May 2017: Acts of Kindness featuring AJ Brady

Above: Everyone loves A.J. and his WWII Army Jeep.

In March and part of April, I spent most of my time calling a number of you about serving as Judges for the 2017-2018 Scholarship Applications. I treasure this time because I really get a chance to talk with you at length, and well, a number of you are just plain old “Characters!” I absolutely love the stories and asked several of you to write up your story since you graduated. AJ didn’t write what he’s done since graduating, but he did tell me a few stories of how much fun is was to go to college at Villanova. Does this remind anyone of the “good old days”?

Hi Kate, per our discussion here are some of my anecdotes of my college life at Villanova. I have to delete proper names for various and sundry reasons. Freshman year, 1950, all two hundred of us were assembled on the lawn outside of the former U.S. Navy Barracks where the barracks moderator related to us about what aspects of our behavior was okay and what was not okay. After this friendly chit chat, he spoke about after class activities. He told us that during the week we should be back on campus by midnight since most of us had our first class at noon or 1pm. As for the weekend… do as you please. That started the ball rolling and did not stop until June 1954. A friend of mine who was a freshman at Notre Dame told me they turned out the lights at 9pm! Another fond happening was Mother’s Day, May of 1953. This started “Junior Week” which also included the Blazer Ball Junior Prom, Junior Dinner Dance, and various Gin and Juice picnics at Darby Creek. I believe that none of the mothers knew each other but they knew all of us sons. The program started with a campus tour- a visit to the chapel and a tree planting event. The lunch and the rest of the day until benediction at three. The group I was with all wanted to go to Kelly’s, which at that time was a shot and a beer saloon. Then the fun began. The ladies started to order mixed drinks, manhattans, whiskey sours, etc. Dan Kelly got a drink manual and advised Lou and Andy, the bartenders how to make the drinks, naturally. They were served in an eight once beer glass. Everyone was having a ball as the night approached with benediction on the horizon. They declined to go back to the campus and had few more rounds. We remained fast friends forever.”

Comments from Kate: A.J. is one of the most dynamic guys I know. His son works for an airline so he is able to fly on standby for free. So, A.J. is constantly on the go and traveling the world. He loves young people and has had a lot of fun entering his vintage WWII Army Jeep, in parades, fairs and other events. As you can see from the picture on the I am excited to be going to the WWII Airshow in Reading PA with AJ and his daughter Maureen the first week in June. Up, up and Away we go into the wild blue yonder!