Come to the 2019 Alumni Grand Reunion and reconnect with Dean Gary Mason who has served at O’Dowd since 1985, initially as a PE teacher and football coach. He was Dean when current faculty/staff members, including Shannon Donahue ‘95, Laurie Thirion Billups ‘93, Lou Richie ‘89, Starr Saunders Gray ‘98, Juliet Arechiga ‘93, Jay Beito ‘92, Gerald Bennett ‘93, Turshika Bennett ‘96 and Patrice Wakeley ‘01, were students (you’ll have to ask Gary if any of them misbehaved!). Gary remembers what all of you did in high school – dress code violations, food fights, senior pranks, and lame excuses for being tardy. “Some of the kids that were always in trouble are now doing good things,” he said.
One of Gary’s favorite memories is finding an invitation to a student party that was left in the copy machine in the library. “This was going to be a big party and I called the parents and said ‘I hope you are aware this is going on.’ They weren’t aware,” he said.
Oh, and did you know Gary took a leave of absence for one year (1986) to try out for the Cleveland Browns?! We are so lucky an NFL career eluded Gary!