Regrettably, but inevitably, the list of deceased classmates has grown longer. Classmate Ben Aleks has sent in information about the following members of the class who have died, two in 2017 and others 2013-15. They are listed on the In memoriam page with links to obituaries when they are available.
We learned of the deaths of five classmates in 2017 and 2018.
Their names have been added to the list on our “In memoriam” page, where you can also find obituaries for them.
Please let me know by email if you know of any others. As we say on the “In memoriam” page, the deaths of classmates and friends are a regrettable but inevitable feature of our lives now.
Joe DeCaro Fitzgerald gave the following eulogy for John Cardano at a memorial service on June 27, 2018:
“John and I first met through an odd circumstance: I had gotten into a fight at our parochial high school and, given the option of suspension or the wrestling team, I chose the latter.
“John was the winning ‘ying’ to my losing ‘yang,’ As I could never gather enough dislike for any opponent to confidently fight on a wrestling mat!
“Outside of school, a small cadre of friends developed, of multi-cultured backgrounds: Mike Arpaio, Attilio Cardaropoli, Don Ferrarone, Rich Romboletti, and Joe DeCaro (Fitzgerald), comprised the Italians; Frank Czernowski, the Polish; Dick Guilmette, the French; Dan Cotter and Bill Christie, the Scotch-Irish.
“We came from neighborhoods with ‘exotic’ nom de guerres — ‘Hungry Hill,’ ‘Six Corners,’ ‘South End,’ the ‘X,’ and bucolic ‘Forest Park.’
“Being a time of concupiscence, they explored their awakenings at the Cardano cottage on Lake Thompson.
“I say ‘they,’ since I was relegated to replacing the needle on the 78-vinyl Johnny Mathis album while who-knew-what went on in other rooms of the cottage!
“I lost track of folks after high school, catching up briefly, at John and Gloria‘s wedding.
“I headed to the Marines, returning from Vietnam prior to John’s deployment to the war zone, where, serving as an Army translator to a Marine unit near the DMZ, he was severely wounded during a mortar attack and awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his service.
“I was the Marine, but John was the greater warrior.
“John’s struggles with his injuries lead him on a remarkable journey of healing. In The Fabric of Health, he wrote, ‘The potential to die in health and peace demonstrates our capacity to alter our quality of life.’
“John’s survival through fourth-stage cancer, eight years ago, was fueled by a determination to see his daughters and granddaughter grow to be the extraordinary caring and loving souls they’ve become.
“John had a gift for healing mind, body, and spirit. His advice could be as hard putty, applied to sustain a crumbling wall; carefully applied, but with enough tensile strength to hold one’s spirit together in the immediate moment.
“John’s focus on health relied on the act of conscious breathing. John, our friend, once inhaling the breath of bitterness and rage from a conflict we came to abhor, filtered that air and exhaled peace, love, health, and happiness to his family, friends, and clients.
“John was a considerable man, and we miss him.”
In 2016, we learned of the deaths of four classmates:
Their names have been added to the list on our “In memoriam” page, where you can also find obituaries for them.
Please let me know by email if you know of any others. As we say on the “In memoriam” page, the deaths of classmates and friends are a regrettable but inevitable feature of our lives now.
On this, Memorial Day, please remember the three members of our class who died in service to our country, in the Vietnam War.
James Bogacz, of Springfield, died August 27, 1969, at age 23. An Army corporal, he was killed in Thua Thien Province. More info from the Virtual Vietnam Veterans Wall of Faces
Charles Parsons, of Springfield, was killed February 28, 1968, when the helicopter in which he was riding on a recovery mission to Khe Sanh was shot down. He was a Marine sergeant and 21 years old. More info from the Virtual Vietnam Veterans Wall of Faces
Mark Rivest, of Chicopee Falls, was killed on June 4, 1970. A first lieutenant in the Army, he was 24 years old at his death. More info from the Virtual Vietnam Veterans Wall of Faces
An article in the May 28, 2007 Republican about Springfield men on the Vietnam Memorial Wall featured Mark’s service as a member of Army Special Forces. Great photo and information. Tom Robinson made a pdf of the article — Mark Rivest-The Republican
Day is done,
Gone the sun,
From the lakes,
From the hills,
From the sky,
All is well,
Safely rest,
God is nigh.
Verse from the unofficial lyrics to “Taps”
We lost two classmates before they even became juniors.
Fifty-two years ago, on this date, a Thursday then, we awoke and learned, or came to school and found out, that Richard McGurk had died the night before. Richie had been wounded when he and his brother, Raymond, a freshman at Cathedral, were, according to the police, “horsing around” in the family kitchen. It was sad and shocking news, as the headline in the January 18, 1962, Springfield Union shows.
The article, at right (click to enlarge), reported that Richie had died on a Mercy Hospital operating table at 9:29 pm the previous night, less than two hours after he had been stabbed, near the heart. His brother, Ray, the article said, “collapsed from shock following the accident” and was admitted to Mercy Hospital in fair condition.
We didn’t have official grief counselors come to school to help students and teachers in their grief, as is common today. But it is likely that nuns and priests, and fellow students, played that role and likely well. Perhaps there were official gatherings at school at which prayers were said, and prayers said in various classes, but many students probably went through that Thursday and Friday, and then the wake Friday night and funeral Saturday morning, in a daze. Richie’s obit, from the Daily News of January 18, 1952, is above left (click to enlarge).
No mention of Richie’s death appeared in the Cathedral Chronicle, perhaps because of the tragic circumstances and because most everyone knew what had happened. There was, in the September 29, 1961, issue of the Chronicle, a few months earlier, notice of the death of Gerard Plante on August 27 (above right, click to enlarge). The tribute to Gerard bore the rather odd title “Frosh Departs . . .”
Gerard had been hospitalized for several weeks prior to his death. His death, then, was less shocking than that of Richie McGurk’s, but no less sad. As an indication of his pleasure at being a student at Cathedral and a member of our class, he was buried in his uniform blazer.
On this Veterans Day, let’s remember the many classmates who have served this country in the Armed Forces. And let us honor, in particular, three classmates who gave all, in Vietnam.
James Bogacz died August 27, 1969, at age 23. An Army corporal, he was killed in Thua Thien Province.
Charles Parsons was killed February 28, 1968, when the helicopter in which he was riding on a recovery mission to Khe Sanh was shot down. He was a Marine sergeant and 21 years old.
Mark Rivest, of Chicopee Falls, was killed on June 4, 1970. A first lieutenant in the Army, he was 24 years old at his death. An article in the May 28, 2007 Republican about Springfield men on the Vietnam Memorial Wall featured Mark’s service as a member of Army Special Forces. Great photo and information. Tom Robinson made a pdf of the article — Mark Rivest-The Republican
The names of these men, of course, are engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. Information was collected from the Virtual Vietnam Veterans Wall of Faces.
If we lost another classmate in Vietnam or during military service, please let us know. And if you knew any of the men named here, we welcome recollections and comments.
Rest in peace, James, Charles, and Mark.