Saint Columbkille Partnership School Spring 2023 Alumni Newsletter

SPIRIT

Saint Columbkille Alumni News

25 Arlington Street Brighton, MA 02135

www.stcps.org/alumni

Nino Gilarde ‘89 Becomes First Alumnus Appointed as Chair of the Board

Anthony (Nino) Gilarde ‘89 has been appointed as Chair of the Board of Trustees for Saint Columbkille Partnership School, the first alumnus to do so. Nino, the CFO for Viant Medical, a medical device manufacturing company, lives with his wife Debi in Foxboro, where they are active in St. Mary’s parish.

The sixth of seven children, Nino grew up in Brighton on Newcastle Road, off Faneuil Street. He attended Our Lady of Presentation for elementary school, Boston Latin Academy (BLA) for middle school and Saint Cols for high school. Nino chose to leave BLA for a variety of reasons to attend Saint Cols, and he’s so glad he did.

“Saint Cols was the best move I ever made,” says Nino. “It was what I wanted. The smallness of Saint Cols and the intimacy of the school fit me much better.”

Nino was an athlete in high school, playing basketball and baseball. He also was the recipient of the Cardinal Medeiros Scholarship, awarded to one student from

NinoGilarde‘89

each Catholic high school in Boston each year to attend Boston University.

“You develop close relationships, not just with students, but with the teachers as well,” says Nino. “Even now at Saint Cols, there’s this feeling when you walk the hallways that everybody knows everybody.”

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Come home to columb To honor Kelly Gillen McGrath ’89 and Class of 1973

Join us for our annual reunion event, Come Home to Columb, on Saturday, June 3, 2023 . We are thrilled to welcome all alumni back to Saint Cols! We will celebrate the Class of 1973 for their 50th reunion and honor Kelly (Gillen) McGrath ’89 as this year’s Distinguished Alumnus. Schedule of events will include:

3 p.m. – Class of 1973 tour of Saint Cols

4 p.m. – Alumni Mass at St. Columbkille Church for all alumni

5 p.m. – Reunion event for all alumni on the plaza at Saint Cols

To register to attend, please visit www.stcps.org/reunion/ Email Christine McCarthy at cmccarthy@stcps.org or call her at 404-217-2626 with questions or to request a paper registration form. See you in June!

Message from the Head of School

Many of you remember how difficult it was when Saint Columbkille High School closed its doors in 1992. The recently announced closures of Saint Joseph Prep and Mount Alvernia High School make all of us pause, just as we did in 1992, because we understand the value of a Catholic education. Catholic education helps to form the whole child, academically, socially, emotionally, and morally, and we are grateful for the opportunity to serve our families.

Because of your generous support, the important work we do continues. Each day, our teachers help our students lead lives of faith, leadership, and service. Many of you have shared that Saint Columbkille did the same for you, and we see that every time we are able to gather. I do hope you will join us on June 3, 2023 as we bring back Come Home to Columb, our annual alumni event. I look forward to honoring Kelly McGrath ‘89 and the Class of ‘73, and I look forward to honoring all of you.

In gratitude,

BC Race to Educate ON April 29, 2023

The 13th annual BC Race to Educate event and signature school fundraiser will take place on Saturday, April 29, 2023 in Alumni Stadium at Boston College. Learn more, register and donate at bcracetoeducate.com.

Jennifer Kowieski

Nino Gilarde, continued from Page 1

Nino enjoys being on the Board of Trustees at Saint Columbkille. When he comes to the school for quarterly Board meetings, he says he gets to meet the students. He loves the community feel that the school still has today.

Nino joined the Board of Trustees in the spring of 2019 and serves on the Capex and Finance Committees. He credits his participation to fellow Board member Jerry Mee ‘76E, who asked him to come back to their alma mater and get involved. As an alumnus, Nino hopes to bring other alumni back to the school to see how much the school has changed and improved since they attended a few decades ago.

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“It didn’t take me long [after becoming a Board Member], to truly have this sense of appreciation for what has happened [at Saint Cols],” says Nino. “It's a unique organization with really talented faculty and staff. We’ve really become a top-notch educational institute. And the connection to BC is a big part of that.”

As Chair of the Board, Nino wants to share his passion for Saint Cols with others. “My goal is to help keep Saint Cols thriving. We need to continue to give students in Allston and Brighton and the surrounding communities the option of a high-quality Catholic education.”

Alumna fondly recalls her Catholic education from the 1930s

Mary Coleman Maye ’39 turned 100 years old on February 26, 2022. She was born in Brighton at Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital. Her older brother John Coleman (Class of 1937), sisters Elsie (Class of 1941) and Catherine or “Rena” (Class of 1943), and her youngest brother Paul (Class of 1949) were all Saint Cols graduates.

As an adult, Mary talked about how idyllic it was to live in Brighton during the Depression. Life revolved around the parish and the school. Mary stayed a true Catholic throughout her life. She was very spiritual up to the end, and it was very important in the way she lived her life and how she raised her children.

“The church was the center of their life growing up. It was the community,” shared Mary’s son Bob Maye, who lives in Rye Beach, MA near where Mary spent the last years of her life in a nursing home facility.

