VOLUME IX, ISSUE III
2013-2014
S T. SMEBASTIAN’S
AG A Z I N E
The Science Issue
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p 12
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Commencement 2014
The Passing of a Giant:
Frank M. Ward
FEATURES
2
18
DEPARTMENTS
Commencement 2014
26
Around Campus
St. Sebastian’s graduates sixty-one
students at its 70th Commencement
30
Event Highlights
31
Fine Arts
32
Spring Sports
James L. Elcock ’77, P’08
President
44
Class Notes
William L. Burke III P’95,’97,’00,’04
Executive Officer, Headmaster
50
In Memoriam
Dedication of
St. Sebastian’s Way
Parents of the Class of 2014 dedicate
this year’s Senior Class gift
20
The Passing of a Giant:
Frank M. Ward
Headmaster William Burke and Frank’s
son, Stephen Ward ’96, pay tribute to a
generous and devoted friend of the School
40
2013-2014
Board of Trustees
J. Devin Birmingham ’84, P’14,’17
David M. Calabro ’78, P’16
Devin C. Condron ’92
William T. Connolly, Jr. P’10,’12,’17
John DeMatteo II P’11,’13,’16,’18
John P. DiGiovanni ‘84, P’14
Dana G. Doe P’17
Rev. Michael E. Drea
Sr. Janet Eisner, SND
Patrick J. Hegarty ‘89
Jane M. Hoch P’07
Edward J. Hoff P’11,’13
Ross M. Jones P’16,’17
Wayne M. Kennard P’08
Rev. Brian R. Kiely
John A. Mannix ’74
Robert J. Mulroy ’82
Mark L. O’Friel ’79
William A. O’Malley P’09,’10,’13
Stuart D. Porter
Kristin E. Reed P’15,’17
Stephen P. Ward ’96
Celeste E. Wolfe P’09,’12
The Classes of 4’s and 9’s come back to
campus to celebrate Reunion
40
St. Sebastian’s School Mission Statement
A Catholic independent school, St. Sebastian’s seeks to engage young men in the pursuit of
truth through faith and reason. By embracing Gospel values in an inclusive, nurturing community
and by inspiring intellectual excellence in a structured liberal arts curriculum, St. Sebastian’s
strives to empower students for success in college and in life. The ideal St. Sebastian’s graduate
will be a moral and just person, a gentleman of courage, honor, and wisdom, a life-long learner
who continues to grow in his capacity to know, to love, and to serve God and neighbor.
Credits
St. Sebastian’s Magazine publishes three times a year.
Photos by Marshall Goldin, Marcus Miller and Christine Robertson
Douglas A. Kingsley, P’10,’10,’12,’13
Secretary
Robert M. Wadsworth, P’10,’15
Treasurer
Reunion 2014
20
Seán Cardinal O’Malley, OFM. Cap.
Chairman
St Sebastian’s School
1191 Greendale Ave
Needham, MA 02492
781.449.5200
Kimberly A. Mullin P’13,’16
President, Guild of St. Irene
Daniel W. Fulham P’14
President, Men’s Association
John E. McNamara ’81,P’14,’18
President, Alumni Association
Most Reverend John P. Boles ’47
James A. Cotter, Jr. ’57
J. Brad Griffith ’58
Trustee Emeriti
From the desk
of the headmaster
Wil l ia m L . Bu rk e I I I
…my academic success is in large part due to the hard work of the teachers and
help from other students, and my faith life has never been stronger. While I am very
excited to head off to West Point in only a few days, it saddens me to realize that I
won’t be spending next year with my 60 brothers. I would like to thank St. Sebastian’s
for a perfect foundation to build the rest of my life upon…
Sincerely,
Matt Oullette
I cannot thank you enough for the past six years. I feel infinitely fortunate to have
attended St. Sebastian’s…The relationships formed between students and with
faculty and staff will last a lifetime…There is such comfort in knowing that there
is a community of people in my corner ready to help me at any moment… sense of
community…pride in having integrity and a strong moral compass…inclusive and
nurturing culture…I look forward, in 30 or so years, to having the opportunity to be at
Seb’s on graduation day and to handing my son his diploma.
All the best, your friend,
Niko Fischer
The above excerpts from letters, which I received in June from two of our outstanding
scholars in the Class of 2014, celebrate the essence of our beloved St. Sebastian’s
family. Our mission is clear and important, our relationships are loving and eternal,
and our students know and feel, honor and advance these truths, which we forever
hold most sacred.
This issue of our magazine highlights many of the powerfully positive ways in which
we concluded our year of Community. We have attempted to capture in words
and images a sense of our spiritually deep culture and testimony of the many
wonderful successes we have enjoyed in the classroom, in athletics, and in clubs
and activities, the glorious celebrations of Reunion Weekend and Commencement
exercises, and treasured legacy of Trustee Emeritus Frank Ward P’96, GP’09,’11 and
other cherished members of our School family. I hope that your perusal will inspire
you to visit your School soon and often.
I thank all of our students, parents, grandparents, siblings, faculty, staff, trustees,
alumni, and friends for tirelessly seeking and perpetually finding ways to build up
and strengthen the community of your most grateful School.
May God continue to bless you every sacred step of the way.
Sincerely,
William L. Burke III
Headmaster
WWW. S T S EBASTIANS S CHOOL.ORG
| 1
Congratulations, Class of 2014!
St. Sebastian’s School graduated sixty-one students at its 70th Commencement Exercises on
Thursday, June 5. The seniors embraced the rainy weather, raising red and black umbrellas as
they processed across the campus.
2 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
Commencement Awards
Pursuit of Excellence in
the Discipline Awards
Presented to individuals selected
by the faculty
English Literature
John F. Bartlett, Jr.
Latin
John F. Bartlett, Jr.
Special Medals
Awarded to individuals who,
during their high school years,
have achieved the highest
grade point average in required
and advanced courses in the
respective disciplines
History
Conor E. Craven
Humberto Cardinal Medeiros
Memorial Medal for Modern
Languages
Samuel J. Carroll
Religion
Caleb F. Aldrich, Jr.
John F. Bartlett, Jr.
Rev. Msgr. Joseph A. Beatty
Memorial Medal for English
William J. Kenney
Chemistry
Christopher J. O’Shea
Rev. Msgr. John F.X. Harney
Memorial Medal for Religion
Caleb F. Aldrich, Jr.
English Writing
Brandon G. Sweeney
Biology
Zachary C. Chambers
Luke J. Wasynczuk
Spanish
Marlon D. Matthews
Rev. Msgr. Charles D. McInnis
Memorial Medal for History
Caleb F. Aldrich, Jr.
Paul A. Ablondi ’57 Memorial
Medal for Mathematics
William M. DuFour
Music
Marlon D. Matthews
St. Sebastian Medal for
Science
William J. Kenney
Drama
Desmond T. DiGiovanni
Jack F. Goldman
St. Sebastian Medal
for Fine Arts
Justin N. Bellinger
Studio Art
Marlon D. Matthews
St. Sebastian Medal for Classics
Caleb F. Aldrich, Jr.
Mathematics
William M. DuFour
Greek
Cameron J. Kelly
Physics
Zachary C. Chambers
Matthew R. Ouellette
Computer Science
Alexander C. Pappas
Morgan F. Rockett
The Headmaster’s Award
Presented to the graduate
who has achieved the highest
cumulative grade point average
Caleb F. Aldrich, Jr.
The St. Sebastian’s
Scholar Award
Presented to the graduates who
have received a yearly average of B
or higher in every course every year
Caleb F. Aldrich, Jr.
John F. Bartlett, Jr.
William M. DuFour
William J. Kenney
John E. McNamara, Jr.
John H. O’Leary
Luke J. Wasynczuk
The Reverend Charles K.
Riepe Medallion
Presented by the Assistant
Headmaster, in consultation
with the administration and
faculty, to the member of the
graduating class who has shown
true leadership in exemplifying
the virtues of faith and honor for
which the School stands
Joseph M. Kearney
The Sr. Evelyn C. Barrett, O.P.
Scholarship Award
The Founder’s Medal
John F. Bartlett, Jr.
Presented to the member of the
Senior Class whose character,
leadership, and fortitude most
closely reflect the ideals that
inspired William Cardinal
O’Connell to found this School
in the name of St. Sebastian
The Cardinal Cushing Memorial
Medal for Student Service
The Leslie C. Quick, Jr. Medal
Presented to that senior who, in
the opinion of the Faculty, most
exemplifies in body, mind, and soul
the spirit of St. Sebastian’s School
Daniel W. Fulham II
Presented to a senior for
exemplary service to the School
Jack F. Goldman
The Robert S. Gilligan Award
Presented to seniors who best
exemplify the qualities of courage,
determination, and perseverance
Conor P. Duffy
Theodore M. Loughborough
The Joseph P.
MacDonald Award
Presented each year by the Student
Council, in conjunction with the
School community, to a member
of the St. Sebastian’s family for
outstanding service to the School
Presented each year to a senior for
exemplary initiative, creativity,
and perseverance in advancing the
mission of the School
Desmond T. DiGiovanni
Marlon D. Matthews
The Alumni Award
Presented to the senior, selected by
the faculty, who possesses strength
of mind, body, and character; who
displays outstanding attitude,
effort, and achievement; has
innate commitment to excellence in
all endeavors; and who has made
many and varied contributions to
St. Sebastian’s School
John H. O’Leary
Rev. John V. Paris
WWW. S T S EBASTIANS S CHOOL.ORG
| 3
Class of 2014 Matriculation
David A. Abelson
Aturo C. Adkins
Caleb F. Aldrich, Jr.
Richard T. Arms
Matthew V. Barletta
John F. Bartlett, Jr.
Justin N. Bellinger
John M. Birmingham
Jordan D. Brydie
Christopher R. Callahan
Connor A. Campanelli
Samuel J. Carroll
Zachary C. Chambers
Brennon V. Coakley
Andrew S. Corcoran
Conor E. Craven
Brian J. Curley
John B. Daukas III
Desmond T. DiGiovanni
Conor P. Duffy
William M. DuFour
Henry J. Finnegan
James A. Fiore
Nikolas A. Fischer
Nicholas J. Flanagan
Daniel W. Fulham II
Kevin P. Ginns
Jack F. Goldman
Paul E. Griffin III
Miles L. Hunter
Joseph M. Kearney
Connecticut College
Dickinson College
Harvard College
Bowdoin College
Providence College
University of Pennsylvania
Duke University
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Providence College
United States Military Academy
Elon University
Wake Forest University
Harvard College
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Middlebury College
Hamilton College
The Catholic University of America
Dartmouth College
Kettering University
Salve Regina University
University of Notre Dame
Northeastern University
Union College
Wake Forest University
Tufts University
Middlebury College
Hamilton College
Villanova University
Fordham University
Union College
Harvard College
4 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
Owen M. Kehoe
Cameron J. Kelly
Christian X. Kelly
William J. Kenney
Jacob S. Levy
Austin R. Lewis
Theodore M. Loughborough
Marlon D. Matthews
Shane R. McDonald
Tucker W. McLoughlin
John E. McNamara, Jr.
Luke M. Murphy
Connor S. Murray
Justin R. Nicklas
John H. O’Leary
Christopher J. O’Shea
Malcolm K. Osazuwa
Matthew R. Ouellette
Alexander C. Pappas
Matthew G. Pickard
Patrick J. Rivard
Morgan F. Rockett
Corey K. Ronan
Connor F. Strachan
Brandon G. Sweeney
Zachary Taye
Joseph Tran
Ryan A. Walsh
Andrew F. Warner
Luke J. Wasynczuk
Boston College
College of the Holy Cross
Tufts University
Duke University
Miami University, Oxford
Loyola University Maryland
St. Lawrence University
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Loyola Marymount University
Providence College
Boston College
Providence College
Boston College
Stonehill College
Harvard College
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Lasell College
United States Military Academy
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
St. Lawrence University
University of Maryland
Northeastern University
University of Connecticut
Boston College
Wake Forest University
Union College
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Wheaton College
Boston College
Washington University in St. Louis
Commencement 2014
Commencement by the Numbers
11
The number
of students
who were able
to participate
in the first
Commencement on June 1,
1945. The other 10 students of
the first graduating class had
already been called to war.
5
Colleges to which
or more
students have matriculated over
the past
years
5
Boston College ............................34
Harvard College ..........................17
Villanova University ....................12
Georgetown University ...............10
College of the Holy Cross ............10
Providence College ........................9
1962
325
The approximate number of
steps in the Headmaster’s
Walk across campus before
Commencement.
6
The number of
championships won
by St. Sebastian’s
during the Class of
2014’s time at the
School in five different sports
including football, lacrosse,
golf, skiing and swimming.
The first class to trade
in caps and gowns and
begin the tradition of
wearing St. Sebastian’s
ties to Commencement.
Over the past 52 years,
the tie has featured
stripes, the crest and
in more recent years,
the statue.
Wake Forest University .................9
Middlebury College ......................8
Bowdoin College ..........................7
Worcester Polytechnic Institute .....7
Dartmouth College .......................6
University of Notre Dame ..............6
Amherst College ...........................5
Colby College ...............................5
Fairfield University .......................5
University of Richmond ................5
Trinity College ..............................5
Union College.............................. 5
1988
The largest class to ever
graduate, with 68 boys.
Next year this record will
be broken by the Class of
2015 with 72 members.
1988 is also the year that
the tradition of wearing
white pants began.
30
The number of towns represented
by the 61 members of the Class of
2014, with the highest number—
nine—coming from Wellesley.
WWW. S T S EBASTIANS S CHOOL.ORG
| 5
Commencement 2014
Headmaster’s Address
The St. Sebastian’s Way
BY William L. Burke III
Alpha and Omega
We begin and we end—together
In our Community of love
One last time, as a class, let us pray:
Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it
was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. World without
end. Amen.
I reflect on the three phases of your journey:
Your life before St. Sebastian’s
Your life at St. Sebastian’s
Your life after St. Sebastian’s
Before St. Sebastian’s, you were hugged and kissed and
fed and clothed and taught and nurtured and loved beyond
all telling by your parents and grandparents and other family
members. Your family has sacrificed to provide you with countless
opportunities, including your prized St. Sebastian’s education.
This proud moment is your time, but it’s their time, too. Please
rise, face your families, and express your heartfelt gratitude.
___________________________________________
From day one at St. Sebastian’s, your outstanding mentors
have engaged in sacred partnership with your parents, your
primary educators, in the advancement of our shared purpose
expressed so beautifully here in St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy:
To Fan into flame the gift of God which is in you.
(2Tim 1:6)
Fan as a verb works well here and so does fan as a noun, for
your teachers, coaches, advisors, moderators, and mentors are
certainly among your biggest and best fans.
Please rise, face your beloved educators, and express your
gratitude.
___________________________________________
Try to recall your orientation, when you met with Father
John and me upstairs in the Chapel. You may remember
learning that the stained glass window honoring St. Jude is in
place because I asked that it be installed and I did so because,
many years ago, when my family and I were ready for a major
6 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
change in our lives, I prayed in earnest, through the intercession
of St. Jude, this prayer: Please, Lord, put me in a place where I
can best serve you and my family. And I shared that in January,
1990, when Mr. Jack Birmingham informed me that I would
be named Headmaster of St. Sebastian’s, I believed that my
prayer had been answered, and that I believe it ever more fully
as time unfolds. And I offered these reasons for my assessment:
St. Sebastian’s proved to be the very best School for our four
sons; my wife was able to pursue her graduate school and career
dreams; and there’s no place I’d rather be and no young men
with whom I’d rather be working.
It’s true for all of us on the faculty and staff: there are
no young men we’d rather serve than you 61 genetically
unrepeatable gifts from God.
Our hearts are filled with gratitude for the beauty, truth, and
goodness each of you individually and all of you collectively
have pursued and achieved and shared throughout your years
here and especially in this year of Community. That you have
made your School a much stronger, much happier, much better
place is a powerfully beautiful truth, as evidenced by everything
we have seen and heard and felt today.
But our hearts feel some sadness, too, as they should. We
have come to know you and love you and it’s just so hard to say
good-bye.
And I know that it’s hard for this class in particular. So
many of you have mentioned privately and some have even
proclaimed publicly that if you could do one more year here,
you’d do it in a heartbeat. And, oh, how we’d love to have you!
But that’s our hearts hoping. Our heads know better: it’s time to
move on, and you’re so very well prepared, poised and ready to
summit ever-rising peaks of excellence in college and beyond.
Your parents and other family members, too, have shared
their sadness in larger measure than usual.
And so for you, for your families, for your mentors, and for
all experiencing the full range of emotions, I share a poem by
C. Day Lewis, father of Daniel Day Lewis, who won Best Actor
last year for his role as Lincoln. This poem is directed to the
poet’s first son, Sean. It’s titled:
Commencement 2014
Walking Away
It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day –
A sunny day with leaves just turning,
The touch-lines new-ruled – since I watched you play
Your first game of football, then, like a satellite
Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away
Behind a scatter of boys. I can see
You walking away from me towards the school
With the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free
Into a wilderness, the gait of one
Who finds no path where the path should be.
That hesitant figure, eddying away
Like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem,
Has something I never quite grasp to convey
About nature’s give-and-take – the small, the scorching
Ordeals which fire one’s irresolute clay.
I have had worse partings, but none that so
Gnaws at my mind still. Perhaps it is roughly
Saying what God alone could perfectly show –
How selfhood begins with a walking away,
And love is proved in the letting go.
St. Sebastian’s Way, the stunning 2014 Class Gift, gives a
name to our Math corridor and a label to our culture.
When just a freshman, one of you wrote this sentence in a
letter to me: I hope to have a successful future that is filled with
love and happiness, using St. Sebastian’s as my foundation.
