Antonette Port GC ’54

ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU

Antonette Port GC ’54

In his 1961 presidential inaugural address, John F. Kennedy stirred the country with his iconic, penetrating statement: “Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country!” He called all Americans to civic duty, challenged each to contribute to the public good, and announced the formation of the Peace Corps. Antonette Port (GC ’54), steeped in the idealism of the moment and the values and spirit of service she had learned at Girls Catholic, heard Kennedy’s call to action. She was on the phone the next day, saying that she and her husband Richard would like to apply for the Peace Corps. The polite receptionist at the other end said that applications had not yet even been printed, but that when they were, she would send one along to Antonette. Not long after, Antonette and Richard had applied, they were accepted, and after seven weeks of training, they found themselves in the Oval Office of the White House speaking to President Kennedy as the “first couple” to leave the U.S. as members of the Peace Corps! That started for Antonette and Richard two years as volunteers teaching in Ghana, West Africa, and a life-long adventure in ministry and education. For Antonette, it was a “continuation” in education. Following her days at Girls Catholic, after two years of teacher-training college in Baltimore, and while enrolled in Boston College evening classes, she began teaching 1st and 2nd Grade at the Immaculate Conception School in Malden (1957-61). While at BC, she met Richard, a BC High graduate, who also enrolled in the night school. Now married 62 years, they still delight in one another’s company and enjoy the amenities of Peabody’s Brooksby Village. While in Ghana, they had the thrill of helping to start a rural secondary school where there had been none and of developing the English fluency of their students. Antonette was impressed by the Africans’ voracious eagerness to learn and by their zealous receptivity to instruction. Upon completion of her two-year Peace Corps commitment, Antonette and her husband both earned a master’s degree at Columbia University Teachers College. She discovered that returned Peace Corps volunteers were highly desired for their unique skills and experiences. In 1965 she and Richard went to Nigeria to work with a Harvard-led team developing a modern secondary school in Nigeria based on the American model rather than on the colonial British model of education that had been in place. There they developed successful methods for teaching English as

a second language and devised a curriculum for English language acquisition. Not long after, in 1967, the couple was invited to Hawaii for curriculum development projects there. They remained in Hawaii for 52 years! For 30 years, Antonette worked jointly with the Hawaii Department of Education and the University of Hawaii in curriculum development and teacher training. She also enjoyed running the after-school religious education program for local children in her parish of St. Peter and Paul in Honolulu. Most especially though, Antonette enjoyed her 20 years serving as Co-Director of the parish’s Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults program, the process through which non-baptized men and women enter the Catholic Church. She recalls, “It was very satisfying, a real highlight for me because I got to see and hear how religious belief impacted the lives of people.” She helped over 200 people embrace Catholicism. During these years, Richard also nurtured a religious calling, becoming a Permanent Deacon. “When the Permanent Diaconate was re-instituted in Hawaii in 1977,” says Antonette, “Richard was proud to be in the first class ordained there in 1981.” Together, they’ve been quite a team! She mentions, “My husband and I have always worked together,” and adds with a smile, “He does pretty well on his own, but I respond to his sermons and homilies at his request from a parishioner’s perspective.” Born in Malden and raised by practicing Catholics, Antonette had little doubt about where she would go to high school! Neither did sisters Mary, GC ’53 and Tillie, GC ’56 and Malden Catholic brothers Robert Tramondozzi ’58 (football Hall of Famer) and John Tramondozzi ’60 (Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Curry College). She recalls fondly the annual May crowning of the Blessed Mother and the pleasure of singing with Sister Alexia’s Glee Club. She remembers appreciatively that her venerable “senior homeroom teacher, Sister Jude, was wonderful in her care and support of all,” even to the point of making sure that every graduate had a summer job! Care, community concern and servant leadership seem to be the common elements in Antonette and Richard’s life trajectories beginning in their formative high school years. Today’s generation of Malden Catholic boys and girls can look toward Antonette and Richard as models of service who answered President Kennedy’s summon: “With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.” We thank them for this legacy and their support of Malden Catholic.