Leo Quinn…Valedictorian…

September 11, 2023 Leo 0 About Me, Miscellaneous

This isn't an experiment but an interesting story.
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I'm Leo Jr.
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My father was named for his uncle Leo who was born in 1907.
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In June 1923, great uncle Leo was preparing to graduate from St. Peter's High School in Saratoga Springs, NY.
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He was 16 years old, the Valedictorian of his class and headed to Holy Cross and the priesthood.
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Sadly, on June 20, 1923, four days before his graduation, he was on a school field trip to Saratoga Lake and drowned.
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Several years ago, going through some family papers I found his Valedictory speech or at least most of it.
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Back in the early 1980's St. Peter's was renamed Saratoga Central Catholic High School. I am a 1986 graduate.
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Earlier this year, I reached out to the principal about delivering the speech, 100 years late, at this year's graduation.
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He thought it was a great idea.
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On June 16th an article about the speech was on the front page of the Albany Times Union...
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The next day there was an article on the front page of Schenectady's Daily Gazette...
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Click on those images to be taken to the articles.
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The day of the speech I was interviewed by the local CBS affiliate and that aired on June 28th.
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Thanks to Julia Dunn of CBS6 for the image above.
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Click on the image above to see the interview.
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To see the 10 minute speech click on the image below...
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On July 7th, Saratoga Today did the final article...click to read it.
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I was also interviewed by the New York Times (email newsletter) but sadly, the story didn't make the cut because "we have space constraints and to my disappointment the story was cut".
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That made me laugh because compared to a print newspaper there are no space constraints in email.
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Oh well, I'm still telling people I was interviewed by the New York Times! 🙂
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It was a great experience and I'm now announcing my availability for other graduation speeches!
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Here is the speech...
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At the end of my speech and at the end of the TV interview back in 2021 (link below) I made the same suggestion...
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Sit mom/dad.. grandma/grandpa down in front of your phone, turn on the video and ask them 150 questions about their lives.
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You can get those questions from Google.
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They probably won't want to do it, thinking it's weird or self-serving but in 20, 50, 100 years from today, THOSE people will be really grateful you did it.
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And if you don't want to involve anyone else, sit yourself down in front of your camera and answer those questions yourself.
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Here is the TV interview from December 2021 about my grandfather's journals.
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