SBA Reflection
I went to Orland, Maine, in 1995 and 1996 and participated in the Urban Plunge weekend trips to Newark, N.J.
Both years in Maine were unforgettable, especially the second. A few who were returning for a second year talked about one of the carpenters, Clint, we met the year before. He was very cold toward us at first, but by the end of the week he would join us for lunch and he became a part of the group. The second year, he immediately warmed to us and joined us for dinner a few nights and really welcomed us.
That second year, we also met a woman named Reggy, from Eastern Europe, who had gone to Orland to escape an abusive relationship and make a better life for her children. She was also slow to warm to our group, but as the week continued, she began to join us for prayer—she laughed and cried with us and became one of the crew.
Upon graduating from Saint Anselm, I went to Chicago for a year of volunteer work and continued to stay in touch with Reggy. In 1998, I invited Reggy to my wedding, not thinking she would attend or that she could afford it. Reggy cashed in aluminum cans and saved $60 to pay for a bus ticket to New Jersey. She came early and was an incredible part of our wedding. I unfortunately lost touch with her a few years ago, but will never forget my experience in Orland.
These trips are life changing and have really led to my continued work in social services and helping those less fortunate than us. Saint Anselm opened that chapter in my life and it’s still being written almost 10 years later.
Dan McVay ’96
Portraits in Afghanistan
In June 2004, I was operating with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit in Afghanistan. The area we were working, the Oruzgan Province, is approximately 70 miles north of Kandahar. The mission we were performing was twofold: (1) provide security to the United Nations while they conducted voter registration and (2) defeat Taliban forces that had been threatening the local populace.
Our higher headquarters was working in Kandahar with an army unit from Hawaii. Their deputy commander was Brigadier General Bernard Champoux, class of 1976.
General Champoux flew in to visit our headquarters on the same day we received our mail (the first we had received in about two weeks). In this mail I received my alumni update Portraits.
When I read the general’s biography and noticed he was an Anselmian, I volunteered to pick up the general at the landing zone and provide escort for the day.
When the general landed and he got in my Hummer I placed the Portraits in his hand. You can imagine his surprise to see a fellow Anselmian in such an austere location.
Mike Brown ’88, Lt. Col. USMC
Remembering Fr. Michael
It was such a pleasure to read, in your Summer/Fall edition, the article about Fr. Michael Custer. I have fond memories of my association with him during the 1946-47 academic year.
It may be correct to date his chairmanship of the chemistry department from 1945, but the fact is that he returned from military service only in the summer of 1946. Fr. George was the only teacher in that department when he had a heart attack at the end of 1945. I was recruited, by Fr. Stephen Parent, then registrar, to replace him. And so, I was the only person on the staff of the department from January 1945 until Fr. Michael’s return, when he took over from me the organic and analytical courses while I retained the general course for the next academic year.
My contribution barely merits an asterisk in Saint Anselm’s history, but I hope that some of my students, (including such future science teachers as Armand Bibeau, Bob Normandin and Bill Varkas) might remember it, and I wonder if Fr. Michael does.
Marcel E. Lavoie, Ph.D. ’40