Then, as a senior, you stood at this podium and shared:
A person with truly good character will be the same person
at a concert on Saturday as he is in Mass on Sunday. The St.
Sebastian’s Way.
One of you wrote this in your freshman letter to me: Sebs is
giving me the tools to pursue knowledge and help mankind.
As a senior, you offered these gems in your Corporate Chapel
address: Hard work and diligence are essential for happiness….
With friends, you are building something that isn’t wholly selfserving….I’d rather die a poor man with friends than a rich man
with none. The St. Sebastian’s Way.
One of you stood at this spot in October and spoke these
words: Why should we live a life of service? The answer is that the
reward for service is something intangible. We can’t get the same
thing from affluence, authority, or fame. It is only the smile on the
face of someone you helped get through a tough time that gives
you the sensation of success. The St. Sebastian’s Way.
In your Corporate Chapel address, one of you proclaimed,
with no small amount of theatrical passion: This Community,
this Brotherhood is real, and you added: may we please—together—
recite the order of the day: Love God, Work Hard, and Take Good
Care of one another. And, of course, your brothers complied.
The St. Sebastian’s Way.
“Our hearts are filled with gratitude for
the beauty, truth, and goodness each of
you individually and all of you collectively
have pursued and achieved and shared
throughout your years here and especially
in this year of Community.”
LOVE GOD. We know that it’s all a gift—our eyes that see,
our ears that hear, our mouths that speak, our feet that stride,
our hands that hold, our minds that think, our hearts that love
—all gifts, graced gifts, from our gracious and loving God, the
giver of all good gifts. How blessed we are! The essence of life
truly is in relationships and our primary relationship is our
relationship with God.
So we brag not of our talents—800 SAT Math score, winning
goal against Belmont Hill, gold medal art award, first place essay,
debate triumph, robotics victory. Rather, we bow before God
in awe and in humility, which Henri Nouwen defines as: the
grateful recognition that we are precious in God’s eyes and that all
we are is pure gift.
God loves us first. In returning His love in gratitude, we
complete the gift.
WORK HARD. When we work hard, we are simply being
the people we’re called to be, the people we’re made to be, the
people we want to be. Indeed, I truly never have met a happy
lazy person, and I know I never will.
Corey Ronan ’14 receives the Marine Corps Athletic Excellence Award
from Sgt. Kelly Warren of the United States Marine Corps on the eve of
Commencement.
WWW. S T S EBASTIANS S CHOOL.ORG
| 7
Commencement 2014
How magnificently your devoted teachers model and
demand academic rigor, the pursuit of excellence, and all
the best virtues. And how brilliantly and happily you have
responded, and you did so right from the start. After your
first month or so, the refrain of your parents was: My son has
never worked harder, he’s never done better, and he’s never
been happier in a school.
The world’s needs and your personal happiness are one,
and it’s all about hard work.
TAKE GOOD CARE OF ONE ANOTHER.
The other day I asked a young man in the class below yours to
help me with this speech by sharing his feelings about what it
is exactly that makes St. Sebastian’s St. Sebastian’s. He resisted.
I persisted. He acquiesced, offering: It sounds cliché but it’s the
brotherhood. And, also, a number of kids have told me that their
faith has deepened. They have found God here, and they’re so
grateful. The St. Sebastian’s Way.
I also chatted with an alumnus, who had just finished
his second year at a highly selective college. He told me that
his new friends attended secondary schools with cultures far
different from the culture of St. Sebastian’s: In their high schools,
students competed fiercely against their classmates, whereas at St.
Sebastian’s we all worked hard, but everyone wanted me to do well.
The St. Sebastian’s Way.
What you receive as a gift, you must give as a gift. (Matthew
10:8) Fanning this charge into flame at our mission Mass
in April, Father John called each of your forward, placed his
hands on your head, and sent you off to your service placement
uttering these words: Give what you have been given.
And give you did. One of you, who threw your heart and
soul into working with young children, sure connected deeply.
When an assignment called for the kids to draw pictures of their
families, one child drew you in, too.
One of you, who served the elderly, received rave reviews.
In fact, you were such a delight that the staff made you bring
your mother to the site, so they could thank her and honor
her. They told your mother that you were by far the kindest,
strongest, most positive, most patient volunteer—and that they
wanted to clone you, and your mother responded: You can just
go down the street to St. Sebastian’s and get a school full of them.
The St. Sebastian’s Way.
We cheer for, not against. We strive to win, not humiliate.
Every person is our neighbor. Every Arrow is a brother. The St.
Sebastian’s Way.
At the dedication of the Class Gift on Sunday, one of your
mothers told me that she had just read the third and final sentence
of our mission statement carved into the wood and, afterward,
said something to this effect: Yep, they did it. That’s them.
And so I recite that concluding sentence: The ideal St.
Sebastian’s graduate will be a moral and just person, a gentleman
of courage, honor, and wisdom, a life-long learner, who continues
to grow in his capacity to know, to love, and to serve God and
neighbor. The St. Sebastian’s Way.
8 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
Your life after St Sebastian’s is about to commence. Please
know that you carry our highest hopes, for we truly believe
that you will continue to become ever more fully all that God
wants you to be in body, mind and soul, that you will enjoy
fabulous success in college and in your careers, that you will
embrace wholeheartedly your vocations, which for most will
be as husbands and fathers, and we want you to go to heaven.
What an awesome journey your way has been and promises
ever to be, for, as St. Catherine of Siena reminds us:
All the way to heaven is heaven, because Jesus is the way.
You will certainly stumble; we all do, but pick yourself up
and continue on your way, taking encouragement from these
words of Pope Francis: God never gets tired of forgiving us…the
strongest message of the Lord is mercy…we are the ones who get
tired of asking Him for forgiveness.
Or as Sister Miriam Pollard says: There is nothing we can do
that God is not eager to forgive.
And now, I’m going get heavy for a bit. As you make your
way through college, you will most likely encounter more than a
few professors and fellow students for whom the pursuit of truth
through faith and reason is a foreign concept. You know, we
all try so hard to define what is this business of pursuing truth
through faith and reason; it is a really difficult thing to put into
words, but as Marlon sings You raise me up—to more than I can
be… I glimpse the essence: faith takes us far above and beyond
who we can be through reason alone.
Some may even be hostile to the idea of pursuing truth
through faith and reason. Be loving and kind. Pray for them.
And if you feel like engaging, do so softly, humbly. You may
consider gently asking if they’re open to the possibility that
there may be a God who loves them more than they can love. If
they’re open, breathe a sigh of relief, and tell them how happy
you are for them. Ardent belief may be just around the corner.
If they’re not open, pray really hard for them because, as Sister
Wendy Beckett states in this passage, they’re not being honest:
Doubt is often an excellent thing. Credulity is infantile: we
all have to weigh evidence and make up our minds, and until we
do, there is honest doubt, surely. But honest doubt is not willful
doubt. Willful doubt is wrong precisely because it is not honest.
It has an agenda, it is evading the truth for its own reasons.
Perhaps they’re engaging in what is known as contempt
prior to investigation. And, as my three-year old grandson,
Jackson, would say: That’s not a good idea!
Whether they’re pursuing truth through faith and reason or
not, God is with them and God is with all of us through it all.
In the words of our new Saint John Paul II: There is only one
community and it consists of all people.
A Big Heart Open to God, the title of Pope Francis’s book
and our best program for life.
In the words of Padre Pio: Pray, hope, and don’t worry.
Once in, never out—Arrows forever—The St. Sebastian’s
Way. It’s time to go now, so, good-bye, gentlemen. Return to us
often, in sorrow and in joy, and we’ll be here waiting with hearts
and arms wide open. Know that we love you and that we will
forever. Go now in peace. Shalom!
Commencement 2014
Tedy Loughborough ’14 (3rd from left) shares a laugh with his brother David ’12, his
grandfather and classmate Connor Strachan ’14.
Bill Flanagan ’49 (far left) and Peter Powell ’52 (far right) join Headmaster
Burke with graduating grandsons Nicholas Flanagan ’14 and Matthew
Pickard ’14.
Brandon Sweeney ’14 and Kevin Ginns ’14
Henry Finnegan ’14 (center) with his brothers
Owen ’16 (left) and Cam ’16 (right)
Cam Kelly ’14 (4th from left) with his family
outside St. Bartholomew Parish.
Jordan Brydie ’14, full of joy as he exits the church.
Faculty member Carla Callini presents the
Joseph P. Macdonald Award to Father Paris.
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| 9
Commencement 2014
Board President’s Address
Your St. Sebastian’s Foundation
BY James L. Elcock ’77, P’08
F
ellow Trustees, Headmaster Burke, Commencement
Speaker Father Edwin D. Leahy, faculty, staff, family
and friends, and most of all the Class of 2014, good
morning and welcome.
I am honored on behalf of the Board of Trustees to speak
to you and your fellow classmates this morning. I would like to
begin my remarks with two words—thank you.
Today marks the School’s 70th Commencement Exercises.
This day is the most important day in our school calendar.
Sixty-nine graduating classes have all gone before you. You
join the ranks of our 2,700 alumni. With six alumni fathers
and two alumni grandfathers—Bill Flanagan, Class of 1949 and
Peter Powell, Class of 1952—giving their sons and grandsons
respectively their diplomas today, it certainly ties into our
school theme of “Community.” This is truly a remarkable
statistic for St. Sebastian’s.
Your graduation reaffirms your success at St. Sebastian’s.
We know well the trials and tribulations that you have
personally gone through and your extraordinary hard work,
sometimes through laughter and sometimes through tears,
that you have endured with family, teachers and your fellow
classmates along the way.
We are incredibly proud of you. Though your days of sitting
in a classroom, competing in an athletic competition or having
given your last Chapel Speech are over, your relationship with
the School is truly just beginning. Up until today, you were told
to be here, and after today, you will want to be here. Today, we
put the finishing touches on your foundation—the foundation
known as St. Sebastian’s.
Regardless of where you go to college, your major, your
summer job or career, or the wonderful life journeys you embark
on with family and friends—your St. Sebastian’s foundation will
never fail you, trust me. Go forth, build upon it, and share it
with others. You are well prepared for this day. The Class of
2014—61 strong.
You are a close class, but with time and some distance, you will
become even closer and appreciate even more the opportunity of
getting together. Your class excelled in so many ways and I would
like to take a moment to highlight some of these:
Academics
• Twelve members of your class were the 7th group of
inductees into the St. Sebastian’s chapter of the prestigious
Cum Laude Society. Three members of your class
were commended students in the 2013 National Merit
Scholarship Program.
10 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
•
•
One member went on to be named a finalist; his score
placed him in the top 1% of students across the country
who took the PSAT/NMSQT. He will attend the University
of Pennsylvania in the Fall. One member of your class
was recognized by the National Achievement Scholarship
Program, which annually honors academically promising
Black American high school students. He will attend
Harvard University in the Fall.
Members of the class achieved success in the Independent
School Debating Association, winning awards in league
tournaments. Two members compiled a perfect record at
the highly competitive Hotchkiss School Annual Debating
Tournament.
Service
• Members of the class gave over 5,000 hours of service.
You all helped with the school’s Admissions Program,
serving as tour guides, and assisting at Open Houses and
Curriculum Nights.
• Members of your class gave generously of their time and
talent throughout last summer by tutoring and mentoring
poor and underserved children at Pope John Paul II
Catholic Academy in Dorchester.
• The class had strong participation in the liturgical life of the
school—five of its members served the community of the
school as Eucharistic ministers, altar servers, singers and
lectors at masses throughout the year.
The Arts
• Members of this class participated in the Memory Project,
which sends portraits to children in orphanages in Cambodia,
Afghanistan, Honduras, Haiti, Rwanda and Vietnam.
• One member of this class was recognized at the Baccalaureate
Dinner for his stirring rendition of T.S. Eliot’s “The Love
Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” in Corporate Chapel in honor of
National Poetry Month.
• One member received Honorable Mention for his photo
submission to the 2014 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
Commencement 2014
Athletics
• One member of this class was named ISL Co-MVP and
All-Scholastic Team for football. He will play at Boston
College next year.
• Five members earned All-League Honors and five earned
Honorable Mention for football. One member earned
All-League for soccer.
• One member of this class was invited to play in the 36th
Annual Shriners All-Star Football Classic later this month.
He will attend Middlebury this Fall.
• During the Winter season, members received All League
Honors in basketball, hockey and wrestling.
• Members of your class participated in the Division II New
England Prep School swimming and diving championships.
• Two members of this class served as co-captains of the
Varsity Ski Team this year and helped us earn our first ever
NEPSAC title in skiing.
• Lacrosse, baseball, tennis and golf teams all were competitive
with bright futures.
Finally, your extraordinary list of college acceptances. Gentlemen,
the school is a much better school with today’s graduation. Your
reputation and the school’s reputation go hand in hand. When
you do well your school does well. You are St. Sebastian’s and
this is your school.
As President of the Board of Trustees, it is my responsibility to
encourage each member of the Class of 2014 to continue to live the
mission of the school no matter where the future takes you. Live
by the words “the ideal St. Sebastian’s graduate will be a moral and
just person, a gentleman of courage, honor and wisdom, a life-long
learner who continues to grow in his capacity to know, to love and
to serve God and neighbor.”
As I conclude my remarks today, I would like to share some
words from an American singer/songwriter, Phillip Phillips. When
I listen and reflect on these lyrics, I think these words could easily
come from any of you to a fellow classmate as you congratulate one
another and remind yourselves, Arrows forever!
When life leaves you high and dry
I’ll be at your door tonight if you need help
I’ll shut down the city lights,
I’ll lie, cheat, I’ll beg and bribe to make you well,
When enemies are at your door I’ll carry you away from war
I’ll share in your suffering to make you well
And I would do it for you
I’m not moving on
I’ll love you long after you’re gone
When you fall like a statue
I’m going to be there to catch you
Put you on your feet
You’re my back bone, you’re my cornerstone
You’re my crutch when my legs stop moving
You’re my headstart, you’re my rugged heart
You’re the pulse that I’ve always needed
Gentlemen, I would now like to close my remarks with one
word—Congratulations!
Proud alumni fathers join Headmaster Bill Burke and their sons prior to Commencement. From left: James and John Fiore ’79, John Jr. and John McNamara ’81,
John and Devin Birmingham ’84, Headmaster Burke, Mark ’81 and Andrew Warren, John ’84 and Desmond DiGiovanni, Peter ’79 and Morgan Rockett.
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Commencement 2014
Keynote Address
“Don’t forget your keys.”
BY Rev. Edwin D. Leahy, O.S.B.
Headmaster, St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, N.J.
C
ongratulations to you gentlemen on your graduation
today from St. Sebastian’s. Do you get nervous when
someone gets up and has a folder in front of them? I
know you guys do. How long’s this guy going to go
on? So I decided to forget about what I had written, and to do a
little bit of something else with you this morning.
As you can tell, I’m a Benedictine monk. I’m the only guy
dressed like this in the whole place, and this particular outfit is
a little old. It’s been about 1,500 years that I’ve been wearing it;
that’s why I look so much different than everybody else.
I’d like to thank John Ryan for his kind introduction. I did
forget him in my office; thank God he had enough nerve to leave
after two hours.
I know that graduation speakers are, and what they say
is, almost never remembered. Even who they were is rarely
remembered. I only remember my graduation speaker at my
graduation from St. Benedict’s Prep in 1963 because he was the
Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, Arthur Costello.
And on the stage presenting our diplomas to us was the Abbot
of our monastery, Abbot Patrick O’Brien. So this may not make
sense to the members of the Class of 2014, it would make a lot of
sense to the parents and grandparents that are here, but I’m one
of the few people who had Abbot and Costello at his graduation.
I come to this sacred place committed to the protection
of the martyr Sebastian. You’ve come here today for this
commencement ceremony from places, I imagine, like Needham
and Newton, Wellesley and Waltham, Belmont and Boston. And
there was another gathering of Saints that went on centuries
ago at another place committed to the protection of the martyr
Sebastian that celebrated and prayed in the catacombs in Rome.
Father Paris can no doubt speak to you about it.
But I want to share, just for a few minutes, this theme. If you
come from where I come from, you can’t speak to anyone without
having a theme. And the theme I want to speak to you about is
“don’t forget your keys.” Look at somebody next to you and tell
them, “Don’t forget your keys.” And if you have your phone on
you—I don’t want to make anybody get in trouble this morning—
but if you have your phone, you may want to take it out and tweet
somebody: don’t forget your keys. You can do that anytime you
want while I’m speaking.
Somebody needs to know that today, the entrance into places—
at least where I live; I don’t know about here in Needham—depends
on having your key. If you’ve forgotten your key, you can get into
12 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
some kind of difficulty. I’ve had that happen, where I’ve forgotten
my keys, and left them in the monastery, and gone out. And when
I try to reenter the monastery, because we’re surrounded by a big
fence, I had to climb over (on a number of occasions) a 15-foothigh gate. The older I’ve gotten the more difficult it’s been to climb
the gate, always hoping that a radio car would not go by and snatch
me up, thinking that I was trying to break into this monastery.
And when I got over the gate, I then had to confront the door
that enters the monastery. I couldn’t get in that way either. I had to
climb a fire escape to wake up another one of the members of my
community to come down and let me in. So forgetting your key can
be a real problem. But if you’ve only forgotten it, you usually know
where to go back and get it. You also don’t want to lose your key,
because losing your key leads to disaster.
I would suggest to you this morning that the keys to where
you want to get are prayer and good works. Now, someone in
the Class of 2014 is saying now he’s going to start to preach. You
don’t want me to start to preach, because if you put somebody in a
church behind an ambo who preaches in a black church, they may
go on for a long time. I don’t want to do that this morning. And
if someone were to shout at me I might go on even a little longer,
so be quiet. So, prayer and good works. But let me try to say it in a
different way for you: sing like a bird, and work like a bee.
