Brother Anthony Flynn, FSC 1927-2011

Eulogy given by Brother Thomas Scanlan, FSC

On Monday, I suspected that Tony would soon depart this earth when I heard, as he did, Apple CEO Steve Job’s announcement about the iCloud: “We are going to move…the center of your digital life into the Cloud.” Clearly, it was time to go, and barely 24 hours later, Tony departed into the Cloud…out there somewhere in the Ethernet or, as the Bible refers to it—Heaven! All of our internet data—music, photos, aps, calendars, documents, and emails—are being relocated off our hard-drives and discs into the Cloud. So, why not our souls as well? The comparisons that Job used are very revealing: “If the hardware is the brain and the sinew of our products, the software in them are its soul.”

We don’t understand much about Heaven—it’s out there somewhere (UP! As opposed to Hell DOWN there—below the subway?) but we, Christians, do believe that Tony is now “there” along with his parents, his siblings, and Dan, Tom, and Father Mike, and many of his confreres with whom he lived his religious calling—and that all are ENJOYING (that is the key part of the promise we cling to) life with their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and will continue to do so for all eternity. We know that our data is out there because it is no longer on our hard-drives, and the PROOF is that we can retrieve it on our PC’s or iPhones or iPads. We know that the dead are out there because they are no longer here with us, but there is no similar tangible PROOF—our assurance is as strong as our Faith—solidified daily in the Eucharist and powerfully reinforced by the shared faith of others—such as Tony who believed thoroughly—so completely, that he consecrated 67 years of his 84 years to Jesus Christ and in fidelity to the Charism of John Baptist de La Salle.

In keeping with the Lasallian Charism, Tony was an excellent teacher—first on the grammar school “circuit” at St. Jerome’s, St. John’s, and St. Raymond’s, and then in high schools at CBA, Albany, and St. Joseph’s, Buffalo. His prowess in school caused him to be called upon to serve in administration, first as vice Principal at La Salle Academy, New York, and then at De La Salle Collegiate, Detroit, where he later moved up to the Principalship. After that, he returned to be Principal at St. Joe’s, Buffalo. After some 30 fruitful years, his outsized intellectual talents and enormous energy needed further challenge, and so he prepared himself for higher education by earning a doctorate in computer technology and education from his “beloved” Notre Dame.
He came to Manhattan College in 1977 in the Computer Services Department. But he wasn’t fully satisfied until his return to teaching in the Computer Information Systems major in the School of Business. There he inspired a large number of Jaspers to pursue careers in computer related positions, and many became highly successful. Over the years I met a great number who attributed their success to the quality of his teaching, and, of course, to his most Lasallian ability of “touching the hearts of his students.”

That provides a segue to Tony, the person. He was always the gentleman and ever the one to see the proverbial glass as half-filled; as well as to see the best in everyone he met. Tony was truly a joy to live with in community because of his positive outlook which he coupled with realism: his wide-ranging interests, and his gifts as a conversationalist. Anyone who lived with him quickly learned of his love of his siblings and their families. We convey our condolences to his sister-in-law, Ann, and his nieces and nephews this morning. Simply, we all liked Tony. He was a wonderful person!

In 2009, after some 30 years at Manhattan, his positive realism led him to recognize the need for him to go to De La Salle Hall in order to profit from the specialized care and supportive concern that are the hallmarks of our District nursing home. And, then on Tuesday, off to ….heaven…to his richly deserved eternal life with Jesus, St. La Salle, his family and friends…awaiting us until it is our turn. Now he no longer prays his frequent mantra, but rather, experiences it each day: Live Jesus in our hearts—forever!