Eagles to
date. After the ceremony, we had
lunch with our families in the Heights
Room. Paul Paget, on behalf of the
class, presented me with a "cash gift"
for my efforts with the class over the
years, especially as chairman of the
Reunion Committee. He also pre-
sented my wife Lillian with a ster-
ling silver replica pin of the swan
boats for her support of my work
with the class. He also gave out 200
swan boat tickets for classmates to
enjoy when in Boston. From 5-7 pm
Friday night, there was a buffet prior
to BC Night at the Pops. After the
buffet, we were off in our private
buses to the concert, where we lis-
tened to a great program directed by
new conductor Keith Lockhart —
who wore his BC tie and hat! Fol-
lowing Pops, we returned to the
Heights for dessert, coffee and danc-
ing. • On Saturday morning, we
enjoyed the Celebration of Loyalty
ceremony in Bapst Library's Gargan
Hall. Here, yours truly and John
Campbell, co-chairs of the reunion
committee, presented Fr. Monan
with our class gift of $378,000, the
largest gift ever for Golden Eagle
classes. We also had the largest per-
centage of participation ever, with
97% of the class giving. This is an
amazing accomplishment, consider-
ing the small numbers of classmates.
These numbers will have increased
by the conclusion of the campaign
on May 31, because money is still
coming in. In fact, I received over
$5,000 during the weekend. Follow-
ing this, we had a BBQ in a large tent
on campus. At 4:30 we had our Mass
of Petition in St. Mary's Chapel in
honor of all our classmates (living
and deceased) and their families. Cel-
ebrant was Vincent Burns, SJ;
concelebrants were John Berube,
Gerard McGann and Deacon Ri-
chard Hassey. We then hurried to
the steps in front of O'Neill Library
for our class picture, and then it was
on to Gasson Hall T-100 for our
50th anniversary dinner-dance. This
was a classy affair, with fancy hors
d'oeuvres, a delicious roast beef din-
ner and dancing to the music of the
'40s with the White Heat band. It
was great to see John Murphy, Jake
SantaMaria,Tom Moran (Texas),
Jack McCarthy and many others
dancing up a storm in the room
where the great Fr. McCarthy lec-
tured on natural theology. At this
event, we honored our lovely wives
and class widows with beautiful silk
scarves, compliments of the Golden
Eagles. • Sunday was a day of rest
with no special functions scheduled.
• Monday was Commencement, and
I had the pleasure of being Honor-
ary Grand Marshal. It was quite a
thrill to march into Alumni Stadium
holding the mace with the Golden
Eagle. It was an experience I will
never forget. • Well, that's it — the
Golden Eagle weekend of the Class
of 1945, leaders in class gift dollars,
percentage of participation and an-
nuities (27). My personal thanks to
yearbook committee chairman John
Hogan. • I will end the notes with a
paragraph from a letter I received
from Don McMorrow: "I have al-
ways felt saddened that World War
II interrupted the collegiate career
of so many of us, pulling us out of
school and sending us in all direc-
tions. This recent reunion, more than
anything else previously, pulled us
back together for four wonderful
days and did much to make us a class
again. We felt that everyone was
experiencing a very strong 'togeth-
erness' at all our activities. I firmly
believe that we truly achieved 're-
union' as we became Golden Eagles
together."
BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES 9
CLASSES
46
Reunion
Leo F. Roche, Esq.
26 Sargent Rd.
Winchester, MA 01 890
(617) 729-2340
47
Richard J. Fitzgerald
P.O. Box 171
Falmouth, MA 02556
(508)563-6168
Marty Underwood, now living in
Roseburg, OR, received a lot of pub-
licity concerning his volunteer work
at Pitchford Boys' Ranch, a county-
operated center. Marty, who signed
up with the FBI just after gradua-
tion, retired in 1978. Many of his
assignments included spending a lot
of time in Alaska. After retiring from
the Bureau, he became commissioner
onpublic safety for the state of Alaska
arid later became head of security for
die University of Alaska-Fairbanks.
• Fr. Bob Bogle is pastor at St.
Elizabeth of Hungary in Acton.
Some of you might have had him in
your parish atone time. He has served
at Holy Name in West Roxbury and
Cathedral High, and also spent ten
years at St. Mary's in Charlestown. •
Jim McSharry, who spent summers
on Cape Cod, has now made his
permanent home in East Dennis. •
Jim Ryan is probably more familiar
to many of the athletes at the college
than some of the coaches are, as he is
a fixture at most practices and foot-
ball, hockey and basketball scrim-
mages. He was spotted most recently
at the Spring Game. • Sorry to re-
port the death of Art Fagan in April.
He had made his home in Levittown,
PA for many years. He had three
children. Art's brother phoned in to
inform the class that Arthur passed
away on April 16. We are tremen-
dously saddened by the news; our
condolences go out to the family.
48
William P. Melville
31 Rockledge Rd.
Newton Highlands, MA 02161
(617) 244-2020
In the winter issue, I waxed enthusi-
astically about last September's Pops
on the Heights. Now I would like to
bring you advance information about
the next presentation of this great
musical extravaganza. For the past
two years, the University has spon-
sored this concert which raises sig-
nificant funds for scholarship en-
dowment. This is one of the
University's greatest challenges —
providing scholarship assistance to
qualified students. On Sept. 15, Pops
on the Heights returns with conduc-
tor Marvin Hamlisch, the world-
renowned Boston Pops Orchestra
and the BC Chorale. I can guarantee
you will come away knowing that
you have heard one of the finest
nights of music ever. So, order your
tickets now by calling (617) 552-
2234 and while you are helpingyour-
self to much pleasure and enjoyment,
you will have the satisfaction of
knowing you have helped a most
worthy cause. • Jim Calabrese and
Len Sherry did a great job in alert-
ing our classmates to the annual
Laetare Communion Breakfast. En-
joying the camaraderie of the occa-
sion along with their families were
John Corcoran, Warren Watson,
Jim Calabrese, John Nee, Len
Sherry, Jim Hogan, Tim Buckley
and Bill Curley. • Paul Morin is
traveling again — this time to the Ba-
hamas and Arizona. • Bill Curley
was in Naples, FL in Feb. and March;
he and Ann now have three grand-
children. • Irene and yours truly
were also in Naples this winter and
were quite impressed with the large
contingent of BC alumni that
marched in the St. Patrick's Day
Parade. • Tim Buckely and Bill
Melville have become members of
the Fides Executive Committee. •
The members of our Class board of
directors want to thank all of you
who responded to the survey we sent
out in Jan. More on this at a later
date. • Cornelius Scanlon tells us
that although he is now retired as a
law school prof, and on oxygen 20
hours a day on account of emphy-
sema, he still manages to teach occa-
sionally, serve on the Conn. State
Labor Relations Board, the Simsbury
Town's Charter Review Commis-
sion and consultant to the Conn.
State Dept. of Education. • Bill
Curley retired in June after 1 1 years
in a second career as career counse-
lor at Babson College. • Henry T.
Burke, Esq. of NYC responded to
our questionnaire with an unsolic-
ited sizable check — thanks Henry. •
We are saddened to learn of the
death of Rita M. Canney of Belmont,
sister of Joe Canney '51. Rita was
retired assistant commissioner for
the Mass. Division of Child Guard-
ianship. The sympathy of the Class
is extended to Rita's family. • Our
hard working, genial class treasurer,
Tim Buckley wants all of us to know
that our dues paying year is from
June 30 to June 30. You are there-
fore encouraged to send in $25 dues
for 1996. Send your checks made
out to BC Class of 1 948 to Tim at 1 5
Standish Rd., Wayland, MA 01778.
• Saw the lovely Janet Greehan at a
recent gathering of BC's Institute of
Learning in Retirement, and the
lovely Ginnie Oliver at Emmanuel
College's 75th Gala Party.
49
John T. Prince
66 Donnybrook Rd.
Brighton, MA 02 135
Bob Bidwell is teaching a course in
entrepreneurship and small business
management at the Univ. of Day-
ton. He is to be congratulated on the
April publication of his new book,
Skills for Managerial Excellence, which
targets people already in manage-
ment. His goal is to teach managers
to cope with issues they face in the
workplace. Bob's views on the im-
portance of managing frustration
were featured in the cover article of
Industry Week on Nov. 7. • Con-
gratulations are also extended to Joe
Quinn for his tremendous hockey
coaching at Coyle-Cassidy High. He
was selected as Ice Hockey Coach of
the Year in Division 3 . His team had
19 wins, the most in school history.
• Our sympathy is extended to the
family of John McMahon, who died
after a lengthy illness. John was an
accountant with the Bank of New
England. • Bill Flaherty, chairman
of the golf outing, sends the follow-
ing report: "It was raining as I drove
along Rt. 128 at 7 a.m. on May 25,
headed for Wayland Country Club
for the class golf outing. It didn't
look good. When I arrived, the rain
stopped and we never saw another
drop all day." Players were John
McQuillan, Jerry Leonard, Bill
Cohan, Ernie Ciampa, Fran Dolan,
John Forkin, Don McAnulty, Ed
Murphyjoe Dowd, John Brosnahan
(all the way from Virginia), Bob
Crane, John Driscoll, John Carney
and myself. Also joining us were
Eileen Flaherty, Dot McQuillan,
Mary Murphy, Mary Dowd and
Carol McAnulty. I'm happy to re-
port the results: Winner, John
Driscoll with an 82, followed by
Bob Crane with an 83. John
Brosnahan broke 90 for the first
time, tallying a scorching 88. Ernie
Ciampa and John Carney set an
NCAA record for strokes, and the
latest report is they 're still out there!
We plan a repeat next year and hope
we can entice some more '49ers onto
the links!
50
John A. Dewire
15 Chester St., #31
Cambridge, MA 02 1 40
(617)876-1461
Our West Coast correspondent ad-
vises that Warren Lewis hasn't yet
hung up his skates. After playing in
the Seniors tournament in Victoria,
BC in early April, he returned to
Portland, OR in time to engage Guy
LaFleur, among others, in the NHL
Old-Timers' Challenge. Warren
plays hockey year 'round on all ama-
teur levels and coaches in the vicin-
ity of his home in Vancouver, WA.
To relax, he cross-country hikes in
the Cascade Mts., and does get back
to the Cape each summer. • John
O'Neill died of heart failure on Feb.
9 in the Deaconess Hospital in
Needham. He was born in Medford
and lived in Needham for 30 years.
He earned a master's in education
from Boston Teachers' College, and
taught chemistry and physics at En-
glish High School for 30 years, until
his retirement in 1986. John was a
retired major in the National Guard
and was a member and past com-
mander of the Nobscot Power
Squadron in Natick for 2 5 years. He
leaves his wife Muriel of Needham;
two sons, John M. of Leominster
and Daniel P. of Brighton; two
daughters, Elaine C. Yarnall of
Windsor, CT and Ann Conway of
Norwalk, CT; and seven grandchil-
dren. • Edward J. Furey died in
Lynnfield on Dec. 26. He was the
retired president of Northeast Ma-
chinery Co. and the brother of John
J. Furey '49 of Florida. He leaves his
wife Barbara; three sons, Edward Jr.
of Acton, Lt. Col. (Dr.) Dennis C. of
Ramsten AFB in Germany, and
Christopher of Newburyport. Burial
was in the Bourne National Cem-
etery. • On May 7 , 1 took the Eurostar
train from Paris to London. It's about
the same distance as Portland, ME
to Philadelphia, and it makes the
trip in exactly three hours. The tun-
nel under the English Channel is 24
miles long, taking exactly 20 min-
utes to go through it — and it feels
like traveling through a toothpaste
tube. It was another first for me, and
an experience late in life that I shall
never forget. The Eurostar came into
London's Waterloo Station. You
may know that Winston Churchill's
funeral train left here after a service
in London's St. Paul's Cathedral,
and traveled to the little town of
Blagdon near Oxford, where he was
buried in his family plot next to the
centuries-old church. • Our class
10 BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES
president, Bob Harwood, was quite
pleased with the turnout for Laetare
Sunday on March 26. We had three
full tables, more than we've had in
six or seven years. • I have been
informed by our Alumni Associa-
tion that three of our classmates
passed away in November. Mark E.
Casey, Nov. 13 in Abington; James
M. Collins, Nov. 17 in West
Roxbury; and John D. McCarthy,
Nov. 4 in Waltham. Gn behalf of the
class, I wish the families of these
classmates our sympathy.
50n
Mary McManus Frechette
42 Brookdale Ave.
Newtonville, MA 02 1 60
(617)244-8764
Our 45 th reunion for the first gradu-
ating class of Newton College of the
Sacred Heart! In Sept. '46, when, as
freshwomen, we had our picture
taken with Cardinal Cushing, the
Boston newspapers hailed us as the
pioneer class of the new college.
Thanks to BC, we had a warm and
nostalgic reunion weekend starting
on Friday night with Pops, con-
ducted by our wonderful new mae-
stro, Keith Lockhart. Saturday was
the Garden Party Luncheon in a
tent between Stuart and Barat; fol-
lowing was our reunion in the li-
brary of Duchesne, where Lydia
Casavant Hecht and Lincoln, Claire
De Blais Canning and Joe, Ann
Devereux, Kate Doyle, Mary Lou
Julian Natoli and John, Mary King
Supple and Ed, Mary Kyne Maze,
Chic LaBante White and Mark,
Mary McManus Frechette and Al,
Joan Mitchell Curran and Arthur,
Helene Sweeney Doyle and Bill,
toasted each other and tried to ex-
plain to the husbands why Newton
was so special. Connie Ryan Eagan
had to cancel due to family illness,
Hilda Carey, RSCJ was on retreat
and unable to join us, and Agnes
Hauford wrote from Florida that
she would be with us in spirit and see
us at our 50th. We closed our week-
end with the annual alumnae Mass
in the Newton Chapel of the Blessed
Trinity, where we remembered class-
mates no longer with us: Irene
(Muffle) Good, RSCJ, Mimi Hayes
Pardo, Mary Lou McGowan, Elena
Ruggiero Kissell, Trudy Walsh
Crowley and Mary Ann White
Cullen. May they rest in peace. • In
April, your correspondent was one
of the Newton College delegates to
the AASH conference in Houston,
where I met Alicia Elosua Talinas
of Monerrey, Mexico, who was in
our freshman class. Because we
hadn't met since 1947, we had to do
a lot of updating.
51
Reunion
MAY 1 7 - 1 9 • 1 996
Esq.
Francis X. Quinn,
1 205 Azalea Dr.
Rockville, MD 20850
{301)762-5049
I trust you've noted a lack of notes
for our class. If you're reading this, I
ask you to drop me a line about your
present activities and location. • Jack
Riley, MD lives in La Jolla, CA. He
and John Stevens "play golf regu-
larly and erratically!" • Bill
Harwood, who is retired from both
the FBI and United Telephone Co.
of Florida, lives in Longwood, FL
and is an investigator with Central
Florida Investigations, Inc. of Or-
lando. • Paul Doyle, retired State of
California administrative judge, re-
sides in Walnut Creek, CA and re-
lates the joys of "Senior Softball." •
Pat Roche, Roche Bros. /Sudbury
Farms, received the Bald Eagle
Alumnus Award for "tremendous
deeds worthy of emulation." The
honor is bestowed annually by the
undergraduate government of BC.
52
Edward L. Englert, Jr., Esq.
1 28 Colberg Ave.
Roslindale, MA 02131
(617) 323-1500
Double congratulations to Judge
John Irwin who was recently pre-
sented the St. Thomas More Award
by the BC Law School Alumni Asso-
ciation. This is the highest award
given by the Law School Alumni in
recognition of exemplary service by
an individual. In May, the BC Alumni
Association honored him with the
Award of Excellence in the field of
Law — and he is the first recipient of
this particular award. John served as
an assistant District Attorney in
Middlesex County until his appoint-
ment in 1970 as Chief of the Crimi-
nal Division in the Mass. General
Attorney's office. John was appointed
to the Superior Court in 1976, and
in 1994 was appointed Chief Ad-
ministrative Justice of the Trial
Court, the state trial court's highest
position. • Due to the hard work of
Fred Meagher, our class had one of
the best turnouts in years at the
Laetare Sunday gathering. Al
Deshaies came down from Biddeford
and joined Fred, Jim Kenneally,
Bernie Dwyer, Ed Goulart, Joe
Fagan, Al Pizzi, Gene McMorrow,
Charlie Brown, Paul Smith, Tom
Dolan, Roger Connor, Fred
O'Sullivan, Bob Quinn and Frank
Dooley. • Al Sexton and Jim
Mulrooney were ushers for two Red
Sox spring training seasons, starting
with the replacement team and then
when the regulars returned. • The
winter reunion in Naples, FL con-
tinues to grow, and this year Al Sex-
ton and Bob Allen did an excellent
job in arranging various functions.
The get-together started with a wel-
come reception on Wednesday, and
on Thursday there was a sunset boat
ride. Friday, the group attended the
Red Sox-BC baseball game, and on
Saturday evening they finished with
a cocktail party and dinner at the
LaPlaya Resort Hotel. Both the snow
birds and temporary escapees from
the North thoroughly enjoyed the
scheduled events. Those attending
some or all of the events were Lex
Blood, Bill Bond, George Campbell,
Al Casassa, Steve Casey, Tom
Cummiskey, Paul Daly, Bill Dolan,
Bob Ferroli, Jay Hughes, Bert Kelley,
Jim Leonard, Jim Moroney, Evelyn
Thomas and Charlie O'Donnell.
Also joining the group were Joe
O'Shaughnessy, Art Powell, Bob
Quinn, Paul Smith, Frank Torpey,
Bill Walsh, Bob Doherty, Jim
Callahan, Jack Leary and Tom
McElroy, as well as Dave Murphy,
Jack Donovan, Charlie Sherman, Jim
Mulrooney, Frank McDermott,
Bernie O'Sullivan, Bob Kincade and
Bob Shea. I don't know what Al and
Bob will do for an encore, but I'm
sure it will be interesting! • Sandy
and Mike McCarthy's daughter,
Lynn Ann, graduated BC '95 to join
the alumni with her sisters Julie '84
and Patricia '87. • On the sad side, I
am sorry to report the deaths of two
classmates, Jim Doyle and Dan
Duggan. Jim was one of the most
loyal and faithful members of our
class and was a past president of the
class. Jim was senior VP of invest-
ments at Paine Weber at the time of
his retirement in 1988. He leaves his
wife, Lois, two sons and three daugh-
ters. Dan passed away in Feb. in
Roanoke, VAand worked for AT&T
for 30 years after moving from
Rockland where he lived while go-
ing to BC. • In closing, I want to
remind you that Pops on the Heights
will be held on Sept. 15. This will be
the third return of this event which
features Marvin Hamlisch and the
BC Chorale. The funds will go to-
ward providing scholarship assis-
tance to qualified students. Over the
past two years this event has raised
over one million dollars and prom-
ises to be more successful this year.
53
Robert W. Kelly
98 Standish Rd.
Watertown, MA 02 172
(617) 926-0121
My cry for help didn't go unno-
ticed— I've received correspondence
from classmates we haven't heard
from in years. • John O'Gorman
writes that he and Eileen just cel-
ebrated their 40th anniversary on
May 20. Joining them were their six
children, nine grandchildren, and
family and friends from Ireland,
Canada and nine states. John retired
after 3 1 years with NCR. Their home
is 1223 Maue Road, Miamisburg,
OH 45 342 , but they return each July
to West Yarmouth for a vacation.
John, my knee surgery was very suc-
cessful; thanks for asking. I highly
recommend it to any of you who
might be bothered with arthritis in
the knees. • Herb McCarthy, an-
other "name out of the past," was
kind enough to write about his life
after leaving us in '53. He spent five
years in active duty (four in Ger-
many) after graduating, returned for
a few years to Cleveland, OH, then
moved to Washington DC, where
he worked at the Navy Finance Cen-
ter and the office of the Secretary of
Defense (McNamara). He received
an MS in administration from
George Washington Univ. and was
commissioner of the Federal Naval
Supply System Command for five
years. After that, he returned to the
Pentagon, where he became Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Logistics and Material Management.
In 1984, Herb retired and became
consultant to the National Academy
of Public Administration. Herb and
Barbara have three children and five
grandchildren, all of whom live in
Florida. Herb and Barbara live at
2604 Long Boat Court, N in Ponte
Vedra Beach, FL 32082. In 1990
Herb and Barbara really retired and
moved to Florida, where he became
adjunct professor at the Univ. of
North Florida, Jacksonville Univer-
sity and Nova Univ. In 1993, the
mayor of Jacksonville hired him as
executive director of the Cecil Field
Development Commission. •
Ernest Criscuoli, Jr. also retired to
Florida, to 3 06 1 Big Pass Lane, Punta
Gorda 33955. He's looking to buy a
cabin cruiser and do some fishing
and traveling. He says if any class-
BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES 1 1
CLASSES
mates are in the area, give him a call.
He's the only Criscuoli in the whole
state of Florida. • John F. Jack
Coleman just retired and was named
professor emeritus of history at St.
Francis College in Loretto, PA. Jack
wrote The Disruption to the Pennsyl-
vania Democracy 1848-1860, as well as
numerous articles, book reviews and
abstracts. Jack has served on the St.
Francis College faculty senate, the
Penn. Historical Association, and the
Cambria County Historical Society,
serving as president at some point of
all organizations. His other activi-
ties include the Organization of
American Historians, the Pennsyl-
vania Historical Association,
Cambria County Historical Asso-
ciation, Phi Theta Alpha Interna-
tional Honor Society in History, and
the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. •
Finally, for the past two years, the
university has sponsored a concert
which raises significant funds for the
scholarship endowment. This event
is Pops on the Heights, featuring
Marvin Hamlisch, the world-re-
nowned Boston Pops Orchestra and
the BC Chorale — slated for Sept.
15. You'll find a ticket order form in
this issue. Fill it out and send it in.
You won't forget or regret the
evening. See you there! • P.S. Hot
off the press!! I just received notice
that Guy DiGirolano was honored
for his work with the elderly. It seems
that Guy has been involved in vol-
unteer work sponsored by Mass.
Home Care, The Executive Office
of Elder Affairs and the American
Association of Retired Persons. This
year the Health and Social Services
Consortium nominated him as its
Outstanding Money Manager. A
buffet reception was held at the Fed-
eral Building in Boston, a presenta-
tio.n was made to Guy by Vice
President Al Gore, and flowers were
sent and presented to his wife Joan
by the Vice President's wife Tipper.
Guy said, "He would never forget
the outpouring of good wishes at the
event by his many friends in high
governmenfplaces."
53n
Alice Higgins Slattery
9 Cornell Rd.
Framingham, MA 01701
(508) 877-4238
Thanks to a note from Pauline Polly
Madden Murphy we have some
news to share. Polly lives in
Watertown and works at the Fernald
State School in Waltham as a service
coordinator. While she loves her
work, she plans to retire in 2 1/2
years. She then hopes to pursue some
research that she had engaged in
when volunteering as an aid to an
anthropologist atMcLean Hospital.
The research involved the study of
atypical psychiatric syndrome in a
wide variety of countries. Between
gardening and traveling it sounds as
though she will be busier than ever!
Polly and her husband Jim will spend
time in Kansas this Sept. to help
daughter Martha Ellen and her hus-
band John Dowling with the arrival
of their second child. Son Jay has
two children, Kevin and Erica. Their
oldest daughter Maureen recently
married Darwin Ortiz, a card magi-
cian. Polly notes that she has always
loved show business and has taken
advantage of open mic nights in the
comedy clubs around Boston — do-
ing about 16 stand up gigs. I hope
Polly will let us know about any
appearances she may be making since
it would be great to see her. I well
remember her wonderful sense of
humor that kept all the "day-hops"
in good humor while at Newton! •
On a sad note, it was with deep
regret that we heard of the death of
Sister Gorman. She died suddenly
on May 16. According to Rosemary
Dwyer, she had gone to her office to
correct some papers and died sud-
denly. She was buried on May 20
from the Sacred Heart Chapel at
Newton Country Day School. • On
a more cheerful note, it was a jubi-
lant evening a short time earlier, on
May 12, when Francie Mannix
Ziminsky received the Alumni
Award of Excellence in Religion at a
beautiful ceremony at BC. Francie's
reception speech received sustained
applause from the more than 400
alumni present for the awards. She
noted that we would all do well to
listen very carefully to the Holy
Father's words as presented in his
last two encyclicals. Francie has
brought the hope of sustaining life
to many girls who might have suc-
cumbed to the culture of death and
the temptation to take the life of
their child in the womb. It was a
pleasure to see her honored. Sister
Sweeney joined Ann Fulton Cote,
Barbara Gould Henry, myself and
Francie's husband Vic in attending
the celebration. We had a delightful
time recalling our years at Newton.
Sister Sweeney reports that Newton
Country Day School, under the di-
rection of Sister Barbara Rodgers, is
enjoying great success. • I was un-
able to attend the alumnae Mass at
Newton chapel on May 21 since I
was on retreat with the secular
Carmelites from the Danvers
Carmelite Community. • Please let
me know any news that you may
have. Also, if anyone has an alumna
in mind to recommend for an Alumni
Association award, please send me
the information.
54
Francis X. Flannery
72 Sunset Hill Rd.
W. Roxbury, MA02132
(617)323-1592
Our class has been busy this past
spring with 26 at the Night at the BC
Pops on April 22 and about 21 at
Laetare Sunday. Dan Miley informs
me that the reunion on the Cape was
a great success. Twelve rooms were
booked at the hotel, and a total of 56
attended the dinner. Rose and Lenny
Matthews were responsible for
making the arrangements and a won-
derful job they did. Among those in
attendance were Margaret and Dan
Miley, Nancy and Tom Murphy,
Pat and Bob King, Mary and Herb
Burridge, Judy and Frank Bonarrigo,
June and Don Preskenis, Joan and
Frank Patchell, Connie and Charlie
Pelczarski, Jane and John Ford,
Alberta and Gerard Natoli, Ruth
and Jerry Monaghan, Linda and
Dave Pierre, Shirley and Bob
Sanborn, Lori and Lou Totino,
Carol and Dick Foley, June and Ray
McPherson, Mary and Murray
Regan, Mary and Kevin Lane, Jack
Duggan, Bea and George McDevitt,
Nancy and John Moreschi, Caroline
and Bob Donovan, Bobby and Jerry
McCusker, Helenjean and Jack
Parker, Mary and Bill Kelly, Lois
and Lou Florio, and Mary and Jim
Coughlin. A good time was had by
all. • I received a note that Dr.
MarvinJ. LaHood has recendy been
appointed a Distinguished Teach-
ing Professor by the SUNY Board of
Trustees. This designation is con-
ferred to faculty who have achieved
national or international prominence
and a distinguished reputation within
a chosen field. • After ten plus years
writing this column, I am pleased to
inform you that Dave Pierre has
been named my successor as class
correspondent. My very best to Dave
on this new endeavor. I would like to
thank all who have contributed in-
formation over the past ten years.
Without your assistance, I would
not have been able to write this col-
umn. Please continue to send your
notes to Dave. His address is PO
Box 72, Prides Crossing, MA 01 965.
55
Marie J. Kelleher
1 2 Tappan St.
Melrose, MA 02176
(617)665-2669
Since I wrote my last column, I re-
ceived word from Dr. Bob Cefalo
that he's been elected president of
the American Board of Obstetrics
and Gynecology. Bob has a PhD,
continues to be an ob/gyn professor,
and is the assistant dean for graduate
medical education — all while carry-
ing on his medical practice in Chapel
Hill. • Tom Reynolds sent word
from Weymouth of his recent re-
tirement from the Dept. of Defense
as the Northeast Regional Contrac-
tor of the Labor Relations Office.
He and his wife Grace have bought
a home in S. Yarmouth and look
forward to spending many happy
years there. • During our reunion
festivities, I passed around a book so
those present could jot down
thoughts and memories. A question
found within seems so appropriate:
Koro on Mbali Ayjam? Tim
Heffernan, Marie Considine
Heffernan's husband, wrote both
the question and translation. Writ-
ten in African, it means "did you
spend the night in peace? " I think all
who attended would answer "yes,"
and if we knew the word for joy,
would add that as well. • Nick
Grugnale, husband of Patricia
Lavoie Grugnale, has become a
successful painter, recently display-
ing four of his works in an art show.
• Ralph Vigeant and wife Phyllis
wrote in the book that they are par-
ents of six daughters and one son,
and are grandparents of 12 grand-
children. • Joining our growing list
of retirees are Tom Griffen, from
GE; and Gail Maguire, from the
Waltham VNA. • Marie DiMarzio
Rutland expects to move back to
New England from Pennsylvania
very soon. She has traveled around
the world and looks forward to see-
ing many more friends in the year
2000 (our 45th). • Dave Sheehan
returned after spending 40 years in
California. • Sally Walsh Logan
enjoys getting away from her
Needham residence to her home in
Newburyport. She plans on retiring
in about a year. She is a school nurse
working for the City of Boston. •
Justine and Ralph Donnelly report
that they live (most of the year) on
Marco Island, but still spend a few
months in Wisconsin. • To Joannie
"G" (as in Gospodarek) Lett, I
thought of Fr. G, too, on Satur-
day— but I think of him every time I
1 2 BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES
hear "Danny Boy" or go to the Pops.
He organized the first SON night
there when we were students, and
surprised the Pops officials by re-
questing the 1812 Overture. •
Vincent Milano and his wife Jane
still live in W. Roxbury and summer
in Manomet. Being retired helps
them enjoy getting together with
their eight grandchildren, as well as
their three sons and one daughter,
even more. • Charlie Costello re-
ports that he and Anne have moved
to Merry Point, VA. Since retiring,
they enjoy activities such as volun-
teering, sailing, and time — with their
six daughters, one son, two sons-in-
law and four grandchildren. • Beverly
and Walter Fitzgibbon came up
from Wethersfield for the second
time in 40 years. • Bob Pagliarulo
should be well into his campaign
mode by the time this column ar-
rives. He is a candidate for state rep.
from Ward 20. This Ward covers
W. Roxbury, S. Brookline and
Roslindale. Bob is a wonderful gar-
dener and also enjoys photography.
• Rosemary and John Vozzella will
be keeping a close eye on future
Russian space missions. Their
daughter Gail and son-in-law, Dr.
Scott Parazynski, have gone to Rus-
sia for two years. Scott will train
with cosmonauts and eventually go
into space on a Russian space craft. •
Dick Olson has joined Candela, Inc.
• Another classmate making a change
is class president, John Johnson.
He now travels to Worcester where
he practices law for the firm of JJ
Fuller, Rosenberg, Palmer and
Belliveau. • Bob Connors was due
to go to Medjugore a few days after
the reunion. Someday I hope to make
that pilgrimage. • I cannot end this
column without expressing thanks
to some very special people, without
whom the night wouldn't have been
as successful. Marie Heffernan
made many trips for meetings from
Worcester, and helped with the se-
lection of the favor. To Ann Th-
ompson and the staff of the Alumni
Association, no praise or thanks is
ever enough to acknowledge all the
work they do and the long hours
they put in to ensure that not only
our class, but every class, had a won-
derful time. Every event we have
receives their competent assistance.
Thanks also to Joan Curran in the
BC Bookstore for her ideas for our
favor and for her assistance in order-
ing them. Ernestine Bolduc '56 and
Claire Hoban McCormack '56 gave
up a Saturday night to greet you as
you arrived and give out your pic-
ture badges. Many thanks for doing
this for us. Rick Farrell and his or-
chestra provided wonderful music
for dancing — or just for listening. •
It was great to meet so many of you,
and I hope that all of you had such a
good time that you'll come back soon,
especially if you haven't been com-
ing to events and live locally. • On
that note, let me remind you to pay
attention to mail from the Alumni
Association, as I already have a couple
of ideas for some off-campus activi-
ties for our 41st year. I wish I had
space enough to list the names of all
who came, but I have a word limit.
For those of you who couldn't come,
but may be interested, we did have
two group pictures taken, one of all
of us and one of the nurses. If you
would like one, please contact me
quickly and I'll tell you how to pur-
chase it. • I'm sure I've missed a lot
of news, so please let me know what
I missed so I can put it in my next
column. I can only share the news
you provide. • As I was about to out
this column into its envelope, I
learned that Carla DePrizio
LaPlante's mother has died. Our
sympathy to Carla and her family.
55n
Jane Quigley Hone
425 Nassau Ave.
Manhasset, NY 1 1 030
(516)627-0973
The reunion weekend for some of us
began with Friday evening's buffet
reception at our old Putnam House
before going to the Pops — a delight-
ful evening. The Saturday outdoor
lunch at Newton was also most en-
joyable. In the evening we all came
together for a dinner at the Sullivans'
home in Medfield. There was Carra
Wetzel, who drove from Virginia
with Weasie Wilding. Carra and
Ed have four children and seven
grandchildren. She's just finished
graduate school for her master's in
social work and is a therapist in Win-
chester, VA for a child abuse pre-
vention organization. • Weasie
Wilding and Joe (retired) live in
Columbia, MD. They have five chil-
dren (one girl) and four grandsons. •
Sugie Tully and daughter Mary flew
in from Cincinnati. She has six sons
and nine grandchildren. • Nick (re-
tired doctor) and Nadia
Deychakiwsky came from Ohio.
She works full-time as head of adult
services in the public library. They
have three sons and four grandchil-
dren. Their youngest son is working
in Kiev, helping the new democracy.
• Ray (retired) and Dalia Ivaska
have four children, three of whom
are married, and one granddaugh-
ter. She is a chemistry teacher at
Boston Latin. • Frank and Sue
Crowley came from New Hamp-
shire. They have two children and
two grandchildren. Sue is co-direc-
tor of Birthright of Manchester. •
Mike and Pat Mitchell recendy re-
turned from a long-awaited trip to
Europe. One of their three children
is married. Pat works in guidance
and is secretary to its program direc-
tor at Wellesley High. • Gerry and
Mary Jane Murray came from
Providence, where they visited their
daughter Mary Jane and two chil-
dren. Their son Gerry is a priest; he
is studying at the Gregorian Insti-
tute in Rome for a doctorate in canon
law. • Ed (retired) and Winnie Hicks
were there, and Ed became the chief
dishwasher for the evening. Another
of their seven children is being mar-
ried. • Frank and Jane Hone visited
with their son and his wife and daugh-
ter in Newton. Allison Lynch Hone
had her 10th reunion from BC. • A
real surprise was seeing Cecilia
Muydi, with us for only our fresh-
man year. She still lives in Colom-
bia, SA. Her husband Henry and
two sons also joined us. She has
three other children and six grand-
children. She volunteers at the Co-
lombian Cancer Society. Our hosts
for the evening, Paul and Mary
Sullivan, were most gracious, and
they want us back in five years! They
have 1 1 children and three grand-
children. Chris has just retired from
having a day care center at her home.
56
[Reunion
MAY 17- !?•! 996
Steve Barry
1 1 Albamont Rd.
Winchester, AAA 01 890
(617)729-6389
By now, you have probably re-
sponded to the letter about our an-
niversary and Reunion Weekend
events. • We've reserved 60 tickets
for the Army football game on Sat.,
Oct. 2 1 (Family Day), preceded by a
brunch in the Science building and
followed by a reception with cash
bar and complimentary hors
d'oeuvres. • We're also reserving
tickets for the Boston Pops concert
on the Heights. This terrific event
has raised $2 million for scholar-
ships in its first two years. If you can
possibly make it, you'll enjoy it. •
Other events may include the BC
Christmas Chorale, a BC basketball
(if tickets are available) or hockey
game, theater event, Red Sox game
or golf tournament. We'll, as al-
ways, be attending the Laetare Sun-
day Mass and Communion Break-
fast. • The reunion is on Commence-
ment Weekend, May 18-20. Our
suggestions include a visit to the BC
Museum, Trolley Tour of Boston,
separate brunch/lunch by schools,
and either a dinner dance or clam-
bake/barbecue for Saturday evening.
This went to press before the ques-
tionnaire returns, so there may be
other possibilities. • We had about
40 at Laetare Sunday. Marie and I
couldn't go; Cardinal Law was visit-
ing our parish and I'm in the choir.
