May 15, 2014

Black & White Buzz: Summer 2014

Timothy M. Hudson '93
Timothy M. Hudson ’93

IN DEATH, Timothy M. Hudson, Esq. ’93 gave life to loved ones and strangers. Three days after the perfectly healthy, athletic alumnus was suddenly stricken, he died last August in New York City, where he lived and worked. When this happened, he donated his heart, liver, corneas, pancreas, and skin from his back to others longing for life. In a note to PC’s National Alumni Association, his parents, William C. and Vivian G. Hudson, said his forethought about organ donation — indicated on his driver’s license — helped “transform” his tragic passing. Their son, a political science major at PC who attained his law degree at The Catholic University of America, was the picture of happiness. He had married three years before, completed marathons and “Ironman” events, and co-owned a business management, tax law, and investment firm. Several of his clients hailed from the theatre and entertainment industry, where he’d previously worked as the company manager of Broadway’s Miss Saigon and other shows. In his final hours, his family waited and prayed for a miracle, and “in the end, Tim became the miracle,” they said. 

IT’S BEEN ONE incredible year for Dr. Sheila M. Harrity ’87, the principal at Worcester (Mass.) Technical High School, who was featured in the Spring 2014 magazine. Last fall, Harrity was named National High School Principal of the Year, testified before Congress on career and technical education, and later learned her school was named a 2014 Blue Ribbon School. In March, Arne Duncan, the U.S. secretary of education, whom she met last year, visited Worcester Tech. While there, he presented her a basketball with the U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon seal and his autograph. Both played college ball — Harrity with the Friars and Duncan at Harvard. On top of this, Harrity was chosen to receive an honorary degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in May and learned that President Barack Obama would give the commencement address at Worcester Tech in June.

ALUMNI AND PARENTS in four states made PC students truly feel at home on Habitat for Humanity service trips during Spring Break. Seven couples — where one or both spouses graduated from PC, or whose children attended or are attending now — hosted groups of up to 15 students for dinners in their homes or at area restaurants. Hosts offered their bathrooms for showers, packed leftovers, and reminisced about their times at PC and how they met. In all, 140 students worked at 12 sites in Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. 

IN THE FALL 2013 ISSUE of Providence College Magazine, Malaku Steen ’56, an attorney who worked to enforce civil rights legislation during the Richard Nixon administration, shared his insights on that legislation and that time in our nation’s history. Col. John V. Brennan, U.S.M.C. (ret) ’59, who served as Marine Corps aide to President Nixon and as chief-of-staff to former President Nixon, has a different perspective on some of those issues, which are described in a piece he has written for the online magazine.