The news in the registered letter Dad opened on February 7, 1951, was something no college senior should have to receive.

That same day, Dad wrote to his future wife:

My Darling,

I got an awful shock this morning. I got a registered mail letter from dad. He’s lost his job. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read it the first time. For a while I couldn’t move or think. Golly, you never realize the blessing of security until the props are knocked out from under you.

On Dec. 27, the boss called him into the office and told him that the 1st and 2nd vice-presidents were going to take over his job between them, and that his services would no longer be needed. He did say, however, that he could stay on until he got relocated. That was over a month ago. Dad’s still at the store, but he’s got to get something; and as yet he’s had little luck. The man is fifty-one, and he’s been in department stores for thirty years. It’s a rotten business. Please pray for him and for the family.

Dad went on to say God had never let him down …

… he had faith this would somehow work out for the best. With seven semesters under his belt, it only made sense to stay at Providence College and earn that diploma. He just needed to come up with $500 to pay for his final semester.

Maybe a night job?

Two days later, he wrote again to Mom, a junior at St. Joseph College in Hartford:

Things are beginning to take a little more shape than they had Wednesday when I wrote. I had a long talk with Fr. McKenna about my family and myself. We hashed over just about everything. He brought me back to reality and made me start thinking and analyzing the situation. He said that everything would work out at home and that I shouldn’t worry about it.

Their meeting concluded with a promise from Fr. McKenna to cover Dad’s expenses for the final semester at Providence College. And Dad pledged to be available to assist his mentor on weekends through graduation.

In effect, he wrote, he was giving Mom up for Lent.

And who was this Father McKenna?

Charles Hugh McKenna was born on October 2, 1904, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He attended Providence College, preparing to become a Dominican priest. Additional studies took him to Illinois, New York, the District of Columbia, and England.

Fr. McKenna was ordained on June 15, 1931. The following year, he returned to Providence College as a priest and a teacher of History and Government.

Fr. McKenna served as college chaplain and, eventually, vice president. In 1955, he left Providence for positions as prior and pastor in Massachusetts, New York, and Washington, DC. He passed away in 1980.

Through genealogy connections, I heard from Fr. McKenna’s great-niece, Deborah, who remembered her dad’s uncle fondly.

Here’s what she had to say:

I think it’s wonderful that Uncle Charlie’s legacy includes kindness to your father! My Dad was at West Point, though I believe he started out at PC. I imagine your father reminded Uncle Charlie of my Dad, his only nephew, and it made mentoring your father very gratifying. My Dad and Uncle Charlie were very close throughout their lives.  

Friars Give Campaign

My three brothers and I have been looking for a way to meaningfully honor our father’s memory since his passing in 2021. Discovering this story from 75 years ago has brought us full circle. Today, we made a donation to Providence College in his name.

As part of the annual Friars Give campaign, we contributed to The Fund for Providence College – Emergency Student Support. This is a fund that provides students with financial assistance when life goes sideways, as it did for Dad all those years ago.

Many thanks to the good folks in Providence College’s departments of Institutional Advancement and Archives & Special Collections, who helped us fill in the blanks with this story.

One of the stirring surprises was this poem Dad wrote. It was published in the Alembic literary magazine, for which he would serve as editor for three of his last four semesters at school.

A Passing Thought

What does it matter?
All this will be the same
When I am gone,
And none shall sing my name.
The ocean tides
As now, will ebb and flow.
Yon sail may droop,
But other sails will blow.
This golden sea
Shall be as gold again.
Those jagged cliffs
Bring joy to other men.
The rose will smile
And cast its sunshine ’round.
Love’s old sweet song
From other harps shall sound.
The rising moon
Shall soothe another’s pain.
What I have lost
Shall be another’s gain.
What does it matter –
This passing life on Earth?
We live to die – and then,
A great Eternal birth.

~ Harold E. Vayo, Class of 1951 ~ printed in the February 1949 edition of Alembic literary magazine
Courtesy of Providence College Archives & Special Collections

Dad graduated third in his class. He was asked to write and present the Class Oration. He went on to marry Mom, serve in Korea, and come home to a long and happy life with his family.

We remember Fr. McKenna with gratitude for his kind and generous spirit during that critical time in our father’s education.

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If you’d like to add to the Emergency Student Support fund – or any other part of the Friars Give Campaign – here is the link to the donations page.

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“A Passing Thought” ©1949  Harold E. Vayo. All rights reserved.

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