Life in an Orphanage Explored in P’ville Resident’s New Book
When Jay Sullivan decided to travel to Jamaica to teach after graduating Boston College, he didn’t really know what he was getting into.
In 1984, Sullivan delayed going to law school for two years and follow a group of college friends who participated in a program throughout the Caribbean or Central America. He landed at St. George’s College, a Catholic high school in Kingston, to teach English and run its ministry program.
“I wish I could say I felt this powerful calling to do this,” Sullivan recalled. “When I was on the plane (heading to Jamaica) I literally didn’t know whether I was going to a slum or whether I was going to live on the beach. I really didn’t know anything.”
Closing in on 30 years later, it proved to be one of the most important experiences of his life. Sullivan’s service project at St. George’s was to volunteer at the nearby Alpha Boys School, an orphanage run by the Sisters of Mercy. He would spend the latter part of the afternoons after class playing with the children. He enjoyed helping the small group of nuns who ran the orphanage and the children so much he began returning in the evening to read bedtime stories to the younger children. Eventually, he would move into a room in the convent and be like a big brother to the boys.
Earlier this year, Sullivan, who now works for a communications consulting firm and lives with his family in Pleasantville, wrote about his remembrances of those two years in his new book “Raising Gentle Men: Lives at the Orphanage Edge.” On Sunday, April 28, Sullivan will be at The Village Bookstore in Pleasantville to sign copies. All money from the sale of the book will be donated to the orphanage, which was established more than 100 years ago.
“I thought that the work of the sisters was so inspiring,” Sullivan said. “What they created and what they managed to provide to 250 boys on a shoestring was amazing. It was also flawed and not sufficient, but it was still amazing.”
Also inspiring were the youngsters who grew up at Alpha. Despite odds stacked against them–they would age out of the facility at 18–they managed to continue smiling in the face of adversity, Sullivan said. While the boys received an education, with many learning a trade, and the nuns would find a family for them to live with once they turned 18, success as an adult for an orphan can be elusive.
During his two years spent at the orphanage, Sullivan realized as a young adult that he had much in common with the children of Alpha Boys School.
“I’m getting to know them at 10, 11, 12 years old and they’re just becoming self-conscious about things,” said Sullivan, a Pleasantville High School graduate who is involved in the Pleasantville International Association, which organizes educational trips for local students and helps them find host families abroad. “So they’re growing into who they are and who they’ll become and here I am in my 20s feeling the same thing, trying to figure out who am I, what am I doing, what does the experience mean.”
The flip side is no matter how long he would stay at the orphanage, Sullivan would never really know what it means to be an orphan. He recalled the day he received a letter informing him he had been accepted to Fordham Law School. The boy that was with him at that moment broke his heart.
“That’s okay, Mr. Sullivan,” he recalled the boy saying matter-of-factly. “Everyone leaves me.”
Sullivan has remained in contact with some of the boys, now all grown men. One, of them, Desmond Plunkett, recently stayed with him and his family. Sullivan and his wife, Mary also named their second daughter after Sister Magdalen, one of the nuns that provided so much of the inspiration to him and the boys.
“The message of the book is that there’s so many ways to make a difference, so many ways to contribute and it’s really just about keeping your eyes open for what’s right in front of you,” he said.
Sullivan’s visit on Sunday at The Village Bookstore, located at 10 Washington Ave. in Pleasantville, will be from 12 to 2 p.m. To learn more about the book, visit www.raisinggentlemen.org.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/