Boston Latin School - Liber Actorum Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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Only He Can Give, Who Has . John Joseph Landrigan BLS ’25 Nearly fifty years ago Mr. John J. Landrigan began his teaching career in Newbury, New York, after graduating from Boston College Returning to Boston two years later, he accepted an assignment at the Michelangelo School in the North End for a period of six years before leaving for Roslindale High School where he taught for seventeen years. In 1954 he advanced to Girls ' Latin School for a thirteen year period at that very distinguished institution while awaiting an opening at his alma mater. Twelve years ago his life ' s ambition achieved fulfillment when he received the coveted appointment of English Department Head here at The Latin School. His enthusiasm for correct speech and logical writing influenced to a marked degree every student with whom he came in contact. He always exemplified the best qualities of the genu ine pedagogue — a willingness to pose and answer questions thoughtfully, a talent for criticizing work constructively, and a desire to motivate students earnestly. His skills were not those of the classroom entertainer but rather, those of the scho- lastic taskmaster whose firm and repeated insistence upon specific details and coherence, upon clarity and emphasis, and upon mechanics like punctuation and capitalization made many members of this year’s class better and more confi- dent writers. If Mr. Landrigan throughout his years of teaching had obtained a small amount of change for every mixed metaphor he untangled, or all the dangling participles he secured, or each unparallel construction he reoriented, he would today be a wealthy man. This modest man who led Boston students for so many years through the thorny thickets of modern poetry, by the pitfalls of faulty reference, and past the quagmires of shifting viewpoint should indeed be a rich man if for only one reason — that he cared about his students and their development as writers and as individuals. But the riches accruing to Mr. Landrigan are not those of the bank vault or the stock portfolio, his riches are those of the spirit, the satisfaction of knowing that his sincere efforts to provide the world with better men and women have been successful. Although his portrait may never hang in the auditorium, his heart will always remain at The Latin School which nurtured his youth and delighted his later years. In dedicating this Liber Actorum to him, the Class of Nineteen Seventy-nine, reaching deep into its Word Wealth Advanced, salutes him as the Supererogatory Septuagenarian, confers upon him the title, Magister Emeritus, and wishes him many pleasant years of well-deserved retirement. 4