“I loved Brighton,” said Mary during a Zoom interview with Saint Cols in June 2022. “It was the best place I ever lived.” Mary lived in Brighton until 2005. She highly valued her time at Saint Cols, crediting much of her faith and education to the nuns.

“My education at Saint Columbkille means everything,” recalled Mary. “The nuns taught us everything practical. Your parents didn’t have the time to teach you everything, so the nuns taught us every subject.”

“The Cantata [at Christmastime] was wonderful,” said Mary. She participated in the chorus (60 girls) and helped her own daughters participate by making their costumes. Mary’s daughter Patty Maye Wheeler ’68 played the

Virgin Mary in the Cantata when she was in high school.

Mary married Bill Maye at St. Columbkille Parish on October 4, 1947 and had their reception at the Institute which was later the Junior High when her children attended. After the war, they weren’t able to find housing in Brighton, so Mary and Bill moved to Dorchester, then Jamaica Plain where Mary Ellen Maye Whyte (Class of 1966), Patty Maye Wheeler (Class of 1968) and Kathy Maye Cook (Class of 1969) were born.

Patty clearly remembers the day in November 1953 when “I was sent to kindergarten with my older sister and was brought to a new home at 83 Cresthill Road where my brother Bob was born in 1956.” In 1959, the family moved to 8 Priscilla Road (St. Gabriel's parish), where her younger brother Paul was born. Bob and Paul went to St. Gabriel’s, though Paul attended Saint Cols for four years in elementary school. The three Maye sisters all graduated from Saint Cols, which Mary loved.

Mary passed away in November 2022; her funeral was held at St. Columbkille Parish. Mary, her sisters, and her daughters, were/are all steadfast supporters of Saint Columbkille. Read more at www.stcps.org.

In Memoriam

Below are alumni who we have learned have recently passed away. We apologize for any duplications or omissions. Please contact Mary Earls at mary.earls@yahoo.com to include a name in the next issue.

1936 – Mildred Tudor

1939 – Mary (Coleman) Maye

1948 – John McCafferty

1948 – Mildred (Kreinsen) Mayo

1949 – Thomas E. Laffey

1952 – Ann E. Murphy

1952 – Mary Cedrone

1953 – Elizabeth “Betty” (Funcheon) Athanas

1953 – Anthony “Sonny” Cedrone

1953 – Jeanne (Sennott) Simmons

1953 – Fr. Donald Clifford

1953 – Robert “Bob” Melia, Sr.

1955 – Paul Corkery

1955 – Frances (Whippen) Murphy

1955 – Rose (Cedrone) White

1955 – Denis V. Minihane

1957 – Dorthea “Dottie” (Kennedy) Harmon

1957 – Janice (Bergin) Berglund

1958 – Carol (Black) Bugala

1959 – Anthony J. Cedrone, Jr.

1960 – Frank Lukosius

1960 – Paul M. Kane*

1960 – Patrick Joseph “Joe” Foley, Jr.

1960 – Dr. Thomas McDonald

1961 – John P. Shea

1962 – Marcia A. Jenner

1964 – Richard Scott

1965 – Jean (Holmes) Farricy

1966 – John J. Zilinsky

1966 – Daniel J. Rufo, Jr.

1968 – Rita Faldetta

1969 – Margie (Wholey) DeSantis

1972 – Paul O’Leary

1972 – John “Barry” O’Sullivan

1981 – Traci MacDonald

1986 – John O’Brien

1987 – Peggy (DiBuduo) Ronan

*attended Saint Cols K-6, graduated high school in 1960

Friends of Saint Columbkille: Mary Mee

Alumni Association Board & Class Captains

We plan to reignite our Board over the next few months and establish Class Captains for as many classes as we can. If you are interested in serving on the Alumni Board or as a Class Captain, please send an email to Christine McCarthy at cmccarthy@stcps.org or call 404-217-2626.

2021-2022 Digital Impact report available online

The digital edition of our 2nd annual Impact Report is available online at www.stcps.org. The report chronicles the 2021-2022 school year at Saint Columbkille and includes quotes from and interviews with students and alumni or all ages, and a full list of donors.

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Please share your email address with us to ensure you receive the monthly alumni email newsletters and stay up to date on school events and news. Update your contact information at www.stcps.org/rejoin-stcps/.

Memorial & Legacy Gifts

Memorial gifts made in honor of a loved one are gratefully accepted and thoughtfully acknowledged to families of the deceased. Legacy gifts leave a lasting legacy to Saint Columbkille as part of estate planning. For more information, please contact Kate Ward below.

Make a qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD)

Make a gift and avoid taxes with a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from your traditional or Roth IRA. If you are 70.5 years of age or older, you can direct your traditional or Roth IRA distribution directly to Saint Columbkille Partnership School without paying taxes. The school will receive the distribution directly from the IRA custodian tax free. The donor (you) benefits from not having to pay income tax on the distribution.

For more information on supporting STCPS, please contact Kate Ward at kward@stcps.org or 617-254-3110 x.147