I noticed that birds sing at various times of the day. They sing
in the morning when the sun comes up, they sing in the evening
when the sun goes down, they sing in the midday when everyone
is busy about work. And sometimes you can hear them sing, as
I did this morning, while it’s still dark. So I recommend to you,
members of the Class of 2014: sing in the morning when you get
up, praise God; sing in the evening when you go to bed, thank God;
sing in the darkest moments of your life, and beg God. Sing, St.
Sebastian’s, sing every day, sing several times a day, sing in praise
of God. It’s in praise of God and in prayer that your key will open
you to the Kingdom of Heaven—the Kingdom of Heaven here and
Commencement 2014
“If you begin to sing, others will sing with you. Somebody whose life may
be difficult may be able to sing a song because they hear you singing...”
the Kingdom of Heaven on the other side of Jordan. Sing like a
bird, and you’ll find that very rarely do you hear one bird singing.
If you listen in the morning, one bird will start to sing and before
you know it another one will sing. If you begin to sing, others will
sing with you. Somebody whose life may be difficult may be able
to sing a song because they hear you singing. Someone who may
be struggling with the diminishment that comes with age may hear
you sing and they’ll sing along with you. Sing, St. Sebastian’s, sing
every day. And then work like a bee.
A bee is an interesting creature to observe. I live in the middle
of downtown Newark—concrete everywhere. But you find bees.
Bees look for something to extract pollen from. Bees look for water
so that they can take what they’ve extracted from the plant, and
the water, and make something sweet. Sweet honey. In fact they
tell me that if you take locally created honey, it does something
to heal your allergies. Bees are amazing. They can find pollen
anywhere, and even in the strangest places. I’ve seen bees, where I
live, in abandoned lots. Places that have been destroyed by anger
and depression; bees can find flowers. Cracks in the sidewalk that
everyone else ignores, a bee finds a flower where it can draw pollen.
Find pollen in the strangest places; don’t be afraid to go
into the places that have been depressed. Don’t be afraid to go
into the places where people are suffering. Don’t be afraid to go
into the places where people are dying. Don’t be afraid to find
pollen to create sweetness in the life of somebody who needs
sweetness, because you can identify it and bring it to them. Be a
bee. Work like a bee. Bees work themselves to death. Work every
day creating honey so on the day when you die the key to the
Kingdom will be yours.
Sing like a bird, work like a bee, and be an optimist. When I
didn’t know quite what to say to you gentlemen, I prayed to John
Ryan’s mother. John’s mother died years ago when she was very
young. And I prayed for her intercession with the Lord, along with
St. Sebastian’s, that I might be able to say something that you might
be able to remember at least a word of, if not remember me.
I called Mary Ryan when she was dying of cancer, and I said,
“Mary, how ya doin’?”
She said, “Ed, let me tell you a story.”
There were identical twins, one was an optimist, and one was a
pessimist. They split the twins, and they wanted to know how they
could be identical twins and be so opposite of one another. They
took the pessimist and put him in a room with all brand-new toys.
They took the optimist and they put him in a separate room with a
pile of horse manure.
They were observed through a one-way window, and
the pessimist was sitting, throwing his toys against the wall,
complaining, breaking them, and sitting idly, not even playing
with them. They observed the optimist, and he was digging in the
horse manure. Imagine. They watched it for a while and those
observing went into the room. They asked the pessimist, “What’s
the problem?”
“I don’t like any of these toys.” He did nothing but complain
about what they put in there—all brand-new things for him. You
know what it’s like; nothing made him happy. They went in with
the optimist and they said, “What are you doing?”
He said, “With this much horse crap there’s got to be a pony
in here somewhere.”
With that, Mary Ryan said, “I’m just looking for the pony,
Ed.” And she hung up the phone.
So in addition to singing like a bird and working like a bee, I
want you to keep looking for the pony. No matter what life brings
you, no matter what the sufferings, no matter what the trials, no
matter what the tribulations. You have no idea the difficulties that
may come to somebody that you love—a sick child, a sick wife—
just keep looking for the pony. And when you fall, get up.
The story is told about a desert father who was an old man, and
a young disciple came to him, and he said, “Father, I’ve sinned.”
The old man said to him, “Get up.”
A few months later the disciple came back and figured that he
would get a harsh reaction from the master when he would go to
tell him that he committed the same sin again. He went back to the
desert father and said, “Father, I have sinned.”
And the old man looked at him and said, “Get up.”
And a third time, a year later, the disciple came back to the
desert father and he said, “Father, I have sinned.”
The old man said, “Get up.”
When you fall, get up. As long as you can look up, you can get
up. And in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you’ve got to
be up. I don’t know anybody who got in on their back. So when
you fall, when weaknesses come, when you fail, when you don’t
accomplish what you wanted to accomplish—get up.
As you leave today, whether you communicate by Facebook
or phone, Twitter or text, remind one another: Don’t forget your
keys. When you come to reunions, ask one another, “Do you have
your keys?”
I’m proud of you today; I admire your intelligence; I’m
counting on your prayers. And don’t forget your keys. Somebody
is relying on you. Somebody needs to hear the Good News from
you. Somebody needs to become a bird and sing because of you.
Somebody needs to benefit from the work that you do as a bee.
Somebody who’s a pessimist may turn into an optimist because
they looked for the pony with you. Keep looking for the pony, St.
Sebastian’s. And when you fall, get up.
Thanks for listening. Marlon, you can sing at my funeral
anytime you want.
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| 13
Commencement 2014
Valedictory Address
It’s Time to Give Back
BY Caleb F. Aldrich ’14
M
r. Burke, Father Arens, Mr. Nerbonne, Mr. Sullivan,
Mr. Elcock, Father Leahy, members of the Board
of Trustees, members of the faculty, parents,
guests, and brothers of the Class of 2014:
First and foremost, I want to thank all of you as I feel
incredibly fortunate to be part of the St. Sebastian’s community
and to be able to speak with you today. St. Sebastian’s is such a
special place with great tradition and caring stewardship. The
leadership of Mr. Burke, Father Arens, Mr. Nerbonne, and Mr.
Sullivan is remarkable and I know it is fully appreciated by each
and every one of us.
As I reflect on my years at St. Sebastian’s, three things
dominate my memories: first, the incredible efforts of the
faculty and administration; second, the richness of the
educational experience; and third, the collegiality and
accomplishments of our class.
With respect to the efforts of the faculty, I can’t imagine a
more skillful and supportive team of people. Every member of
the faculty puts in his or her best effort in the classroom, on the
athletic fields and carries out a wide range of administrative
responsibilities. All of this is done with the aim of making the
school a better place and enriching our experiences here and
beyond. From extra help on difficult classroom concepts, to
late afternoon team practices, to figuring out and executing
innumerable necessary tasks, St. Sebastian’s faculty members go
above and beyond in their efforts with students every day and
serve as great role models for all of us.
Though I would like to talk with you about all of the teachers
I have had here at St. Sebastian’s, in the interest of time, I will
comment on just two that influenced me in meaningful ways.
The first is Mr. Palmaccio who was my math teacher back
in 8th grade. A 1962 St. Sebastian’s graduate, Mr. Palmaccio
embodies the concept of giving time and help to others. It
isn’t uncommon to see a group of students of all ages sitting
around Mr. Palmaccio at the crack of dawn at a table in Ward
Hall receiving assistance on a math concept or problem. I was
one of those students many times and will forever be grateful.
In fact, Mr. Palmaccio’s giving doesn’t stop at the boundaries
of St. Sebastian’s as he also established and supports a school
in Liberia to give a helping hand to less fortunate students.
This concept of giving back is also embraced by Mr. Schell
who is a relatively more recent addition to the St. Sebastian’s
faculty, but has already made a major impact in the classroom,
on the athletic field, and in college counseling. Much like Mr.
Palmaccio, Mr. Schell gives an all out effort to St. Sebastian’s,
14 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
but also finds time to help others outside of our community. He
has started an organization, called the Cannonball Foundation,
to assist underprivileged youth in developing their baseball and
college preparation skills. These two teachers and countless
others are not only great instructors, but awesome role models
for us to seek to emulate in the future as we embark on our
journeys after St. Sebastian’s.
The richness of the educational experience at St. Sebastian’s
has been extraordinary. By this, I am not only referencing
the efforts put forth by our teachers and administration, but
also the breadth and depth of the educational experience. It is
easy for most of us to take things for granted, but I know we
all appreciate the uniqueness of the Chapel Speech Program.
Likewise, the Writing Program has raised the skill level of each
of us, which will be crucial in years to come. The All School
Read program and speaker series has brought us tremendous
guests who have shared their life journeys. For example, Travis
Roy, who suffered a tragic injury that paralyzed him, and Louie
Zamperini, whose life was chronicled in Unbroken, both taught
us about perseverance and determination. Stephen Pemberton,
a man who grew up in an abusive foster home, told us his life
story and determined search for his family as an adult. Courtney
Bent, who altered her career to start a non-profit organization
to provide cameras for people with disabilities, showed us
how giving can positively impact the lives of others in very
meaningful ways. These true life struggles and good deeds
combined with the thoughtful insights provided by Mr. Burke
and others are elements of education that cannot be quantified.
Finally, with respect to our class, the Class of 2014, I will say
that it is a great class. It is a class with a lot of camaraderie. It is
a class that played hard, but also worked hard. I’m proud of our
class. I believe we are well rounded and extremely accomplished.
To note only a few achievements, I list the following:
For years, Connor Strachan and Justin Bellinger have been
legendary in their leadership on the football and baseball fields
helping teams to many victories and championships. I wish
Commencement 2014
“We have been given this great gift of education and experiences. I believe
that the best way we can repay those who have educated and supported us is to
work hard, achieve successes, help others, and give back to our communities...”
them academic and athletic success at Boston College and
Duke and only ask, if they choose to pursue professional careers,
to not sign with the Jets or the Yankees. Other noteworthy
accomplishments are the efforts of Joe Kearney and John
O’Leary on the lacrosse fields, helping us to many winning
seasons and a championship and being asked to bring their
talents across town to Harvard.
In the academic arena, John Bartlett was a National Merit
Scholarship Finalist. That’s an awesome achievement attained by
less than 1% of test takers.
In the world of entertainment, Jack Goldman and Marlon
Matthews have been exceptional at St. Sebastian’s and will
undoubtedly continue to excel for many years to come.
In the realm of community service, Patrick Rivard has been
outstanding, starting the blanket drive in 7th grade and leading
it ever since.
And most impressive to me, two of our classmates, Matt
Ouellette and Chris Callahan, are going to attend West Point. If
you want to change the world, you have to aim high. That’s what
I believe they are doing by serving our great nation.
Now that I have reveled to some degree in our
accomplishments at St. Sebastian’s, it is time to look forward to
what we can do to make our country and the world better. There
is so much more for each and every one of us to do. I don’t want
to belittle in any way what any one of us has accomplished, but
we need to have perspective and realize that what we do in the
future is so much more important than what we have done to
this day. Each and every one of us has received a great education.
We should thank the St. Sebastian’s community and our parents
for this fact. It is time for us to give back to our supporters by
giving our best efforts in the future. In thinking about a way to
Seniors give thanks to their parents during the Commencement ceremony.
convey the importance of putting a best foot forward, I will share
with you a passage given to me on a plaque by my grandmother
when I was twelve years old. It is a quote she displayed in a paper
version on her kitchen cabinet when her kids were growing
up. The words are from our 30th president, Calvin Coolidge.
President Coolidge said:
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not: nothing in the world is more common than
unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not: unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
We have been given this great gift of education and
experiences. I believe that the best way we can repay those
who have educated and supported us is to work hard, achieve
successes, help others, and give back to our communities
in ways that would make the St. Sebastian’s community, our
parents, and supporters proud.
Now, on behalf of the entire class, I would like to thank all
the members of the faculty one last time. I also want to express
my gratitude to my family. Mom, Dad, and Cole, thank you for
all your love and support over the years.
Finally, members of the Class of 2014, it has been an honor
to be with you the past five years. The friendships and memories
we have forged within these walls will last for the rest of our
lives. Hopefully we will all have many more memories when
we come back for reunions and gatherings. We will be Arrows
forever. Thank you and God bless.
Teddy Griffin ’14 thanks faculty member Karl Grohmann
(center) and Assistant Headmaster Mike Nerbonne (right).
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| 15
Commencement 2014
Salutatory Address
Transforming Boys into Men
By John F. Bartlett ’14
M
r. Burke, Father Arens, Mr. Nerbonne, Mr.
Sullivan, Mr. Elcock, Father Leahy, members of
the Board of Trustees, members of the faculty,
parents, guests, and brothers of the Class of 2014:
I still have a vivid image in my head of a particular event
that occurred during the fall of freshman year, in my first few
months as a Seb’s student. I’m sitting in a study hall with a group
of other 9th graders, listening to them reminisce about students
who had been their classmates in 7th and 8th grade, but went
somewhere else for high school. One classmate, Chris O’Shea,
turns to me and asks if I remember a kid named Joe Meers and
all his reputed behavior quirks. I give him a blank look and he
thinks for a moment, then says, “Oh sorry, I forgot you’re new
here. It feels like you’ve been at Seb’s since 7th grade.”
St. Sebastian’s has the difficult task of transforming boys
into men in 4-6 short years. It is a challenge taken on by schools
all across the country, but one not always met to a satisfactory
degree. While all schools deliver to their best ability the
knowledge and skills a student must possess to succeed in life,
they often miss the many other elements required to form a
person prepared to go out and serve the world.
Among other things, becoming a man involves gaining
knowledge, maturity, and empathy. Knowledge is the easiest
factor for a school to impart, and with the highly qualified
teachers and well-reputed curriculum employed at this school,
this trait is an easy check off the list. But it isn’t only brought
about by the teachers—students at this school work together
to help each other grow in their knowledge. I spent countless
nights junior year on conference calls with Cam Kelly, Marlon
Matthews, and Pat McGowan, who were in my physics class.
We would help each other get through Webassign, the online
assignment system that everyone here eventually gets to know so
well. We would go through one question at a time making sure
everyone understood it, and no one would hang up until we had
all finished, or at least were close enough to be satisfied.
Maturity is gained both inside the classroom and elsewhere
in a high school student’s life. The responsibility of schoolwork,
as well as an enforced dress and behavioral code, provide
guidelines during the school day, and after school the packed
schedules most students here have require the time management
skills of a truly mature person. The most powerful lesson that
students gain here on their quest for maturity, however, is a
phrase repeated at every sports game, field trip, or other schoolrelated event: “remember who you represent.” Often, those
words are the only ones necessary to transform a bunch of
16 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
underclassmen goofing off at a debate tournament into a group
of polite, respectful gentlemen from St. Sebastian’s. Maturity
is also knowing when to make appropriate jokes to lighten the
mood. At the freshmen orientation on my first day at Seb’s, I
was nervous, to say the least. When I sat down at a table in Ward
Hall with some of my new classmates, though, Brian Curley
immediately started picking everyone’s brains to find jokes that
would entertain the new guy. Jack Goldman then proceeded to
rattle off every joke he could think of that involved former VP
Dick Cheney, which was a lot. They weren’t very good jokes, but
it sure helped to make me feel more comfortable as a part of this
new community.
Empathy is the element of manhood least often found in high
school graduates. Without empathy, a student will enter college
unwilling to connect to other people, and then have further
trouble later on in life. After years of competing with their
classmates and focusing on building a personal resume to show
off to colleges, many students lose one of the most important
parts of growing up. Friendship. Camaraderie. And at an all
boys school like St. Sebastian’s, brotherhood.
The St. Sebastian’s bond is a tight one. The small size of
the school, the atmosphere of acceptance, and especially the
fact that students can and do stay at school long after the day
is over really help us grow closer with our teachers and each
other. I’ve never heard of another place where students create
study guides for their peers to use for an upcoming test and
expect nothing in return, or where kids encourage each other
to get their homework done early so that, after hours of their
own club and sport obligations, they can carpool into Boston
to spend the rest of the night watching the hockey team play at
Fenway Park. Here at Seb’s, you will find crowds at plays, Moot
Court competitions, chess matches, and even middle school
sporting events. You could walk into the mini McCulloch room
at 6 p.m. on a random weekday to find a group of kids simply
Commencement 2014
“Amidst all the facts and details of an academically driven life, we at
this school help each other grow into manhood through the close
bonds we make, sharing our struggles and our successes...”
eating pizza and chatting. These boys have likely asked their
parents to pick them up later than usual just because they are
not yet ready to leave school. Henry’s Corner is the biggest fan
section in the ISL, not because of our school’s size, but because
we care about our fellow students and want to see them succeed.
We share empathy for each other, just as our teachers do for us
in the classroom. Most of you have heard Mr. Burke say that
“peer pressure at St. Sebastian’s is a positive influence.” This
peer pressure is what gives us direction as we move towards
adulthood. It is a guardrail on a path that otherwise would
have signs only few and far between. All the intelligence in
the world can’t help a man with no direction and no way to
connect with others.
The late writer Maya Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that
people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.” During
these years at St. Sebastian’s, we become an integral part of
each others’ lives, to the point where life before is just a distant
memory. Amidst all the facts and details of an academically
driven life, we at this school help each other grow into manhood
through the close bonds we make, sharing our struggles and
our successes as each of us becomes “a moral and just person,
a gentleman of courage, honor, and wisdom, a life-long learner
who continues to grow in his capacity to know, to love, and to
serve God and neighbor.”
Here I’d like to thank my family for bringing me to where
I am now; they are strong members of the St. Sebastian’s
community, and the most important part of my life as well.
