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.

Octobers

Posted on October 5, 2017 by Bill McDonald

Our Octobers were pretty full of activities. We started school around mid-September and both November and December had holiday vacations, so October was replete with classes, exams, mixers, football games, Homecomings . . . and more. A cornucopia.

On campus

1964
Evangelist Billy Graham came to BC on October 7 and his appearance filled Roberts Center with several thousand students, faculty members, and community members. Heights article

The Heights also reported in an interview with Bill Flynn, director of athletics, that BC was building six tennis courts behind McHugh Forum.

A “Tea” for female resident students of the School of Education was held on October 28 in Kirkwood Hall. The 150 students who attended were “introduced to” Edward Hanrahan, SJ, “dean of resident students” (previous mention was Fr. Hanrahan as “dean of resident men”) and Mary Kinnane, a member of the Education faculty and “dean of women.” Marion Mahoney, “director of women’s housing” was also in attendance. Topics reportedly discussed were “How to develop a more integral relationship between the girls and the University” and “The female students’ contribution to the academic and social aspects of Boston College.”

1965

The caption for the photo above in the Heights of October 8 is” “Eagles assemble for the annual B.C.-Army game riot. At this rally in front of Roberts Center the predominantly dorm student group prepares to ‘charge’ for [Cleveland] Circle.”

“The first girl to march with the BC Band,” as the Heights described her, also twirled a baton or two as well. Bobbi McKuskie ’69 (Nursing), at right, attained many honors as a baton twirler and was, at the time of her BC debut, also reigning New Hampshire Junior Miss.

1966
The Heights article previewing the upcoming Penn State game referred to “new coach” Joe Paterno.

The October 21 Heights had a note that the Council of Resident Men was to hold a contest, open to all students, to “Name the Coffee House.” The winner would receive free admission for two people for a year. Can I guess?

A column in the same issue by Mimi Hirsh entitled “Fashions Flailed: Villagers, Preppies, Seven-Day Drunkies,” provided what she described as A “tongue-in-cheek and, therefore I hope, mildly inoffensive cross-section of typical clothing types at Boston College,” both male and female. It’s certainly “cheeky.”

1967
The first weekend of “parietals,” in which resident men were permitted visitations by women in their rooms, took place October 14/15. Despite numerous restrictions, etc., the Council of Resident Men, which had long advocated for parietals, said the results were “excellent.”

An exhibit entitled “Education USSR” opened the week of October 16 in Campion Hall (Education). Anatoly Dobrynin, Soviet ambassador to the United Nations, officiated at the opening ceremonies. According to the Heights article, the month-long exhibit was accompanied by 32 Soviet educators, technicians, and artists.

In its October 20 edition, the Heights began carrying articles by the “Liberation News Service,” a “new left,” antiwar news service.

In the same edition, sophomore Hillard Pouncy had an op-ed entitled “The Negroes’ frustrating fight.”

The outside world

1964
The “Free Speech Movement” was launched at the University of California, Berkeley. Nikita Krushchev was succeeded as leader of the Soviet Union by Leonid Brezhnev. China became the world’s fifth nuclear power. The Rolling Stones made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. More locally, Boston’s WSBK-Channel 38 began broadcasting.

1965
President Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which ended quotas based on national origin. Pope Paul VI made the first ever visit by a pontiff to the US. On the day before the New York World’s Fair closed (October 17), a time capsule was lowered 50 feet into the ground. Among many other items, it contained “credit cards, a bikini, contact lenses, birth control pills, tranquilizers, a plastic heart valve, a pack of filter cigarettes, an electric toothbrush, and a heat shield from Apollo 7.” The capsule is to be opened in 6939. The 630-foot-tall Gateway Arch in St. Louis was completed.

1966
The Black Panther Party was created by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. Bobby Orr made his debut with the Boston Bruins. The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded.

1967
Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first African-American justice on the US Supreme Court, Cuban Ché Guevara was executed following capture by the Bolivian army. LBJ signed an executive order expanding federal affirmative action programs to include women. “Stop the Draft” week started in front of induction centers in 30 cities around the US. The first “rock musical,” Hair, premiered in New York’s East Village. A Viet Cong ambush killed 64 and wounded 75 members of the US Army’s 28th Infantry Regiment on the Battle of Ong Thanh, South Vietnam. Up to 100,000 people participated in antiwar protests in Washington, DC. Navy pilot John McCain was captured after his plane was shot down over Hanoi, beginning more than five years in captivity.

