Hill Happenings

Courtesy Photo--Local nurse Patrick Loughran sits with a child patient in Ghana in November.

I’m proud of my Mission Hill neighbor, Patrick Loughran, a cardiac intensive care nurse at Children’s Hospital. Patrick spent the first two weeks of November in Ghana, Africa providing medical care and tutoring to the world’s poorest. A team of 20 doctors and nurses from Children’s and Mass. General Hospital provided care for children under adverse conditions.

“We performed 14 operations,” said Patrick. “Some of the operations were delayed until we were sure we’d have electricity.”

Patrick also enjoyed giving the African children some toys. Patrick is the proud son of Mission High School graduates Patrick “Pitta” Loughran and Rene Loughran.

 

Happy birthday to my favorite schoolteacher, Jesse Barry (Dec. 5). The lovely Jesse teaches at the Maurice J. Tobin School.

 

A cheerful Mission Hill crowd gathered at the Elks Lodge in West Roxbury last month for a surprise 50th birthday party for Ellen Saucier. Ellen, a Mission High School graduate, is a lovely woman with a big heart and is gifted in the art of conversation. Ellen’s mother, also named Ellen Saucier, attended the party. By the long arm of coincidence, mother and daughter were both born on Nov. 22. Fine work by Jeannine Barry for baking the terrific cake.

 

God bless Sister Mary Evangelus O’Brien, SSND, who passed away Oct. 31 at the Mother House in Wilton, Conn. Sister Evangelus lived in Mission Hill as a young girl, and she taught at Mission High School from 1963 until her retirement in 1989. John Clifford, an altar server at Mission Church, has fond memories of Sister Evangelus. John reminisced with me about accompanying Sister Evangelus on bus trips to the Reagle Music Theatre in Waltham for the Nativity Pageant.

 

Congrats to newlyweds Michael Condon and his beautiful bride, Nicole Condon, who married Oct. 11 in an old-fashioned celebration at Old Sturbridge Village. Nicole is the daughter of Marion “Tootsie” McCarthy from the Mission Hill projects. I visited Marion, my Mission High classmate, on Thanksgiving, and she gets an A-plus for her cooking skills. I also like her new moon boots.

Michael Condon, incidentally, is the bartender at The Crossing (formerly Curtin’s Tavern). I stopped by The Crossing last week and enjoyed the Tuesday night Cornhole Tournament while sipping a Bud Light draft. A beanbag full of corn is hurled across the bar at a slab of wood with holes. It’s the closest thing to indoor horseshoes. The most accurate corn-thrower was “King” Solomon, a local cab driver.

 

Idle thought: I was chatting with Sara, a resident of Hillside Street, in JP last week, and Sara was complaining about the modern-day “wimpy men.”

“Nowadays, these guys can’t even change a flat tire,” said Sara.

Perhaps it’s the product of too much time playing video games instead of getting their hands dirty.

 

Several Misson Hill folks attended the Catholic Memorial-B.C. High football game on Thanksgiving morning at Catholic Memorial. At halftime, the football field was dedicated to Catholic Memorial’s longtime football coach and Athletic Director Jim O’Connor. Jim is a Mission High School graduate, class of 1954.

 

There was a terrific story in the Boston Herald last month, written by Joe Fitzgerald, about George Brennan, who coached the Mission Hill Little League for half a century. George, now 77, is living at Edelweiss Village, an assisted living home at 2220 Centre St. in West Roxbury. George, who grew up on McGreevey Way in the Mission Hill projects, says hello to the Mission Hill folks, and he welcomes visitors. I visited George last month, and we reminisced about the old days of the Little League, when we played at the Smith Street Playground. I fondly recall playing on Wednesday evenings, when I could hear Fr. Manton’s booming voice saying the Novena at nearby Mission Church.

 

Spotted at the Harney Golf Club last week was former Mission Hill resident Ginny Mullin. Ginny was driving the ball with skilled precision from the middle of the fairway. A graduate of Mission Hill School and Emmanuel College, Ginny is currently the assistant director of academic resources at Emmanuel.

 

Merry Christmas!

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