We also had about 14 at the BC
Pops, a small turnout since it was
Easter vacation week. • How much
is a tenth of a point on the stock
market worth? At St. Agnes School
in Arlington ( Rev. Frank Irwin is
pastor) it was worth lunch at a local
Au Bon Pain restaurant from Peter
Lynch '63, Fidelity Investments'
Wall Street whiz. In Jan. '94, the
seventh graders challenged him to
see whose 10 stocks would do better
for the year. If the students had lost,
they would have cleaned Peter's of-
fice. • Jack Kennedy is selling very
classy BC "throws" through the
Alumni office. They have the col-
lege seal and representations of St.
Mary's, Gasson, Fulton, Devlin,
Bapst and Lyons in maroon on a
cream background. • Rev. John
Surette, SJ is director of Spiritearth,
a Center for Spirituality in the Eco-
logical Age, in Poughkeepsie, NY.
The center offers workshops, pro-
fessional study days, internships, sab-
batical programs, private study,
research and thesis work. • After
Richard Tobin of Stamford, CT,
retired from law practice, he was
appointed and confirmed as a Con-
necticut Superior Court Judge on
Oct. 1, 1994. The next day, he went
to Jean and Bernie Doherty's
daughter's wedding in Portsmouth,
NH. Ann and Frank Merrigan also
attended. • Alan Keiran and Bar-
bara are sitting the Longmont, CO
home of their son-in-law, who trans-
ferred to London to manage six Eu-
ropean affiliates. Three others of
their seven children live there, and
two arrived from California and
Florida for Christmas. A member of
the Class of 1 95 1 , Alan served in the
US Navy during the Korean War,
and graduated with us. He received
his MBA in 1970. After early retire-
ment from Digital Equipment in
1992, Alan settled in Nashua, NH.
His new address is 8223 Sawtooth
Lane, Longmont, CO, 80503. His
telephone number is (303)652-3001.
• Marie and I attended the second
annual BC Alumni Retreat attended
by about 27 at Weston, given by Fr.
Paul Messer, SJ of the BC English
BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES 1 3
CLASSES
department. • Incidentally, I've of-
ficially retired, receiving Social Se-
curity. Carolyn Kenney Foley tells
me that Dan planned to retire in
June and she will follow suit in De-
cember. • Carolyn met Dorothy
McCauley Flood and Frank at
Frank's reunion (Class of '55). •
Carolyn has spent much time com-
miserating on the phone with Jean
Riley Roche, who is recovering from
a broken leg suffered in a car acci-
dent. • Jack McCarthy is recuper-
ating from colon surgery. • Jim
Martin called to say that George
Riley of Quincy has passed away. A
retired insurance man, George was
active in the community, serving
under two mayors. He leaves his
wife, Pat, four sons and four grand-
children, two sisters, Kathy and Vir-
ginia, and his twin brother, Steve,
also a classmate, in Florida. Our con-
dolences to his family.
56n
Reunion
9 9 6
Patricia Leary Dowling
39 Woodside Dr.
Milton, MA 02 186
57
Francis E. Lynch
27 Arbutus Ln., P.O. Box 1 287
W. Dennis, MA 02670
(508) 398-5368
Before we know it, the football sea-
son will be upon us. The class plans
a football event scheduled for Home-
coming weekend; a class mailing
details this event will be forthcom-
ing. • Tom Bray dropped me a line
about Joe Donovan. Joe was fea-
tured in the Nov. '94 issue of
Firehouse as fire chief of Jackson,
MS. Tom explained that he spent
over 30 years at Hughes Aircraft in
nearby San Clemente, CA, where he
held several positions ranging from
test engineer to manager of manu-
facturing engineering to division
contracts manager. • Norma DeFeo
Cacciamani is former president of
Zonta International in Arlington.
Just recently she chaired a Zonta
Intercity Dinner held in Lexington.
Norma is administrative coordina-
tor for the infectious disease divi-
sion at Mt. Auburn Hospital in
Cambridge. She and her husband
Vin have three children and live in
Arlington. • Joan and Jay Cronin
are proud first-time grandparents to
a little girl born last August. Siobhan
Cronin is the daughter of Jay's son,
John Jr. Their son Neil will be get-
ting married in Sept. in Stemboat
Springs, CO; daughter Kerin is a
special education teacher; and Kristin
is manager of the Four Seasons Ho-
tel in NYC. • I was recently able to
assist Delores Cerutti Gallagher
in tracking down Mary Lou Hogan
of Arlington. Dolores lives in the
Baltimore area. • During February
and March, Tom Harrington (who
is on sabbatical from Northeastern)
and his wife worked for six weeks at
five university psychology depart-
ments in South Africa, lecturing on
job search methods and locating psy-
chological tests. They also consulted
on provincial research projects. Tom
is currently president of the assess-
ment division of the American Coun-
seling Association. • My daughter
Carolyn '88 was married to John
Frederick Egan on June 24 in
Moretown, VT. Carolyn is a nurse
at UVM Medical Center and will
live in Moretown. • The sympathy
of the class is extended to James
Cantwell and his family on the death
of his wife Joanne in January.
57n
Marjorie L. McLaughlin
139 Parker Rd.
Needham, MA 02 194
(617)444-7252
58
David A. Rafferty, Jr.
33 Huntley Rd.
Hingham, MA 02043
(617)749-3590
Ed Albertini is director of guidance
at Mansfield High. • Bill Ambrose
has retired from Febreeka Industrial
Products. • David Callagy is assis-
tant director of Catholic Charities
in Honolulu. • Bill Callahan is a
professor of history at the Univ. of
Toronto. • Bob Carroll, living in
Dedham, is a systems manager at
Harvard. • Frank Callnan is an im-
migration officer in Houlton, ME. •
Joe DiCarlo, living in Revere, is
director of Boston Port Services. •
Joe Desmond is chairman & CEO
of the Concord Group Insurance
Co. in Concord, NH. • Ed Devin
recendy retired from Fleet National
Bank and will be making his home-
stead in Naples, FL. • Paul Ellis is a
management consultant with Ellis
Enterprises in La Canada, CA. •
Helen Fagan is director of nursing
at St. Elizabeth's Hospital. • Harvey
Federman, living in Randolph, is
VP of Printers Service in Hingham.
• Paul Fennell is president of PD
Fennell & Co. in Orlando. Paul,
how do you compare Orlando with
Vienna? Joe Gabis, living in
Lunenburg, has retired from Ben-
eficial Management Co. • Joe
Giardina, living on the Cape, is a
retired VP of Beech Aircraft. • Ron
Ghiradella is a social studies teacher
in Merrick, NY. • Ed Glavickas has
retired from American Express. •
Bill Griffin is CFO of Marwais Stell
Co. in San Francisco. • Charlie
McGowan is program manager for
IBM in Guilford, CT. • Bill
Monahan is president of Eastern
Securities in Westport, CT. • Apolo-
gies to Alex Kulevich, who is not
with Lotus Development but is, and
has been, the athletic director at
Marblehead High. Alex and Henry
Zielinski have been frequenting
George Harrington's great restau-
rant in Salem, the Lyceum. • Lou
Ennis is retiring from Brandeis Univ.
this year. His current position is VP
of employee relations. • Joe
O'Donnell is a physicist with the
US Naval Ship R&D Center in
Bethesda, MD. • Carl Pitaro is
mayor of Brockton. • Peter Power
is managing director for Cowen &
Co. in NYC. • Bill Rochford is
executive director of Action, Inc. in
Gloucester. Bill and family are liv-
ing in Magnolia. • Bill Ryan, living
in Swampscott, is account manager
for Network Systems in Waltham. •
Ed Sabatino is a plant environmen-
talist for Cytec Industries in Willow
Island, WV. • Bob Santi, living in
Duluth, GA, is retired from IBM. •
Paul Ronan is president of PJR In-
vestments in Sausalito, CA. • Bill
Monagle is president of Somerset
Medical Center in Somerville, NJ. •
Arthur Mooney is with Dean Witter
in Boston. • Frank Day, after many
years with Casey & Hayes Movers,
is now with Wakefield Industries. •
Eddie Malloy and Joe Casper re-
tired from the Social Security Ad-
ministration in Dec. Pretty soon
they'll be collecting their own! •
Prayers of the class are requested for
Fred Holbrow, who passed away on
June 16. Fred was an attorney prac-
ticing in Marina Bay in Quincy. •
Jim Higgins, living in Hingham, is
VP of JC Higgins Corp. • Joe
Hinchey has retired from the
Maiden School Dept. • On Sept. 1 5 ,
Pops on the Heights returns for a
third year. This year the goal is to
raise $1 million over & above the
cost of the event. This money will
provide scholarship assistance to
qualified students. The only way this
goal can be achieved is through the
sale of many corporate and benefac-
tor packages, as well as individual
tickets. The event will feature con-
ductor Marvin Hamlisch, the world-
renowned Boston Pops Orchestra
and the BC Chorale. • Condolences
of the class to the family of James
Horgan, who died of cancer in June.
Jim was a lifelong resident of New-
ton and a retired English teacher at
Medway High. He leaves his wife
Kathleen and two sons, Neil and
James. • The class gave $500 to
Second Helping. This is the 7th con-
secutive year the class has donated to
this mostworthy cause. • Keep those
cards and letters coming. Any news
is good news. Don't forget to send
your $25 class dues to Jack Mucca
McDevitt at 28 Cedar Rd., Medford
02155.
58n
Sheila Hurley Canty
8 Sherbrooke Dr.
Dover, MA 02030
59
Robert P. Latkany
c/o NML, P.O. Box 4008
Darien, CT 06820
(203) 857-5738
Pops on the Heights: mark your calen-
dars for Sept. 15 at 8 pm in Conte
Forum. This is the third annual event
for the University's scholarship en-
dowment. The affair has raised al-
most $1 million per year for
deserving students. Conductor
Marvin Hamlisch and the Boston
Pops Esplanade Orchestra, the BC
Chorale and special guest perform-
ers will play Broadway show tunes
and light classical and popular music
selections. Tickets range from as low
as $50 for a balcony seat with a
gourmet picnic dinner and two bev-
erage tickets; $75 for a loge seat;
$100 for a preferred loge seat; and a
$6,000 package (12 tickets)— 8 floor
seats (champagne included) and 4
preferred loge. These 12 are invited
to a private cocktail reception. This
is a very worthwhile event. Call
Meggan O'Leary at the Develop-
ment Office, (617) 552-4400, for
more info. • When I reported about
my attendance at the BC-Rutgers
game last fall, after the George
Giersch Hall Of Fame induction the
night before, I raved about the great
time at the pre- and post-game par-
ties. However, I was remiss in one
major detail. The Class of '59 was
14 BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES
well-represented, but the word must
be out: the crowd was (as always)
largest where lovely Ellen Markey
Thurmond set her table. This in-
vestment company executive does
not limit her talent to the financial
field. Word of her culinary expertise
has spread throughout the Boston
city limits to as far as the NH, RI and
CT borders. Her remarkable gour-
met treats which, she says, she "just
threw together last night," have
people scurrying to try to get an
invitation for her Epicurean delights.
Great job, Ellen, and thank you from
those of us from the class who were
there. • Barbara and Gerry
McElaney's youngest son, Keith, a
Desert Storm veteran, just com-
pleted his first year at So. Conn.
State Univ., majoring in phys. ed.
He played first-line defense for the
club hockey team, which finished at
23-6. They advanced to the nation-
als at Colorado State, where they
went 1-2 in the double elimination
tournament. They beat UKentucky
before losing to Colorado State and
San Jose State, 4-3 . They represented
the Northeast in the 8-team tour-
ney. Congrats, Keith! My wife
Regina and I spent Easter week in
surprising Santa Fe (elev. 8000 ft).
We stayed at gracious host Jack
Harrington's condo for part of the
time. We had six inches of snow the
first day, which was melted by the
noonday sun. It's a beautiful part of
the country and an artist's delight.
Santa Fe has more art galleries than
any other US city except New York
and Chicago. That is not a misprint:
little Santa Fe is #3. "Little Santa
Fe!" Hard to believe. • The Brook-
lyn Prep (Jesuit) annual dinner on
April 2 8 was attended by 5 50 alumni.
Here's a school that closed in 1972.
It gives $60,000 per year in scholar-
ships to the five Jesuit high schools
in the New York metropolitan area —
$12,000 each for young men who
would otherwise be unable to re-
ceive a Jesuit education. The recipi-
ent schools are Xavier, Fordham
Prep, Loyola, Regis, and St. Peter's
of Jersey City. This unusual phe-
nomenon has the NYJesuit commu-
nity smiling. Great job by the
Brooklyn Prep Alumni.
59n
Maryjane Mulvanity Casey
28 Briarwood Dr.
Taunton, MA 02780
(508) 823-1188
60
Joseph R. Carry
920 Main St.
Norwell, MA 02061
It is with deep sympathy and delay
that I report the deaths of three
classmates. Condolences to the fami-
lies and please keep their memory in
your prayers. They are: Marty Lee
of Woburn, who died in January of
'94; Vin Siefcak of N. Weymouth
in November of '94; and Frank
Keaney ofMillis in January. • Kevin
O'Neil of Wells, ME has been reap-
pointed to the Diocesan Pastoral
Council of Portland. • Lorraine
Renda O'Leary writes from Maiden
that her family is mostly married and
they are enjoying life. • Steve
Coyne, living in Granada Hills, CA,
withstood thejanuary '94 earthquake
with some house damage. • Tom
Kelly, MD recently married in
Carmel, CA and resides in Nashua,
NH. • Joe Walker purchased and
renovated an apartment in Ft. Lau-
derdale and planned to winter there.
However, duty called with Chrysler,
and he is tied up for a year with
them. • Tom Flynn of Bedford
writes he is very busy with Raytheon's
air defense systems. He's been mar-
ried for 37 years and is the grandfa-
ther of four. • David Russo was in
town last fall from Palantine, IL. •
Ralph Shea now resides in
Falmouth. He's self-employed in real
estate ownership and management.
• Dan Sughrue, who retired from
the FBI after 26 years, now operates
a PI company with his wife in Con-
cord, NH. He has a number of grand-
children and was recently elected
the NE regional VP of the FBI's
Society of Former Special Agents. •
Bob Reagan of Arlington writes that,
at his advanced age, he has a second
child recently born. He teaches at
Cambridge Rindge & Latin and still
runs road races. • Lawrence
Boucher of N. Billerica writes that
his three children have graduated
from Tufts. His son is pursuing a
PhD at UMass-Amherst and his two
daughters are in volunteer teaching
programs. • The class reunion was a
huge success, with 120 people in
attendance. The committee worked
with the Alumni Association to plan
a gala event appreciated by all. •
Paul Cunningham arrived the day
of the reunion from Stockholm from
his vacation. He recently moved to
Northboro from Southboro and is
associated with Ericsson as sales
manager. He skis at Sugarbush in
the winter and summers in
Edgartown; he wants to smell the
roses. Seems he's on the way . . .•
Mike Hawley is now president of
the Gillette Co. He has been instru-
mental in opening the market for his
company in China. Approximately
80% of the company's sales and prof-
its come from outside the US. Mike
has been with Gillette for 34years. •
Dave Pergola of Belmont, an ex-
ecutive VP with Meredith & Grew,
was named Commercial Broker of
the Year by the Greater Boston Real
Estate Board. • Other news from the
reunion: Edith Cackowski
Wetherell came in from Paris. •
Joe Nadeau and Tom Rattigati ar-
rived from Florida. • Bob Winston
came in from California. • Bill
Hyland, who still resides in Foxboro,
relates the following information:
both sons are married; one lives in
Philly and the other in Hopedale.
He's a grandfather twice. Bill is the
regional officer for AG Edwards —
the largest brokerage firm in New
England — with 39 offices and over
400 brokers. Bill was also recently
appointed to its board of directors.
Red Baron Hyland has purchased a
small plane and flies it recreationally.
• Msgr. Walter J. Edyvean, who
was elevated to that position in Janu-
ary of '92, writes from Rome. He
was assigned in 1990 to the Congre-
gation for Catholic Education at the
Vatican, the office of the Roman
Curia which is responsible for semi-
naries, Catholic universities and
Catholic schools. In 1 993 he became
the head of the universities section,
which deals with Catholic universi-
ties throughout the world. Monsi-
gnor is also director of "Villa
Stritch," the residence in Rome for
diocesan priests from the US who
work in the Vatican. • Among oth-
ers at our reunion were Dick Cou-
ture and Father Leo Shea.
60n
Patricia McCarthy Dorsey
53 Clarke Rd.
Needham, MA02192
(617)235-3752
The 35 th reunion was a great suc-
cess! We had 43 classmates attend
some part of the weekend — 44% of
the class. Congratulations to all of
you who spread the word and en-
couraged someone to join us! • A big
thankyou to Marie Stebbins, Carol
Cardinal and Joanne Goggins, alum-
nae coordinator, for a superb job of
organizing our class events. I know I
speak for all who attended; it was a
fun, relaxing and nostalgic weekend.
• Friday evening began with a cock-
tail party in the old Putnam Library,
now Alumni House. About 12 class-
mates were present, including Betsy
DeLone Balas, Mary Egan Boland
and Mary Elizabeth Brusch
Mulkeen, who couldn't be present
Saturday. • The dinner at Wood-
land Country Club on Saturday was
the highlight of the weekend. We
didn't have a difficult time recogniz-
ing former classmates and enjoyed
mixing and trying to learn a bit about
each other's lives now. Cameras were
clicking and several shots were taken
of the whole group on the stairway.
After a delicious meal, we attempted
to answer trivia questions; the prize
went to Loretta Maguire, who even
knew the last line of the Alma Mater!
(Down through our Newton Days).
Rosemary Stuart Dwyer, Joanne
Stuart's sister, joined us, and we
remembered Joanne and Jane
O'Connor, our classmates who have
died. • These are some tidbits of
information on those who were
present (in alphabetical order by
maiden name): Alex Armstrong was
married in Sept. to Jerry McCoy,
whom we were glad to meet. Alex
has written a book about financial
matters for women, entitled On Your
Own. • Pat Beattie still lives in
Greenwich, CT. • Mary Elizabeth
Brusch Mulkeen is living in Lin-
coln and working as a
biotechnologist. • Lita Capobianco
is enjoying her home on the Rhode
Island shore. • Stella Clark owns a
successful catering business in New
York called "Stellabrations." •
Lennie Coniglio continues to teach
music at Sacred Heart in Green-
wich, CT. • Joan Di Menna is also
living in New York and is teaching.
• Moira Donnelly has done well in
the real estate world, especially in
Newton. • Betsy Delone is in the
process of building a new home in
Wilmington, NC. • Peggy Flynn
lives in Milton and is in her eighth
year of teaching math at Cohasset
High. • Mary Egan practices law in
Springfield and is keeping up with
her five children. • Fran Fortin vol-
unteers for Rosie's Place and loves
her time at her home in Maine. •
Mary Lou Foster is employed by
Headstart as a social worker in New
Jersey. • Lindsay Gowan celebrated
her first visit back to Newton. •
Berenice Hackett continues to
work part-time for a physician in
Rhode Island. She retired from many
years of teaching history on the high
school level. • Jeanne Hanrihan is
looking forward to joining Ed on
Martha's Vineyard at their bed &
breakfast, "Ocean Side Inn." • Mary
Harrington is retired from IBM and
joins Carole McNamara in taking a
BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES 1 5
CLASSES
painting class. • Elaine Holland
took a vacation from BU's chemistry
dept. and flew off to Italy with me on
June 1. • Gail Hanaford came to
every event over the weekend ! She is
a graphic artist by trade and has
volunteered to co-chair the next re-
union with Brenda Koehler. •
Carol Johnson has been employed
several years at an insurance com-
pany in Springfield and did a great
job as co-chair of our reunion. • Sue
Kenney and her husband travel be-
tween their apartment in Brooldine
and their place to relax in Marshfield. '
• Brenda Koehler keeps in touch so
well, she was chosen to chair Re-
union 2000! Thanks, Brenda, for
saying yes. • Brenda Kowalski is
working in the blood lab at Boston
City Hospital. • Loretta Maguire
just returned from a quick, fun trip
to Disney World in Florida. •
Mickey Mahon is living in Cotuit
and has gone into real estate on the
Cape. • Rosemary Maravantano is
an executive owner of McDonald's
in Saint Louis and came the farthest
distance for this reunion. • Sheila
Marshall continues to teach elemen-
tary school and is enjoying her grand-
children. • Michaelene Martin still
tells a great story and will assist with
Reunion 2000. • Marie McCabe,
our co-chair, did such a great job
that Dick took her to Italy in June. •
Pat McCarthy is enjoying the chal-
lenge as Recruiting Coordinator at
Babson and is delighted to be head-
ing to Italy for two weeks with Elaine.
• Kathy McDermott took a break
from her paralegal jargon and was so
glad she made the decision to come
and see everyone. • Norah
McGinity hailed from Cincinnati,
OH where she is involved with a
nursery school. • Sally O'Connell
was also instrumental in calling
people for this event and continues
to sell real estate in Newport, RI. •
Sheila O'Connor's specialty is space
planning, and she has a successful
business in New York. • Julie O'Neil
is teaching and looks forward to
spending time this summer at the
Cape. • Darryln Powers will soon
be moving into a new condominium
in Wayland. • Rosemary Roche
has become involved in a women's
health study in Rhode Island. •
Judith Romano is living in Danvers
and just returned from a winter in
Florida. • Ferna Ronci is the proud
owner of "Pasta Patch" in Warwick,
RI. • Kathy Runkle has lived in
South America and is now back in
Chicago; she loves a good game of
golf. • Sue Thornton is packing up
and moving to Tuscon, AZ. • Carole
Ward is looking forward to her 6th
grandson in Sept.; in addition to her
real estate, she loves to paint. • Pat
Winkler continues to organize the
preparation of baby buntings for
hundreds of newborns.
61
Reunion
MAY1719«1996
John H. Rossetti
9 Raleigh Rd.
Dover, MA 02030
(508) 785-2496
Laetare Sunday again proved to be
an irresistible draw, with Dick
Glasheen spotting Tom
Concannon, Herb Scofield, Jack
V. Lane, Ginny O'Neil and Bob
Kelly. Circulating faithful included
MaryTurbiniJackJoyce and Ann-
Marie Wasalauski Mulligan.
McElroy Commons hosted break-
fast to Paul Brennan and Bob
Hannon, just back from Aruba, and
to Jack Carr, newly returned from
skiing in Vail, who attended with an
entourage of his family. Peg Ryan
Collins did much work behind the
scenes to make this another success-
ful event. • Mazel Tov to our class-
mate Dan Cohen on his engagement
to Dr. Sandra dicker. After a No-
vember wedding, the couple plans to
live in Newton near Sandra's prac-
tice at Newton-Wellesley Hospital.
• Two of our own were honored for
their professional achievements at
the Alumni Association's awards cer-
emony on May 12 in the Robsham
Theater. George Downey received
the William V. McKenney Award,
the Association's highest honor, for
his work with Second Helping and
numerous other volunteer endeav-
ors. An Award of Excellence also
went to Dr. John McNamara, chief
of pediatrics at Brockton Hospital. •
A note from Peg Ryan Collins in-
forms us that the 12th annual class
Mass, concelebrated by Rev. Dick
Harrington and Rev. John Acres,
was quite meaningful; the memory
of departed classmates was honored
with beautiful, anonymously-do-
nated vestments. They are appro-
priately decorated with symbols of
knowledge and will be used for this
special annual service. From all the
rest of us, thank you. • Among let-
ters of apology for their absence:
Tom Jones, managing director for
Pinkerton's European operations,
could not make it from Frankfort,
understandably; Tom Hynes, with
Meredith & Grew, had left Boston
for business in the Old World; and
Francis Vacca, with the US State
Dept., was kept busy with his new
assignment in Rome. Jack Sutton
of Falmouth, ME, marched to his
company's tune in Denver (a long
walk), and LA's Joe Lally was at-
tending his son's graduation. Joe has
suggested that our 35th Big One be
held under the Hollywood sign.
Maybe. If they do a remake of Co-
coon. Roger Sweeney was teed off.
Actually, he had plans at the Arnotto
Bay Golf Tourney, claiming Charlie
Duffy was going to be his caddie. I
was going to refute this until I no-
ticed that Charlie didn't attend our
evening, either. Paul Mclntyre,
president of Crystallume in Santa
Clara, CA, would like to have come
back across the Great Divide; and
here at home, Bob Sullivan in Easton
has decided there must be conspira-
torial forces that plan class dinners
only on weekends for which he has
plans. We'd better get dates for the
35th to him ASAP! • The evening
was wonderful with drinks, dinner
and Paul Brennan. The first two
were tasteful and well-presented.
Paul, on the other hand, provided
serious laughing in his perfected role
of MC. Table-hopping showed
Larry Eisenhauer, John Lonergan,
Nancy Bonazzoli Connelly,
George Downey, Dick Gill, Mary
Turbini and Jack Carr. More hop-
ping produced Cliff Hoey, John V.
Lane, Peg Ryan Collins and Dick
Glasheen. • Dick Gill informs us
that he headed Down Under in June
for his son's Australian wedding to
new daughter-in-law Paula Quinlan.
• It's been a long and busy year to
date for Walter Shields. In addition
to moving into a condo after selling
his home of 22 years, his son Wayne
was married inMarch and his daugh-
ter will be doing the same in August.
With 3 3 years teaching in Needham,
Walt has taken a special assignment
with Polaroid designed to give teach-
ers insight into the business world.
After the year's sabbatical he will
return to the Needham schools. Walt
writes of other irons in the fire and
seems happy to keep the sparks fly-
ing. • This last entry from Jack
McDowell just arrived. Jack assures
Ed McDonough that the class pro-
duced more Marines than Ed's fal-
tering ability with numbers indicated
in the last issue. This ex-Marine
thanks everyone at the class dinner
for helping share his and his wife
Patty's 2 8th anniversary. • Our class
funds are very low, and 35th anni-
versary costs can be high. If each of
us sends $25 payable to the Class of
1961, we can have a successful year.
Send your dues to class treasurer
lames Russell, 337 Hayward Mill
Road, Concord, MA 01742.
61In:
Reunion
9 9 6
Rosemary Hanley Cloran
30 Ransom Rd.
Newton Centre, MA 02 1 59
(617)965-0636
62
Richard N. Hart, Jr.
5 Amber Rd.
Hingham, MA 02043
(617) 749-3918
Congratulations to John G.
Sullivan, MD, chairman of the Dept.
of Surgery at St. Elizabeth's Medical
Center and clinical professor of sur-
gery at Tufts University School of
Medicine, who was recently named
to the Board of Trustees at St.
Elizabeth's. John is also proud to
announce the first recipient of the
Forrester A. Clark Scholarship at
Tufts Med., set up byjohn to honor
his medical school benefactor. This
year's recipient is Scott Dunbar '92,
a fourth-year medical student at
Tufts. John also serves as the surgi-
cal consultant at Boston College
Health Services. His daughter
Caitlin will be entering BC in Sep-
tember as part of the Class of 1999.
• Congratulations to Bob Caprio,
who took early retirement from
Polaroid Corp. after 24 years of ser-
vice. Bob has started a new career
with Cotton Real Estate in Cotuit,
and would be happy to help any
classmates looking for a summer
rental, retirement or second home.
Bob resides in Cotuit with his wife
Charlene. • Our condolences to the
family of Patrick McLaughlin, who
recently passed away. Patrick had
resided in San Diego, CA. • Our
condolences also to the family of
Joan Roth Lannan who passed away
in Sept.. Joan had resided in Charles-
ton, SC. • Class condolences to the
family of Howard Ponty, who
passed away in Nov. Howard had
resided in Andover. • Daniel Reilly
Hart, son of your correspondent and
wife Monica, recently graduated
from Bowdoin College, where, as
president of the class, he led the
academic procession throughout the
entire campus prior to the gradua-
tion ceremony. • As a closing re-
minder, you all should keep Friday,
Sept. 15 open for Pops on the
Heights, where conductor Marvin
Hamlisch will appear for the first
year. Any classmate desiring more
information can call (800) 767-5 591 .
1 6 BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES
62n
Mary Ann Brennan Dalton
94 Abbott Rd.
Wellesley, AM 02181
(617) 235-6226
It is with great sadness that I write to
you about Sister Margaret Gorman's
sudden death. Sister Gorman, a Re-
ligious of the Sacred Heart, came to
Newton College in 1960. Many of
us benefited from her role as teacher,
advisor and friend. At Newton she
was head of the psychology depart-
ment, and during her years at BC she
taught in both the psychology and
theology departments. She was
highly respected in her field and
admired by her colleagues in
academia. Until the very end, Sister
Gorman was always accessible to her
students as advisor and confidante.
They responded to her great open-
ness and appreciated her care for
them by loving her in return. Any-
one who would like to write some-
thing about Sister Gorman and what
she meant to them is asked to send it
to: Sister Alice Husson, RSCJ, 55
Lee Road, Chestnut Hill, MA 02 167.
It can be a personal reflection —
something serious or humorous!
63
William P. Koughan
173-10 Eyck St.
Watertown, NY 13601
(315)785-4132
Jim Bunnell, PhD is head of a
school sponsored by the Icarda/
World Bank in Aleppo, Syria. Since
graduation, Dr. Bonnell spent four
years in Africa and 1 1 years in Eu-
rope working in international edu-
cation. He is a retired colonel of the
US Army, spending 30 years in the
active reserves. He may be contacted
at ICARDA/ISA, PO Box 5466,
Aleppo, Syria. • David Collins re-
cently became general manager of
the Glens Falls Communications
Corp., a locally-based long distance
telephone company located in Glens
Falls, NY. • Edward L. Curley re-
ceived his MBA from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in June '94.
He lives in Wethersfield, CT with
his wife Jeanne, and they have three
children. • Paul Daley is a senior
partner with the law firm Hale and
Dorr in Boston, where he is chair-
man of the firm's bankruptcy and
commercial dept. and a member of
the corporate and litigation depart-
ments. In Sept. '94, Paul retired as a
captain from the US Navy after 3 1
years of active and reserve service.
He and his wife Barbara reside in
Waban with their son Patrick. •
George Perrault's second volume
of poetry, Trying to be Round, has
been published by Singular Speech
Press in Canton, CT. He teaches at
Gonzaga Univ. in Spokane, WA,
and is the founding editor of the
electronic journal Research if Reflec-
tion. • Robert D. Willix, Jr., MD
has written a new book, Healthy at
100 — 7 Steps to a Century of Great
Health. Dr. Willix completed his in-
ternship and residency in cardiac
surgery at the Univ. of Michigan
Medical Center. He founded and
developed the first open heart sur-
gery program in South Dakota. By
blending the ancient medical wis-
dom of the East with the modern
systems of the West, Dr. Willix has
enabled people of all walks of life to
achieve the ultimate goal of good
health.
63n
Marie Craigin Wilson
10319 Grant Ln.
Overland Park, KS66212
(913)492-5030
64
Ellen E. Kane
15 Glen Rd.
Wellesley Hills, MA 02181
John Callaghan of New York died
May 5, 1994; our condolences to his
family and mother Helen. • Walter
Rossiter received the ASTM's award
of merit for distinguished service.
Walter is a research chemist at the
Institute of Standards of Technol-
ogy. • Father Jim Spillane, SJ is at
BC to enjoy his first home leave in
seven years from Indonesia. Father
has published two books on the In-
donesian economy. • The School of
Ed.'s '64 women's luncheon was a
grand success; Mary — (I mean
Murray) Regan was there and pro-
vided us with gifts of silk flowers and
white wine! What a sweetie is
Murray!!!!!!! We have a great pic-
ture of us girls with the
"Heartthrob!" • George Saulnier
sent in the following information
(thanks, George!):WalterJ. Arabasz
has a PhD from Cal. Tech. He lives
in Salt Lake City and is a professor of
geophysics at the Univ. of Utah,
where he is helping to organize a
national seismologic observation
network. Pasquale De Caprariis
has a PhD from Rensselaer. He is a
professor of hydrology at Indiana/
Purdue Univ. in Indianapolis. Jo-
seph Jackimovicz has an MS from
the Univ. of Missouri-Rolla. After
graduate school, Joe served in the
US Army Corps of Engineers in
Korea and then as a geologist for
state agencies. He has changed ca-
reers and is now a boatman near Bar
Harbor, ME. Randolph J. Martin
III has a PhD from MIT. Randy
lives with his wife Therese in Ver-
mont (they have four boys), heads a
small rock mechanics research lab,
and teaches part-time at BC. Gre-
gory J. McCarthy has a PhD from
Penn. State. He lives in Fargo, ND,
is head of the geosciences dept. at
ND State Univ., and is active in local
choral groups. Dermis W. O'Leary
also has a PhD from Penn. State.
Dennis lives with his wife Christina
and their two girls in Evergreen,
CO. He works for the US Geologi-
cal Survey on the Yucca Mountain
nuclear waste repository project. He
spent several years at Woods Hole,
where he was once on assignment to
the bottom of the sea in the Alvin
deep-sea research vessel. George
Saulnier, Jr., PhD lives with his wife
Mary in Austin, TX. The Saulniers
have three boys scattered over the
country. George works for
INTERA, Inc., which specializes in
hazardous and nuclear waste prob-
lems. What an impressive group of
geology grads! • John Granara is
currently practicing law in Medford
Square. You can find John in Sec-
tion D during the upcoming football
games! John, my son Marty is a DA
in Maiden. I trust you'll keep your
eye on him and make sure he's be-
having! • Please send news or I'll
have to fill up the column with my
old jokes. Trust me — you'd rather
read news.
64n
Susan Roy Patten
1 36 North Inverway
Inverness, IL 60067
(708) 358-8897
Margot Butler Kirsis writes from
NYC: Susan Roy Patten returns
next edition as class correspondent,
meanwhile sends along this note: Jill
Schoemer Hunter and Dennis are
proud grandparents — twice! The
oldest of their four sons had his sec-
ond child, a boy, named after Jill's
father who turned 80 shortly after
the birth. The Hunters live in
Saratoga, CA where Jill is on the
school board and has been for quite
a few years, including a term as presi-
dent. • Thank you for the kind notes
I, Margot, received after the publi-
cation of the address directory. Sue
Bellanca Walsh has recently wit-
nessed the marriage of her first-born,
twenty-eight year old son. He and
his wife will be living in Salt Lake
City. Sue, who has a career counsel-
ing practice and corporate training
business, and her husband Jack, a
pediatrician, live in Alamo, CA. •
Pat Rice is the religion editor and a
writer on classical music for the St.
Louis Post Dispatch. She is also active
in AASH and a faithful correspon-
dent to this reporter. • Mary Cricket
Liebert Coleman sent a note from
Washington, DC — what a treat to
hear from you! • Sheila Chip
Donahue Boes sent thanks from
Wayland, but she gets to visit her
son and daughter-in-law in my
neighborhood, the Upper West Side
of Manhattan, occasionally. What a
small world. • Carol Sorace Whalen
also sent a note and is a regular
attendee to our NYC area get-
togethers. • On that note, I partici-
pated in the first reception for
Newton College alumnae during the
91st St. Reunion Weekend, which is
an annual spring event. Some of us
in the NYC area have decided that
the time has come for us to get to-
gether, and the Convent of the Sa-
cred Heart 91st St. graciously
provided the setting. I learned among
other things that BC has a very well-
organized career network, and that
Newton College alumnae are en-
tirely welcome to join. If anyone
cares, the presence is overwhelm-
ingly masculine and for that reason,
particularly interesting and unique
for some of us. For instance, one
Newton College alumna met her
husband there, OK? As for me, I
have been happily married for 22
years and I would be more interested
in the career aspect. My career could
certainly use a boost! • Directories
were returned from Mary Jane
Collins Aquilar, Patricia
Hanrahan Loewen, Marcia
Murphy, Janet Regan and
Bernadine Moore. Anybody else
out there want to play detective? I
am slowly plodding through our class
list provided by BC one last time to
catch lingering errors. I thank all of
you for giving me the opportunity to
get to know you once more. • Susan
Roy Patten, back to you.
BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES 1 7
CLASSES
65
Patricia McNulty Harte
6 Everett Ave.
Winchester, MA 01 890
(617)729-1187
The 30th reunion has come and
gone; if you didn't return to the
Heights for it, you missed a wonder-
ful time to renew old friendships.
Our committee did a great job of
planning a very casual, fun event.
