Class of 1971

Neil F. Clarke

Post Grad Journey
After leaving Fairfield's halls one day,.., my progress improved immeasurably with the marriage to my better half, Barbara, whom I luckily met via singing with the Glee Club. We were married in 73 at Cranwell Chaple on the grounds of a Jesuit prep school in Lenox, MA with Fr John P Murray, our Glee Club Moderator, officiating and Glee Club members, now lifelong friends, in attendance (and performing in their inimitable style). We settled in Lee, MA as Vietnam, politics and the economy dominated the headlines. I gratefully fulfilled a six-year military commitment via the Army Reserve and earned an M.Ed while teaching in multiple disciplines at various levels from middle through high school in the Lee Public School System. We've been blessed with two beautiful daughters, both working in leadership positions with community non-profits, and now have a grandson considering options for his higher education. During my thirty-four years of teaching as I became more involved in my new community of Lee, MA (grew up in South Boston), I also served in various leadership roles at the local and statewide levels of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. I now continue to serve in retirement as an MTA Senate District Coordinator. I also just completed my 43rd year of summer employment at Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Fittingly, Tanglewood is across the street from what once was Shadowbrook, a Jesuit seminary, very familiar to Fr Murray. As our circle of life continues its revolution, I wish my classmates good health and happiness. Remember, Stags Are Tough! We must be - we survived the 60's, TWICE!!

Sincerely,
Neil F Clarke '71

Fairfield Journey Memories
Transitions and adaptations with an understanding and appreciation of family and general history to better enable exploring, learning, and enjoying adventures (large or small), are some of the postmarks on my journey. The world itself was in turmoil and dramatic change in 1967 when I left the "safe" confines of my South Boston family to continue the process of becoming. As slippery as the greased pole challenge, I was coming to grips with increasing independence juxtaposed to " in loco parentis," while the Tet Offensive and national politics were demonstrating "don't trust anyone over 30" as the previous generations and the systems/institutions they worked for came into question. College was indeed an incubator of questioning and seeking the answers (if any were to be found). While demonstrating the importance of rigorous inquiry vs blind acceptance, the Jesuits and lay faculty themselves seemed to demonstrate to me (at least in hindsight) the tension inherent in evolving, as the old must give way (eventually) to the young. And this tension itself was literally demonstrated on campus.

My campus and classroom experiences were overseen by Fr John P. Murray, the Fairfield University Glee Club Moderator, who found a way to calm the seas of turmoil (somewhat like his ultimate role model ) along with his own accompanist and Fairfield graduate, Bron Orlowski. As we all adapted to the changing times, the repertoire, recordings, performance schedules, and travels of the Glee Club broadened and needed two buses to accommodate the expanding membership. One bus was nicknamed the "study bus" but there was a different kind of education on the second bus - one which helped develop a keen sense of humor, quick wit, and enduring sense of the importance of camaraderie if not competition (for the biggest laugh or groan). While the Class of 71 had just begun, the friendships forged continued throughout our four years and now ( (50+ years later) well endure after leaving her halls. Speaking of broadening, while freshman year had our "prefect" preaching and enforcing the meaning of the term "paritials" (a woman could be in your dorm room every third Sunday of the month from 2 - 4 pm and it better be your mother), I recall women on campus earlier than 1971 as a few nocturnal fire alarms confirmed.

The times certainly were and continue to be a-changing, yet the most important constant for me has been the fortuitous meeting of my wife, Barbara, via a Glee Club performance. Barbara Devitt and I married in 73 as I transitioned to the beautiful Berkshires to teach in the Lee public schools and she in her hometown Catholic school system. As I was fortunate to complete my service obligation with the Army Reserve, we started our family (married at Cranell Chapel in Lenox, MA , a Jesuit prep school, with Fr Murray able to officiate by pulling some strings, and Glee Club members in the wedding party). Subsequently, I spent my entire professional career as an educator in the Lee system; yet, while staying in one place for my entire career, as we learned in college, I continued to adapt and transition, teaching at both the middle and high school levels in various disciplines for which I was certified (“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” ― Albert Einstein). I also served in multiple capacities at the local and state levels of the Massachusetts Teachers Association and continue to work as a retired member as a Senate District Coordinator, organizing and advocating for equal access to quality public education. And I just completed my 43rd year as a summer employee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at their summer home called Tanglewood in Lenox, MA - fittingly, across the street from what once was Shadowbrook, a Jesuit seminary with which Fr. Murray was quite familiar and we visited after my graduation.

