Posted by Joe Mastriani on August 21, 2011:

My friendship with Art developed after the yearling year "shuffle" when Beetle Bailey and I lived across the hall from Art and Jack Donovan in the Lost 50's (M2). These two Bay State natives (and Art had the accent to prove it) may have been precursors to my meeting and marrying a MA girl, moving to MA in 2000 after Art was long gone to CA. It's strange how the smallest things bring back the memories so many years later. Art and I were both altar boys, and I'll always recall the time just preceding graduation week when we went to serve a Mass on a weekday just prior to our graduation; Art asked what uniform we should wear, and when I suggested short-sleeved khakis, he replied that he didn't want to be on the altar with bare arms, so we wore 'as for class'. Now, whenever I go to Mass and see someone 'inappropriately dressed' (ie, every Sunday), I think of Art. Art's hometown, Malden, is home to a major model train store, and as we were driving to it, another memory.

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