Elms College - Elmata Yearbook (Chicopee, MA)

Page 19 text:

Father Burke is like the swiftly flowing stream. It laughs and sings quite merrily, but beneath the surface lies deep and still. Father has made many a day more pleasant for us by the sunshine of his ready laughter. In between his pleasant quips he has given us a deeper joy, more steady, to cling to if we will, a joy to walk with us in all the paths we will ever have to tread, bumpy or smooth. It is in these moments that one sees the beauty of the deep silence of his soul. One glimpse of this silent reservoir and you perceive that it is the source of all that Father is. You know why the keeness of the sparkle in his eye, why the happy, ready laughter. It accounts too for the seeming boyishness of his manner and appearance. Paradoxically it is maturity that causes the boylike exuberance and radiating cheerfulness of soul. Having put first things first , he helps us, too, to build a strong reservoir of faith.

Page 18 text:

Father ' s guileless nature meets the world with boyish grin and jaunty, lighthearted step; seeking to remedy all minor ills by cheerfulness. If Father ' s life has known much of shadow, it has been lightened to a point the world may not see, or even guess it there, except that all men know it. We see only lightness there, perhaps, only per force of this same cheerfulness. An outstanding characteristic of Father Pierce is his sincere interest in people — all people. It is not strange then that Father ' s favorite pursuit is furthering the know- ledge, practice, and love of the liturgy. For here in prais- ing God he knows all people meet. Those he knows and holds dear, those he ' ll never meet, those he has yet to meet someday. Here he finds a common ground to know them all a little better. Father meets and talks with everyone quite easily; for it is not easy to talk to a person, when you have just been talking, as he has, to God with him?

Page 20 text:

REV. ROBERT H. STAFFORD Philosophy With boyish charm and a warm smile of greeting for each and every Elms girl Father Stafford has breezed his way into our hearts and planted there the seed of reverent love reserved for our philosophy professors because they understand the quirks of the feminine mind when assimilat- ing their favored subject. With a twinkle in his eye (and is that a ghost of a smile I see hovering on his lips?) he listens to why we can ' t have the test Friday and why I didn ' t have time to study last night — and gives in every time. His patient explanations always elucidate even the most obscure theses. A perpetual aura of quiet friendliness surrounds our Father Stafford and endears him to all his earthly as well as heavenly associates. 16