Sunday, September 21st, 2025. 4:32 AM. The last day of the Summer of ’25.
This Will Seem Like an Odd Writing
I suppose
It’s about a time of long ago – 59 years ago . . .
An Address To:
All Our Graduating Classmates of 8th Grade
At
St. Charles School
In
June of 1966
I couldn’t have said this to all of you back then – 59 years ago – when we were about 14 years old. I couldn’t have put it into words. I wasn’t even consciously aware of it at that time. But now, at almost 74, and looking back through all these years of growing up and now slowing down and growing quiet I can at least write it down for all our class and all our teachers – beginning with Sister Mary Carlene in first grade in September of 1958. First, I want to say that I’m so sorry we won’t be entering 9th grade together for one last year of being classmates. It would have been wonderful to be the only class on the 3rd floor of our old red-brick schoolhouse. Remember that upper floor ? The auditorium was up there. And the school library was there, too. We would have had all that quiet floor to ourselves. And what a view out the windows we would have enjoyed of Earle Street and the schoolyard way down below! Yes, it would have been a long walk up all those flights of stairs to reach our upper classroom; but, at 14 years old, we could have easily done it.
I still remember Ann Emidy sitting just to my left in our 8th grade classroom. In June of our last year and last month together, she said to me, “I won’t be seeing you again.” And Eileen O’Gara sitting right behind me in the row near the windows overlooking our schoolyard and at the front of Sister William Mary’s classroom. I wish Eileen Gaouette had stayed with our class. I think she and her family moved away after first grade. She was as pretty as Shirley Temple – maybe even prettier. Eileen O’Gara, who joined our class in September of 1961 in 4th grade was also very pretty. And she lived on one of the prettiest streets in Woonsocket, Rhode Island – Glen Road in the North End. During summer vacations I would ride my bike there – with John Scibak and my brother, Dale — that’s how I first noticed how beautiful Glen Road was and how peaceful it felt to be there.
A Story Title:
“Eileen of Green Glen in the Meadows of Mark’s Imaginings”
The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond – Ella Roberts
The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond – Ella Roberts – YouTube Music
When I walk on Cass Avenue to visit my own old neighborhood of Sweet Avenue, I notice the old Quonset hut behind a house that faces Sweet Avenue — where Eileen and her older brother Ronald Gaouette had lived. My dad used to give them a ride to school in the morning with my sister Lesley and me. And I feel so sorry that I never saw them again after first grade. Recently, I went near that vacant Quonset hut and stopped and thought of them. I felt so sorry that I didn’t try to become friends with her – Eileen Gaouette. I was only 7 years old. I didn’t know anything about anything.
Maybe, someday . . . we will all see each other again – in the new heavens and new earth that is prophesied to come for believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ according to The Holy Scriptures of The Bible.
I’d like to try to remember the names of our classmates.
Thomas Whalen, Michael Leja, Richard Leja, John Scibak, Lorriane Dubois, Paula Pierredominici, Robert Henault and his sister Margaret Henault, Patricia Lavellee, Barbara Bland, Gary Metz, Paula Sereby, Marilyn Menard, Christine Senecal, Thomas Aquinas Murtaugh, Richard (Buzzy) Dunn, Lee Lareau, [I’m feeling like crying and also some joy as I write these names] Eileen Gaouette, Eileen O’Gara, Dennis Rapko, Richard Macedo, Charles Switzer, Gordon Tempest, Debbie Hunt, Steven McGale, Kenneth Cluart. In the 8th grade there were two Sawyer boys. They may have been twins. And Rose Marie LaRoche. And her brother Raymond LaRoche. My dad gave them a ride to school, too. And Jane Staudinger. And Nancy Laffey. And Ann Emidy. And William Roberge. Steven Scobey. Edward Berry. Linda Belisle. Timothy Manning. Vincent O’Rouke. Nancy Rock. Susan Veins. Peter Reynolds. ____ Tryhubczak. Geraldine Martin. Karen Coffey. Robert Cauley. Glen Padden. Kelin Putnam. Margaret Callanan. Wayne Bousquet and John Gendron and Glen Beattie. Beverly Biodis. Donna Tremonti. Denise Lemek. Was Kevin McKenna a student in our class ?