Mom and Dad, thanks for driving me to school every day
through junior year, making sure I got my homework done
most nights, and supporting me along the way while not
pushing too hard. Most importantly, thanks for telling me to
apply to St. Sebastian’s; it has been the decision of a lifetime.
Sarah, thanks for giving me sisterly advice about college and
girls. Peter and Julia, thanks for constantly pulling me away
from my homework just to chat or show me something cool
you found on the internet; that’s what siblings are for.
Now to my fellow graduating seniors: Remember this
community of St. Sebastian’s and all the people who make it,
who lifted you up and made you the men you are today. If in ten,
thirty, or fifty years you can’t remember our names, the things
we said, or what exactly we did in these halls, at least remember
how we made you feel as we shaped you into a man. Proceed
with us in your hearts, and you will go far. Thank you.
Jay Daukas ’14, Dan Fulham ’14 and David Abelson ’14
Seniors line up for the Headmaster’s Walk across campus.
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Dedication of
St. Sebastian’s Way
Marking the beginning of Commencement
Week, parents of the Class of 2014 gathered
on Sunday, June 1, for a reception and dinner
to dedicate this year’s Senior Class gift. St.
Sebastian’s Way, a corridor on the first floor
of the Math, Science & Library Center, honors
the mission and tradition of the school, as
well as its students, faculty, and trustees.
Headmaster Burke’s Remarks:
Far and away the most ambitious, most complex and
most creative of the Senior Class gifts, this gorgeous St.
Sebastian’s Way, given in honor of the outstanding Class
of 2014 by you, their loving parents, is almost impossible
to describe, but what a beauty to behold!
Perhaps John Stefanoni, one of our extraordinarily
devoted maintenance workers, a man who has made his
way up and down this corridor hundreds of times, says
it best: “One way of putting it is: When you go by, you
have to stop.”
Under the guidance of our outstanding architect and
parent of two Arrows, Rob Olson, we struggled through
every phase of the project. We even struggled with the
name. What should we call this space? In contention
were St. Sebastian’s Mission Hall and The St. Sebastian’s
Experience. Then it came to us: St. Sebastian’s Way. A
thru way, to be sure, a well traveled avenue for students
and faculty, for other members of our community, and
for our many guests, but it was all of that before we
adorned these walls with words and images proclaiming
our mission, our purpose, our mode or way of being and
going. So Way it is and St. Sebastian’s Way it ever shall
be. Saecula Saeculorum.
We recite our mission and proclaim what we hold
most sacred at Admissions Open House, where I think we
first put the hook in you, and we publish the same in our
catalogue and magazine and we post it on our website.
Now, thanks to you, the walls themselves will shout the
good news, and I am so very, very grateful.
From the depths of my soul, I thank you all.
18 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
Father John Arens’ Blessing:
Lord, as we bless this gift of the Class
of 2014 and their parents, let it be a
constant reference point of our history
and experience together. Help what
happens in this space to be a ready
compass to help us sail a steady course
of progress in this our beloved St.
Sebastian’s. May what is displayed here
be a continuance of all that is good in the
words and actions offered, in the images
presented, and in our Mission Statement.
Let us, Lord, hear them again and again
transformed by Your Holy Spirit:
Seeking
Engaging
Pursuing
Embracing
Including
Nurturing
Inspiring
Excelling
Structuring
Striving
Succeeding
Being moral
Being just
Being a gentleman
Having courage
Having honor
Having wisdom
Learning
Continuing
Growing
Knowing
Loving
Serving
God and Neighbor
These powerful images, these
remarkable challenges and comforts,
are carved into the walls before us in
words of Holy Scripture and the wisdom
of saints and scholars, in the words of
our Mission Statement. The mark and
meaning of those words and actions are,
in a manner, carved into us—into each
of the class of 2014—and are displayed
for future generations of Arrows. Lord,
let these not be static words or images,
but living and breathing and deepening
invitations to the fullness of life to
which You call us. We ask You, let Your
Blessing enlighten this St. Sebastian’s
Way, and reside here, Father and Son
and Holy Spirit, to Your Glory, One
God forever and ever. Amen.
TOP: Seniors gather with Father
Arens to bless St. Sebastian’s Way.
ABOVE: One of three panels that
span the length of the corridor,
gracing the walls with images and
words that represent the School
Mission.
LEFT: Members of the Senior
Class Gift Committee gather at
the reception to celebrate the
gift made possible by the parents
of the Class of 2014.
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20 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
The Passing of a
Giant
Frank M. Ward
Trustee Emeritus, father of trustee Stephen ’96, and grandfather of Erik ’09 and Donovan ’11
1943-2014
Tribute by Headmaster William L. Burke III
No one could ever measure or express all that Frank Ward and his
beautiful family mean to St. Sebastian’s School. His youngest son,
Stephen, and I joined the St. Sebastian’s family in 1990—he as a 7th
grader and I as Headmaster. In short order, Frank was welcomed
onto our board, and what phenomenally generous gifts of time,
talent, and treasure he and Eileen devoted to their beloved School!
A
few highlights: Frank very often
and most enthusiastically
proclaimed his love for the
Catholic Church and for St.
Sebastian’s School, and, from time to time,
lamented that he was not in possession
of a St. Sebastian’s diploma. Happily, we
took care of that matter by ceremoniously
presenting him with a diploma and naming
him our first and only Honorary Graduate.
Positively beaming when Stephen was
elected student body President for the
1995-96 academic year, Frank could not
have been more justifiably proud of his
son. And how thrilled he was to see his
grandsons, Erik Ward ’09 and Donavon
Ward ’11, become Arrows! And how
delighted he was (and we all were) that his
beloved mother, Mary Whitney Ward, was
healthy, in attendance, and very much the
guest of honor in 1998, when Frank and
Eileen dedicated our gracious great room/
dining hall. That night, Frank explained
that his mother, who had been widowed
early in life, succeeded in raising and
educating her children on the salary she
earned during her 40 year stint working
in the dining hall at a well known hall
in Massachusetts: The Harvard Club on
Commonwealth Avenue. “Well,” Frank
added “now, there’s going to be an even
more famous hall in Massachusetts with
her name on it: Mary Whitney Ward Hall
at St. Sebastian’s School!” Thunderous
applause ensued.
After making major gift after major
gift to our capital projects, Frank called
me to his office one day, expressed his
belief that our teachers comprised the best
work force he had ever seen, and informed
me that he and Eileen would be making
an enormous gift to our endowment to
boost faculty salaries. Not only did this
tremendous gift enable us to raise teacher
compensation levels most significantly,
but, in essence, the gift established our
endowment. Frank and Eileen continued
to show their respect, admiration, and
affection for the people who serve our
students by sponsoring raffles—at first
for cars and then for substantial amounts
of money—at our Annual Faculty/Staff
Christmas Party.
Greatly saddened by Frank’s passing,
we pray that he rests in heaven and that
his family and friends will be comforted by
our Lord’s peace, the peace that surpasses
all human understanding.
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| 21
A Legacy of Love & Generosity
Eulogy given by Stephen Ward ’96
Good morning. This is nerve racking. I have thought of this moment
before, what to say. I suppose a son thinks of this as his father begins
to age and I have thought of it more and more since my father’s heart
episode last June. What would I say? How would I begin? Where does
a son start to remember his father who happened to be such a larger
than life person? Then this story came to me:
I
married my beautiful wife, Roberta,
almost ten years ago and proceedings
for the wedding started with rehearsal
at a church right down the road from
here. A typical wedding rehearsal, some 30
family and friends were there and the plan,
as usual, was to run through the wedding,
practice vows, and go to dinner. Now,
standing in front of everyone, I faced my
Roberta and began to run through our
practice marriage. It should be no surprise
that Father Arens was our priest directing
the rehearsal. At that moment, however,
with 30 onlookers, a mere fraction of
today’s crowd, the gravity of what I was
doing overtook me and I completely
dissolved into a slobbering mess. Father
Arens gave me moment and made a joke
to help me through, but I couldn’t get it
together. I can still remember the embarrassment as I looked around the room but
my father’s face particularly stood out.
He looked at me with complete dismay;
even Father Arens looked disgusted, but
I couldn’t stop.
I was so amped up that my head was
still buzzing when we got to the rehearsal
dinner. There, the same crowd buzzed
with conversation, and they got into
drinks and a great dinner. They laughed
and talked, but not me. I was stricken
with anxiety—imagine how I feel right
now! And so I got up from the table and
went to the bar. No one noticed, or so I
thought, but, out of nowhere, there was
my dad. “I need to speak to you son.” At
that moment I thought: “Here it is, my
father son moment when my dad offers his
wisdom and sends me off with the secret
of success and good wishes.” He leaned
into me, squeezed my arm and said: “What
was that in Church? You looked like a big
baby in there—be a man, son; be a man.”
He turned on his heels and went back to
dinner. I was now completely floored and
ripped with the fresh anxiety that I was
going to cry on the altar during the actual
wedding. The next day I was scared to
death, but, just at the last moment, as I left
the sacristy and faced my beautiful wife,
I was graced with complete calm. Thank
you, God, I thought: I won’t disappoint
my Dad. I remember turning to look at
the crowd and take in the whole scene and
I found my father’s face and there he was,
sobbing like a giant baby! Oh, how I still
appreciate the irony of that!
My father was born Francis Michael
Ward in Roxbury, Massachusetts to his
beloved mother, Mary, and his father,
Joseph. The Wards had six children,
Roseleen, Marianne, the twins, Frankie
and Johnny, Joe, and Susan. They, like
so many others, piled into a three family
home, a three deckah. Theirs was on
Alpine St.
An event that would shape all of their
lives: their father, Joe, died suddenly of a
cerebral hemorrhage—my dad and Johnny
were eight years old. My grandmother,
whom I remember well, was suddenly
faced with the typically damning news
that she would somehow have to raise
up six kids, in the city, alone. As if that
22 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
weren’t enough, my father’s twin,
Johnny, lost a leg at the tender age of
eleven from what they thought at the
time was cancer; the cruelty of that would
haunt my father forever. Mrs. Ward,
however, managed to pull through. Her
sister, Dottie, moved in for years while
her husband was in quarantine from the
war and her daughter, Nancy, became my
father’s fourth sister. My grandmother
eventually went to work for the Harvard
Club of Boston as a server, then,
eventually, as manager, and she toiled
there for forty years. She loved Elvis. That
work ethic, though, would not only pull
the family through, but would inspire a
young Frank to help improve his family’s
situation and to ease his mother’s burden.
Later in life, whenever there was some sort
of business brought to my grandmother,
she would say: “I have to check with
Frankie.” I’d like to point out that when
my dad was an adult, she was the only one
who could call him Frankie.
My father was a young kid when he
met my even younger mother whom
he would refer to as the most beautiful
creature there ever was. He said that often
and to the end. My mother recounted
the other day the moment she met my
Dad as if it were yesterday. She lived on
the third floor of her Dorchester three
deckah on Hamilton Street, and she went
downstairs to the first floor apartment
to visit her girlfriend who lived there.
When she entered the kitchen, she found a
newspaper being held up and blocking the
face of her future husband, who was also
friendly with the first floor inhabitants.
Sensing someone across from him, my
17-year-old dad lowered the paper—the
Record American my mom recalled—to
see who was there, revealing his thick frock
of red hair dressed for BC High with a
sport coat and tie on. Of course, he was
reading the paper at 17. My mother still
remembers the hello, a surprised “hello.”
A hello heavy with weight of destiny,
Frank Ward (sitting) surrounded by his family.
they would go on to marry and have five
children and eleven grandchildren. Believe
it or not, my father always referenced
himself as a “nerd,” a loner, and he
would always tell me that he could never
understand what a woman like my mother
would see in him—she was so beautiful,
he would say. Mom, it’s a good thing you
did, though, because everything that Dad
built—his family, his huge business, the
endless philanthropy—was because of you
and that single moment, it strikes me, that
single hello in that kitchen in Dorchester.
Years later on a weekend away from
at least several children, my parents
happened upon Osterville. My mother and
father, still in their twenties, came upon
the Eastbay Lodge in Osterville, now long
gone, where they loved to stay. My mother
loved just driving around and looking at
the beautiful homes and she expressed to
my dad how she would just love to live in
one some day. My father told me this same
story at another time and he told me how
it pained him to pull the car over and tell
my mother that she shouldn’t dream of
that. He told her that they would just never
be able to afford living there. The richness
of that! Not only would they purchase a
summer home in Osterville, but he would
become known as Mayor of it.
Just a couple weeks ago, my mother
went to visit my brother, Tom, where he
lives in Hawaii. My dad, not interested in
travel, stayed home and underestimated
how much he would miss my mother. He
called or emailed me every day to express
how lost he was without her and how he
just couldn’t wait until she got home.
My father’s working career was so
vast and impressive that it is very difficult
do it justice in merely a few minutes. My
father’s cousin, Nancy, told me once that
my dad’s father died and was buried on
a Friday and my father went to work on
his first job by Monday, a paper route in
Boston—8 years old! My father’s drive
to work and make a better life for his
family, his whole family, was so strong
and unyielding to any negative force that
the poor kid from Roxbury, fatherless at
eight years old, went on to build the third
largest lighting manufacturing company in
the world, Sylvania Lighting. At his peak,
he manufactured a staggering 1.6 billion
light bulbs every year, employing 14,000
people to do it. He had plants in over 15
countries, and he held dozens of patents of
things that he himself created. A brilliant
engineering mind, he invented things like
the Provision Scope, and the modern day
copy machine may not have been possible
had it not been for him. He also had two of
the most successful stock offerings that Wall
Street had ever seen, just to say the few.
My father believed in what he called
“fortuitous events.” In building his
business, he said God presented them to
him often and he was fortunate enough
to realize that he needed to act on them.
He said that he took only 10 percent of
the credit for his success; the other 90
percent was God’s hand. Often at night,
when I was near, maybe on his deck down
in Osterville, he would say: “Son, look out
there, look at all those lights. You want
to know the best thing about light bulbs,
son? They all burn out.” And he would
laugh every time. He loved his light bulbs
and he loved the people who helped build
them even more. And his people loved
him, as displayed today with the huge
number of you who have come back to
send him off.
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| 23
Growing up, my father would tell
us how he would buy turkeys for all his
people at Thanksgiving, a tradition that
he loved, and a tradition that I carried on
at the dairy business that he helped form
with me over the last decade. He loved
that I did that and he would ask me every
year, usually when I pulled my own bird
out of the oven: “How many turkeys went
out this year, son?” I would proudly report
the increasing number every year. “It
looks like four pallets of turkeys this year,
Dad.” “Oh that’s great, son,” he would say,
but without fail he would lean in to me and
say: “I needed tractor trailers to send my
turkeys, son.” Oh, would he laugh at that, a
perpetual one upper. I learned everything I
know about business from my dad but sadly
I know I had merely scratched the surface.
With all of his success, he never forgot
where he came from. One of his favorite
stories to tell that reflected this best
occurred one afternoon outside a Hyannis
restaurant called the Captain’s Table. As
we all know, my dad was an impressive
cigarette smoker, although I want to
acknowledge publicly for him that he had
quit smoking since his heart problems
last June, an accomplishment that he was
proud of and astonished by. When he
had smoked though, he was often seen
outside of Wimpys, or Five Bays, and on
this particular day, at the Captain’s Table,
when two elderly women approached to
come in, he slid over and grabbed the door
for them. He did that every time. At that
moment, one of the women said: “I know
you! You’re that nice young doorman
from Wimpys.” Oh he would roar telling
that story and he would always laugh and
say: “My how the mighty fall.”
Comments like those make me realize
I will miss his quick wit; he was so fast
with those one liners. One of my favorites
is worth mentioning. At my parents’
Cape house, which is on the water, they
Frank Ward with his wife, Eileen, and his mother, Mary, at the dedication of Ward Hall in 1998.
24 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
were always being visited by transient
fishermen. Men and woman from all over
would come and walk right through their
yard to fish on the beach or on his dock.
They would stay all day long and often
leave a big mess behind. Well, this would
make my father beyond angry. He would
yell at them to get off his beach and stop
trespassing, and he would yell so loud
that you could hear him up town or at
the marina across the way. It became a
feud as rowdy and well known as Hatfield
vs. McCoy. Well, on this particular day,
my father went up on the bridge next to
his house to gain a better vantage point
for yelling, and, as he was in the midst
of a particularly colorful tirade, he was
interrupted by someone on the road
behind him: “Hey, mister, why don’t you
try being a little more Christian and leave
those people alone.” My father turned to
find none other than Joe Kennedy sitting
there on his bicycle, and, without missing
a beat, my father pointed his well pointed
finger in the face of old Joe for Oils, and said:
“No Kennedy is gonna tell me about being
Christian. Why don’t you go get a bus and
take them all over to the compound?”
My friend, Mike Nerbonne, from St.
Sebastian’s School texted me this thought:
“Many successful men drift from Faith
because the world’s success makes them
think only of themselves. Frank was the
exact opposite. The more he achieved,
the more he came to believe that God
was blessing him for a higher purpose to
serve the Holy Church and to support her
ministries to the people of God.” How
true. My dad often quipped: “I’m still here
because God’s not done spending my
money.”
My father’s philanthropies, like his
business, are far too great to capture here.
He loved the Church and became known
as one of the largest single contributors
to the Archdiocese of Boston. He helped
St Sebastian’s School with its first major
capital campaign, which helped to
rebuild the academic building and, more
important to my father, he created the
endowment, which helped to increase
teachers’ salaries, and he placed himself
as the School’s largest benefactor ever! Of
course, when he was given the chance to
name the dining hall, he named it for his
mother, not for himself like so many others
would have, and proclaimed that now there
will be a hall—with “Mumma’s” name on
it—much more famous than the hall at the
Harvard Club, where she had worked.
