Author Archives: Bill McDonald

About Bill McDonald

I’m a member of the Class of 1968. Came in as a physics major and left with a degree in another science, poli sci. Lived in Loyola, Kostka, and Williams for three years before “escaping” to an apartment in Brookline senior year. I joined the Heights as a sports writer freshman year and ended up as sports co-editor, along with classmate Tom Sugrue, for the spring and fall semesters of 1967. After Navy service and grad school, I later worked at BC for almost 20 years, in two segments, the most recent ending in 2011. As a member of the public relations staff 1974-82, I was founding editor of Boston College Magazine. I'm now retired in North San Diego County, growing blogs.

Penultimate day before graduation

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Sunday, June 2, 1968, appropriately, focused on more solemn events prior to graduation.

Classmates in the School of Nursing were “pinned” that day. Classmate Joanne Calore Turco tells us: “Each school of nursing has its own distinctive pin. A nurse receives one on graduating from his/her school of nursing. Most wore the pin on their uniform, but I’m not sure many nurses still wear their school pin now that name tags on lanyards and other identification are required in health care settings. Just like the distinctive ‘caps,’ the pins may be a thing of the past, but most nurses still keep their pins and wear them with pride.”

Here’s a gallery of photos taken at Nursing’s pinning ceremony and published in the spring supplement to the 1968 Sub Turri. If you have identifications for people in the photos, please let me know.

It was also the day for baccalaureate Mass. Here’s a gallery of photos taken at Mass and published in the spring supplement to the 1968 Sub Turri. If you have identifications for people in the photos, please let me know.

Finallly, I am not certain this ceremony took place on Sunday, June 2, but it fits in terms of solemnity. Classmates in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) were commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants.

Here’s a gallery of photos taken at commissioning and published in the spring supplement to the 1968 Sub Turri. If you have identifications for people in the photos, please let me know.

We welcome any recollections of these events.

Senior Week, Day 3

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Saturday, June 1, 1968, was packed with Senior Week activities. Started off with brunch in McElroy Commons, followed by the Boston Pops Orchestra (with Arthur Fiedler!) in the acoustically wonderful Roberts Center, and then wrapped up with a night at the King Philip in Wrentham.

Tickets to the Pops appearance cost $2.50, while brunch clicked in at $3.25 per person.

The event at King Philip added a previously missing element: parents! Parents of members of the class were invited to attend. They and classmates danced to the “Father’s Mustache Banjo Band” from 8 pm to 1 am, for $3 per person.

Did you go to any of these? Any memories, recollections to share?

Here’s a gallery of photos taken on that busy Saturday and published in the spring supplement to the 1968 Sub Turri. If you have identifications for people in the photos, please let me know.

 

Senior Week, Day 2

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On to Glen Ellen Country Club! The second day of Senior Week featured “a day in the country (club)” at the facility in Millis, where classmates enjoyed swings, the pool, music, dancing. dinner, and adult refreshments.

When they said day, they meant day. Ran from 1 pm to 1 am. Tickets were $12 per couple, a dollar an hour.

Were you there? Do you have memories, photos to share?

Here’s a gallery of photos taken at Glen Ellen and published in the spring supplement to the 1968 Sub Turri. If you have identifications for people in the photos, please let me know.

 

Senior Week, Day 1

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The Surf, Nantasket Beach, was a regular, including for Senior Week 1968. Sub Turri photo

Today was the first day of Senior “Week” in 1968. Classmates kicked off the festivities on that Thursday at the Surf Ballroom in Nantasket. Three musical groups — “The Nine Lords,” “The Happenings,” and Dick Madison’s “Tijuana Brass Band” — entertained.

Tickets for the event, which ran from 8 pm to 1 am, were $5 a couple.

Did you go? Any memories, recollections?

Here’s a gallery of photos taken at the Surf and published in the spring supplement to the 1968 Sub Turri. If you have identifications for people in the photos, please let me know.

 

‘For here men are men’

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The topic of women at BC 1964-68 probably deserves an entire blog itself. So this post touches on only a few elements.

Until 1989, For Boston, the BC fight song, contained the lyrics that are this post’s headline — “For here men are men . . . .” In May of that year, the BC Alumni Association Board of Directors recognized the presence of women in all schools at BC and approved changing those words to “For here all are one.” (They also made lyrics in the second stanza gender-neutral, but who knows that stanza? :) ) Women enrolled in Education (since 1952) and Nursing (since 1947) and certainly our female classmates for years sang a fight song that, one might say, ignored their existence. One might also say BC had had that problem for a while . . . and at least undervalued their presence during our years.

