Pictured in photos left to right:  Teresa Garland Lew '12,  F. Bradford Morse '38,  Rosalind Elias '47,  George Duncan '57,  Kendall Wallace '59.

Theresa Garland Lew graduated from Lowell High School in 1912 as the Class Salutatorian and a Carney Medal winner.  Teresa and her family were leaders in civil rights and breaking the color barrier. After graduating from high school, Theresa continued her education at the Lowell Normal School and was the first African American hired by the Lowell Public School system. Theresa taught at the Bartlett School for 21 years. Furthering her education, she became one of the first African American women to obtain a Law Degree from Portia Law School in Boston in 1930.

Frank Bradford Morse graduated from Lowell High school in 1938. He furthered his education at Boston University and Boston University School of Law.  Brad Morse was elected to the Lowell City Council but left for employment for the United States Senate Armed Services Committee.  After the death of Edith Nourse Rogers in 1960, Brad Morse was elected as a Republican to Congress and was re-elected for five succeeding terms  before becoming Under Secretary General at the United Nations.  Mr. Morse was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in 1994.

Rosalind Elias graduated from Lowell High School in 1947. The American mezzo-soprano began her training at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where she sang with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. After singing with the New England Opera, Rosalind Elias completed her training in Italy.  Following engagements in Milan and Naples, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York in 1954. Rosalind originated roles in Barber’s Vanessa as Erika in 1958, and in Antony and Cleopatra as Charmian in 1966, and remained on its roster for over 30 years.

George L. Duncan graduated from Lowell High School in 1957. He is the founding Chairman of Enterprise Bank, which opened for business in 1989.  In 18 years, the bank grew to the tenth largest commercial bank in Massachusetts.  Mr. Duncan was appointed by Governor Michael Dukakis to serve on the Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Commission.  George received the National Private Sector Initiative Commendation from President Ronald Reagan and the New England Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Ernst & Young, Inc. Magazine & Merrill Lynch. 

Kendall Wallace graduated from Lowell High school in 1959 and immediately went to work for The Sun, Greater Lowell's daily newspaper. Kendall began his career as a copy boy and later became a reporter, city editor, managing editor, general manager and publisher. The newspaper supported the building of Lowell’s baseball park and arena and the city being designated an urban national park. Kendall was involved in the sale of the Sun to Media News of Denver and supervised The Sun's recent move to its’ new facilities at the American Textile History Museum.

2006 Honorees

Pictured in photo left to right: Headmaster William Samaras, John Pearson (accepting the award for Benjamin Butler), Michelle Randazza (accepting the award for her father, Homer Bourgeois), Gerald Chertavian, Thomas Sexton and Herbert Zarkin.

Benjamin Franklin Butler (1818-1893) was a member of the first class (1831) to graduate from Lowell High School. He graduated from Waterville (now Colby) College in 1838, and began practicing law in Massachusetts in 1840. In 1853, he was elected to the General Court of Massachusetts and to the Senate in 1859. He led the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia as Brigadier General in 1861, and was commissioned as a Major General in the United States Army in 1862. From 1867 through 1878 he served in the United States Congress, was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1882, and was nominated by the Greenback/Labor Party and Anti-Monopoly Party for the Presidency of the United States in 1884. Over 100,000 people came to the city to mourn his death. He is interred in the Hildreth Family Cemetery in Lowell.

Homer Bourgeois (1903-1977) attended Lowell public schools, graduated from Lowell High School in 1920 and later studied finance at Northeastern University. He was Chairman of his LHS 50^th reunion. In his last year at Lowell High, he became a “runner” at the Union National Bank, which started his long and brilliant career at the bank. In 1944, Homer became the President of the largest financial institution in the city. When the Lowell Housing Authority was created in 1937, he became the first chairman and worked for the creation of subsidized public housing for low-income residents. As a young banker, he was the head of the first public housing in America built at the North Common. 