Sox win!?

Posted on October 1, 2017 by Bill McDonald

If summer 1967 was the “”Summer of Love” in San Francisco, it was also when “The Impossible Dream” almost came true in Boston. Today, 50 years ago, after a season of high ups and low downs, the Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins in the final game of the regular season to move ahead of the Twins in the standings. They needed, however, a loss by the Detroit Tigers that day to take first place.

Red Sox players and many thousands of fans throughout New England listened to the Detroit game on the radio. The Tigers lost . . . and the Red Sox sat atop the American League for the first time since 1946 (the year in which most members of the BC Class of 1968 were born). No playoffs then. Boston would play St. Louis in the World Series.

Spoiler alert: the Red Sox lost. They took the Cardinals to Game 7, losing 7-2 at Fenway Park on October 12. The series ended less than 2 weeks after the end of the regular season.

Yaz celebrating.

(Yesterday, the 2017 Red Sox clinched the American League Eastern Division title. They will play in the American League Divisional Series and, if they win, move to the American League Championship Series before any chance of the World Series. Game One of the World Series is to take place October 24, more than 3 weeks after the end of the regular season. If a Game Seven is needed, it is to happen on November 1. In addition to a shorter post-season in 1967, the game themselves were shorter. Six of the 7 games in the 1967 World Series were over in less than 2 1/2 hours. The 6th game went 2:48.)

There were a lot of stars and fan favorites on the Red Sox that year . . . and then there was Yaz. Named most valuable player in the American League, left fielder Carl Yastrzemski, 28, won the “triple crown,” leading the American League in batting average (.326), home runs (44), and runs batted in (121). Jim Lonborg, who won 22 games pitching, was the AL Cy Young Award winner. Yastrzemski and George Scott (1st base) won Golden Gloves.

Many classmates, I imagine, remember that baseball season intensely. It was a tumultuous summer in lots of ways besides baseball, and the Red Sox season offered an opportunity for positive passion.

The Boston Globe offers a multimedia recollection of that season.

In uniform

Posted on September 28, 2017 by Bill McDonald

As sophomores, our 106 classmates in the School of Nursing donned their uniforms for the first time officially at the traditional annual convocation, held on September 19, 1965, at St. Ignatius Church.

Anne Wilayto Bishop and her mom, after the 1965 convocation. Helen Wilayto is now 98.

According to the Heights, there was a procession of the students, who then lit candles, and were addressed by BC president Michael Walsh, SJ.

More than 1,000 family members and friends attended the ceremony, which was followed by a reception in Cushing Hall.

“I remember being very proud to wear that uniform for the first time,” said Joanne Calore Turco, after viewing the picture. “It was a big step, to finally feel like a nurse. Well, almost a nurse. We had yet to encounter our first ‘real’ patient, but donning a uniform and cap was a first step. The fact that we needed to learn some skills sat at the back of our terrified minds as well!

“Boy, we all wore our hair pretty much the same way!” she added. “Note that we had no stripes on our caps. Those came later.”

Septembers

Posted on September 28, 2017 by Bill McDonald

Some of the things that happened those first few weeks of school each September, 1964-67.

On campus

1964
Carney Faculty Center was dedicated on the 17th. It was one of the few buildings at BC not named after a Jesuit. Andrew Carney was a Irish immigrant to Boston who donated $5,000 to John McElroy, S.J., and covered all the construction costs of Boston College and the Church of the Immaculate Conception in the South End in the late 1850s. Heights

The September 25, 1964 edition of the Heights introduced us to “The Heights Reader of the Week”

John Willis, SJ, was appointed dean of A&S. He succeeded John Long, SJ, who had been named dean in the summer, but died suddenly in July. Other appointments announced were George Drury, SJ, as executive assistant to the president; Edward Hanrahan, SJ, as dean of resident men; and Alfred Jolson, SJ, as associate dean of CBA. Fr. Jolson also became moderator of the Campus Council.

In an interview with the Heights, Fr. Hanrahan said curfews and other regulations were in place “to provide good conditions” and they should be considered guideposts and not harassment. The article also notes that dorm residents among the senior class had declined to about 170 students.

An advertisement in the Heights for the Algonquin Package Store offered “ice cubes for rent,” with fast, free delivery “in plain brown wrappers by unmarked sedan.”

