Illustrious alumni: 26 famous and notable graduates from Greater Fall River high schools

Greater Fall River high schools have produced an incredibly varied assortment of outstanding people: judges and journalists, athletes and artists, celebrities and Cabinet members.

As we head into the second half of the 2022 school year, let’s take a look at some noteworthy alumni from Fall River area schools — role models for students, and people who have made a distinct mark in their fields and beyond. Some you may already know, some you may have forgotten you knew, and others deserve another look.

This list, presented chronologically, is by no means intended to be definitive — but it is intended to bring attention to the pool of talent this region has seen for over 100 years.

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Maude Darling-Parlin — Durfee High School, class of 1903

Lots of people can claim to have made their mark on the city — Maude Darling Parlin’s mark still stands. She attended B.M.C. Durfee High School, graduating in the class of 1903. She went on to MIT, where in 1907 she was the only woman in her graduating class of 250 students. She became the city’s first female architect, designing hundreds of homes and working on the Eagle Restaurant building, the Baptist Temple, the Sullivan Building, the YMCA on North Main Street, the Fall River Co-operative Bank building on Bedford Street, the Women’s Union on Rock Street, Temple Beth-El, and more.

Bishop James L. Connolly — Durfee High School, class of 1913

The man who would become one of the most important local figures in the Catholic Church got his start at Durfee High, where he managed the track team before graduating in 1913. He attended the seminary in Washington, D.C., and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1923. After a series of assignments in the U.S. and Europe, Connolly returned to his hometown, serving as pastor of Sacred Heart Church on Linden Street from 1945 to 1951. He became bishop of the Diocese of Fall River in 1951 and oversaw a period of growth that saw the establishment of the Anchor newspaper, over 30 new churches and over a dozen new schools — including a high school that would be named after himself, which today is located across Elsbree Street from his old alma mater.

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Gen. Melvin Zais — Durfee High School, class of 1933

Durfee High has produced its share of war heroes, perhaps none more prominent than Gen. Melvin Zais, veteran of World War II and Vietnam. Zais graduated from Durfee in 1933, part of the Hilltoppers football team and a writer for the school paper. He studied journalism for a year before transferring schools and studying political science, but his career would be spent in the Army. He rose from second lieutenant to a four-star general, teaching tactics, training soldiers and leading American troops for years, retiring in 1976 as commander of allied land forces for NATO.

Antone Aguiar — Case High School, class of 1948

One of Case High’s most illustrious students was Antone Aguiar — a star student who excelled at academics and athletics. He was a member of the Student Council and class president for all four years, and lettered in three sports, enough to earn him a spot as one of the first inductees in Case’s Athletic Hall of Fame. After leaving Case, he went to Yale and then Georgetown, where he earned his law degree, setting him on his path as a jurist. He also served in the Army and Army Reserves, rising to the rank of colonel. In 1982, after years as a lawyer in private practice, a Swansea selectman and a state representative, he was appointed a judge, and gained a reputation as a respected, fair-minded and compassionate judge until his retirement in 1999.

Roberta Kevelson — Durfee High School, class of 1948

Among the illustrious alumni who moved on from Durfee was Roberta Kahan, known to her friends as Bobbi. She was involved in the literary club and a staff member on the Hilltop newspaper, and married shortly after graduating, becoming Roberta Kevelson. In the 1960s, though, she returned to college, studying philosophy and semiotics — a complicated topic that could be described simply as the study of symbols, icons, communication and signs, how people interpret these things literally and figuratively, and why. In 1978, Kevelson earned a Ph.D in semiotics from Brown University in Providence, only the second person in the United States to do so. She focused on the intersection of semiotics and the law, was a professor at multiple institutions, including Pennsylvania State University and the College of William and Mary, and had a research appointment at Yale. She authored numerous books on the topic of semiotics and law, and is one of the pre-eminent scholars in that field.

Tom Gastall — Durfee High School, class of 1951

A three-sport Hilltopper, Tom Gastall excelled at baseball, football and basketball. The son of a single mom who worked in Fall River’s textile mills, he graduated in 1951. Gastall's natural athletic ability served him well at Boston University, where he continued playing all three sports, captaining the baseball and basketball teams and serving as quarterback for the football team — it was more than enough to earn him athlete of the year at BU. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions, but decided to play baseball instead, joining the Baltimore Orioles. During his time in Baltimore, he’d taken flying lessons, and near the end of his second season with the team, on Sept. 19, 1956, he decided to take to the skies. His aircraft experienced engine trouble during the windy weather, and Gastall crashed into Chesapeake Bay. The tragic accident cut short what likely would have been a stellar career.