One image of women students at BC is conveyed by the photo at right. The Heights, as enlightened as it perceived itself to be, regularly ran photos of, dare I say, “pretty girls” who were BC students. “The Heights Reader of the Week” was a page two staple for our freshman and sophomore years, at least. Sub Turri, for a number of years, had a “queen” each year and one could vote numerous times each year for the “queen” of this or that dance or event, e.g., Homecoming.

This is not to say BC was so different from many other colleges at the time. Even public institutions and women’s colleges in the day had policies and regulations probably intended more to “protect” women than “empower” them.

Looking back, however, brings you to some things that today seem humorous, bizarre, or both.

Classmate Joanne Calore Turco recalls learning right off the bat, at orientation, that female students could not wear pants (or, gawd forbid, shorts!) on principal parts of the campus, among the academic buildings.

In October 1965, Bobbi McKuskie, ’69, became the “first girl to march with the BC band,” as she debuted at halftime of the BC-Penn State football game . . . not to play the trumpet or even the flute, but to twirl a baton. In March 1968, the Heights reported that the band had received approval to add three “lithe, lovely majorettes” to the band.

In 1965, Ann O’Malley, ’66, Education, served as co-editor-in-chief of The Heights and was the only woman to hold the top position, shared or otherwise, during our years. Janice Kolar was co-features editor in 1966 and “contributing editor” in 1967. No women were editors in 1968. Almost all of the members of the “business staff” were females, and all of the “typists.”

A “restaurant guide” in The Eagle’s (sic) Handbook for resident men offered this advice: “The economy-minded B.C. man with a hungry date will appreciate the Beacon Hill Kitchen, 23 Joy St., or The English Room, 29 Newbury St.”

The Resident Women’s Handbook for 1966-67 includes the following regulations and statements:

“Each student must make her bed each day before leaving the residence . . . .”

“The law requires that all dormitory shades be drawn as soon as the lights are put on.”

“A student may not sleep in any bed other than her own unless permission is given by her housemother, and more than one student may not sleep in a bed at any one time.” (!)

“If the student is more than an hour late and has not called her housemother, the latter will call the student’s parents, collect, to inform them of her absence.”

“When her residence is open, no student will be permitted to stay overnight in any hotel, motel, inn, guest house, or apartment within 25 miles of Boston unless she is with her parents or an approved chaperone.”

“Shorts and slacks are worn outside the residence only when they are appropriate attire for the student’s activities–as for picnics, the beach, etc.; and when leaving the residence in shorts or slacks, the student is expected to wear a knee-length coat.”

Male students had some interesting rules and regulations as well, but nothing really as onerous as some of those applied to women.

Example of room in women’s “residence hall.”

The women’s residences on South Street were apartment buildings, which BC even described as “not designed to serve as dormitories.” For several years, women complained of lack of privacy, no place to entertain guests, inadequate bathroom facilities, poor food, cold rooms, no recreation facilities, no televisions and no permission to bring one, and no options. The Heights in 1965 said, “It is surprising that BC, with all its beautiful new buildings on campus, can afford to let prospective students even see the women’s dorms.”

In February, 1966, The Heights provided an analysis of “. . . The Present Situation” involving housing for BC women. Written, not surprisingly, by a man. It is also, however, comprehensive and damning. The article was accompanied by a chart showing the differing curfews for resident women at local colleges. BC women, freshmen through senior years, had a 10:30 pm curfew Sundays-Thursdays. (A female classmate said that some cads actually had “late night” add-on dates, picked up after dropping off BC dates before 10:30.) On Fridays, curfews were midnight-1 am, depending on class year and semester. After first semester freshman year, when the curfew was midnight, Saturday curfews were 1 am.

No BC woman student was permitted to live in an off-campus apartment, even if she was over 21 and had permission from her parents.

In November 1967, there was a Sunday afternoon open house at each of the eight women’s dorms – Kirkwood, Linden, Pine, Radnor, Chestnut, South, Greycliffe, Alison. The event, the Heights reported, would “enable BC coeds to entertain guests in their rooms for the first time this year and to show visitors living conditions which many women believe are almost intolerable.”

And then there was the fact that no women could enroll in A&S or CBA. A petition to permit women in A&S, signed by 1,500 members of the campus community, was presented to the administration in March 1967. In September, 1967, The Heights reported “Fr. Walsh lists obstacles to women’s entrance in A&S.” Guess those were overcome somehow. Three years and a few months later, women were able to enroll in any and all of BC’s schools.

