University involving recruiting of faculty and students and plant expansion. Jack Butler, SJ, VP for University mission and ministry, the featured speaker, concluded the program. I cannot relate his message in a few words, but he said we should never feel defeated—God is always on our side. Charlie Ahern, John Fitzgerald, and Gerry Joyce represented the class. We missed Frank Mahoney, MEd’54, who has always been with us for this event. Sadly, we were informed by his sons Frank ’70 and Tom ’74, who were with us, that he was at Massachusetts General Hospital undergoing serious surgery. Since then, I have spoken on the phone with his wife, Rita, and learned that he is having a very difficult recovery. I did talk briefly on the phone with Frank at the Wingate Healthcare facility in Reading, and he is hopeful. • At this point in our lives, sadly, we accept that we will lose friends. Our classmate Vincent DeBenedictis passed away in April. He had a rewarding career in education and retired as head of the foreign language department at Worcester State. A message of sympathy has been sent to his wife, Mary, and his family. Also, Tom Flanagan has lost his wife, Jane. Our sympathy has been extended to Tom. May they rest in peace. • I had a pleasant surprise call from Charlie Ahern. He informed me that he gave up a few golf dates to travel to Seattle with a son and daughter-in-law for a week with family. That is a real test for a nonagenarian. He did comment that the travel time was much better than the three-day troop train ride to a POE on the West Coast. • I hope you were able to attend the memorial Mass on May 17. Until the next time, keep walking, if you are able.
You’ll always be
counted for the class of
1943 reunion year
Correspondent: Ernest E. Santosuosso 73 Waldron Road Braintree, MA 02184; 781-848-3730
You’ll always be
counted for the class of
1944
Correspondent: Gerard L. Kirby kirbyjerry@aol.com PO Box 1493 Duxbury, MA 02331; 781-934-0229 Perhaps you remember that a couple of months ago I gave a shout-out to three classmates from whom I hadn’t heard in a very long time. They were Dennis Bowen, Warren Cox, and Bob Larkin. Well, I still don’t know about Dennis, and unfortunately, I learned that Warren is no longer with us. But all was not in vain; I was really pleased to have a call from Bob, who is living the good life in Salem, which is familiar ground for him. Bob has three sons and five grandchildren for all kinds of family diversions. What a pleasure it was to talk with Bob—like voices from the past, bringing each other up-to-date 68 years later. • So here’s another shout-out: Let’s see if we will hear from you, Dick Daly, Bill Kelley MBA’61, and Joe Tracey. • If you were born in 1922, and most of the class probably was, let me be among the first to wish you a happy 90th birthday. Fellow traveler from Belmont to Boston College Tom Hazlett had
his big celebration in May. And it really was a very big fiesta with nieces and nephews and grandchildren and cousins in great numbers. Tom is amazing. He has had many of the growing-old growing pains that many of us have had, but he still stands straight as an arrow. He can’t wait to get working on his beautiful and extensive gardens. Tom and Ginny feel very fortunate: Their daughter Sue, who is a small-animal worker, has moved back home. Not only that, but she has brought her beautiful golden retriever sidekick with her. It’s enough that she should just be there, but she plans to help Ginny and Tom get through whatever difficult times come their way, as time goes by. We should all be so lucky as to have an angel like that descend at just the right time. • And that’s the way it is. Peace.
You’ll always be
counted for the class of
1945
Correspondent: David Hern hernfern@juno.com 40 Landseer Street West Roxbury, MA 02132-2915; 617-325-6827 Stairs! Stairs! Stairs! Who needs them? Certainly not our old pal Leo McGrath. As this is being written, he’s recovering from a bad fall down the stairs at his Attleboro condo in late March. It was a memorable experience he could have done without. Leo and Alice have since moved in with a daughter in Franklin. Same phone number. No stairs. “I don’t remember anything about the ride to Sturdy Hospital,” he reported, but he received excellent treatment before transferring to Rhode Island Hospital for special tests and more good care. Leo played golf for years with groups in his area, but he has not been able to make it on to the course for some time and isn’t sure he’ll ever get back in the swing. • Another avid golfer in the class has also been slowed down: Bill Hamrock has skipped traveling to Florida for the past two winters partly because too many friends down there have passed on. He and his wife, Mary, remained in Bedford, NH. Bill reports that they are doing pretty well. He has retained a golf club membership for social reasons, at least. He hasn’t swung a club for months but has high hopes of getting back on the course occasionally. • Another golfer in the class, Bill Cornyn, returned from Sun City, FL, to try some Massachusetts courses for the summer. He planned to stay at his Scituate home after a brief visit with a daughter in Rockland. Bill hit 90 on the Ides of March. He seems to be in good shape and mentioned jogging, whatever that is. He has stopped driving, so a daughter in Florida has his high-profile 1964 Galaxie convertible. It had been retired for a decade but was rehabbed and is now running great! “They all love it,” he said. • Final note: This space is constantly in need of material from or about classmates and their families, particularly from or about those who entered BC in 1942, and with accelerated programs quickly became valuable ’45 stalwarts. Please write or email me; my contact information is at the top of this column. www.bc.edu/alumni
You’ll always be
counted for the class of
1947
Correspondent: Richard J. Fitzgerald PO Box 171 North Falmouth, MA 02556; 508-563-6168
You’ll always be
counted for the class of
1948 reunion year
Correspondent: Timothy C. Buckley timothycbuckley@yahoo.com 41 Birchwood Lane Lincoln, MA 01773 In May, our class joined with the classes of the 1930s and ’40s for the third annual memorial Mass at the former Alumni House on the Newton Campus. A total of 36 members of these classes attended. The memorial Mass was concelebrated by Joseph Duffy, SJ, ’50, MA’51, STL’58; Paul McCarty, SJ, ’49, STL’61; and Rev. Robert Costello. Other members of our class who attended were Al DeVito, Mildred and Robert Foy, Jeanne Costello, and Timothy Buckley MBA’62. • We lost eight members of our class last year; among them was Joseph F. Donohue, who died on March 22. He was a graduate of the Carroll School of Management.
You’ll always be
counted for the class of
1949
Correspondent: John J. Carney jjc1949@bc.edu 227 Savin Hill Avenue Dorchester, MA 02125; 617-825-8283 I am writing these class notes about a week after our class acted as the lead with the Alumni Association in setting up a spring memorial Mass for deceased members of the classes of the 1930s and ’40s at the former BC Alumni House on the Newton Campus, followed by lunch. Joe Duffy, SJ, ’50, MA’51, STL’58, former secretary of the University, was the celebrant, and our own Paul McCarty, SJ, STL’61, was the concelebrant. There were about 36 attending the Mass and luncheon on May 17, including Ernie Ciampa; Paula and Peter Rogerson; Carol and Donald McA’nulty; John Prince MEd’51 with his daughter Mary Costa ’79 (John’s dear wife, Mary, passed away in April); Anne Ashur (Arthur Ashur’s widow); Pat and John Turner; Claire and John McCarthy; my wife, Madelyn; and Fr. Joe Duffy’s sister Mary Griffin (my daughter Claire’s mother-in-law). I apologize if I omitted anyone. • Our deceased classmate, Tom O’Connor, MA’50, H’93, University historian, was eulogized in a Boston Globe editorial as a prolific writer who always lived up to his own ideal as a “teacher who wrote, not a writer who taught.” Tom died on May 20. • Peter Rogerson informed me of the passing of Alex Scholtes of Hingham on March 29. Alex was an officer in the Navy, serving in both World War II and the Korean conflict. Our hearts go out to his family. • Our dear friend Jim Whelton of Wayland passed away on May 12, and his funeral was the same