We lost two classmates before they even became juniors.
Fifty-two years ago, on this date, a Thursday then, we awoke and learned, or came to school and found out, that Richard McGurk had died the night before. Richie had been wounded when he and his brother, Raymond, a freshman at Cathedral, were, according to the police, “horsing around” in the family kitchen. It was sad and shocking news, as the headline in the January 18, 1962, Springfield Union shows.
The article, at right (click to enlarge), reported that Richie had died on a Mercy Hospital operating table at 9:29 pm the previous night, less than two hours after he had been stabbed, near the heart. His brother, Ray, the article said, “collapsed from shock following the accident” and was admitted to Mercy Hospital in fair condition.
We didn’t have official grief counselors come to school to help students and teachers in their grief, as is common today. But it is likely that nuns and priests, and fellow students, played that role and likely well. Perhaps there were official gatherings at school at which prayers were said, and prayers said in various classes, but many students probably went through that Thursday and Friday, and then the wake Friday night and funeral Saturday morning, in a daze. Richie’s obit, from the Daily News of January 18, 1952, is above left (click to enlarge).
No mention of Richie’s death appeared in the Cathedral Chronicle, perhaps because of the tragic circumstances and because most everyone knew what had happened. There was, in the September 29, 1961, issue of the Chronicle, a few months earlier, notice of the death of Gerard Plante on August 27 (above right, click to enlarge). The tribute to Gerard bore the rather odd title “Frosh Departs . . .”
Gerard had been hospitalized for several weeks prior to his death. His death, then, was less shocking than that of Richie McGurk’s, but no less sad. As an indication of his pleasure at being a student at Cathedral and a member of our class, he was buried in his uniform blazer.
My mother woke me that morning, earlier than usual, to tell me the news. The radio was my alarm and she didn’t want me to hear the news first on WHYN. I saw the morning paper at breakfast with that headline. I was stunned — the proverbial 2X4 to the forehead. That such an exuberant, vital life was _over_. School that Thursday, and the several days thereafter, with the wake and funeral, I was dazed and numb. I was among his pallbearers and recall we must have been honorary, as the casket would have been too heavy for us. I remember, too, how warm and kind Mr. and Mrs. McGurk were. I was surprised at how much they seemed to care about how _I_ and Richie’s other friends felt when I knew they, and Ray, must have been in such pain. I didn’t know Gerard, but knew people who were close to him and remember still their great sadness at his death.
Rich “Charlie” McGurk’s death is still a vivid memory of my years at CHS. He was such a nice person, fun loving and respectful. He had a ready smile and ready wit. The tragedy of his death and loss of such a neat person was reflected in the mood of that day when we arrived at school and heard the horrible news. For many of us, it was our first, or one of our first, experiences with the death of a person close to us, and perhaps, the death of the only person of our age that we knew. Charlie had been very visible and alive in his his short time at CHS. We had lost another class member shortly before that day, Gerard Plante, during the late summer. Although I did not personally know Gerard, I am sure those that knew Gerard felt similar. The tragic way in which Charlie died added to that difficult time. There had been a school dance shortly before that terrible time and I remember Charlie and how much fun we all had had. His funeral had an unbelievable number of students that attended, most of us in disbelief. It was probably the first time most of us had experienced the death of a peer. The accident was very difficult for many, especially for his family and his brother. Accidents do happen. How very difficult for everyone. I can only imagine the difficulty for his family, a terrible accident, for that is what it was….