Special thanks to Judy Nisius Hagan
for Saturday's Duck Tour and lob-
ster dinner at the Chart House, with
a bus return to BC. The weather was
perfect for a tour of Boston on these
unique vehicles, the highlight being
a ride on the Charles with classmates
taking the wheel. We returned to
BC for a moving memorial Mass in
St. Joseph's Chapel. Ed Duggan,
with help from Jack O'Toole, Jack
Fidele and Jim Hartnett, planned a
eulogy with a slide presentation of
our deceased classmates. Following
Mass we proceeded to O'Connell
House for more talk and a great
evening. Pops on Friday evening was
also enjoyable, with new conductor
Keith Lockhart appreciating his BC
audience. • Steve Colucci writes
from Riverside, CA that his only son
Michael is a star place-kicker at Riv-
erside Poly High; he hopes to make
the BC team as a walk-on. Steve is
the medical director at three nursing
homes and has his own medical prac-
tice as well. His wife, Marie '66, runs
the Dept. of Nursing at Riverside
Community College. • Congratula-
tions to Mindy Nicoloro, who
teaches in Cambridge. Mindy has
taken a leave of absence to continue
her studies in education administra-
tion at BC. Her research for her
doctoral dissertation, dealing with
the implementation and retention
of innovative television programs,
led to her induction into Phi Delta
Kappa. • Kevin Flatley is VP of the
private bankatBankofBoston. Kevin
has written a series of articles for the
Boston Business Journal. • Steve Bow-
ers has moved to Johannesburg to
be the CFO of IBM-South Africa for
the next three years. He writes that
he'll dearly miss the BC Club of St.
Louis. • Peter Femino has com-
pleted a class at BC in technical
writing and wonders if knowing the
professor, Dr. Wally Coyle, will
help his final grade. • Speaking of
Wally, he and Mary McNamara
Coyle are grandparents. Congratu-
lations! • Bette Michalski Greene
still lives on the central New Jersey
shore. She is executive director of
one of seven NJ. Perinatal Consor-
tia. Her husband Bob is a mortgage
broker for CORE States Bank. Bette
and Bob's son Tim graduated from
the US Military Academy in June;
Bryan will be a sophomore at the
College of Charleston, SC; and
Amanda is in high school. • Claire
Stacey Yee writes from Wayland
asking for prayers for her husband,
Yu Hoke who is seriously ill and, at
the time of this writing, was receiv-
ing chemotherapy. Claire would like
to be remembered to her classmates.
• Our class has received a thank-you
note from Rosemary Thomas
MacKinnon, who chaired the Sec-
ond Helping Gala this past April.
Our class wanted to donate to a spe-
cial charity as part of our reunion
celebration, and chose Second Help-
ing, feeling it was very appropriate
since our president was chairing the
event. • For all classmates who at-
tended the 30th, I'd like you to take
a minute to drop me a line. • Good
luck to Jack Connor, this year's
president of the Alumni Association.
65n
Gretchen Monagan Sterling
14 Morse Rd.
Wayland, MA 01 778
It is my pleasure to announce that
Cathie Lugar will be taking over
this column in the fall. After watch-
ing Cathie's enthusiasm and energy
working on the questionnaire and
the reunion, I know she will do a
superb job. Although I was not able
to attend the reunion, the report is
that everyone enjoyed a wonderful
evening. Forty members of our class
were present. Cathie will be writing
about the results of her survey and
about her observations at the re-
union when she begins her column.
• Midge Schmitt Schmidt won a
copy of Simone Poirier's book, and
several others purchased copies
which Cathie had the bookstore or-
der. • Suzanne Huyot Matthau
videotaped the reunion, asking two
questions: what is your most impor-
tant memory from Newton College;
and what three things do you believe
identify you as a person? She is in the
process of editing it and will sell it in
a few months at cost. • Cathie re-
ported that one of the evening's high-
lights was Maureen Crowley
Cahir's singing of "Scotch and
Soda." • Cathie has compiled a list
of former Newton College faculty
telling where they are now, which
she will be including in her mailing
of the survey results. • Pat Wolf '68
is encouraging distribution of a vid-
eotape of a 30-minute interview with
Mother Putnam five months before
her death. Information on how to
obtain this tape will be forthcoming.
• Condolences to Eileen Glynn
Carr on the death of her mother and
to Priscilla Durkin on the death of
her father.
66
Reunion
MAYI7-19-1996
Kathleen Brennan McMenimen
147TrapeloRd.
Waltham, MA021 54
(617) 894-1247
Without a doubt, the proudest fam-
ily to attend BC's commencement
this year were the Connors, to see
wife/mom/classmate Eileen Ahearn
Connors receive her master's in so-
cial work. Ever proud of Eileen was
husband Jack, former chair of the
Board of Trustees, as well as many of
her former classmates from the
School of Ed. • Another joyful occa-
sion was the evening of May 12,
when Sr. Cecilia Harrison received
the Alumni Award of Excellence in
Education. Many classmates were
on hand to congratulate Sister, who
attended BC while a nun in Jamaica,
and who has since been named prin-
cipal of a Catholic elementary school
in Alabama. Maura Buckley spent
the year after graduating in the Je-
suit missions with Sr. Cecilia in Ja-
maica. • Edward Hines,Jr. has been
elected national VP for development
of the American Heart Association.
He is a partner at Choate, Hall &
Stewart and lives in Andover with
his wife Elaine and two children,
Jonathan and Carolyn. • I received a
great note from Msgr. Tom Wells,
who is pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes
parish in Bethesda, MD. He has of-
fered to say Mass for any deceased
classmates when notified. His ad-
dress is 7500 Pearl St., Bethesda,
MD and his phone is (30 1)654-1 287.
• I also had a wonderful phone con-
versation with Jim Millea, Jr. who
was elected chair of the Board of
Trustees at Hudson Valley Com-
munity College. He is an attorney in
Rensselaer, NY; he and his wife,
Cheryl Wilcke, have four children.
Jim also notes that Ed Hockenberry
has not been well. His address is 9
Hill St., Northfield, VT. • The New
York Times of 1/12/95 featured a
full-page profile on Dick Syron,
chair of the American Stock Ex-
change. • Paul Delaney and his son
Brian visited with President Eduardo
Frei Ruiz-Tagle of the Republic of
Chile at Harvard last December.
Brian is the Chilean consular agent
in Boston with additional scholastic
activities at BC. Bob Costello is the
new president of the Mass. Academy
of Trial Attorneys. His list of affili-
ations and accomplishments associ-
ated with law and public justice is
extensive; he, his wife Janet and three
daughters live in Belmont. • Jim
O'Connor is executive VP of cor-
porate development strategy for the
worldwide interests of BBA Group
PLC, an international engineering
and manufacturing group serving the
transportation and industrial mar-
kets; their offices are in Wakefield
and London. "June 5 saw the happy
reunion of 80 classmates, relatives
and friends, who came together to
kick off the beginning of our cel-
ebration as 3 0-year graduates of Alma
Mater! We gathered in the Diamond
Room of Fenway Park for a twilight
buffet and a Red Sox win over the
California Angels. Our gracious
event chairperson was our own John
Buckley, now the VP for the Red
Sox. Thirty members of our class
were present. Christian Baird, son
of Joella and Dane Baird, will enter
BC with the Class of 1999. As al-
ways, Dane has kept our class books
in impeccable order! • Lisa Downes,
daughter of Judy Burns Downes
and Ed Downes '65, graduated from
BC in May. • Tom and Marianne
McCinnifi Torrisi live in Andover.
Tom's dental practice is in Methuen,
and Marianne is a Chapter One
teacher in Lawrence. They have
three children: Maryellen, Rosemary
and Tommy. • Paul Miles received
several postcards from Dan Healy,
who biked across the US last year.
Paul says the best was the card from
South Bend with just the score of
"The Game!" • Jack and Paula
Corbett Fedele finally managed to
get their last daughter our of high
school! In September they'll have
two children in college and the third
in law school. (Paula says they'd
hoped for a plumber in the family
but are getting another attorney in-
stead)! • We're planning a variety of
events for next year, beginning on
Sept. 15 with Pops on the Heights
and the BC-Michigan football game
and reception the next day. For Pops
tickets in Conte Forum, contact
Meggan O'Leary, Coordinator, at
(800) 767-5591. Our class has re-
served a block of tickets for both
events. Detailed news will he mailed
to you this summer. We're also plan-
ning a meeting for Thurs., Oct. 5,
1 995 from 6-8 pm at Alumni House.
All classmates are invited; call
Patty Ann Lyons at the Alumni Of-
fice if you can attend or for info. • As
I prepare news for each issue, sad-
ness seems to come more frequently
1 8 BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES
as I report the deaths of our class-
mates. Requiscat in pace. Kevin T.
Kelley of Southington, CT died
Aug. 20, 1994. He had owned and
operated his own CPA firm as well as
the Southington Monumental
Works. • Michael T. Clifford died
on Jan. 25. Mike was audit supervi-
sor for the Mass. Department of
Education. Our condolences to his
wife Marie, his six children and his
grandchildren. • Condolences also
to Denise Perron, whose mother
and father passed away last winter.
66n
Reunion
9 9 6
Catherine Beyer Hurst
49 Lincoln St.
Cambridge, MA 02141
Beth Gundlach Williams contin-
ues to pursue entrepreneurial busi-
ness opportunities in Eastern Europe
and elsewhere. During 1994, she
spent nine weeks in Poland, begin-
ning work on a five-year project for
an electronic system for interbank
transactional processing. She and her
partners are working with banks, the
central government, municipal gov-
ernments, etc. She is also buying and
selling sugar and petroleum prod-
ucts in the international arena. Beth
reports that her daughter Anne has
several clients for computer graph-
ics and promotional works. She also
does photographic work with Ron at
the auto race track where he works
with one of the race teams on week-
ends. (Ron does portrait photogra-
phy during the week.) Beth
concludes: "My life seems to be be-
ginning over since I turned 50. Yes,
now I am in the second half of my
life; it is going to be fabulous!" • Got
a note from Skeetie McCabe this
spring; she is interested in working
on a reunion questionnaire address-
ing significant and relevant issues
that we face at this point in our lives.
She's volunteered to compile and
print the results; wants to include
photos of significant moments as
well. She reports that printing is
very inexpensive in Guatemala,
where she lives. Are there two more
classmates who'd like to volunteer
to help Skeetie with this project?
You can contact her directly at the
following address (a private mailing
address which forwards her mail to
Guatemala): Caroline McCabe,
"Panajachel", PO Box 520-972, Mi-
ami, FL 3 3 1 52-0972, or call or write
to me. • This brings up reunion
planning in general: we need at least
another two or three people to vol-
unteer to take this project on for the
spring of 1996. Let me hear from
you! • On a sadder note, our condo-
lences to the family of Sister Marga-
ret Gorman, who died on May 16
and was buried from the Newton
Country Day School Chapel.
67
Charles and Mary-Anne Benedict
84 Rockland PI.
Newton Upper Falls, MA 02164
Roland Skip Loper of Franklin has
been elected internal auditor of the
Gillette Co. by its Board of Direc-
tors. Skip earned his master's in fi-
nance from Western New England
College. • Susan Donovan Redman
has been named a full-time special
needs teacher at Huckleberry Hill
School in Lynnfield. Susan received
her master's from Boston State. •
Dennis E. O'Neill was re-elected
town treasurer of Westboro in 1 993 ,
but resigned his position to become
a candidate for the position of town
coordinator. • As this is written,
Marianne Dacko Martin is cel-
ebrating her first anniversary as the
assistant principal at Norwell High.
Marianne earned her master's in
school administration from
Bridgewater State. Marianne, her
husband Tom and their three chil-
dren live in Weymouth. • Michael
Normile writes to let us know of the
passing of his father, who was a mem-
ber of BC Law's Class of '40. The
class offers its condolences to
Michael, who is a partner in the law
offices of Chaves & Normile in Falls
Church, VA. • Condolences are also
offered to the family of Bob
Wallwork. Bob was a CPA and had
worked in public accounting his
whole life, most recently with Price
Waterhouse and Altheimer & Gray
in Chicago. Bob helped with the
class treasury duties and was an avid
supporter of the class. • On a more
positive note, I am happy to report
that my co-correspondent, Mary-
Anne Benedict, earned her master's
in nursing from Salem State Col-
lege. No more nights in class or
Sundays in the library. • Dave and
Ann Kremmel Fowler celebrated
their 25th anniversary. Joining in
the festivities were Mike Ryan, Rich
Martin and Noel Schaub. • By the
time you read this, plans will be
finalized for some class events. This
year we actually have a chance to get
some football tickets. The class has
set aside some seats for the Pops on
the Heights concert on Fri., Sept. 1 5
at Conte Forum. Seats are available
in each giving category. We urge
you to attend, as all funds go to
scholarship endowment. BC's goal
is to raise over $1 million this year.
When you order your tickets, please
indicate that you're a member of the
Class of '67. Many thanks! • Good
luck to all of you who have gradu-
ates, seniors and entering freshmen!
67n
Faith Brouillard-Hughes
19MarrickCt.
Centerville, MA 02632
(508) 790-2785
Christopher Carignan, 13 -year-old
son of Jan Curry and Ken Carignan
of Boca Raton, FL, died after being
shot Feb. 1 0. To quote from Rev. Ed
Duffy's eulogy, "... let's reflect on
what Christopher brought to all of
us. Let's shake this crazy world we
live in and make it more loving and
forgiving." Keep Jan and Ken and
the rest of their family in your
prayers. • In April news reached me
indirectly of a cancer battle being
quietly won by a yet another class-
mate. • This May Sr. Margaret
Gorman died within hours of grad-
ing her last exam. Many, many col-
leagues and friends from BC, DOD,
and NCSH attended the service on
the Saturday of reunion weekend.
She was said by some to be a reunion
groupie and finally arranged for ev-
eryone to visit at the same time.
Margaret Smith '69, her niece, would
certainly enjoy receiving your favor-
ite Gorman story . . . Doesn't every-
body have one? • Adrienne Tan-
Free joined forces with Carol
O'Donaghue McGarry to get the
Washington contingent of the class
together at the NCSH Tea. Carol's
encouragement brought out Hillary
Schmitt Fennell, Nancy Birdsall,
Jane Hannaway, Donna Shelton
and Mary Lou Hinchey-Clemons.
Good job! • See you at the BC Pops
on the Heights Concert on Sept. 15.
68
Judith Anderson Day
415 Burr St.
Fairfield, CT 06430
(203) 255-2448
jBuenos dias desde Barcelona! • Joe
Basile was a participating member
at the Babe Ruth Conference, held
at Hofstra Univ., celebrating the
100th birthday of the Bambino. Joe
presented a paper, "Babe Ruth:
Baseball's Whitmanesque Hero," as
part of the Babe Ruth in Literature
segment of the conference, titled
"Baseball and the Sultan of Swat."
Joe is an English professor at the
Univ. of South Dakota. • Lt. Col.
John Kulas of Belmont was named
by the Air Force judge advocate gen-
eral as the 1994 winner of the Maj.
Gen. Reginald C. Harmon Award.
The award is presented to the out-
standing Air Force Reserve judge
advocate worldwide. He was hailed
as "an absolutely superior officer and
attorney" who "delivered top-notch
legal services to his many clients." •
Raymond Brassard was sworn in as
associate justice of the Superior
Court at the State House in Boston.
• Henry Metcalf of Walpole has
been promoted to VP of manufac-
turing by the Foxboro Co., oversee-
ing worldwide manufacturing
operations. • Dr. Robert Santoro,
professor of mechanical engineer-
ing at Penn State, has been appointed
director of the Propulsion Engineer-
ing Research Center, established by
NASA to provide graduate educa-
tion. Bob holds BS and PhD degrees
from BC in physics. • David Caven
of Holden has been named assistant
principal of Naquag School. He and
his wife Karen have two sons and a
daughter. Dave is very active in
Holden, having been a scout leader
and coach of several sports. He holds
a master's in education from Worces-
ter State and has experience in both
teaching and private sector work. •
Sheila O'Shea Melli, EdD, RN,
writes: "For several weeks this past
summer I was involved in a nursing
education project in Hanoi, Viet-
nam. Our team of five doctorally-
prepared nurses conducted a
concentrated seminar designed to
strengthen the teaching skills of re-
habilitation nursing educators
throughout the country. In addition
to the formal classroom content, we
interacted with patients and staff at
Bach Mai, Hanoi's largest teaching
hospital, and visited with rehab pa-
tients and their families in the outly-
ing communities. It was rewarding
to be part of an educational process
that, over the years, will enable the
people ofVietnam to obtain adequate
health care. This project was spon-
sored by Health Volunteers Over-
seas, a private, nonprofit
organization funded by the US
Agency for International Develop-
ment." • Art Derosiers' son Arthur
was named to the third team of the
1995 All-USA Academic Team, an
elite group of top high school stu-
dents throughout the country.
Arthur attends Barnstable High in
Hyannis. • Our third son, Matthew,
graduated from BC in May, adding
BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES 1 9
CLASSES
our 5th family member(!) to the
Alumni Association. Matthew works
in the investment banking division
of Barclays Bank in NYC. His
younger brother Andrew is now a
sophomore at the Heights.
68n
Kathleen Hastings Miller
8 Brookline Rd.
Scarsdale, NY 10583
(914) 723-9241
Ellen Mooney Mello hosted a birth-
day get-together for Barry Noone
Remley and Jean Sullivan
Burchard at her home in Rye, NY
last March. Jane Sullivan Burke
and I both commented that it seemed
as if no time had passed since our
college days. Were all your ears burn-
ing? We gossiped the night away,
trading old Newton stories. Jean
manages the Capital Grill in Provi-
dence, RI, so call her for a reserva-
tion (and TLC) if you're in the area.
It's a great place to eat! Barry's ar-
chitectural salvage company is boom-
ing. As a buyer, designer, marketing
director and CEO, she is constantly
on the go. • Pat Wolf writes that the
first of two 90-min. cassette tapes,
containing 46 Newtone songs from
the 1966, 1968 and 1970 albums, is
now available. Send a check for $6 to
her at 44 Oak St., Shrewsbury, MA
01545 if you'd like a copy. A second
tape will follow later this year. • Save
the datel The third annual Pops on
the Heights concert will be held on
Sept. 15. Proceeds from the concert
provide scholarship assistance.
69
James R. Littleton
39 Dale St.
Chestnut Hill, MA 02167
(617)738-5147
Kathleen Kelleher Furniss of
Florham Park, NJ has been ap-
pointed section legislative coordi-
nator of the Nj section of
AWHONN, the Association of
Women's Health, Obstetric and
Neonatal Nurses, a national organi-
zation of over 20,000 nursing pro-
fessionals. Kathleen is currently an
OB/GYN nurse practitioner at the
Women's Health Initiative at the
Univ. of Medicine and Dentistry of
New Jersey in Newark. She is also
employed by Drew University's
health services and is the coordina-
tor of the Domestic Violence Project
based at St. Barnabas Medical Cen-
ter in Livington, NJ. • Molly (Mary
Graville) Kelley is principal of Our
Lady of Nazareth Academy in
Wakefield. Molly previously taught
English at St. Mary's High School in
Lynn. Molly, husband Dennis and
sons Michael and Peter live in
Melrose. Michael will be a freshman
at William & Mary in Virginia start-
ing in Sept. • Mike Barry is an attor-
ney in Framingham and is also a
member of the Framingham school
committee. Mike, wife Patricia and
children Christine, 13 and Peter, 9
reside in Framingham. • Anne
DiFilippo Basiliere is a math
teacher in the Quincy public schools.
Anne and her husband Robert reside
in Hanover. • Ron Beattie is VP/
CFO at Youville Hospital and Re-
habilitation Center in Cambridge.
Ron, wife Carol and children
Michael, 17 and Kristina, 15 live in
Watertown. • I hope to see many
classmates at Pops on the Heights
on Sept. 15th on the BC campus.
69n
Patricia Kenny Seremet
39 Newport Ave.
W. Hartford, CT 06107
(203)521-8567
70
Dennis Razz Berry, Esq.
1 5 George St.
Wayland, MA01778
(508)655-1497
Congratulations to Mike Mingolelli
and the rest of the committee for a
job very well done on our 25 th re-
union. • Individual accolades might
detract from the group effort, but a
couple of special notes are in order.
First is the work of Ed Vozzella in
spearheading the effort to present a
class gift of a clock for Conte Fo-
rum— a lasting memento you should
make the effort to see. A testament
of lasting memories is the work of
Pat Mee Marvin and Nancy Wil-
son, who put together the 25 th an-
niversary yearbook. The books are
great! Thanks also to all those who
provided information. • Too many
classmates to list all, but a few notes
from my personal memory bank. •
Reunion conversation involves all
kinds of things, including, for the
first time, my getting the full story of
how I'm related to Alice Power
Heaton. Not only are we second
cousins (or something like that), but
she and her husband Bob live in
Ashland and their oldest son Timo-
thy (Cornell '97) graduated from
high school with my niece. Alice is a
nurse at the Metro West Medical
Center in Framingham. • Another
nursing grad I talked with for the
first time in 25 years was Linda
Turcotte-Shamsky, who runs the
family nursing home and lives in
Mattapoisett. Her husband Ed is
involved in similar work at a larger
facility in the same area. Linda and
Ed have four children. • Had a chance
to talk with Bill Fogarty, a cable TV
executive who lives in Atlanta with
his wife and two children. He's been
in the industry for a number of years
and has had the opportunity to live
in a variety of locales. • Steve Hanley
and his wife Teri (PhD '93) made
the long, 200-yard trek from their
Chestnut Hill home. Steve is a sys-
tems analyst at John Hancock and
Teri works for DC Heath in book
publishing. • Bernie O'Kane is an-
other proximal resident, and one
who's never really left campus. After
a .number of years in student affairs
at BC, he transferred to the human
resources dept. and enjoys it quite a
bit. • While thinking of those close
by, I'd like to mention two class-
mates I never really got to know
until this year, though they both live
in my home town. Joan O'Brien
who, after teaching for several years,
got her JD from Pepperdine Law;
she's busy raising her two children,
12 and 9, and working part-time as
an immigration attorney. • Maureen
Tully Lopez is married to a doctor
at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and
is actively involved as an AIDS edu-
cator. Maureen's three children
range in age from a '94 Georgetown
grad to a 10-year-old. • I can't get
over how many classmates were mar-
ried very soon after college and have
children in the 20-plus age range! I
guess I was too busy writing this
column back then ...» Dan
Lammon is VP of Marketing with
Fort, Inc. in Providence, RI. Dan
has remained close to campus
through sporting and other events,
has two daughters at the Heights
('96 and '98), and a son at home in
high school in Cumberland, RI. •
On Saturday night I had a chat with
George King, who is now the gifts
librarian at BC (and if your impres-
sion of the BC library is Bapst, are
you behind the times!). On Monday
morning I was among the marshals
at graduation and, due to the traffic
jam on Comm. Ave., had to walk
from Centre St. When I finally ar-
rived at Conte Forum, it was a mecca
of confusion. I was late, hpt, unsure
of where to go and certain they had
started without me. Entering that
large building through the wrong
entrance, the first person I saw was
George, who was helping out with
final preparations. He calmly left his
post, walked me to the correct en-
trance, and pointed out the right
door. I made it with time to spare.
Thanks, George; a tip of my top hat.
• I wasn't alone on my morning
stroll wearing formal attire. Right in
front of me was Dr. Jim Phelan, a
Dracut dentist. In fact, it was seeing
Jim walk by while I was snarled in
traffic that caused me to abandon
my wife and head out on foot. While
hot-footing it past the stalled col-
umn of cars, I passed Pat Carney,
not only a member of the Board of
Trustees but the proud father of Pat
Jr. '95. • I need to correct an error
from last time: I confused the title of
John Hughes in the last issue. John
is now the principal of Kennedy
Middle School in Natick. Sorry for
the last time, John. Second, sincere
thanks to all who found my name on
the ballot. I was elected to a term on
the Alumni Assoc. Board of Direc-
tors. I'm looking forward to it.
70n
Patricia Brum Keefe
309 Walnut St.
Wellesley, MA 02181
(617)237-3268
Our 25th reunion was certainly a
wonderful event. One sentiment
heard over and over was, "Girls of
the class seem happier and friend-
lier, and everyone enjoyed getting
re-acquainted. The weekend was too
short! " Teresita Manalic Jose trav-
eled from Saudi Arabia and com-
bined the reunion with daughter
Gina's graduation from Mount
Holyoke and a trip to Ann
McDermott's country house in up-
state NY. Her son George came from
California, and we who remember
him as a baby saw first-hand that 25
years is a long time. I'm proud to say
that my three freshman roommates
made it to the reunion. Ann
McDermott, Lynn McCarthy and
Chris Couglan also showed up for
the event. Lynn lives in the family
homestead in Newjersey and Chris
is in western Mass. doing high school
guidance counseling. Muriel Daly
Schumacher is also doing guidance
counseling, but in Essex, NH. It was
great to visit with Muriel's son
Bobby, who just completed his fresh-
man year at BC, and son Kurt, who
is beginning his senior year at
Harvard. Nine of my children were
20 BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES
privileged to sing at the Mass on
Sunday and were able to meet Ryan,
Connor and Coleman Chamberlain,
sons of Miceal and Nancie Sullivan
Chamberlain. Ryan will attend
Wesleyan in Sept. and son Miceal
has already graduated from
Dartmouth. Nancie and Lauree
Gallagher Laliberte work together
remodeling and decorating homes
in the greater Boston area. Nancie
was very enthusiastic about their
work. The highlight of Saturday
night's class party was the mini con-
cert presented by Kathy Sheehan,
Kathy Cronin LaTourelle, Katchy
Clarke-Pearson, Joan O'Callahan,
Sheila Crowley Sullivan and Lois
Cartnick. Their rendition of "But-
ton Up Your Overcoat" and "San
Francisco Bay" were tremendous,
bringing back great memories. • Pat
Wolf '68 has put together the firstof
two 90-min. cassette tapes contain-
ing 46 Newtones songs from 1970,
1968 and 1966 (14 of 16). This tape
is available by mail for $6 (including
s&h) from Pat Wolf, 44 Oak St.,
Shrewsbury, MA 01545. The sec-
ond tape will include the 1 96 1 , 1 964
and all of 1966 albums, and four
songs by the Veydlers, to be com-
pleted by Reunion '96. Speaking
first-hand, the first tape is fabulous
and not to be missed. The Keefe
Family Singers are already humming
the tunes and are very impressed
that Mom's friends can sing so well.
• While we're in a musical vein, I
encourage all to attend Pops on the
Heights on Sept. 1 5 . This gala event
raises thousands of dollars in schol-
arship assistance to qualified stu-
dents who wish to attend BC — truly
a worthwhile activity. • I'm actually
writing this column as I attend my
husband's 25th Harvard reunion.
We've moved practically our entire
family into the dorms, and some of
our children are in activities with
some of Barbara Cook Fabiani's
daughters. Barbara and her husband
Jim are attending the reunion from
the DC area; Katchy Clarke-
Pearson, husband Dan and children
Emily, Mary and Michael are also
here. Katchy, a pediatrician in
Chapel Hill, NC, has a son Don who
lived in the Hardy dorm last year as
a freshman at BC. • I have lots more
news — stay tuned to class notes!
Once again, many thanks to Bar-
bara Coveney Harkins and An-
drea Moore Johnson for organizing
and planning an awesome event.
71
Reunion
MAY17- 19*1996
Thomas J. Capano, Esq.
2500 West 17th St.
Wilmington, DE 19806
(302) 658-7461
We're beginning our 25th reunion
year. Our kick-off event will be on
Sept. 16 when the Eagles meet
Michigan on the "new" Alumni
Field. Our reunion committee has
also scheduled an event for the
Christmas Chorale on Dec. 8. Watch
your mail for details! • Fred Willis
is developing a chain of restaurants,
Willy's Texas BBQ, in the Boston
area. His son Drew, who was present
at our graduation at the age of 2
months, graduated from BC in 1 993 .
His son Brett is a student at Trinity
College. • John Loretz is director
of public relations at Mass. School
of Law. He formerly served as direc-
tor of communications for Physi-
cians for Social Responsibility and
directed press and fund raising pro-
grams at the Boston office of the
World Society for the Protection of
Animals. • Michael Tocci and his
wife of 2 1 years, Marlene, are the
proud parents of 2 -year-old Margaux
Hayley. Mike writes that his
daughter's birth was a significant
event in their lives "since it took so
long to get to this point." He contin-
ues as president of Carrera Graphic
in Newark, NJ. • Mike Franco is
VP for development and public af-
fairs at Rhode Island School of De^
sign where he manages development,
communications and alumni rela-
tions. He was previously associate
VP for university development at
the University of Rochester, and held
similar administrative positions at
BC from '86-'90. Mike and his wife
Susan have a 14-year-old daughter,
Lauren. • Robert LeBlanc was
elected executive VP of Elf Atochem
in Feb. '94, and is responsible for the
fine chemicals and industrial chemi-
cals operations of the company. He
lives in Bridgewater, NJ with his
wife Margaret and their two daugh-
ters. Prior to joining Elf Atochem in
1984, he was director of sales and
marketing for the special products
division of Rhone Poulenc, and ear-
lier held various marketing and busi-
ness management positions with
M&T Chemicals and Morton Inter-
national. • Ubaldo Bezoari is a VP
for Citibank, Paris where he is in
charge of Citibank's business with
financial institutions in France. He
holds an MS from MIT and previ-
ously worked for Citibankin Britain
and Canada. • Tim Gens is senior
director of government relations for
the Mass. Hospital Association; he
manages MHA's Boston office,
working closely with state govern-
ment officials on health care issues.
Tim previously served as assistant
general counsel to the MBTA. In his
1 1 years there, he was director of
policy, planning and inter-govern-
ment affairs as well as director of
development and public affairs. He
also has 12 years of consulting expe-
rience and strategic planning and
management. • Jim Dunn writes
that he, Rosalie and their two daugh-
ters, Marissa, 19 and Lauren, 16,
now live outside of Toronto since
being transferred by his company
from New Hampshire two years ago.
Jim works for a German company,
Heidelberg, which manufactures
printing presses. He started with
them in 1977 in Denver. Both of his
daughters were born in Colorado.
They moved to San Francisco in
1980 and lived there for 10 years
until the transfer to Dover, NH. He
notes that while attending a BC bas-
ketball game with a group of alumni,
his daughter remarked that every-
one looked the same from the top —
bald. He would be happy to hear
from college friends visiting
Toronto. • Robert Longden was
elected president of the Worcester
County Bar Association last year.
He is a partner in the law firm of
Bowditch & Dewey in Worcester,
where he is chairman of the Real
Estate Practice Area. He is a past
president of the Legal Assistance
Corporation of Central Mass., Elm
Park Center for Early Childhood
Development and Rainbow Child
Development Center. He is a fellow
of the Mass. Bar Foundation, a mem-
ber of the Board of Delegates of the
Mass. Bar Association, and a trustee
and life member of the Worcester
Bar Association, where he has served
on the executive committee since
1991. He is also a member of the
Emergency Medical Care Advisory
Board of the Mass. Dept. of Public
Health and has lectured at UMass
Medical School on liability issues in
pre-hospital emergency care. Rob-
ert and wife Joanna have two chil-
dren, Timothy, 13; and Carolyn, 10.
71n1
Reunion]
MAY17-19*199 6
Georgino, M. Pardo
6800 S.W. 67th St.
S.Miami, FL 33143
(305) 663-4420
It was marvelous to hear from Jane
Hudson, who lives in Connecticut
with spouse Don and children Jed,
12 and Catherine, 8. Jane has a
freelance business, Moving Words.
She continues to publish her works
in various magazines and newspa-
pers. She also offers workshops in
writing. This summer Jane received
her second master's degree in liberal
studies, with a humanities major,
from Wesleyan Univ. In keeping
with Jane's apparent schedule of a
degree every 20 years, we look for-
ward to her next report in the year
2015. She does report a rather curi-
ous feeling during her American
History in the '50s and '60s class. It
seems there were only two people in
the class who were alive during that
period. Jane states, "Now in addi-
tion to studying history, we are his-
tory." • The last time I heard from
Anne Butler she lived in Pennsyl-
vania. (Previous letters had post
marks from CO and NY.) She wrote
Jane from Germany where she is
living with spouse Carlos and chil-
dren Marcos and Elena. She is still
working for Mary Kay cosmetics
international. Jane wonders if she
might be driving one of those pink
Mary Kay cars, a Mercedes perhaps?
• Jane also heard from Pat Chiota
who lives in Singapore with her
spouse Rick and their daughter
Kendra. They return to the US ev-
ery year in the summer, and Patty
comes to Connecticut to visit and
catch up. • To commemorate the
25th anniversary of Earth Day, I
coordinated construction of an ur-
ban park in downtown Miami. We
took an empty lot and turned it into
a garden landscaped with native
plants. Brittle Star Park has a two-
story high, 200 feet long mural on
one side and an 80 foot-long brightly
colored Brittle Starfish in the middle.
The starfish snakes its way up the
mural and can be used as a bench or
a playground. The project was a
wonderful community effort.
Mother Earth has already expressed
her gratitude since we already have
birds and butterflies visiting the site.
• My thanks to Jane for all the news
on our classmates.
72
Lawrence G. Edgar
530 S. Barrington Ave., #110
Los Angeles, CA 90049
(310)471-6710
This was about to be a very sparse
column until I got a long letter from
Joe Ahearn. He reports that he
played in the alumni game on May 6,
pitched two shutout innings, and hit
a triple off coach Moe Maloney. No
BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES 2 1
CLASSES
classmates were there, but former
teammate Paul Santilli '75 was. Joe
has a software consulting company
in Gloucester and lives in Manches-
ter- by-the-Sea with his wife and four
children. He formerly lived in Paris
and was a friend of Joe Armbrust '65,
a lawyer and survivor of the World
Trade Center bombing. He's seen
classmates Norm Spitzig, a country
club manager in Cincinnati, Bill
Haggerty, an investment banker in
Cleveland, and Jeff Plum, a lawyer
in Baltimore. • Dick Mucci has been
promoted from chief actuary to
COO for the Paul Revere Insurance
Group in Worcester, where he's
worked since earning his "master's
degree in math from BC in 74. •
Kevin Shannon is back to his law prac-
tice in San Francisco after a 3 -week trip
to Italy in April.
72n
Nancy Brouillard McKenzie, Esq.
7526 Sebago Rd.
Bethesda, MD 208 1 7
We join with all members of the
Newton College and Boston Col-
lege community in praying for the
repose of the soul of Sister Margaret
Gorman, RSCJ, who died suddenly
on May 16. • On Palm Sunday, Eva
Sereghy '71 hosted the Second
Springtime Tea for Newton Col-
lege Alumnae of the Washington,
Maryland and Virginia area. Atten-
dance was outstanding as Newton
alumnae gathered for a wonderful
afternoon catching up with friends
and meeting other alumnae living in
the Washington area. Joining us
again from Boston were Joanne
McCarthy Goggins '75, our repre-
sentative in the BC Alumni Office;
Rosemary Stuart Dwyer '58, and
Carol Donovan Levis '63, one of the
two Newton College representative
on the board of directors of the BC
Alumni Association. Eva, Adrienne
Tarr Free '67, the committee mem-
bers, and Penny Brennan Conaway
'63, our own Newton alumna ca-
terer, deserve a big thank you for the
success of the tea. Shelly Noone
Connolly, Lisa Kirby Greissing,
Kathy Fogarty and I represented
our class at the tea. Shelly stopped in
before running to a mother-son din-
ner at Georgetown Preparatory
School. Lisa existed on a cucumber
canape for two days after the tea as
she and Ed nursed a son through an
emergency appendectomy. Lastyear,
Kathy missed the tea and decided
that nothing was going to prevent
her from coming this year. • In Jan.,
Phil Lader, head of the U.S. Small
Business Administration, spoke to
students and faculty at BC. • Con-
gratulations to Anne Brescia and
Brian Connell on the birth of An-
thony Gabriel last June. Two weeks
before Anthony's birth, Anne and
Brian moved into their home in
Medford. • Margaret Beany
Verdon wrote that her husband Ri-
chard Byrnes just finished the phar-
macy program at St. John's
University and is now studying for
his boards. As always, Beany contin-
ues to be busy with her private clini-
cal psychology practice and her work
in an elementary school, and yet
managed to begin ice skating les-
sons! Beany is very thankful for the
prayers offered for her sister Jane
'64 who miraculously battled men-
ingitis last fall. • Congratulations to
Vance Bonner, who just returned
from a national 27-city tour for her
book on her technique to correct
poor posture and its effects, The Vance
Stance, with appearances on "CBS
This Morning" and CNN. • BC Night
at the POPS on Sept. 15 will benefit
the scholarship fund and will be a
wonderful opportunity to meet with
Newton alumnae.
