Rev. Richard L. McCurdy

McCURDY, S.J., Rev. Richard L.
In Los Gatos, CA on Friday, July 21, 2006, at age 76, of complications resulting from a stroke. This August 14 would mark his 50th anniversary as a Jesuit. Dick was born in San Diego and graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in English in 1952. He received a secondary teaching credential from S.F. State where he also was an Instructor in Drama. In 1952 he began teaching English and directing Drama at St. Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco. This began his life-long commitment to Jesuit education. In 1953 he was received into the Catholic Church and was baptized at St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco. He continued teaching at St. Ignatius Prep until he entered the Jesuits in Los Gatos in 1956. During his course of studies as a Jesuit seminarian, Dick earned an MA in Speech and he taught again at St. Ignatius Prep from 1962 to 1964. He was ordained a priest in San Francisco in 1967.

Although a gifted administrator, Dick's passion was teaching. His specialty was using literature to provoke discussions among his students on the great themes of human life, on moral responsibility, and on our relationship with God. He used great authors in literature to stimulate reflections that a religion teacher would be hard pressed to duplicate. In addition to being a master teacher and a lover of literature, he had the deep and compelling faith one often finds in adult converts. He was completely transparent to his students and they found his courses stimulating and challenging to their young minds as they developed their own worldviews and value systems. Many of his students became life-long correspondents and friends. He was a real son of Ignatius of Loyola and found in Jesuit Spirituality the blueprint for his own life's journey which he lived with remarkable availability and generosity.

In addition to teaching at St. Ignatius Prep, Dick taught Jesuit seminarians at Loyola Marymount University, 1968-1972, and he served as Assistant Principal at St. Ignatius Prep, 1972-1974. He was Principal at Brophy Prep in Phoenix from 1974 to 1976 when he returned to St. Ignatius to succeed Fr. Ed McFadden as Principal. As a principal Dick was instrumental in implementing: an emphasis on faith formation, academic excellence, tenure programs for teachers, and greater outreach to minority students. In 1981 Dick was put in charge of overseeing the program for advanced studies for the Jesuits of the California Province. In 1985 he returned to high school administration as Principal at Jesuit High School in Sacramento. From 1989-1994 he served as Administrative Assistant to the Provincial of the California Jesuits, and during this time he offered a very popular course in Literature and Theology at Santa Clara University. In 1994 he enjoyed a six-month sabbatical at Campion Hall, Oxford University. Then, in 1994, he returned to his first love, teaching English and Theology, at Jesuit High School, Sacramento. Dick served there until a severe stroke brought him to the Infirmary at Jesuit Center, Los Gatos, in November of 2005. Over the years, Dick served on many Jesuit and educational committees and boards.

Jesuits are in the habit of reminding themselves - and anyone else who will listen - that the full human life is one that is lived, poured out, in loving service of others this in response to all of Gods gifts. Fr. Dick McCurdy was an example of this a life fully lived in loving service of others. He will be greatly missed by his students, his family and friends, his faculty companions and his brother Jesuits. His surviving family members include: his nieces Deborah Boeddeker, Michaele Ignon and Carole Cowen, and his cousins, Darwin Marable, Lois Rice and Bob McCurdy. Vigil at 7:30 PM on Thursday, July 27, Mass of the Resurrection at 10:00 AM on Friday, July 28, both at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center, Los Gatos. Committal will follow at Santa Clara Mission Cemetery, Santa Clara. Arrangements by Darling & Fischer Chapel of the Hills in Los Gatos, CA.