Retired Blue Hills Graphic Communications Teacher Makes Hall of Fame

By Judy Bass

Richard J. “Jerry” Donovan of Weymouth, a former Graphic Communications teacher at who became the school’s Vocational Coordinator, was honored for his remarkable 35-year career at Blue Hills when he was inducted recently into its Hall of Fame with an enthusiastic audience of family, friends, and current and former staff members looking on.

This distinction is reserved for longtime former employees whose distinguished service to the school, outstanding professionalism, and commitment to the school’s mission are exemplary, as are the respect and admiration accorded to them by colleagues and administrators.

Donovan was hired in September 1966 when Blue Hills first opened its doors. He was Graphic Communications department head for one year, 1995-1996, and he became Vocational Coordinator in 1996. He also served on the Blue Hills Foundation. He retired in September 2001. Mr. Donovan and his wife, Martha, have been married for more than 50 years and have nine children and 37 grandchildren.

One of Mr. Donovan’s students at Blue Hills, David Hiltz, attended the ceremony. He was a member of the [school’s] first full four-year graduating class, the Class of 1970. “Jerry always looked out for us and supported us in the shop and in our activities around the school,” said Hiltz in an email. “We all looked up to him and all the Graphics teachers were our second parents. I became a Graphic Arts teacher in 1977 thanks to Jerry and my other teachers. I was employed by Blue Hills from 1978-1987 in the Career Development Program at Randolph High School and would rely on Jerry for any support or teaching strategies. I don't remember any student not liking him.”

In his remarks to the gathering, Blue Hills Superintendent James P. Quaglia said that although he never had the pleasure of working with Mr. Donovan himself, he had heard that “he always gave sound advice, kept the best interests of the students as his top priority, and was, in the words of one administrator, “a good friend and one of the nicest people I have ever known.”

Supt. Quaglia presented Mr. Donovan with a handsome plaque commemorating his Hall of Fame induction.

Others who knew Mr. Donovan well also spoke, among them Mr. Paul Torney, last year’s Hall of Fame inductee, and Mr. Bernard Baher, former Avon representative to the Blue Hills Regional District School Committee.

Mr. Donovan himself then addressed the crowd, saying, “The people I worked with for 35 years, you couldn’t ask for a better group. We shared a lot of memories.”