I had not been aware of this previously, but the female Bald Eagle is larger than the male. Today, the majority of students — both undergraduate and graduate in total and in all undergraduate schools except for the Carroll School of Management and Woods College (formerly the Evening School) — are women. And, while late starters compared to male students at BC, women now represent the majority of BC alumni.

Feel a draft?

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Vietnam Service ribbon

There was likely no bigger elephant in the room for most of the male members of the class during 1967 and 1968 than the draft. There were classmates who knew they would be going into the service (certainly members of ROTC), those who worked assiduously to avoid it, and, most likely the largest group, those who tried to make the best out of uncertainty.

There were also those who weren’t passive, but fought against the draft. The April 2, 1968, Heights reported in “BC draft resisters to turn in cards at rally” that classmate Richard Lareau (A&S), along with William O’Halloran ’71, would be among those handing over their draft cards to the US Department of Justice on the following day at the resistance activities on Boston Common.

Female classmates were not eligible for the draft, but that didn’t mean they were unconcerned. Most had brothers, boyfriends, friends, relatives who were subject to being drafted or who were already serving.

The Selective Service and Congress didn’t do much to help, as they came up with new and different ways to determine those who would be selected and inducted. College enrollment itself initially provided a deferment (2-S) from the draft, a circumstance that increasingly became seen as unfair to young men not in college. Steps were taken to be “fairer.” I recall going home to my hometown to take a test, which, depending on your score, was to determine your draft status. My score was high enough to gain deferment, but then that process was ruled unfair before going into effect.

Graduate school had been sufficient for continuation of a student deferment following graduation, but then, as the Nov. 13, 1967, Heights headline said, “Grad school acceptance no protection from draft.” Options became fewer and more senior class males — I was among them — began to receive notices of 1-A status (“available for military service”) and calls to take pre-induction physicals (I passed).

Along with several of my friends, in the winter of 1967-68, I applied for Navy Officer Candidate School (OCS). That also required a test. I applied to graduate school as well, and may have learned around the same time in winter/spring 1968 that I was accepted by both. Yippee! . . . I guess. At least, I felt, it looked as if my near future would be along one of those paths. It quickly became clear to me, with the draft board increasingly interested in my status, that the Navy was the better option.

Many of my close male friends, at graduation, did not know what they would be doing. I did know and, as I likely would not have chosen to serve in the military under different circumstances, the “comfort” I felt in it was a little odd. My first day of active duty in the Navy — the day I reported to OCS in Newport, R.I. — was the same day BC defeated Navy in football, an event I latched on to as a good omen. I served as a Naval officer for the next three years, including a deployment to the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam. At OCS, a classmate, Greg McClure, was in my company and another classmate, Steve Curran, was one of my shipmates on the USS Biddle (DLG-34). I didn’t know Steve at BC, but we’ve kept in touch since the Biddle and we both attended an all-hands ship’s reunion in 2006.

Most of my friends, at least, served briefly in the Army, Air Force, or Navy reserves, or joined the Peace Corps, VISTA, or a similar organization, and began grad school and the rest of their lives a little ahead of me. I finally did get to grad school and, indeed, later served enough years in the Naval Reserve to retire as a Commander. But that’s another story . . . .

Speaking of stories . . . classmates Carmine Sarno and Brian Froelich had experiences that were pretty “distinctive.”

“I was a ‘hawk’ then,” Carmine said. “I enlisted in the Navy flight program as did many Alpha Kappa Psi fellows did before me, and passed the written and physical tests.”

“I also received a call from my draft board saying that I was to report for my draft physical. I responded with the news of my engagement with the Navy. The draft board asked if I had been sworn in, to which I replied ‘No.’ I explained that a week or so after graduation I would be sworn in as an officer candidate in Naval Aviation.

“They said, ‘Get on the bus.’ I was being drafted into the US Army. A sea of humanity went to the Commonwealth Pier for physicals. School buses loaded with kids from everywhere. We  were unloaded and examined. I and everyone else passed the physical, so long as you could walk in your underwear and bare feet the length of the pier.

“At one point, a young man with a stethoscope around his shoulders passed me on his way to the bathroom. He noticed, in my nakedness, that I had a shaved leg because of a soccer injury. It was taped daily for lacrosse. He asked me not to leave. Moments later my ankle was x-rayed and I was dismissed to catch my bus.