A quick story about his mother—I
remember her funeral. She died at about
the height of my father’s career and at
the peak of his charity work with the
Archdiocese of Boston. And so it seemed
that every Catholic priest in Massachusetts
was there on the altar and the funeral mass
was celebrated by Cardinal Law himself.
They all wanted to be there for my dad.
It was the biggest funeral I’d ever seen.
I was sitting in the front row with my
family and I can still hear my dad. At the
most serious of moments, he leaned to my
mother and said under his breath: “If they
only knew she was Protestant.” My father
would not be happy that I just let that out.
Her husband was Catholic, though, and so
she raised her kids Catholic.
Philanthropies large and small, my
father loved to help build schools like
his beloved Pope John High School in
Hyannis or simply helping someone who
was having trouble paying his or her
mortgage. One large endeavor, though,
needs mentioning. Somewhere in or
around 1962 the Dictator Fidel Castro
of Cuba being true to the atheism of
communist doctrine publicly stated: “I
have never been a believer and I have total
conviction that there is only one life.”
Now, somewhere, my father is saying:
“Get the hook, please!” But this has a
point, I promise. Raised a Roman Catholic,
Castro was publicly excommunicated
by the Pope. And so it was, for the next
30 plus years, there was no Christmas in
Cuba. As he aged, however, Castro felt
he had made a mistake. I’m simplifying
the story, certainly, but Castro reached
out to Pope John Paul II and asked for
forgiveness. The Pope came to Cuba in
1998 and that year formally reinstated
Christmas. On that visit, the pope realized
that there was some basic business to be
had: Seminaries and convents needed to be
built first and foremost for the training of
new priests. The word was put forth from
his Holiness and his Cardinals set to work
raising money and putting people together
to build the first seminary in Cuba. So
“Dad, I hope you are seeing now this huge crowd that loves
you, and, to quote my father-in-law, Bob Redden, let me say:
‘The legacy a man leaves behind can be measured by the
volume of the hearts and minds of the people he touched and
helped on his journey through life.’ Your legacy is massive.”
who do we call when there is business to
be done? Cardinal Law, Archbishop of
Boston, tagged none other than Frank M.
Ward, and, so, he and my mother and a
cabinet of upper level clergy flew on his
jet plane with special clearance from our
government to Cuba. My father’s mission
was to negotiate the purchase of land for
the new seminary, which he was going to
build. Eventually, they were brought to the
site, but it was an old industrial building,
half falling down. Needless to say, my
father and the priests were all disappointed
and most everyone was afraid to say that
the site wouldn’t do. In a private meeting
to talk about the project with Castro’s
ministers (who were wearing fatigues no
less) and none other than his brother,
Raul, my father shined. Afraid of no man,
my father told Raul Castro that the old
building wouldn’t do; it was no place
for educating holy men. I know that the
Cardinal and his secretary couldn’t believe
that my dad had just told off a communist
dictatorship, but I’m not surprised.
Certainly, my mother isn’t.
The next morning they were brought
to a rolling pasture, some beautiful acreage
that was being used as a pig farm. “How
is this, Mr. Ward?” There, today, stands
the first Seminary in Cuba since the time a
mistaken dictator tried to extinguish God’s
light, and my father, the poor kid from
Roxbury, built it. Upon boarding his plane
to come home, my father was tapped on
the shoulder by a young Cuban man who
handed him a box of cigars, which, my
father later learned had been made only
for Fidel. “These,” he said, “are from Raul.”
My father died on Friday morning,
Good Friday, and when I was making
those sad calls my friend Charlie remarked:
“Wow, Good Friday, he just couldn’t be
out done by Jesus.” Oh, man, we laughed
at that, but the significance of his passing
on that day is palpable to me. You should
know his father died years before on Holy
Thursday, the day before Good Friday. I
believe that only the truly special would be
brought home on the same day Jesus died
for us. There was a man named Dismas, the
first to go to heaven after Jesus’ crucifixion,
who became known as the Penitent Thief;
he was the poor soul crucified next to
Jesus on Good Friday and he cried: “Jesus,
remember me when you come to your
Kingdom.” And Jesus replied: “Amen, I
say to you, today you will be with me in
Paradise.”
One year ago, I was getting ready for
my annual vacation in Florida with my
own family. We have gone to Naples for
ten years now and I was always trying to
get my parents to go. I thought my dad
would just love it there and so every year I
asked him to come and every year he said:
“No thank you.” “Florida is a Petri dish,”
he would say. But last year was different.
We were having dinner together. I met
him because I was going on vacation and
I said: “Dad, why don’t come with us?”
He turned and said “Son, I spent 10,000
breakfasts alone in disgusting hotels
across the world and I can’t imagine what
I missed. I just want to be home.”
Dad, I hope you are seeing now this
huge crowd that loves you, and, to quote
my father-in-law, Bob Redden, let me
say: “The legacy a man leaves behind can
be measured by the volume of the hearts
and minds of the people he touched and
helped on his journey through life.” Your
legacy is massive.
So now I will take this moment to say
publicly and loudly that I love you Dad,
and I will miss you until I see you again.
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| 25
Around Campus
News and Notes from Our School Community
Dr. Rob Martello Delivers
Lecture on Paul Revere
Twelve Seniors Inducted
into the Cum Laude Society
Headmaster Bill Burke, Assistant
Headmaster Mike Nerbonne, and faculty
member David Cornish inducted 12
senior students into the Cum Laude
Society during a ceremony held April
25. Andrew Wasynczuk P’14,’17, MBA
Class of 1983, Senior Lecturer of Business
Administration at Harvard Business
School, provided the keynote address.
The Cum Laude Society is
dedicated to honoring scholastic
achievement in secondary schools.
Modeled after Phi Beta Kappa, the
Society has grown to over 350 Chapters
located in public and independent
schools in the United States, Canada,
England, France, Spain, Puerto Rico,
and the Philippines.
Dr. Rob Martello visited St. Sebastian’s
School on April 30 as part of the
Birmingham Lecture Series, generously
sponsored by Karen Birmingham P’84,
GP’14, wife of the late John P. Birmingham,
Jr. ’59. Students, faculty, and friends
were treated to Dr. Martello’s fascinating
presentation on the life of Paul Revere, with
emphasis on his pre- and post-revolutionary
career—subjects often overshadowed by
Revere’s famous midnight ride.
A Professor of the History of Science
and Technology at Olin College, Dr.
Martello received his Ph.D. from MIT’s
program in the History and Social Study
of Science and Technology. His acclaimed
book, Midnight Ride, Industrial Dawn:
Paul Revere and the Rise of American
Enterprise, was based on his dissertation.
Class of 2014 Inductees:
Caleb F. Aldrich, John F. Bartlett,
Zachary C. Chambers, Conor E.
Craven, William M. DuFour, Daniel
W. Fulham, Joseph M. Kearney,
William J. Kenney, Connor S. Murray,
Matthew R. Ouellette, Brandon G.
Sweeney, and Luke J. Wasynczuk
Grandparents’ Day
From left: Trevor Martin ’19 with his brother, Christopher
’17, and his grandmother, Leni Gottlieb.
Neil Melley ’18 enjoys some dessert with his
grandfather, Stephen Melley.
26 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
More than 300 grandparents joined
their grandsons at St. Sebastian’s annual
Grandparents’ Day celebration on
April 29. As the grandparents enjoyed a
luncheon, they were treated to musical
performances from several students
and Senior John McNamara delivered
his Chapel speech, a moving tribute
to his grandfather. Grandparents and
students then headed to class before
celebrating Mass with Fr. John Arens.
The afternoon concluded with a dessert
reception in Ward Hall and pictures to
commemorate a wonderful day.
AROUND CAMPUS
Mastering the Art of Oratory
On May 21, four students participated
in the Annual Rhetoric Competition
at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
St. Sebastian’s entered this annual
Competition for the first time this year.
The ancient vases and statues of the MFA’s
early Greek gallery served as the perfect
backdrop as students delivered memorized
performances of selected passages from
Homer’s great epic poems, “The Iliad” and
“The Odyssey.” Performers were judged
on accuracy, emotion and diction. Several
Boston area public and independent
schools participated in the event.
Sophomore and Junior students with Harvard Professor Richard Thomas (center).
Actus Tests Students’
Knowledge of “Aeneid”
St. Sebastian’s annual Vergilian Actus
took place on May 6. Richard Thomas,
George Martin Lane Professor of the
Classics at Harvard, conducted a public
examination of St. Sebastian’s students
in the Latin IV Advanced Placement
class, which studied Vergil’s “Aeneid.”
Professor Thomas asked each of the
16 students to read aloud, translate, and
reflect on the meaning of Vergil’s words.
Students participating were Jack
Adams ’15, Cole Aldrich ’16, Tom
Caravolas ’15, Cedric Depestre ’15,
Chris Haley ’15, Justin Lee ’15, Ryan
Lee ’15, Jimmy Mitchell ’15, Chris
Potvin ’16, Johnny Ryan ’15, Will
Supple ’15, Doyle Silvia ’15, Kenny
Vallace ’15, Scott Westvold ’15, Tyler
Wiik ’15, and Chris Wolpe ’15.
Marty White ’18, Jack-Patrick Milbury ’19, Griffin
Wagner ’19 and Will Supple ’15, at the Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston.
Inspired by Chinese Legend
On May 5 each year in Japan, children
celebrate “Tango no Sekku” or “Children’s
Day” by hanging wind carp streamers called
koinobori. The tradition was inspired by
the Chinese legend of a carp swimming
successfully upstream against the waterfall to
become a dragon and reflects the wish that
like the koi, young children will aspire to
face adversity with courage, determination
and spirited energy. Continuing to be
inspired by her school-sponsored journey
through Asia in the summer of 2012, art
teacher Deirdre Rynne had her students
make koinobori again this year. Each student
designed his own template, resulting in
beautiful works of art.
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| 27
AROUND CAMPUS
Moot Court Winners Declared
Judges Philip Weiner, Marian Ryan and Denise Caspar with Moot Court finalists William McCarthy,
Anthony Canavan, Christopher Haley and Mac Morris.
A Voice for the Arts
For the first time, St. Sebastian’s opened
its literary magazine, The Quiver, to schools
from all around New England. Published
each spring, the magazine provides high
school students with an open forum to
share their creative work outside the
structured environment of the classroom.
This year’s edition includes many
amazing submissions from students at St.
Sebastian’s as well as several other schools.
From poetry and short stories to artwork
and photography, The Quiver represents a
wide range of talents.
Cover photo taken by James Fiore ’14
St. Sebastian’s 7th Annual Moot Court
Competition, sponsored by the History
Department, culminated in the final round on
May 21. The student “lawyer” team of Anthony
Canavan ’15 and William McCarthy ’15 took
on classmates Mac Morris ’15 and Christopher
Haley ’15. The court was presided over by the
Honorable Denise Casper, a Federal District
Court Judge, the Honorable Philip Weiner,
an international war crimes Judge, and the
Honorable Marian Ryan, Middlesex District
Attorney. Both teams presented well-prepared
arguments and showcased their oral advocacy
skills, but in the end, the judges declared Canavan
and McCarthy the winners. Congratulations to
both teams for a great effort.
MPA Celebrates Seniors at
Its Annual Banquet
On May 22, Men with Positive Attitudes
(MPA) hosted its annual banquet, a feast of
food, family and friends. The attendees were
moved by the powerful words shared by the
graduating seniors and the soulful singing of
Will Supple ’15 accompanied by Joe Kerwin
’15 on the guitar. Rev. V. Gordon Glenn III ’90
gave a stirring, historical talk on the history of
MPA as seen through the eyes of its predecessor
STEPS (Students of the Ethnic Peoples
Society). His speech ended with his offering an
excerpt from Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,”
seamlessly weaving together the School’s 201415 theme of “Community” and MPA’s annual
theme “Thina Simunye: We Are Together.”
Zac Chambers ’14 and Shawn
Lynch ’15
Seniors Zac Chambers, Marlon Matthews, Joe Tran, Aturo Adkins, Zac Taye and Jordan Brydie
28 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
Undergraduate & College Book Awards
St. Sebastian’s School is proud to recognize the following students who were
presented with College Book and Memorial Awards for their achievements during
the Undergraduate Awards Assembly held on Wednesday, May 28.
College Book Awards:
Undergraduate Awards:
Brown University
John J. Ryan IV ’15
Joseph Compagnone Memorial Award
Thomas J. Caravolas ’15
Bryant University
Anthony J. Canavan ’15
John P. Birmingham, Jr. Writing Award
Andrew M. Elcock ’17
Christopher B. Hailer ’17
College of the Holy Cross
Edgar E. Escobar ’15
Harvard University
William D. McCarthy ’15
Tyler C. Wiik ’15
Middlebury College
Macarthur W. Morris ’15
Gandolfo Award
Luke N. Jones ’17
William D. McCarthy ’15
James P. Ryan ’16
John J. Ryan IV ’15
Tyler C. Wiik ’15
Regis College
Kenneth M. Vallace ’15
Grace S. and Raymond M. Vorce, Sr. Award
Joseph J. Kerwin ’15
St. Anselm College
Christopher A. Wolpe ’15
Robert J. Joyce, Jr. Award
William D. McCarthy ’15
St. Michael’s College
James H. Hunt ’15
William P. Judge Award
Brendan M. McKenzie ’18
St. Lawrence University
Colin P. Connolly ’15
Frank J. Hennessey, Jr. Award
Macarthur W. Morris ’15
Trinity College-Dublin
Christopher G. Haley ’15
Jason Keating Award
Joseph R. O’Donnell ’19
University of Virginia
James C. DeSisto ’15
Kevin Ghelli Award
Tyson C. Reed, Jr. ’15
Villanova University
Jack R. Adams ’15
James P.B. McDonough Award
Christian E. Reenstierna, Jr. ’15
Wheeling Jesuit University
Scott H. Westvold ’15
Catholic Citizenship Award
John J. Ryan IV
Williams College
Joseph J. Kerwin ’15
William P. Judge Scholarship
Tyler C. Wiik ’15
Merrimack College
Matthew T. Rocco ’15
TOP: Brandon Sweeney ’14 and Justin Nicklas ’14 with
alumnus Paul Abbate ’84. BOTTTOM: Seniors help
themselves to a delicious breakfast.
Alumni Association Welcomes
the Class of 2014 to Its Ranks
The Class of 2014 began its final week at St.
Sebastian’s with the School’s annual Senior
Class-Alumni Breakfast on May 29. The
Alumni Association Board joined alumni
fathers and grandparents to celebrate the
Class of 2014. Special recognition was
also given to several alumni fathers and
grandfathers in honor of their sons’ and
grandsons’ graduation.
Alumni Association President John
McNamara ’81, P’14,’18, Board of Trustees
President Jim Elcock ’77, P’09, and Thayer
Wade ’13 each addressed the soon-to-be
graduates, offering advice for the future, and
welcoming the class to the alumni ranks.
The Class of 2014 then toured St.
Sebastian’s Way, the Senior Class Gift funded
by their parents, before heading to Chapel to
share their senior service project experiences.
Kevin T. Mutch Award
Matthew P. Doherty ’15
Daniel J. Higgins ’15
Yale University
William S. D’Orsi ’15
William McCarthy ’15, Assistant Headmaster
Michael Nerbonne and Tyler Wiik ’15.
Daniel Higgins ’15, Tom Mutch and Matthew
Doherty ’15.
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| 29
Event Highlights
Parents of Alumni Reception
On April 22, St. Sebastian’s hosted a reception in Ward Hall
honoring parents of alumni. More than 100 past parents
attended the gathering, catching up and sharing memories.
Before guests departed, Headmaster Burke offered brief remarks,
thanking everyone for coming, and for helping to make the
School the incredibly strong, vibrant community it is today.
Headmaster Scholarship
Golf Tournament
More than 150 St. Sebastian’s parents, alumni, and friends hit
the links at Woodland Country Club on May 5 for the School’s
Headmaster Scholarship Golf Tournament. The event raised more
than $200,000 for the Headmaster Scholarship, which provides
financial assistance to St. Sebastian’s students.
Thank you to Event Chair Bob Reardon P’15 and his wife,
Debbie, as well as the St. Sebastian’s Men’s Association and the
Guild of St. Irene, for their tireless efforts to make this event
a fantastic success. Thank you also to all of our sponsors and
participants for your generous support of the tournament.
From left: Ed Davis ’65, Director of Alumni Relations, with Patty Burke
P’95,’97,’00,’04 and Margo and Joe Tansey ’69,P’03.
Guild of St. Irene Fashion Show
Close to 200 members of the Guild of St. Irene enjoyed an
evening of fun and fashion at their annual closing event on
May 20. The Dinner & Fashion Show began with shopping and
socializing followed by dinner as senior mom models strutted
down the catwalk in the latest fashion trends. A lovely time was
had by all thanks to the hard work of Co-Chairs Jan Aldrich
P’16 and Alyson Karpowicz P’16 and the event committee.
Mothers of seniors model outfits put together by Lyn Evans
Potpourri Designs.
30 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
TOP: Bob Reardon P’15 congratulates John McNamara ‘81,P’14,’18
as Brian O’Rourke P’15 holds the pin. BOTTOM, FROM LEFT: Brian
Strachan P’14 confirms that he is “closest to the hole”; Special guest
Rene Rancourt, who sings the National Anthem before each Bruins
home game, kicks off the tournament by singing an enthusiastic
rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
Spring Revue
S
t. Sebastian’s students showcased their talents at the Fine Arts Department’s
annual Spring Revue on May 9. The Slings & Arrows Players brought comedy
to the stage with three student-directed plays, starting with Tom Taggart’s
“Two Boys Meet Girl,” and “When Mothers Meet,” directed by Marlon
Matthews ’14 and Geoff Wade ’15. The evening’s drama portion concluded with
“Going Up,” written and directed by David Korzeniowski ’16 and Owen Finnegan ’16.