Today, Barbara and I are proud that both of our daughters (Katie and Megan) now work for non-profits - Katie as the administrative director for CATA (Community Access to the Arts), nurturing and celebrating the creativity of people with disabilities, and Megan, as a clinical therapist at our local hospital whose son, Jack, will be looking at colleges and his options this year as the circle of life continues its...revolution.

Well, as we know, the ultimate oxymoron is that change is a constant. So, I wish my classmates great flexibility as time marches on and we tend to get set in our ways for multiple reasons. Stay open to new ideas knowing that Stags Are Tough - tough enough to survive the 60's - TWICE!! God Bless.

Sincerely,
Neil F Clarke
Class of '71

Kevin Dmytriw, MD

My Post-Grad Journey:
As I look back at graduation from Fairfield, what is remarkable to me is the number of events in my life since then that were not planned, or expected, or even imagined. The list started shortly after graduation when I ended up at medical school in Guadalajara, Mexico. I can assure you that the four years of French at Fairfield ( and four years before that in high school) did not prepare me in any way for this. Good planning, right? After four years there, and another year to get oriented to the American system, I started my medical residency at Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, NJ. Once again, I had not anticipated or planned on meeting Elizabeth McCarthy on that first day; she was the head nurse on one of the med/surg floors at that hospital. Twenty-six and a half months later, we were married, and still are, 43 years later.

Shortly after that, we found ourselves on I-80, heading West, in a Datsun wagon, in a snowstorm; our destination was South Dakota, where I would start my career in the US Air Force as a Flight Surgeon, which involved flying in B-52's and KC-135's. You might at this point think that all this seems to involve a whole lot of major life events in a short period of time, and you'd be right. But we just did what everyone else does: hold on (to someone else, if you're lucky), keep on going, call it "life", and enjoy it.

We left the Air Force in 1984, but not before our first child, Joseph, was born in California. Our other son, Patrick, was born in 1985 in NJ (the children were, actually, "planned"). I worked for the next 23 years in the private practice of medicine, self-employed. In 2007, for a variety of reasons, I closed that practice and moved to Richmond, Virginia; I have now been retired for 4 years. We bought a small plot of land in Hollywood Cemetery, here in Richmond, so we're not planning on moving too far from here any time soon.

At Fairfield, pretty much my only extra-curricular activity was the Glee Club, all four years. In addition to the chorus, I got involved in four-part a cappella singing, which led to joining the international Barbershop Harmony Society; I am still a member. Most important of all, I was lucky enough to meet and then stay in touch with three other Glee Club members (and their spouses) since graduation. In fact, we will all be at the Reunion. And we are "planning" on having a great time.

Martin Glynn

My Post-Grad Journey:
I began the next phase of life starting Medical School at Johns Hopkins after Summer 1971 had passed. It was a great experience; I enjoyed Fairfield more. Internal Medicine residency training took me to Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. This was also more enjoyable than medical school. I was fortunate to meet Maribeth O’Donnell while I was there. We married in 1983, shortly after I returned to Philadelphia after training in Rheumatology in Charlottesville. Maribeth and I are blessed with 4 children - Marty, Sarah, Matt and Mike - of whom we are justifiably quite proud. Through them we have a daughter-in-law, Lauren, and a son-in-law, Tommy, and 6 grandchildren (Jolene, Christopher, Maggie, Cecilia, Maura, and Abigail) all of whom we love and enjoy. Professionally my major role has been helping to direct Internal Medicine Residency Programs, most recently the program of Drexel University’s College of Medicine. This meant that my clinical role has been much more in Hospital Medicine than in Rheumatology. I have had the great fortune to have been blessed throughout my life in almost all phases of my life. This was true at Fairfield and it is true today.

What is your favorite Fairfield University memory?
There are many memories; they are almost all associated with smiles. Memory 1: As I recall we were all assigned 10 books to read during the Summer of 1967. But I can only remember 4 of them: Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man, The Communist Manifesto by Marx, The Protestant Establishment (Baltzell), and War and Peace (Tolstoy, abridged). I loved War and Peace. Do you remember what the other books were? Memory 2: As I recall it was in February that the Freshman Class leadership arranged for 5 school buses to take interested Members of the class to a mixer of sorts in New Rochelle that was to feature beer and perhaps some freshman girls from the College of the same name. As I recall I made the acquaintance of Schaefer Beer which started a long-term relationship. Memory 3: Jerry Jeff Walker playing on the patio outside the Oak Room. Unfortunately there is neither time nor space for me to recount the next 100 memories

Pat Kiley

This is Pat Kiley, class of 1971, Biology Major, looking forward to the November 13, 2021 50th reunion. I was a resident of New Jersey, graduate of St. Joseph’s Regional HS in Montvale, New Jersey when I decided to attend Fairfield University. At the end of my sophomore year, I married my childhood sweetheart, Mary Ellen Brosnan. We were married on August 30, 1969 and four of my Fairfield classmates were in our wedding party, Stephen Jennings, David Turano, Michael Feighan and Matt Mahoney. I have not been in touch with any of my wedding party since graduating and would like to reconnect, if possible, at the reunion.