1965
This year, Fr. Drury was in a post, new both to BC and him — director of student personnel services. The new office oversaw admissions, extracurricular activities, housing and resident student affairs, health services, and programs for international students.

The Mass of the Holy Spirit that traditionally marked the beginning of the academic year was for the first time a concelebration, by Michael Walsh, SJ, BC president, and seven other Jesuit faculty members. It took place, the Heights said, because of the liturgical changes brought about by Vatican II.

We learned that two classmates — Francis Piatti and John Duffney — had been killed in auto accidents during the summer.

First Flight . . . for us, too

Posted on September 26, 2017 by Bill McDonald

A new tradition at BC is “First Flight.” This is when the freshman class gathers on Linden Lane and marches together to Conte Forum where they attend First Year Convocation. At convocation, they hear an address by the author of the book the class had been instructed to read over the summer.

First Flight is also when the Golden Eagles of that year first officially “take wing.” Earlier this month, September 7, a small but enthusiastic group of Golden Eagles, members of our class, gathered on Linden Lane, too. It was their pleasant task to lead the First Flight procession.

With Jim Galiano (hidden) holding the Alumni Association banner, Golden Eagles begin the First Flight procession. Peter Cooper, at left, holds the flame that represents the Ignatian exhortation “Go, set the world aflame!” (Photo by Lee Pellegrini, University Communications)

Setting up for the procession. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini, University Communications)

The theme of the event are the words Ignatius Loyola said to Francis Xavier who was carrying the message of the Gospel to Asia: “Ite, inflammate omnia!” “Go, set the world aflame!” At First Flight, faculty members and administrators charge new students to receive heartily the gift of education and bring it throughout the world.

The book assigned this year was A Backpack, A Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka. The author is Lev Golinkin ’04, an immigrant from Ukraine whose family came to the United State to escape the threat of pogroms because of their Jewish faith. The book is a memoir of his refugee experience and its effects on him, his family, and his faith.

Golden Eagles (and some spouses) at First Flight 2017 (L-R): Anne Wilayto Bishop ’68, Ken Hamberg ’68, Richard Burns ’68, Nancy Needham Burns, James Galiano ’68, Peter Cooper ’68, Sharon Silva Bartley ’68, Geraldine Driscoll Cameron ’68, Bob Cameron MBA’94. (Photo by Lee Pellegrini, University Communications)

Golden Eagles in attendance were Richard Burns (CBA), Peter Cooper (A&S), Geraldine Driscoll Cameron (Education), Jim Galiano (Education), Ken Hamberg (A&S), Sharon Silva Bartley (Nursing), and Anne Wilayto Bishop (Nursing). They enjoyed refreshments at a reception in the Honors Library, Gasson Hall, prior to First Flight.

‘The University’ in 1964

Posted on September 21, 2017 by Bill McDonald

“As she (sic) sits enthroned on her beautiful campus, Boston College is the beneficiary of the golden inheritance of ancient lineage and intellectual glory. Jesuit students follow in the footsteps of scholars, poets, scientists, jurists, generals, businessmen, educators, men and women in the healing arts, presidents, kings, popes, and saints.” — Undergraduate Entrance Bulletin

Printed in the 1965-66 University General Catalogue. Carney Hall looks finished, so photo is likely from 1964 or 1965.

Orientation was over, we won a football game, and classes started today in 1964.

That fall, Boston College was what some might call “old school.” Indeed, “old Catholic school.” There were rules about behavior and dress, class attendance, course requirements, etc., some of which would likely astonish, or at least surprise, a current BC student. We’ll talk in later posts about some of those rules and how some changed while we were there.

The 1964-65 University General Catalog opens its section on “The University” by describing Boston College as “one of twenty-eight Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States.” It then provides a brief history of its founding, but doesn’t go out of its way to lead the reader to see BC as particularly different, except for history and location, from the other 27 Jesuit institutions.

The “University Objective” is also not different. “As a Jesuit educational institution. Boston College shares with all other Catholic schools the purpose defined by Pope Pius XI in His (sic) encyclical on higher education: ‘To cooperate with divine grace in forming the true and perfect Christian.'”

