The Ties That Bind

By Kathleen Madaus

Ask John Duffy ’82 about his four years at Holy Cross, and he will tell you that, for him, they were as much a love story as a college experience. During the second week of his first year, Duffy met Patricia Galligan ’82—and, by second semester, the two were inseparable. They have been together ever since.

“Without a doubt, the most important part of my Holy Cross experience was meeting Tricia,” says Duffy. “By our senior year, everyone thought of us as an old married couple ... I guess they were right!”

It wasn’t until their second year that Peter Hill ’82 and Patricia McGovern ’82 met, but theirs, too, has been a lasting love story—and one highlighted by many fond memories of their time at Holy Cross.

“Where to begin?” asks Patti Hill. “There was the Southside Johnny concert, road trips to Boston, the unforgettable 30-29 football victory over BC, and Sunday night Masses at St. Joseph Chapel.”

Classmates who eventually married, the Duffys and the Hills were also good friends at Holy Cross, bound together by a slew of intersecting ties. Tricia Duffy and Peter Hill were in the same economics study group; Patti Hill and Tricia Duffy lived in the same residence hall; and John Duffy and Peter Hill were roommates during their final year on the Hill.

Although they don’t see each other as much today, the Duffys and the Hills are still bound in their affection for the College. John and Peter both work for JP Morgan in New York—where John runs the Northeast division of JP Morgan Private Bank and Peter heads JP Morgan’s U.S. municipal finance business. Because their offices are located across the street from each other, they usually catch up on the run. It was during one such chance meeting that the two former roommates began talking about the Lift High the Cross campaign. “At the time, I hadn’t really thought about making a major commitment,” recalls Duffy, “but talking to Peter made me think more precisely about the debt I owe to Holy Cross. Both Tricia and I believe that the Jesuits do a uniquely superb job of providing an academically rigorous education that has a real impact on students’ lives. We see giving to Holy Cross as a way of perpetuating those values.”

“Holy Cross opened our minds as well as many doors of opportunity for us,” says Patti Hill. “Our experience there was such a positive one—in many ways life-changing—that we feel we would not be where we are today without it. We wanted to help the College provide a similar experience to new generations of Crusaders, and to help deserving students with the ability, but perhaps not the financial means, to attend Holy Cross.”

Both the Duffys and the Hills regard their recent campaign gifts as expressions of the Jesuit tradition of service to others. “The thing that drew me to Holy Cross—and that I will always cherish—was the concept of men and women for others,” says Duffy. “I think it was also a big part of what Tricia and I saw in each other, and it still rings true in our lives today.”

Sarah O’Brien Mackey is a freelance writer from Cambridge,
Mass.