Posting

I saw the All Valley pic Reggie posted and I was reminded how two kids from our grade school class at St. Joseph's were included — our own dearly departed Denny O'Brien who became a Saints legend and Tolman's Gerry Philbin who became a pro football All Star for the New York Jets. I think he may have been an All American defensive end at Buffalo before that. The two of them,Denny and Gerry, along with Ronnie (Togo) Palagi, who also went to Tolman where he played basketball, were the tough guys in our grade school class. Gerry and Ronnie were outwardly tough, Denny less so. But I learned early in life to respect Denny's strength. It was in the third or fourth grade. My older brother, Andrew, had taught me a couple of wrestling moves. I tried them out on Denny one day on North Bend Street. He flattened me in a in a nano-second. Life lesson learned. RIP, friend.

Philbin moved into our neighborhood on Arch Street probably in sixth or seventh grade. He was from a large family. I had a crush on his younger sister Doris and I took over his older brother Terry's paper route. Gerry and I were never tight but we got along well. I don't remember if he ever played pick-up football games with us in the Memorial Hospital yard but we had so many of them that I think he must have. In any event, strong though he was, I don't remember thinking of him as being that big or being destined for athletic greatness. So I'd like to get the impressions of you guys who actually played against him in high school — Paul, Reggie, Tom, Bill, Chuck, others on the team. I believe he was All State as a senior, maybe before, right? Was he thought then to be as fearsome a player as his later career proved him to be? Has anyone stayed in touch with him?

Picture from Facebook Group

This picture appeared in a post on a Facebook group entitled " I survived Pawtucket ".There were 60 some odd comments. Many of them were interesting. If you belong to Facebook you might want to join the group.

Our 50th Reunion

Hi All,

I pulled together my photos from the 50th reunion and made a short slide show from them.  Some of you have already seen this - for others it will be new.  John

https://youtu.be/V-QmVLMiABQ

Say a prayer for the soul of Bob Sweeney

Robert Taupier sent an email indicating we had left Bob Sweeney off the necrology list. Deepest apologies for that. Bob passed away in 2013; he is now included in the corrected necrology list. When the necrology video is redone Bob will be included.

Say a prayer for Bob Sweeney, and take a look at the redesigned necrology tab.

Tom McCabe

SRA '60

Just wanted to update a few items after the very successful Zoom Reunion.
In necrology, it's "Ronald Fitzgerald ", not "Roland". 

And because she heard that Bill Farley had had a heart attack, my bride of 55 years, the former Jessica Farrell, had her own moderate heart attack 5 days after our reunion. She got two stents at Miriam Hospital and begins cardiac rehab tomorrow. 

I failed to mention that we have 3 adult children and 3 grandchildren. The two oldest kids are lawyers here in RI and the youngest is a stand-up comedian in Los Angeles. ( if you've seen the latest Progressive Ins. Ad with Flo and two others judging a hand competition, he's the male judge at the right end of the table.)

Mike McCarthy

Ps to Jim Doan, the swim coach's name was something like Nick Rosario AND I also got a letter that year for swimming..........ok ok, it was a "minor" one but it still spelled "R"

Hi from Leo Crosby

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Blog - from Louis Roy

Great work creating the Blog much thanks to Tom , John and Tom Jr.  Outstanding ,for two guys that started out from Pawtucket,RI.

All Valley Team

Here's a picture of the Pawtucket Times 1960 All Valley Football Team.  There are 4 of us in there: me, Bill Farley, Paul Dalpe, and Denny O'Brien, who has left us way too soon.  This is one way of keeping Dennis's memory alive.

Reggie Macamaux

Reunion

Tom McCabe

Thank You for all the great work by you and your committee Tom, it was a wonderful afternoon. I can't believe it's been 60 years as it only feels like 59 years and 364 days. 

I think about Bro. Stephen who we called skeeter   because he was skinny like a Miskito.  He was the spring Track coach.  We had ltraining in the gym in the spring. During the exersize  segment we would  all yell out "SKEETER".  Brother though it was just a word we made up.  He had no knowledge it was him. 

I think Jim Doan that got it started. . .We would shout skeeter as we exericed.     

I have grandchildren, twin boys who are nine years old.     I tell them it was 60 years since I graduated and they look at me and say, 60 years ? When we go to Pawtucket thre want to go to where I went to school 60 years ago. And then we play some more street hockey, and they give me a whooping.

Looking forward to more great times. 

Thanks again Tom 

Bill Murray

(508) 559-3873

39 Sylvan Road

Rumford, RI  02916

USA 

It's actually. 

The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 

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Jim Doane

I went out for the swim team in the fall of 1957, it was my first year at Saints.   Tryouts were held at the Pawtucket Boy's Club.

The routine there was boys did not wear swimsuits, we practiced and swam naked.  I made the team and we practiced 3-4 times per week.

Brother James (I think) was our "spiritual leader" and we were coached by the guy who worked at the Boy's Club and ran their swim team.  After a few weeks of practicing Brother James showed up to watch and was "shocked" that no one wore swimsuits. He told us that was no longer going to happen, we were told to go out and buy Speedos! Most of us wondered what is his problem, but we all complied. Dave Shallcross, Pete Healey, Marty Flaherty, and Bill Farley were some of my teammates that I remember.I was pretty decent at swimming and was the only sophomore who earned a Saints Letter that year.  

Jim Doane

Reggie

Hi Tom,

What can I say the reunion was a great success.  Enjoyed it completely. Have been in touch with several of our classmates since then.  Enjoying comments on some of our teachers.  Mostly Sam Pino.  Sent Bill Farley a copy of the All Valley Team.  We talked for about ½ hour and communicated via email a couple more times.  Good to hear he is doing well after his surgery. 

I understand there is another meeting coming up Friday the 16^th-1pm  I will try to put it on my schedule here unless Annette has plans I don't know about yet.  This time of the year I am usually in the woods by 3pm for the Archery Season for the elusive Whitetail deer.  I Know!  They are cute, but they are very good eating.  Annette doesn't think so but I do; so does my son and his partner.  They live in Newton, MA about 15 miles outside of Boston Center. 

My son works for State Street Financial and Manages the Foreign Investments Dept.  His partner James is a Professor at Boston College. 

Hope all is well with you and yours.  Oh! My Zoom program crashed, but was able to get it set up again.

(Just a few min ago) 

Reggie

 

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Blast from the past.

How many can you name?

Reunion

It was nice to see you and your classmates getting together and having so much fun swapping stories and enjoying each other's company

Thomas McCabe Jr

Next Meeting Discussion

We're still rejoicing about our 60th reunion -- maybe it's done and we should let it rest.

Or, when we get the energy, should we plan to meet for a happy hour in a year? In six months? Just open mics, just meet and greet, no introductions or speeches.

This blog is a stand-in for connecting, but it may be nice to see folks again -- albeit virtually.

Like to hear thoughts here.

Here's how to post via email

Compose and send an email to tommccabe.saints@blogger.com. It will appear as a post on our blog.

Purpose of this blog

 I hope my classmates visit and write here. I am trying to make this as user friendly as possible. It's not right yet, but I have a beginning.

There will be pages about our 60th reunion, Zoom videos, links to St Rays web page, stories, poems, and current St Rays events, and more.

Old Friends

 We'll stay good old friends till we lose our memory, then we'll be good new friends.