73
Joy A. Malone, Esq.
16 Lewis St.
Little Falls, NY 13365
(315) 823-2720
fax: (315)823-2723
Hello classmates. Did you make it
through the spring in one piece?
The Malones had Tess's Confirma-
tion, Jane's 10th birthday, Rob and
Joy's 20th Anniversary, and Will's
high school graduation — not to men-
tion a shower and wedding (Rob's
nephew), track meets, tennis
matches, spring concert, piano re-
cital and sports banquet during the
spring. It sure was a busy time. How
about you? • Received a nice fax
from Jack Woods. Jack recendy ran
into Ken Nelson at a Bishop Feehan
High School hockey game. It seems
they both have daughters attending
that school. Ken is the superinten-
dent of the Bridgewater Correctional
facility. Jack has retired as a com-
mander in the Naval Reserve after
20 years of service. Since he left
active duty (submarines), he has
worked for Stone and Webster En-
gineering Corp. in Connecticut and
Texas. For the last few years Jack has
been back in Boston doing work on
international projects for his com-
pany. In the fall, Jack's daughter will
be attending UMass Amherst.
Tempus Fugitjack wrote. We agree!
• HMS of Newport, Inc., which owns
and manages three rehabilitative care
facilities in southern Rhode Island,
has announced the appointment of
Jeanne B. Stowe, RN, MBA, as
director of program services. Jeanne
has had a 20-year career in health
care that includes extensive experi-
ence in nursing management and
rehabilitation programs. At HMS,
Jeanne will direct all activities relat-
ing to subacute care programs at the
three HMS facilities. HMS has 286
beds and annual revenues and assets
exceeding $13 million. At HMS, an
interdisciplinary, team-managed re-
covery program is provided for those
patients needing personal transi-
tional medical care or brief rehabili-
tation after an illness or injury.
Nearly three-quarters of HMS's sub-
acute care patients are discharged in
about 30 days. Keep up the good
work, Jeanne! • Did you know that
for the past two years, BC has spon-
sored a concert which raises mucho
money for their scholarship endow-
ment? That's right, I am talking
about Pops on the Heights, which
will feature conductor Marvin
Hamlisch, the Boston Pops Orches-
tra and the BC Chorale. They have
raised over one million dollars over
the last two years, and have given out
six Pops scholarships. Eight more
scholarships will be awarded in the
next few months. This year's goal is
to raise one million dollars over and
above the cost of the concert. Cor-
porate and benefactor packages are
being sold as well as individual tick-
ets in order to achieve this goal. So
where do we all fit in? What part can
the class of '73 play? If you are free
on Sept. 15 and wish to attend the
concert, then call 1-800-767-5591
for more information about buying
your tickets. A corporate donation
from a member of our class would be
super. • Read any good books lately?
I wanted to see what all the fuss was
about, so I waded through The
Celestine Prophecy. Did you catch "The
Langoliers"? Sorry, Stephen, but it
was way too long. Now I think our
class should take votes on guilty or
not. Call, write or fax me, OJ watch-
ers, and cast your ballot. The results
will be discussed in the next column.
73n
Christine A. Hardiman
1 6 Prospect St.
Hyde Park, MA 02 136
(617)361-4524
74
Patricia McNabb Evans
35 Stratton Ln.
Foxboro, MA 02035
74n
Beth Docktor Nolan
693 Boston Post Rd.
Weston, MA 02 1 93
Reunion 1994 news notes continue —
the news is dated, but better than
another empty column! • Jean
O'Leary and husband Mark Goffrey
are living in Pelham Manor, NY and
recently bought a summer home in
Nantucket. Jean is a corporate writer,
and Mark is an entertainment law-
yer. They both had a great time at
the NCSH reunion and are looking
forward to many more. • Kathy
Renda Flaherty and husband
Michael are still living in Millis.
Michael is a self-employed CPA, and
Kathy is assistant principal at
Mansfield High School. They have
two children: Katie, 10 and Michael,
1 3 . 'Johanna Ferry Laadt and hus-
band Jack are in the process of mov-
ing from NYC to Remsebus, NY
with their son John, 4. Jack is in the
reinsurance consulting business. •
Trisha Keogh Almquist and hus-
band Glenn live in Rumford, RI with
children Meredith, 15; Rachel, 12;
and Jenny, 9. Trisha is back to full-
time teaching in a 9th grade learn-
ing-disabled class in E. Providence,
and Glenn is an environmental con-
sultant in Providence. Trisha also
coaches Little League. • Robbie
Grassi Magee and Michael are liv-
ing in Rochester, NY with children
Jay, 17 and Genevieve, 1 5 . Robbie is
a VP at Saatchi; her clients include
"Good Morning America, "Viacom and
Lifetime TV. • Chris Mafo Gre-
gory is living in Seekonk with
Meghan, 15; John, 12; and Caitlin,
8. Husband Jay is the commissioner
of Little League in Seekonk. • Chris
Crowley Fitzpatrick lives in Milton.
• Gloria McPike Tamlyn lives with
her husband Ralph in both
Westchester and NYC. Gloria is VP
of communications for Georgio
Armani Fashion Co. Gloria and
Ralph were expecting their first child
in Oct. '94. • Cathy Comerfor
Smyth lives in Milton with husband
Peter and children Nancy, Thayer,
Colin and Kathleen. • Elise Brad-
ley and children, ages 18, 13 and 7,
live in Wellesley.
22 BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES
75
Hellas M. Assad
149 Lincoln St.
Norwood, AAA 02062
Our 20th reunion, which was as suc-
cessful as the committee had hoped,
has come and gone. Thankyou, com-
mittee members, for putting together
a fine reunion at Lyons Hall. It was
a fun-filled evening of renewing ac-
quaintances, great food, music, a
clever magician, and, of course, non-
stop photo opportunities for every-
one. • Here are what some of our
classmates are doing and where they
are living. • Patricia Niwi'Jacobson
Overton and husband Carl live in
Baldwinsville, NY with their four
children. • Louann Privitera has
advanced in her nursing career and
lives in Buffalo, NY with her hus-
band and three children. • Mary
Rose Noonan Delaney is back to
teaching in Newton. • Joe Trad is
an attorney with the firm of Lewis,
Rice & Fingersh in St. Louis, MO.
Joe and his wife have five children. •
Classmates Jay and Jill Irwin Garvin
reside in Westwood with their two
daughters. • Thank you, Judy Bow-
man Healey, for the colorful and
festive decorations. Judy, her hus-
band Richard and young son Bo live
in N. Walpole. Judy is director of
the Etiquette School of Boston,
where she teaches etiquette to chil-
dren and adults. She'd love to hear
from you at (508) 668-6619. • Also
seen circulating at the reunion were
Kathy Bannon, Patricia Casey, Su-
san Darveau, Dolly Dipesa, Patricia
Flood, Mary Kane, Janet Kiely,
Maureen Murphy, Lorraine
Montuori, Nancy O'Sullivan,
Kathleen Ring Corcoran, Kathleen
Donnelly Betts, Kate Murray, Sheila
Roche, Marie White, Bill Donovan,
John Gauthier, Mike Hugo, Jack
Irwin, Ray Julian, Ardie Klement,
Peter Lawlor, Dave LeShane, Mike
Morgan, Shawn Sheehy, David Tho-
mas and Jeff Wright. • Very special
thanks to Ann Thompson of the
Alumni Association for her behind-
the-scenes diligent efforts. The 20th
reunion was rewarding, as the turn-
out was better than anticipated.
Please keep in touch, as the 25th is
not that far away and we hope for an
even greater turnout. • Jayne
Saperstein Mehne (who was also
my classmate at Norwood High)
wrote to tell me about a mini-re-
union of the Mod 18 gang on April
Fool's Day. It was a warm-up for the
real thing on May 20. Jayne lives in
Shrewsbury with husband Chris
Mehne 74, Law 77, son Jeffrey and
daughter Julie. Jayne, a former spe-
cial ed teacher in Boston, is a man-
ager with Discovery Toys, selling
educational toys, books and games.
Jeff and Tricia Jordan Graeber
live in Quincy with sons Justin, Ryan
and Adam. Jeff is a partner with the
law firm of Boland, Frank and
Graeber, while Tricia is the firm's
administrator. Karen Maguire
Reeves is a 4th-grade teacher in
Boxboro; she and husband Dana live
in Lunenburg with sons Jeffrey and
Brian. Judy Rainha Whitney and
husband Bob hosted the party at
their home in Winchester, where
they live with sons Robbie and Chris-
topher and daughter Jeana. Judy runs
her own aerobics school and stays fit
by jogging, exercising and teaching
from morning 'til night! Jayne,
Tricia, Jeff, Karen and Judy expected
to continue the reunion celebration
with Mod-mates Ann Broderick
Nieskins and husband Jack, Judy
Forlenza Wesley and Suzanne
Cadieux Eastman at the big event
on May 20! • Leslie Visser, a pio-
neer among women sports journal-
ists, now with ESPN and ABC
Sports, gave the main address at the
1995 commencement exercises at
Elms College in Chicopee. She re-
ceived the Outstanding Woman
Sportswriter in America award in
1983 and twice was named the New
England Newswoman of the Year.
In 1988, Leslie joined CBS Sports
on a full-time basis, having served as
a feature reporter in 1982. For CBS
she covered the NBA, college bas-
ketball and football, major league
baseball, US Open Tennis, and gym-
nastics, bobsled and luge at the 1992
Winter Olympic Games. In addi-
tion, Leslie has been on NFL Today
since 1990. In 1992 she became the
first woman to handle the post-game
presentation ceremonies at the Su-
per Bowl. Leslie is married to sports-
caster Dick Stockton and they live in
Boca Raton, FL.
75n
Deborah Melino-Wender
HOChamplinPl. N.
Newport, Rl 02840
76
Reunion
MAY17-!9»1996
Gerald B. Shea, Esq.
lOGreaton Rd.
W. Roxbury, MA02132
The Reunion Committee has met
twice since the last epistle, and things
seem to be going quite well. We've
been graced with the input of several
76ers who now have the time to
plan what we all hope will be a memo-
rable 20th Reunion. Has it really
been that long? When I see the chil-
dren of classmates, the answer is
always a resounding affirmative. It's
still not too late to get involved with
the scheming and planning, so all
are invited (again) to contact this
writer with your thoughts about the
reunion. What have you liked in the
past? What do you think we would
all enjoy at this phase of our lives?
The Reunion Committee has au-
thorized a (hopefully) representa-
tive survey of classmates in order to
make our 20th a wonderful time. So,
please, take the time, drop a line, and
let us know what you're interested in
doing, because not everyone is being
surveyed. • On Sept. 1 5 , Pops on the
Heights returns for a third year. A
BC scholarship fundraising event, it
has been extremely entertaining; this
year's goal is to raise one million
dollars. If you like great music and a
great cause, contactMeggan O'Leary
at BC, 617-552-2234. • Ria
Antonetz advises that she and eight
BC roommates combined for a
"Forty isn't Fatal" mini-reunion,
apparently at a Marriott Hotel, given
the stationery. Here's the scoop:
Janice Clover Burke lives in Natick
with husband Peter and three "ter-
rific kids" — Danny, 7; Kaitlyn, 6;
and Michael, 2. Donna Gaynor
Cambria is assistant superintendent
of schools and resides in Windsor,
CTwith husbandjoe and son Bryan,
8. Kathy Powers Haley spent time
in England, but home is now
Harvard, along with husband Steve
and children Matthew, 7; Cortney,
6; and Christopher, 2, who is bring-
ing up the rear. Lynn Sterett lives
in Edgewater, NJ and works in NYC
(The Big Apple) for Estee Lauder as
associate broadcast director for the
corporate division. Carla Falento
Lepke, "the carpool queen of N.
Andover," has three munchkins:
Eric, 11; Kirk, 9; and Brianha, 5.
Husband George is also on site. Janet
Nako Andreo and (my old Welch
Hall pal) Andy Loren Andreo live
in West Simsbury, CT with their
lovely brood: Andy, 13; Melissa, 11;
Meghan, 9; and little sisterMichelle,
5. Andy owns and runs Andy's Su-
permarket in Simsbury. (Hey, Andy,
how's Mo doing?) Karen Chiacu
lives in Bristol, Rl, where she serves
as director of professional services
for Caldre Tech. She's often seen
floating in her boat, "Kalalla." Fi-
nally, the aforementioned Ria
Antonetz and husband Bob
Battaglia live in Simsbury, CT with
their two boys: Matthew, 6; and Billy,
2 . Bob is corporation insurance man-
ager for Locktite Corp. in Hartford,
CT. (Thanks, Ria! See how much
info, one can get from one infor-
mant? Any more stool pigeons out
there?). • He's a sole man (do, do
,do, do, do)! Our own Charles
Duczakowski has been named di-
rector of business systems develop-
ment at Thom McAn Footwear.
After graduation, Charles completed
graduate studies at Clark Univ.,
earned a certificate from the Insur-
ance Institute of America, married
Wanda Stakutis (not necessarily in
that order) and moved from W.
Roxbury to Uxbridge. • Peggy
Ring-Moynihan, ever the
Celticphile, criticized BC's inten-
tion of honoring Maggie Thatcher
last May. The Iron Lady's schedule
was too full, she couldn't show, and
that's all we really need to know!
77
Mary Jo Mancuso Otto
256 Woodland Rd.
Pittsford, NY 14534
(716)383-1475
I hope you are all having a wonderful
summer! This column brings news
of Mary Keenan Besser, a School
of Nursing graduate. Mary and her
husband Gary live in Newington,
CT. They became first-time parents
in Oct. '94 with the birth of twin
sons, Daniel and Scott. Congratula-
tions! Prior to the birth of the twins,
Mary was working in a hospital out-
patient department as a clinical man-
ager. Her husband Gary is chief of
finance for the U.S. Small Business
Administration in Hartford. The
godmother of Mary's sons is class-
mate Carol McCarthy. Carol lives
in Newton and works for WBZ ra-
dio. • I know there must be job
promotions, career changes and fam-
ily news out there amongst the class
of 77, so please write. There is a
three-month gap between issues, so
if you don't see your news immedi-
ately, please be patient. I send in any
and all news I receive.
78
CathleenJ. Ball Foster
1 5 1 05 Cedar Tree Dr.
Burtonsville, MD 20866
(301)549-3211
CathyBC78@aol.com
BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES 23
CLASSES
79
Laura Vitagliano
78 Wareham St.
Medford, MA 02 155
Michael Downey was elected presi-
dent of O'Connell Engineering &
Financial and O'Connell Properties.
His responsibilities include all
project development activities and
the overall management of the real
estate portfolio of the company. He
received his law degree from West-
ern New England Law. • I'm sad to
report the following: Ann
McSweeney's infant daughter,
Ximaro, died suddenly on April 26
in Managua, Nicaragua, where Ann
teaches at the American School.
Please remember Ann, her husband
Mark and their child in your prayers.
• Pops on the Heights has asked me
to mention a concert which features
Marvin Hamlisch, the Boston Pops
Orchestra and the BC Chorale on
Sept. 15. This concert raises funds
for scholarship endowment. For
more info., call (617) 552-2234. • As
you can see, my mailbox has been
empty! Please help!
80
Jay Geary
1 1 Pond St.
Needham, AM 02 1 92
(617)449-9212
I would like to invite all classmates
to continue the good time enjoyed
by all at our reunion last May by
attending Pops on the Heights on
Fri., Sept. 15. This concert, which
features the Boston Pops Orchestra,
raises money for much needed schol-
arships and really deserves everyone's
support. Watch for additional mail-
ings about this event or contact the
Development Office at (617) 552-
2234.1 look forward to seeing fellow
classmates at this event. • Thanks
again to all the members of our class
reunion committee for their efforts
in putting together a successful re-
union weekend. The members of
the committee included: John
Annese, Anne Baccari, Bob Bejoian,
John Carabatsos, Larry Casey,
Demse Clifford, Steve Daley, Anne
Marie Fallon, Bruce Ginsberg, An-
drew Glincher, Gary Houle, Lynn
and Brian O'Connor, David Pirani,
Brian Sullivan and Rosemary Traini.
• Now for the updates: Timothy
Perkins was appointed VP of mar-
keting for Segue Software, Inc., an
automated software testing company
for client/server software applica-
tions located in Newton Centre. •
John O'Neill has joined Golden
Bear International as corporate mar-
keting manager for Jack Nicklaus
Marketing Services, where he will
be representing Golden Bear prod-
ucts and services to the corporate
marketplace. He and his wife Amy
are living in the New York area. • It
was great to see everyone at the
reunion. Please send me a note or
give me a call so I can pass along your
updates to the class.
81
Reunion
MAY 17 - 19 • 1 99 6
Alison Mitchell McKee, Esq.
c/o Hunton & Williams
P.O. Box 3889
Norfolk, VA 235 14
(804) 640-5329
Congratulations to Ralph Picardi,
who was named a partner early this
year with the law firm of Burns &
Levinson in Boston. Ralph practices
in the area of business litigation. He
and his wife Diane reside in Belmont
with their three children: Christo-
pher, Robert and Emily. • Joy
Haywood Moore was appointed
director of development and alum-
nae relations at Dana Hall School in
Wellesley. Joy graduated from the
independent boarding and day
school for young women in grades
6-12 in 1977 and served as a member
of its Board of Trustees. Joy will be
responsible for all development and
alumnae programs, special events,
reunions and other alumnae and
donor activities. She will also over-
see all external publications and pub-
lic relations. Joy and her husband
Robert have two children, Christo-
pher and Amanda. • Rick Nunez is
a partner with the law firm of Klar,
Piergrossi & Nunez in Bronx, NY.
He has a short commute from his
home in New Rochelle, where he
lives with his wife Susan and four-
year-old daughter Julia. • Anne
Kavanaugh was named executive VP
and head of NatWest's North
America Equity Division, NatWest
Securities in New York. She is
charged with managing the firm's
U.S. research, sales and trading op-
erations. • Congratulations to
Domenic D'Intino who was re-
cently promoted to principal engi-
neer at Digital Equipment Corp. in
Nashua, NH. Domenic and his wife
Karen both completed the Boston
Marathon in April. It was Domenic's
twelfth Boston Marathon and
Karen's second. Domenic sends his
regards to his roommates from Mod
3A and friends from South Street,
especially Rob Wilson, his wife Kim
and daughter Nicole who live in
Trumbull, CT; and Tony Gray, his
wife Judy and sons Anthony and
George who live in Boxboro. • We
have lots of news of babies this quar-
ter!. Best wishes to Lee Slap and his
wife Laurie on the birth of their
second son, Andrew Quay, in March.
Andrew, William (age 2-1/2), Lee
and Laurie live in Belmont. • Robyn
Kaminski Greene and husband
Chris were blessed with their second
son, Connor Philip, on April 8. He
joins his brother Cameron who is
three. • Jeannie Driscoll Howard
and husband Joe have two daugh-
ters, Kara Elizabeth, who was born
Aug. '93 and Elizabeth Jean, who
was born Dec. '94. Jeannie resigned
from her position at Fleet Bank after
the birth of her first child and is
enjoying being a full-time mom. The
Howards live in N. Attleborough. •
Congratulations to my roommate
Mary Ryan Kusiak and her hus-
band Tony on the birth of their
fourth child, Caroline, in Jan. The
Kusiak clan lives in Springfield. •
Best wishes, too, to my good friends,
Bob Shea and his wife Julie, on the
birth of their third daughter, Laura
Catherine, in April. Laura joins her
big sisters, Molly and Annie, in
Westwood. • I am also delighted to
report the birth of Brae's and my
third child, Thomas Braxton McKee,
Jr., born May 20. His big sisters, Alii
and Katheryn, are thrilled with the
new addition to our family.
82
Lisa M. Capalbo
49 Maplecrest Dr.
Greenville, Rl 02828
Ellen Edelman married Josef
Franklin last Sept. They spent two
weeks in Tahiti and Bora Bora. Ellen
is a national account manager for the
Ross Products Division of Abbott
Laboratories. They live in Alexan-
dria, VA. • Denise Prenosil Stack
and husband Ed announced the birth
of their fifth child, Mary, last Dec.
They recently moved to Pittsburgh.
• Ann Marie Jasse and husband
Bruce Fram became parents of a son,
Nicolas Regan, who joins brother
Benjamin. Ann Marie is a business
re-engineering program manager at
Apple Computer. They live near San
Francisco. • James Connolly mar-
ried Janet Keating last Sept. in
Stoneham. James received a master's
degree in management from
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He
is a project engineer at Earthtech in
Concord. The Connollys reside in
Ayer. • John Simoneau recently
became a partner in the New En-
gland Financial Services practice at
KPMG, the international public ac-
counting & consulting firm in Hart-
ford, CT. John lives in Farmington
with his wife Mary Jane and their
daughter. • Bill Merrigan an-
nounced his candidacy for Town
Moderator in Holbrook. He and wife
Linda have three children: Brian,
Kyle and Emily. He is a partner in
the Braintree law firm of Merrigan
& Merrigan. • News arrived from
John Foo Feudo in western Mass.,
who wrote of his recent promotion
to Associate Chancellor for Univer-
sity Relations at UMass-Amherst.
He's still responsible for alumni re-
lations, but also assumes the leader-
ship of the public relations, university
and community relations efforts. Foo
has spent the past two seasons as a
member of the UMass basketball
radio broadcast team. • Congratula-
tions to Bruce Pearl and his Univ.
of S. Indiana basketball team, who
won the Division II national cham-
pionship this year! As always, thanks
for the update, Foo. • Jennifer Pline
and husband Hans Dettgen an-
nounced the birth of their daughter,
Hannah Louise, last Dec. Jennifer is
a VP and portfolio manager at
Standish, Ayer & Wood in Boston. •
Bill McGuire wrote that he received
a BSEE from Northeastern Univ.
He is a member of the Naval Re-
serve and was sent overseas for Op-
eration Desert Storm. Bill works as
an IS manager for Subfina Machine
Co. He lives in Warwick, RI with his
wife Susan. • Congratulations to
Dave and Bev Hayden Canavan on
the birth of their daughter, Drew
Anne. • Joe Blood is a municipal
bond trader with Baybank in Bos-
ton. • Marcy Granata and husband
Tom Currier recendy returned to
NYC after spending a few years in
LA. Marcy is in PR for Miramar
Pictures in NY. Welcome home! •
Congratulations to Dorie Kraweic,
who married Billy Cusick last April
in Darien, CT. Diane Miller served
as an honor attendant. Dorie and
Billy live in West Roxbury.
83
Cynthia J. Bocko
71 Hood Rd.
N. Tewksbury, MA 01 876
(508) 851-6119
Gloria Mastrocola Gavris and hus-
band Lee had a baby boy, Michael
24 BOSTON COLLEGE AXUMNOTES
Achilles Gavris, on Dec. 10. Gloria
is an attorney and lobbyist for the
law firm of Coyne, Kennedy & Kerr
in Boston and was recently named to
the board of directors for the Make
a Wish Foundation of Greater Bos-
ton. • After eight years as in-house
counsel with Liberty Mutual Insur-
ance Co., Susan Grondine is now
counsel for ITT New England Man-
agement Co., a reinsurance asset
management group. Susan is at 150
Federal Street in Boston and would
love to hear from area alumni at 6 1 7-
526-7720. • Margaret O'Connell
is a software GUI development en-
gineer at Iconics in Foxborough.
Margaret was also a volunteer for
Rosie's Place (a shelter for homeless
women and children) and served for
two years as its president. • Russ
Joyner, general manager of Fox Hills
Mall and former professional foot-
ball player, received the Los Angeles
Area Council Boy Scouts of America
Vincent T. Lombardi Hall of Fame
Award for his contributions in sports,
community involvement and dedi-
cation to improving the lives of in-
ner city youth. Congratulations,
Russ! • Alison Guiney married
Bryan Sweeney and resides in
Hingham. • Sally Hill Deehan and
husband Alan proudly welcomed
their third child, Caroline, on Feb.
10. Sally and Alan live in Montclair,
NJ with their other children: Allison,
5; and Billy, 3. • Sue Kenneally
Walton and husband Michael wel-
comed their first child, Jenny, on
Feb. 16. Sue and Michael live in
Concord. • Irene Sullivan Herrera
and husband James announce the
birth of Maureen Teresa, born May
10. Irene and James reside in Avon,
CT, and Irene manages personal
lines specialty markets for ITT Hart-
ford, CT.
84
Carol A. Baclawski, Esq.
29 Beacon Hill Rd.
W. Springfield, MA 01089
(413)737-2166
On January 1, Ed Rabasco became
a partner in the Lewiston, ME law
firm of Gosselin & Dubord, PA.
The firm's name has been changed
to Gosselin, Dubord & Rabasco, PA.
• Kirk A. Carters has become di-
rector of the Worcester law firm
Fletcher, Tilton, Whipple, PC. His
practice includes corporate, com-
mercial and immigration law. He is
involved in community affairs in his
hometown of Southboro, where he
serves as chair and elected member
of the Board of Assessors and as
chair of the music committee of Pil-
grim Church. • Philip Cate
Huckins was named an adjunct fac-
ulty member in the dept. of educa-
tion of Merrimack College, and is
currently a PhD candidate at BC.
He also recently published an ar-
ticle, "Selections From an Air Force
Memoir," which appeared in the
Salem State College faculty journal
Sextant , and presented a paper en-
titled "Broken Vows, Broken Ar-
rows: A Critical Analysis of the
Federal Government's Off-Reser-
vation Boarding School Program,
1879-1900," at a conference at the
Univ. of Nebraska-Omaha. • John
T. Holtquist, Jr. is a teacher at
Hawkey Bluff Elementary School in
Davie, FL. • Tom McNeice has
been promoted to principal of Camp,
Dresser & McKee's design/build
subsidiary, CDM Engineers & Con-
structors, Inc. Tom is an environ-
mental technology specialist,
responsible for industrial and pub-
lic-section hazardous waste clean-
up projects throughout New
England and the mid- Atlantic states.
He resides in Needham. • Navy Lt.
Cmdr. Ann-Marie Looney is cur-
rently stationed in Norfolk, VA and
flies a Sea Knight helicopter. Most
recently she was deployed aboard
the amphibious assault ship, USS
Wasp, while it operated in the Carib-
bean and off the coast of Haiti. She
flew missions in Haiti for two-and-
a-half months. Next on her agenda
is the command of a seagoing de-
tachment of the Sea Knight • On
January 19, Mary Ellen Quigley
Breen and husband Mike '78 wel-
comed their first child, a son, James
Michael. They live in Westfield, NJ.
• On Feb. 14, Melissa Baker and
husband Wayne Chou had a special
valentine, their first child, a daugh-
ter named Lindsay Louise. • Beth
Scott Widner is currently living near
Boulder, CO with her husbandjames
and their son Payden, 2. Beth works
at Denver Children's Hospital. She
would like to hear from Carolyn Y.,
Kim A. and Donna Z.
85
Barbara Ward Wilson
32 Saw Mill Ln.
Medfield, MA 02052
(508) 359-6498
The reunion party at McElroy on
May 20 was a great success with a
huge turnout. In addition, there were
quite a few classmates at the after-
noon cookout — with many, many
children. • Steven Fachada is living
in London and received his MBA at
London Business School in July.
Steven is planning a career in mu-
seum administration and will read
for a master's degree in art history at
Courtauld Institute in London. •
Billy and Kathy Reilly Britt were
missed at the reunion, but they were
quite busy with a new son who was
born in early May, joining brother
Sean, 2 1/2. The Britt family has
recently moved to Chicago. • Diane
Dahlquist Farina is a labor and de-
livery nurse at Brockton Hospital.
Diane and husband David have three
children: Jaclyn, 5; and twins, David,
Jr. and Allison who were born in Jan.
"94. The Farinas live in Duxbury. •
Mimi Barrett Bouchard and hus-
band Bob had a new baby, Victoria,
in Feb. • Nancy Schneibly Jones
and her husband had a son, Airus, in
June '94. • Bob and Sara McCarthy
Casassa welcomed son Matthew
Francis in July '94 and are living in
Hampton, NH. • Angela Rella
Manning missed the reunion for a
very special reason. . . John (Jack)
Manning rV was born on May 18,
joining sister Allie, 2 1/2, who thinks
he is great. • Caroline and Dave
Smalley were joined by their first
child, Madeline Quincy, on May 7.
The Smalleys live in S. Pasadena,
CA. • Maria Cachi Ramos is living
in Madrid, Spain and in Sept. started
as financial controller for Hard Rock
Cafe in Madrid. • Mike McDonald
and his wife Dinah '94 (master's in
adult health) were joined Feb. 27 by
Thomas Patrick McDonald II, who
is named after his grandfather— BC
'57. Mike is VP of Thomas P.
McDonald Insurance Agency, Inc.
in Quincy. • Lynn Desantels
Gallandt and husband Bob are liv-
ing in Long Beach, CA with their
daughter Madelane, 3. Lynn works
part time as a bilingual teacher in
Lennox, CA. Lynn continues to be
pleasantly surprised that even on the
West Coast she works with and meets
BC grads! Lynn would love to hear
from Laurie Moran Light and
Jeanne D'Olivera. • Mark and
Grace Bergdahl McNamara live in
Boston. Mark is VP and general
manager of Boston Photo Imaging,
a digital imaging archival company.
He received his MBA from UNH in
'93. Grace is director of marketing
and public relations for Boston Cen-
ter for Adult Education. • Mark
Yamazaki recently began to publish
a magazine for handicapped people
in Japan, Active Japan, which pro-
vides information on products avail-
able for handicapped people. In
addition, Mark started a company to
import American-made wheelchairs
five years ago. It is the first company
to be successful in importing and
marketing wheelchairs from the US.
• Bob O'Brien, his wife Cathy and
son Robert Emmett O'Brien III are
living in Duxbury. Bob works for
Merrill Lynch. • Ann Renehan is
living in Norwich, CT with her son
Mark, 6, and works as a substitute
teacher. • Martha Bagley gradu-
ated from New England School of
Law in May. She passed the Mass.
bar exam and is practicing law at
Bagley and Bagley, PC in Boston. •
Alec Petro is living in Paris and
working for Banque Nationale de
Paris Derivatives Trading Business.
• Sue and Jim Ferrara live in Milton
with their sons, AJ and Joe. • Con-
gratulations to Scott and Mimi
Mannle Humphrey on the arrival
of Elizabeth on May 24, 1994. • Pat
'82 and Resie Carney Flaherty live
in Milton with Ian, 6; Heather, 2 1/
2; and Meredith, who was born in
April. • Greg Perez is practicing
dentistry in Nutley,NJ. •Since leav-
ing the US Marine Corps in '92,
Dan Murner has been practicing
insurance defense lawwith Landrum
& Shouse in Lexington, KY. Dan,
his wife Beth and children Edward
Teddy William, 4 1/2; and Kelly
Elizabeth-Anne, 2 live in Lexing-
ton. • Nancy Gonsalves is living in
Colorado Springs and works and
travels with the US Olympic Com-
mittee. • Patrick Clifford is living
in Woburn, working as a credit ana-
lyst at Lifeline Systems in Cambridge
and is working towards an MBA at
Bentley College. Pat says hello to
Kevin Convery and wants to hear
from him. • Frederick Steeves, his
wife Kippy and two children are liv-
ing in N. Attleboro. Fred works in
sales for Catalink Direct and is won-
dering what ever happened to Glenn
Fontaine? • Lewis Madley earned
a master's in biology in '89 and is
working as director of laboratories
for New Haven Health Department.
• Mary Kate O'Donoghue O'Mara
is living in Oak Park, IL with her
husband and four children. After
teaching college writing and litera-
ture courses at a local community
college, Mary Kate is now teaching
high school. • Laurie Blauvelt Cook
is living in San Francisco and has
been working for Sun Microsystems
in marketing for five years. • Steve
Orzell and wife Mimi live in Suffern,
NY. Steve is a district sales manager
for Abbott Laboratories in NYC. •
After three years of practicing law in
Hartford, CT, Rob McAndrew has
relocated to NYC and is working as
a financial advisor with Prudential
Securities. • John Phelan is cur-
rently a hematology/oncology fel-
BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES 25
CLASSES
low at Univ. of Alabama/Birming-
ham. • See you at Pops on the
Heights Sept. 15!
86
Reunion
M A Y 17 • 19 • I 9 9 6
Karen Broughton Boyarsky
34 Powder Hill Road
Bedford, NH 031 10
One of our beloved classmates, An-
drew Docktor, was recently
awarded the Young Alumni Achieve-
ment Award. Doc is a homeless shel-
ter liaison to Hope House in
Milwaukee, WI. His work in edu-
cating homeless youth is an inspira-
tion to us all. Congratulations, Doc,
we're so proud of you and your mis-
sion. • The mail has been steady and
I appreciate it! Carolyn Morrissey
Lemone sent a lovely birth an-
nouncement for her daughter
Margot. Carolyn, husband Scott and
daughters Katherine and Margot live
in Greenwich, CT. • Hi to Elissa
Rearing O'Hara, who wrote with
news of her new baby, John.
Congrats! She also informed me that
Carolyn Boldry Weiby welcomed
their new baby Hannah in Decem-
ber. • Hi also to Rob McLafferty, a
vascular surgeon in Oregon. He
sends his best to all BC friends! •
Anne Marie Meyers Miller is the
proud mom of Kelly and new
brother, Andrew! • Andrea Gagne
Pierce, husband Brian and two little
ones, Kevin and Margaret, recently
moved to Andrews AFB, where Brian
will do his medical residency in fam-
ily practice. Andrea would love to
hook up with any classmates living
in the Maryland/DC area. She hopes
to pursue a master's in museum edu-
cation. • Dave and Karen Smith
live in Morristown, NJ and are the
proud parents of a new baby, Gerard
Clancy. Congrats to the Smiths! •
Martha Lee was married recently to
Dave Slocum '85 and lives in
Scituate, where she is a teacher at
the Mass. Hospital School. She will
soon begin a graduate program at
Wheelock. Jenny Miller Rand and
Ruth Fusco both attended the wed-
ding. Ruth has completed her MEd
at Harvard. • Rev. Mark O'Connell
has recently completed his first term
as a priest at St. Barbara's Parish in
Woburn. He's now on his second
term at St. Mary's in Danvers. All
the best with your new assignment!
• Congrats to Bob and Margaret
Leighton who have a new baby,
David, who joins two-year-old An-
drew! Bob is the VP of Norcross and
Leighton Insurance in Lowell. •
Greg Licholai recently graduated
from Yale Medical and will begin his
residency in neurosurgery at
Harvard — at both Children's and
Brigham and Women's. He and his
wife Charlotte live in Brookline.
Congrats and good luck, Greg! • Hi,
Tricia Casey Sullivan! Tricia writes
that she and her husband Tim have
a new baby, Kevin, and that they live
in Bristol, CT. Tricia works at Hart-
ford Hospital in the pediatric inten-
sive care unit. She reports that
Cheryl Wade Murphy has a new
baby, Katherine, and lives in
Stoneham. • Kerri Moroney mar-
ried Jimmy White last fall; they live
in Georgetown. • Maureen Walsh
Giggey has another new baby, Alex,
who joins two-year-old Matthew; the
family lives in Dunstable. • Bruce
and I (and of course Michael, 5 and
Katherine, 3) ran into Vinnie
Sylvestri and his family at Burger
King. (We usually don't go there
without the kids!). Vinnie and his
wife have a beautiful daughter and
Vinnie works for Digital in
Merrimack, NH. • Jose R. Andrade
is now the AHANA Alumni Council
VP. He encourages all AHANA
alumni to contact him through the
Alumni Association, (800) 669-843 0,
and reconnect with friends from BC.
