John Schumann ’69 and Tom Madden ’69

55th Reunion Committee Co-Chair | The Fund for Providence College Donor | Loyal Friar Society Member (12+ years)

What books are you currently reading? 

John: I’m reading a truly heartwarming story about a donkey named Sherman overcoming all odds to achieve “success.” It is about the results of patience for healing, hard work, teamwork, and goal setting. Running with Sherman by Christopher McDougal is a great read tugging at the full spectrum of human emotion.

Tom: Not a big reader. Still working and most of my reading is research. Pat Conroy was my favorite author. Wish he was still with us.

While a PC student, where were your favorite places to study?   

John: The library. For my first three and a half years, the library was located on the forth floor of Harkins Hall. The Phillips Memorial Library was completed in time for me to study there the final semester at PC. What a wonderful facility it was and still is.

Tom: When living in the dorms, it was my room. Once we moved off campus, my apartment across town at the corner of George and Governor was my study spot.

Which members of the faculty or staff or Dominican Order had a significant impact in your life? How so?    

John: It is a draw between Father Walter Heath (“the Heathiest of the three Dominican Heath brothers,” to quote Father Sicard) and Father John Cunningham. Father Heath, the captain of the submarine featured in the movie, “Run Silent Run Deep,” was a regular at an off-campus after-hour diner. There he would answer virtually any question we would have about school, spirituality, and commitment. Of course, he would regularly put his own unusual “spin” on things. Father Cunningham was always available for just talking and visiting. He was absolutely brilliant but with a real-world perspective of living life. I think it interesting that, after retiring from Providence College, he was invited to teach ethics at Brown. To me, there was great irony in that.

Tom: Dick Grace, history professor.

You are members of the Loyal Friar Society. Why do you continue to support today’s students through The Fund for Providence College?

John: Because I was blessed by great parents who contributed substantially to the finances necessary for me to finish my degree with no student debt. I realize not all students are that fortunate. The Fund for Providence College does so much to help students from diverse backgrounds make it through PC. I am also a supporter of the Success Fund which provides funds to students unable to afford things like proper attire for job or graduate school interviews or travel to those interviews or supplies like computers. I feel the Success Fund and Fund for Providence College help enrich the college community.

Tom: Providence College has been my “home” for 59 years and counting. The Fund for Providence College is all encompassing. I’m trying to pay it forward. 

What are your favorite PC traditions?  

John: The Friars Club. The Friars Club is an organization promoting scholarship while providing students an opportunity to “give back” while students. It teaches its members the benefit of learning and the benefits of being of service to others. It was an honor being part of this club.

Tom: Being a longtime season ticket holder for men’s basketball, this is near and dear to my heart. I coached and officiated for over 40 years. I live for the Friar basketball program. That is my favorite school tradition. My favorite personal “tradition” at PC was the PIZZA, SODA, GRINDERS business that my partner, Norm McLaughlin, and I ran our junior and senior years (we bought the business from older friends who went to PC and came from our high school). The students on campus depended on us to feed them Sunday through Thursday from 10:30 to 11 p.m. Back in the 60s, off-campus delivery wasn’t allowed and there were no restaurants open on campus.

Students couldn’t roam the hallways of the dorms from 7 p.m. until 10:30 p.m., to promote studying. Once 10:30 p.m. arrived and doors opened, the students were met by one of our 12 workers who knocked on every door on campus. We got the pizza and grinders from Tommy’s or Pizza World and the sodas from a wholesaler in Pawtucket. Our margins were healthy and our pockets were full. Once we graduated, we sold the business for a tidy profit to a kid from Long Island. Sadly, for him, the school by then started allowing off-campus delivery and two restaurants opened on campus.

Timing is everything!