Joseph F. Shea, Come On Down!

WOW! Life throws you some amazing curveballs! Just a few minutes ago, a grey haired man wearing a bowtie knocked on my office door. “Come in, come in,” I said, not sure who exactly it was there. He greeted me that familiar conspiratorial smile, and came up to me, he being still taller and beefier than I. Wow it was a guy I hadn’t seen for decades.

“Joe Shea! Wow, it’s great to see you,” was all I could stammer. Joe and I spent my senior year of prep school as solid buddies, despite the large number of people around us, we choose to hang together. I thought he was the smartest guy I ever knew. I still do.

We all have those people who over the decades are lost. We have those people who we have searched for, have vague memories of seeing maybe once after high school, but for the most part they are out of your life and you no longer try to find out where they’ve gone. Joe was not very social when he was in school. We used to drive around in an old truck he somehow was able to keep for our use while we were at NMH. He eventually was spotted. He was a great friend and he was a highlight of my senior year at NMH.

Joe went to Pitzer and then to Pittsburgh for a PhD in philosophy. Then he decided he wanted to be a lawyer so he went to Harvard law. Now he’s a partner at Nutter McClennen & Fish, where he’s won accolades as a Super Lawyer. He was always eccentric and I envied him for all the great books that he had read. He read everything that I wish I had read.

I am so glad that he decided to come to say hello, and glad to be back in touch with an old friend, and if his son attends NMH like my daughter did, well we might be seeing more of each other next year.