“A week or two later, I left BC to return home to kiss Mom and Dad goodbye as I was to be sworn into the Navy at Naval Air Station South Weymouth. I was backing out of their driveway to go be sworn in at 9 am. The mail carrier arrived as I was leaving and he handed me a note, adding that he was sorry to be delivering draft notices. I said thanks anyway and started the drive to South Weymouth. On 128, I opened the letter from the draft board. I had been rejected for service in the Army.

“Minutes later, I stood at attention to get sworn into the Navy. ‘I (state your name) have never served in the military before . . . or have never been rejected for military service . . .’ Hmmmm. I showed them my Army rejection notice. I was out. The Army x-rayed my ankle two more times with the same results.

“That was my religious moment. My uncle, Carmine Francis Sarno, was killed in World War II at Anzio, and he was pulling strings from above for me. That is a true story.

“My hat is off to all who have served and many from BC did at that time.”

Top that, Brian ! :)

“When we were freshmen, I actually signed up for the Marines,” Brian said. “I was young, foolish, and macho. We were in some war with some little country in Asia somewhere. It would likely be over before we graduated, since they were small and weak and we were big and strong. I was hoping to get to go before it was over and help kick ass.

“I went downtown Boston to take the physical exam. We were mixed in with a bunch of about 100+ guys who had been drafted, and they were not happy.

“The first thing they had us do was take a written exam. The first question was something like: ‘You go into a candy store and buy 25 cents worth of candy, 10 cents worth of gum, and 5 cents worth of licorice. How much did you spend?’ I spent several minutes on that question. Because it seemed so easy, I was sure it was some kind of trick. I finally gave the 40-cent answer and went on to finish the exam in a few minutes.

“After the exam they lined us all up in a hall, called out about 15 names, and marched them back into the exam room. I asked one of the soldiers there what that was about. He said, ‘They failed and will be retested. No one fails that test.’

“We then went in for the physical. We had to go into the bathroom and pee in a cup. I noticed one guy also dumping sugar, salt, and stuff into his pee cup.

“We had to take a hearing test. You went into a booth and put on head phones. You had to press a button when you heard something in your right ear, another button when you heard something in your left ear, and both buttons when you heard something in both ears. The guy in front of me wouldn’t push the buttons! The soldier at the controls looked at me, smiled, and said ‘Watch this.’ He slowly turned up the volume until the guy’s whole body began to shake (I thought he would melt) and the guy finally screamed and stabbed at both buttons.

“We eventually went in to see a doctor. We had been given a piece of paper that said, ‘Do you have, or have you ever had . . .’ and then it listed about 50 items. I remember one was ‘broken bones’ and another was ‘bed wetting’. The guy ahead of me checked all 50! The doctor patiently asked him about each of the 50 items. The guy went on and on about each. He said the bed wetting was embarrassing and that he had broken about six or 10 bones, etc. The doctor said ‘Thank you. Next.’ I asked the doctor, ‘What will happen to that guy?’ He said, ‘He’ll be on the next boat out to Vietnam.’

“So here I was, young and healthy and in great physical shape. But, at the time, I had a small open cyst on my back. The doctor said that they couldn’t take me with an open cyst. As soon as it healed, however, he told me, they would be happy to take me. I had failed the exam that I volunteered for!

“Afterward, I began to pay attention to what was going on and decided not to pursue enlistment. I got married between junior and senior years and knew then for sure I didn’t want to go. I was able to get a marriage deferment. That was the last year you could get one if you already had had a student deferment.

“Saved by the cyst!”

Do you remember the draft as a dominant specter during senior year for yourself or friends of, if you’re a woman, for male classmates, relatives, or others you knew? Any other “distinctive” draft stories?

Remember them

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I apologize for putting this up late on Memorial Day.

We should pause to remember and honor today six members of our class who were killed in Vietnam. Steven Donaldson, Louis Favuzza, Frederick Harrington, Robert Hauer, Christopher Markey, and Michael Monahan died in service to their country.

They are listed on the In memoriam page and more information, including photos, was presented in an earlier post, In honored memory. I acknowledged then, on Veterans Day, that we honored all who served on that day, but felt it appropriate to acknowledge these young men then. It is appropriate even more today.

We will miss their presence, and that of other classmates who have died, of course, at our reunion.

Bygones

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This would fetch a nice price at auction at Reunion, wouldn’t it? I wish. Anybody know where it was located? Sub Turri photo.

Things . . . and campus buildings . . . and places where we had fun . . . gone. One of the products of time passing is that some of those disappear. Some of us may be happy that things and buildings have been replaced and some of us may feel nostalgic about what once was.