Our Teachers
Sister Mary Carlene, Sister Mary Theodora, Sister Mary Florita, Sister Mary Dannette, Mrs. Martin Crowley, Sister Mary Antonius, Sister Mary Bertha, Sister Mary Joakim, Sister Miriam-Ann and Sister William Mary. In 4th grade we also had a second lay teacher. I’m sorry, I don’t recall her name; but I remember her. And Sister Mary Hanora was our first Principal. Sister Mary Joakim was our second Principal – and she came to our 6th-grade classroom every day and taught us English. And the 9th-grade teacher, Sister Mary Elaine, came to our 7th-grade classroom every school day to teach us Literature. The first or second story in our textbook was “The Red Apple.” And the main characters in the story were a sister and brother named Amy and Mark. I wish I could recall more about that story. I have a vague idea that the author was named Robert Hager. I’m not certain about that.
There were more than 60 students in our first-grade class. My mother told me this. Imagine, Sister Mary Carlene having to check all our homework! She was and will always be our blessed First-Grade School Mom – forever and ever. I love all of you – including the ones I can’t recall now. I’m trying to remember the name of a girl in our class who was so quiet that a few years ago I was remembering her and her name, too. But now, her name is also being quiet in my memory. I was thinking that she was so quiet that I wasn’t sure I ever heard her say a single word in all 8 years of us being a class together. I’m going to hold off posting this writing for a while – to give me more time to remember her. I really want to include her and her name in this memoire of our class at St. Charles School – 1958-1966.
I just remembered her name:
Mary Brown.
Maybe . . . in the new heavens and new earth that are coming to be in True God’s Plan for Eternity . . . Mary Brown will be given a voice and an ability from True God to tell us all many wonderful things that we never thought of in all our human lives — until Christ’s Second Coming and the Glorious Regeneration of All Things in God’s love for those who truly believe in Him and are faithfully awaiting His Return.
Maybe Mary Brown will be given a new name —
Mary Madonna
Revelation 2: 17 ESV
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”
Revelation 1-4 ESV
Revelation 1-4 ESV – Prologue – The revelation of Jesus – Bible Gateway
On Fridays, the second-grade class came into our classroom in the afternoon with their chairs; and we all sang songs together. I’ll always remember one of them: Waltzing Matilda.
At 7 years old I had no idea what the meaning of that song was – only a vague wondering about who Matilda was. She sounded like a very impressive person. And I also had no idea about the word waltzing, either – and yet, I never forgot that song. It was a heart-toucher to the heart of a little boy who didn’t know anything. Even now I don’t know anything. I’m only a believer in and on our Lord and Savior, the only-begotten Son of God — Jesus Christ.
I don’t know much about dancing, either.
Anne Murray + Could I Have This Dance + Lyrics/HQ
Anne Murray + Could I Have This Dance + Lyrics/HQ – YouTube
Maybe in the new heavens and new earth I’ll learn how to dance.
When It’s All Been Said and Done (Robin Mark) – Lyric Video
When It’s All Been Said and Done (Robin Mark) – Lyric Video – YouTube
I guess it’s understandable that people don’t want to cry – especially in public. And I guess it’s also understandable that no one wants to have their heart broken; but what if a broken heart is only half the story ? What if a broken heart is really a breaking open heart – like a seed that must break open for it to sprout into something more and greater than it could ever be if it stayed unbroken ? Maybe that’s what being born again is really all about.
God’s Way Of Salvation (John 3:16)
Gospel Tract – God’s Way of Salvation (John 3:16) – Moments With The Book
The Rapture
Gospel Tract – The Rapture – Moments With The Book
What is Meant by the Rapture?
Tract For Believers – What is Meant by the Rapture? – Moments With The Book
“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” -Jesus Christ. [Matthew 10:26 ESV Study Bible].
Matthew 10
Matthew 10 ESV – The Twelve Apostles – And he called to – Bible Gateway
Luke 10-15: 25 ESV
Luke 10-15:25 ESV – Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two – After – Bible Gateway
Mark's Imaginings 