St Marys High School - Blue Mantle Yearbook (Milford, MA)

Page 12 text:

OUR PRINCIPAL Behind every enterprise there must be a driv- ing'force, a motivating power that makes it what it is. The dynamo behind every achievement of St. MaryYs can be found in the unassuming person of our beloved principal, the Rev. John P. Donahue. His singleness of purpose,ten- acity to his ideals, his fearlessness in defending them, the logic with which he does so, must of necessity win for him the respect and admiration of all who come in contact with him. His grasp of every phase of school life is astounding to the ordinary man, for here is no ordinary man,but truly an exception. Never a day goes by but he is helping someone, scolding or praising as he sees fit, with an uncanny ability of suiting the method to the situation. Each and every student is his spirit- ual child and his personal friend, and it is a friend- ship we shall cherish all our lives for its depth and sincerity. And when we look back on our school days,one of our dearest and most vivid memories will be that of Father Donahue,working incessantly for the good of those whom the Lord has placed in his care, teaching them by his inspiring talks and the example of his own life, to become what he so sincerely desires us to be, what he himself is in its fullest sense, a friend of Jesus Christ.

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TRIBUTE TO FATHER RIORDAN Whoever has come into contact with Father Riordan can readily understand the position he holds among the students and faculty of St.Maryfs.His careful guidance,his sage phil- osophy and words of kindly wisdom have made it difficult to pen a tribute applicable to his worth. There is much about him that is superlative as a friend,a priest,philoso- pher and gentleman. We could fill page after page with his accomplished deeds and still remain afar off from achieving our objective. The greatness that has been told of him com poses a small minority of the vast amount of excellent qual- ities that he possesses. The old,but ever true saying,that speech is silver but silence is gold can readily be spoken of him. For his eager willingness to aid us in all our concerns we pay him our highest respect.For his humbleness in keeping these matters only to a selected few we indeed admire him. His noble deeds are never told by him,for of them he remains mute and silent. He seeks no reward of praise, no esteem of glory or any recognition of honor. We regret that we are not gift- ed with the pen of Shakespeare in order to express adequate- ly what our hearts desire. It displeases us to speak of our own inability. with great sorrow we acknowledge our defect and submit our token of perpetual appreciation. with meek simplicity,therefore we offer our humble tribute and in the words of the poet we say . . . . HThe dearest friend to me, the kindest man, The best condition'd and unwearied spirit In doing courtesies .

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fffxx-. f zifiil hae' 44, as I ,. - . H H H- i g , frln mlmfmz, Environment, they say, has a lot to do with thgggltimate success or failure of the individual. On this score we are all des- tined for success, for our school environment has been the best and most inspiring we could possibly have been placed in. To those who have spent their high school career under the care and protection of the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Sisters have become life-long friends and counseldrs and to those who have spent the whole twelve years of their education in the atmosphere of religion, they have become an intrinsic part of their lives. These holy women have given their all for God and for us. They have heard the call, UCome, follow Men, and have answered with their lives. They have knelt with Christ in Gethsemane and with Him they have uttered that bitter-sweet prayer Father, not my will but Thine be done.n With such an example constantly before us, how can we help comparing it with the selfishness, greed, avarice and sensualh ity which reign supreme inthe outside world,and comparing the two, one sees im ediately that there is really no comparison at all. Within the convent walls they dwell in an entirely different sphere from the rest of the pleasure-seeking world. And yet somehow, they remain in contact with the world, enough to give us the benefit of the latest methods in education. Theirs is a truly remarkable life, tho highest state of life humanity is privileged to lead. They ask no reward, no commen- dation but if one soul is brought to God thru their efforts, they are well repaid. Their is little we can do for them, they are far happier in their state of life than they would be in any other, but we can thank them from the bottom of our hearts for all that they have done for us, and still better we can try to live so that we may be worthy of them and they may be proud of us. To Sister Rose Concepta and Sister Elizabeth Mary we wish especially to express our gratitude. Theirs has been the task of supervising our all-important Senior year. For the hours of untir- ing labor they so zealously devoted to the Blue Mantle, the oper- etta, and graduation, not to mention their work in the classroom we will never be able to repay. May God bless them and spare them for many years to come!