RAN - Summer 2005 08.indd - Regis High School

16 Regis Alumni News
had indeed studied physics in preparation for his
regency. He told us he left Regis after our senior year
to take Russian studies at Georgetown. Thereafter,
he spent much of his priesthood at the Vatican’s
center for Christian unity. A native of Brooklyn
(East New York), Father is now retired and living at
the Jesuit residence at America House in New York
City. One incidental bit of intelligence gleaned at
this lunch: Jim O’Rourke said he had visited Notre
Dame and seen Bernie Tracy’s name inscribed at
some hallowed academic site; it turns out that
Bernie’s distinction is that he was the first engineer
(in any field of engineering) to graduate summa
cum laude from ND. We mentioned an issue or
two back that Manhattan College had made John
Lawler an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
More recently we discovered that one of John’s
fellow recipients at the same convocation was John
Paluszek, who had been briefly in our class at Regis
in 1947-48. Some of you may remember him from
Freshmen D. Our copy deadline precludes us from
reporting on Calvary Hospital’s upcoming June 22
dinner in honor of Tom Fahey. As all of you know,
Rich Meyer invited the members of the class to
attend as his guests. More about this another time.
In keeping with our newly revived tradition, this
marks the end of the authentic McCarthy text.
1952
James A. McGough, 12 Highland Ave.,
Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591
It was a grand evening indeed!! Seventeen
members of the Class gathered for drinks and
dinner at the Back Porch Restaurant on May 16th
to once again reminisce on our “good old days”
at Regis, myriad adventures since graduation,
children, grandchildren, retirement pleasures,
Church issues, World issues, significant solutions
to those issues, etc. Within five minutes, the
group was happily chatting away as though we
were back in the Quadrangle the week before.
In attendance were Larry Boland, Don Corke,
Harry DeMaio, John Donohue, Frank Dunn,
Ray Johnson, Al Kennecke, John Leo, Gerry
Loftus, Charlie Lynch, Ted McAniff, Jim
McGough, Frank Neeson, John Peloso, Bob
Reuss, Leon Sculti and Gerry Shanley. Lew
Bowlby and Bill Sullivan were not able to join
in the festivities because of conflicts, but sent
regrets and were present in spirit. Long distance
travelers were Ted McAniff from Los Angeles,
Harry DeMaio from Cincinatti, Gerry Loftus
from Cape Cod and Al Kenneke from Bethesda.
The rest of the group was spread across various
communities in the Metropolitan New York area.
Special kudos to Gerry Loftus for having initiated
our annual reunions back in 1992 – “May 16th, no
matter what day of the week!” Let us look forward
to 2006, with the hope that even more of the Class
will be able to share in that reunion.
1953
Thomas J. Hickey, 474 Kossuth Street, Paramus, NJ
07652, tjhickey@warpdriveonline.com;
Ronald W. Tobin, Office of Academic Programs,
UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA 93106,
tobin@oap.ucsb.edu
Ed Boyle’s son, Edward III, wrote to us that Ed
passed away on March 1, 2005 from complications
arising as the result of an outpatient procedure. His
son’s message said, in part: “My father cherished
not only the education he received at Regis, but
the life long relationships which were forged
during those years.” Ed had traveled from Dallas
for our 50th reunion and many of us enjoyed his
company during that weekend. Tragically, Ron
and Ann Tobin lost their 38-year-old son, Roger,
to heart failure on April 18, 2005. While few of us
have known the sorrow that flows from the loss
of a child, we pray that Ron and Ann will, in time,
find peace. Ron has established a fund in Roger’s
name to benefit men’s water polo at UCSB where
Roger started for three years. Anyone who cares
to help memorialize Roger should send a (tax-free)
contribution made to: The Roger W. Tobin Fund,
Institutional Advancement, UCSB, Santa Barbara,
CA 93106. May Ed and Roger rest in peace. On
a less severe note, John Wallace reports that
his daughter, Ann Marie, has recovered from
injuries suffered in an auto accident in March.