My wife and I have four sons, our first having been born while I was still a student at Fairfield. Our children are all successful and healthy. We have 10 grandchildren who are all also great children, healthy and successful for where they are in their life journey, some in college, the youngest just turning 3.

Following graduation, I began a career with the Federal government which lasted until 1988 when I transitioned to a career in private industry. I progressed in my career to President of a company which became the largest Medicare Federal contractor in the country. The company was sold in 2012 at which time I retired and have been happily retired since then, enjoying family and traveling.

In May of 2010, I was ordained a Permanent Deacon in the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and remain in active ministry.

It is difficult to name one favorite Fairfield memory. However, what has remained with me since my time at Fairfield was my Freshman and Junior Bio professor John Klimas. His teaching methods which were focused on thinking through a problem as opposed to learning and repeating back facts has remained with me as a discipline which has served me well.

I would not change a thing in my life journey. My wife and I have faced difficult times, challenges raising four children and many good times. That’s life and Fairfield helped to provide me with the tools to navigate life’s ups and downs and for that I am grateful. My successes in life were, however, attributable to my wife who was my strength when times were tough and my reminder to enjoy each day. Looking forward to the Reunion.

Joseph Maher

My Post-Grad Journey:
My adventures after Fairfield have been, and continue to be, very rewarding. Ursula and I have been married for 51 years and are blessed with 3 great kids who've given us 7 amazing grandchildren. During a successful career in the commercial insurance industry, we've lived in New York, Maryland, Virginia and Northern California (25 years) and I've had the pleasure of visiting all 50 states. In my freshman year at Fairfield, a teacher, (I think it was Mr. Donnarumma) said that learning was a journey not destination. That stuck with me throughout my career. I continued my education with an MBA and participated in Executive programs and that were made available through my company. Even now, I trying to learn to play the piano. At Fairfield I was a proud member of the Glee Club and continued singing with The Big Apple Chorus when we relocated to the Jersey shore in 2005. Our daughter, Jennifer, now a Nurse Practitioner, is a member of the Fairfield class of 2001. I look forward to seeing my fellow classmates in November. It's been a great ride....and there's more to come!

Robert McMahon

My post-Fairfield journey was, in very many ways, rooted in the tumultuous years that I spent at our favorite college. Shaken – but also inspired – by the social turmoil and national traumas that coincided with my undergraduate days at Fairfield and by the model of some of our college’s deeply knowledgeable and engaged professors trying their best to make sense of those changes, I decided that maybe I, too, could make a positive difference as a university educator. That led me to pursue a PhD in American history at the University of Connecticut and then to a 40-year academic career. The raging Vietnam War doubtless helped steer me toward my chosen teaching and research field in the history of U.S. foreign relations. The natural gravitation toward that field of study initially stemmed from my continuing effort to understand the roots of the conflict that had so sharply divided our country -- and my fellow Fairfield students – during the late-60s and early 70s.

After a five-year stint at the State Department’s Historical Office, I joined the faculty at the University of Florida, where I taught for 23 years. Later, I moved to Ohio State University, from which I retired five years ago. I have had a wonderful career, teaching thousands of students, publishing numerous books and articles, and lecturing widely throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Particularly memorable were visiting professorships in Dublin and Berlin.

My wonderful wife Alison and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary earlier this year. We have two terrific sons and two grandchildren. Those grandchildren (now age 3 and 16 months) brought us to the San Francisco Bay Area just over three years ago, where we are enjoying our retirement, the natural beauty and rich diversity of this part of the country, and reveling in the opportunity to spend lots of quality time with our granddaughter and grandson. My postretirement gig as a cruise ship lecturer for Viking Cruises satisfies our continuing interest in exploring the world.

