Sheila Moroney ’84 (left) and Suzanne North Picher ’84 with Special Assistant to the President William B. Neenan, SJ

William B. Neenan, SJ

SHEILA MORONEY: Fr. Neenan was the professor of all professors. He left an indelible mark on the thousands of students he called “friend.” He embodies all that is wonderful about the Jesuits—a love of learning and conversing, empowering individuals to be their best, to give back to their community, and to share their talents with the world in the name of better educational opportunities for all.

Sheila Delaney Moroney is a health policy researcher at the National Institute of Health Policy in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

SUZANNE NORTH PICHER: Bill and I became friends before he was my teacher, which seems fairly unusual. I met him when I was a sophomore, through Sheila Moroney. As fellow Midwesterners, Bill and I had an immediate connection. At the time there weren’t as many students from the Midwest at BC as there are today—it was somewhat of a novelty. Bill formed a Midwestern dinner club—just students and Bill. Those evenings were like “going home” for the night and presented a great forum for exploring all the hot issues on campus. That’s where our friendship began—absent the faculty-student distance. Bill’s ability to engage us in conversation and offer a historian’s perspective with a spiritual backdrop was amazing. That continues today; his friendship has profoundly influenced my life. He married my husband and myself, and he baptized our three children.

Susan North Picher lives with her husband and children in Massachusetts.