From the President

Thomas W. Lynch, Class of ’73

Dear Fellow Alumni,
It is that time again, April, the Annual Banquet of the Leo Alumni Association, following
the tradition first established in February of 1955. This event is the backbone of the
Alumni Association’s major fundraising efforts, and a very clear display of the camaraderie
which exists among our Alumni. Alumni support for the Banquet and the related events has always been very strong. It reflects well on the entire experience of Leo High School that
so many of our alumni support the school so heavily after “so many years”. It is all part of the fact that Leo Alumni are more than an ordinary group of men. I was recently reviewing some of the archival material maintained by the Alumni Association. Among the items was the 1976 “Golden Jubilee” edition of the Banquet Book. The book contains an article on the Leo High School Hall of Fame and provides a list of 24 names which the article indicates is the list of the Hall of Fame members to that date. The current group of archivists of the Alumni records, a small, but thorough group, may have a correction or two for the list, but I believe it is substantially accurate. Looking at that group of names, if you knew, or took a minute to review their individual achievements, you would understand they are an exceptional group. Selecting a small sampling of the names, the list begins with “A”; James C. Arneberg, we know of his distinguished service on Guam and Okinawa and that he was a revered coach at Leo. Thomas P. Driscoll M.D., a selfless physician who contributed his service to many on the south side, and who, among his contributions to Leo, acted as the physician for Leo athletes without charge for many years. Gen. Thomas P. Gerrity, U.S.A.F., Silver Star recipient, (you can look up his “Wikipedia” page), Thomas A. Murphy, President and Chairman of General Motors when it was the world’s largest corporation, Charles A. Reinke, dedicated Leo teacher who served the school for 45 years. The list ends with “S”, the Rev. Msgr Peter R. Shrewbridge, a major force behind the establishment of Leo High School, who was among the leaders of the procession of approximately five thousand people, held back in 1926 that circled the school 4 times, consecrating the school for future use by Leo Students. The list includes the accomplished, the dedicated and the just plain hard working. At this year’s banquet we are honoring eleven individuals with various Leo awards. That number may seem like a lot, it isn’t. There was close competition for all of the spots and we left many of this year’s qualified nominees out. There are a lot of great Leo men. As you will be able to see by their biographies in the pages which follow, the eleven honorees are exceptional individuals. They each, in their own way, readily carry on the great tradition of Leo High School through their actions every day, and we are proud to have them as our fellow Leo Men. Leo High School was a factor in the lives of the 24 individuals named on the 1976 list of Leo Honorees and it has been a factor in producing the 11 individuals we are honoring this year as well as all of the Leo men who conduct themselves so exceptionally in society every day. We are looking forward to seeing you all at this year’s banquet and at Leo events  in the future.

Thanks for your continuing support. It is a great school.

Tom Lynch ‘73