Fairfield Memories: Too many to count. . . . Among them: having Walter Petry for an eye-opening and inspirational Freshman Western Civilization course; having King Dykman make Philosophy come alive in another great course; a Freshman year concert that brought to campus not just the Beach Boys but Buffalo Springfield; late night dorm discussions of everything from the Celtics and Knicks to the meaning of life; Fairfield basketball games; trips to New Rochelle and Manhattanville; the terrible cafeteria food and occasional protests against it; needing to wear jackets and ties to be admitted to the cafeteria (and the organized protest against that rule that ultimately forced its change); pick-up basketball games on the outdoor courts and in the gym; intramural sports; antiwar demonstrations on campus; the quaint issue of parietal hours and on-campus drinking that pitted students against a paternal administration; the novel tripartite scheme that brought about a divisive student strike; black students demanding greater representation in the study body via direct action; bus trips to Washington for two anti-war demonstrations; the infamous canceled Doors concert; students occupying two university buildings (in one of which I, a reluctant and ambivalent occupier, quietly celebrated my 21st birthday); dating “townies”; the local pizza place where I spent many memorable nights with a handful of my friends; the joys and frustrations of dorm life; senior year at an amazing dump of a house on Fairfield beach with the Long Island Sound in my backyard.

Joe Nagy

Shortly after graduating with a BA degree in English literature, I joined my good friend, classmate, and fellow English major Bob Gauvin and his young family and moved to Lost Nation, New Hampshire. (It’s mentioned in one of Robert Frost’s poems as one of New Hampshire’s “absurdly small towns.”) My first job was working on a construction crew in a nearby paper mill.

At that time, I had no clear idea of what I wanted to do with my life. I went to Fairfield to read books, with no career in mind. I was thrilled that I got to take courses in philosophy and theology along with my literature courses. A liberal education was an introduction to the world of ideas, and trained us, in the words of John Henry Newman, “to think and to reason and to compare and to discriminate and to analyze,” which prepared us to take up any profession or calling that we set our minds to.

On reflection I concluded that I could write and I could teach, and that was the way it turned out: I worked for 20 years as a journalist and for 20 years as an educator.

After a winter clinging to a jackhammer for eight hours a day, I got a job as a reporter for a weekly newspaper in Berlin, New Hampshire. Bob worked in the darkroom. Within a year I was editor and he ran the printing press. A few years later, we worked together again at a weekly newspaper in Skowhegan, Maine, I as editor and he was production manager and pressman. Bob later started his own printshop, and went on to become a tech-ed instructor in Maine, teaching computer-aided design for 29 years in a regional high school.

After Maine, I took a break from journalism and volunteered for five years with a non-profit international community development organization. For two of those years I worked in a rural Hakka village in Hong Kong, helping villagers set up a community foundation to develop their unused agricultural land. In Hong Kong I joined Asiaweek, an English language news magazine, where I worked as an editor for 14 years. Hong Kong was where I married the love of my life, Myung Hee, and where our son Nate was born. Looking back, those were some of the happiest years of my life.

When we returned to the US in 1997, I earned a master’s degree from Regis University, also at a Jesuit school, and taught college courses in academic writing and literature for 20 years at Fairfield’s neighboring institution, Sacred Heart University. At Sacred Heart I helped develop a core course, Great Books in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, which draws on literature, philosophy, and theology - many of the same texts that I read as an undergraduate at Fairfield. So the circle was complete.

My favorite memory at Fairfield was the time spent with friends in the coffee shop and dorm rooms talking about everything under the sun.

Thomas Nicotera

My Post-Grad Journey:
Since Fairfield University, I have had a wide range of jobs. In New Jersey: night auditor at an Atlantic City hotel, gardener’s assistant, water-sewer worker, supermarket cashier. In Washington, D.C.: moved to D.C. to acquire an M.A. in Literature from American University; after graduation, was report department supervisor and copy editor at a Big 8 CPA firm, Coopers & Lybrand; taught noncredit poetry-writing classes at Immaculata College and Georgetown University; became a mime and juggler with Echo Mime Company, performing at schools for the deaf around the country on an 8-month road trip that included street performing in Baltimore, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. I also ran the Takoma Café Poetry Series in Maryland. In Connecticut: Report Department supervisor for a local CPA firm, Blum Shapiro; acquired my teaching certificate in English from Central Connecticut State University and taught for a year, then became library cataloger at American School for the Deaf, working there 19 years, retiring in 2016. The one constant from the beginning was poetry, which I started writing at Fairfield. My poetry book, "What Better Place to Be Than Here?", was published in 2016 (New York: Foothills Publishing). I formed a performance poetry group, “Not Just Any Tom, Vic and Terri.” I currently run Bloomfield Library’s Wintonbury Poetry Series, now in its 25th year. I have a beautiful daughter, April, a graduate of Loyola University and UMASS, a poet herself and a speech therapist. My life partner is a poet and artist, Sherri Bedingfield. I work part-time at Bloomfield Library, a job I truly love. An important concept I learned at Fairfield was independence – independence of thought, independence of action, independence of direction. And here I am today, and what better place to be than here?

