Chris Bretoi writes: “I was delighted to see a picture of Tom Coakley ’68 in the June-August 2023 BAM (see Classes, pg. 50). While I have never met Tom, I have spoken with him on the phone a couple of times going back a few years ago after, I believe, becoming familiar with Tom’s story in a BAM article. Tom was vice president of operations at St. Lawrence at the time if I remember correctly. Turns out Tom and I have a few things in common. We share a friend in Chris Leach, with whom I played hockey at Lexington High School in Massachusetts. Chris went on to play at St. Lawrence and he and Tom are good friends. Tom and I are also below-knee amputees, Tom having lost his leg in Vietnam and I after being hit by a car while changing a flat tire. Tom served as treasurer for the Amputee Coalition of America for several years. I would see his name in the ACA InMotion magazine among the board’s members. I was hoping to run into him at last year’s ACA conference, however that was not to be. I played freshman hockey and freshman/varsity lacrosse at Brown (1972-1974) and stopped to play hockey in Sweden before returning to my Minnesota roots. I recently retired after working at 3M for 35 years. I am still able to play hockey inline, and more recently pickleball. I recognized some of the names of the hockey players in the BAM class notes, most notably Curt Bennett ’70 and the Gilbanes, although I did not know them.”
See more notes:
Class of 1976