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Thomas O'Brien
I've attended each of the class reunions ending in zero, but this year will bring that to an end. I had considered attending but sometimes life decides otherwise for you. But, I wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate all of you who have made it this far and hope you have a great time at the reunion. Thank you to Pam and her committee for making this happen. Heelan brings back a lot of memories, mostly good ones I'm pleased to say. In thinking back 50 years, I wondered how we would compare with the faculty in 1969. So, I picked Fr. Elbert, the Superintendent. In my mind, I thought he was probably in his 50's, maybe 60 back then. It was just hard to believe that we are now older than most, if not all, of the faculty and administration at that time. To check, I contacted the Diocese and was informed that he was born in 1932. That didn't seem possible and they referred me to The Globe which has extensive records in its archives. The person there informed me that the Fr. A.J. Elbert who was superintendent of Heelan from 1964 to 1978 was born in 1932. That means he was 37 in 1969!!! In other words, the bald guy with the fringe of white hair around the sides was about half the age we are today! That tells you something about the perception of a teenager. I hate to think what the Heelan students today would think of us if we happened down the hallways. After the 40th reunion, Mike Ross reminded me of a story from 1969 that involved Cowboy which Mike thought was one of the funniest things that ever happened. Needless to say it was at my expense. Anyway, Mike and I were talking last week and decided that now would be a good time to share it since Cowboy isn't around to be embarrassed by it, leaving only me. Mike said he might relegate it to Randy because he was also present, and Randy is much more likely to embellish the story. So, I hope you all enjoy it. Once again, I hope you all have a good time, and I hope to not see any roses appear on this website for a long, long time.
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