Pride Christmas 2012 - St. Dominic High School

Christmas 2012Windy City ReviewMy experience at St. Dominic High School was one of satisfaction and warmth. Growing up on the SouthShore of Long Island, I had never even heard of Oyster Bay. Upon arriving on the campus in the fall of1968, I immediately felt at home and knew I had made the right decision to attend.What amazes me about my experience is the contacts I have made through the years with classmates tofurther my business interests and the friendships that have sustained the passage of time.Taps Gallagher ‘71There are two types of people in this world, those that do the work and those that take the credit. St.Dominic graduates are in the first group and always will be.It was a pleasure meeting with you and the other St. Dominic alumni a few weeks ago. You certainly area very engaging and dedicated representative of the school. I appreciate your effort to reach out to alumsaround the country to reinvigorate our connection to the school. It was a fun evening as well.Edward J. Duffy ‘56Thanks to your hospitality, I came away from the gathering with refreshed memories of my years at St.Dominic. It is certainly true that living in the midwest makes a continued connection with the school andmany of my classmates much more difficult. I especially miss the chance to maintain friendships with myteammates on the football, baseball, and basketball teams - very talented athletes like John Soviero, JohnPurcell, Vince Conforti, and many others. It would have been fun to hash over the experiences with ourold coaches – Davis, Mazur, and who could forget “Duckie” Roanan (who as I recall was a tight end forthe Syracuse Orange Bowl team in the early fifties.).The “classical” education I received at St. Dominic provided a strong foundation for my personal life and my career. It enabled meto be accepted at Notre Dame, where I graduated in 1961 with a degree in architecture. It also contributed to a life long interest inlearning, especially in literature and the arts.The guidance I received from the counseling staff had a strong influence on my path in life. As a senior, I was thinking of an educationin liberal arts, but several sisters suggested that my abilities in art and math matched up well with architecture. Their personalinterest helped me choose a successful and rewarding life path – as an architect, and as a graduate of a great University. (My seniorLiterature teacher didn’t agree. I remember him advising me that during the depression, unemployed architects were running theelevators, and the literature profs were still teaching at their colleges. With today’s recessionary construction economy, he was almostright.)On a personal note, I am very happily married and semi retired. My former wife and I had 4 great kids. My daughter Karen, asuccessful investment banker, died suddenly 2 years ago and left a beautiful 5 year old child whom she adopted from Kazakhstan 2years earlier. She was a great loss.I moved from New York to the Chicago suburbs of Aurora/Naperville in the late 60’s. I have had a successful architectural firm since1970, designing a wide variety of projects, with emphasis on institutional and religious building types; everything from churchesto court houses, many of which received awards for design excellence. Church projects were the most demanding and the mostrewarding. Our projects strove to blend the character of traditional churches with a strong post Vatican II contemporary design.The St. Dominic and Notre Dame ethic helped me develop a strong commitment to give back to the community. My activitiesincluded parish church council, Chamber of Commerce Board member, and leadership in State and local Architectural associations.I was also active in several community arts and theatre programs.The next time I am visiting my brother and family in Centerport, I will make a strong effort to visit the school. It appears that therehave been big changes in recent years. Love to see the new athletic fields – which replaced the weeds and gravel field next to theschool which we practiced on.Best wishes to you, and to the continuing success of Saint Dominic.12PRIDE | Saint Dominic Newsletter