Herbert Zarkin graduated from Lowell High in 1956 and later received a degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Since 1997, he has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors of BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc. He started his career in the retail world in 1961 working as a stock boy in Zayre Stores and worked his way up the ladder to store manager.  He concluded his tenure there as Chairman of the Zayre Stores Division.  In 1990, Mr. Zarkin became the president of BJ’s Wholesale Club and in 1993, the president and chief executive officer of Waban Inc.

Thomas Sexton graduated from LHS in 1958. He attended Salem State College and later received a Master in Fine Arts from the University of Alaska Anchorage. He taught English and Creative Writing at the University of Alaska, until 1994 and is now Professor Emeritus of English. In 1995, he was appointed by the Alaska State Legislature to serve as Alaska's Poet Laureate. Professor Sexton was one of the founders of The Alaska Quarterly Review and is the author of several books of poetry including Terra Incognita, Late August on the Kenai River, The Bend Toward Asia, A Blossom of Snow, Autumn in the Alaska Range, and World Brimming Over.  In 2002, he was recognized as one of Northern Essex Community College’s top 40 students. He lives in Anchorage, Alaska.

Gerald Chertavian is a 1983 LHS graduate. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, from Bowdoin College and received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.  Gerald co-founded Conduit Communications in 1993 and fostered its growth to $20M with more than 130 employees in London, Amsterdam, New York and Boston. Following the sale of Conduit to i-Cube in 1999, Gerald turned his full attention to opportunities for others and founded Year Up in 2000. Year Up is recognized by Fast Company and The Monitor Group as one of the top 25 organizations in the nation using business excellence to engineer social change. He was recognized as one of New York's outstanding Big Brothers in 1989.  The recipient of the 2003 Social Entrepreneurship Award by the Manhattan Institute and the 2005 Freedom House Archie R. Williams, Jr. Technology Award, Gerald was recognized by Boston Business Forward magazine as one of “Boston's 40 most promising individuals under the age of 40.”

Pictured in photo left to right: George Leahey '57 accepting for his father, the late Brendan Leahey, M.D.'22, John Conway accepting for his father, the late James Conway, Jr.'41, Joseph McCarthy, M.D. '56, Elinor Lipman '68, and Ted Leonsis '73.

Brendan  Leahey, M.D. ‘22 – Valedictorian and Carney Medalist of his LHS class. He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School.  He performed the first successful corneal transplant in New England at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston in 1938 and later founded the Leahey Eye Clinic. He taught Ophtalmology for 32 years at Harvard Medical School and made presentations on corneal transplantation to medical societies throughout the world. He died in 1992.

James Conway, Jr. ’41 – Captain in the U.S. Army in World War II. He graduated form Harvard College and Harvard Business School. He started to work for Courier Corporation in Lowell in1951, and later was named President in 1966 and chairman and CEO in 1978.  For most of this century, Courier printed every telephone directory in New England.  He died in 1992.

Joseph McCarthy, M.D.’56 – Valedictorian and Carney Medalist of his LHS class. He graduated from Harvard University and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is the Director of the Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery.  He pioneered and developed the concept of craniofacial distraction which has revolutionized this surgical discipline and is chairman of the Medical Advisory Board of Smile Train, an organization that provides pro bono surgery to over 150,000 children with cleft lip/palate around the world.

Elinor Lipman ’68 – Graduate of Simmons College.  She has taught at Simmons, Smith, and Hampshire colleges and is a columnist for the Boston Globe Magazine.  She authored seven critically acclaimed novels including The Inn at Lake Devine and most recently The Pursuit of Alice Thrift.  Four of her novels are in development as movies. The New England Booksellers Association awarded her its 2001 fiction award for a body of work.

