| Member Achievements:
JJ created our website with his knowledge in computer science and the
Internet which he has used as the MA Police guru in internet
investigations
See the information and links below from the Herlad article on JJ on
Sunday 10/14/2007 , the day after the Reunion.
He kept it a secret from us.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1037966
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1037967
Boston Sunday Globe
December 2 2007
Emily Sweeney
article about
Reunion and website
See link and pasted article
THANKS to
BOSTON GLOBE
BOSTON.COM is their web page
link below to article
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/12/02/where_meetinghouse_folks_meet_online/
Boston Globe
Sunday City Living Section
Sunday December 2 2007-
by Emily Sweeney
Dorchester
Where Meetinghouse folks meet: online
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By Emily Sweeney
Globe Staff
/
December 2, 2007
They grew up in the area of Dorchester known as Meetinghouse Hill, in
the shadows of the tall white steeple of the First Parish Church and the
imposing square tower of St. Peter's Church.
They lived in three-deckers, went to the Mather School, attended Mass at
St. Peter's, and organized their own street hockey and touch football
games at Ronan Park.
Many of them left this part of the city years ago, and moved to the
suburbs on the South Shore and beyond. But their old neighborhood still
lives on in cyberspace, on a website called RonanPark.info.
The website was launched last year in anticipation of the 2007
Meetinghouse Hill Reunion, which took place Oct. 13. But instead of
going dormant after the event, the site has since evolved into an
unofficial clearinghouse for memories of the old neighborhood, a virtual
place where Dot natives from near and far can reminisce and reconnect
any time.
The site can be accessed online at MeetingHouseHillReunion.info as well
as RonanPark.info. Visitors can browse through newspaper clippings,
yearbook pages, letters, and hundreds of photographs, which range from
the 1890s to the present day. With St. Peter's School now facing the
prospect of being closed, alumni can revive the old school spirit by
calling up the lyrics to the official school song. ("Saint Peter's
School we cheer for you and that for which you stand / God's loving
justice for our country and for every land . . .")
The site was designed by John J. "Red" McLean, a Dorchester native who
heads the computer crime unit for the Medford Police Department. Another
law enforcement official with local ties, Boston Police Sergeant
Detective John "Dino" Donovan, keeps the site up-to-date and posts news
and photos as they come in.
Many of the photographs were taken by Kevin "Sammy Snapshot" Sampson.
"We used to call him 'Trinkets,' that was his nickname," said Donovan,
56. "He had all these gadgets, and cameras. He used to take pictures of
us all the time, at Ronan Park in the '60s and '70s."
Another popular feature is the online forum where people have been
posting their recollections about this particular section of Dorchester.
The old neighborhood gangs like the Saints, Red Raiders, and Parksmen.
Playing half ball. Hula hoop contests. Smoking cigarettes behind the
Mighty Midget convenience store. Drinking beers at Eddie's Tavern.
"Does anyone remember Irving's at the corner of Hamilton and Bowdoin
Street?" an online visitor inquired. "We used to get our green knee
socks and white Peter Pan blouses there." Another wrote: "Behind the
Mighty Midget is where we would go in the morning to sneak our
cigarettes before entering good ole St. Peter's . . . wondering if
anybody reading this remembers joining me there."Continued...
The website was key to the October reunion's success, according to event
organizers. People came from as far away as California and Florida to
attend the event at the Boston Marriott Quincy hotel.
"It really helped," said John MacIsaac, 55, who grew up on Clarkson
Street from 1956 to 1973, and served on the reunion planning committee.
The website provided a way for the event organizers to solicit feedback
and suggestions from people, he said.
As people bought tickets, their names were listed on the website. Tables
were reserved under such names as Conroy, Corliss, Costello,
Fitzpatrick, and Hurley. The event sold out, with about 1,000 people
attending.
On the night of the reunion, Chris "Capum" Harding, 45, pulled out his
old street-hockey shirt for the occasion. He showed up wearing the
vintage orange and white mesh jersey with black letters on the front
spelling out "Bellevue," which was the street he grew up on, and where
his teammates lived.
"You know what someone said to me? 'That shirt's in better shape than
you are!' " said Harding with a laugh.
Like many of the people who attended, Harding had looked at
RonanPark.info to see if he recognized himself or any of his friends in
the photos.
And although the reunion is over, the website remains a popular
destination. Photos from the event have been posted there. Last month,
there were about 50 new messages posted on the forum every week.
People are still digging through their old albums and submitting
photographs, according to Donovan.
He's posted photos from the annual Dorchester Day parade, school
pictures, and other images that would have otherwise remained tucked
away in family photo albums. Shots like the 1967 photo of Charles
Boyajian standing in front of his shoe store at 152 Bowdoin St., and the
1956 view of boys in baggy baseball uniforms marching in a parade on
Bowdoin Street, with the Irving's store awnings visible in the
background.
Or the photograph of a group of young men covered in mud. This
black-and-white photo was taken on a rainy weekend in November 1986,
after a game of touch football in Ronan Park. Among the smiling faces
are those of Richard "Ricky" Dever, a correctional officer for the
Suffolk County sheriff's department who was fatally stabbed outside
Sullivan's Pub in Charlestown in 2005, and Mark Charbonnier, a state
trooper who was murdered while making a traffic stop in 1994.
Donovan only recently learned the names of all the young men featured in
the mud football photo, and knows some of them through his work in law
enforcement.
A few of them are Boston police officers, it turns out.
"I didn't know all these guys in this picture are cops," said Donovan.