Shirley May France — Somerset High School, class of 1951

When she was still in high school, Shirley May France was already making headlines, and making waves. At 16, she became a media sensation in 1949 when she attempted to be the youngest person to swim across the English Channel. She had been a swimmer since the age of 6, and by her mid-teens was the world’s female long-distance swimming champion, having swum 12 miles across Lake George in New York. She said confidently that the 19-mile swim from Gris-Nez, France, to Dover, England, would take her at most 14 or 15 hours. In her first attempt, Sept. 7, 1949, she had to be pulled out of the ice-cold water about 6 miles from England, begging her father and coach to let her stay. Her second attempt in the summer of 1950 was also unsuccessful, this time only 5 miles away. Still, the story of her courage and determination was carried internationally and won her fans everywhere — including her hometown, where she received a hero’s welcome. She remained in Somerset, raising a family, and taught swimming at the Fall River YMCA.

Morton Dean — Durfee High School, class of 1953

Born in Fall River in 1935 and an alumnus of Durfee High, Morton Dean has been a highly respected, award-winning journalist for decades for CBS and ABC. He’s been a war correspondent from Vietnam to Kosovo to Israel to Yemen, and covered the space program — he was even one of 100 journalists nationwide considered for a trip to space to get first-hand coverage. Dean (then known as Morton Dubitsky) was also a three-sport athlete, playing football, basketball and track for the Hilltoppers.

Joe Raposo — Durfee High School, class of 1954

Generations of kids across America grew up listening to the music of famous Fall Riverite Joe Raposo — and they still do. The composer, musician and singer wrote the “Sesame Street” theme song, an instant earworm for kids of all ages, and was the show’s musical director. During Raposo’s time on the show, he composed (and sometimes sang) about 250 songs during his tenure, like “C is for Cookie,” "Sing,” “Little Things,” and “Bein’ Green.” The latter was covered by icon Frank Sinatra, who considered Raposo a “genius” and a friend. Raposo got his start at Durfee High, where he was involved in orchestra, band, chorus, the Serenaders vocal group, edited the yearbook — and was voted “Most Interesting.”

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Russ Gibson — Durfee High School, class of 1957

John Russell Gibson graduated from Durfee High, a star in three sports for all four years — baseball, basketball and football. But it was in baseball that he became nationally known, as a catcher for the Boston Red Sox and the San Francisco Giants. He was a member of the Sox’s “Impossible Dream” team in 1968, and over six seasons with MLB had a .228 batting average and eight homers. He settled in Swansea and raised two sons, passing away in 2008.

William K. Reilly — Durfee High School, class of 1958

Perhaps William K. Reilly’s four years of experience on Durfee High’s debate team — with one year as captain, another year as Public Speaking Champion — were instrumental in shaping his future career as a statesman. Reilly, born in Illinois and a Fall River transplant, moved on after Durfee to Yale, Harvard Law School and Columbia University, earning a master’s degree in urban planning at the latter. But global concerns were on his mind, specifically the environment, joining the Nixon administration’s Council on Environmental Quality and then becoming president of the World Wildlife Fund. He joined the Cabinet of President George H.W. Bush, serving as head of the Environmental Protection Agency for Bush’s entire term. A second president would call on him later — President Barack Obama, who appointed him to study the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.

Ernest Moniz — Durfee High School, class of 1962

One of the most prominent Durfee High graduates is Ernest Moniz. The one-time Math Club president and Science Club and National Honor Society member went from Elsbree Street to Commonwealth Avenue, earning a degree in physics at Boston College before earning his doctorate at Stanford University. For decades, Moniz was a member of the faculty at MIT, including heading its Department of Physics, then joined the cabinets of two U.S. presidents — first serving as Bill Clinton’s under secretary of Energy then as the 13th Secretary of Energy under Barack Obama. Today, he is the head of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to global safety from nuclear accidents, attacks and weapons of mass destruction.