Jose's wife, Vilma Rodriguez
Andrade '85, received her master's
in moderate special needs at BC in
May. They have two children,
Claudia, 7 and Ricardo, 3. Good
luck with your post, Jose! • Want to
know how high-tech I am now? You
can now e-mail me at
boyarsky@aoI.com!
87
Catherine Stanton Rooney
343H Bolivar Street
Canton, MA 0202 1
(617)821-0746
Hi! Another football season is upon
us already. • As you may have no-
ticed, there's been a slight name and
address change up above. After re-
porting so many weddings, I finally
get to write about mine! I was mar-
ried on May 20 at St. Ignatius to my
college sweetheart, Sean, by my
cousin, Fr. Jack Hanwell, SJ '78.
Molly Martin and Julie Stamos
were two of my bridesmaids, and
some of our guests were Dave and
Shawn Curren Widell (Dave just
signed on with Tom Coughlin's Jack-
sonville Jaguars), Rob Sabella, and
Eric and Laurie Quint Slifka . I've
also left the beer business and am
now working as the Mass. on-
premise manager for Bacardi-Mar-
tini, USA (Bacardi Rum and Martini
& Rossi products). • Karen
McKenzie and Mike Gorman were
also married on May 20, and they're
living in Middleton. Some other
weddings to report: Gerard Frost,
Jr. was married to Jennifer Matthews
by Rev. Edward Hanrahan, SJ, and
they're living in NYC. Kathryn
Horton married Daniel Caldicott
in July '94. She's a sales manager at
Pitney Bowes, and they live in Con-
cord. Robert Burke III married
Kelly Ann Barrett in July '94. He's
employed by Star Market, and they
live in Plymouth. Stephen Masiello
and Suzanne Swain were married in
June '94. Steve is the regional direc-
tor at Trust Fund Advisors, and
they're living in Winchester.
Kathleen MacDonald and Will-
iam Murray, Jr. were married in
June '94. William is a business con-
sultant with MetLife Corp., and
Kathleen received her master's from
Yale. Sharon McCarty married
David Fitzgerald last summer.
Sharon attends Suffolk Univ. Law
School and is working at Sullivan,
Sullivan and Pinta. Steven O'Brien
wed Erin Drakeley '89 in June '94.
Steven is a branch manager of US
Telecenters in San Francisco where
they are now living. Christine Fettig
was married to Timothy Dever last
fall. She is a registered nurse, and
they are living in Woburn. Michelle
Casavant married Timothy Ber-
nard, and she's employed at
Children's Hospital in Boston. •
Kathleen Koen wrote in with this:
Ellen McDonald Muller and her
husband Joe welcomed their first
child, Emily Kathleen, in Nov. •
Rebecca Rose Bocian, her husband
Frank and son Jake, 4, live in Old
Lyme, CT where Rebecca is teach-
ing. • Christine Wisleder Burke
wrote in with the news of her new
daughter Erica's birth in March. She
joins brother Matthew and dad Rick.
Christine is a compensation analyst
at Putnam Investments in Boston. •
Natalie Ricciuti Ducharme wrote
with the news of her son's birth in
April. Johnathan William was born
just a few weeks before Natalie and
husband Bill's 5th wedding anniver-
sary. She's a sales manager at AT &
T in Boston. • Paul Martin wrote in
from Santa Barbara, CA where he
owns a growing career consulting
and job s. arch assistance business. •
Mary Kenney Monagle and hus-
band Bill welcomed their first child,
Eileen, in Jan., and they're living in
Wellesley Hills. • Karen Murray
Wargovich and husband Jim are
also the proud parents of a baby girl.
Mairead Christina was born in Jan.,
and joins two others, Bridgette and
Paul. • Congratulations to Gina
Caruso who landed a great new job
with the Boston Athletic Associa-
tion as project coordinator for the
100th running of the Boston Mara-
thon. • Mark Haddad completed
his master's in creative arts educa-
tion at Lesley College, and is now
heading the music and drama dept.
at Newton Country Day School. •
Margie Campbell, RN is complet-
ing her second year at Suffolk Law.
• Gina Calise is the manager of the
actuarial dept. at Blue Cross of RI. •
Kim Machado is still working for
Marriott Corp., but has moved from
Orlando to Scottsdale, AZ. • Dr.
Paul Aswad, DMD recently opened
his own practice in Needham. •
Debbie Garcia Carey and husband
John welcomed Allison Marie in Feb.
Debbie is a foreign equities trader at
AIG Global Investors. • Nick and
Barbara Barry Gendron have two
sons, Nicholas and Kevin, and are
living in Ramsey, NJ. • Cindy Pierce
Marett has "retired" from her job as
Newton's health inspector to be-
come a full-time mom. She and hus-
band Mike have two children, Ryan
and Amanda, and they live in
Londonderry, NH. • John and
Cathy Blasi Petosa are living in
Camillus, NY with their two chil-
dren, Jay and Allison. Cathy's also a
full-time mom, while John's run-
ning the family deli business, at-
tends Syracuse Law and has his own
independent accountant business! •
See you at Pops on the Heights on
Sept. 15!
88
Kara Connell Thompson
338 Meadowview Dr.
Collegeville, PA 1 9426
(610)489-0837
Sheila McCarthy DeFelice wrote
in to let us know that she and Paul,
her husband of six years, had a baby
boy on Dec. 30, 1994 (cutting it
awfully close for that tax break!).
James Patrick weighed in at 7 lbs., 5
oz., and the three of them are living
happily in Pelham Manor, NY. •
Mary Wasmer Heuring was mar-
ried on July 3 , 1 993 to Kevin Heuring
of Point Pleasant, NJ. The couple
lives in Colorado where they own a
construction and development firm
in the Vail Valley. Mary has two
stepdaughters, Caroline and
Whitney, ages 9 and 12. • Doreen
Dantono graduated from an ultra-
sound program at Yale in 1993 and
has been employed as a clinical ap-
plication specialist with ATL since
26 BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES
January '95. Doreen is now living in
Munich, Germany and covers 2 3 for-
eign countries as her territory! So
far she loves it (who wouldn't?) and
is hoping that if any BC buddies are
in the area they'll look her up. • Eve
Rutyna was married this past Dec.
to Taso Daskalakis. Eve received
her master's in human resources
management from Emmanuel Col-
lege in May '94 and is currently
working for EG&G in Cambridge.
Eve and Taso live in Watertown.
Some of the BC classmates attend-
ing Eve's wedding included Cathy
McCarron and her husband Bert
Entwhistle '89, as well as Julie
Carrigg Charrette. Also spotted at
the wedding was Moira Clancy, who
is living in Charlestown with Ann
Kulevich. Moira is working in sales
for American Express and is getting
married this Sept. to Felix Riccio.
Other attendees at Eve's wedding
included Ellen Broderick Brock
and Kathy Brustman Rasor, who
was married to Rich Rasor last sum-
mer and is now living in Larchmont,
NY. • We received word that
Pamela Genovese Baltz and her
husband Raymond CGSOM '95 are
currently residing in Atlanta, GA. •
A BC campus wedding was held last
fall for Ellen Principato and John
McNamara, now residing in
Cohasset. Ellen is employed by Clean
Harbors, Inc. where she is a cus-
tomer service account manager. •
Also married last fall were Jennier
Deveney and Thomas Anderson.
The couple lives in Newton, and
Jennifer is working for Liberty Mu-
tual in Boston as a communications
specialist. • Hearts were breaking
up and down the east coast when
Sam Palmisano announced his en-
gagement to Victoria Evans. The
couple was married in Milton in June
and resides now in Vermont. For the
most part, "The Dorks" were present
and accounted for and a great time
was had by all! • Speaking of the
dorks, word is out that den mother
of the dorks, John Scoop Morrier,
and his lovely wife Lori are expect-
ing a baby in Nov. • Also in the baby
department, Joe and Kim Fontaine
Gindhart will have had their baby
by the time this letter is published!
Details on that one will be included
in the next issue. • It's also been
rumored that Keith and Kathy
O'Brien Longson are expecting
their second child as this column is
heading off to print. Their first,
Charles, was born last spring and by
the time we're reading this, he should
have a playmate!! We've also heard
that they've relocated to California,
so we'll wish them all the best on the
West Coast. Say hi to Rob Murray
(still in San Francisco) for us ! • Laura
Nelson was spotted at Comedy Cen-
tral in NY and is apparently living in
the City. • Dan Gilligan and his
lovely wife Jodi have moved out of
NYC and are now residing in Port
Washington, NY (on the island). •
Dr. Anne Boyd (still so hard to
believe) is living and working at a
hospital in Beverly (okay, she's not
living at the hospital, but it seems
she may as well be) where she is
doing a residency. • Elizabeth Lisa
Colpitts married Matthew Hall in
Bedford, NH in July '94. Lisa is a
special ed teacher in Pembroke, NH;
Matthew is a civil engineer. They
live in Manchester, NH. • Natalie
Renee Munroe married Leo Hill of
Newton in June '94. Renee is a spe-
cial ed teacher in Litchfield, NH.
She and Leo live in Bedford. • The
girls from Mod 43 A wrote in to let us
know what they've been up to. Stacia
Krowski married Peter Speliakos
last Aug. Mary Dwyer also tied the
knot, marrying Jack Chapin in Oct.
'93. Kendra Maisitis Condon had
her second daughter, Lauren. Kim
Moore Smith and husband Greg
have two sons, Connor and Brayden.
Chris and Deanna Sullivan Moran
bought a new home in Westwood.
Last but not least, Jackie Cox and
Michael Sly were married in May.
The girls are looking forward to
getting together over the football
season.
89
Joanne Foley
936 E. Fourth St. #3
S. Boston, MA 02 1 27
(617)464-3300
Heard from Christine Pier and
Suzanne Suppelsa with much info.
• Thomas and Christine Bracciotti
Pier were married in summer '91.
They live in Montclair, NJ and work
in NYC at Andersen Consulting and
the FDIC, respectively. • Suzanne
Suppelsa and George Zlvetti are
planning an Oct. 14 wedding at St.
Ignatius. Suzanne currently teaches
biology at Teaneck High in NJ, and
George graduated with his MBA
from Michigan this past April. •Julie
Tierney Spurr graduated from
Leslie College in '94 with a master's
in education and is currently teach-
ing in Needham. Tim Spurr is a
consultant for Parthenon. They re-
side in Charlestown. • Colleen
Borger O'Connor and husband
Kevin live in Buffalo, NY with
Murphy, their black lab. Colleen
teaches kindergarten. • Gianni and
Laura Pollock Salamone currently
live and work in Piano, TX. • Karen
Sullivan Garry and husband Joe are
busy with Katie Erin, who was born
Nov. '93. • John Skwiot continues
to work in Washington, DC. He has
recendy become a nationally-ranked
triathelete. • Matthew Ray works
for Andersen Consulting in Hart-
ford, CT. He and his wife Cio are
enjoying their baby boy Max. •
Steven Pellegrino enjoys living in
his Back Bay apartment and contin-
ues to work in public relations for
Kortenhaus Communications on
Newbury St. • Wesley and Kaoru
Numata Wenig are new
homeowners in Simi Valley, CA.
Wes, who graduated from law school
in '92, works for Michaelis,
Montanari and Johnson, a law firm
specializing in aviation-related liti-
gation. Kaoru works for a company
that imports and exports steel prod-
ucts. • Jim Massman is engaged to
Diane O'Donnell '88 and is plan-
ning a Sept. wedding. Jim works for
Fleet Bank in Boston and lives in
Charlestown. • David Meyer, wife
Karen and their daughter Caitlin
live in Kansas City, MO. David
graduated from law school in '92. •
Paul Stefanacci, MD graduated
from NJ Medical School in '93 and
is currently doing his residency in
San Diego. • John Beil and Mike
Salvato can't escape those college
days and are rooming together in
Norwalk, CT. • Joshua Plorde, MD
graduated from Univ. of Washing-
ton Medical School in '93 and is
currendy doing his residency in ra-
diology in Seattle. • Bob Savio also
graduated this year from Univ. of
Washington Med. School and will
be doing his residency in the San
Francisco area. • Tom Civitanova
graduated last year from Univ. of
Michigan with a degree in facilities
management. • Mark Donohoe
graduated from Suffolk Law School
in '94. • Kenny Alleyne works for
Bank of Tokyo in Boston. • Tim
Lopes married Jen Flaherty in July
'92. Tim and Jen recently relocated
to Dalton, GA where Tim works for
International Carpet Mills. • Mike
Darling is still out on the West
Coast. He lives in Carlsbad, CA and
works for a brokerage firm in San
Diego. • Sean Blair and his wife
Vicki live in suburban Dallas. Sean
graduated from Univ. of Chicago
with an MBA in '94. He works for
American Airlines in Dallas. •
Cynthia Recchia was recently en-
gaged to Jeffrey Graff; a May '96
wedding is planned. •Jeffrey Silvia
is working at RM Bradley in Boston.
Jeff is living in Cambridge with Ted
Anderson. • James Gasperoni is
happily married to wife Lisa and
lives in Danvers along with their
"newest edition:" daughter Rebecca.
• Michael Passanisi was married in
Oct. '94 to Joanne at the Hillview
CC in Reading. The couple resides
in Somerville. Michael recently
passed the bar exam. • Lynn
DellaPietra recently received her
PhD in clinical psychology from
Hahnemann Univ. in Philadelphia.
Lynn will be finishing her intern-
ship at Univ. of Florida and then
plans to head back to the Boston area
to do a Harvard fellowship at
Children's Hospital. • John
Wilkinson and Cheryl Home
Wilkinson announced the birth of
their first child, daughter Lindsey
Rose, born May 28. John is a senior
accountant for Gallo Wines and re-
cently sat for the CPA exam in May.
Cheryl is a human resources admin-
istrator for National Electronic In-
formation Corp. • Catherine
Garvey Welsh and her husband
Richard leftMaplewood, NJ lastyear
and moved to Kansas City, MO
where Richard is working for Twen-
tieth Century Mutual Funds. On
Jan. 28, Colin Richard Welsh was
born! Congrats! • Grace Cho is
currently working in GE Capital, a
company based in Stamford, CT, as
a manager of international market-
ing and strategic planning. Grace
has had the opportunity to travel
and work in various countries in
Europe and Asia, including England,
Sweden and Germany. Grace cur-
rently has an office and an apart-
ment in both Stamford, CT and
Tokyo. • John Horvack married
Stacy Tutino last Sept. John is an
attorney with law firm of Gager and
Henry. • Maria Joseph married
Philip Peckham last Aug. in Milton.
Maria is a business development
manager at Allied Security, Inc. •
Carol Anguilla and Eric Weissman
were married last Oct. in Newport,
RI. The couple is currently living in
Arlington, VA where Carol is an
attorney at the office of Bryan Cave.
90
Kara Corso Nelson
2 100 Dover Ct.
Windsor, CT 06095
(203) 285-8626
It was wonderful seeing everybody at
reunion weekend! There was quite
an impressive turnout of '90ers. •
Did Walsh Hall feel like a time warp
to anyone else? ! I think the fire alarms
each night really clinched it for me.
A note of thanks to our reunion
BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES 27
CLASSES
committee for their hard work in
putting it together: Maureen
Appleyard, Elise DeWinter, Dave
Flynn, Fran Forte, Willie Gartner,
Jean Graham, Jim Hickson, Tom
Nee, Mike Pimental and Debbie
Sprindzunas. There are Class of
'90 T-shirts available through the
Alumni Office; call (800) 669-8430
to order yours. Jean Graham also
wanted to thank everyone who voted
for her — she was elected to the
Alumni Board of Directors! •
Minnie Tse and Nick Husni were
married on May 6 in Boston. They
honeymooned in Disney World and
are currently living in Boston, where
they are both medical students at
BU. • Monique Choiniere, Chuck
Clapton and Paul McCullagh are
currently studying for their law de-
grees at Catholic Univ. in Washing-
ton, DC. Chuck just finished his
term as president of the student bar
association; Paul served as president
of the Federalist Society this past
year; Monique is currently on the
staff of the Health Law Journal. •
Lynnly Tydings and Philip Lynch
celebrated their first anniversary May
2 8 . Lynnly works for Catholic Chari-
ties in Washington, DC and Phil is a
special education teacher with
Chelsea School in Maryland. Lynnly
is completing her master's in theol-
ogy at Washington Theological
Union. • Since graduation,
Kathleen Straub McAuslin has
spent time in Haiti and Romania
doing volunteer work. She is pres-
endy living in Rhode Island with her
husband Jeff and newborn son Joel
and is a full-time mom. • Phil Rectra
is a corporate account manager for
Harvard Business School Publish-
ing. In his spare time Phil trains for
competition in short-track
speedskating, and fronts a cheesy
(his description, not mine!) cover
band called Organic Panic — great
name! • On Dec. 1 5, 1994 Stephanie
Tang Bartoldus gave birth to Alison
Lucy — she, baby and husband Joe
are doing fine. Alison's godmother
is Diana Winarski. • Keith Wargo
and Anne Margiloff were married
April 8 at Trinity Church in Boston.
(They met on a blind date!) John
Hefferon, Charlie Yzaguirre,
Steve Soukup, Peter Alia and Matt
Jeannerer '89 were members of the
wedding party. They honeymooned
in St. Vincent, West Indies. Anne is
a consultant with Mercer Manage-
ment Consulting. Keith has finished
his MBA at Harvard Business School;
they have moved back to NYC where
Keith will return to Goldman Sachs.
• Denise Angelo landed a great
promotion with Roll Systems in
Burlington {way to go, Dee!) and will
be going back to school for her MB A.
• Shannon Smith Brown and hus-
band Jeff live in Texas with their two
children, Tucker and Ryan. Jeff is
finishing medical school with the
US Army Special Forces and Shan-
non is gearing up for law school. We
hope they end up back in New En-
gland soon. • Larissa Castriotta
became engaged to Daniel Marshall
this past Christmas. A June '96 wed-
ding is planned — congrats, Lara and
Dan! Larissa is completing a master's
degree in Chinese at UMass-
Amherst and is planning to study in
China this summer. • Amy
MacDonald finished her master's
in education at BC and will be mov-
ing to Arizona this fall to do her
student teaching in health science
on the Fort Apache Indian Reserva-
tion at Whiteriver High School. •
Katie Spain McLaren and husband
Frank are expecting their third child!
Daniel and Meghan are eagerly
awaiting the arrival of their newest
sibling some time this summer. •
Patrick McEleney married Kesae
Ishiwa of Japan on June 11, 1994.
They live in Huntsville, AL where
Patrick works as a computer pro-
grammer for the US Army LOGSA.
They were expecting their first child
in June. • Xavier Pedroza married
Alison Hume in 1993; they have
since had twins (who are just over a
year old). They live in Boston where
Xavier is an administrator for Bos-
ton Primary Care. • Kevin Mahoney
married Karen Basta on March 1 7 in
Garfield, NJ. Sean Gavin was best
man; ushers included Mike DeSala,
Pat Patruno, Mike Foley and John
McKenzie. • Wedding bells will be
ringing for Robert Romano and
Rita DiCecca this July. Robert is a
CPA and has established his own
firm in Arlington. • Leslie Laroche
Bishop and Richard Bishop '92 were
married July 1 6, 1 994 at St. Ignatius.
Leslie is working on her doctorate in
chemistry at BC; her husband is a
fund accountant at State Street Bank
in Quincy. • On October 26, 1994
Maria Elena Nadarse lost her battle
with cancer. Our thoughts and
prayers go out to her family and
friends. She will be greatly missed.
91
Reunion
MAY17 19»1996
Christine Bodoin
55 Lands End Ln.
Sudbury, MA 01 776
I had a large response this time, so if
you don't see your info, here, it will
be in the next issue. • Martin
Hernandez will attend Thunderbird
American Graduate School of Inter-
national Management in Phoenix for
his master's this fall. • Ted Jenkin
married Gena Ranellone Oct. 9, 1 994
in Dobbs Ferry, NY. They live in
Chevy Chase, MD. Ted is a district
manager for American Express Fi-
nancial Advisors in Washington,
DC. He completed studies to be-
come a certified financial planner.
Harold H Ehrmann, D.J. Simon,
Dan Bevere, Mike Nangle and
Shaun Spencer were all at the wed-
ding. Heming Nelson was not able
to make it because he is in a one-year
program at the London School of
Economics. Tom Hines was also
unable to attend because he had a
role in his first movie, Exit to Eden. •
Annie R. Edwards married Rev.
Eric Edwards in Feb. 1993. Annie
works in marketing and corporate
communication at EBSCO Indus-
tries, an international manufactur-
ing plant in Birmingham, AL. Annie
also teaches Sunday school (grades
K-5) and travels throughout the US
with her husband as he teaches the
Word of God. • Bea Maloney re-
ceived her law degree from Univ. of
Montana in Missoula, MT, Bea mar-
ried Joel Kaleva on Aug. 13, 1994.
Pam Parker was her maid of honor.
Also in attendance were Tim
Minahan and Renee Rabeni. • On
June 4, 1994, Stephan Wronski
married Inga Usalis '90 at St.
Ignatius. Tim Morse was their best
man. Also in attendance were Tom
Penque, Matt Samson, Don Niss,
Jon Gallagher, Dina Coffman, Sheila
Finan, Savina Mallozzi, Laura
Gallagher, Laura Prantil, Dave
Delaney, PatMoran, Mike Primiano,
John Padilla, Lara SanGiovanni and
Kate Jacinto. Stephan is a buyer-in-
training at Filene's and lives in
Quincy. • Nancy Lee Wheeler was
admitted to the California bar on
Dec. 5, 1994. She graduated from
Loyola Law School and studied
abroad, both at the London School
of Economics and the London Insti-
tute of International Law. Nancy
intends to specialize in entertain-
ment law in the Los Angeles area. •
Andrew Piela and Rebecca Coo-
per were married at St. Ignatius May
28, 1994. Anna Crane was a brides-
maid. At the wedding were: Claudia
Rodriguez, Corinne Knolblach,
Maribel Custodio, David Daly, Jon
Gelber, Dana Ducharme, Ken Small,
Susan Masters and Erin Miller. An-
drew passed the New Hampshire
bar exam and works as a law clerk for
the NH Superior court. Rebecca
passed her ANCC Nurse Practitio-
ner Certification Exam and works as
an adult nurse practitioner in
Nashua, NH. • Anthony Parlato
and Kellyann Bartolomei were
married Sept. 12, 1993 on Long Is-
land. Present were Keith Solomon,
Gene Reed, Jacqueline McClean,
Tsedal Beyene, Dominique
Verdieu, Monique Acevedo and
Alycia Sarjeant. They are also the
proud parents of a baby girl, Alexis
Torri Parlato. Anthony would like
to know Kenny Norwood's '92
whereabouts. • Attending Teri and
John Spielberger's last Labor Day
on the Cape were: bridesmaids Patty
Donahue and Christine Pokoly, best
man Amue Thapar, ushers D.J.
Simon and Mark Sexton. Also, Troy
Bracher, Biz Renick, Christine Berl,
Kari Cadwallader, Kathleen Cronin,
Sarah Lev, Kerry Carmody, Jeff
Jerrier, Dan Grady, Harold
Ehrmann, Gregg George, Lois
Hanrahan, Brian Wogenson, Neil
McCullagh, Robjasminski, Jennifer
Silvernail, Sherry Rutherford, Kevin
Reid, Sean Salene, Diana Schnitka,
Drew Tripodi, Laura DeBrux,
Christopher Zoidid, Craig
Tagliamonte,andJim and Pat Wood.
• In San Francisco, Christine
Pokoly, Karen Olson, Sandy
Uribe, Lena Kim and Tara
Henwood all get together once a
month. • On Oct. 15, 1994 Katie
Bresnahan and John Ragan were
married at St. Ignatius. Kelly Biby-
Morales was a bridesmaid, and Matt
Metz an usher. Also there were:
Andy Klare, John Ravenna, Mike
Delwiche, Matt Burke, Dave Per-
gola and Roland Pritchett. • Rey
Roldan is a publicist at IRS records
in NYC. He is also a music review
editor of LOOK! Magazine and a
contributing writer for Boston Rock
and Cake Magazine. Rey still main-
tains a long-distance relationship
with Maureen Blandino in Boston.
Rey's e-mail address is
Raybee@aol.com. •JohnMontrone
is working on his MBA at Columbia.
• John Olson graduated from
Fordham Law. • Mark Sexton and
Kathleen Byrne are married and
living in St. Paul, MN. Mark is a
lawyer in St. Paul, and Kathy works
for Aetna Health Plan in Minneapo-
lis. They have assumed leadership of
the Twin Cities BC Club. • Ken
DeStephano lives in NYC. • Eliza-
beth Johnston and Jean Newell
work together as elementary school
teachers. • Fran Clorio lives in
NYC. • Peggy Morin is working on
her master's in education at BC. •
Petina Joe lives in Hong Kong. •
Kerrie Shaheen is at Georgetown
working on her MBA. • Maryann
Brennan married Thomas Dillon
March 25 in New Jersey. Peggy
Morin was her bridesmaid. • Travis
Thayer graduated from Vanderbilt
28 BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES
Law School. • Sheila Rinaldi teaches
fourth grade in W. Roxbury. •
Sheree Nuccio teaches fourth grade
in Enfield, CT. • Lisa Billings mar-
ried Robert Cerulli in July '94. They
live in Norwalk, CT. Lisa is a sev-
enth grade social studies teacher and
received her master's in education
from Sacred Heart Univ. last Dec. •
Roberta Lampoon passed the Vir-
ginia bar and is a judicial clerk for a
circuit court in Virginia. Roberta
has been married for two years.
92
Paul L. Cantello
1 30 Garden St. #3
Hoboken, NJ 07030
Drew Massey has founded a new
magazine called P.O. V. The current
issue is on newsstands now. Kramer
from "Seinfeld" is on the cover. There
are many interesting articles, like
"Where the jobs are," "Mutual Funds
you can afford " and "Choosing an
appropriate bottle of wine. " Call 212-
421-8676 for subscription info. •
Trent Janik works for J. Crew as an
assistant product manager of men's
sweaters. She lives and works in
NYC. Trent reports that J. Crew is
an exciting company to work for and
was able to travel to Hong Kong on
business. • Dina Strada has been
promoted to account rep for ABC's
affiliate relations dept. in NYC. •
Claire Kates was married in June to
a doctor she met while working as a
nurse at Brigham & Women's Hos-
pital. • Kris Hager was promoted to
promotion director at Classic Rock
94.5 KFOX in San Jose, CA. • Alisa
Picerno has been promoted to press
secretary for the State of
Connecticut's GOP. Alisa recently
purchased a piano and acquired a
family member — a new kitten. •
Chris Eidt wrote in about a recent
gathering of roommates in DC.
Dean Kueter is working for Con-
gressman Barney Frank.* Dimi trios
Angelis has been a teacher with
Teach for America in L.A. He earned
his master's degree and decided to
spend this summer teaching in Ja-
pan. Dimitiros was also involved with
interviewing prospective kids for ad-
mission to BC. • Cynthia Finley is
attending graduate school at Louisi-
ana State Univ. She will receive her
master's in social work in May '96.
Cynthia is engaged to Eric
Waguespack, whom she met at LSU.
They will marry this Dec. in L.A. •
Susan Hannifin and Maureen Wall
are roommates in San Diego. Susan
teaches at Polinsky Children's Cen-
ter. Maureen is engaged to John
Levangie of Lexington. They will
marry in the spring with Susan as the
maid of honor, and Maura Feeley,
Trent Janik, Pamela Maskara and
Mary Kate Meis as bridesmaids. •
Brian Coleman is a DJ at The
Linwood Grille (off Boylston St. near
Star Market) Thursdays from 1 0 pm
to 2 am. He spins deep funk, soul
jazz and rare groove records. Brian
also has a radio show, "Funk to the
Folks," Tuesdays from 5-6 pm on
WZBC (90.3 FM). • Ron Wessel
won the prestigious Quimby Award
from Creighton Univ. Law School
in Omaha, NE. Ron graduated with
his JD in May and is considering
relocating to Denver. • Steve
Lavelle proposed to Mary
Wasserman on March 1 7 in Toronto.
She said yes! A June '96 wedding is
planned — with many '92ers expected
to be in attendance. • Malena
Amato is finishing up her third year
at Georgetown Univ. Medical
School and still lives with Caroline
Mendoza and Tina Castellano.
Erin Graefe lives nearby and is re-
gional fundraising coordinator for
the Democratic Congressional Cam-
paign Committee. Tina is in her
third year working for Special Olym-
pics International. Caroline is the
assistant press secretary for Con-
gressman Henry Bonilla of Texas.
Ann Kurtz is in her first year of law
school at Catholic Univ. All three
roommates attended Sheila Mahony
and Steve Schlageter's wedding in
Edina, MN in April. Billy
McMurtrie, Pat Caulfield,
Brendan McGowan, Bryan
Bourke, Amy Brown, Stephanie
Sayfie and Todd Johnson also at-
tended. The couple honeymooned
in the Cayman Islands and returned
to live and work in the Seattle area.
Steve works for Arthur Andersen;
Sheila is a sales rep. for Pfizer Phar-
maceutical Co. • Michelle Korn
lives in NYC and works for CBS
news. • Kelley Noreen is in Minne-
apolis working as a stockbroker with
Dean Witter. • After a year-long cou-
rageous battle with leukemia, Kevin
Rappa passed away. He loved BC and
our prayers are with his family.
93
Alison J. Pothier
c/o BC Alumni Association
825 Centre St.
Newton, MA 02158
pothier_alison@jpmorgan.com
The class officers have already started
planning ahead for football season
by reserving Harper's Ferry for
homecoming weekend again this
year. If you're in town that weekend,
hope you can join us for a quick
reunion! • Please note the new ad-
dress to which you can mail all cor-
respondence to me. If all works out
as planned, I will be relocating to
London with my job and can be
contacted through either the alumni
office or the above e-mail adress
until my home address becomes
more permanent. If your letter is not
included here, keep an eye out in the
next article to see that they've been
forwarded and published. • Saw
many '93 classmates at the Presiden-
tial Scholars dinner sponsored by
die NY Alumni Club earlier this
year — a few representatives included:
Jose Garcia, Noelle Brogi, Mike
Ascione, Pat Lalor and Rob
Carroll. • Recently heard from
Wendy Burgess and Nicole
Choiniere. Nicole is a 3rd grade
teacher at the Commodore
Macdonough School inMiddletown,
CT and is living in Rocky Hills.
Wendy, who is currently living in
Chicago and working at the Run-
away Switchboard, will be attending
graduate school for social work this
fall. • Congratulations to Tammy
Bouda and George Doehner '94 who
are planning to marry in August of
this year . Tammy recently finished
her second year at Univ. of Ne-
braska Medical Center. • Congratu-
lations also to Carrie Malone and
Chris Rivera '94 who are planning
to marry at BC in April '96. Carrie
lives in Walpole and works for CIBA/
Corning. Her roommate, Sarah
Bintinger, is a human resource ad-
ministrator with the Mass. Co. in
Boston. • Best wishes to Mary
Orlowski and Jay Yuskis, who are
engaged and are planning a May '96
wedding. Mary is attending gradu-
ate school at Arizona State Univ. to
pursue her master's of education.
She works as a graduate assistant in
undergraduate admissions at ASU. •
Congratulations to Laura
Maniscaleo and Damon DeLise,
who were engaged in January and
are planning a March '96 wedding.
Laura received her master's in envi-
ronmental management and Damon
works for Andersen Consulting in
NJ. • Heard from JP Plunkett, who
recently joined the Boston office of
Cushman & Wakefield as a com-
mercial real estate broker. He also
writes a monthly column for Eagle
Action covering BC sports. • Kelly
Johnson graduated from Boston
Univ. in May with a master's in sci-
ence in occupational therapy. She
works at the Mayo Clinic in Roches-
ter, MN as an intern in physical
rehabilitation while working toward
her certification in occupational
therapy. • Kathy Cammarata re-
ceived a university fellowship from
Ohio Univ.'s Scripp's School ofjour-
nalism and will continue on in the
master's program this June. She also
let us know that Ellen Gallagher is
the editor of a local newspaper in
Buffalo. • Heard from John Kim,
who is living outside of Washing-
ton, DC. After spending time work-
ing as a marketing consultant at an
advertising firm, he has decided to
change career directions. John is now
heading off to Virginia Tech to study
accounting and information systems.
• After graduation, John Snoey trav-
elled throughout Europe for two
months and spent the next year es-
tablishing his own construction com-
pany in Oregon. He is now doing
consulting work for Ernst & Young
in Chicago. • Mike Burke and Jenny
Osborne '94 are engaged and plan-
ning a July wedding. Congratula-
tions! • Heard that Louis Tirino is
living in Norwalk, CT where he
now works as a consultant for Hewitt
Associates. • Lorajakubczak is cur-
rently working at the Italian Home
for Children in Boston. She would
like to extend a hello to her previous
roomates: Michele Egan, Chris
D'Ellesandro, Stacy Stecher and
Kara Heffernan — all working in San
Francisco. #Monique Laflamme
Hapgood is living in Honolulu, HI
attending a pediatric specialty nurs-
ing course at Tripler Army Medical
Center. She and her husband will be
moving to Tacoma, WA where she
will work at the Madigan Army
Medical Center once she has com-
pleted the course. • Heard from Ja-
son Raia, who is currently living in
Allston while working on his master's
in philosophy at BC. He works as a
full-time youth minister at St.
Joseph's Parish in Medford. •
Phoebe Loyer is working toward
her master's in social work at UPenn;
word has it that, though she enjoys
PA, she misses life in Boston. • Con-
gratulations to Tom Hickey and
Jennifer Sarnie who were married
on July 9. Tom is working as a his-
tory teacher in a high school on the
South Shore. • Congrats also to
Robert Drapeau, who received his
master's in Anglo Irish studies from
Univ. College, Dublin, Ireland.
BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES 29
CLASSES
94
Alyce T. Hatem
208 South Ann St.
Mobile, AL 36604
Brian Falvey is entertaining another
football season; however, this time
he was behind the scenes. He had
the opportunity to be the first former
mascot to judge the Eagle Mascot
tryouts. Hey Brian, tell us your se-
cret! • Derek Hughes was appointed
to marketing trainee for Janssen
Pharmaceutical, NJ in Jan. After a
year of training he will become a
sales rep. • Christine Leonard
joined World Teach in Feb. and is in
Costa Rica teaching English. • We
have some more JVC updates: this
list just keeps getting longer and
longer. Keith Haig is in Anaheim
working with the homeless, trying
to find them transitional housing.
Maria Haggarty is in East L.A.
teaching physical education. Dave
O'Toole is in L.A. teaching history
in an alternative high school. Debbie
Carrasquillo is living in Manhattan
Beach, CA and working with home-
less and mentally handicapped
women. • BC grads just don't like to
leave Boston. Here goes it. Mark
Viveros is a fund accountant and
recently took his CPA exam. Good
luck, Mark. Sharon Friedman is a
high school math teacher. Jim Kelly
is working at Tower Records.
Carolyn Healy works at Sun Life of
Canada as a programmer for indi-
vidual systems development. •
Cheryl Hockman and Paul
McNamara work at KATZ radio.
They love their jobs so much they
are planning to get married in June
'96. • The New England Patriots
have a new star with them. Katie
Delay is in the Foxboro offensive
line office. Jerry Caruso is working
for Arthur Andersen. John Burns is
at Merrill Lynch. Katie Rollins is
working part time as a shoe shiner in
downtown Boston and for the Visit-
ing Nurses' Association on the week-
ends. Matt Finte is working at a
bakery in the North End, with aspi-
rations to have one of his own one
day. Ann Highland and Jen
Phillippe work at Fidelity. Mike
Spalla has returned from playing
hockey in Italy and is also working at
Fidelity with Ann and Jen. Andy
Mahar is a high school hockey ref-
eree. Tom Ryan was promoted to
senior account executive with
Baybank, Inc. Meredith McNeilage
is working for Furman Selz. Tara
Goshco, Ann Brisetle and Andrea
Palermo are living together and
working in Boston. BenD'Agostino
and Jerry Spencer are living in
Medford and working in Boston. •
Melissa Mastriani is living and
working in Norway. • Brian Saxton
and Steve Marciano are playing
baseball for Moe Maloney's '95 BC
team. • Stephanie Nakielny was a
contestant in the Miss Rhode Island
Beauty Pageant on April 22. Hope
you did well! Please tell us the re-
sults. • Chrisy McLain is working
in Australia at the Consulate. • Brian
Delaney has taken a leave of ab-
sence from Coopers and Lybrand to
pursue a singing career in NY. •
Chris Woody Accardo and his group
the "Reitions Brothers" were sched-
uled to tour ten cities in the Midwest
this summer. Cooll • We still have
some folks who are attending school.
