Alumni Updates

ARROWS GATHERINGS

Florida Receptions

Following a two year hiatus, the Alumni & Advancement Office headed out on the road again for our annual Florida receptions in Jupiter and Naples over the March break. Bill and Patty Burke, Rich Arms and Mike Melley had the opportunity to spend time with nearly 100 Arrows alumni, parents, grandparents and friends of the extended St. Sebastian’s family. Lori & Ron Peters P’11 graciously hosted the Jupiter Reception at the Loxahatchee Club on March 11 and Trustee Randy and Janet Seidl P’17,’19 welcomed the St. Sebastian’s family to their home in Naples on March 14 (pictured above).

Alumni Lacrosse Game

On May 24, alumni competed in the annual Alumni-Varsity Scrimmage following an awards ceremony to honor Coach Adam White, recipient of USA Lacrosse’s Gerald Carroll Jr. Exemplary Coach Award. In true St. Sebastian’s family spirit, the group included seven combinations of brothers who have all played St. Sebastian’s lacrosse: Tommy ’21 and Paul ’25 Armstrong; Jake ’21 and Griffin ’22 Cusack; John ’19 and Ryan ’25 Farley; Will ’19, Jack ’17, Sam ’21, Ben ’22, and Tedy ’26 Frisoli; Craig ’00 and David ’00 Healy; Nick ’21 and Chris ’24 Merageas; and Mike ’19 and Matt ’23 Swirbalus.

Basketball Reception

On February 26, alumni from across the generations came out to cheer on the Arrows varsity basketball team on Senior Night as they capped off their ISL Championship season with a resounding victory over Saint Paul’s School. Following the game, nearly 25 alumni gathered in Arrows Hall to meet the team and hear from Coach Dave Hinman. St. Sebastian’s all-time leading scorer, John Bean ’85, was present for the game and reception. Bean’s 1,769 career points predated the three-point era and present a formidable challenge for any future Arrows basketball players.

Summer Kickoff Social

Arrows from the Classes of 2004-2018 were invited to Castle Island Brewery in South Boston on June 21 for the Summer Kickoff Social. They were joined by alumni from BB&N, Brooks, Governor’s Academy, St. Mark’s, and Thayer Academy in what is hoped to be an annual event. The social provided a great chance for alumni to reconnect with Seb’s classmates and relive the glory days with ISL rivals, many of whom have become college friends and professional colleagues.

Alumni Reunite on the Links

On Friday, May 20, the Alumni Golf Outing was held at South Shore Country Club in Hingham, MA.

130 alumni, representing every decade from the 1960’s through the 2010’s, participated in the event. The team of Rick ’02 and Andrew ’04 Baker and Tucker ’08 and Robbie ’10 Donahoe successfully defended their title. They have already let it be known they will be back next year looking for the “three-peat.” During the luncheon following golf, Headmaster Bill Burke addressed the group and spoke of the important role the alumni play in the success of the School. It was a beautiful spring day and Arrows in attendance had a great time!

Save the date and line up your foursomes for next year’s Alumni Golf Outing, May 12, 2023.

Celebrating the Life & Legacy of Trustee Emeritus Jim Cotter ’57

On Saturday, May 20, the Cotter family and St. Sebastian’s alumni gathered at the Griffith Headmaster’s House to memorialize former longstanding trustee and member of the Board of Visitors, Jim Cotter ’57, who passed away in April of 2020. The memorial service coincided with what would have been Jim’s 65th Reunion and drew several alumni including Jack Doherty ’62, and Jim’s 1957 classmates Ed O’Donaghue, John Sullivan, and Charlie Monahan. The Cotter family was well represented by Jim’s brothers Bobby and Bill, Bill’s wife Suzy, as well as their three children, Mike Cotter, Chris Cotter, and Lindsay Sullivan.

Headmaster Burke opened the service with a prayer and offered a powerful eulogy befitting a man who impacted his beloved alma mater so much. Having met Jim in the search process that brought him to St. Sebastian’s, Headmaster Burke recalled those early days fondly:

Jim was one of six eminent members of our Arrows family on the St. Sebastian’s Headmaster Search Committee in 1989-1990. So, you see, I was blessed to come to know and love Jim Cotter even before the beginning. And what a great introduction! Clearly an intelligent, energetic, passionate, and inspirational leader totally devoted to his School, Jim drew me in immediately. Here, I believed, was a man from whom I could learn much and with whom I could have an awful lot of fun along the way. Headmaster Burke went on:

The game plan was well established and abundantly clear from well before I showed up: Jim knew who we were, from whence we had come, and where we hoped to go. He understood the finances, clearly, but he also understood a whole lot more. He understood the greatness and importance of St. Sebastian’s spiritual and educational mission. Ours was, had been, and forever must be a Catholic School grounded in the truth gained through faith and reason, a place where every student and every family regardless of financial means could feel comfortable and at home. Jim took great pride in the truth that ours was a School community in which the sheet metal worker and the venture capitalist stood side by side as equals when watching their sons perform on the ice, the courts, the fields, and the stage. Our faith teaches and our daily practice reaffirms that rich or poor, black or white, no person is any better or any worse than another. Rather, we’re all made in the image and likeness of God and called by God to be the best people we can be in body, mind, and spirit, to love God and to love one another.

In conclusion, Headmaster Burke shared this farewell to one of St. Sebastian’s greatest sons:

St. John of the Cross asserts: “In the twilight of our lives all that will matter is how we have loved.” By that measure, by any measure, what a success was and is the life of Jim Cotter!