Elms College names commencement speaker, honorary degree and award recipients

CHICOPEE – Elms College will hold its 77th commencement exercises Sunday, May 18 at 10:30 a.m. in the Keating Quadrangle. Sister Catherine Pinkerton, a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph, Cleveland, has been named commencement speaker.

Sister Pinkerton has been a lobbyist with NETWORK, a national Catholic social justice lobby, for 23 years. She is also vice president of the Churches Center on Theology and Public Policy, and secretary of the executive committee of the newly formed Resource Center for Faith and Public Policy.

Honorary degrees will also be awarded to John H. Davis, senior trustee to the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation, and Russell J. Omer, senior vice president, Chicopee Savings Bank and chairman of the board of trustees, Elms College.

Additionally, the Via Veritatis Medal, which is presented to an outstanding Catholic woman who exemplifies Catholic womanhood and culture at their best and who has made significant contributions to society, will be presented to longtime Elms College volunteer Helen A. D’Amour, and Michele D’Amour, the educational partnership administrator for Big Y Foods Inc. Via Veritatis, which means “way of truth,” comes from the college’s motto, Viam Veritatis Elegi – “I have chosen the way of truth.”

The Distinguished Alumna Award is being presented to Margaret R. Scanlon, ’52, G ’66, a kindergarten teacher in the Springfield public schools for 40 years and an adjunct professor at Springfield College for 10 years.

“In recognizing these honorees, we are affirming values close to the heart of Elms College,” said James H. Mullen Jr., president of Elms College.

Sister Pinkerton began her career as a teacher and administrator in secondary education. After the Second Vatican Council, she became involved in church renewal movements with a focus on the role of women in the church. She served on the board of the Cleveland Diocese Commission on Catholic Community Action, as consultant to parish councils in Cleveland’s Office of Pastoral Planning, as president of the Sisters’ Senate in Cleveland, and in the foundation of the Cleveland Women’s Ordination Conference.

Sister Pinkerton has served as president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, chair of the National Assembly of Women’s Religious, and as chair of Sisters Uniting. She was a delegate to Call to Action in Detroit in 1976 as a member of the U.S. Bishops’ Advisory Board.

She has received the Institute of Women Today Award, two Most Influential Women in Cleveland awards, and the John Carroll University Centennial Education Medal. She has also been inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame, and was awarded the 2006 Outstanding Leadership Award by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

NETWORK is a progressive voice within the Catholic community that has been influencing Congress in favor of peace and justice for more than 30 years. Through lobbying and legislative advocacy, the group strives to close the gap between rich and poor, and to dismantle policies rooted in racism, greed, and violence. Since its founding in 1971 by 47 Catholic sisters, NETWORK has been faithfully answering the Gospel call to act for justice. Its membership, which includes both individuals and organizations, represents more than committed and active 100,000 people.

Davis, of Longmeadow, is former chair of the board and chief executive officer of American Saw & Manufacturing Company in East Longmeadow. He retired in 2002, and has been a managing member of Ventry Industries, LLC, since 2003. He is a senior trustee to his family’s foundation, the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation, and oversees charitable contributions to many community organizations with an emphasis on education.

Davis is currently a director of the Urban League of Springfield; a trustee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame; and a trustee of the Baystate Health Foundation.

He is a graduate of Nichols College in Dudley, Mass., with a degree in business and finance, and is a trustee of that college. He also serves as a corporator at American International College, a trustee of the New Leadership Charter School, and was formerly a director of the Sabis International Charter School.

Davis was former chair of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce and president/director of the East Longmeadow Chamber of Commerce. He has also served as treasurer of the World Affairs Council; chair of the Springfield Area Council for Excellence; director of Junior Achievement of Western Massachusetts; and treasurer/trustee/director of the United Way of Pioneer Valley, chair of its Alexis de Toqueville Society, and chairman of the 1999 United Way Campaign.

