Distinguished Alumnus from Class of 1956 Passes Away at 68
John J. Horrigan, one of Huntington High School’s most interesting and accomplished graduates, passed away September 27 at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts. He was 68.
After attending elementary school in a four-room school house in Massachusetts, Mr. Horrigan moved with his family to Huntington, where he graduated from what was then Robert L. Simpson High School on Main Street (now Town Hall) across the street from the Old First Church and Heckscher Park.
The 1956 edition of The Huntingtonian, the Huntington High School yearbook, makes a note that Mr. Horrigan was known for his “smilin’ Irish eyes” and that he was a “stalwart member of the reporter’s club.” The club covered the high school’s events and sent stories to the local papers, making sure names were spelled correctly when authored by professional writers. Members also had an opportunity to visit newspaper offices during school hours, which was a big deal to the teenagers.
Known as “Jack,” Mr. Horrigan participated in the reporter’s club at Huntington as a junior and senior, covering sports and theatrical events and keeping an ear to the ground for news for local papers. He also was a member of the stage crew as a senior and in the projection squad from his sophomore year through graduation, helping maintain and operate movie and slide projectors, tape recorders and turntables when teachers submitted a request
Mr. Horrigan was born in Massachusetts on Nov. 5, 1938 and he headed back to that state to attend the College of the Holy Cross after his graduation from Huntington. He earned his undergraduate degree in 1960 and later obtained a master’s degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Known for displaying a “sense of fun and joviality” that was contagious for those around him, “no matter where he was or where he went,” according to an obituary in one local Massachusetts paper. It has been written that Mr. Horrigan’s “ability to have fun” was the result of his “intelligence” and “genuine love of learning” and teaching.
A long and distinguished career in and around academia began at Newton College of the Sacred Heart, where Mr. Horrigan taught statistics. The small liberal arts women’s school merged with Boston College in 1974. He also taught math and was an academic counselor at Boston University, eventually becoming the school’s first assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts. He met his future wife at the school.
This is a true-life story of a Huntington boy who made a name for himself in the “real world.” Mr. Horrigan jumped from BU to the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education as director of budget and facilities planning and then to the Massachusetts State College System as first vice chancellor for administration and finance. He later spent more than two decades at Framingham State College as vice president for finance and administration.
The Huntington alumnus was extremely active in the community, serving on the Town of Wellesley’s Human Resources Board and Advisory Committee, as a member of the Town of Framingham’s Board of Directors of the Veterans Outreach Center, MetroWest, Inc. and as a special police officer there.
Following his retirement from Framingham State College in 2002, the school awarded Mr. Horrigan an honorary doctor of laws degree and named him vice president, administration and finance emeritus. For the past several years he had been volunteering with Executive Serve Corps as a consultant to non-profit organizations.
Mr. Horrigan and his wife Ester celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this past July 4. He leaves behind a family that includes his son Peter of Baltimore, MD, his daughter Erinn Grant of Hudson, MA, a granddaughter, brother, aunt, two nephews and numerous cousins.
A memorial Mass was held earlier this month at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Wellesley, followed by a reception. Mr. Horrigan was buried at St. John’s Cemetery in Gardner, Massachusetts.
The family requests donations to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Donor Services, PO Box 4072, Pittsfield, MA 01202.
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