The December 1963 issue of the Chronicle was the last Christmas-time edition in our time at Cathedral. It was printed with green ink, repeating the “tradition” set the year before. (I’ve darkened the pages to make them easier to read.)

Lead story and photo (above) was about the Glee Club’s Winter Concert, set for January 17. There was an amusing item about the first driving class for Ann Cavanaugh, Ruth Camyre, and Patricia Raimondi (photo below). Seems the Ford Falcon in which the trio was receiving instruction from Francis Connery had a weak battery. It stalled on Plumtree Road and would not restart. With the girls out behind the car pushing, Connery was able to jump start the vehicle and bring all back to school.

Page two acknowledged the assassination of President Kennedy with an editorial, a collection of some his most famous statements, and a sketch by Suzanne Babineau. Kevin O’Malley had an essay about the value of a tax cut on investment income for both the national and international economies.

A page three feature on the student receptionists at the Guidance Office included photos of (l-r, below) Patricia Manning, Maureen Pollard, and Mary Perrin (washing the inside of the glass in the office door). Other receptionists included Ellen Boissoneault, Donna Roy, Virginia Iwaniec, Margaret DeMontigny, Diane Benoit, and Sylvia Sekac.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Classmate Patricia Matthews wrote a page four feature on Christmas traditions. Another item on the same page about the pantomime presentation of the Puccini opera “Gianni Schicchi” highlighted the resilience and deftness of some of the performers. (Apparently the presentation took place as scheduled on November 27, despite the altered school schedule for the funeral of President Kennedy.) Mentioned were Jo Anne Moore, Linda Lourraine, Robert Winship, and William O’Malley.

While the caption for the photo at left says our senior basketball players are “getting into harness,” it looks more like they’re heading out for a good time after a hard-won victory. The basketball team, which had an excellent season overall, finishing just short of a Western Mass championship, opened its season the night this edition of the Chronicle came out. The sports page shows its creative terms for various sports: “keglers,” “basketeers,” “mermen,” and “grapplers.” Grantland Rice would have been proud.

The keglers, also known as the bowling team, were led by captain Jim Gastone. Classmates among the mermen, the swim team, were Dan Kelley, Tom Counos, Mike Bannon, Greg Beauvais, and Bill Wood. And the grapplers, the wrestling team, included John Cardano, Attilio Cardaropoli, Ben Aleks, Joe DeCaro, Tom “Turk” Murphy, Paul Rieker, Dan Cotter, Jerry Couture, and Walt Reardon.

Below is a photo from that season’s football closer, against Tech, showing “ramblin’ Dave Guyer.”

Janice Bushey had a nice page six feature on impresario Fr. Richard Riendeau, director of the opera presentation mentioned above, also teacher to three junior and two sophomore religion classes and a class in logic.

Here’s the December 20, 1963, Chronicle