Happy Anniversary, Walt!

Tonight Loyola House celebrated our most distinguished resident's 70th year as a Jesuit. Father Walt Farrell entered the Society right out of Cleveland's St. Ignatius High School in 1934 and went on to illustrious service as a philosophy professor and rector at West Baden, provincial superior of the Detroit Province, president of the United States Jesuit Conference. At 88, he still works full-time as Detroit Province Treasurer and has much more energy than most of the twentysomethings who predominate at the novitiate. Always humble in spite of his many accomplishments, Walt insisted that his anniversary celebrations be as simple as possible, and so the community marked the milestone with Mass, dinner and a brief musical program put on by some of the novices. Walt's older brother Jim, also a Jesuit, attended and shared numerous anecdotes, many of which touched on Walt's less widely known achievements as a baseball player. Jonathan and Ryan played music and Kevin took pictures; if we're lucky, they may post accounts to complement my own meager reporting of the evening's events. In short, a great celebration of a great Jesuit. And now I'm off to see whether the Sox can keep up the good work against the Cardinals by beating them on their own turf. Go Sox, Keep the Faith, AMDG.