After intermission, the Spring Revue turned to music, entertaining the audience
with sets from both the Pop Rock Ensemble and the Jazz Band. Pop Rock took the
stage first, performing hits from Elton John and The Beatles. Jazz Band followed with
a trio of songs from Kool & the Gang, Michael Bublé, and Pharrell.
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| 31
SPRINg Sports
Varsity Baseball
by Coach Mike Schell
It was a memorable season for the varsity
baseball team. Throughout the season,
each player’s effort, preparation and
purpose never waned and, as a team,
we accomplished our preseason goal
of modeling competitive greatness;
respecting the game and each person’s
efforts; and working as hard at repeating
as ISL sportsmen of the year, as we would
at winning the championship. By this
standard, not our 14 – 3 record, our
spring was most impressive.
Our success was the product of
countless contributions received from
every player, but especially our special
cohort of seniors. Outfielder Shane
McDonald provided one of the best
memories of the year when he scorched
a fastball off the fence to clear the bases
for the go-ahead runs against Worcester
Academy early in the season. Conor
Duffy is leaving the starting shortstop
position after two fine years with the
leather. Conor will continue to grow in all
facets of his game at Salve Regina, and I
know two of the most important reasons
why will be his love of the game and
strong heart. Classmate Justin Nicklas
was a rock physically and emotionally
behind the plate. He handled pitchers
with maturity and intelligence. Stonehill
is fortunate to receive such a driven
player. For the second straight season,
starting pitcher Richard Arms was one
of the league’s best. A relentless fighter
and skilled athlete, Richard was a leader
when he toed the rubber. More great
performances on and off the mound
await him at Bowdoin. First baseman
and Co-Captain Justin Bellinger has
been a staple in the middle of the Arrows
lineup since he was a freshman and for
the last four years has been among the
ISL’s leading offensive players. Justin’s
fierce competitiveness and skill will make
him a vital member of Duke University’s
baseball team. Rounding out the senior
class is fellow Captain Andrew Corcoran,
who provided immeasurable levels of
leadership. Andrew anchored the lineup
in the cleanup position for most of the
season and combined with classmates
Bellinger and Nicklas to provide a
threatening 3-4-5 offensive punch.
Andrew has a penchant for coming
through in the clutch. In addition to
his game winning hit against Groton,
32 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
Andrew rose to the occasion when
needed most, especially against Belmont
Hill, BB&N and Thayer, sparking gameturning rallies and motivating teammates
to raise their game. I know Andrew will
continue to lead in special ways on and
off the field at Middlebury and beyond.
The Arrows’ strong performance
was also the product of excellent play
from each underclassman. Junior Pat
McGowan finished the season as one of
the ISL’s top pitchers, while classmate
Christian Reenstierna emerged as the
team’s most valuable reliever. Matt
Doherty controlled centerfield and was
one of the club’s most clutch hitters and
dynamic baserunners. Fellow juniors
John Ryan, Danny Higgins, Jack Duffy,
Justin Lee and Tyler Wiik—a talented
outfielder who refused to allow a
season-ending injury keep him from
providing leadership on the sidelines—
and sophomore Maynel Fuentes were
impressive every time when called. Each
player always competed to raise the level
of play within himself and others. Special
thanks to junior Brendan Albertson for
his diligence and sincerity in exceeding
all expectations as manager.
Sophomore Sean Harrington was
excellent behind the plate and provided
SPRING Sports
From left: Coach Connolly, Coach Schell, Seniors Justin Nicklas, Andrew Corcoran, Richard Arms, Conor Duffy, Shane McDonald, Justin Bellinger, and Coach Craven ‘06.
a reliable bat in every game. Like Sean,
classmate Mike Calabro played with
passion and poise in his first year at
second base, where he shared duties
with freshman Brian Craven, who also
showed greatness with the glove. Craven’s
classmates, Blake Gallagher and Tommy
Seidl, were among the team’s top players.
Gallagher showcased his strong arm and
solid glove at the hot corner and sent
balls surging off his bat in the middle
of the lineup, while Seidl tracked down
all balls sent his way in the outfield with
tremendous athleticism and impressive
baseball instincts. Offensively, Seidl
terrorized opponents with his lightning
speed around the bases.
This spring marked the first season
in almost two decades that didn’t bring
Coach Paul Lepley to our dugout. For
the previous 18 seasons, Paul humbly
shared his keen knowledge of the game
and understanding of the emotional
and physical needs of players. His
teachings continuously guide me in
promoting the personal and athletic
potential living within each player.
Each year, St. Sebastian’s offers the
Paul Lepley Award to a player for his
commitment to the sport of baseball
and the strengthening of the program.
This year’s recipients are Andrew
Corcoran and Justin Bellinger. In
addition to receiving this high honor,
Corcoran and Bellinger join teammates
McGowan and Doherty as members
of the 2014 All-ISL team, while Arms
garners Honorable Mention.
Thank you to the entire Athletics
Department, especially our outstanding
training team and grounds crew, and to all
non-varsity coaches. The St. Sebastian’s
baseball program grows stronger
because of your invaluable contributions
to our athletes’ development and to our
program’s culture of camaraderie and
competitiveness. Thank you to fellow
varsity coaches Richard Connolly and JP
Craven, whose knowledge and passion
for the whole player, emphasizing
mental and emotional toughness and
resilience, make each day an invaluable
building opportunity.
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SPRING Sports
Varsity Lacrosse
by GREG Barletta ’15
The varsity lacrosse team may have
been one filled with youth and little
experience, but its members poured on
the intensity and hard work every day,
resulting in a great season. Captains
John O’Leary, Joseph Kearney, and
Christopher Callahan displayed
outstanding leadership, rallying the team
from a 0-2 start to finish the season
as one of the league’s top teams. The
Arrows suffered heartbreaking one goal
losses to the ISL’s top three teams, but
showed resilience and determination
by completing the year with an overall
winning record of 9-7.
The season opened with a tough
6-4 loss against Phillips Exeter, one of
New England’s top programs, followed
by a loss against Nobles. Despite these
discouraging first two games, the team
persevered and went on a four-game
winning streak against Lawrence
Academy, Groton, St. George’s, and St.
Paul’s. Beating St. Paul’s, a strong team,
was an important win that lifted the
team off its feet. After being up 4-1 at the
half, we let the Pelicans come back into
the game, tying the score at 4-4 to end
the third quarter. However, the Arrows
rallied to win the fourth quarter and
ultimately won the game 6-5.
The rivalry match against Belmont
Hill proved to be one of the team’s most
difficult games. St. Sebastian’s was down
4-1 at halftime, but fought back to take
the lead 5-4 late in the fourth quarter, a
comeback led by clutch shooting from
freshmen Jack Frisoli and Michael
Connolly. With just nine seconds left,
Belmont Hill managed to score and after
a hard fought battle, the Arrows fell 6-5
34 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
in overtime. Following this tough loss,
the team came away with an easy 10-3
victory over BB&N.
The next game, against an undefeated
Middlesex squad, began with a strong first
possession by the Arrows, ending with a
goal from Tyson Reed ’15. This gave the
team some early momentum and entering
halftime, the Arrows led Middlesex 3-1.
The Bears came out of halftime with a jolt
of energy, scoring four unanswered goals.
With a late goal from the Arrows offense,
we cut the deficit to one, but fell short in a
fourth quarter loss of 5-4.
To finish the week, the boys
were on the road to face Rivers. The
Arrows started the game slow as senior
defensemen Joe Kearney, Will Kenney,
and Conor Craven worked hard on long
offensive possessions from Rivers to keep
the team in the game. At the half, the
score was tied at 2-2. The third quarter
was a goalie battle as both teams failed to
score. Strong play in the cage was shown
by goaltender Greg Barletta ’15 as he
made six vital saves to maintain a tight
game. In the end, Rivers scored three
quick goals, and although the Arrows
went on to tack on one more, the final
outcome was 5-3. After a vigorous week,
the team collectively showcased their
skills in a 14-6 win over Milton Academy.
On the following Saturday, the
Arrows encountered Governor’s
Academy, another ISL powerhouse. Last
year’s meeting ended with an exciting
overtime win, but this year the story
unluckily went differently. Governor’s
grabbed a speedy 3-0 lead, but once again
the Arrows fought their way back into
the game. Midway through the fourth
quarter, midfielder James DeSisto ’15
hammered the twine off an ally dodge,
digging the team’s way to a comeback. But
the Governor’s offense stalled, chewing
minutes off the clock to secure their win.
A few days later, the Arrows traveled
to St. Mark’s for another combined
team effort to win both offensively and
defensively as rookies were given the
opportunity to prove themselves. The
young guns did their jobs like veterans,
SPRING Sports
Spring Athletic Awards
The following students were recognized
for their performance on the Arrows
varsity baseball, golf, lacrosse, sailing,
and tennis teams during an Athletic
Awards Assembly on May 27:
All-League ISL
Baseball: Justin Bellinger ’14,
Andrew Corcoran ’14, Patrick
McGowan ’15, Matthew Doherty ’15
Golf: Alejandro Soto ’16
Lacrosse: Greg Barletta ’15;
Joe Kearney ’14
Tennis: Weston Brach ’16
supporting the team to tally 15 goals on the
score sheet. And then there was Brooks, a
respectable opponent. Netting nine goals
and holding them to none, St. Sebastian’s
accomplished a game of perfection.
Through diligent stick work demonstrated
by attackmen John O’Leary ’14, Vaughn
Gendron ’15, and Cam Balboni ’16, we
had our foot down on the gas pedal for all
48 minutes. Strong play was all over the
field in our ground balls, rides, and clears,
exhibiting textbook lacrosse.
With the season winding down,
the Monday after Brooks came Thayer
Academy. After being down 6-2 at
halftime, the Arrows wrestled back into
the game valiantly with huge goals from
Gabe Maxwell ’15 and key faceoffs won by
Angus O’Rourke ’15. Yet, the comeback
wasn’t enough as we fell to the Tigers 6-5.
Thayer finished the season as the ISL’s
champions; it is safe to say that we played
an awesome game against the league’s
best. To wrap up the season, Roxbury
Latin came to Greendale Avenue. Prior
to our first game, RL easily beat us with
in a 10-3 blowout. After the scrimmage,
this game was immediately highlighted
on our schedule as one of our biggest
games of the season. The Foxes struck
first on the scoreboard, but we answered
with urgency, granting us a 3-1 lead
at halftime. Throughout the game,
midfielder George Barrett ’15 dominated
the grounds, winning many important
ground balls. Midfielder Chris Callahan
’14 took the initiative as captain by firing
a rocket past the RL goalie. In the end, we
stood victorious, sending the seniors off
with a 6-5 win.
Watching the team grow on and off
the field this season was incredible. After
losing eight all star seniors from last year,
this year’s team worked hard through
adversity each day in practice. From team
dinners to captain’s practices, the bonds
created amongst one another will be kept
sacred for many years. Juniors Tyson
Reed, George Barrett, James DeSisto, and
Greg Barletta were elected captains for
next year’s team. Voted by the league’s
coaches, Joe Kearney and Greg Barletta
were chosen for ISL All-League, while
John O’Leary, Will Kenney, and Conor
Craven were granted ISL Honorable
Mention. Lacrosse, a sport played yearround, will not fade away from the players
in the off-season. Better yet, the seniors
that leave the team will cherish the times
shared on and off the field with this closeknit group of Arrows.
Honorable Mention All-League
Baseball: Richard Arms ’14
Lacrosse: Conor Craven ’14, Will
Kenney ’14, John O’Leary ’14
Tennis: Caleb Aldrich ’14
ISL Top Hitter Award (Baseball)
Justin Bellinger ’14
Paul Lepley Award (Baseball)
Presented by the coaches to the players
who show the qualities of commitment,
teamwork, and dedication to the sport of
baseball at St. Sebastian’s School:
Andrew Corcoran ’14 and
Justin Bellinger ’14
Vincent C. Murphy Letterman Award
Presented to members of the Senior Class
who have earned a Varsity Letter in each
season from their sophomore through
senior years:
Richard Arms ’14 and Matt Ouellette ’14
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| 35
SPRING Sports
Varsity Golf
by Coach JIM SULLIVAN
There was much excitement in the air as
the 2014 golf season got underway. Led by
Captains Luke Wasynczuk, Kevin Ginns
and Ryan McGuirk, veterans Alejandro
Soto ’16, Mike Mullowney ’16, Matt
Barletta ’14, Will DuFour ’14, and Owen
Kehoe ’14 were joined by newcomers
Andrew Giacchetto ’19, Robert Lemone
’16 and Peter Mullin ’16 to form the 2014
Arrows Varsity Golf Team.
The first match was against nonleague opponent Tabor Academy at
the oceanside Kittansett Golf Club.
In a seesaw battle, the Arrows, led by
Robert Lemone’s excellent score of 37,
eked out a one shot victory. Next up,
in a tri-match, were league champion
Belmont Hill and runner-up Nobles.
On a chilly wet afternoon in April at
Charles River Country Club the Arrows
were soundly defeated by these two
powerhouses. Twenty-one players took
to the golf course and 13 of them scored
in the mid to high 30s for the nine hole
match. Eleven out of the 13 came from
the opposing teams. Several Arrows
played well, led by Ryan McGuirk and
Robert Lemone, but only Ryan found the
winner’s circle.
There was little time to dwell on the
losses; the very next day the Arrows
found themselves in another tri-match
with BB&N and St. George’s at Belmont
Country Club. A victory over St. George’s
came early, but the BB&N match went
down to the wire. The Arrows jumped
to an early lead with Alejo Soto, Ryan
McGuirk and Andrew Giacchetto
recording victories at the 1, 3, and 5
positions. BB&N tied up the match,
winning all the even numbered matches.
It was not until Owen Kehoe, at the 7 spot,
defeated his opponent that the Arrows
secured the victory against BB&N.
In this season of rescheduled
events due to poor weather, the Arrows
found themselves in a third tri-match
against Milton Academy and Governor’s
Academy. Here the Arrows split, recording
a victory over Governor’s, but a narrow
loss to Milton (4.5-2.5). Ryan McGuirk
continued his winning ways with two
victories and newcomers Peter Mullin,
Andrew Giacchetto and Robert Lemone
tied their opponents in the Milton
36 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
match. In the Governor’s match, Kevin
Ginns and Luke Wasynczuk recorded their
first victories to help secure that match.
Belmont Hill was the next opponent
for the Arrows and again this talented
team soundly defeated the Arrows by
a score of 5.5–1.5.The Arrows’ points
came from Ryan McGuirk and Robert
Lemone. After seven matches the team
had a 3-4 league record. Clearly this
team was stronger than its record. With
a belief in themselves and a renewed
determination, the team embarked on a
strong run and won 11 out of the next 12
matches, losing only to Nobles. During
this hot streak, all the Arrows found
their game and recorded strong winning
records: Alejo Soto at 7-2-1; Robert
Lemone at 7-2-1; Ryan McGuirk at 8-1;
Kevin Ginns at 6-3-1; Luke Wasynczuk
at 7-3; Andrew Giacchetto at 4-0; Peter
Mullin at 4-2; Matt Barletta at 8-1-1;
Owen Kehoe at 4-2; and the injured
Will DuFour (1-1) and Mike Mullowney
(1-0). All this added up to a third place
tie with Belmont Hill in the final league
standing, falling one point short of cochampions BB&N and Nobles.
The ISL Tournament was held on
May 19 at Red Tail Golf Club in Devens.
The team consisted of Alejo Soto, Robert
Lemone, Ryan McGuirk, Kevin Ginns
and Luke Wasynczuk. Counting the
best four scores out of five in this 18hole event, the Arrows posted a score of
328 and a 6th place finish in the field of
13 teams. Both Alejo Soto and Robert
Lemone broke 80 with scores of 77 and
78 respectively. Alejo earned All League
Honors with his 7th place finish. This
marks the third time in the past four
years that Alejo has earned All League
Honors. This is quite an accomplishment
for a tenth grader.
The loss of seniors Ginns, Wasynczuk,
Barletta, DuFour and Kehoe will leave
big holes to fill. However, the future does
look bright with many returning stars and
an undefeated junior varsity team.
SPRING Sports
Varsity Tennis
by COACH BRIAN RICHTER
Despite fielding one of its youngest squads
in recent years, the 2014 varsity tennis team
had a successful spring. It scored well against
some of the top teams, won the matches that
it should have, and beat the two teams that
finished with identical records—two matches
that could easily have gone the other way.
The team finished with a 6-9 league record
(7-10 overall), which places them roughly in
the middle of a strong ISL pack.
Three matches in particular tell the
narrative of this year’s team. To start
the season, the Arrows faced Nobles,
frequently a top-ISL team. We took two
sets in the doubles round. Senior Captain
Caleb Aldrich and Weston Brach ’16 took
their set at #1, winning a close 8-6 set. At
#2 doubles, the reliable duo of Erik Jones
’16 and Jayson Barros ’18 took their set
8-5. As the singles round played itself out,
we found ourselves tied 6-6 with three
players remaining on the courts, each in
the second set. Because two of these players
won their first sets, an upset win was not an
unreasonable aspiration. As it turned out
though, we dropped the three remaining
sets for a disappointing 6-9 loss.
Much later in the season, we faced St.
Mark’s for an away match that promised to
be close. Like the Nobles’ match, we took
two doubles points at #1 and #2. And once
again, we found ourselves tied at 6-6 with
three remaining players on the courts, each
in his second set. Caleb Aldrich (#2) won his
first set, as did Jayson Barros (#4). And Luke
Jones ’17 dropped a close first set 4-6. For a
moment it seemed like déjà vu all over again.