Rich Alcock will attend Harvard
Law School in the fall. Michelle
Damian is attending law school at
American Univ. Gaew Phadungchi
is a medical student at Georgetown
Univ. Antonia Moser is a grad stu-
dent studying English in Nashville,
TN. • Jenny Osborne called to let
us know she's engaged to Mike Burke
'93. AJuly weddingis planned. Con-
gratulations! • John Joyce is cur-
rently skating in Disney on Ice's
production of "The Lion King. " •
Charlotte Altmeyer is living and
working as a nurse in Charleston,
SC. • Dennis Thornton is a finalist
for MTV's Real World production
in London. • Martha Lynch has
recendy moved to NYC and Kelly
Mulcahy is working at Lord Abbet
Mutual Funds in NYC. Melanie
Prusinki is working for Price
Waterhouse. • Jack Callahan has
finished his season in the East Coast
Hockey League and will be training
as a franchising associate for
McDonald's • John Driscoll has
moved to Honolulu to train for the
Ironman Triathlon. • Connie
Cicolini is opening a new office for
the company she is working for.
Good luck, Connie!
EVENING
COLLEGE
Jane T. Crimlisk '74
416 Belgrade Ave. Apt. 25
W. Roxbury, MA 02 1 32
Jeremiah J. Lonergan '55 informs
me that on Dec. 24, 1994, Channel 7
showed "Christmas in Massachusetts, "
an animated Christmas story. The
voices of Santa and The Snowman
were Jerry's. • Jerry Long '62 re-
tired last Sept. after 3 3 years of teach-
ing— 32 in the Norwood public
schools. Jerry's sister, wife, two
daughters, and one son-in-law are
all BC grads. • Gerry Harvey 79's
daughter Kristen will enter BC in
the fall. His daughter Carol Ann will
receive an MS in nursing in '96 and
his wife, Ginny, who works at BC as
a librarian, will receive a BA in '97. •
Susan G. Robinson '85 was elected
an officer with Paul Revere Insur-
ance in Worcester. Susan received a
law degree from New England
School of Law. She is a member of
the Mass., Worcester and American
Bar Associations and is a Worcester
Legal Services volunteer. • I met
Walter Sullivan '64 and his wife
Joan at Pops on May 19. Walter
expects to retire from the Federal
Reserve Bank in Oct. Walter and
Joan have three sons: John, Ed and
Jim. They are proud parents of a
daughter Gourtney, born April 26. •
Condolences are extended to the
family and the Sisters of St. Joseph
on the death of Sister Mariona
Hurley '45. Also, condolences are
extended to the family of Dorothy
Devlin '53. May they rest in peace.
GA&S
Dean Michael A. Smyer
McGuinn Hall 221 A
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA 02 167
(617)552-3265
Karen Hassey Dow, nursing '92,
PhD '94, is a recipient of both the
Oncology Nursing Society (ONS)/
Schering Corp. Excellence in Can-
cer Nursing Research Award and
the ONS/Upjohn Co. Quality of
Life Award, which were presented at
the Society's 20th Anniversary Con-
gress in April in Anaheim, CA. Dr.
Dow is a cancer consultant in
Melbourne, FL. • Robert J.
Gerardi, DEd '79, retired Lynn su-
perintendent of schools and most
recently VP for education sales with
Eastern Building Services in
Woburn, has now been appointed
superintendent of schools in
Kingfield, ME in the Sugarloaf
Mountain area. • J. William Harm-
less, PhD religion and education
'90, assistant professor of theology,
was awarded Teacher of the Year at
Spring Hill College last spring. This
fall, Liturgical Press will be publish-
ing his new book, Augustine and the
Catechumenate. • Philip Cate
Huckins, MAT '85, had an article,
"Selections from an Air Force Mem-
oir, " published in the faculty journal
of Salem State College, Sextant, late
last year. He also presented a paper,
"Broken Voids, Broken Arrows: A Criti-
cal A nalysis of the Federal Government 's
Off-Reservation Boarding School Pro-
gram, 1879-1900," at the Pedagogy
of the Oppressed Conference at the
Univ. of Nebraska, Omaha in Feb.,
and was recently appointed as an
adjunct faculty member in the edu-
cation department at Merrimack
College. • P. Patrick Leahy, MS
geology '70, has recently become
chief geologist and chief of the geo-
logical division of the U.S. Geologi-
cal Survey. The geology department
at BC is nominating Pat for the
Alumni Achievement Award in Sci-
ence next year. • MaryKay
Mahoney, MA English '73, an En-
glish professor at Merrimack Col-
lege, has contributed an essay, "A
Train Running on Two Sets of Tracks:
Highsmith 's and Hitchcock 's Strangers
on a Train " to the book, It's a Print!:
Detective Fiction fro?n Page to Screen.
She has presented papers on detec-
tive fiction at national Popular Cul-
ture Association conferences, and
participated in a panel at the annual
conference of the New England As-
sociation of Teachers of English. •
Christopher Martes, PhD ed.
admin. '93, director of personnel for
the Brookline schools, became su-
perintendent of the Medfield Schools
in June. • Rev. Francis S. Tebbe,
OFM, MEd '82, was unanimously
elected to serve a second term ('95-
'98) as president of the Nat'l Orga-
nization for Continuing Education
of Roman Catholic Clergy. It was
the first time in its 22-year history
that a president was re-elected. He
edited their Handbook for the Con-
tinuing Formation of Priests. He also
wrote, "Living with Pain: Windows of
Hope, " which was published by Di-
ocesan Publications of Columbus,
OH; the Catholic Chronicle, the news-
paper of the Diocese of Toledo, re-
printed the article in a special insert
in its May 27, 1994 issue. • Rev.
Charles Vavonese, MEd 78, has
been appointed to the New York
State Regents Review Committee.
He is a member of the U.S. Catholic
Conference Federal Assistance Ad-
visory Council, advising bishops on
federal legislation affecting educa-
tion. He serves on the Syracuse and
Onondaga County Drug and Alco-
hol Abuse Commission. • Linda
Brown Wilson, PhD counseling
psych. '80, was elected interim presi-
dent of Quincy College in Jan. She's
been affiliated with the college since
'79 and with Quincy public schools
since '69.
30 BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES
GSOM
Lesley Fox Denny '91
1 1 Tumelty Rd.
Pea body, MA 01 960
(508) 535-8791
GSSW
Sr. Joanne Westwater, RGS, '55
57 Avalon Ave.
Quincy, MA 02 169
(617)328-5053
Fr. John Driscoll '41 has retired
after eight years of serving as execu-
tive director of the GSSW's Alumni
Association. Father will be living at
a retirement center called New Pond
Village, located at 180 Main St.,
Walpole 0208 1 . His telephone num-
ber is (508) 668-8553. Words can
never express our thanks and appre-
ciation for all his years of generous
and dedicated service in a variety of
important human service positions,
including as dean of GSSW. Our
fond memories and best wishes are
extended to Father. • Tom
O'Donnell, '59, after many years
working for the Veterans' Adminis-
tration in Brockton, the Commis-
sion for the Blind and Catholic
Charities of Boston, is enjoying his
retirement. He has been volunteer-
ing at The Good Shephard's Maria
Droste Services in Quincy and re-
cently was elected to the GSSW
Alumni Board for a two-year term. •
Bill Allen 71 is executive VP for
community services at the United
Way of Southeastern New England.
His office is located in Providence,
RI. Bill has been with this United
Way for 18 years. He is also on the
GSSW Alumni Board. Bill resides
with his wife Anabel and two daugh-
ters in Cumberland, RI. • Margaret
Vann 72 just concluded her two-
year term on the GSSW Alumni
Board. Margaret volunteers with
several agencies and she recently
returned from Saudi Arabia, where
she visited her son and his family.
When speaking of this, Margaret
can be heard to say, "I had a great
visit there; I had a wonderful time;
and I had an extraordinary adven-
ture." • Nancy C. Slamin 74 is
executive director of the Newton-
Wellesley-Weston Committee for
Community Living. This private,
non-profit organization provides
community residences/group
homes, family support services, and
leisure and recreation for develop-
mentally-disabled individuals.
Nancy is married and has two boys.
• June Cooper 76 of the Cooper
Group in Jamaica Plain, is a consult-
ant working with a variety of pro-
grams, particularly maternal and
child health. June also provides di-
versity training to various organiza-
tions and teaches two courses at BC:
Racism and Cross-Cultural Inter-
ventions. • Connie K. Wilhite '89
received a graduate certificate from
BC's Women in Politics and Gov-
ernment program in 1 990; she gradu-
ated from South Texas College of
Law in Houston in 1994. Connie
passed the Feb. '95 Texas bar exam
and is now a licensed attorney. She
works for the Attorney General's
office in Austin and plans to special-
ize in civil rights and employment
discrimination law. Connie lives in
Austin. • Rick Goggin '90 com-
pleted his term as president of the
board of the GSSW Alumni Asso-
ciation. Rick has now assumed the
role of president emeritus and is
heading a committee of all former
GSSW executive board presidents,
now in the process of being estab-
lished. This new committee will serve
in an advisory capacity. While doing
all of this, Rick continues to work
full-time at Mentor as a clinical su-
pervisor of traumatically brain-dam-
aged individuals. • Our new
executive board members are:
Donald J. Emond '62, president
(Donald is president and CEO of
Family Services in Fall River); Paul
Segal '66, vice president (he is ex-
ecutive director of Jewish Family
Services in Providence, RI); Mary
Ellen Provencher -66, treasurer (she
is a consultant for two agencies work-
ing with the developmentally dis-
abled); and Catherine Nowak
DeMassi '90, secretary (Catherine
is a full-time mother taking care of
her first child, Nicolas, born in Sept.
of '94.)
LAW
Amy S. DerBedrosian
Director of Communications
Boston College Law School
885 Centre St.
Newton, MA 02 159
The Honorable James A. Redden
'54, a federal district court judge for
the District of Oregon, has stepped
down as chief district judge and as-
sumed senior status. • Richard J.
Tobin '62 has become a Connecti-
cut Superior Court judge. • Herbert
L. Turney '62 has become a partner
in the Boston office of the law firm
of Jackson, Lewis, Schnitzler &
Krupman. • Thomas J. May '66
recently was named a judge in the E.
Boston District Court. • David F.
Hannon '68 has been included in
the most recent edition of Best Law-
yers in America. * Alan S. Kaplinsky
70 has become a partner in the busi-
ness and finance department of the
Philadelphia law firm of Spahr,
Andrews & Ingersoll. • Ernest B.
Murphy 70 has been appointed to a
four-year term as a member of the
Board of Bar Overseers by the Su-
preme Judicial Court of Mass. •
Raymond J. Brassard 71 has been
named a Mass. Superior Court judge.
• Harold Damelin 72 recently was
named staff director and chief coun-
sel for the Governmental Affairs In-
vestigations Subcommittee by
Senator William Roth of Delaware.
• Timothy E. Kish 72 has been
named an executive VP of Capital
Bank in Miami, FL. • Dennis J.
LaCroix 72 has joined the Boston
law firm of Schwartz, Shaw and
Griffith, where he is involved in
healthcare business and regulatory
law. • Walter A. Costello,Jr. 73
has formed the law firm of Walter A.
Costello, Jr. & Associates in Salem.
• Thomas A. Connors 76 has been
nominated as a circuit judge for the
District Court of Mass. • Mary J.
Healey 76 has been named VP,
general counsel and secretary of
Yankee Energy in Connecticut. •
Alan G. Philibosian 78 has been
appointed Commissioner of the Port
Authority of New York and New
Jersey. • James J. Yukevich 78 has
formed the law firm of Yukevich &
Sonnett in Los Angeles. • John P.
Pucci '80 has become a partner in
the Northampton law firm of Fierst,
Mitchell & Pucci. • Mary Ann
Chirba-Martin '8 1 is the co-author
of the article "The Critical Role of
ERISA in State Health Reform;' 13
Health Affairs 142 (1994). She also
has been teaching health care law at
BC Law School. • Christopher P.
Kauders '81 has formed Pre-Trial
Solutions, Inc. in Boston. • Leonard
F. Zandrow, Jr. '81 recently was
elected to the board of directors of
the National Spinal Cord Injury
Association. • John A. Herbers '82
has been named a fellow of the
American College of Trust and Es-
tate Counsel. • Jonathan P. Norris
'83 has formed the law firm of
Jonathan P. Norris, P.C. in Chest-
nut Hill. • Daniel B. Winslow '83
has been named a judge in the
Wrentham District Court. • Susan
L.S. Ernst '84 recently was ap-
pointed treasurer of the franchise
section of the Dallas Bar Associa-
tion. • John P. Connolly '85 has
been named a partner in the Boston
office of the law firm of Peabody &
Arnold. • Richard H. Durben '85
has joined the Boston law firm of
Gilmore, Rees & Carlson as a senior
associate. • Robert D. Hoffman '85
is now a partner in the Los Angeles
law firm of Charlston, Revich &
Williams. •Jeremy Ritzenberg '85
has been named a partner in the law
firm of Hinckley, Allen & Snyder. •
Jeffrey Spitzer-Resnick '85 is the
author of an article titled "Protecting
the Rights of Nursing Home Residents:
How Tort Liability Interacts with Statu-
tory Protections" and published in 19
Nova L.R. 630 (1995). • Abigail R.
Hechtman '87 has been named a
member of the Boston law firm of
Brown, Rudnick, Freed & Gesmer.
• Patrick Q. Hustead '87 has been
named a partner in the Denver, CO
law firm of Rothgerber, Appel, Pow-
ers & Johnson. • Andrea Peraner-
Sweet '87 has been elected a partner
in the Boston civil litigation firm of
Sally & Fitch. • A. Brian Albritton
'88 has been elected president of the
Hillsborough County [Florida] As-
sociation of Criminal Defense Law-
yers. • Leizer Z. Goldsmith '88 has
established a Washington, DC law
practice emphasizing employment
litigation. • Christopher J. Devlin
'89 is now an attorney in the com-
mercial department of the Portland,
ME law firm of Bernstein, Shur,
Sawyer & Nelson. • Kathleen
Connelly Moline '89 has opened a
general law practice in Danvers. •
KevinJ. O'Connell '89 has become
associated with the New York law
firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt
& Mosler. • Alina P. Marquez '90
has joined the criminal division as an
assistant U.S. Attorney in Connecti-
cut. • Brian R. Connors '91 has
become an associate in the business
department of the Boston law firm
of Perkins, Smith & Cohen. • Erin
K. Higgins '91 has become associ-
ated with the Boston law firm of
Conn, Kavanaugh, Rosenthal, Peisch
& Ford. • M.J. Reynders
MacKenzie '91 has become an as-
sociate in the Syracuse, NY office of
the law firm of Harris, Beach &
Wilcox. • Timothy J. Shea II '92
has joined the science and technol-
ogy department of the Boston law
firm of Perkins, Smith & Cohen. •
Gina M. Signorello '92 is now as-
sistant city solicitor for the city of
Lowell. She also serves on the board
of directors of Rape Crisis Services
of Greater Lowell. • Joseph J.
Centeno '93 has joined the Phila-
delphia office of the law firm of
Swartz Campbell & Detweiler. •
Jason A. Farber '93 is now an attor-
ney with the law firm of Davis Wright
Tremaine in Seattle, WA. • Julie
Park Farber '93 has an insurance
defense practice with the Seattle,
WA law firm of Johnson & Martens.
BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES 31
CLASSES
DEATHS
George W. Boner EX '21,
Groveland, 12/31/94
Francis J. Hickey, '23, Medford,
1/14/94
Frederick W. Blatchford, SJ '25,
GA&S '26, Weston, 3/29
Joseph V. Sheerin '27,
Lexington, 1/31
Edward L. Monahan, Esq. '28,
Lowell, 12/9/94
John Lloyd Carnegie '29, GA&S
'32, Denver, CO, 7/10/94
Keelan S. Milbury '29, Medford,
1/22
William J. Toomey '30, GA&S '31,
Cambridge, 12/29/94
Thomas F. McGann '31, Long
Beach, CA, 1/14
Sr. M. Rose Sheehy, CSJ '31,
Framingham, 1/22
Thomas F. Collins '32,
Dorchester, 7/29/94
Francis J. Crump, OMI '32
Washington, DC, 12/08/94
William S. Downey '32, Silver
Spring, MD, 12/23/94
Arthur F. Ward '33, Lawrence,
11/23/94
John T. Broderick '34, GA&S '35,
South Harwich, 6/16/94
Sr. Mary Rosella, RSM, GA&S '34,
Cumberland, RI, 12/15/94
Flavio J. Tosi EC '34, Beverly,
12/28/94
Raymond N. Funchion '35, West
Palm Beach, FL, 1/22
Daniel P. Keenan '35, Venice,
FL, 2/19
James A. McLaughlin, MD '35,
Marshfield, 2/26
Edwin J. Crowley, SJ '37, WES
'40, '50, Dorchester, 1/14
Arthur E. Durkin '37, Melrose,
1/29
Charles J. Quigley '37, Salem,
NH, 1/7
Amos J. Guarente, MD '38,
Winchester, 3/28
Oliver Laronde '38, Waltham,
12/7/94
Paul F. Sharkey '38, N.
Hollywood, CA, 11/21/94
William J. Condon, Esq. '40, LAW
'47, Larchmont, NY, 3/25
James M. Doonan, MD '40,
Milton, 2/16
Leo F. Fittabile GA&S '40,
Willimantic, CT, 1/4
Charles M. Normile, Esq. LAW
'40, Newport, RI, 2/25
Mildred Kinnier Delrios GA&S
'41, Framingham, 3/8
John V. Guinee '41, Acton,
12/30/94
John F. O' Brien '41, Cohasset,
1/3
Sr. Clare Marie Russell, SCH,
GA&S '42, Wellesley Hills, 1/13
Donald E. Bonnette '43,
Atdeboro, 11/23/94
Walter F. Cassell '43, Vero
Beach, FL, 1/7
Joseph F. Dinneen, Jr. '43,
Needham, 1/8
James D. Edgeworth '44, GSSW
'49, Houston, TX, 1/11
William F. Haley '44, Belmont,
12/26/94
Frank H. Harris '44, Salem, 2/18
Arthur J. O' Connor, MD '44,
Newton, 12/29/94
Robert F. Sullivan '44,
Hendersonville, NC, 4/30/94
Sr. Mariona Hurley, CSJ, EC '45,
GA&S '49, Weymouth, 1/6
Robert P. Murphy '45,
Brooklihe, 3/2
C. Richard Powers '45, Weston,
6/15/94
Sr. Ruth Marie Kelley, SND,
GA&S '46, Ipswich, 1/27
Arthur M. Fagan, Jr. '47,
Levittown, PA, 4/16
Rita M. Canney GSSW '48,
Belmont, 2/13
James F. Kearns, Esq. LAW '48,
Miami, FL, 1/16
Paul A. Lovett '48, Randolph, 1/3
Richard L. Wilder, Esq. LAW '48,
Parish, FL 3/11
JohnJ.Hogan,Jr.'49,N.
Andover, 3/9
Sr. Victorette Mary Kiczuk,
CSFN '49, Monroe, CT, 1/20
Edward J. Furey '50, Lynnfield,
12/26/94
JohnH. O'Neill, Jr. '50,
Needham, 2/9
Joseph A. Torchio, Esq. LAW '50,
Pittsfield, 12/18/94
Arthur J. Collins '51, N. Reading,
3/4
Lawrence E. Delaney '51,
Derwood,MD, 1/12/94
Donald J. Evans '51, Dedham, 3/4
William J. Meehan, Esq. LAW '51,
Worcester, 1/8
Gerald T. Peters '51, Chatham,
3/26
James M. Doyle '52, Waltham, 3/26
Thomas F. Martin '52, Fort
Myers, FL, 1/6
Patricia Cuttell Murray '52,
Na tick, 9/15
Sebastian Sicari '53, Medford,
12/4/94
Mary T Loftus '54, N. Easton,
11/20/94
David G. Sanford '54, Old Town,
ME, 2/5
Rev. Walter R. Lethin '55,
Canton, 3/4
Sr. M. Anita Salmon, PBVM
GA&S '55, Leominster, 1 1/30/94
Francis X. Curry '56, Medfield,
1/1
George R. Riley '56, Quincy, 4/8
James L. Leary '58, Winthrop, 1/04
Edward F. Phelan, Jr. '58, CGSOM
'65, Milton, 1/16
Sr. Ann Edward Regan , SND,
GA&S '58, Lawrence, 1/20
Florence Michaud Bourcier '59,
GA&S '63, Claries Green, PA,
11/26/94
John L. Dennehy '59, Laguna
Hills, CA, 2/1
John J. Finn, Esq. '59, GA&S '60,
law '70, Augusta, ME 1/23
Dorothy Terrio Devlin EC '60,
Washington, DC, 10/25/94
William L. Hammond '60,
Marblehead, 2/23
Francis P. Keaney '60, Millis, 1/12
Martin R. Lee '60, Woburn,
1/10/94
Robert J. Mc Donald '60, W.
Roxbury, 3/19
Vincent S. Siefcak '60, N.
Weymouth, 11/18/94
Elizabeth Scheib Anderson '61,
Darien, CT, 11/24/94
James J. Doherty, Esq. LAW '61,
N. Hampton, 12/8/94
Patricia O' Neill Wagner '61,
Palo Alto, CA, 2/1/94
Ann M. Cahill '62, ga&s '69,
Newton, 12/19/94
Arline Gehrmann Hilditch '62,
Finksburg, MD, 10/14/94
Joan Roth I .in nan '62,
Charleston, SC, 9/12/94
Owen A. McCarty '62, Lawrence,
2/28
Howard D. Ponty CGSOM '62,
Andover, 11/17/94
Rev. James Francis Kenney, SSE
GA&S '65, Fall River, 11/21/94
Michael T. Clifford '66, Hanson,
1/25
Sr. M. Alberta Nicewicz, CSSF
GA&S '66, Enfield, CT, 10/1/94
Richard A. Rogalski, Esq. '67,
law '70, Saugus, 11/26/94
Robert F. Wallwork '67,
Chicago, IL, 12/5/94
Thomas J. Whalen GA&S '67,
Bridgewater, 3/9
Sr. Jeanne Frank, OSF, GA&S '72,
Buffalo, NY, 12/16/94
Bathelemy A. Rousseve WES '72,
Brighton, 8/13/94
Nancy Cox DeSheplo '74, Fort
Lee, NJ, 11/22/94
Jean Hudson Ransden '75,
Framingham, 1/19
David Francis Gallerani GA&S
'77, Provincetown, 2/21
Brian F. Wilkins '77, Milton, 3/13
Richard M. A. Beaudoin '78,
Milwaukee, WI, 1/06
Robert Francis Kiley '78, GA&S
'83, Milton, 3/17
Janice E. O' Grady GA&S '79,
Needham, 12/16/94
Fay J. Henry '81, Dorchester, 1/4
Brendan L. Hickey, PhD GA&S
'83, '87, Boston, 1/6
Barry P. Karamourtopoulos,
CGSOM '83, Lawrence, 1/20
Theodore T. Poulous '84,
Weston, 11/22/94
David W. Alessandrini GA&S '86,
Orlando, FL, 12/5/94
32 BOSTON COLLEGE ALUMNOTES
by everyday teachers, one truth at a time.
It's about life. We're all in Peru, and if
we pay attention to the world around us,
these insights can be ours.
De Leeuw: You found the insights useful?
Schervish: Absolutely. The major one —
and it's true of all these books, I think —
is that the divine is approaching us in
addition to us approaching the divine.
That's what grace is about; that's what
these angels are about in some ways.
Scott Peck's emphasis on grace is in the
dreams that come to you. There is this
emphasis on mediators, on mentors; if
you can learn how to learn, the world
will teach you. The grace of the universe
is coming to you; it's flowing through
you. The Celestine Prophecy is about seeing
this energy.
Ultimately, it seems to me that the
thing all these books converge on and
miss is worship: bowing our heads be-
fore this incredible flow of energy. That
is probably the one nonpsychother-
apeutic dimension of religion at its deep-
est that these books have omitted
explicitly. Though I think it's implicitly
there. So we're in the middle of this
incredible story, and we have only a
glimpse of how rich it is and how pro-
found it is. That's what I got out of The
Celestine Prophecy.
Fortin: But The Celestine Prophecy has pre-
tensions like the others. What are these
prophecies? It's a condensed form of
some currently fashionable philosophy.
It's too cliche ridden in that sense. The
other books didn't strike me as being as
committed to fashionable modes of
thought. The book disappointed me, al-
though I liked the conceit, this business
of an ancient manuscript. I must say that
I was greatly interested in the premise
when I began.
Often: The search for the exotic put me
off. You can see this being turned into a
movie with Harrison Ford. My own sense
of Christian spirituality is that it can be
in the ordinary. You don't have to go to
Peru. You don't have to retrieve some
paradise.
Confoy: May I make the point that if the
fundamental spirituality that's implicit
in Moore's book is Benedictine, con-
templative, then the fundamental spiri-
tuality in The Celestine Prophecy seems to
be Ignatian. This is a book about a spiri-
tual quest. That sense of the quest and
defining God in all things strikes me as
Ignatian. While in one way it could be
seen as going out into the Peruvian wilds,
in another way it's really just the raw-
ness of life. It's exotic, yes, but it's na-
ture; it's human beings in a house; it's
buying gas; it's all of that ordinariness.
And the story isn't really completed —
there's no conclusion to it. I think that's
another dimension of Ignatian spiritu-
ality; it moves us along toward some-
thing more.
Schervish: What it's moving us along
toward is a sequel.
De Leeuw: In the author's note to The
Celestine Prophecy, he says that for half a
century now a new consciousness has
been entering the human world, an aware-
ness that can only be called transcendent
or spiritual. Is he right about that?
Fortin: Well, it's certainly conceivable.
One never knows when something new
flourishes and imposes itself as an or-
thodoxy. That can be the start of it. We
may live in that kind of period. New
things emerge when the old things have
lost -their power and everybody is grop-
ing for something, something that will
satisfy their curiosity or their longing.
We may have to wait a long time, how-
ever, to know if this really marks a de-
parture.
Schervish: I do think this marks a trend. I
think the popularity of these books paral-
lels the tremendous growth of wealth in
the United States and the world. We're
increasingly able to have what we want
materially, which simply leaves us more
time to consider what we want.
Secondly, part of our culture is the
notion that we as individuals have a
right to salvation: if I'm not feeling good,
I should feel good. We believe this in a
spiritual context; we believe it in a thera-
peutic context. The notion that we ought
to remain unhappy is no longer cultur-
ally acceptable, and we have a great range
of spiritualities and therapies to help us
be less unhappy. This trend allows for a
deeper spiritual anxiety and a deeper
BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE 25
W^cs.anda
ostropfc
w
hat we're looking
at on the best-seller list is a
source of teaching other than
mainstream religious teach-
ers. People want more, and
they're not accepting the less
that they get from traditional
sources. So who is the
teacher? It's not the pope;
it's not the pastor;
it's reality.
spiritual evil, but also a deeper spiritual
opportunity.
Finally, I think there is a crisis of
teachers. What we're really looking at
on the best-seller list is a source of
teaching other than mainstream reli-
gious teachers. People want more, and
they're not accepting the less that they
get from traditional sources. So who is
the teacher? It's not the pope. It's not
the pastor. It's reality: the pulse of my
heart; the energy in nature; the sea's
rise and fall; the gospels; the life, death
and resurrection of Jesus. There is no
teacher but reality. This is what these
books are about. This is what these
angels are all about.
Fortin: You cite prosperity as a precon-
dition for this situation that we're in. I
think you're right, but that's another
way of saying these books are bour-
geois. There is a problem there. Bour-
geois life is not conducive to the kind of
exploration you say is now possible be-
cause we have time to engage in it. That
intense desire to find the truth about
these matters tends to be weakened by
the conditions of life in the modern
world. Easygoing modern life does not
lead to manifestations of an intense spiri-
tuality. The bow has been unbent. There
is something missing. We don't have
intense desires anymore. That is to say,
there is no real passion.
I try to get my students to express
their deep feelings. They don't even
dare talk about love. The other day a
student came to see me; something was
eating away at her. It had to do with a
boy. Finally she blurted it out: "I like
him." Like him? She was madly in love
with him; she had gone out of her mind.
But that word so intimidated her that
she didn't dare use it. Students are afraid
of these wild passions that make you go
up like a volcano and transform a young
person's life. I found that revealing.
Otten: I'm not sure that's true, but I do
think some of this interest in exotic
spiritual quests may have to do with the
approach of the end of the millennium;
around the year 1000 you had the same
thing. I'll be curious to see if any of
these books are still being read in the
year 2004. 1 think there is some kind of
anxiety about approaching 2000.
Another element of this, I think, is
postmodernism, and that has to do with
the dissolution of structures, the disso-
lution of culture. You're not going to
have a post-postmodernism. You're go-
ing to have something new after this.
And I think people are trying to find a
way to really combine various resources
that were not traditionally combined
before.
Fortin: The first millennium is men-
tioned in the Bible — the devil at the end
of the first 1000 years. Maybe people
had reason to be worried, though I'm
not sure they were on a large scale. You
know the story about the Bishop of
Fulda. Parishioners came to him asking
what they could do with the end of the
world coming, and he told them to build
a cathedral. That took care of their anxi-
eties for the next 200 years. They sailed
right through the turn of the millen-
nium.
Confoy: In some ways, the author's note
in The Celestine Prophecy is a comment
on all of the books. He talks about a
spiritual unfolding that's personal and
enchanting. But that's the delusion be-
cause if we stay with that, we're sold
short. I like where he talks about maxi-
mizing the occurrence of that search in
our lives so that history and society will
26 BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
take a quantum leap. That's what I'm
yearning for when I critique the lack of
social consciousness in the books. And
Paul, when you talked about those dif-
ferent sets of needs, that was a reminder
to me of the way in which there is a
continuity of healing , a redemptiveness
that is always present in our society —
people are looking for a new ethic, a
new set of values, a new set of teachings.
And I find myself wondering whether
we'll come back from this and claim the
traditional wisdoms of humanity, the
mainstream religions, the classics, but
in a new way, with a new understand-
ing. So rethinking, rewriting and then a
revisioning of the vision that's there.
Schervish: That's how I would express it.
De Leeuw: These are all rebuilding
books, aren't they?
Fortin: They are, but at least they be-
lieve in the possibility of a rebuilding.
The greatest crisis I know of today is
the notion that we have not only burned
our bridges behind us, but we have also
burned our continent; there is no going
back to anything. Everything has to be
reinvented from scratch; everything has
to be created. I think that a lot of people
are affected by this without knowing it.
But crises, we've had them galore. I
think you have to think of history in
exactly the opposite terms. You have
these very brief periods of noncrisis, of
real creativity, when great things hap-
pen. Fourth-century Greece, the so-
called Greek miracle, how often do you
find that? And it lasted about 75 years.
Confoy: I think one of the problems is
that we're looking at spirituality from a
primarily Western classicist viewpoint.
And I think we've yet to hear the voices
of a global consciousness. They're be-
ginning to be heard. We're beginning
to be aware of the fact that there is a new
conversation that is taking place about
spirituality, and so that sense of a mar-
riage of the East and the West is begin-
ning to take place. The South Side of
Chicago, yes, but also South Dakar.
And I think that is shaping our under-
standing of spirituality.
Fortin: You're talking like a Westerner.
If the people of Dakar talk about this at
all, it's because they've been educated in
Western universities.
Schervish: The thing about this trend
that I find new is that intellectual and
psychotherapeutic approaches have be-
come the allies of spirituality instead of
the Enlightenment enemy, so that so-
phisticated knowledge among scholars
and artists — not just theologians now —
is turning into kind of a counter-
Enlightenment appreciation, so that the
resources of intellectual life are being
used to reinforce spirituality instead of
being its enemy.
De Leeuw: There has always been a
tension between the intellect and the
spirit. Look at the late Middle Ages;
people argued that to save your soul you
had to stay as far away from the univer-
sity as possible. And in the 19th century
people veered away from industry and
technology and the intellect, embracing
an emotional, romantic spirituality. I
don't think this is new.
Schervish: I don't see this current phe-
nomenon as veering away from the in-
tellect, do you?
De Leeuw: I do in Moore especially.
He's the one who most explicitly says,
Stop thinking.
Schervish: I read his book for hours,
though, and I was thinking and thinking
and thinking.
Otten: I was worried by the anti-
academic tone in these books; a lot of
them get their facts wrong. Why can
you not tell a story and have the facts
right? Even Moore, whom I liked best,
had mistakes in his information, and he
also has a penchant for deliberately us-
ing exotic sources such as Renaissance
alchemy. I think you can find pretty
much the same message in mainstream
Christian sources. One of the tragedies
for me in this regard is that there are so
many resources inside the Christian tra-
dition that people do not pick up on.
Although I like Moore, compared
with Augustine's Confessions or some of
St. Anselm's prayers or Bernard of
Clairvaux, some of this reads like chew-
ing gum. I mean there is taste, but there
is not immense nutritional value. I would
like, after this stage, to see a stage in
which people are really going to read
some of the classics and can savor them
again somehow.
De Leeuw: Before we go, some conclud-
ing words from each of you, please.
Confoy: I think that each of these writ-
ers, in inviting us to be attentive to our
experience, our sufferings, the ordinari-
ness of our lives, offers us hope and
invites us to the possibility of a vision of
something other. So I think this is a
spirituality of hopefulness that we are
about, that we see in these books and in
the culture.
Otten: We are yearning for some re-
birth. I think it's going to happen.
Postmodernism is so centrifugal that
it's ultimately not going to last. A real
cultural pessimist would say everything
is coming to an end. But I think there
will probably be some new cycle.
Fortin: I would like to say something
about spirituality. The first author to
use the word spirituality was Shakespeare.
At the beginning of Henry V, the two
bishops come to see the king. He wants
them to validate his claim to Burgundy,
and they want to get back their land,
which has been expropriated by the gov-
ernment. So there's a marvelous under-
standing; each needs the other, but for
different reasons. The spokesman for
the bishop presents the two of them as
"we of the spirituality" — like we of the
admiralty. The ironic thing, of course,
is that there is nothing spiritual about
their concerns. They're talking about
money on both sides. So, it's funny that
the word spirituality should have been
used for the first time in that context.
Schervish: What seems to motivate a lot
of this is people wanting to understand
their suffering. Before the Enlighten-
ment we could say it was God's will. But
after the Enlightenment we have to
blame ourselves or social injustice.
Now I am going home. I'm going to
go back to my office and get my stuff;
then I'm going to be with my kids this
afternoon. I really am because of the
issues that I've been reminded of this
afternoon. •
BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE 27
Deliveranc e
By Bruce Morgan
ONE DAY SHORTLY AFTER HE WENT BLIND, PETER
Callahan walked into his mother's kitchen in
Somersworth, New Hampshire, to make himself
some tea. He put the water on to boil and left the
room. Before long he smelled something burning.
Edging back toward the stove, he felt intense heat on his face and
sensed a brilliant orange glow in front of his eyes. (He learned later
that a pot holder had dropped onto a burner and the blaze had
spread.) Callahan threw water in the direction of the glow but
completely missed the flames. A blind man trying to fight a fire, he
thought — hey, this was just too crazy. So he dialed 911. Then he
stepped out onto the front porch and sat down to wait for help.
Behind him the house was filling with acrid smoke. In little more
than a year Callahan, 26, had lost a beloved older brother, a girlfriend
*»
Photography by Geoff Why
Raised in a gritty New Hampshire mill town,
Peter Callahan '96, could never see much
of a future for himself. Sudden blindness
at age 26 would change all that
and his eyesight. Now he had managed to set his
parents' house afire. He was at the lowest point in
his life.