Campus buildings
Young alumni with whom I’ve talked about BC in our day and shown them pictures of the campus are often surprised at the degree of change. Hey, so are we! Classmates coming back for reunion clamored for the bus tours that will show the campus and they are “sold out.”

It’s probably safe to say that BC has been under construction since 1913, when Gasson Hall got built on the new Chestnut Hill Campus. Over the years, the campus has been transformed and, based on BC’s current strategic plan, will be significantly changed anew. In our day, upper campus was the focus of residential life. Now, and even more so in the future, that focus is lower campus, which used to be still mostly reservoir in our time.

Here are some examples of BC buildings that were integral, in varying degrees, to our lives as students and alumni that we will never see again, except in pictures.

Roberts Center
The site of many basketball games, concerts, speeches, etc., Roberts opened in 1958. It was the site of 327 varsity basketball games, with the last games taking place in spring 1988. BC won 246 of those games. Roberts was also the hub of the Athletics Department, with administrators and coaches having offices there. It was also the home of ROTC, and featured a firing range in the lower level.

One factor that led to the demise of Roberts and McHugh Forum was a Big East Conference requirement that teams play their games in settings of no fewer than 6,500 fans. With a capacity of 4,400, Roberts fell obviously short of that requirement, which pushed several of BC’s “bigger” games to Boston Garden during the mid-1980s.

Where Roberts Center once stood is now a science building, Merkert Chemistry Center.

McHugh Forum
McHugh was an example, with Roberts, of the “classic” bowed-roof arena of the 1950s. As classmate Reid Oslin once wrote, when he was assistant director of athletics, “McHugh was never a pretty place.”

It was where we first gathered as BC students, though perhaps in separate groups, to go through “orientation” in September 1964. It was also where students in A&S received their degrees following the commencement ceremonies in Alumni Stadium on June 3, 1968.

Mixers were held in McHugh. We watched “televised” away football games against teams like Miami. And BC played hockey there. Lots of hockey. Reid penned a “look back” at McHugh for Boston College Magazine in its spring 1986 issue (below).

Replacing both McHugh and Roberts is Conte Forum, an athletics and event center that seats 8,600 for basketball and just under 8,000 for hockey.

Alumni Hall and Philomatheia Hall
These weren’t places that we frequented as students, but, certainly in the case of Alumni Hall, many of us probably spent some time there after graduation.

Philomatheia Hall (l) and Alumni Hall. Before our time and when Commonwealth Avenue must have been a lot narrower.

Alumni Hall

Alumni Hall (74 Commonwealth Avenue) was of distinctive architecture. Tudor to the extreme? :) The building contained the offices of the Alumni Association, of course, and its large interior spaces, at least compared to other campus facilities, made it the site of both alumni and University events. Among other services it provided for BC grads, including being the site of several wedding receptions, it was a pretty good post-football game party scene in the ’70 and ’80s. Maroon Solo cups. :)

At one point, in the ’60s, the Alumni Hall property contained a small aviary, which housed “Margo,” a live eagle serving as the BC mascot. The raptor was later moved to Franklin Park Zoo for more appropriate residence.

Philomatheia Hall from the side facing campus.

BC purchased what became Philomatheia Hall (86 Commonwealth Avenue) in 1920 to provide a location for the Philomatheia Club, founded in 1915, a fundraising organization with members being women who represented a “ladies’ auxiliary” to the all-male Boston College. This was before, of course, the schools of nursing and education.

The buildings were neighbors on Commonwealth Avenue, but very different in appearance. The History of Boston College by Charles Donovan, S.J., describes Philomatheia Hall as “a gracious Norwegian chalet.”

Both buildings were taken down in 1988 (tough year for several buildings on campus) to be replaced by residence halls initially called Commonwealth Avenue Dormitories, later named after benefactors. The Alumni Offices initially moved to Putnam House on the Newton Campus, formerly the campus of Newton College of the Sacred Heart. The Alumni staff joined the Advancement staff on the Brighton Campus, soon after its purchase by the University in what has become Cadigan Alumni Center.

The summer 1986 issue of Boston College Magazine carried an article with anecdotal recollections of Alumni Hall (below).

St. Thomas More Hall
More Hall was the home of the BC Law School in our day. When the Law School moved to the Newton Campus in 1975, More Hall became an administrative building, housing such offices as the treasurer, human resources, and development.

St. Thomas More Hall, as seen from the other side of the Reservoir, since filled in.

