Editor's Note: Postscript is a new department that will reflect back on previous magazine stories. Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, BCM invited readers to send remembrances of alumni lost that day to its Web site, www.bc.edu/bcm. The invitation remains open. Here are excerpts.

John Doherty '66

I read with sadness the notice of John Doherty. I had not seen nor spoken to John in many years, but we worked together for awhile in 1973, when I [was] a marketing trainee for Commercial Union (CU) in Lower Manhattan. Our office was on John Street, not very far from the just completed World Trade Center. I arrived from Boston, not really knowing anyone.

John was a commercial underwriter for CU at that time. He heard that a Boston boy had started so he sought me out to say hello. John was from Medford, I was from West Roxbury. Quickly we discovered we had BC as a common background, as well as our Boston roots. Just as quickly we became friends, and we would join others at the office and, a few nights each week, take part in the nightlife Manhattan offered. Many times we would go out and paint the town red (sometimes two coats) but we were young, single, and were in a great place. John was quiet but had a great sense of humor. He was very smart and very kind. He was just fun to be around.

I was glad to see he was married and had a family. My condolences to his wife and two daughters.

Ray Beattie '71

Tom Fitzpatrick '87

Tom's enduring friendships with his BC classmates were evident at his memorial service in New York in September. More than 30 BC colleagues were in attendance, and countless others have reached out to his family.

Personally, I will remember Tom as: another native New Yorker from the other Jesuit high school in New York City ¥ my next door neighbor from Duchesne West, who I met on my first day at BC ¥ the roommate who lived with me for the next three years and shared so many college memories ¥ the friend who grew closer long after we graduated ¥ the connection that enabled me to know his wife, Marianne, and his children, Brendan and Caralyn ¥ the person I talked to almost weekly on the phone right up until September 11th.

James McEleney '87

Dan Mcneal '94

I knew Dan McNeal from several activities at BC, including the Fulton Debating Society and the Residence Hall Association, and as a fellow resident associate with the housing office. I will always remember Dan as what we hope the prototypical Boston College student will be: intelligent, with the ability to communicate the fruits of that intelligence to others; studious, with the ability to understand that there are as many valuable experiences to be had outside the classrooms at BC as there are inside. Dan was always proud and happy to be a BC student, and I am sure that he remained a happy, proud BC alum.

Before I graduated, Dan gave me a biography of a famous trial lawyer, which I have always kept with me in my office. When I found out about Dan's passing, I retrieved that book and once again turned to read the message he had written inside the cover page. When he wrote it, the words were meant to wish me well on my way from BC. I now rewrite what he wrote to me, to return those wishes to Dan and his family in this troubled time: "May the sun shine warm upon your face, may the wind be always at your back, and may God hold you in the palm of his hand. . . ."

Dave Dering '92

Loyola Blakefield High School in Towson, Maryland, is home to the Dons. Technically, a "Don" is a "Spanish lord or nobleman," but at the all-male school it is the embodiment of the Jesuit ideal: a man for others. In 1986, I came to Loyola a scared, lonely freshman. I don't remember the first time I met Dan McNeal, because he was the type of guy who made you feel like you'd known him all your life after speaking with him for five minutes. "Dan the Man," as we called him, was a true Don, a class leader, extremely competitive, a shoo-in for every student government position for which he ran, but always modest. On campus, he was everywhere, breathless on some important errand but always able to stop, smile, and make a witty remark. Dan followed the stock market, and the Wall Street Journal was often under his arm. While many of us slacked by keeping our ties loose, barely buttoning our top shirt buttons, Dan tied his tie in a full Windsor knot and wore a tie clip. He told me once, "If I'm going to tie a tie, I might as well do it the right way."

He and I were the only two from Loyola's class of 1990 to attend Boston College. Now more than ever I will follow in his footsteps, as a man for others. I will be modest and giving. I will work hard, laugh often, do it right, hold the door for people, and tie my tie in a full Windsor knot.

Alex Houston '94

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