Barros was the first of the three to finish,
taking his second set 6-2, leaving the Arrows
needing one more point to clinch the win.
Jones’ was the next match to finish. In an
exciting set, he won a tie-breaker to secure
the win, a memorable accomplishment for a
first-year player. Unaware of Jones’ outcome,
Aldrich was not yet done. To put this W in
bold-face, he took his second set 7-5 for a
gratifying 9-6 win.
Near the end of the season, the
Arrows faced Brooks School, a solid team
that had suffered a couple of upset losses
earlier in the season. And missing Michael
Wadsworth ’16—a steady singles performer
for the Arrows—meant a new line-up
against a focused team. Brooks came to St.
Sebastian’s determined not to let this match
get away from them. And the Brooks’
players made this resolve loud and clear
in the doubles round, with Brooks taking
all three doubles match-ups. They took
two sets 8-6 at the #1 and #2 positions. At
#3 Christian Locurto ’16 and Luke Jones
dropped another close set 8-5. Three close
sets, but close counts for nothing, and that’s
what we had going into the singles round.
Odds were against us—we had never
won a match after dropping all three
doubles sets. But this is a team that never
WWW. S T S EBASTIANS S CHOOL.ORG
| 37
SPRING Sports
Varsity Sailing
by Coach Deirdre Rynne
lets up, even for a single point. Sonny
Huang ’16, playing #6, took both of his
sets 6-4, 6-3. Luke Jones added another
point to the effort, winning a close first set
6-4. Jayson Barros’ two sets (6-2, 6-1) then
brought the team total to 5. After dropping
his first set 1-6, Erik Jones won 7 points to
5 in his second set tie-breaker. And Weston
Brach (#1) took a close first set 6-4 for the
team’s seventh point, bringing the Arrows
even with Brooks.
With all other matches complete,
both teams filtered onto the courts to
root on their champions as Brach took
on his adversary. Pushing his opponent
to the brink with a few booming serves,
some intrepid volleying, and a couple of
crosscourt winners, Brach took the set 6-3
to secure the team’s most exciting win of
the season. For his play throughout the
season, Weston earned the distinction of
an ISL All-League player.
With this being one of the youngest
teams in recent history, we graduate only
one senior, Caleb Aldrich—two-year
captain and a reliable team member for
five years. The epitome of perseverance
and gentlemanly conduct, Aldrich has
shown us the best of what high-school
competition can be and demonstrated to
the ISL the best of St. Sebastian’s. He is
well-deserving of the team’s second honor,
earning All-League Honorable Mention,
and will be missed.
38 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
While other teams cancelled practice and
postponed races due to a cold frost, the
rugged Sailing team headed out to Boston
Harbor. Nineteen years ago Fr. John Arens
co-founded the Sailing team and last
year saw the most dramatic change with
a move of home port venue and rise in
divisional placement. Both Coach Arens
and Coach Rynne report that the team is
still adjusting to those changes.
This season, the team spent 26 days out
on the water and competed against some
of the best teams in New England. Arrows
Sailing also traveled to Marblehead,
Scituate, Hull, Hingham, Winthrop,
Marina Bay and Lake Cochichuate. In
unseasonably cold weather on April
26, we raced in the competitive Double
Handed National Qualifier, the O’Day at
Tabor Academy. We traveled to Martha’s
Vineyard to race their top-ranked team
on May 2. We came in second in the B
Division South Team Racing Rankings
and even though our division record was
1:7, our team enjoyed team camaraderie.
Captain Andrew Warner ’14 led the
team this season as they stuck out regattas
and races that weren’t always going our
way. An accomplished and competitive
sailor in his own right, Warner had some
admirable finishes against some of the top
ranked sailors in New England. Warner
captured his love of sailing beautifully in
a recent chapel speech, recounting how
he finds peace and comfort amidst the
chaos and competitiveness of the starting
line. The job of a sailor is to read and react
to the ever moving invisible wind and to
find the quickest way around the course.
Warner excelled in reading the wind and
handling his boat.
Seniors Alex Pappas, Jay Daukas
and Matt Ouellette made contributions
throughout their time on the team. Matt,
a three-sport athlete, joined the team as
a newcomer last year and has proved a
quick study.
SPRING Sports
The season concluded on May 21
after three days of racing on the Charles
River. The team earned 21st place in the
Massachusetts Bay League Championships
and 12th in the semi-finals for the MIT
State Open, which was unfortunately
not enough to make it to the finals. The
lessons learned off the water are equally
as important as the tactics on the course.
The sport demands sportsmanship,
seamanship and fosters communal spirit.
Shawn Lynch ’15 has dedicated five
years already to Arrows Sailing and will
lead the team as captain next season. He
will join John Flatley ’15, James Hunt ’15,
John Petro ’17 and Finn Mulligan ’18 next
season. For the first time in the history of
the team, we had no new members join this
season. We know many have come to St.
Sebastian’s offering their sailing experience
and certainly we would appreciate those
with experience to come out for a great
season next spring and welcome those
interested in the sport to seek out Fr. John
or Coach Rynne with questions.
One of the great opportunities for
our Arrows sailors is the experience
racing against some of the best sailors
in the country. It’s a lifelong sport and
the sailing world is small. We’re pleased
so many of our sailors have forged
friendships and love hearing from our
accomplished alumni! Next year will
mark the 20th season of Arrows Sailing
and we hope to have a night to celebrate
the team. Alumni interested in attending
should be in touch with Coach Rynne.
WWW. S T S EBASTIANS S CHOOL.ORG
| 39
Reunion 2014
The classes of
4’s & 9’s Reunite
M
ore than 200 alumni, their
spouses, faculty, and friends
attended Reunion 2014 in
mid-May. The festivities
kicked off on Friday, May 16, with a reception for the milestone Classes of 1989
and 1964 followed by their 25th and 50th
Reunion dinners. The Class of 1964 took a
trip down memory lane, watching a video
featuring photos from as far back as their
seventh-grade year. The Class of 1989
toured the renovated Birmingham Academic Building and the new Science, Math
& Library Building.
On Saturday, the Classes of 1945
through 1964 gathered at Headmaster
Burke’s home for a luncheon hosted
by him and his wife, Patty. The day
continued with tours of the campus, and
an opportunity to hear about life at St.
Sebastian’s from current seniors. Our
returning Arrows also had a chance to
watch baseball, lacrosse, and tennis before
honoring departed classmates during a
Memorial Mass celebrated by Fr. John
Arens in the St. Sebastian’s Chapel.
The event concluded with the annual
Headmaster’s Cocktail Reception and
Clambake. Before dinner, Arrows, friends,
and family gathered on the Class of 2013
Courtyard for the reception and class
photos. The group then made its way to
Ward Hall for a delicious feast of lobsters
and steak. It was a wonderful opportunity
to reconnect with classmates and faculty,
share memories and make new ones.
Reunion Awards
The alumni who traveled
the farthest:
David Gorman ’54 (Vero Beach,
FL); Dan Nugent ’59 (Suwanee,
GA); Brian Foley ’64 (Marina Del
Ray, CA); Al Fortune ’64 (Stuart,
FL); Christopher McGillicuddy
’69 (Evanston, IL); James Foley ’84
(Hudson, OH); Walter Tonra ’84
(Norfolk, VA); Dennis Joyce ’94
(Puyallup, WA); Jacob Maurer ’99
(Seattle, WA); Robert Dudley ’04
(Durham, NC); Matthew Spalluzzi
’04 (Baltimore, MA); Thomas
White ’04 (Chicago, IL)
The class with the largest gift:
1964 (more than $50,000)
The class with the greatest
number in attendance:
2009 (25)
The class with the greatest
percentage in attendance:
1964 (63%)
ABOVE: Members of the Class of 2004 catch up with faculty member Dave Thomas before the
Clambake. RIGHT: Brothers Richard Ferrone ’64 and Dr. Joe Ferrone ’54 at the Headmaster’s Luncheon.
40 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
Reunion 2014
TOP ROW: Fred Carroll ’64, Dan Archabal ’64 and Al Fortune ’64; Members of the Class of 1979 catch up during the Clambake MIDDLE ROW: Joe Scalia ’89
and Thomas Beaton ’89 at the 25th Reunion Dinner; Ryan Murphy ’04 and Monica Baytos enjoy some lobster; James Pantano ’09, Steve Flannery ’09 and
J.P. Judge ’09. BOTTOM ROW: Ed Quirk ’47, P’73,’76,’77,’80,’82,GP’08,’09,’15 and Richard Griffin ’47 at the Headmaster’s Luncheon; Members of the
Class of 2009 share a laugh.
WWW. S T S EBASTIANS S CHOOL.ORG
| 41
Reunion 2014
1949
1954
1959
1964
1969
Reunion Attendees by Class Year
1949 65th Reunion
1959 55th Reunion
Murray Regan and Paul Corcoran
Dan Nugent, Bob Hueston, Corky
Cronin, Paul Daley, Jim Devine,
Burke Healy, and Kevin Connell
1954 60th Reunion
Joe Craven, Peter Volante, Walter
Rich, Joe Ferrone, Larry Connell,
Mark Gallagher, Sheldon Daly,
David Gorman, Richard Shea, and
David Kurris
1964 50th Reunion
Back row (from left): Ed Whelan,
Richard Casey, Rick Commander,
Richard Zens, Larry Sheehan, Herb
Minkel, Tom Gagen, Tim Cronin,
Dan Williams, Jack Cook, Dan Hess,
42 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
Don Terry, and Brian Foley; Front
row: Peter Mullin, Dick Doyle,
Hugh O’Brien, Glenn Murphy,
Hugh D’Ambrosio, Tom Akstens,
Peter Costello, Dan Archabal, Rich
Ferrone, and Dan Crane
1969 45th Reunion
Back row (from left): Biff Harney,
Mike Ready, Tom Casey, Mark
Duffey, Joe Tansey, David Sylvester,
William O’Donnell, and Lee Myles;
Front row: Chris Galligan, Jack
McKeon, Msgr. Contons, Chris
McGillicuddy, Dave Foley, and
Bob Falconi
1974
1974 40th Reunion
Kevin O’Malley, Michael McNamara,
Paul King, Jack O’Doherty, and
Peter Galligan
1979 35th Reunion
Back row (from left): Kern
Fitzgerald, Tom Finucane, Mark
O’Friel, and Peter Rockett; Middle
row: Mark Ruelle, Rick Stanton,
Dan Moore, John Fiore, Peter
Kennedy; Front row: Owen Dugan,
Jay Mulhern, Mike O’Toole, and
Thomas Ouellet
Reunion 2014
1979
1984
1989
1999
1984 30th Reunion
Back row (from left): Wally Tonra,
Paul Abbate, James Foley, and
Devin Birmingham; Middle row:
John DiGiovanni, Joe Noone, Brian
Murphy, Stephen Grande, Daniel
Sullivan; Front row: John McCallum, Steve Mullin, and Justin
Kennedy
1989 25th Reunion
Back row (from left): Paul Fay,
Norman Praught, Rob Kraemer,
Tom Beaton, Brian Murphy, Pat
Hegarty, Robert McGurrin, Craig
1994
2004
Collins, Chris Barletta, Jason Connolly, and Joe Mercadante; Front row:
Jeff Korzon, Dan Murphy, Chris
Baynes, Dennis Thornton, Brett
Fish, John DiSciullo, Joe Scalia, and
Fred Brewer
1994 20th Reunion
Back row (from left): Joe Cugini,
Jim Spagnuolo, Peter Donatelli,
Chris Danehy, and Stephen Zrike;
Middle row: Casey Condron, Marc
Mingolelli; Front row: Dennis
Joyce, Neil Callanan, James Llewellyn
and Brian Quigg
2009
1999 15th Reunion
2009 5th Reunion
Back row (from left): Gil Schipani,
Michael Flaherty, Brad Parker,
Jacob Maurer, Bill Clifford; Front
row: Rich Wunder, Tim Kelleher,
Adam Trossello, Eddie Doherty,
Barry Connolly, and Patrick Martin
Back row (from left): Matt Murphy,
Luke Regan, Steve Flannery, Jim
Pantano, Dan Halloran, Mac Lalor,
and J.P. Judge; Third row: Corey
Willis, Sean O’Malley, Nick Sennott,
Terrell Diggs, Tom Keeley, Kyle White,
Jamie Curley, Cedric White, and Tyler
Smith; Second row: John Power, Alan
Donovan, Nick Fico, Chris Brown,
Luke Sullivan, Teddy Downs, and
Mike Duffy; Front row: Cole Maxwell, John Wolfe, Jake Dagdigian,
Tucker Quirk, Derek Morrison, Casey
Cronin, Mike Foley, and Dan Shapiro
2004 10th Reunion
Back row (from left): Ted Brzek,
and Robert Dudley; Middle row:
Michael Buckley, Ryan Murphy,
and Sam Burke; Front row: Brian
Egan, Matt Vicidomino, Andrew
Digan, and Geoff Meuller
WWW. S T S EBASTIANS S CHOOL.ORG
| 43
CLASS NOTES
Notes and Announcements from Arrows Alumni
1951
Joseph Edward de Vicq sends
his regards from San Antonio,
TX. He is currently retired,
having served 26 years in the
United States Air Force and
25 years with Department of
Veterans Affairs. He became
a widower in 2000 and has
two grandchildren and two
daughters, one in Crofton,
MD, and the other San
Antonio. He’s on the lookout
for a 1951 St. Sebastian’s
yearbook — if anyone has one
up for sale, let him know.
1965
Mike Costello and his wife,
Carolann, reside on Martha’s
Vineyard. They recently
returned from a month long
tour of Italy where they
saw the Pope in Rome and
spent a week on the Amalfi
Coast, where they have made
arrangements for a monthlong stay in September.
Mike Ferrone and his wife,
Ranata, also live on the
Vineyard. The two Mikes have
offered to serve as tour guides
to any ‘65 Arrows who would
like to visit the island.
Frank Burke and Ed Davis
were joined by Andrew
Kelley ’00 and Jimmy Madison
’00 for a successful fishing
and mountain climbing
trip at South Branch Pond
in Northern Baxter Park in
Maine. The young men kept
the old timers on the move
and no naps were allowed.
Besides fishing and climbing,
Arrow story-telling, cribbage
world championships,
gourmet meals, kayaking,
and battles with black flies
were the main activities. Plans
are already being made for
next year’s adventure.
1970
Ted Curtin is almost done
with college tuitions. Talia
graduated from Connecticut
College last year, while
Lindsay and Sara are entering
senior year at Wheaton and
Marist, respectively. He highly
recommends all three colleges
to prospective applicants.
1972
Richard P. Tierney, M.D.,
works as an anesthesiologist
at Marshfield Clinic in
Marshfield, WI.
1973
Mark Canavan lives in
Plymouth, MA, where he
covers the Northeast as
National Accounts Sales
Manager for Packaging
Corporation of America.
1975
On September 21, 2013, along
with 11 other men, Paul Coletti
was ordained a permanent
deacon in the Catholic Church
by Cardinal O’Malley at
the Cathedral of the Holy
Cross. He is currently assigned
to Saint Matthias Parish in
Marlborough, MA where it is an
honor to serve. He continues to
work full time at John Hancock
Investments in Boston. He and
his wife, Kim, celebrated their
30th wedding anniversary in
2013. They have two daughters,
Marissa, 26, and Leah, 23.
1979
One of the proudest moments
of Peter Rockett’s life was
to be able to award his son,
Morgan, with his diploma
at St. Sebastian’s 2014
Commencement Exercises.
It was great to be there with
classmate John Fiore whose
son, James, also graduated.
Professionally, Peter is the
Vice President at the Greater
Boston Chamber of Commerce
and was recently elected
National Treasurer for the
Board of Financial Executives
International.
Celebrating Monsignor
Contons’ 90th Birthday
On Saturday, May 10, 2014, St. Sebastian’s
Monsignor Albert Contons celebrated his
90th Birthday at the Venitia Restaurant in
South Boston with Ed ’65 and Toni Davis and
a host of St. Sebastian’s alumni, spouses,
and friends.
Monsignor Contons served on the St.
Sebastian’s faculty from 1953-1973. He
taught French, Latin, and Religion, and also
served as the Varsity Tennis coach. A close
friend of many Arrows, Monsignor is still an
active participant in St. Sebastian’s alumni
events, including May’s Reunion 2014.
44 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
CLASS NOTES
Career Advisory Network
Connecting members of the
St. Sebastian’s Community
The St. Sebastian’s Career Advisory network links
alumni, especially recent graduates, with alumni and
parents who are willing to share their experiences,
offer valuable advice, and possibly provide
employment leads. The network also serves as a way
to connect members of the St. Sebastian’s community
with other well-established alumni and parents who
share similar vocations.
“One memory that has stayed strong comes
from Math class with Father Gilmartin.
He would always tell us that we had ‘to keep up
with the Russians!’ Study hard every day so we
would not fall behind in the space race! At the end
of every quiz or exam, he would select a random
number. We had three seconds to write down the
square root of that number. No slide-rulers or TI
calculators (they weren’t invented yet). I can still get
to the square root of 17 = 4.123!! There is a mental
trick that is lost on students today. (I’ll never tell.)”
More than 500 people representing a wide range of
professions are already part of the network, and the
potential for growth is tremendous.
To become an advisor or learn how to access
the list of career advisors, visit:
www.stsebs.org/careers
—Thomas Whalen Jr. ’71
’75
’65
Paul Coletti being ordained as a permanent deacon in the Catholic
Church by Cardinal O’Malley.
