FATHER MASON (Epilogue)


The conversation over,
I took leave of Father Mason.

As I stepped,
through the rectory door,
and
to my car,
I mused:

"Thirty-seven years have passed
since my boyhood,
when I saw him last,
yet he knew me,
as if no time had lapsed."

About to depart,
a figure suddenly caught my eye,
on the left side,
of my car.

Almost holding my breath,
I watched:
There was Father Mason,
larger than life,
straight as a ramrod,
in cassock and biretta,
ascending the dozen or more, steep steps,
into the front entrance,
of Saint Ladislaus Church,
in German Village.

He seemed to be taking great pride
in wearing his clerical garb,
at a time, not so fashionable.
He seemed to be charged
with an intense awareness
of his dedication
to the priesthood,
to the end.

Glimmers of Heaven
reached into the afternoon air.

(September 11, 2000)



FATHER MASON GIVING FOOTBALL-PLAYING TIPS TO THE S.V.O. PLAYERS



SAINT VINCENT'S ORPHANAGE 8TH GRADE GRADUATION PICTURE 1945
COLUMBUS, OHIO

Front row, Left to Right:

1. Patty Worley
2. John Stroud
3. Christina Lombardi
4. JoAnn Petty
5. Barbara Emmert
6. John Walters
7. Alice Bottegal
8. Angie Macioce

Back Row, Left to Right

1. Aloysius (Johnny) Betts
2. Robert (Fatty) D'Ostroph
3. Robert Wilson
4. William Mosgrove
5. Anna Graessle
6. Father Mason
7. Jane Jaxtheimer or Elaine Stroud
8. Lawrence Pierce
9. Herman Hirt
10. William Rodgers




Fr. Mason poses with a group of St. Vincent girls and
one boy in front of the chapel.