Charlie Smith (Smitty)

Bill: You suggested that we comment on a Fordham teacher that influenced our way of thinking and our lives. If no one will be bored by my reminisences, I'd like to recall Dr. Gabe Liegey of the English Department. I'm not quite sure how he managed to cope with all his teaching duties, since, in addition to his graduate and undergraduate courses at Fordham, he taught at Marymount, Tarrytown and Columbia University, or so I was told.

However he managed it, he was, by far, the biggest influence on my life in English Literature in my college career. This is no knock on Frank Connolly and the others who maneuvered me through the glories of our native tongue. It is simply my recogniton of the fact that he made the literature of England before Shakespeare come alive in a way that has stayed with me ever since. He had the reputation of being a tough man from whom to get a good grade and, as a result, his courses in Medieval English Lit and Chaucer were not over-populated. But I don't think that those of us who took those courses will ever forget, either him, or the fire that he lit under both the literature and us. He exposed to us the world of the Middle Ages and I gained a love of, not only medieval literature, but medieval history and life, that has been an avocation and a passion for me ever since. It certainly has not been profitable in any material sense, but that hardly matters. I think that my view of both the XX and the XXI Centuries and my attempts to lead a Catholic life and raise a Christian family have been deeply influenced by what he taught and what he was. Neil Maloney and Bernie McNulty, who shared his courses with me, are sadly gone, but if there is anyone else from that group who remembers Dr. Liegey, I'd love to hear their thoughts and comments, good or bad They might think that I've had one martini too many. As always, regards to Alma and all the best to both of you. If I survive to 2010, I'll be at the 55th Reunion just to show off. Smitty

Tim Sheehan nominates:

Bill, This is a great innovation ... I often think of Matthews, S.J., Donceel, S.J., McNally, S.J., Remini, A. Paul Levack as being men who influenced me at a time when I was absolutely certain that I knew everything and that no one could influence me ... the first three instilled in me a regard for the Mass and what it means that I have retained everyday of my life without exception. The last day of class Joe Donceel said, "Remember that every day of your lives someone is saying a prayer for you and I am that one." Father Matthews and I came to be very close and his subtelties were an unrealized, at the time, influence on my life. Father McNally was so bright and yet so instructive that he instilled in me a life long admiration of the himan intellect, although unfortunately, I never had the equipment to make an intellectual difference in much, if not most, of what has gone on in my life. Bob Remini and Paul Levack were great history teachers. Levack was a great wit as well ... Remini was always an inspiration to attempt to be better than I was ... I also had a great Chemistry professor, Leo Yanowski.