Stephen Rebello — Somerset High School, class of 1967

Stephen Rebello was an active student at Somerset High, among other things co-editing the Breeze newspaper and joining the Dramatic Club. After graduating, he studied psychology and embarked on a career as a clinical therapist — but he spent his off-hours indulging in a passion for writing. While on vacation in Los Angeles, Rebello managed to get an in-person interview with Alfred Hitchcock, which would be the master filmmaker’s last but Rebello’s first. It began the second half of Rebello’s career, as a journalist, writer and filmmaker. His nonfiction book “Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho” was turned into the biopic “Hitchcock” starring Anthony Hopkins in 2012. His most recent work is “Dolls! Dolls! Dolls! Deep Inside Valley of the Dolls,” which has gained critical praise.

Janet Robinson — Somerset High School, class of 1968

Born in Fall River, Janet Robinson was raised in Somerset and graduated from Somerset High, an active student in chorus, orchestra, glee club, majorettes and more. Robinson spent over a decade teaching public school before transitioning her career to media. She joined the advertising sales and marketing departments at publications like Tennis and Golf Digest before rising up through the ranks of The New York Times Co. all the way to the top. From 2004 until her retirement in 2011, Robinson was the president and CEO of the Times Co. She’s now the chair of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting education programs worldwide.

Jerry Remy — Somerset High School, class of 1970

The beloved Boston Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy started out playing baseball for Somerset High. After graduating in 1970, he played for the California Angels and eventually the Boston Red Sox, where he spent the bulk of his career, a fan favorite player who loved to steal bases. He transitioned to broadcasting after he retired from playing, and won the hearts of generations of Sox fans with his colorful, down to earth commentary.

Margery Eagan — Durfee High School, class of 1972

These days, Margery Eagan is the voice of Boston, as one half of the popular midday GBH program “Boston Public Radio” with longtime co-host Jim Braude. But Eagan is all Fall River, graduating from Durfee High School in 1972. At Durfee High, she met an English teacher named Dolores Burns, who inspired in her a love of writing that carried her through a decades-long journalism career. Eagan freelanced for The Herald News, wrote columns for The Standard-Times in New Bedford, and was a longtime writer for the two Boston papers, the Globe and Herald.

Stanley Wong — Durfee High School, class of 1976

While Durfee has produced many top athletes, a Durfee grad has produced even more. After Stanley Wong left Durfee High in 1976, he went to Northeastern University in Boston, and from there became an athletic trainer for the Philadelphia Eagles and Boston Breakers football teams. In 1986, he made the switch from the gridiron to the ice, becoming the athletic trainer for the NHL’s Washington Capitals, a position he held for 13 years. In 2002 he started training U.S. Olympic hockey athletes, helping Team USA to four World Junior golds, an Olympic silver, a World junior silver, three World Championship bronzes, and three World Junior bronzes. He’s the most decorated American in International Ice Hockey Federation history.

Emeril Lagasse — Diman Regional Vocational High School, class of 1977

Born in Fall River in 1959, Emeril Lagasse worked his way up from the kitchens of Fall River to kitchens across the world. He might be the Diman culinary arts program’s most famous and successful alumnus, with his famous New Orleans restaurant Emeril’s spawning about a dozen more nationwide. The boisterous celebrity chef has hosted multiple award-winning TV cooking shows where he rode a catchphrase craze to national fame (“Bam,” “kick it up a notch,” “pork fat rules,” take your pick), written a stack of cookbooks, and even played himself in a sitcom. Not bad for a guy who started out washing pans at Carreiros Barcelos bakery on Bedford Street.

Rear Adm. Carol Lynch — Durfee High School, class of 1977

From humble beginnings in Fall River’s Hillside Manor housing project, Carol Lynch rose to one of the highest ranks in the U.S. military. A 1977 Durfee grad, she was a star Hilltopper athlete on the softball, basketball and volleyball teams, and afterward found herself at Yale and Suffolk University Law School. She joined the Navy as a JAG officer in 1986, and transitioned to the Navy Reserve in 1993. Lynch rose through the ranks and was appointed a rear admiral in 2016, deputy judge advocate general of the Navy Reserve Affairs and Operations and deputy commander for the Naval Legal Services Command in Washington, D.C., overseeing hundreds of judge advocates and enlisted personnel working as paralegals.

Greg Gagne — Somerset High School, class of 1979

Another baseball great who came from Somerset High, Greg Gagne graduated in 1979 and was snapped up by the New York Yankees. He spent time in their minor leagues before being traded to the Minnesota Twins, where he was a standout player. Gagne is famous for hitting two inside-the-park homers in the same game in 1986, and he was key to bringing the Twins their first World Series title in 1987 — then another in 1991, the team’s only two World Series wins to date.