Hundreds of photos have been compiled into a DVD slideshow available on
the Meetinghouse Hill website, and planning for a sequel is underway.
For information on how to submit additional photos or to purchase a DVD,
visit RonanPark.info.
Emily Sweeney can be reached at
esweeney@globe.com.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
Page 2 continued
Where Meetinghouse folks meet: online
By Emily Sweeney
Globe Staff
/
December 2, 2007
They grew up in the area of Dorchester known as Meetinghouse Hill, in
the shadows of the tall white steeple of the First Parish Church and the
imposing square tower of St. Peter's Church.
They lived in three-deckers, went to the Mather School, attended Mass at
St. Peter's, and organized their own street hockey and touch football
games at Ronan Park.
Many of them left this part of the city years ago, and moved to the
suburbs on the South Shore and beyond. But their old neighborhood still
lives on in cyberspace, on a website called RonanPark.info.
The website was launched last year in anticipation of the 2007
Meetinghouse Hill Reunion, which took place Oct. 13. But instead of
going dormant after the event, the site has since evolved into an
unofficial clearinghouse for memories of the old neighborhood, a virtual
place where Dot natives from near and far can reminisce and reconnect
any time.
The site can be accessed online at MeetingHouseHillReunion.info as well
as RonanPark.info. Visitors can browse through newspaper clippings,
yearbook pages, letters, and hundreds of photographs, which range from
the 1890s to the present day. With St. Peter's School now facing the
prospect of being closed, alumni can revive the old school spirit by
calling up the lyrics to the official school song. ("Saint Peter's
School we cheer for you and that for which you stand / God's loving
justice for our country and for every land . . .")
The site was designed by John J. "Red" McLean, a Dorchester native who
heads the computer crime unit for the Medford Police Department. Another
law enforcement official with local ties, Boston Police Sergeant
Detective John "Dino" Donovan, keeps the site up-to-date and posts news
and photos as they come in.
Many of the photographs were taken by Kevin "Sammy Snapshot" Sampson.
"We used to call him 'Trinkets,' that was his nickname," said Donovan,
56. "He had all these gadgets, and cameras. He used to take pictures of
us all the time, at Ronan Park in the '60s and '70s."
Another popular feature is the online forum where people have been
posting their recollections about this particular section of Dorchester.
The old neighborhood gangs like the Saints, Red Raiders, and Parksmen.
Playing half ball. Hula hoop contests. Smoking cigarettes behind the
Mighty Midget convenience store. Drinking beers at Eddie's Tavern.
"Does anyone remember Irving's at the corner of Hamilton and Bowdoin
Street?" an online visitor inquired. "We used to get our green knee
socks and white Peter Pan blouses there." Another wrote: "Behind the
Mighty Midget is where we would go in the morning to sneak our
cigarettes before entering good ole St. Peter's . . . wondering if
anybody reading this remembers joining me there."
Page 2 of 2 --
The website was key to the October reunion's success, according to event
organizers. People came from as far away as California and Florida to
attend the event at the Boston Marriott Quincy hotel.
more stories like this
"It really helped," said John MacIsaac, 55, who grew up on Clarkson
Street from 1956 to 1973, and served on the reunion planning committee.
The website provided a way for the event organizers to solicit feedback
and suggestions from people, he said.
As people bought tickets, their names were listed on the website. Tables
were reserved under such names as Conroy, Corliss, Costello,
Fitzpatrick, and Hurley. The event sold out, with about 1,000 people
attending.
On the night of the reunion, Chris "Capum" Harding, 45, pulled out his
old street-hockey shirt for the occasion. He showed up wearing the
vintage orange and white mesh jersey with black letters on the front
spelling out "Bellevue," which was the street he grew up on, and where
his teammates lived.
"You know what someone said to me? 'That shirt's in better shape than
you are!' " said Harding with a laugh.
Like many of the people who attended, Harding had looked at
RonanPark.info to see if he recognized himself or any of his friends in
the photos.
And although the reunion is over, the website remains a popular
destination. Photos from the event have been posted there. Last month,
there were about 50 new messages posted on the forum every week.
People are still digging through their old albums and submitting
photographs, according to Donovan.
He's posted photos from the annual Dorchester Day parade, school
pictures, and other images that would have otherwise remained tucked
away in family photo albums. Shots like the 1967 photo of Charles
Boyajian standing in front of his shoe store at 152 Bowdoin St., and the
1956 view of boys in baggy baseball uniforms marching in a parade on
Bowdoin Street, with the Irving's store awnings visible in the
background.
Or the photograph of a group of young men covered in mud. This
black-and-white photo was taken on a rainy weekend in November 1986,
after a game of touch football in Ronan Park. Among the smiling faces
are those of Richard "Ricky" Dever, a correctional officer for the
Suffolk County sheriff's department who was fatally stabbed outside
Sullivan's Pub in Charlestown in 2005, and Mark Charbonnier, a state
trooper who was murdered while making a traffic stop in 1994.
Donovan only recently learned the names of all the young men featured in
the mud football photo, and knows some of them through his work in law
enforcement.
A few of them are Boston police officers, it turns out.
"I didn't know all these guys in this picture are cops," said Donovan.
Hundreds of photos have been compiled into a DVD slideshow available on
the Meetinghouse Hill website, and planning for a sequel is underway.
For information on how to submit additional photos or to purchase a DVD,
visit RonanPark.info.
Emily Sweeney can be reached at
esweeney@globe.com.
© Copyright
2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
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