Ann Marie’s young daughter was a passenger
in the car but escaped unscathed. Ann Marie
spent several days in the hospital where she was
treated for serious facial injuries. She is expecting
a baby in late May and, despite the trauma of the
accident, is maintaining that schedule. Good news
from Joe Junker on two fronts: first, Joe reports:
“Hallelujah! After a radical surgery and months of
chemotherapy and weeks of everyday radiation
treatments, the cancer in (Joe’s son) Christopher’s
brain is 99% gone!!” Joe’s wife, Holley, had
her quilt, “Salt Meadow”, accepted into the
permanent collection of the Smithsonian American
Art Museum where it will be on exhibit in the
Kevin Bowles ‘05 Eddie Walsh ‘06 Matt Walters ‘ 05 Dan DeNicola ‘06 and Peter Gallotta ‘05
at the Volunteer Barbeque.
Museum’s Renwick Gallery through July 23rd.
On Thursday, June 9th, Regis dedicated a plaque
honoring the memory of three of Regis’ sons
who gave their lives in the Vietnam conflict. Our
classmate Bob Fitzgerald was memorialized at the
ceremony led by Fr. O’Hare. The Vietnam Veterans
Association website (www.262vietnam.org/Wall)
contains the following narrative: “He died on
June 1, 1970 in Quang Nam Province. He was the
aircraft commander of a CH-46D which crashed on
land due to hostile causes. He was participating in
a recon insert when a team member stepped on a
booby trap in the zone, causing severe damage to
the aircraft which then crashed in the zone, causing
Fitzgerald’s death and minor injuries to his crew.”
Fr. John Sullivan reports that he recently lost his
fellow Bronxite when Msgr. Tom Bergin moved
from St. Raymond’s to take up pastoral duties at
the Church of St. Charles in Staten Island. Nine
members of our class celebrated the beginning
of spring with a lunch at Pasquale’s Rigoletto
restaurant on Arthur Avenue in The Bronx. The
late March gathering brought together John
Cannon, John Duffy, Bob Golden, Ken Lally,
Joe McDonald, Jim McGuire, Kevin Naughton,
John Sullivan and Tom Hickey. Joe Barbosa
(moot court judge duties), Fr. Gerry Ettlinger
(dental work), Gerry Karg (family obligations)
and Tom Rossano were last minute drop-outs
but we hope to see them at our next Metro-Regis
get-together – perhaps mid-summer. Tom and
his wife, Pamela, traveled to Florida, instead, to
greet their nephew, a U.S. Marine who was just
returning from his third hitch in Iraq – Fallujah, no
less. Although his work schedule doesn’t bring
him to New York “except for the good parts
of the summer,” Bruce McAllister asked to be
notified of any future Arthur Avenue outings. Will
do, Bruce. In early March, Ron Tobin enjoyed a
“riotous” lunch with fellow Santa Barbara resident
John Cleese. Mr. Cleese will participate in Ron’s
Moliere seminar next year. Fred Gluck published
an article entitled “God’s line manager” in the
Financial Times, an interesting and challenging
analysis examining the state of the Church from
the standpoint of a McKinsey consultant. Vic
Figurelli’s oldest son, Gerard, has received a
scholarship to Baylor University to pursue a PhD
in Church-State studies. He is doing this while
engaged in a full-time job and being a father
of 5. Vic and his wife are very proud of Gerard
and his wife. George Bouvet recently lectured
on International Marketing to second year MBA
students at the University of Washington. He was
shocked to learn that all 40 of the students were
from Asian countries. Jim and Phyllis Shea visited
the Big Apple in late February. In a whirlwind of
activity, they experienced Christo’s “The Gates”
in Central Park and enjoyed Verdi’s “Nabucco”
at the Met as well as a Rubens exhibit at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. And that was just
Saturday. On Sunday they followed Pete Hamill’s
guidance in his terrific new book, “Downtown
– my Manhattan”, to discover for themselves
some of New York’s less-famous landmarks such
as the Customs House and Bowling Green. Tom
and Patrizia Hickey returned from a two-week
land-sea visit to Greece but, it turned out, not
the Cyclades due to high winds in the Aegean.
Although he unknowingly traveled with a case of
pneumonia, Tom believes that he’d rather learn of
things Greek first hand rather than by three years