"I Just Can't Thank You Enough" — Father Planning Presented with Parting Gifts

This week, Father Planning was presented with two beautiful gifts—one from the Gonzaga Mothers Club and Gonzaga Fathers Club, and one from the Board of Trustees—as thank yous for his decade of service on Eye Street. 

 

On Tuesday, two dozen current and past presidents of the GMC and GFC presented Father with an oil painting by professional artist and current Gonzaga mom Susan O'Neill (Thomas '23). The painting is based on a photo of Father hanging a "Beat St. John's" banner from the top of the clock tower. It will hang at the school, and they also had a print made that Father can take with him when he moves on. 

 

The next day, the Board of Trustees gave Father a regulator wall clock created by German company Hermle Clocks. The pendulum bob is engraved with the Gonzaga seal. The gift was presented at a reception with both current and past Board members from the past decade.

 

"This has been such an extraordinary journey over the last ten years," Father Planning said when he was presented with the painting from the GMC and GFC. "The reason Gonzaga is so special is because it's a place where God's spirit is allowed to move very freely through the halls and through our community. Everyone says, 'What's the special sauce of Gonzaga?' Well it's really that experience of people of goodwill coming together and allowing God's love to be our sole motivator. And I see that all the time in our faculty and staff, in our boys, and of course in our moms and dads. It's been a joy to be able to accompany this community over these last ten years, and I just can't thank you enough."