In describing BC’s academic purpose, the author uses a particularly long, single sentence: “As an institution of higher learning, Boston College has its objective the conservation, the extension, and the diffusion of knowledge by means of the schools, colleges, institutions, and resources of the University with the purpose of imparting, in the tradition of Christian humanism, an understanding of the unity of knowledge, and appreciation of our intellectual heritage, a dedication to the advancement of learning, and a sense of personal and social responsibility as all of these are known in the light of reason and Divine Revelation.” Whew.

Vatican II, the 21st Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church, was still going on in fall 1964. It would conclude in 1965 and, along with many other social and cultural currents, bring about significant changes in the Church and institutions such as BC.

John Long, SJ, who was to be A&S dean, but died in summer 1964. Sub Turri photo.

Jebbies in cassocks
Every one of the 10-member Board of Trustees in 1964 was a Jesuit. Each of the eight University Administrative Officers — President, Executive Assistant to the President, Academic Vice-President, Financial Vice-President and Treasurer, Director of Libraries, Registrar of the University, Secretary of the University, and Director of Admissions — was a Jesuit. Every dean of a school at BC, with the exception of Nursing, was a Jesuit.

(There was also an 18-member Board of Regents, composed of “civilians,” prominent local men, including, in 1964, Wallace Carroll, Peter Fuller, Ralph Lowell, and Louis Perini.)

A&S and CBA each had a “Dean of Men” who was a Jesuit. Education and Nursing had “Spiritual Counselors” who were Jesuits. Every approved student organization had a “moderator” who was a Jesuit. That fall, a young Jesuit, Edward Hanrahan, S.J., began his duties as Dean of Resident Men. We’ll talk a lot more about him in the future.

The Very Reverend Michael P. Walsh, S.J., was not only BC president, but also Rector of the Jesuit community in residence.

Of course, not everyone was a Jesuit, but their presence was nearly ubiquitous and so much more evident than at BC today.

First and best

Posted on September 19, 2017 by Bill McDonald

Flutie had his “Hail Mary” against Miami. Bill Cronin will always have “the catch” against Syracuse. Sub Turri photo.

On this date in 1964, members of the Class of 1968 attended their first Boston College football game, at least as BC students. For me, it was the first ever and, to me, the best game I saw while a student at BC. And it’s top 10 among all the BC football games I’ve seen.

BC played Syracuse. The Orangemen were ranked in the top 10 pre-season and featured two future hall-of-fame running backs — Floyd Little and Jim Nance.

It was a nice September Saturday. Lots of excitement and cheering and a card stunt performed by the freshman class. At least, I remember being among freshmen training for it and doing it. I don’t know if other classes were involved. I also don’t remember ever doing it again. And don’t remember seeing any photographic evidence it happened. Anybody else remember?

Something worked for the Eagles. We’ll let classmate Reid Oslin (A&S), former BC Sports Information Director and BC sports historian, tell the story in an article he prepared for a reunion of that 1964 team.

“Boston College – like almost every college team in 1964 – opened its schedule on September 19. ‘Back then, college football teams could not even start football practice until after Labor Day,’ recalled Charlie Smith, an end on the ’64 club who would captain the BC team the following year. ‘Double sessions started the day after Labor Day and you had your first game three weeks later.’

“Smith noted that college football was a far different game back then. Not only were all fields made of natural grass, and Alumni Stadium was a wooden bleacher-type structure that held but 26,000 fans – but most players were expected to play BOTH offense and defense. Specialists were few and far between – BC’s kicker of the day was Marty DiMezza, a hulking guard who kicked placements in between his blocking assignments.

Dick Powers (70) flanks an upended Syracuse player on the approach to Floyd Little. Sub Turri photo.

“The Syracuse team came into the opener ranked No. 9 in the national polls. And why not? The Orangemen had a dream backfield of Jim Nance and Floyd Little – each of whom would go on to a starry pro football career. (Freshmen running back Larry Csonka and a wingback named Tom Coughlin [editor’s note: BC football coach 1991-93] did not play in the game for SU.)

“The teams battled back and forth throughout the game, with the tough BC defense yielding but 2 touchdowns to the high-octane Orangemen. BC quarterback Larry Marzetti threw a 26-yard scoring pass to Bob Budzinski and fullback Don Moran bulled into the endzone from 4 yards out to give the Eagles a 14-7 advantage in the 4th quarter.

QB Larry Marzetti is tackled by Syracuse. Note the “height” of the Alumni Field stands. Sub Turri photo.