Nancy Pimental — Somerset High School, class of 1983

From the halls of Somerset High to Hollywood — that's the career trajectory of Nancy Pimental. The 1983 grad studied chemical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, but then followed her dreams into show business, moving to Los Angeles, studying acting and performing improv comedy and stand-up. Her break into the business came as a writer for “South Park” in 1998, which led to a stint as an actor and screenwriter of the cult comedy “The Sweetest Thing” (2002). She was most recently a writer and executive producer for the long-running Showtime comedy-drama “Shameless.”

Charles Thompson/Black Francis/Frank Black — Westport High School, class of 1983

Charles Thompson IV was born in Boston but raised in multiple places as his family moved here and there across America, from the West Coast and back to Massachusetts. His senior year of high school was spent at Westport High, where he won a “teenager of the year” award and began indulging his passion for music, writing songs. Thompson moved on to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he met a friend who played guitar — and by the mid-1980s he had taken the stage name Black Francis as chief songwriter, guitarist, vocalist and frontman for the Pixies, perhaps the greatest and most influential alternative rock band of their generation. He’s responsible for the Pixies’ famous “loud-quiet” dynamic, writing songs like “Here Comes Your Man,” “Where Is My Mind?” and “Debaser.” During a hiatus from the Pixies, he changed his stage name to Frank Black and released several solo albums ... including one titled “Teenager of the Year.”

Wendy Moniz — Durfee High School, class of 1987

She was named “most talented” of her high school class of 1987, and Wendy Moniz has proved it in multiple fields. At Durfee, she excelled as an athlete, setting 12 records as a track star, lettering all four years on the field hockey team and twice as a cheerleader. Beyond high school, Moniz became an actor, landing on multiple TV series starting with “Guiding Light,” “The Guardian,” “Nash Bridges,” and most recently the Paramount Network prestige drama series “Yellowstone” as Montana Gov. Lynelle Perry, love interest of Kevin Costner’s character.

Chris Herren — Durfee High School, class of 1994

Durfee High’s basketball team is the stuff of legend, and few have contributed more to that history than Chris Herren. He came from a family of basketball stars, but perhaps none shined as brightly as Chris. He once scored 60 points in a single game, and holds the school record of 2,073 points — the only member of Durfee’s 2,000-point club. In college, though, struggles emerged that would shape the rest of his career and his life, as he was kicked out of Boston College for failing multiple drug tests. He finished his college career at Fresno State, then moved up to the NBA, playing for the Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics, all while battling serious addictions to multiple narcotics, as documented in the memoir “Basketball Junkie” and the ESPN film “Unguarded.” His demons drove him to the brink of death, and even beyond it — after an overdose he was declared dead for 30 seconds before being revived. Today, Herren has founded a nonprofit focused on helping people in recovery and is a motivational speaker.

Marc Megna — Durfee High School, class of 1994

Durfee produced another star athlete from 1994, but a different sport — Marc Megna was among the best linebackers the Hilltoppers ever produced. A self-described shy and out-of-shape kid, in his teens he found his focus in the weight room and on the gridiron. Megna was an all-state performer while at Durfee, and played for the University of Richmond before being drafted by the New York Jets. He had a successful pro football career, playing with the Patriots for a couple of seasons and the Cincinnati Bengals for another, as well as for European and Canadian teams. He’s since made the leap from pro football to nationally renowned strength and conditioning and wellness coach, the co-owner of Anatomy, a high-end fitness and health facility in Miami, and has bared his chiseled physique on any number of fitness and bodybuilding magazine covers. Still, as he called his inspirational memoir, he's “Just a Kid from Fall River.”

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Brandon Gomes — Durfee High School, class of 2002

Not every athlete stays on the field. Brandon Gomes, Durfee High grad and one of the best Hilltopper baseball players in school history, moved on after high school to the major leagues — and the minors. Gomes was first drafted by the San Diego Padres in 2007, and during his time as a pro player with the Padres, Rays and Cubs, he was shuffled back and forth between the majors and minors, each time gaining more curiosity about baseball operations. It led him to a satisfying career in player development for the Los Angeles Dodgers, where his curious, active mind helped him rise within the ranks. He was named the Dodgers general manager this year.

Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Greater Fall River high schools' 26 most famous alumni