So far, that life wasn't much to brag about. Dur-
ing his high-school days in this blue-collar town
hunched up against the Maine border, he had distin-
guished himself by shirking class work, getting drunk
early and often, and wading into fistfights at the least
provocation. He had graduated from Somersworth
High into a series of dead-end jobs, working on
construction jobs, building swimming pools, scrub-
bing pots and pans. His early twenties found him
locked in a rut of hard work, hard partying and
abusive relationships.
Peter's life had always been tightly bound by
geography and class. His horizons extended as far
as — well, maybe Portsmouth on a clear day. By his,
own description, he was "just a local yokel, New
England Yankee."
Blindness made him a double loser. Now not
only did he have no future, but he needed other
people to help him tap his way toward it. Drive
nails? Shovel cement? Chase girls? Roar around on
motorcycles? Forget it, pal. Those days and that
life were gone. Blind, Peter Callahan would be
shunned by some people, including many old
friends, and pitied by the rest. The town — "very
French, very closed minded and conservative,"
according to one resident — would surely talk. And
the gist of that talk would be as follows: this time
the Callahan boy has fallen into a hole he'll never
get out of. He's young, uneducated, moody, a
boozer, unemployed and blind.
Slumped on the porch with the fire smoking
away in the background, Peter could not glimpse
the unlikely and exorbitant brightness to come.
The life he would discover for himself over the
next few years would bear little resemblance to the
grindingly physical life of his past; it would be
something altogether new. In effect, he would
walk off this porch, turn on his heel and never look
back. And blindness would be his ticket out.
No direction
Pizza joints and blank storefronts line the
broad main street of Somersworth. Where
the road dips around to the right, the Salmon
Falls River churns under a stubby bridge linking
Maine and New Hampshire. In the middle dis-
tance a modern General Electric plant, smooth
skinned and pastel on the exterior, resembles an
alien pod set down amid the roughage at water's
edge. Callahan, now 31, describes his hometown
unsentimentally. "It's a mill town from the early
1 900s that's washed up now," he says. "Most people
born there die there. The majority of those who go
to college go to the University of New Hampshire
[in Durham, 10 miles away], come back and work
in the GE plant."
Peter and his family — his two brothers, two
sisters, plus mom and dad — lived in a three-
bedroom Cape at the edge of town. There wasn't a
lot to go around. Peter, second youngest, re-
members eating the same brand of breakfast cereal
every day for 1 5 years and riding secondhand bikes
whose chains always fell off. "We made do with
what we had," he says. The Callahans were a tight-
knit family, Peter always had someone to play with,
and a stretch of deep woods beckoned out back.
Now and then he would see deer standing in the
yard.
At age 13 Peter was diagnosed with diabetes.
That meant he needed daily insulin injections and
a strict diet; it also meant he was vulnerable to a raft
of sobering long-term diabetic complications such
as kidney failure, heart disease, nerve decay and
blindness. "It was traumatic for Peter," says Louise,
his mother. Paul, his father, dates an attitude of
withdrawal and hostility in his son from the time
that Peter became diabetic and was forced to live a
regimented life under his parents' thumb.
A resdess, moody teenager, Peter didn't take well
to a regular daily routine, with meals measured out
and eaten by the clock. His dad's alcoholism didn't
help, either. "When I was very young, I just assumed
he was tired," says Peter. But his father's distracted,
unresponsive air had a more troubling cause. "I was
a very heavy drinker then," concedes Paul, who quit
drinking six years ago. His alcoholism undermined
the family's stability, and Peter went wild. Dr. Wil-
liam Dudley, Peter's physician of the past 1 5 years,
uses one word to sum up his patient's preblindness
level of self-control: "awful."
Peter was by his own admission a mediocre
high-school student who seldom bothered to do
his homework, but he knew about booze and he
knew how to throw a punch. Tom Sevigny at-
tended Somersworth High with Peter but didn't
become a friend until later. He remembers watch-
ing Peter dive into fistfights on many occasions.
"He was drunk, Irish and ready to go," says Tom,
now a hydrologist and a part-time bike messenger
living in the Boston area. Peter's class of 150
students was "one of the king partying classes at
Somersworth High," Tom says. "Almost no one
went to college."
Fighting, Peter now says, "was the thermom-
30 I!( )ST( )N ( X (LLEGE ALU , A/ 1 N I
eter by which you would gauge who was who.
That's where guys got their self-esteem. A lot of
those guys I fought with in high school are still
sitting in bars around town." Although slight in
build, Peter became an occasional member of a
bunch of 20 local toughs who called themselves
The Gang. "They'd beat everybody up," Peter
relates. "After a while they'd gotten so proficient at
what they did that they had to go to UNH to find
guys to fight."
Peter's teens were bleak. "There were a lot of
times when I went to bed not feeling like much," he
says. "I didn't feel that I mattered much in the
world." The bare-knuckled culture waiting out-
side his front door kept him fearful. "When I was
15, I used to worry, Am I going to get through
today, or am I going to be a wuss?" Being a wuss
meant being pushed around, meant having one's
face, and one's pride, rubbed in the mud for the
world to see.
It may have been a life with determinedly low
horizons, but young Peter had little incentive to
imagine any other kind of life — anything much
beyond the models available to him near at hand.
Neither of his parents had been to college and they
seemed to be doing all right, with his dad employed
as a car salesman and his mom a secretary at UNH.
The same was true of his friends. "I thought I'd do
what the others did — try to get into one of the
better factories in the area," Peter says.
Locally, thinking big was as suspect as Roman-
tic poetry or quiche and not much encouraged.
"We had this one girl in my class who was really
smart," Peter recalls. "The counselor told her not
to bother applying to Boston University, because
she wouldn't get in." The young woman went on
to earn her bachelor's degree at Stanford Univer-
sity and her master's at Tufts. She picked up a
doctorate from one of the better academic facto-
ries (Harvard) not long ago.
Senior year, Callahan applied to UNH and was
rejected. It didn't faze him. He went to work, shut-
tling from one manual-labor job to another for the
next nine years. He worked construction. He helped
install and repair swimming pools at sites around
New England. Out in the sun, sweating hard and
lugging things around, Peter was right at home.
"I have a lot of respect for blue-collar work,
going home sore at night," he says. "I miss it, in
fact. I was in good shape then. I was getting bigger,
stronger. And the camaraderie among the guys is
great. You're all in the same boat; you have to
depend on each other. You might be 60 feet off the
ground, standing on someone else's planks." His
righting, Peter says, "was the thermometer by which you
would gauge who was who." He became an occasional
member of a bunch of local toughs who called themselves
The Gang. "They d beat everybody up. After a while they'd
gotten so proficient that they had to go to the University of
New Hampshire to find guys to fight."
life felt as loose and natural as a stone skipping
across a pond. As Peter asks, "What did I have to be
stressed about? Just make sure all my tools were in
my belt."
Callahan came from a long line of hard workers;
his maternal grandparents had toiled in shoe shops
in the northern Massachusetts mill town of
Lawrence their whole lives. Installing pools, Peter
had a backbreaking specialty. Whenever the pool
walls were sprayed on too thick, the mix would
slide down, forming a slurry of cement at the
bottom of the pool. Someone would yell, "Get
Callahan!" and Peter would hop in to shovel three
tons of cement out of the pool single-handedly. "It
would be 120 degrees in the pool, and I'd be
shoveling cement 10 feet into the air for maybe a
half hour," recounts Peter. "I don't know anybody
here at BC who could do that, but I did, and I'm
proud of it."
Although Peter may have been gaining physical
confidence in his early twenties, other aspects of
his life were classically self-destructive. His rela-
tionships with women were superficial and empty,
if not downright dangerous. For several years he
was involved with a girlfriend who once pulled a
knife on him and another time clunked him on the
head with a beer bottle. During one rampage Peter
was calling the police when she ripped the phone
out of the wall. The police arrived with guns drawn.
Peter was drinking heavily. He'd become friends
with Tom Sevigny, and the two of them would put
away two cases of beer between them — that's 24
beers each — on an average night, beginning at five
o'clock and continuing past midnight. "We partied
a lot," says Tom. "We'd go bar hopping or to small
parties; we'd also go hiking or ride our bicycles
around. It was like we'd wreck our bodies, then
take care of them." Still living at home, Peter was
moody and uncommunicative with his family when
he wasn't dashing out. "If I came home, he'd be
sitting in a corner, brooding," says his dad. "I'd be
lucky to get a 'Hiya' out of him.
"From the age of 16 on up through his mid-
BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE 31
■ or Peter, the summer following his brother's death was a
blur. By late fall he was troubled by light-headedness and a
rapid heartbeat — ailments for which no ready medical expla-
nation could be found. Soon after, his eyesight began to fail.
twenties, him and I didn't have the best of relation-
ships," Paul admits. "My drinking, combined with
the diabetes, made it very difficult on Peter. He
had no direction to his life. He would drift in and
out of jobs; things were pretty much helter-skelter
for him. During that time he had probably as poor
a control over his own life as I did mine. I could see
he was going nowhere."
Knife-wielding girlfriends, grueling work, his,
dad's alcoholism, his own thirst, and the shadow of
an incurable disease had put Peter on the ropes at
age 25. Unfortunately, the news would get much
worse before it got better.
The real game
Peter's mom came home from work one
spring day six years ago and found her
oldest son, Scott, sprawled on the couch.
She assumed he was napping. He was dead.
Scott, then 29, had suffered from an irregular
heartbeat since birth — an arrhythmia severe enough
to bring on frightening seizures periodically. Once
Peter and his brother were shooting hoops when
Scott collapsed and turned blue; Peter got him
breathing again through mouth-to-mouth resusci-
tation. The two brothers shared a bed for 1 3 years.
Asked to describe his brother, Peter grows quiet.
"He was indescribable," he says finally. Peter and
Scott were unusually close, says Louise, pointing
out that Peter was the only one of her children who
went to the hospital to view Scott's body.
For Peter, the summer following his brother's
death was a blur. By late fall he was troubled by light-
headedness and a rapid heartbeat — ailments for which
no ready medical explanation could be found. Even-
tually Peter was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress
disorder. Soon after, his eyesight began to fail. A
cloudiness appeared in his right eye, quickly fol-
lowed by a similar condition in his left eye. The haze
in both eyes grew worse. "Every time I'd go to see
the doctors, they'd start shaking their heads and
sighing," Peter remembers. Within 14 months of his
brother's death Peter was legally blind.
It was July 1991. In personal terms, for those
friends and family members who witnessed Peter's
descent into blindness, it was a nasty and surprising
twist of fate. Medically, the phenomenon was not
so peculiar. Only about one percent of those with
juvenile-onset diabetes go blind these days. But
Peter had let his illness run uncontrolled for a
dozen years, and his lifestyle had lifted him into a
high-risk category. The clouded vision that Peter
experienced was the result of diabetic retinopathy,
which begins with bleeding at the back of the eye
and progresses in severe cases to detachment of the
retina. When the retinas detach, the result is blind-
ness. That is what happened to Peter.
Did the death of his brother trigger Peter's
blindness? Here the answers are not so clear. Some
doctors believe emotional trauma is a contributing
factor in the onset of diabetes and plays a role,
however ambiguous, in subsequent diabetic com-
plications. However Dr. Dudley quickly dismisses
the suggestion of a simple psychosomatic cause
and effect in Peter's case. The more compelling
cause of blindness, he suggests, was his patient's
profligate behavior.
"We brought to bear all our high-tech weap-
onry, but the damage was already done," com-
ments Dr. Matthew Norman, the ophthalmologist
who did the initial diagnosis of eye trouble and
handled Peter's early laser treatments. Following
the laser intervention, Peter underwent two opera-
tions per eye at the New England Medical Center
in Boston to reattach his retinas, but all four sur-
geries failed.
Immediately after he went blind, Peter lived at
home with his parents. He was like a child again.
He couldn't see to butter his toast. He couldn't
shave or squeeze a dab of toothpaste onto his
toothbrush or tell containers of shampoo and con-
ditioner apart. His family treated him protectively,
like an invalid. Once when Peter ventured out to
the mailbox using a golf club as a cane, his parents
urged him back inside, saying, "Oh no, Peter, you
shouldn't be doing that." Relatives would tiptoe
into the house bearing thoughtful gifts such as
cassette recorders and touch him lightly on the
arm.
Friends were less solicitous. A girlfriend who
had been with him for three years was among those
who could not make the adjustment. Shortly after
Peter began to go blind, she told him the relation-
ship was no longer working for her. "You can't
expect it to," argued Peter. "I'm going through a
tough time — I'm losing my sight." She split. Other
friends, too, backed off in a hurry. "They'd tell me,
'I don't know what to say,' " Tom remembers.
Tom, in contrast, proved to be a stalwart buddy.
32 BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
He would show up, slap Peter on the side of the
head, and say, "C'mon, man, let's go out." And the
two of them would go to a bar and dance and flirt
with girls, just like before — only now, Peter drank
water or sipped a single glass of wine. Tom's
attitude rescued Peter from the cardigan-sweater-
in-the-wheelchair mind-set and the self-pity that
threatened to smother him. "He kept me in touch
with my personality," Peter says gratefully. In the
days before Peter got a cane, Tom helped him walk
the streets of Somersworth, the two men proceed-
ing slowly, arm in arm.
Peter needed something akin to a new naviga-
tional system. His old life had been entirely physi-
cal; that no longer made sense. "If seeing nature,
playing ball and riding my motorcycle were the
world, then I was a loser," he explains, with syllo-
gistic logic. "My world had to change." Peter was
surprised to find himself reasonably happy, even as
he sat around the house going in and out of funks.
The disastrous year gone by "should have killed
me, and it didn't," he recalls thinking. "So what am
I supposed to be doing here if I'm not supposed to
be playing ball or finding a pretty girl?"
Family friend and advisor Sister Judith Moun-
tain, now 82 , visited weekly to talk with Peter. The
Callahans had attended Holy Trinity Church in
Somersworth for years, and Peter had been an altar
boy there. Suddenly unable to see the most basic
elements of the church — the crucifix over the altar
or the stained-glass windows or the priest's vest-
ments— he felt guilty and estranged from their
meanings. Sister Judith, who had known Peter
since he was in first grade, told him, in her soft,
deliberate manner, "No, don't feel guilty, those
things are merely symbolic. You've gone to the
next step." She cited John 20:29, Jesus' words to
Thomas: "Blessed are they that have not seen, and
yet have believed."
Peter — "not terribly religious, but awfully spiri-
tual," in his father's words — was already looking
beyond the religious framework he had known. He
had begun studying Ram Dass, an author who
promoted, in books such as Be Heir Now, a pared-
down life built on awareness of the moment. With
Tom, he ventured to Portsmouth to attend a "chan-
neling" session, in which a spirit from the 1600s
named Scotty assured Peter that everything that
had happened was supposed to have happened.
Peter, who had begun to toy with the idea of
attending college, confessed to the medium that he
was nervous about being a student again after so
many years. "You're not a student; you're a teacher,"
the voice told Peter.
"What I was searching for was peace," Peter
suggests. "I could no longer see outwardly so I
concentrated on what was going on within me."
Always observant, he was becoming more so now,
in the stillness of his parents' house. He noticed
that his cat, Jasper, would sidle over to comfort
him when he was in a bad mood. He noticed the
slow, lovely way that winter sun would advance
into his bedroom and flood the corners with
warmth. He came to appreciate the nimble touch
his father used when assembling a sandwich, so
that the crust would crunch just so in the mouth.
According to Peter, the goal of all his reflec-
tiveness was to become a kinder and a more "cen-
tered" person and, after a dozen years of thrashing
back and forth, to settle himself lightly on the
Blindness led Peter into a new life — one less physical and more cerebral, less
reactive and more responsive. He must listen carefully now, whether he is
being read to by another student (top) or trying to follow a discussion in class.
BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE 33
With his dog, Stella, Peter walks a campus he has never seen. "Doors have opened that I didn't even know were doors," he says.
earth. Even in high school, Mahatma Gandhi had
been a secret hero of his, for the inner peace that he
had embodied. "That was something I always felt
was missing when I was bangin' around
Somersworth," says Peter. "In my dreams as a
teenager I was infatuated with Gandhi, who could
live amid the violence [of Indian resistance to
British rule] and take it."
Blinded, Peter reclaimed a gentler self, one he
had submerged years earlier. The centered life
"didn't come with my blindness; it came out with
my blindness," Peter emphasizes. Does a general
correlation exist, then, between physical affliction
and insight? Yes, Peter responds unequivocally.
"You no longer play the game that people have
created," he explains, "and so you start playing the
real game."
Brawn for brain
In February of 1992 Peter came down from
New Hampshire with Tom to join Tom's
cousin and three other women at a coffee-
house in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts. Folksinger Greg Greenway was
performing. Previously a fan of heavy-metal bands
such as Van Halen and Thin Lizzie, Peter had
recently discovered the quieter, ringing charms of
the acoustic guitar. In the group that night was
Suzanne Guiod, a soft-spoken graduate student in
English at UNH. That first evening she and Peter
talked pleasantly about folk music. At their next
meeting, when Peter stood up to give Suzanne a
quick hug goodbye, he misjudged her position and
smacked his forehead into hers. They laughed and
moved on from there.
Peter's face lights up when he's asked to de-
scribe Suzanne now. "She's beautiful," he says.
"She's petite, about five-foot-three, with brown,
curly hair and delicate features. I was really at-
tracted to her voice; she has a good vocabulary and
uses words well." Suzanne began reading books
aloud to Peter — classic works he had never cracked
open, like Wuthering Heights. She also gave him
confidence, assuring him that he had the ability to
do anything he wanted.
He had already decided to dip a toe into the
academic waters at Keene State College in New
Hampshire. The summer Peter enrolled, he was
the only full-time blind student on a campus of
6,000 students. The place proved a difficult testing
ground for someone just learning to use a cane. "It
34 IU )STON COLLEGE MAGAZ1 M
was tough," says Peter, "and a little humiliating —
being 27 or 28 years old and being led 200 yards to
your classroom."
Living on his own was risky, too. Once Peter
moved the stereo speakers in his bedroom and
forgot about the change. Later, bending down to
put on his sneakers, he whacked his head so hard
that he almost knocked himself out. "I would swear
and curse and throw things," says Peter. Then he
adds ruefully, "patience is necessary if you're going
to lose a major sense." Bit by bit, he was learning
how to be blind and mobile in the world: to recog-
nize the edges of buildings by the puff of wind
detectable at their corners or to pick up the faint
drone of approaching cars.
At Keene State, Peter learned he was a gifted
student. After a year of taking courses in history,
English and psychology, his grade-point average
stood at 3.9, and he found himself wanting greater
challenges. Encouraging him to move on, a profes-
sor put him in touch with Richard Ely MS'88, who
had earned his master's degree at Boston College
and was also blind. Ely persuaded Callahan to cross
the state line.
In the fall of 1993 Peter came to BC as a
sophomore transfer student. Here, on a campus he
has never seen, he has flexed his brainpower and his
confidence and thrived. "Doors have opened that I
didn't even know were doors," he says, still sound-
ing a little awestruck.
Leaving his dormitory room for a history class
in Higgins Hall this spring, Peter does not appear
from a distance to be blind at all. He strides briskly
along, gripping the harness of his guide dog, Stella
(the two have been inseparable since the summer
of 1993 — a clear boon for Peter in mobility and
companionship), swings through the arboreal cool-
ness of Linden Lane, then off toward the open air
of O'Neill Plaza. He seems about to enter O'Neill
Library by its main glass doors when, without a
blink, Stella veers right. The two advance in the
narrow space between the slanted concrete col-
umns and the building's exterior. Then out the end
of the portico and downhill goes Peter at a clip,
right to the Higgins entrance.
Once in the classroom — the class is "Cultural
History of Modern Europe," taught by Associate
Professor of History Francis Murphy — Peter settles
into a chair up front with Stella sprawled at his feet.
"Is Raoul here?" he calls out, turning around and
angling his gaze toward the ceiling. "Here," an-
swers a classmate from the back of the room. "Can
I talk to you after class?" Peter asks; he wants to
consult Raoul about organizing a study group.
Blindness has been Peter's deliverer; it continues to be his
friend. "My blindness has gotten me so far that now I've
climbed onto the blindness and I'm riding it for all it's
worth, all the way to happiness," he says.
Then Fr. Murphy begins his lecture, and Peter
presses the button on his cassette recorder.
Peter tapes courses such as this one, with its
peppering of dates and facts; for an afternoon class
in logic, he leaves the recorder at home. Back in his
dorm room Peter has a special "talking" computer
that reads aloud what he is typing, enabling him to
compose and type papers the same as any other
student. For eight or 10 hours a week, the Univer-
sity hires a student to read course materials to
him — Peter has never learned Braille, which he
deems difficult and cumbersome. His professors
give him tests orally.
Despite these hurdles, Peter outshines all but a
few of his classmates. He works as hard at his class
work as he used to work shoveling cement 10 feet
into the air. After two years on campus, he is a
psychology major with a cumulative GPA of 3.7.
He is unusually charismatic and focused as a stu-
dent, betraying no hint of the crippling self-doubt
of his teens and twenties. Associate Dean of Arts
and Sciences Carol Hurd Green, Peter's advisor,
comments that her office colleagues are "all vying
with one another to write letters of recommenda-
tion for him because we feel such confidence and
borrowed pride."
Peter's dry humor percolates through every-
thing he does. Associate Professor of Psychology
John Mitchell tells about Peter showing up late for
class one day. The room was jammed. "Can any-
one tell me where an open desk is?" Peter asked,
standing inside the door. In response, four or five
students simultaneously called out differing direc-
tions. "OK, let's have fun and confuse the blind
guy," Peter joked.
Under Mitchell's supervision, Peter and a team
of four other students have been using a computer
model to explore alterations in brain chemistry
that characterize Alzheimer's disease. The pur-
pose is to discover "what happens to old memories
with gradual and accumulating damage to the cor-
tex," explains Mitchell. Describing the project,
Peter becomes animated. "Essentially, our brain
works by neurotransmitters," he begins. "It's a
binary code, either on or off ..." The reporter
BOSTON COLLECT \l\(,\/l\l 35
scribbles a few notes but can't keep up. This young
blind man in tattered jeans and a flannel shirt,
using his hands so expressively, his gaze slightly
askew, is in his element. He has superb control of
his diabetes; he sees Suzanne often; his future is a
translucent, shimmering thing.
Asked to connect his campus life with his years
in Somersworth, Peter shrugs. They are two dis-
tinct worlds 75 miles apart. "I'm much more de-
pendent on my brain now," he says. Then he adds
with an edge of ferocity, "If there was an argument,
I know. I could make any lug go away with his tail
between his legs." Peter returns periodically to
touch base with the old gang but finds he has less
and less to say to those guys or that part of himself,
still lodged in a time when college "didn't seem like
something I Could touch." At a birthday party in
Somersworth this year he found himself listening ,
to friends get drunk all around him. "Nobody was
interested in what I'm doing now," he says.
From the Somersworth newspaper recently,
Peter was shocked to learn about some cats in town
that had been hanged — by parties unknown — for
fun. "That's barbaric," says Peter, with a slow,
marveling shake of his head. After a pause he
concedes, "But I might have done that at age 15.
Thank God, the Good Lord took away my sight
and got me out of there."
Deliverance
When you consult Peter's family and
friends about the effects of blindness
on the course of his life, there's a clear
uniformity to their response. "He changed. He be-
came far, far more sensitive," says Tom. "One time
he told me, 'In many ways I can see much better
now.' I think he meant that he could see his own path
in the world. Before, he had been clouded up in a
lifestyle with not much learning or wonderment."
Peter's father remembers, "Peter made the re-
mark to his cousin, a couple of years after he went
blind, that if he had the chance to get his sight back,
he wouldn't want it. And I think I would say the
same thing — that he's better off being blind. He
seems a lot more contented."
Pat Hilton, a psychotherapist in Dover, New
Hampshire, met Peter shortly before the onset of
his blindness, while counseling the family. She
continued to treat Peter privately, off and on for
four or five years. Hilton views Peter's earlier self-
destructive lifestyle as a defense against his father's
alcoholism. "Peter was very, very, very angry,"
Hilton recalls.
"His anger came from sensitivity. He could see
other people's pain, and he needed to medicate
himself against it. Because of his family situation,
he worried, Was it OK to be a sensitive, loving guy?
He didn't have any model. So he took his sensitivity
and put it in a box and covered it with a lot of anger
so he wouldn't be hurt."
Together, the sudden death of his brother and
rapidly failing eyesight posed a critical challenge
for Peter, Hilton reasons. "He could get more
angry, more into drugs and resentment," she says,
"or he could look at the pain and look at his life. To
his credit, he chose the latter process. Peter's situ-
ation was that he was either going to get crushed or
he was going to change. And he changed." In effect,
she says, Peter's blindness enabled him to shed the
brute armor of the tipped-back bottle and the he-
man swagger. As Hilton puts it, the blindness was
"totally humbling."
Blindness has been Peter's deliverer; it contin-
ues to be his friend. "My blindness has gotten me so
far that now I've climbed onto the blindness and
I'm riding it for all it's worth, all the way to happi-
ness," he says.
Law school will likely be the next step. "I know
it sounds crazy, but I'll be disappointed if I don't
get into Harvard," says this kid who barely mus-
tered Cs in high school. He has a decent shot. On
an initial diagnostic version of the LSAT, which he
took early this summer before enrolling in a special
preparatory course for blind students, Peter placed
in the 88th percentile in the nation. "It's hard for
me to sit back and let someone else take the reins,"
he has said. It's becoming more apparent by the day
that he may not need to ever again.
Over every prospect hovers the enigma of Peter's
blindness, its purpose in the cosmic scheme of
things. "For some reason I was meant to be blind,"
Peter says simply. "I don't yet know why." Seated
in the living room of her second-floor apartment at
the edge of Somersworth, Sister Judith contends
that her longtime friend is "very special. God is
using him as an instrument for something. It's all
mystery, and that's the way it should be. It's like
death," she offers with a serene smile. "We're all
given our own way to get there."
Bruce Morgan is this magazine V associate editor.
36 BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
_L JlIiL JcvjlL 1 .
OF TH
A quarter century ago they were part of a
startling exodus from the Jesuit order.
Last fall they held their first reunion.
The tales of a lost generation
By Jan Wojcik *68
%
AMID HAPPY SHOUTING THE REUNION BEGAN IN THE
tarred parking lot of what's now called Campion Center —
the New England Province Jesuit retirement home, infir-
•mary and place of retreat. It was early Saturday morning of
Old Saints and Old Souls weekend last October. "O my Captain," the still
robust Denny LaCroix called out to me from a distance. I'd been primus
inter pares with him on the work detail of maintaining the novitiate septic
beds. Drawing near, he took an awkward second before recognizing my
face. "It's your mustache," he suggested charitably.
(previous page)
photo illustration
by Gary Gilbert
We were standing in a loose
knot, 1 1 former Jesuits in our late
forties and fifties, returning to
what had been called Weston Col-
lege, in the elegant suburban vil-
lage of Weston, Massachusetts. Our ranks included
Phil Rose, Charlie O'Leary, Joe Mendola and Nick
Corvino, all psychologists or counselors; Paul
Quinlan, a driver for United Parcel Service; Paul
Howard, a sanitary engineer; Fran Walsh, a plan-
ner for a nonprofit elder-services organization;
Steve Conner and Bill Carlson, both businessmen;
Denny, a corporate lawyer; and me, a college pro-
fessor and farmer. Behind us, as we hugged, loomed
Campion Center, its burly Italianate wings fending
off a spare New England sky.
In the 1960s and 70s all of us had lived here,
commuting daily to our undergraduate classes on
the Chestnut Hill campus of Boston College. As we
carried our bags to our assigned rooms, we found the
once-bustling halls haunting; a thin maroon carpet
stifled the creak in the old wooden floors.
Initially this weekend had begun as a reunion of
singers. The organizers, Phil and Joe, had be-
longed to several traveling singing groups 25 years
ago, calling themselves the Celibate Six, the Good
News Singers and the Unrestricted Notion, a name
they took from a chapter heading in one of Jesuit
Bernard Lonnergan's philosophy books. As old
singing friends called other ex-Jesuits, the evolving
reunion's compass widened. Still youthfully slim,
Charlie had traveled the farthest, from California,
insisting his wife had given him permission. At 56,
the oldest to return was Paul Quinlan, who as a
scholastic had written new melodies for the psalms
and canticles the groups had sung. Now he had
seven children and hair as white as a grandfather's;
his wit and anguish were as youthfully sharp as
anyone's memories.
During the eight rich years of my youth I had
shared with these now-grown men, being Jesuit
had meant an immortality of continuity. I wore a
black robe as Jesuits had for 400 years, and it did
not matter to me whether any one of those men
was living or dead; those temporarily out of sight
were simply in a place I'd reach eventually. It was
because we shared this feeling, I think, that after
unpacking our bags we agreed with surprising
warmth and unanimity to convene our first gath-
ering Saturday morning in the New England Prov-
ince cemetery on the grounds at Campion. The
day was mild, and bronze oak leaves hung over the
gravestones. Overhead, pairs of ducks flew south.
Quickly the names of the dead cast spells over us.
In the cemetery identical Jesuit gravestones
form evenly spaced rows, providing each name an
initial prefix: "P" for Pater, or priest; "F" for
Frater, or brother; and "S" for Scholastiais, or
seminarian. For a suffix are two initials: "SJ" all.
First names are latinized where possible: Joannes
and Carolus, but not Harveyus. Otherwise, egali-
tarian severity levels all distinctions. Three suc-
cessive lines bear three designated dates: ortus,
ingressus and obiit, for born, entered and died. As if
to suggest it takes three days to perfect the life of
a Jesuit.
At breakfast Sunday morning Pat Sullivan, SJ,
now the administrator of the hospital at Campion,
stopped by our table and recognized among us
some of his former classics students from the novi-
tiate. When we mentioned rediscovering the aura
of the gravestones, he described the recent Prov-
ince discussion whether to cast future inscriptions
in English, because, he said laughing, "soon the
only people who could translate the stones would be
lying under them." For now the tradition held, and
we could still read them. Former Boston College
presidents Seavey Joyce and Michael Walsh were
buried in adjacent rows, along with the lesser-
known Jesuits Ola Nelson and Neil Callahan. The
38 BOSTON COLLEGE MACAZINE
ingressus dates for the latter two men held our eyes
because they were the same as ours. Ola had died of
leukemia contracted in the Brazilian mission.
Later that morning we gathered in the dark-
paneled receiving room of the original mansion on
the Weston site. Beer, fruit juice, bread, chips and
cold cuts were laid on sideboards, guitars and a bass
fiddle uncased, and music stands set up. Songbooks
were opened, still expressing in ghostly mimeo-
graph blue the words and chord progressions of the
lively sacred songs we used to sing as young men.
After a few flat starts we belted out the harmonies
of Paul's psalmic anthem "It's a Brand New Day."
Then we dropped into armchairs and couches. We
quickly agreed on a protocol for the two days of the
reunion: each would tell his story to the others,
speculating on why he had left the Society of Jesus
and telling what had happened since. In between,
we would sing our old songs in what would become
a ritual of readings and songs.
In his story Paul told us he had been unable to
sing his own songs after he left because they still
expressed so much of the anguish he had felt as a
Jesuit and afterward. This amazed us, because many
of us remembered his writing and music as the
source of our deepest spirituality as young Jesuits.
"Paul, doesn't the reverence we always held for
your songs make you feel any differently about
them?" I asked him.
"I wasn't really the writer," he said. "Whatever
energy I put into my music I was just gathering.up
from all of you." At first he would not join us when,
after listening to several stories, we wandered over
to the music stand and sang a psalm in his vernacu-
lar translation.
The psalms' moods moved between sadness and
joy, just as our stories did: "I yell, 'God, where are
you?/ Where can you be? '/But I know after all is
said and done/That my God has known me from
before all time/ And I'll see His face." On Sunday
morning Paul finally got up to sing, once again,
"It's a Brand New Day." His bobbing to the beat
with the rest of us seemed as natural as another shift
of mood, even as we found ourselves belting with a
little more emphasis and, to extend the harmony of
the moment, repeating extra choruses.
MISSING JESUITS
The demographics that emerged from our
stories reckoned us exemplary Boston
College alumni of a certain age. We prac-
ticed professions we had begun training for there.
We had been successful and unemployed by turns.
We were responsible for 27 children — eight of them
adopted. Ten of us had been married a total of 12
times, with two divorces. We included one bachelor.
We had kids in trouble and kids in good schools.
Bill's daughter was a freshman in music at a small
college in Wisconsin. Driving there earlier in the
fall, she and her father had sung all the way. "It seems
the day they become adults and friends they move
out," Bill said with a sad smile.
But we were not typical BC alumni, in the sense
that we had also been Jesuit scholastics in the
1960s. During our two-day reunion we sharpened
and deepened one another's thinking about what
that difference had made of us over 25 years.
"We all had the same yearnings for something
bigger than ourselves when we joined," Steve told
us in his story. "First we found it in a Jesuit commu-
nity, and I still think I want what I found there. One
of the reasons I joined the Lutheran Church is that
there is a more comfortable place for women within
the denomination. We have women clergy and the
like. But I still get upset when we wind up bickering
at church com-
mittee meetings.
It's hard to find
the spirit there.
One woman in
our congregation
lost her husband
and then stopped
coming to the
church. I said to
myself, 'What is a
church for unless
we can console
one another?' It's like the old Ignatian idea of the
gift of tears, the consolation we bring to one
another."
Each of us remarked during the weekend and in
phone calls to one another over the next few weeks
how easily we validated one another's stories, what-
ever our differences. Some of us remained Catho-
lics. There was another Lutheran; there were several
Unitarian Universalists and several indifferent ag-
nostics— one describing himself as "a Catholic pa-
gan." We had struggled with alcoholism, infertility,
other illnesses and the enthralling drama of the life
of a handicapped child.
We had joined the Jesuits for many different
reasons — to do God's will, to follow a relative, to
escape a family. But we had stayed as long as we did
because of the family we found in one another.
!',( )S I < )N COLLEGE MAGAZINE 39
TWO WHO STAYED
BC Jesuits who watched friends and associates leave
the Society in the 1 960s reflect on that loss
In a small, humbly furnished room on the first floor of St.
Mary's Rectory, William Leonard, SJ, is remembering a
friend he lost 50 or 60 years ago. The friend was a high-school
classmate who had entered the novitiate with him at
Shadowbrook, in western Massachusetts, studying, working
and praying beside him— a man seemingly devout and utterly
committed to a spiritual life. Three months before his ordina-
tion, the young man dropped out to become a lawyer and raise
a family instead. He announced his decision to Leonard in a
letter. "I remember looking at that note in my hand. I just
couldn't believe it," Leonard says softly, decades later.
In 1965 American Jesuits numbered more than 8,000, but
by 1990 their numbers had dropped to less than 5,000. Many
Jesuits experienced the loss of a brother. The exodus caught
these men at different points in their lives. Leonard, for one,
was nearing retirement age when the young men started
packing up. He had cast his lot with the Jesuits in 1 92 5 and had
served on the BC faculty since 1939, chairing the theology
department from 1965 to 1969. Some of those who left were
his former students.
To David Hollenbach, SJ, the young Je-
suits who left were peers — his classmates as
well as his brothers. He'd entered the novi-
tiate at St. Isaacjogues in Wernersville, Penn-
sylvania, in 1964 and was in his twenties
during the tumultuous years. After being
ordained in 1 97 1 and earning his doctorate in
religious ethics at Yale University,
Hollenbach lived among the Jesuits in suc-
cessive stints at the Woodstock Theological
Center of Georgetown University and at the
Weston School of Theology. He joined the
BC faculty as the Margaret O'Brien Flatley Professor of
Catholic Theology in 1991.
Although Hollenbach and Leonard are among those who
stayed within the fold, neither bears any hint of hard feeling
toward those who departed. Years of reflecting on the ordeal
of his early religious training have given Leonard a large
measure of sympathy for the restlessness that led Jan Wojcik
'68, and his fellow scholastics to leave. "The life was rigid and,
well, suffocating," Leonard says of his time at Shadowbrook.
"We of my generation tolerated it; we found it supportable.
You could say we knuckled under to it.