“Late in the game, Syracuse quarterback Wally Mahle scored on a 1-yard plunge to pull the Orangemen even at 14-14. BC got the ball on the ensuing kickoff with time slipping away, and BC coach Jim Miller mulled the possibility of running out the clock and escaping with an unexpected tie [editor’s note: no overtime then]. On the sideline, team captain Bill Cronin yelled to Miller, ‘Are we going to try to win this thing or not?’

Coach Jim Miller expresses his affection for Bill Cronin.

“In the meantime, Marzetti was driving the team up the field. With just seconds remaining and the ball 55 yards away from paydirt, Marzetti called his own play and lofted a ‘Hail Mary’ to Cronin, a lanky former high school basketball star from Reading, Mass., who leaped into the air to make the catch. Syracuse’s two deep defenders, Charlie Brown and Mahle, collided as they tried to defend Cronin. The SU players fell to the ground and Cronin caught the ball unimpeded, staggering into the endzone for the winning score just as the old Alumni Stadium analog clock circled to zero.

“Delighted fans, led by the BC Band, raced out on the field. The wooden goalposts were torn down. BC had a victory for the ages.”

Other recollections
Steve McCabe (A&S): “Coming to BC, I didn’t know a lot about college football, but I did know that Syracuse was a powerhouse with a great coach and was known for graduating great running backs like Ernie Davis and Jim Brown. I was in heaven when we won that game, and always felt that although the football season was a ton of fun, that first game was the highlight of our four years of football, and it was all downhill from there. I don’t remember any of the details, only that we won. Twenty years later, we were fortunate enough to have the ‘Hail Mary’ pass enter sports legend and to see it played over and over during subsequent televised BC games. BC football made me an advocate of ‘big time’ football at Rutgers, where I met my wife, and where my son David attended. It can change the fortune of a school for the better, as I believe Doug Flutie’s game did for BC, and it can be done without sacrificing academic standards. Just as important, it can make Fall a lot of fun for a campus town and its students and graduates.”

Tom Sugrue (A&S): “That was an amazing game — a great way to start our ‘careers’ as BC sports fans. Of course, we lost the next weekend against Army — I was at the game. I was so excited from the Syracuse win, I went home the next weekend and convinced my Dad to go up to West Point with me. So this too was a good lesson for 50+ years of BC fandom. As soon as they lift you up, the bottom can fall out! :)”

Here’s the article about the game that appeared in the next Friday’s Heights. There are other articles and columns related to the game in the same issue.

We begin

Posted on September 14, 2017 by Bill McDonald

September 14, 1964, was our first official day at Boston College. That Monday began a week of speeches, panels, standing in lines, wandering about, meeting new people, and tracking down high school classmates. First, there was an assembly in McHugh.

This had no caption in 1965 Sub Turri, but it was in the section about freshmen arriving.

How many of us were enrolling? Hard to say: the September 19 edition of the Heights made no mention of enrollment figures. In our sophomore year, the September 26, 1965, edition of the Heights reported that BC enrolled 1,550 freshmen that month. The earliest BC Factbook available online — issued in 1971 — reported that Fall 1967 enrollment was 6,059 undergraduates in the “day” schools and 916 in the “evening” school.

Of the 6,059 day school undergrads in 1967

2,418 were in A&S
1,857 CBA
1,193 Education
591 Nursing

Of the total number of undergraduates, including evening college

5,191 male
1,784 female

(Also mentioned in that Factbook was that the median SAT scores of members of the Class of 1968 were 559 verbal and 574 math. Scores were provided for classes from 1961 to 1975. Among those 15 classes, only one had a higher median score in the verbal exam [1969, 565] than our class and only two [1969, 576; 1972, 578] had a higher math median score. The Class of 1973 tied our class in math. Just sayin’.)

For resident students, the weekend before was time for moving in and settling in, meeting roommates, finding one’s way around campus. The dorms for men were Fenwick, Xavier, Claver, Loyola, Cheverus, Kostka, Gonzaga, and Fitzpatrick, all on Upper Campus. Students also lived in O’Connell House, the old mansion nestled among these “modern” dorms, and Shaw House. Actually, the dorms weren’t that old. CLX was built in 1955 and the rest by 1960. (Roncalli, Welch, and Williams halls were not finished until 1965.)

