By Maurice ‘Mossy’ Martin
On Veterans Day, Nov.11, the Mission Hill Post 327 will honor our veterans at Brigham Circle at 1 p.m.
Our Mission Hill Post Commander George Rollins will preside over the ceremony, and all are welcome to this noble event.
“One flag, one land, one heart and one nation,” said Bostonian Oliver Wendell Holmes, who served during the Civil War following the attack on Fort Sumter.
As usual, Maria from Mike’s Donuts will provide hot coffee and fresh donuts.
Our annual M.H. Post Christmas party will be held Dec. 7 at Victory Point Restaurant in Quincy.
Randace Rauscher, who works in the Executive Office of Veteran Services as Director of External Affairs, received the Visionary Award from V.A. Secretary Jon Santiago last month in a ceremony at the State House.
Randace is a dear friend who lives in Jamaica Plain, and she is deserving of this coveted award. Her dedication to veterans goes beyond the call of duty.
Boston had a love affair with Louie Tiant, and the Mission Hill community also cherished Tiant, who died last month at his home in Maine.
Tiant, the former great Red Sox pitcher, brought joy to the Hill kids when he was guest speaker at the 1976 Mission Hill Little League banquet.
I got to meet Tiant a few times when he visited Ed Burke’s Tavern, and I was invited to Tiant’s home in Milton with a handful of Mission Hill guys, including Felix Fernandez, who was Louis’ childhood friend from Havana, Cuba.
Louie was gracious and a wonderful man. It’s unfathomable that Tiant, who hurled 187 complete games and incredibly once threw four consecutive shutouts (with Cleveland in 1968) wasn’t elected to the Hall of Fame.
Condolences to the family of Margie McCann, a likeable woman with a gifted sense of humor who passed away last month.
The McCanns lived next to me at Tobin Court in the M.H. project, and they are a terrific family. Margie’s dad, John McCann, was a talented shortstop who played on the famous 1944 C.Y.O. baseball team that played at Fenway Park and Braves Field en route to the State Championship.
R.I.P., Margie.
Sylvia Dowling will celebrate her birthday in a few weeks (Nov. 21).
Sylvia, my neighbor at Charlesbank Apartments, is a nice lady, always cheerful and willing to lend a hand.
Paul Fitzgerald, Mission High ’78 grad, celebrated his 64th birthday Oct. 20.
Paul has been a dedicated worker in Environmental Services at the New England Baptist Hospital for 46 years.
The N.E.B.H. is a great place to work, and I enjoyed the wonderful people there when I cheerfully swung a mop for five years before my retirement.
I was saddened to hear of the death of Mission Hill icon, Mike Foley, last week.
Mike grew up in the Mission Hill project, and he was a great basketball player on the tremendous Mission High teams in the early ‘60s.
A brilliant student, Mike graduated from Harvard in 1967 and became successful in real estate.
As a youngster hanging around the basketball courts with Mike, I learned a great deal about basketball and about life. Mike was a great role model. He was the kind of guy you’d want your daughter to marry..
It was nice seeing John “Ogo” Owens last month at the Corrib in West Roxbury.
Ogo is a talented singer and entertainer who has delighted Mission Hill crowds for decades. Ogo’s close friend, drummer Frank Dwyer, was also in that Mission Hill band.
Frank and I played on the famous Winnie’s Pub softball team, and he also was the Mission Hill stat representative in the early ‘70s..
Occasionally, I stop in the Pleasant Cafe in Roslindale, and I’ll chat with my favorite waitress, Maureen “Moe” Shaughnessy.
Old Time local boxing fans may remember Moe’s father, Bob “Trigger” Shaughnessy from Mission Hill who was the New England Featherweight Champ back in the ‘60′.
Maurice can be reached at [email protected]