What is your favorite Fairfield University memory?
I used to love walking the bucolic grounds down near the pond and savored the surrounding trees. On many afternoons in fall and spring, I sat there reading my assignments - an ideal place to read Emerson, Thoreau, and Blake.

Richard Thielebeule

My Post-Grad Journey:
I was married for over 44 years to Judith Murphy of Rockville Centre where we resided throughout our marriage. Together we had two beautiful children, Kristin and James, who have blessed us with seven grandchildren, from 17 to 4 years of age. We loved to travel as a family, Grand Canyon etc. when the kids were younger and Ireland etc. when they were older. I am currently retired after spending my working years in Sales/ Sales Management selling capital equipment in the printing industry representing corporations such as Xerox and Hewlett Packard. I love to stay active and though my basketball and softball activities have for the most part grinded to a halt I enjoy kayaking, biking, hiking and golfing. I usually spend a month enjoying these activities in North Carolina or Florida. It's been a good ride!

What is your favorite Fairfield University memory?
Many fond memories of the years at Fairfield but some such as the many rode trips to CNR, Manhattanville and Tarrytown bring the widest smiles. The bus trip to Washington DC and protests during the Vietnam War remain a vivid memory. Senior year on living on the beach, intramural sports and cramming for finals all part of my Fairfield experience.

Paul Toulouse

My Post-Grad Journey:
After graduation, I attended Georgetown Law, worked for a couple of years in public interest law and hung out my shingle in January of 1977. I’ve practiced every kind of law imaginable and am still at it, although I’ve settled into an estate and trust practice. Another reason I came to D.C. was to meet people from around the world and I did, including marrying Dalva, a Brazilian. We have three children and I’ve lost count of how many dogs. My oldest daughter, Mel is a vet in NYC with the ASPCA and lost dog collector – then gives them to us. Mel’s sister, Gabriella (aka Kika) played professional soccer, works for the Red Bulls and is an aspiring Big Apple stand-up comic. Then there’s Kyle - the three-sport athlete in high school and Holy Cross college football player that everyone still knows and loves. Fifty years? Amazing! Went to my 50th high school reunion and met Mary, the girl I asked to the Junior Prom. I was so nervous when I called her that my voice was weird and I guess I forgot to say who I was. Her response was very polite. “I already have a date.” At the reunion, I asked her if she remembered the conversation and she said, “So that was you?”

What is your favorite Fairfield University memory?
I’m in the FU bookstore in the fall of ‘67. I’ve got my first semester book list and find the philosophy textbook. I look at the title and think to myself, I’m in serious trouble. “Existential Phenomenology.” Fast forward four years and I’ve got a minor in philosophy.

Bill Wilson

My Post-Grad Journey:
I went to work, got married, and began to raise a family within my first two years after graduation. My wife, Sue, and I were blessed with three wonderful kids, Brian (deceased), Kim and Megan, and I have often described my occupation over the years as “Husband/Father”. I always viewed my 46 years in Management as a means to that end. I have never regretted that prioritization. With Sue, my kids, (and now four beautiful granddaughters), I have enjoyed travelling all around the country and taking an active part in their lives. I have continued to pursue my lifetime love of photography (still and motion picture), movies and music. My knack for trivia finally led to an appearance on Jeopardy! in 2007 and I consider myself to be a news junkie and an avid computer user. My post-graduate journey (so far) has surely had its share of highs and lows. I sincerely believe that my eight years at Fairfield Prep and University, and the lifelong friendships begun there, have helped to guide me through these very ‘interesting’ 50 years. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

What is your favorite Fairfield University memory?
I was a four-year member of the Glee Club and the bonds formed as a member of the University’s oldest campus organization have followed me closely over the past half-century. The signature memory from my undergrad years occurred in the winter of my Freshman Year when the ‘Ambassadors of Song’ were invited to participate in twelve Young People’s Concerts with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. To the present day, this part of my story continues to generate fascination whenever I tell people about it.