St Sebastians School - Arrow Yearbook (Newton, MA)

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EIlieieney l7ei'simnilied MissCutl1ei'i11e A. Meuse .SlCf!'6'I.l7i1' Time to Re-tire Headache for Bob Shen Now, here is another fine biography. D Eddie The Headmaster encourages Joe eignan's intellectual curiosity. 1 A wwe fi , M MK -- All-Round Genius

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CLASS HISTORY T. SEQBASTIANVS School had been in existence little more than a year, when our hopeful parents entrusted us to its formative influence. With the achievement of graduation from grammar school just behind us, we sensed the importance of this venture into higher education in a comparatively infant school and we kept eyes and ears open for impressions,favorable or unfavorable. As a matter of fact, everything was surprisingly satisfactory right from the start. Our formal introduction to the scheme of things came on a mid-September Friday morning when we arrived to be officially registered and to receive our class programs and text books. The reception committee, made up of the Headmaster, Fr. Mclnnis, and his two resident assistants, Fr. Meehan and Fr. Collins, proved amazingly human and the classroom setting seemed lightsome and almost cheerful. On the following Monday we assembled in the Chapel at9o'clock to offer the Holy Sacrifice ofthe Mass with the Headmaster, and to beg God the Holy Ghost to pour out wisdom's graces upon us. At the end of Mass, Fr. Mclnnis, still clad in priestly vestments, spoke to us from the sanctuary, outlining the duties and responsibilities that rested upon us. We came out from the Chapel to take our places in the Freshman classroom, and, as each new period of the day was announced by the bell, we made the acquaintance of another teacher who was to lead us through the mazes of this subject or that. The Math class was presided over by Fr. Meehan, while Fr. Collins introduced us to the declensions and conjugations of Latin. English Prose and Poetry , not to forget Composition ,was meted out generously by Fr. Flanigan, and History was vividly and graphically unfolded by Fr. Keating. French, oral and written,was Fr. Julien's field. To crown our course We sat at the feet of the Headmaster and had the truths of our Holy Faith expounded logically and vigorously. After having made the acquaintance of our teachers, we quite naturally began to appraise the classmates whose comra.deship we were to enjoy. Counting noses we found that the class comprised thirteen boys of assorted weights and measures: Alfred Amendola, 'iMike Barrette, Bert Bloomquist, Myron Bullock, Ronald Daly, Paul and Robert Flynn, Thomas Aquinas Gallagher, Robert Higgins, Charles Mackey, Bill McGowan, Joe Murphy and Eddie Shields. No formal introduction of one to another was ever necessary: acquaintance and friendship grew from nods and greet- ings, and ripened with the associations formed in the classroom, the dining hall and the gym. The dining hall and the gym were two features of the School that were rather breath-taking in those days. No bell of the entire day was as welcome as the peal that ended the morning classes and summoned us to the dinner table. Hustling down to neatly laid places, we awaited the saying of grace , and then suspended judgment until two upper classmen arrayed in waiters' coats, carried in the serving trays.

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We watched the ceremony as the three priests at the head of the table were served first, and then the platters were passed to us in rotation. Most of us had expected a sort of hot lunch , and we were most agreeably surprised by the full dinner with seconds and thirds of everything we wanted. The spacious gym was also a novelty as far as our previous experience was con- cerned. The two-sroried building with lockers, showers and equipment rooms on the first floor, revealed a mammoth 100 fr. square cage destined chiefly for Basketball and Baseball, but adaptable also to Football and Hockey needs as well. We were awed too by the sky-lighted squash and handball courts, and we could easily envisage countless happy hours to be spent in such an ideal sports' atmosphere. Social life thrived there too, we found, for the gym proved to be the mecca that drew the entire student body during recess periods. It was during recess periods and football practice sessions that we had an oppor- tunity of getting to know our fellow schoolmates, the Sophomores. Some few of them were new arrivals like ourselves, but most of them had the advantage of a whole year's tenure at the School. Despite this advantage, they accepted us readily and took it for granted that Sr. Sebastian's and its facilities were ours as well as theirs, and that our opinions on moored subjects were entitled to a hearing. We were to be drawn closer and closer to them over a period of three years, but even those Hrsr associations with the Bakers, Hank , Joe Carroll, Jimmy Collins, Hugh , Shaun , Jimmy Lydon, Charlie McCarron, Murph and Jimmy Scully are now treasured memories. Their new classmates, Ed Courtney, Bill Cryan, George Gilbert, Danny O'Brien, seemed to catch the spirit of the pioneer St. Sebastian group and we felt entirely at ease with them as well. In such pleasant company and in such an ideal atmosphere that kept a proper pro- portion between work and play, it was no wonder that the scholastic year sped by almost before we knew it. Bridging the interval of the years between, we can recall now: Fr. Mclnnis' liberality in giving us an afternoon holiday to view the circus, the Christmas and Year's End parties at which the winning Red and Blue captains hung their shields and Myron Bullock won scholastic awards, Tom Gallagher's recitations, Paul Flynn's difficulty in locating his books, Bill McGowan's early or late appearance, dependent upon the sympathy of passing motorists, Bert Bloomquist's signing for the Navy, Ronny Daly's and Eddie Shields' artistic draw- ings, Fr. Meehan's suppression of Bob Higgins, Charlie Mackey's infrequent ap- pearances, and the frequent interchange of ideas between Fr. Keating and Bob Flynn. Those were the days that laid the foundation of our devotion to St. Sebasrian's and also cemented many personal friendships. Returning ro the Hill after a refreshing summer, we sensed immediately a change in what Wehad considered the normal order of things. To begin with our own ranks, a few familiar faces were missing and replacements in greater numbers had arrived. We were sorry ro have lost such boon companions as Charlie Mackey, Bill McGowan and joe Murphy. We felt our importance magnified, however, when we discovered that the largest classroom on the first floor had been assigned to us as Sophomores and that our increased numbers called for such a change. It took a few days or so to discover the identity of all our new classmates, but in time we hailed the following luminaries as welcome additions to our roster: Arthur Craig, Tom,Dunbar, Johnny Ellard, Paul Ford, john McGoldrick, Paul McGrath, Harold McKinney, Johnny Menton, Jackie Mulhern, Ken Quigley, Bob Shea, Dan Sullivan and Billy White. Most of the new candidates were on hand for the opening day of the scholastic year, while others like Mui and Sul turned up at intervals.