Ted Leonsis ’73 – Graduate of Georgetown University.  Vice Chairman of
America Online, Inc. (AOL) and President of AOL’s audience-based businesses. He also founded 6 personal computer magazines, authored 4 books, and worked on the introduction of IBM PC and the Apple MacIntosh. He is the founder of e-buddies, a division of Best Buddies.  He is the majority owner of the NHL’s Washington Capitals hockey team and minority owner in the NBA’s Washington Wizards basketball team, WNBA’s Washington Mystics women’s basketball team, and the MCI Arena in downtown Washington, D.C.

2004 Honorees

Pictured in photo left to right: Headmaster William Samaras and honorees: George Behrakis '51, Hillary Holladay, UMass Lowell professor accepting for Jack Kerouac '39, Donna Lavigne McCallum '61, Elkin McCallum '61, and Nicola Tsongas accepting for her late husband, Paul Tsongas '58.

Jack Kerouac was a member of the class of 1939 at LHS.  He later attended Columbia University and served in the Merchant Marine.  He published his first novel, The Town and the City, in 1950.  He became an overnight literary sensation in 1957 with the release of On the Road.  His other books include Visions of Gerard, Maggie Cassidy, Doctor Sax, and Vanity of Duluoz (all of which are largely set in Lowell), as well as The Dharma Burns, The Subterraneans, Big Sur, Some of the Dharma, The Scripture of the Golden Eternity, Mexico City Blues, Desolation Angels, and Lonesome Traveler.  His books remain in print and have been translated into numerous foreign languages.  Jack Kerouac is considered by literary scholars to be one of the preeminent writers of the past century.  He died in 1969. 

George Behrakis graduated from LHS in 1951 and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy from Northeastern University in 1957.  He was the founder of Dooner Laboratories and later purchased Muro Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  Mr. Behrakis has been active in civic and cultural organizations and has received many awards including: Businessman of the Year in Northern Middlesex County, Archon of the Greek Orthodox Church of North and South America, outstanding alumnus of Northeastern University, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the Merrimack College Augustinian Award, and the Alpha Omega Council Man of the Year Award.  Some of his educational philanthropic endeavors include Boston College, Northeastern University, Northern Essex Community College, and Tufts University.

Paul Tsongas graduated from LHS in 1958.  He went on to Dartmouth College, graduating in 1962 and then to Yale Law School, from which he graduated in 1967.  After serving in the Peace Corps, Paul returned to Lowell and opened a Law practice.  He was elected to the Lowell City Council (1970-74), and later to the offices of Middlesex County Commissioner (1973), U.S. Congressman from the 5th District (1974-78), and the U.S. Senate (1978-84).  Senator Tsongas authored the law which created the Lowell National Historic Park in 1978.  In 1991, Paul Tsongas ran for President of the U.S. in the Democratic primaries.  For the next six years, Senator Tsongas continued to play a pivotal role in civic issues in particular the development of Lelacheur Park and the Arena named in his honor.  Paul died in January 1997 at the age of 55.

Donna (Lavigne) McCallum was a member of the class of 1961 at Lowell High School.  She graduated from Rivier College and taught fifth grade in Hudson, New Hampshire for nineteen years.  She has been an active board member of several local organizations including:  Lowell General Hospital, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, and New England Quilt Museum.  Donna has been recognized for her community service by the American Red Cross and the National Honor Society.  In 2003, the McCallum Family Foundation pledged up to $1 million for college scholarships to the Lowell High School Campaign for Educational Excellence.

Elkin McCallum graduated from LHS in 1961.  In January 1962, he was hired by Joan Fabrics Corporation and graduated from Bentley College in 1967.  He continued with Joan Fabrics in a variety of capacities over a span of a quarter of a century and became owner, President, and CEO in 1988.  Mr. McCallum has served on several boards including: Bentley College Trustees, North Middlesex Chamber of Commerce, Saints Memorial Medical Center, and the Merrimack Valley Economic Development Council.  In 1999, the McCallum family donated the largest gift in Bentley College history.  In 2003, that foundation committed up to $1 million to the Lowell High School Campaign for Educational Excellence.