My Purple Hat // 15 August 2024

I am a man of many hats. Just as importantly, I am a man who owns many hats and wears them, often to keep the sun or cold away from my bald head.

One of my favorite hats is a purple hat: Boston Latin is written on the front.? It is amazing how many people stop me on the street and ask me about my hat.? Recently, I was approached by a gentleman of color in his 50s at the Star Market in West Roxbury.? He is a graduate from the 1980’s.? Then when I was working out with my personal trainer at the Y in Wareham, a lady stopped me and said “my husband went to Latin School.? His name is Jim and he is the lifeguard on duty today.”

Then there are parents who have stopped me on the street and suggested they had moved to Boston, or stayed in Boston, so that their son or daughter might go to Boston Latin School. Alas, there are also parents who have stopped me and suggested that their child had not been accepted, which means they will be looking for alternatives, including moving out of the city. Of course, there are also current BLS students who can barely comprehend that I entered the school over 60 years ago, on September 10, 1961.

Boston Latin School has influenced the lives of young people in Boston for almost 400 years. I suppose that makes me a member of a centuries-old fraternity, now fraternity/sorority. I have never felt guilty about bleeding purple.

Above the old entrance of Boston Latin School, it says “Public Latin School.”? I expect that was engraved in stone 100 years ago to distinguish us from the private Latin School now located in West Roxbury.?

Boston Latin School is a public school. I have often told people that it is the best education money cannot buy.? It has been the up escalator for immigrant children for centuries. It was that way for me. It is that way today. That’s why I am proud to wear my purple hat.

I see other people wearing hats as well. A man at church had on a hat reminding me that he was Vietnam Veteran.? I often stop to thank such hat wearers for their service.

The late Beatrice Mullaney, a judge of the Bristol County Probate Court, was a legendary figure who would have hats available which were provided to women when they appeared in front of her; the hats were kept in a drawer by one of her clerks.? I expect that is no longer the case in that court or any other.?

Hats say something about a man, or a woman.? I am old enough to remember that most people wore hats, especially at weddings and at church on Sundays, the highlight being Easter Sunday bonnets.

?My father taught me to tip my hat when I would walk by a lady and take off my hat when a lady entered an elevator. Those are old customs, perhaps rapidly dying customs, but that’s the way I was taught.

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