'49ers: Members of St. Gregory’s Grammar School Class of 1949 greeted each other during a Dec. 16 reunion visit to the school building. The school, which is now called the Lower Mills campus of Saint John Paul II Catholic Academy, will be undergo a major renovation project in the new year. Photo courtesy Caitlin Romano/SJPIICA

To the Editor:

On Tuesday, December 16 a couple of dozen “Forty-Niners” and their spouses took a tour of the Saint John Paul II Catholic Academy in Lower Mills, formerly St. Gregory’s Grammar School, from which they graduated in 1949, 65 years ago. The old students, who began their grammar school education 73 years ago under the tutelage of the saintly Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, were guests of the present-day educators and delightful pupils.

The old building at 2220 Dorchester Avenue had not changed too much, but it will shortly, as major renovations are about to begin at the site where tens of thousands of youngsters from Dorchester and surrounding communities received— and are still receiving— their basic training for life and an education unequaled anywhere.

During the tour conducted by the school principal George Milot, the youngest pupils entertained their appreciative predecessors by singing a stirring rendition of “God Bless America” and “Feliz Navidad” that Kate Smith and Jose Feliciano would have envied. The youngsters gave the oldsters a special day they will never forget.

“It was a delightful, very moving visit,” said Paul Kingston, a member of the class of ’49, who noted that his fellow classmates enjoyed lunch in the school’s library and were presented with a poster commemorating their visit. The poster was made by students from the class of 2024.

Among the Forty-Niners in attendance at this reunion were Donald Agnetta, Robert Brooks, Edward Cahalane, Richard Carey, Mary Dwyer Caret, Charles Carroll, Fr. Edwin Condon, Robert Fraser, Barry Hannon, John Hoye, David Lawless, Paul Kingston, Francis Manning, Edward McDonough, Mary Francis Walsh, Judy Minehan Jones, Margaret Cotter Rooney and John Webb.

– Dick Carey