By Lewis Finfer

The death notice read, "He will lie in state Thursday from 3-8 PM in the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Mission Church".  I had never heard of figures lying in state other than presidents, governors, mayors, or some other very, very famous figures.

However, in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Kevin Fitzgerald was a big, big figure. He was the state representative there for 26 years and died this past week at 57 of cancer. Thousands filed by his casket at he lay in state last Thursday.  On Friday, the huge Mission Church was packed and the crowd spilled all the way out the front door of the church as the funeral Mass proceeded.

This also felt like a funeral for the passing of a certain generation of Irish Catholic politicians. Yes, we still have former mayors Kevin White and Ray Flynn amongst us. Although Italian Catholic politicians like Mayor Menino and House Speaker Sal DiMasi have taken the positions once often held by Irish Catholic politicians, there are and will be other Irish Catholic politicians who will continue to hold major offices in the future. City Councillor Michael Flaherty or John Tobin may very well be our next mayor, if Menino ever retires. But, it is not all about the Irish and Italians as we have African-American, Latino, and Haitian city councilors and state representatives and advisers to the governor who are amongst our city's political leadership in increasing numbers. That includes, for instance, Dorchester's state representatives Marie St. Fleur and Linda Dorcena Forry, City Councilor Charles Yancey, and Charlotte Golar Ritchie.

When Kevin's son John came up to deliver the eulogy, there was an understandable tension in the air as when any child takes that long walk to the altar to eulogize a parent. He quickly set people at ease by recounting the amazing spectacle of thousands at the lying in state, saying something like,  "I felt, Jesus Christ, how is this all happening" and then turned to the priests on the altar and said, "Father, no disrespect, I'm not taking the Lord's name in vain. I was really asking this question to myself," as laugher and applause rippled through the audience in cascades.

Then he told the familiar stories of how a politician helps others, but with more than that.

"I heard stories of people who said, "He got me a summer job, he got me into college, he helped me get a job, he helped me buy a home, and actually that was all done for one person, true story." 

Or when a woman from the Berkshires called his office for help and Kevin's aide Alice gently asked if she had called also her own state legislator and the woman replied, "I was born in Mission Hill and Kevin Fitzgerald is my state representative."

Kevin Fitzgerald built bridges across the different people in this changing city. He represented very, very well the Mission Hill of the working class Irish Catholics and the Mission Hill of the African-Americans and Latinos who first lived in the two housing projects there and now also live in the surrounding neighborhood. His son joked about how some African-Americans saw him as a kind of fellow black, meaning a white person who got it and that "this gringo even got the Latino of the Year award once."

I heard a story recently that even in his last weeks of life, Kevin was on the phone trying to help various people. He joked to someone that, "Well, I'll probably get my calls returned because they know I'm dying." 

I got to work with Representative Fitzgerald in the 1980s when he chaired the Housing Committee in the Legislature and I was the director of Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance. He was a great ally to work with and played a major role in getting affordable housing funding increased for the whole state as well as getting hundreds of millions to rebuild the Mission Main and Mission Extention public housing developments in Mission Hill.

The eulogies from the priest and his son both honestly noted and celebrated that he had been alcohol free for 28 years. And that drew a big round of applause from all those in the audience as many of us then thought of our own struggles. That kind of honestly about flaws and recovery was refreshing to hear when we usually do not publicly talk about this.

The bagpipes piped as his body was wheeled out of the church toward his final resting place. We all left with great respect for the very big life he led. It is a sobering question to think about what kind of legacy we will each make and leave behind. Hopefully, we can all leave some memories of respect for ourselves amidst some tears and laughter.

Lewis Finfer lives in Dorchester.


Fitzgerald's funeral radiated passion

To the Editor:

The first citywide campaign I was ever involved in was Joe Timilty's 1979 Boston mayoral campaign. I wouldn't know it at the time (trust me, I didn't know anything then, but at least today I know I don't know) that most of the people I met on that campaign would end up being some of the best people I have ever met in my life; and one of them was Representative Kevin Fitzgerald.

I attended his funeral Friday and when I left I couldn't help but think of Bruce Springsteen and Jon Landau.

In 1974, Jon Landau, Boston's Real Paper rock critic, wrote the following in his review after he saw Bruce Springsteen open for Bonnie Raitt in Cambridge:

"Last Thursday, at the Harvard Square theatre, I saw my rock 'n' roll past flash before my eyes. And I saw something else: I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time."

John Fitzgerald's eulogy to his father Kevin Fitzgerald made me feel like I was hearing a politician for the very first time. And on a day when all the residents of the City of Boston needed to feel something other than what we have been feeling for days this young man's voice rose above everyone's grief and sorrow.

I don't know John Fitzgerald, and I don't even know if he has political ambitions. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't, would you?

What was it that was so remarkable about a son's heartfelt eulogy to his beloved father? Kevin's voice was one with a pitch full of passion and service for a neighborhood and its people. Loud, unwavering, unashamed; and it was silenced by a controversy everyone is all too familiar with; a controversy that would make sure the entire city of Boston never got to know the magic of the Kevin Fitzgerald touch. That magic will forever belong only to the Mission Hill district he represented so well for so many years.

As I listened to John Fitzgerald, I heard things that made me laugh and made me cry; but what struck me the most was how similar it was to his father's voice, the same passion. A passion you can't turn on or off, that's there in the genetic code. And the possibility that I might hear this voice again under different circumstances made me "feel young."

I did see my political past at Kevin Fitzgerald's funeral on Friday and I can't help but wonder if I didn't see the city of Boston's political future.

Catherine M. O'Neill

Savin Hill Avenue