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Richard Dias
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A Fun Retirement Project Posted Wednesday, April 13, 2011 12:37 PM
After 41.8 years of work in Aerospace Engineering, I retired on April 1st 2009. As many will discover one has to find worthwhile things to do. Travel is OK but it does not occupy 24/7 hours of life. So besides travelling to Disneyland in Anaheim, CA 1-1/2 hours from our home and Las Vegas, a 1 hour flight, I decided to attempt to locate some of my old high school and New Bedford friends. Now that I have reached this junction, I can say that it has been great fun and very rewarding. I have actually managed to locate and talk to over 50 New Bedford friends ranging from Ottiwell Elementary School Classmates to old north end neighborhood friends. Some are still working and planning for retirement themselves. As many of you may already know I have no inhibitions about how I will be received when I call to say hello. Philosophy says that the comment is never on me for calling but on the person I am taking the time to say hello to after 56 years. I am happy to say that my old friends were not only surprised but quite happy to hear from us. Some are still very busy with family and their own priorities. Life does not deal everyone a fair hand as we all have matured to learn. But my objective is to be generous with my good luck at this late stage in life and bring back some fond memories of our past. So if that is what it is all about then this is why I wanted to document and post this.
I always had fond memories of our 6th grade teacher Miss Magardo. Perhaps because she was the youngest teacher we had and she was also Portuguese like me. We were her first class at Ottiwell after she graduated from college.
My search led me to Robert Costa who was in my 6th grade. Robert was an excellent drummer and friend. He and I were actually asked to be part of a talent show. He played his drums and I played my Harmonica and Castanets (not Conchos). (smile) Robert shared with me that he thought Miss Magardo was still living in New Bedford has he had seen her 2 years earlier at the Mogardo Nursery in Dartmouth. But now my confusion sets in. I had remembered all these years that her name was Magardo but now could it be that it was actually Mogardo? I called the nursery and spoke to a young lady who was Mrs. Mogardo’s daughter-in-law. After learning that I might be an old student of hers she gave me her son’s phone number. I called Mrs. Mogardo and found her to be very pleasant and that she had taught at Ottiwell. But she taught Kindergarten and it became clear that she was not the Miss Magardo I remembered. Then to my surprise, she confided that she knew Miss Magardo and that they actually best of friends at Ottiwell. She also mentioned that Miss Magardo had married Don Fernandes and lived in Coatesville, PA. So I had to talk to Mrs. Mogardo to find Miss Magardo after learning that they knew each other well. How strange is that?
So I called Mrs. Rosemary Fernandes in Coatesville and not only did she remember me but she was quite happy that I had called. I soon learned that they had one son Joseph and Joseph and his wife were in the Music Business. He and his wife had actually sponsored an entry in the Tournament of Roses New Years Day Parade in Pasadena, CA. The band was from Downington, PA High School. It was not easy to fly out a 300+ student band to Pasadena in bad east coast winter weather. Many of their flights had been cancelled. For a time, it seemed like they had practiced all year for nothing but they finally made it. New Year’s Day we all watched the annual parade and their band was awesome. Later, I learned that Rosemary enjoys cooking and entertaining and so we have traded recipes. In a recent trip to New Bedford in late 2010 she called some of the 6th grade contacts I had given her. She and Don were invited to dinner at one of our classmate’s house. That classmate has to respectfully be kept confidential. They had a nice reunion and tasty dinner and then called me. It made my day to hear that I had contributed to that happy reunion asfter all these years. Rosemary, Don and I remain good friends and we talk now and then. I love their Mozambique Shrimp and Clam Dip recipes.
There was only one other person more difficult to find than Rosemary and that was my old Vocational High School friend George Theberge. He is a retired corrections officer. Their personal information is always unlisted so I cannot divulge where he is, or how I found him. But he is retired and we are in touch and he is doing quite well.
I can tell you that we had a really good laugh when I reminded him that I thought he was the one who taken a bite out of a huge apple that was decorating our math teacher's (Mr. Phillip’s) desk in our Sr. Year. At first George laughed and denied that caper but then after almost 50 years of mystery he laughed and owned up to the fact that he was the one. George and Mr. Phillips were great friends. I am sure that Mr. Phillips would be laughing even now. But he would have made George eat the whole apple.
One last memory; Rosemary never forgot Russell Sobral and his catching a pigeon at the Common Park in Boston during our 6th grade bus trip to the museums. Russell wanted to bring it home on the bus. But that is Russell’s story to share with us for another day.
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Dave Medeiros
 Joined: 12/05/09 Posts: 131 View Profile |
RE: A Fun Retirement Project Posted Wednesday, April 13, 2011 03:42 PM It would be great if you could get Russ Sobral to attend the group lunch on April 29. He is not registered on the website and I have not been in contact with him for years ... Thanks! |
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Richard Dias
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RE: A Fun Retirement Project Posted Wednesday, April 13, 2011 09:35 PM Russell lives in Acushnet and has a law practice in NB. We live near San Diego. So it's a little more difficult to get him pinned down. Rosemary Fernandes was also unable to get a hold of him in her recent trip to N.B. in '010 I have attempted to contact him but all I hear is that his health is not good. That has been his story since 1973 when he assisted my brother with a legal contract problem. I would say if he is still working he should be able to see his old friends. I believe I sent him a similar story to his house to the one posted and got no reply. If I was in NB I would show up at his house on a Sat afternoon with a bottle of wine. I bet that would work. :) Good Luck! Thank you for reading my post. Rick
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