Women resident students lived off-campus in BC-regulated, but not BC-owned, apartment buildings on South Street. These were facilities acknowledged by BC to have been “not designed to serve as dormitories.” In 1967, the women’s dorms were Kirkwood, Linden, Pine, Radnor, Chestnut, South, Greycliffe, and Alison. I’m not sure which were in play in 1964.

Personally
My roommate in Loyola was a surprise. I don’t think I had ever been informed prior to arrival as to whom it would be. Maury Wolohan was from San Francisco, definitely an outlier in the predominantly New England/Middle Atlantic student body. We were roommates for two years, moving to Kostka sophomore year, before Maury transferred to UC Berkeley to pursue a major in architecture.

Besides the usual bustle and bureaucracy of that first day and week, perhaps my strongest recollection was one of embarrassment. I had been told, after my acceptance in December, that I was on the cusp of being in the Honors Program. Grades in high school that spring would be one factor in the decision. Okay, I took a little off the pedal in the last couple of terms in high school. Not terrible grades, by any means, but not typical. I was heartened, then, to receive a communication in late August that made reference to me “in the Honors Program.” It was not a direct statement that I had been admitted to it, but I had not received anything saying I had not.

Wishful thinking. Freshmen in the A&S Honors Program were directed to a specific office for registration. That’s where I went. I stood in line and gave my name when I arrived at the table to receive my packet. “Your name again?” I was not on the list, of course. When I mentioned the communication that referred to the Honors Program, I was told, as I recall, “Oh, the secretary made a mistake. She included that in all the letters.” First day humiliation can quickly dissipate in the activity and fun of college, which it did. It can also, however, stick in your head for 50+ years. :)

Another voice

Joanne Calore Turco (Nursing) was a commuter. “You had to live a certain distance away to be eligible for the apartments on South Street. I lived in Wakefield and being just down Route 128 was judged not far enough away. A boy from my high school, Harry Petrucci (A&S), was driving to and from BC. Bill Sammon (A&S), Jean Fitzgerald (Nursing) and I rode in together with Harry. (Jean died in 1990.) Back then, Route 128 wasn’t as crowded as it is now. And the ride down Route 30, Commonwealth Avenue, was always nice. I’m sure we were both excited and scared that first day!

“I don’t recall what we girls wore that day. I _know_ it wasn’t pants! Women were not allowed on ‘Upper Campus’ in pants. I doubt I attended the first football game. It would have meant another drive to BC and I didn’t have my own car. There were times later, however, when Judy Belliveau (Nursing) and I would take the train from the suburbs to and from BC in order to attend events or stay at BC later on a Friday, like for a mixer. Our dads would pick us up at the suburban train station.”

Anybody else have fond recollections or memories of another nature of the “first days”?

September 11

Posted on September 11, 2017 by Bill McDonald

This post is not related to our reunion, but to acknowledge that, on this day 16 years ago, a man who began BC with us was killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Kevin P. Connors ex’68 was a BC High grad who commuted to BC freshman year from his family home in Quincy. By the end of freshman year, he had won appointment to the US Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1969.

In 2001, he was senior vice president of Euro Brokers and 55 years old. He was the stepfather of Karim Aryeh ’02, still a BC student at the time.

Kevin’s name is listed at the University’s Memorial Labyrinth, among the 22 BC alumni killed on September 11, 2001.

Memorial Labyrinth outside Bapst Library

The Pru and Citgo

Posted on September 8, 2017 by Bill McDonald

For those of us arriving in Boston in fall 1964, as well as for those who lived in the Boston area, the skyline was like nothing ever before. For decades, the old John Hancock Building, at left in the photo below, along with the Custom House Tower closer to the harbor, defined the Boston skyline.

“The Pru” nears completion in 1963

On its completion in 1964, “the Pru” was the new definition of the skyline of the new Boston. In that first year at BC, the Pru, was our orientation when being in the city. (John Hancock got its revenge a dozen years later with the more modern . . . and taller . . . new John Hancock Building.)

The Cities Service sign in Kenmore Square was another helpful marker. Well, for maybe a year, and in the daytime. The old Cities Service sign may have been illuminated but it was not as lit as the Citgo sign that replaced it in 1965. Back then, too, the Citgo sign with neon lights was not as dynamic . . . or as historic . . . as it is today using LED.

The original Cities Service sign, erected in 1940.

Citgo sign, c. 1980

PROUD REFRAIN

Boston College Class of 1968 – A Golden Era for Golden Eagles

Author Archives: Bill McDonald