Jimmy Madison ’00, Ed Davis ’65, Frank Burke ’65, and Andrew Kelley ’00
WWW. S T S EBASTIANS S CHOOL.ORG
| 45
CLASS NOTES
WHAT’S
NEW?
Keep your classmates
updated by sending
us your news!
Send us photos, too!
Submit class notes
and photos at:
stsebs.org/classnotes
Deadline for next issue:
December 1, 2014
Photos will be published
based on quality and
available space. Please be
sure to send the highest
quality image possible
and identify everyone.
1982
Christopher Kennedy recently
began a new career as a
realtor at Vogt Realty Group
in Boston. His success is the
direct result of referrals from
clients and friends, and he
welcomes anyone to contact
him personally for any real
estate needs.
1990
Over the Memorial Day
weekend in May, Rev. Virgil
Gordon Glenn III was honored
to be the speaker for St.
Sebastian’s MPA banquet.
It was his first time back to
campus since moving from
Massachusetts in 1997. He was
amazed at all the wonderful
changes he witnessed, adding
that it was wonderful to visit
with his former teachers
and share moments with
the graduating seniors and
underclassmen at the banquet.
His parents, Virgil G. Glenn,
Jr. and Essie S. Glenn, were
present as well and had a
wonderful time.
1991
Last spring Bill Bowman
joined Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt as the Vice President
of Cyber Security. His three
girls attend Montrose School
in Medfield and his boys attend
St. Benedict’s Elementary in
Natick. Bill’s wife volunteers at
both schools as an art teacher
and an advisor.
1993
Jamie O’Leary has been named
head coach of the boys varsity
hockey team at Needham High
School. He previously served
as Needham’s assistant coach
during the 2012-2013 season.
1997
Carl Corazinni was named the
head coach of the Boys Varsity
Hockey Team at St. Mark’s
School. Carl had been the
head coach at Weston High
School for the last three years.
1998
Elliott Otto sends greetings
from the Bay area! He and
his wife, son and daughter
recently moved from their
home in Berkeley to a new
home in Alameda, a quiet
town directly across the Bay
from San Francisco. He is still
practicing as a CPA, crunching
numbers at a local tax firm. He
and his wife had a great time
at his 15th Reunion and are
already looking forward to his
20th in 2018.
’90
Rev. Virgil Gordon Glenn III with his
daughter Virginia
Arrows connect in Washington, D.C., on June 11, 2014. Chris Averill ’02, Jay Tansey ’03, Brian Compagnone ’92, and
David Cuzzi ’92 (pictured left to right) joined the New Hampshire Congressional Delegation for a small business event
in the U.S. Senate Kennedy Caucus Room on Capitol Hill.
46 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
CLASS NOTES
John Haydon and his wife,
Carissa, welcomed a beautiful
baby girl to their family,
Sophie Mary.
Peter Sally married Sarah
Tremblay on March 1, 2014.
Peter currently works for Blue
Cross Blue Shield in Boston.
Andrei Doohovskoy recently
moved back to the Boston
area with his wife, Mary,
and daughter, Maya. He had
previously been stationed at
Fort Drum with the US Army.
Keon Webbe married Selina
Joseph on June 20, 2014 in
Punta Cana, Dominican
Republic.
James Madison married Leah
Voltoline on July 17, 2014 in
New Symerna Beach, FL. He
currently works at Manulife
Asset Management in Boston
and the couple resides in
Millis, MA.
2001
Pilot photo by Gregory L. Tracy
2000
Peter Bekker graduated from
the U.C. San Diego School of
Medicine in 2011, and is due to
graduate from his residency in
anesthesiology at Mass General
in 2015. He and his wife are
expecting a daughter in August.
2002
Richard Baker recently received
his MBA from F.W. Olin
Graduate School of Business at
Babson College.
Patrick O’Neil and his wife,
Allison, celebrated the birth
of their first child, Jake, on
October 26, 2013.
Michael Stratton, his wife,
Laura, and daughter, Emma,
welcomed a beautiful baby girl,
Lydia Anne, to their family on
April 16, 2014.
’98
Answering a Second Calling
Kevin Thomas Hickey ’69, at the age of 63, answered
a late vocation and began his new life. With his family sitting
in the front pew, including his mother Mary and brothers John
’65 and Brian ’71, he was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese
of Boston by Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley at the Cathedral
of the Holy Cross in Boston on May 24 this year.
A product of Catholic education, Kevin attended Catholic
grammar school at Saint Paul School in Wellesley and Saint
Bridget’s in Framingham, then St. Sebastian’s School before
heading to the University of Notre Dame. After graduating
with a degree in marketing in 1973, he worked in banking and
in hospital administration. Kevin married Claire Leonard in
1979. Following a seven-year battle with cancer, Claire—his
wife of 20 years—passed away in 1999.
After much deliberation and prayer about his future
vocation, Kevin entered Blessed John XXIII Seminary in
Weston in August 2010. During a recent speech at the
Seminary, he credited his inspiration and faith to Claire.
Kevin and Claire were parishioners at Saint Clare Parish in
Braintree, whose pastor, Reverend Paul Sughrue, as well as
Reverend Thomas C. Foley, a senior priest, were instrumental
in helping Kevin discover his vocation. It was Father Foley who
called Kevin and asked if he’d ever thought of becoming a priest.
By offering a unique preparation program to mature
seminarians, Blessed John XXIII Seminary provided Hickey
with a new path, one he never expected, but has given
him a way to help others. No doubt he will bring wisdom
and experience as he serves the parish collective of Saint
Edward the Confessor in Medfield and Saint Jude in Norfolk.
Congratulations, Father Kevin.
Elliott Otto ’98 with his family
WWW. S T S EBASTIANS S CHOOL.ORG
| 47
CLASS NOTES
Upcoming
Alumni Events
September
27
Homecoming
St. Sebastian’s vs.
Roxbury Latin
October
23
Alumni Dinner
November
10 Washington, D.C. Reception
11
25
New York Reception
26
Class of 2014
Yearbook Reception
29
Alumni Sports Day
Boston Business
Breakfast
’01
Tony Coskren ’01 married Taylor Cronin, daughter of Kevin Cronin ’68, on June 21, 2014 at Oyster Harbors Club in
Osterville, MA, with many Arrows in attendance. Front row, from left: Matt Ruscitto ’01, Jamie Stoddard ’01, Tim
Coskren ’00, Mark McLean ’01, Brian Flaherty ’01, Kevin Cronin ’68, and Jay Leonard ’01. Back row, from left: Brian
Pinch ’04, David Cacciola ’01, Fr. John Arens, Michael Coskren ’04, Nicholas Coskren ’05, bride and groom, Tony ’01 and
Taylor, Headmaster Bill Burke, Michael White ’01, Peter White ’72, Michael (Corky) Cronin ’59, and Eugene O’Malley ’68
For more information on these
events, please contact the Alumni
office at 781-247-0121.
2003
Tom Digan and his wife,
Braiden, celebrated the birth
of their first child, Luke
Thomas.
Wesley Mateo and
Victoria Kauer recently
became engaged. Their
wedding will take place in
Moultonborough, NH, in
October 2015.
Matt Moran and his wife, Liz,
are expecting their second child.
Joe Scardino married Lindsay
Brown on June 27, 2014, in
Foxboro, MA.
Save the Date
May 15 & 16
REUNION
2015
If you are a member of
a St. Sebastian’s class ending
in 5 or 0, it’s time to start
planning your reunion. We
can’t wait to see you!
2004
Sports captains from the Class of 1965.
48 | S T. S EBASTIAN’S M AGAZINE Volume IX, Issue III
Andrew Baker recently
graduated from Tufts Dental
School. He will join his family’s
practice in Braintree, MA.
CLASS NOTES
Kevin Gill and his wife, Heather
Marie, welcomed a beautiful
baby girl, Taegen Rose, on
March 31, 2014.
Kyle Harrington is engaged to
Elyse Sherman.
2005
Chris Kovalcik is living in
Minneapolis, MN. He got
engaged to Kelsey Norberg on
July 4, 2014.
2007
Shane Ecclesine and Julia Kacos
celebrated their engagement on
April 27, 2014. Their wedding is
set for the summer of 2015.
Tim Smith is engaged to Ally
Izzo.
2008
Greg Mateo and Colleen Smith
recently became engaged.
Colleen is the sister of Tim
Smith ’07.
2009
John Wolfe graduated from
Princeton on June 3, 2014. In
addition to receiving his B.A. in
psychology, John was awarded
the university’s Edward E.
Jones Memorial Prize for
producing the top thesis in
social psychology. His work,
“The Secret Agent Effect: A
self-serving discrepancy in
estimates of covert peer-topeer learning,” was judged
to be most outstanding for
its innovative research and
excellent composition. John
was also elected a member of
the scientific research society
Sigma Xi.
2012
Christopher Barletta has
completed his second year at
Northeastern University.
Jack Connolly, who will begin
his junior year at Dartmouth,
was named co-captain of the
2014-2015 Dartmouth College
lacrosse team.
Tyler M. Sweeney was recently
accepted into the Farrell School
of Business at Wake Forest
University, where he will
pursue his degree in finance.
This fall he will study abroad in
Barcelona.
“During my sophomore year, the old ice
rink’s roof collapsed under the weight of
accumulated snow. I remember sharing those
5:00 AM bus rides to Belmont Hill with my teammates
for hockey practice...youthful exuberance! And the
following year, we all pitched
in and did anything we could to
get the new rink ready. It was
a lot of work and dedication,
but we were all so excited for
the new rink!”
A Passion for Water
Patrick Rynne ’01 has always had a
magnetism to water, a love he shares with his
sister Deirdre, Head Sailing Coach and art
teacher at St. Sebastian’s. His passion for
the ocean was born in him as a youngster,
sailing at the mere age of two, and carried
him from All-American skipper at Brown
University to campaigning for the 2008
Summer Olympics in Beijing with the U.S.
Sailing Team. It drew him to the sport of
competitive kite racing, combining his love of
sailing and surfing. And it’s shaped his career: he has degrees
in material and ocean engineering and is currently working
on his Ph.D. in applied marine physics at the Rosenstiel
School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
Rynne is also using that passion to make a difference. In
2011, he founded a film-making project called Waterlust as
an experiment to get people thinking about their personal
relationships with water and what it means to them. “The
idea is that if you can inspire somebody to think, that critical
thinking can lead to increased consciousness about our
environmental challenges,” says Rynne.
As Creative Director of the project, Rynne produces film
and photography focused on water-related science, sport and
art. The more than 20 short films on waterlust.org have taken
over a million viewers from the canals of Venice to the shores
of Cuba and were among the official selections of the 2013
Woods Hole and 2013 San Francisco Ocean Film Festivals.
Through these engaging and immersive videos, Rynne hopes
to educate and shift perceptions, reminding people that water
is one of our most precious natural resources.
To learn more about this exciting project, visit www.waterlust.org.
—Elliot Otto ’98
WWW. S T S EBASTIANS S CHOOL.ORG
| 49
In Memoriam
We extend our deepest sympathy to the families
of the graduates and friends of St. Sebastian’s
School whose deaths are reported with sorrow.
Reba Campbell
May 2, 2014
Grandmother of Christopher D.
Rodowicz ’13
Rita Emello
April 15, 2014
Mother of David Emello ’84
Vincent J. Gandolfo
June 24, 2014
Father of Vincent Gandolfo, Jr. ’73
Oliver W. Hennigan
June 16, 2014
Father of Oliver Hennigan ’73, Brian
Hennigan ’74, Mark Hennigan ’78,
Dennis Hennigan ’88, stepfather of
Paul Brien ’76, Anthony Brien ’86;
grandfather of Andrew Brien ’07
Robert Lanigan
April 25, 2014
Husband of Doris Barlow Lanigan,
St. Sebastian’s Secretary from 19541989; step-father of Dr. David
Barlow, Past Trustee
John P. Martin
June 6, 2014
Grandfather of Matthew E. Duffy ’07,
Michael G. Duffy ’09, and Conor P.
Duffy ’14
Joseph J. Pulgini
July 6, 2014
Father of John A. Pulgini ’85
Marilyn Mutch
May 16, 2014
Mother of the late Kevin T. Mutch
’80 and sister of Ronald R. Rich ’68
Virginia Parker
May 17, 2014
Grandmother of Matthew A.
Simon ’06 and Zachary J. Simon ’09
Joan Ruby
July 7, 2014
Mother of Mark T. Brennan ’70
Frank M. Ward
April 18, 2014
Father of Stephen P. Ward ’96;
grandfather of Erik ’09 and
Donovan C. Ward ’11
“Happy are those who have died in the Lord!
Happy indeed the Spirit says;
Now they can rest forever after their work,
Since their good deeds go with them.”
—Revelation 14:13
50
50 | | SST.T.SSEBASTIAN’S
EBASTIAN’SM
MAGAZINE
AGAZINE Volume
VolumeIX,
IX,Issue
IssueIII
III
In Memoriam
Joseph M. Corsetti ’60
Brian J. Kenney ’94
Edward S. Scullane, Jr. ’57
Joe passed away on
April 14, 2014. The
standout athlete
of his graduating
class, Joe was
one of the finest
football players
ever to wear the
Red and Black,
and according to
St. Sebastian’s Coach Tom Green ’49,
the fastest man to graduate. He went on
to Villanova and spent many successful
years in the hospitality industry. Joe
is survived by his wife, Stephanie; his
children, Dawn, Joe Jr., and Marcus; and
his granddaughter, Jaydyn.
Brian died on
June 25, 2014,
at his home in
Tampa, FL. After
St. Sebastian’s,
he attended
Assumption
College in
Worcester, and
had been working
as a self-employed commercial real estate
broker in the Tampa area. He is preceded
in death by his father, Peter, and survived
by his mother, Susan Barry, her husband
William, step-sister Colleen, step-brother
Brian, godmother Kathleen Bresnahan,
and godfather and uncle Richard
Monaghan, as well as many loving aunts,
uncles, and cousins.
Ed passed away
on April 23, 2014.
From eighth
grade through
his senior year at
St. Sebastian’s he
was a standout
in the classroom,
on the athletic
fields, and in
his extracurricular activities. His hard
work took him from Nonantum Hill
to Chestnut Hill where he earned his
degree at Boston College. He is preceded
in death by his parents, Veralene and
Edward, and his sister, Barbara; and
survived by many cousins, classmates,
and friends who miss him dearly.
Kevin A. Dalton ’71
Kevin passed away
on April 16, 2014.
After graduating
from St. Sebastian’s
and St. Michael’s
College in Vermont,
Kevin worked
for Blue Cross
Blue Shield and
Bay State Health
Company. In 1996, he and his wife,
Mary, moved to Sarasota, FL, where he
worked as a real estate agent. He was an
avid golfer, a passionate Boston sports
fan, and a lover of friends and family, by
whom he will be sorely missed.
Thomas A. O’Shea ’49
Tom passed away
on May 10, 2014.
After his time on
Nonantum Hill,
he matriculated
at Northeastern
University and
graduated in
1955. He then
served with the
U.S. Army’s 8th Infantry Division and
was honorably discharged in 1962.
For 30 years, Tom worked at Northrop
Corporation in Norwood, MA, and
retired to Brewster, MA, in 1985. He is
preceded in death by his loving wife,
Rosalie, and survived by his brother,
Roger; his children, Thomas Jr., Elaine,
Stephen, Joan, and Susan; and his many
grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.
Paul T. Shea ’91
Paul passed away
suddenly on April
18, 2014. He
earned his degree
from Boston
College after
graduating from
St. Sebastian’s and
began his career
as a mortgage
broker. He spent much of his time in the
insurance industry, but Paul also tried
his hand quite successfully at standup
comedy and music. He was the life of
every party and well loved by everyone
he knew. Paul is survived by his parents,
Lois and Paul, his brother, Peter, and
many aunts, uncles, and cousins.
WWW. S T S EBASTIANS S CHOOL.ORG
| 51
John McNamara ‘81 getting some help from his son, Johnny ‘14, on the morning of Commencement.
The story behind the Bow Tie
By Headmaster William L. Burke III
S
hortly after my graduation from Middlebury
College in 1973, my future wife, Patty,
pulled a bow tie from a bin in the original
Filene’s Basement in downtown Boston,
held it up to my neck, and told me that I
would look good wearing it. She taught me how to
tie it, and I have been sporting bow ties ever since.
Several years ago, Ron Peters, the father of one of
our 7th graders, suggested that he purchase bow ties for
our 63 seniors in the Class of 2006 and have me teach
our young men to tie them prior to the Baccalaureate
Mass and Dinner on the eve of our Commencement.
Beautiful, custom made, red and black bow ties arrived
in time for me to teach our quick learners, who proudly
wore them to the Mass and Dinner.
By longstanding tradition, our graduates wear
St. Sebastian’s Alumni neck ties to Commencement.
So what happened to the brand new bow ties? In
the early AM, a father, responding to the spark of
inspiration, put the word out to the other fathers
that they should join him in wearing their sons’
bow ties to Commencement that morning. In many
cases, the soon-to-be graduates employed very new
knowledge in teaching their fathers to tie bow ties.
So, two new traditions were born in 2006, and,
for the past nine years, St. Sebastian’s seniors have
worn bow ties to Mass and Dinner on the eve of
Commencement, and their fathers have worn them
to the ceremony the next morning.
Homecoming
September 27, 2014
www.stsebs.org/homecoming
1191 Greendale Avenue
Needham, Massachusetts 02492
Nonprofit Org.
US Postage
PAID
Boston, MA
Permit No. 19943
William L. Burke III
Headmaster
Richard F. Arms
Director of Alumni & Development
Christine Y. Robertson
Director of Communications
Members of the Class of 2014 attempt to tie their
new bow ties on the eve of Commencement.