Photo-A-Day #4578

Today I went back to my college today. From 1997-2001 I was working in Residence Life. For the first two years I was the Assistant Resident Director of one of the dorms. It was there that I worked with Fr. Mathias and Royce Burney. Royce was the custodian of the dorm, but he was much more. He was a humble man who gave advice and support as needed, friendship unconditionally, and a kick in the butt… also when needed. We had many conversations over the years. Royce loved to talk. He really loved to talk. He’s be the guy telling everyone to get to class but if you got caught in a conversation with Royce you were most likely going to be late for class.

Royce passed away on October 7th. I learned about this from a friend on Facebook. I learned that there would be a memorial mass for him at the college. I honestly debated if I should go up and attend. I did so up until I got dressed and into my car to drive to New Hampshire. I am glad that I went.

While I was there I ran into a few people that I worked with in the past. It made me wistful for the time when I was a Residence Hall Director and how much I loved the campus and the people there. I made some wonderful friendships with people and I am glad to see that despite time and losing touch we could still come back together and catch up. It really felt like I had never left. the campus has grown and changed so much but it still retains those special things that made it an amazing place to go for school and then to work.

After the service I spent some time talking with Fr. Mathias and we talked about the kids. I showed him photos of both of them and then said that I couldn’t believe that we’d be looking at St. A’s in 8 years. That realization nearly knocked me on my ass. I couldn’t believe that I was already 15 years out from working at the school and 20 years out from graduating from the school. I couldn’t believe that the son of the Dean of Students, Dr. Horton, was sitting across from me, a grown man who himself had been working at the college for the past 4 years. Time flies, it really does. Fr. Mathias and I talked more and he said, “Do you think the kids would like some Saint A’s sweatshirts?” I told him that it was okay he didn’t have to get them for the kids but he insisted and so we went to the bookstore and picked out a couple of sweatshirts for the kids. They loved them.

Thanks F.r Mathias!