Dear F. John,
James Kirwan who had preferred to be known as Seamus O’Kirwan for many years was a member of the Class of 1972. Sadly, we had lost touch over the past few years. We shared many good times at MC and in the ensuing years. I am truly saddened to hear of his passing and offer my prayers and condolences to his family.
mike toner
Buffalo, NY
BEE ’72
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Kirwan, James <aka Seamus O’Kirwan> [MC1972]
[JR: Sigh, I agree. It seems so easy to lose touch. And, so hard to "re connect". The internet SHOULD make it easier, but "search" has a poor concept of "identity". That's why McEneney, Mike (MC1953) will never be out of a "job". All we can do now, is try to stay "connected" and pray.]
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Jim Kirwan was my room mate for a while at West Hill in one of the split rooms in 1971. He
was in other rooms at West Hill too.
He was very industrious. Sometime earlier a representative of Doremus (sp) a firm on Wall
Street had given a talk at MC and Kirwan asked for a job. He got it.
Kirwan shifted all his classes to the morning and worked on Wall Street in the afternoon and
evening. One of his responsibilities was to get the first, i.e 9:00 p.m, edition of papers and check
the information on clients of his employer. Then Kirwan would return to MC on the El. He
would pick up a sandwich at the Broadway Deli and make the up-hill walk to West Hill. Yeah,
the sandwich could have been the Jasper Special.
He was, for a time, a phantom room mate. That was because he so devoted to the harsh
requirements of the business degree and working at the same time.
At one point Jim was looking for a budget sports car and the father of a buddy had an old Spitfire
for sale out on Long Island. The generator didn’t work. One of the SU carburetors didn’t work
either. The muffler sort of worked..
Jim and I worked to get it back to West Hill. This involved stopping every ten miles to charge up
from my old car, least it die on the road. So we had to stay pretty close-spaced in traffic.
The big bottle neck in those days was the Bruckner Traffic Circle under construction. Quite a
mess. Suddenly in all the trucks I couldn’t see Kirwan or the beat up sky blue Spitfire. Looping
back several time I found him on the side of the road somewhat disturbed. The car had died a
truck almost creamed him. But we got back to West Hill.
We got the generator fixed up with the help of a fellow Jasper and also got the second carburetor
working. It no longer sounded like a lawn mower and had some good performance. Jim painted it
yellow with Rustoleum. It was immediately christened The Yellow Yuck.
A few years later, the Yellow Yuck broke down on the West Side Highway. Kirwan had begun
to walk for help when a station wagon slammed into the back. This folded the car at the scuttle
and none of all four wheels were not on the ground. Kirwan escaped death.
Toner describes that we lost touch. That was true only in the latter decades. We visited Kirwan,
and he us, at his family home in Troy, in NYC, in Boston, in Syracuse, in Hempstead, and in
Ohio. He visited me in Chicago too, once with his kids. All good times.
Wm F. Gil McDermott, BE- CE ‘75.
Gil & Mike,
It’s Shannon, Seamus daughter. I loved reading this and had no idea it existed. The stories made me smile. I found pictures of you guys from when you were in college. Please contact me.