Administrative offices in More Hall moved to the Brighton Campus soon after it was purchased, and More Hall was torn down in spring 2015. On the site now are the Thomas More Apartments, a student residence hall.

Off-campus
There were also the off-campus standbys. The buildings are most often still around, but the establishments are gone.

Technology
We had “technology” back then, right? BC, for example, actually did have a computer . . . a big one. And some of our technology was hand-operated, like the “word processor” in the gallery below. Here are examples of techology-related items you don’t see much any more.

Other
Remember the mention of the firing range in Roberts? Here’s a picture from the 1968 Sub Turri of our coed rifle team. Did that stop when ROTC left?

Also leaving with ROTC was the Lewis Drill Team. Now the flag-wavers at football games are all young women!

And finally, nuns. There are still nuns, of course, but most do not wear these habits. Brings back memories though.

 

Commencement 2018

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Today, the Class of 2018 graduated from Boston College. Degrees were presented to 4,287 undergraduates and graduate students.

Academic calendars being quite different in our day, along with most other things, commencement for us was just short of two weeks after May 21. “Senior Week” festivities didn’t even start until May 30. We’ll have much more detail on our Senior Week next week, but suffice it to say our commencement was significantly smaller in scale and it was not streamed live as today’s was.

Thirty members of our class, as Golden Eagles, formed the majority of alumni in the “honor guard” that accompanied this year’s graduates. Tom O’Neill served as the “Jubilarian” for the ceremonies. Below is a gallery of images from this morning. We’ll update with identifications as soon as possible.

Classmates serving on the honor guard were: William Barrett, Education; Sharon Silva Bartley, Nursing; Barbara Beckerlegge, Evening; Anne Wilayto Bishop, Nursing; Bob Brennan, Education; Leo Burke, A&S; Sheila Degnan Burke, Education; Richard Burns, CBA; Geraldine Driscoll Cameron, Education; Peter Cooper, A&S; Steve Curran, A&S; Jim Galiano, Education; Alyce Boissonneau Galiano, Education; Gene Greene, CBA; David Griffith, CBA; Doug Hajjar, CBA; Maureen Kelley Janik, Education; Richard Kearney, A&S; Robert Kelley, CBA; Paul Kelsch, A&S; Larry Kenah, A&S; Mike Mastronardi, A&S; Diane Corley Menzies, Education; Richard Murray, CBA; Mary McNulty Niles, Education; Tom O’Neill, Education; Harry Petrucci, A&S; Lawrene Cormier Rafferty, Nursing; Kathleen Swerczek, Education; and, Peter Waystack, CBA.

Thanks to Tricia Woodward, BC director of alumni engagement, for most of the photos above.

A toast to 50 years

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In Gasson Hall following the ceremonies, L-R: Robert Kelley ’68, Larry Kenah ’68, Frank Vidmar ’68 (obscured), Ray Brassard ’68, Anne Wilayto Bishop ’68, Richard Kearney ’68(?) or Richard Martin ’67(?), Joanne Calore Turco ’68, Marie Dervan Martin ’68, Kathleen Horton ’68, Maryalice Ryan ’68, Ken Hamberg ’68, Alyce Boissonneau Galiano ’68, Jim Galiano ’68, Rita Brazell, Bob Brennan ’68, Frank Brazell ’68, Nancy Burns, Richard Burns ’68, Thomas Sullivan ’68 (?). Photo by Debbie Hamberg. I apologize for not having everyone’s identification, and welcome any corrections.

In a tradition established in recent years, members of the classes of 2018 and 1968 gathered on Bapst Lawn Thursday to exchange toasts. The focus was principally on the current seniors, as they were semi-officially (graduation is Monday) inducted into the Alumni Association.

About 20 members of our class and spouses attended the event.

Awaiting the beginning of the ceremonies. Photo by Anne Wilayto Bishop.

L-R: Marie Dervan Martin, Joanne Calore Turco, Anne Wilayto Bishop, and Sharon Silva Bartley, all Nursing. Photo by Larry Kenah.

Classmates Ken Hamberg (l) and Larry Kenah in the front row. Behind them are classmates Sharon Silva Bartley, Anne Wilayto Bishop, and John Reardon. Photo by Debbie Hamberg.

L-R: Ray Brassard, Frank Vidmar, and Bob Brennan.

Here’s to the Classes of 2018 and 1968!

BC photo by Lee Pellegrini.

Acknowledging a class toast. Tricia Woodward photo.