He has received a number of awards for his community service and philanthropy, including the William Pynchon Award (1995); the National Foundation Human Relations Award (1997); and the Newcome Society Award (1997). He received honorary degrees from Bay Path College in 1993 and American International College in 2000, and was general chair of the Tip-Off Classic, Peach Basket Festival in 1996. He is married to the former Robyn Burnett, and they have three adult children, Laurel, Andrew, and Brooke.

Omer is the senior vice president and senior loan officer of Chicopee Savings Bank. He is primarily responsible for overseeing all residential mortgage, consumer and commercial lending functions. Previously, he was the senior vice president of Fleet Financial Group and a vice president at Shawmut National Corporation.

Omer is active in the community and currently serves as a chairman of the board of trustees at the College of Our Lady of the Elms, president and director of the Chicopee Neighborhood Development Corporation, governor of Springfield Country Club, a member of the Holyoke Medical Center Planning Committee, director of Brightwood Development Corporation, director for the Employers Association of the North East, and also enjoys membership in several local organizations. Omer has also served as a trustee for MacDuffie School, director of Springfield Industrial Development Finance Agency, a director for Small Business Administration of New England and was a member of the Springfield Historical Commission.

Omer holds bachelor of science in economics and finance from American International College. He lives in South Hadley with his wife, Pamela, and their two youngest sons, Russell and Andrew and also has two grown sons, Nicholas and Charles.

Helen D’Amour attended the School of Banking at Williams College, the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin, and the School of Management at Ball University in Indiana.

She worked at the First National Bank of Amherst and the Holyoke National Bank. She was named assistant vice president in 1973, and assistant vice president and branch officer in 1976. She retired in 1983. She has been a trustee at Elms College, and was chair of the individual major donors in the “Envision Elms” Campaign. She is a volunteer at St. Mary Church. She married Paul D’Amour in 1981, and has two children, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Michele D’Amour is the educational partnership administrator for Big Y Foods Inc., a privately owned supermarket chain that operates 58 stores throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut and employs more than 10,000 people. In that role, she has been responsible for managing a variety of educational initiatives at Big Y, including the Homework Helpline.

Michele began working for Big Y in 1968 as a cashier while working her way through college. A graduate of Cathedral High School and Westfield State College, she holds a master’s degree in education from American International College. She has had a variety of teaching experiences and has also worked at the college level, supervising student teachers.

She taught religious education for several years at St. Mary Parish, Hampden, and has served on the board of the Springfield Diocesan Schools, the ad hoc committee to develop a strategic plan for the Diocese of Springfield (Vision 2010), and the Diocesan Blue Ribbon Commission. She is a past member of Johnson Memorial Hospital annual charity fund-raiser, “JMH Women Helping Women” campaign; and was a participant in the Springfield Habitat for Humanity Women’s Build.

She was a founding member of the Somers Cultural Commission; served on the Somers Chapter 1 Parent Advisory Council; and is a corporator of the Springfield Museums.

Inspired by Pope John Paul II’s encyclical on Faith and Reason, Michele and her husband, Donald, co-founded the Fides et Ratio grant competition for small Catholic colleges, and the Fides et Ratio summer faculty seminars under the auspices of the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington D.C. They have also endowed academic scholarships for both of their elementary school alma maters, and are members of the western Massachusetts chapter of Legatus. They have been married 35 years, and have five children and six grandchildren.

Scanlon graduated from the College of Our Lady of the Elms in 1952, and received a master’s degree in education here in 1966. She was a kindergarten teacher for 40 years in the Springfield public schools from 1952 to 1992, and then was an adjunct professor at Springfield College for 10 more years. She retired in 2002, but she continues to supervise student teachers in the classroom.

Scanlon served as president of the Association for Childhood Education from 1965-66, and president of the Springfield Teachers Club from 1962-62 and again from 1988-2000. She is currently on their board of directors.

She was president of the Catholic Woman’s Club of Springfield for two terms, from 1998-2000 and 2004-2006, and is currently on their board of directors. She belongs to Holy Cross Church in Springfield, where she serves as a eucharistic minister, home visitor, and is on the outreach to the poor committee. She has been a volunteer at Elms in the Office of Institutional Advancement since 1992.