"Why did people leave religious life?" Leonard wonders. "It
was in the air, I guess." He and Hollenbach both see the 1960s
exodus as a direct consequence of that volatile era. They believe
the spirit of radical change then transforming other institutions
in Western culture could not help but touch the Jesuits. "It was
a time of enormous ferment and considerable upheaval in
Fr. Leonard
Fr. Hollenbach
American society and in the life of the Church,"
Hollenbach says. "The upheaval made it pos-
sible for people to consider changing the di-
rection of their lives in ways previous
generations might not have. A fluidity of com-
mitment was more part of the accepted social
picture than before."
Both men cite the signal role played by
the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) in
opening up life within the Church — and,
paradoxically, perhaps making it easier for
Jesuitsrin-training to abandon the rigorous
and demanding life they had chosen. As Leonard remarks,
"Pope John, who called the Council, said he just wanted to
open a few windows and let a little fresh air into the Church.
I don't think he knew what a tornado would come in."
Jesuits who stayed behind watched those who fled the
Society in the late 1960s with decidedly mixed feelings,
according to Hollenbach and Leonard. "The reaction among
older Jesuits was disappointment, of course. There was some
anger — but mostly, I think, perplexity," Leonard says. "There
was a sense of What's happening?"
Hollenbach, about the same age as many of the men who
left ("I was given the gift of stronger reasons to stay than
reasons to leave," he explains), remembers his fellow scholas-
tics as being generally supportive of the men's decisions but
saddened, too. "These were people you had been living with
for years and with whom you had been engaged in a common
effort. To have them leaving — some piece of your own life
goes out the door when they leave," he says. "One could
understand why they had decided to leave even if one didn't
want to celebrate it."
Fewer young American men are entering the Society now
than 30 years ago, notes Hollenbach, and that decline in
numbers is likely to continue. The relative thinness of the
Jesuit ranks has many implications for Boston College.
Leonard points to the difficulty of finding a successor to
University President J. Donald Monan, SJ, as one example of
an obvious effect: "There just isn't the abundance of candi-
dates there once was," Leonard says. At a lower institutional
level, he cites the diminished Jesuit presence on campus. "I
can think of only one Jesuit department chairman — Fr. Frank
Kennedy of the music department," he says, "whereas 40
years ago every department had one."
Still, Hollenbach believes the current trend "is forcing
Jesuits to take a more focused approach to their work instead
of simply filling a slot somewhere. These days, one has to be
quite intentional about where one puts one's time and energy
in the service of God."
Bruce Morgan
,
40 BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Sunday morning, as our final ceremony, we sat in a
close circle holding hands. Each told the others
what their stories had meant to him. A few who had
not been friends 30 years ago found themselves for
the first time comfortable with our old official
term for one another — brother. We found our
stories answered questions we hadn't known we
had had about who we had been and what we had
become. After the ritual was over, we laughed and
shook arthritic stiffness out of our fingers.
Many of the intimacies we shared were in-
tensely private and remained so, I suspect, even
after we returned to our families and friends. Who
else could understand this stuff? But we all agreed
to share with a wider readership these reflections,
which bear on the mass exodus from the Society
that occurred in the late '60s and early '70s. We
know many people involved in Jesuit education
who think about what happened to us. If we had
remained Jesuits, we would be the 45- to 5 5 -year-
old men ripe to be tapped as deans, rectors, college
presidents, provincials, spiritual fathers — ready to
assume leadership positions in the Jesuit institu-
tions that the men we revered had led.
Once, the talent pool of Jesuits seemed oceanic.
Since its formation in 1924, some 3,000 men have
entered the New England Province, most of them,
like us, matriculating at the novitiate called
Shadowbrook, in Lenox, Massachusetts. In 1964
the New England Province was at its apex with
1,180 men. Perhaps 500 were between 35 and 65
years of age, working as missionaries, parish priests,
teachers, spiritual fathers and superiors through-
out New England and the world. Another 500 or
so were younger Jesuits in formation. Every year
another 30 or 40 young men joined us; the future
looked black with robes.
Five years later a dramatic winnowing was un-
der way. Starting in 1969 and continuing for the
next seven years, an average of 2 5 Jesuits a year left
the order. Significantly, many of these men had
been Jesuits for between eight and 20 years. This
outflux represented a profound and permanent
loss. Today approximately 580 Jesuits remain mem-
bers of the New England Province, many of them
retired or close to it.
We did not leave the Jesuits to get rich. Judging
from the rust spots on the cars and pickup trucks
parked in the Campion lot, only the lawyer among
us could afford anything like the clean, new house
cars we'd occasionally get permission to drive as
Jesuits. Women, on the other hand, obviously did
have something to do with our leaving. We all
agreed celibacy hadn't been a problem by itself.
w*aul told us he had been unable to sing
his own songs after he left because they still
expressed so much of the anguish he had
felt as a Jesuit and afterward.
Most of us had left before we met the woman we
would marry. When I asked if anyone would have
remained a Jesuit if Jesuits could marry, everyone
quickly answered no. Instead, each of us had found
celibacy insufferable only after the events of the
'60s had delivered profound shocks to the Jesuit
tradition of obedience to religious authority.
A NECESSARY LONELINESS
Even after 30 years it was still painful to
recall what we had endured under the stric-
tures of obedience. Paul only half jokingly
described the towering rage of a houseful of Irish
priests at what he acknowledges was a foolish prank.
Before dawn on St. Patrick's Day in 1963, he had
raised a British flag on the Shadowbrook flagpole.
For the usually trivial offense of leaving the house
without permission, his superiors forced Paul, al-
ready a graduate of Dartmouth College, to spend a
penitential year at Shadowbrook taking entry-level
courses among young Jesuits with no more than a
high-school education.
We remembered other events of this kind. In
1964 the relatively liberal-minded New York Prov-
ince had closed its novitiate and sent its novices to
New England. At first we were delighted by our
sudden surge in numbers. But culture shock fol-
lowed. The New Englanders observed rules of si-
lence and still spoke Latin in the house, at table and
on work details; the New Yorkers had long aban-
doned the use of house Latin. Our superiors insisted
that everyone follow what struck the New Yorkers as
brutally archaic house rules. And the young New
Englanders found that to obey their elders was to
betray their peers. At dinner one scholastic would
ask in Latin for the butter, and another would mock-
ingly pretend not to understand.
This sounds trivial to anyone but a kid in a
novitiate whose walls seemed to encompass the
whole world. At the reunion Joe asked plaintively,
"Why didn't any one of our superiors ever sit down
BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE 41
£ach of us discovered himself one day having
drifted over a blurring line between loneliness
within the Society and solitude without. For
people who know us, that line is still blurry.
with us and try to help us work things out?"
"At that time the Jesuits hadn't changed in 400
years," someone answered. "Suddenly they were
supposed to, and all our superiors could do was
what they had always done — just more of it."
In 1966 some of us who had been Jesuits for
three years had been promised we could leave for
Boston College one year earlier than the tradi-
tional four years that novices and young scholastics
spent at Shadowbrook. That promise was rescinded
by orders from Rome. With an ashen face, Shadow-
brook rector Thomas M. Lannon, SJ, called us
together in the conference room and told the
unfortunate three-year men to unpack their trunks.
We asked our superior bitter questions and filed
out of the room in silence. At the reunion Denny
could still fit an Italian accent to the phrase he had
made popular back then: "We want you to be
where the action is — not."
But none of us had stormed out in reaction to a
dumb decision, whether someone else's or our
own. What led to our undoing as Jesuits, it now
appears, were the consequences of our superiors'
resolve to avoid making such terrible demands on
our obedience again.
In Boston, progressive liberations came rapidly.
Leaving Shadowbrook, we all finally got to Weston
and began taking a yellow school bus each day to
our classes at Boston College, where, in a radical
break with tradition, Professor Peter Kreeft, a
non-Jesuit, was permitted to teach some of us our
official Jesuit philosophy courses. After one year
our superiors allowed us to join in extracurricular
activities. Our most famous classmate, the late A.J.
Antoon, began staging plays on campus, beginning
a directing career that would win him a Tony
Award five years later. Enthusiastically, we began
writing for campus periodicals, acting in plays,
tutoring in Roxbury, and singing at Masses and
hootenannies throughout the Boston area.
Originally our superiors allowed themselves to
think they were simply extending to us the tradi-
tional Jesuit cultivation of theater, music, art and
spiritual counseling. But there were hot ideas in
the wind at the time, buffeting large and traditional
institutions like the Roman Catholic Church. Our
superiors approved our requests to pursue the
apostolates of the light cavalry and the barefoot
doctors. The singers took Paul Quinlan's psalms
into prisons. Extracurricular activities tookjesuits
and other undergraduates afield of the BC campus,
where we worked in shelters, drug programs, and
inner-city health services. Back in the rec rooms at
Weston, our discussions began to raise questions
about social and political structures, about class,
race and gender.
We were men of our times. In those times the
company of Jesuits — a small band that had grown
huge — was rediscovering its inner armature of Jesus'
style of teaching. He had wandered alone and in
small groups throughout the Galilean countryside,
finding the spiritual meaning of a child's illness, a
heretic's desire and the hunger of the poor. Like
him, we followed our apostolic yearnings, which led
us into small circumstances as retreat directors, coun-
selors, community organizers, hospital chaplains and
writers. But in these small circumstances we found
our necessary loneliness greater than the grace we
had been granted to bear it.
Over and over at the reunion, we mentioned
how terribly lonely our lives became as we — to use
a phrase from those times — got so far out we could
not find our way back. Fran, who had remained a
Jesuit for 25 years before becoming involved in
elderly care, had succeeded at almost a half-dozen
different apostolic endeavors. He spoke for the rest
of us when he described the emotional crisis each
success would eventually bring. "I used to love
giving retreats at Gloucester," he said with a strained
smile, "but after everybody would go home, I'd go
walking on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. A
loneliness like a physical presence would hit me so
hard I'd almost stand still."
Each of us discovered himself one day having
drifted over a blurring line between loneliness
within the Society and solitude without. For people
who know us, that line is still blurry. My wife calls
me a Jesuit whenever she thinks I'm too regi-
mented— for example, I always cook two boiled
eggs for breakfast on Wednesdays — and my aca-
demic colleagues have called me a Jesuit for teach-
ing literature as humane scripture. Bill spoke for
most of us when he said, "I am sometimes consid-
ered an oddity at work and have been told I never
left the Jesuits. But I think that way because of a
spirit of community I got from you. We see life not
42 BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
V
as a race with winners and losers but as a journey on
which we all share the same perils and can only
succeed by helping one another."
LOST AND FOUND
We still felt what we had lost. Paul
Quinlan remembered the day he
signed his papers of resignation. He
said it felt like he was falling down a long hole.
Acting for the Provincial, Paul Lucey, SJ, had tried
to buoy him up, saying, "Today we are losing a
treasure." Paul had countered, "Today I am leav-
ing a treasure behind."
We talked about our saints as well as our souls.
At an impromptu memorial service Saturday night
we stood in a circle around a large table telling
funny and sad stories about those we knew as
Jesuits who had died. Everyone had a story about
A.J. Antoon, our most dramatic brother, and usu-
ally it was about how difficult he was. "You couldn't
type in the same room with him," Joe said. I told
about periodic stretches in our 30-year friendship
in which A.J. would get so mad he would refuse to
speak to me for days or weeks, usually for my being
solemn about something he wanted to laugh about
or curse. Standing at the table, I wept in gratitude,
remembering that A.J. had been speaking to me
again — and I had fed him some soup — just before
he died.
In our elegies, several of us mentioned taking
walks with Thomas Hennessey, SJ, at whose grave-
stone we had paused during our morning gather-
ing. As a wizened old man he had suffered through
the terminal tremors of Parkinson's disease in the
infirmary at Shadowbrook. Novices were assigned
to help him with his therapeutic afternoon walks.
Being young and wanting to cut loose for a few
hours a day, we griped childishly about the assign-
ment. Several of us remembered how ashamed we
all felt the day Fr. Lannon called us together in the
conference room. He said our Stockbridge Bowl
neighbors had made a point to tell him they were
deeply moved when they drove past us young men
in black robes leading the lurching, old priest by
the arm down the road.
We recalled another occasion, when the French
theologian Henri de Lubac, SJ, visited Shadow-
brook. During a tour of the infirmary, he had
shaken Fr. Hennessey by the shoulders and said to
him, "Father, without your prayers, my work would
be a failure." Remembering that scene, one of us
said, "Both of them believed that. It was the most
powerful act of faith I have ever witnessed, before
or since." Talk of Fr. Hennessey led Steve to
describe the last walk he had taken with his neigh-
bor Jim O'Hare, another beloved former Jesuit
classmate, who had died subsequently of brain
cancer. The last time their families sang Christmas
carols, Steve and Jim's wife had flanked him, ready
to grab him if he stumbled. Like Fr. Hennessey
before him, Jim had walked lurching, on the verge
of falling.
Phil figured we had carried off a treasury of
stories since leaving the Jesuits. As Steve had hoped,
our stories included and conveyed the gift of tears,
an unusual-sounding phrase for which we sug-
gested new meanings. Paul said it meant "the magic
of belonging" to a group of people who still yearned
for greatness. "It's like picking up a conversation
that we suddenly stopped 25 years ago," Fran said,
"and everything fits right in."
Our first days in formation as young Jesuits had
prepared us for living apart from one another for
long periods of time. We were taught that St.
Ignatius had turned monasticism on its head by
adding a new fourth vow to the standard three
religious vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedi-
ence. While other monks took a fourth vow of
Stability, promising to remain in the same resi-
dence for life, Jesuits took a vow of Instability,
agreeing to go anywhere in the world that a supe-
rior beckoned, as God's will inclined. All our train-
ing followed from that because if you took the man
out of a monastery, you had to put a monastery into
the man — build in him peace and reliance and a
commitment that would remain secure within,
whatever the weather outside.
What no one anticipated was that for some of
us, the landscapes over which we would travel
would be interior as well as geographic. The fierce
integrity of the intellectual and spiritual explora-
tions we began as youngjesuits would lead some of
us outside the formal religious organization that
had given us our original sense of direction. What
we discovered at Campion on a gray autumn week-
end was that however errant our lives by anyone
else's standards, we still loved the Jesuits we found
in ourselves.
Jan Wojcik '68, left the Society of Jesus in 1970. He teaches
literature at Clarkson University and raises sheep, chickens,
turkeys and geese in the foothills oftheAdirondacks. His profile
of A.J. Antoon appeared in the Fall 1992 issue ofBCM.
Photographs by Gary Gilbert, taken at Campion Center in
Weston, Massachusetts.
BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE 43
ADVANCEMENT
High societies
Fides, President's Circle push 1994-95 fund-raising over the top
With strong assistance from
the two major giving so-
cieties, Fides and President's
Circle, the University reached
two significant fund-raising mile-
stones in 1994-95. BC posted a
record total for cash gifts of $23
million and raised $29.1 million
in new pledges. The latter mark
topped the previous record for a
noncampaign year of $23 mil-
lion, which was set last year.
While applauding all of the
volunteer groups that drove the
fund-raising effort, Vice Presi-
dent for University Relations
Mary Lou DeLong singled out
record-breaking performances by
Fides and President's Circle.
"They are the foundation of our
development program," she said.
Both set new membership records
for the second consecutive year:
Fides grew to 1,605 members,
and President's Circle totaled 493
members.
"Our success was really a mat-
ter of spreading the word about
Fides," said University Trustee
Patrick Carney 70, who leads that
group. "The society has a long
history of providing Boston Col-
lege with financial support that
ensures the University's status as
one of the premier Jesuit colleges
in the nation. Today the group is
more dynamic and forward-look-
ing than ever. Fides and the future
of Boston College go hand in hand,
and people responded to that mes-
sage with enthusiasm."
University Trustee Thomas
P. O'Neill III '68, who heads
President's Circle, attributed its
growth to the University's
strength in general and to its em-
phasis on attracting top-notch
undergraduates in particular.
"The importance of increasing
student financial-aid resources
was a powerful message for po-
STATE OF THE ART— The
new Law School Library's
cathedral ceiling nears
completion. Scheduled to
open next January, the
Sl4-million building will
provide cutting-edge tech-
nology in a comfortable,
open setting for legal
study and research. An el-
egant rare-books room
will house important his-
torical texts. A year and a
half into a five-year fund-
raising campaign, donors
have contributed $ 1 .6 mil-
lion toward the building's
$5-million goal.
44 BOSTON COLLEGE A I \< , \/l \ I
""
V
tential President's Circle mem-
bers," he said. "They're attuned
to leadership, and they recognize
that one important measure of a
great university is its ability to
educate young men and women
who will be leaders in their cho-
sen fields."
Gifts from reunion classes also
contributed significantly to fund-
raising success this year (see story
below). Pledges from the 10 re-
union classes reached an all-time
high of $6.3 million, led by the
Class of 1970, which set a 25th-
reunion-gift record of $ 1 .2 5 mil-
lion, and the Class of 1 960, which
raised a record 35th-reunion to-
tal of $1.7 million.
Such successful fund-raising
during a noncampaign period
shows that BC has reached a new
level of giving, said James Cleary
'50, chairman of the Trustee De-
velopment Committee. "For the
University to achieve such a lofty
goal without the impetus of a
campaign highlights the strength
of Boston College and its posi-
tion as one of the nation's leading
Catholic universities. Each year
we are broadening our traditional
circle of support."
The University's 1 994-95 cor-
poration and foundation funding
totaled $8.5 million in new pledges
and $7 million in cash grants.
MONEY TALKS
While As a Tree Planted: The Endowed Funds of Boston
College is unlikely to show up on many coffee tables or
best-seller lists, it can lay claim to one distinction. It is
the first complete listing of every endowed fund be-
stowed upon Boston College — from the first, a $1,000
fund established in 1 865, to the $ 1 -million-plus endow-
ments of the 1990s.
The book is 52 pages thick, it contains the names of
nearly 700 of the University's most stalwart supporters,
and published in July, it took more than a year to
compile, index and print.
As a Tree Planted was created as a reference and
marketing tool for staff, volunteers, and potential and
current donors, but it tells a story that goes beyond lists
and numbers. BC's rapid growth in endowment mirrors
the University's growth over the past quarter century
from a regional to a national university. The en-
dowment's history also reveals the broadening of the
University's educational mission, noted Director of
Donor Relations Katherine MacDonald, who headed
the project. "You can see in the book the kinds of things
donors believed were deserving of their strongest sup-
port and how that has changed over time," she said.
For anyone curious about that very first endowment
given 130 years ago, the book contains a thumbnail
sketch: it was a scholarship fund established by a Phila-
delphian named Joseph J. Sinnott — $1,000 at a time
when annual tuition was $60. The first recipient, Henry
Towle, eventually became a physician.
Return receipts
Competition among classes boosts reunion gifts
This year reunion-class giv-
ing continued its upswing,
with 1994-95 pledges rising
sharply to a record-setting $6.3
million. The previous high, es-
tablished last year, was $4.6 mil-
lion. This marked the third
straight annual increase in re-
union giving. Alumni gift totals
at reunion time have more than
doubled since 1992.
"The Class of 1969 had just
set the record, and we didn't want
to let them beat us at anything,"
joked 25th-reunion co-chair
Kevin Hines 70. His classmates
set an all-time 25th-reunion-gift
high of $1.25 million.
On a more serious note, Hines
said raising funds for financial aid
was a big draw for his class. "When
we could say, 'This money is go-
ing to help the students,' it made
a real difference. People liked to
know that their gifts were going
to ensure a place for the best stu-
dents at Boston College regard-
less of economic means."
Robert Connor '70, who co-
chaired the 25th-reunion drive
with Hines, added, "BC's success
in the last 25 years has been self-
evident, and it just draws out the
support."
The Golden Eagle Class of
1945 set a record for participa-
tion: of the class's 105 members,
104 (99 percent) made pledges.
The class raised $378,000, nearly
twice its goal of $200,000. Louis
Sorgi '45, who co-chaired the
50th-reunion effort with classmate
John Campbell, said the fund-rais-
ing drive helped make their re-
union memorable. •
NEVER TOO LATE
The Student Center-to-be re-
ceived a boost from BC-parent-
to-be Michael Argyelan, who
pledged a gift of $100,000.
Argyelan's daughter Melissa
will join the Class of 1999 in
September. Her father, a mem-
ber of the Class of 1972, said
the new student center is 20
years overdue. The University
plans to begin the project's first
phase next March (see news
story page 11).
REOPENING DAY
Renovated and expanded
Fulton Hall, which reopened for
classes with little fanfare last
January, will have its official
unveiling September 19. Xerox
Corporation Chairman and CEO
Paul Allaire will kick off the cel-
ebration with an afternoon lec-
ture. Then, after a formal
rededication, a reception will
be held in Fulton's glassy new
five-story atrium, and a dinner
will honor contributors to the
$22.4-million project.
IN TRIBUTE
The following are among
named endowed funds recently
established at Boston College.
New funds may be established,
and contributions to existing
funds made, through the Office
of Development, More Hall.
LAW SCHOOL
Black Alumni Leadership
Initiative
STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS
Terrence J. '42, and Virginia H.
Geoghegan Scholarship Fund*
Geraldine M. Lyon Endowed
Scholarship Fund honoring
James Ring, SJ, '35, MA'36,
MS'38*
Mr. and Mrs. Vincent F. Martin,
Jr., '63, Scholarship Fund
Remondi Family
Scholarship Fund
Richard L. Trum '37, Endowed
Scholarship Fund*
Frederick A. '32, and Louise J.
Meier Endowed
Scholarship Fund*
* Established through the Deferred
Giving Program 9
BOSTON COLLEGE \1 U . \/I\E 45
Q & A
Sin deep
THE ROOTS OF ANTI-SEMITISM
To understand how the Holocaust happened, we must understand
how the early Christians' refutation of Judaism evolved into fear and
hatred of the Jews, says Theology Professor Donald Dietrich in his new
book God and Humanity in Auschwitz (Transaction, 1995). An inter-
view by senior writer John Ombelets.
Where did anti-Semitism begin?
Actually, anti-Judaism, which is the
ancestor of anti-Semitism, predates
Christianity. If you look back to the
ancient Greeks, you can find thinkers
such as Theophrastus, a pupil of Aristotle,
hailing the Jews as great philosophers.
That may not seem like bigotry, but it's a
start: when you isolate individuals or
individual groups in a category — even to
praise them — you are already marginaliz-
ing them in some way. And, of course,
there were numerous instances in those
pre-Christian times of more obvious
bigotry against Jews. Anti-Jewish riots
over food shortages in the Nile Delta
around 500 B.C.E. suggest that Jews
were being stereotyped.
By their very nature, the original
Christian communities were not anti-
Semitic, not biased against the Jewish
people; after all, Jesus was Jewish, and so
were the original apostles. The preju-
dice initially developed as a bias against
Judaism. As Christian communities be-
gan to grow, they found it easier to
develop an identity in opposition to some
other religion, and that was Judaism,
Christianity's elder brother.
If you read the Gospel of John, for
example, we are told in the early part
that the Jews are saved. But by the end,
the verbal assault on the Jews is vicious.
As this process of identity building de-
veloped, there was a radical transforma-
tion, so that by the middle of the second
century C.E., the Jews were considered
beyond salvation, and the dominant
Christian theme was one of anti-
Judaism. As Christianity became more
institutionalized, Christian communi-
ties also became more homogeneous,
and others, such as Jews, no longer fit in.
This development also coincided with
the growth of the notion that the Jews
had murdered God; diatribes to that
effect were very useful in building iden-
46 BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
V
tity within the young Church.
There were those who wanted Jews
and Christians to continue their dia-
logue and seek common ground, but the
institutional church won out, and that
triumph was reflected in patristic refer-
ences to Jews as pigs and goats. One
father of the early church, St. Augustine,
declared that the Jews must be kept as a
remnant simply to remind Christians
that they had been saved.
Even so, at the noninstitutional level
it seems that Christians and Jews con-
tinued to mix fairly comfortably and
without strong prejudice for several cen-
turies. As late as the eighth century, for
example, the institutional Church felt
the need to prohibit intermarriage and
other kinds of interaction, which sug-
gested that what the Church had been
saying for hundreds of years wasn't aw-
fully significant to the average person.
When did anti-Judaism develop into anti-
Semitism and become violent?
The hatred and prejudice became more
widespread and violent around 1100,
when the first crusade was launched.
The logic was that if Christian soldiers
were going to empty the Holy Land of
the Muslims, it made sense to remove
from Europe other alien groups —
namely, Jews.
From that point, prejudice against
the Jews in Europe grew worse. Chris-
tians began to create such anti-Judaic
myths as the "blood libel" myth which
claimed that Jews used the blood of
Christian babies or small children to
incorporate into the Passover bread. If a
Christian child disappeared from a town,
the local Jewish community frequently
would be accused of kidnapping and
slaughtering the child. That belief con-
tinued right up until the 20th century.
In 1215 the Lateran Council even in-
sisted that Jews wear distinctive types of
clothing.
During the 14th century, when the
Black Death stalked Europe, Jews were
often accused of poisoning wells. Add-
ing to that fear was a strong economic
bias against Jews. Christians considered
it a sin to charge interest on a loan;
therefore, it made sense to relegate the
job of money lending to Jews, who had
no such prohibition.
All of that led to the popular belief
that Jews were a foreign and sinister
element in an otherwise-homogeneous
society. By the end of the 15th century,
they had been expelled from England,
France and Spain, forcing them to con-
centrate in Eastern Europe, a circum-
stance that would have direct and tragic
consequences 450 years later.
How did religious tensions play out in
prewar Germany?
Germany in the early 1930s was about
69 percent Protestant, 3 0 percent Catho-
lic and one percent Jewish. Initially,
Martin Luther apparently had been pro-
Jewish, but when the Jews refused to
join his church, he came out against
them as viciously as any Catholic cleric,
employing the same arguments. In
churches in southern Germany you can
still see stained-glass windows with anti-
Semitic depictions. One shows, of all
things, the circumcision of the infant
Jesus. A frightened Mary holds Jesus
with the mohalim gathered around her
looking evil and brandishing knives. Well
into the 20th century, Catholic liturgy
called on the faithful to pray every Good
Friday for the "perfidious Jews" in the
name of Jesus Christ; that only stopped
in the past few decades.
The point is that there was a 2,000-
year social-learning process in which
one group was marginalized — 2,000
years of selective enmity. That partly
explains how ordinary people in the 20th
century could do extraordinarily evil
things. They had been conditioned to
look at the Jewish people as dangerous
and alien and as economic exploiters
who controlled the banks, the press and
the department stores.
And in the 1920s and 1930s Catholic
bishops were saying the same kinds of
things as the Nazis. It would be difficult
for a German Catholic to distinguish
Adolph Hitler's words at that time from
those of the average bishop — although
you must keep in mind that the Church
sought conversion, while Hitler's
agenda, ultimately, was extermination.
Historians have argued that the Holo-
caust could not have happened without
Hitler — in effect, saying that the wide-
spread anti-Judaism of Christian Europe
was not, in and of itself, sufficient to
cause genocide. Do you agree?
A debate over that question has been
raging for seven or eight years, so much
so that the two camps are identified by
name: intentionalists versus functional-
ists. Intentionalists say that the final solu-
tion occurred because Hider wanted it.
Functionalists say that the causes of the
Holocaust were more complex, that it
evolved more out of circumstances and
ruthless pragmatism than out of Hider's
conscious will. For example, functional-
ists would suggest that Nazi bureaucrats,
discovering they didn't have enough food
to feed the Jews in the Lodz ghetto, might
simply decide that some Jews must be
killed so others could eat.
But someone had to give the order
for extermination, and, as far as we know,
that was Hitler. There was no written
order, but there records of conversa-
tions with Hitler during the spring of
1941, in which he refers to his final
solution to the "Jewish problem." In
2,000 years of European anti-Semitism,
no one had ever suggested exterminat-
ing the Jews until Hitler came along.
Were Hitler's audiences more moved by
his appeal to their economic fears of the
Jews or by his appeal to cultural and
religious fears?
The two tended to reinforce each other.
If I were a father in 1933 Germany, and
my son were graduating from law school
into a depressed economy and I had
been brought up with an anti-Judaic
bias, it would not be hard for me to
think, If the government would bar Jews
from law, my son could have a great job.
So cultural or religious anti-Semitism
helped German citizens justify their eco-
nomic anti-Semitism.
47 BOSTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Q & A
The Nazis killed nearly 6 million Euro-
pean Jews. Why didn't the Catholic
Church intervene?
For one thing, it would have been dif-
ficult for a church that had been preach-
ing anti -Judaism for 1 ,900 years to take
a pro-Jewish stand. Also the Church
blamed the Jews for many of the prob-
lems of the modern world. The Church
bought into the myths that the Jews
controlled the West economically and
that they were leading the West into
cultural decadence. Since anti-
Semitism was so routinely ingrained in
the culture of Christianity, many
Catholics failed to see that Nazi-style
anti-Semitism was a more ruthless,
deadly strain.
Privately, both Pope Pius XI and
Pope Pius XII went as far as they be-
lieved they could to defend Jews against
Nazi persecution . In 1 93 8 Pius XI com-
missioned Fr. John LaFarge, an Ameri-
can Jesuit whose book on interracial
justice challenged pseudoscientific
claims of white supremacy, to write an
encyclical on racism. At the Jesuit
general's insistence, a German Jesuit,
Fr. GustavGundlach, collaborated. But
Pius XI died before approving their
treatise, Humanae Generis Unitas (On
the Unity of the Human Race), and it
was subsequently deep-sixed by the
Jesuit general and the new pope, Pius
XII. Although Pius XII personally op-
posed anti-Semitism — he ordered re-
ligious institutions and monasteries in
Italy to hide Jews from the Germans —
he felt the timing for the encyclical
wasn't right. His primary responsibil-
ity, he felt, was to the institutional
Church. Essentially, his view was that
the Catholic Church had existed for
nearly 2,000 years, while Hitler had
been chancellor for fewer than 1 0. Pius
assumed that the Church would outlast
Hitler and that postwar Germany would
need a strong Catholic Church to pick
up the pieces after Hitler's defeat. He
reasoned that forcing German Catho-
lics to choose between Church and
country during wartime might lead
them to choose country and so weaken
the Church.
It took Pope John XXIII and Vatican
II to resolve the issue by speaking pow-
erfully in terms of the dignity of every
individual human being and by broadly
opposing anything that was an affront
to human dignity. That encouraged
Catholic clergy as part of the institu-
tion to speak out against all kinds of
discrimination.
In your book, you present four Jewish
theologians wrestling with the mean-
ing of the Holocaust within the context
of Judaism. In his early writings, Rich-
ard Rubenstein says he could find no
meaning except that God was dead
and his covenant with the Jewish people
was null and void. Others, such as Emil
Fackenheim, find affirmation in the Ho-
locaust. How about you? Do you find
meaning in the Holocaust?
I find Fackenheim's ideas most useful
because he talks in terms of co-creation,
the notion that you can't depend on God
to do it all. Humans have to assume
responsibility for preserving themselves,
for structuring their world and for main-
taining their dignity in the most horrible
of circumstances. It is not enough sim-
ply to leave that responsibility to God.
Fackenheim's notion fits nicely with the
Christian belief in the incarnation — that
is, the idea that God has entered human
history to help us do His work. Fac-
kenheim saw humans doing God's work
even in Auschwitz: people giving the
sick food and risking their lives to help in
small ways, like the man who sneaked in
and out of Auschwitz two or three times
just to get word to those outside about
what was going on in the camp. That's
phenomenal bravery. The Jews said
their prayers, kept their holy days, taught
their children. Faced with brutal totali-
tarian rule, they maintained their com-
munity and their faith.
Have Catholic and Jewish theologians
found any common ground in their
treatment of the Holocaust?
Yes, and the key I think lies in this
notion of co-creation. It's a way for
Christians to get into a discussion with
Jewish colleagues and still maintain
one of the fundamental events of our
tradition. The incarnation — God be-
coming human — is something we're
all comfortable with because it puts us
on an equal footing with God in terms
of having responsibility for creating
the world. The idea that we share re-
sponsibility for the world can be found
in the Jews' Exodus and Sinai experi-
ences, and it was reinforced by the
Holocaust.
Another point that's come out of
Auschwitz is especially important for
Catholic theologians to remember: you
have to live the theology of the Catho-
lic Church in light of events. As the
Catholic theologian Johannes Metz
said, you have to do theology in the
presence of Auschwitz. For instance,
the Catholic Church has been ob-
sessed with individual sin. Increas-
ingly, in light of the Holocaust and
more recent world events, Catholic
theologians have begun to talk about
sin as something that is built into a
system of thought or belief, such as
anti-Semitism or racism or sexism.
Looked at in this light, sin is not just
something to repent personally but
something that can be attacked struc-
turally through public and private ac-
tion in politics, in the workplace and in
the church, and it is something to be on
guard against.
David Tracy, a professor at the
University of Chicago divinity school,
warns us to be suspicious about our
expression of theological doctrines be-
cause it may lead to disasters down the
line. In this case, the structural sin of
anti-Semitism that was embedded in
Christian doctrine prepared the ground
for the Holocaust. This whole notion
of structural or systemic sin has given
Catholic thinkers a way to move the
Church in directions that will prevent
future holocausts. •
48 BOSTON COLLEGE MA( ■ \ZI\F
WORKS AND DAYS
Perfect pitch
'I can play anything I want," Richard Giglio deadpans, "except 'New York, New York
FENWAY ORGANIST
RICHARD GIGLIO '68
It's the top of the seventh, with two
outs, and Richard Giglio is ready.
His long fingers are poised; his eyes are
on the ball. As it floats effortlessly from
Red Sox shortstopjohn Valentin's hand,
nestling snugly into first baseman Mo
Vaughn's glove, Giglio pauses a beat.
Then he lets loose and the familiar
calliope strains of "Take Me Out to the
Ball Game" sail forth from his Yamaha
electronic organ across Fenway Park.
On cue, 23,000 fans rise as one in the
ritual of the seventh-inning stretch.
For Giglio '68, this is the best mo-
ment of the game, and by season's end
he will have enjoyed 72 such mo-
ments— more if the Sox make the play-
offs, a prospect that positively lights up
his youthful countenance: "Wouldn't
that be great}" he effuses. "And natu-
rally, if they win the Series, it'll be
because of the music."
From his six-foot-square rooftop
perch just a spit of chewing tobacco
from the scruffy denizens of the press
box, Giglio plays a repertoire that runs
from "Tijuana Taxi" to "Love Boat,"
each tune accompanied by the appro-
priately cheesy programmed beat. It's
an odd job for a classically trained mu-
sician who once served as pianist for a
ballet company in Geneva, Switzer-
land. But Giglio is
not your average
classical musician.
For one thing, he's
done this sort of gig
before, playing organ for
the San Diego Padres in
1970 and 1971. ("They ac-
tually wanted me to play
the 'Mexican Hat Dance'
during the seventh-inning
stretch," he winces.) And
Fenway is his second
home; a native of Quincy,
Massachusetts, Giglio
grew up with the Green
Monster and Pesky's Pole.
His father, Kelly, has held
season tickets since Ted
Williams's rookie year as a
professional, 1936, and
threw out the first ball to
open the 1985 season.
Richard's mother, Dora,
once confided to him that
despite his attainments as a concert or-
ganist, her dream was to hear him play
Fenway Park.
Dora Giglio got her wish on April
26 — opening day in this strike-delayed
season. By day a consultant to non-
profit organizations on fund-raising and
promotions, Richard hadn't played a
note professionally since 1987, but an
organ dealer friend recommended him
for the Red Sox job. After two auditions
in March, Giglio was hired — without
knowing when or even if there would be
a baseball season. Opening day, he says,
"I was so terrified I wouldn't let my
parents come up to the booth until after
the game. My hands were shaking."
John Ombelets
Take Pride
Boston College was there for you.
Be there for Boston College.
Support the BC Fund. We can't do it without you.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
This is as close as seniors Tom Godino, Jr., Amy Rolfe
and Bridget Rooney will get to the new student center
as undergraduates, but they helped make it happen.
For their senior-class gift, members of the Class of
1 995 raised more than $3 1 ,000 for the project, shown
above in an artist's view from the corner of Beacon
Street and College Road.
Private gifts to the University, your gifts, help Boston
College produce alumni who understand their
responsibility to the future.