John Falzone, a university carpenter for 25 years, completes a daily routine of fixing mail boxes and hanging signs on campus. But Falzone will leave Fairfield known as a person who gave students a sense of direction, and it will have nothing to do with turning a screw.
Twice a month, Falzone offers another kind of service to the Fairfield community, when he meets with seven students in Loyola hall as a mentor in the Ignatian Residential College. One of the seven, Chris Surette ’10, said that it was “kind of cool that a carpenter was chosen to be a mentor.” “It is interesting that a guy that never went to college relates so well to kids in college,” Surette said. Though Surette found Falzone to be the perfect mentor, Falzone said he was “a little shocked” and skeptical at first. “I was amazed when I was invited to be a mentor,” Falzone said. “The first thing he did was ask his son, Mike, who was going to be a senior at the time, if he thought it would be a good idea. “He said, ‘Dad, you love to talk to people and you love people, this would be great for you,'” Falzone said. At the Ignatian Residential College, Falzone often hears the question, “Who am I?” The fundamental question of the Ignatian pedagogy, that many following Jesuit founder St. Ignatius Loyola struggle to understand, is one with which Falzone seems to have no a problem. “I am who I am. I am a carpenter, a mentor, a father, an uncle, a godfather,” said Falzone. “I wear many hats.” According to Joe DeFeo, associate director of the Ignatian Residential College, the program administrators ask former mentors, faculty, staff, and administrators, to suggest people to be mentors. “We had known of John, as he has been on campus many years, [and] when his son Mike went through the program we got to know John even better,” DeFeo said. DeFeo said that Falzone was a logical choice based on his attitude and religious devotion.
One of the obstacles that Falzone faces in being a mentor (as well as a carpenter) is that he has Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a chronic disease that affects the nervous system. Click to read more about MS
“When I was first diagnosed I had faith, I had friends and I ha family … religion plays a big role because without faith, you got nothing,” said Falzone. “I give a rosary to every mentee I ever had.” When Falzone was diagnosed with MS in 1985, the first thing he did was go to the library and look up the definition of the disease: a disease that impairs the nervous system and can lead to death. “I was 29 when I read that,” said Falzone. “That’s when I got in touch with the MS society.” At the MS society Falzone found a friend in former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine. “It is great when someone like Bobby Valentine can email me and talk about MS,” Falzone said. Jim Fitzpatrick, associate vice president for student affairs at Fairfield, was at an event that Valentine attended. “I think our friendship started over the mutual love of baseball,” said Fitzpatrick, a longtime Red Sox fan. “He would stop and talk about baseball … I had a lot of great conversations with John.” Judy Arel of the Registrar’s Office, is a co-captain with Falzone on the “Striding Stags” and organization devoted to helping raise money for MS. “Since John has first hand experience he is a great support for anyone needing help or just a listening ear,” said Arel. “His spirit is so contagious.” “Despite any of his problems you would never know that he is having a “down” day,” said Arel. Falzone said that his MS causes him to have some “off” days, but he said he does not feel that he should stop doing what he is doing because of MS: “Ignatius Loyola had his leg blow off and then started the order, that these founded colleges.”
Falzone’s brother has MS and has far more severe symptoms, leaving him in a wheelchair. “The first thing I asked [in relation to heredity of the disease] was what about my son,” Falzone said. Falzone had a major surgery in spring of 2006, a couple of months before his son’s graduation. He was unable to participate in the building of the stage and was limited to set-up duty. Falzones fellow carpenters came through for his son’s graduating class. “That was the moment I was most proud,” he said. “Those four years he was here were the best four years of my life.” Jeff Simon, Supervisor of Carpenters, is Falzone’s boss. “He works hard for the University as a carpenter, but it is what he does [in addition] to that, that makes him great,” he said. Carpenter Chuck DeAngelis, who often works with Falzone, said that because of all that Falzone does he is the department’s connection to the rest of the campus. Said DeAngelis: “The Loyola program is great for John and he is great for that program.” Perhaps one of the toughest times that Falzone had to steer his students through was the death of Loyola Hall sophomore, Alex Carrion in 2006. “We were supposed to go on a retreat and Emily Martucci [’08] walked up to me crying, and said ‘Mr. Falz, Alex is gone.’ At the time Falzone did not know who Carrion was but it was at that point that Falzone had realized what he was, as Loyola would point, ‘called to do.’ DeAngelis remembered that day well. “We were working together the day of Alex’s death,” said DeAngelis. “He [Falzone] said that he to go to Loyola for the day [because] they need him there.” “I called Jeff Simon on the phone and told him I have to go to Loyola for the day,” Falzone stated. On his way over he saw one of his mentoree’s Jackie Mautone’08. It was not until six months later that Falzone would discover, Mautone was on the phone with her mother. “Even though I had never met him [Alex], his death really affected me,” said Mautone. “I called my mom to talk about it and she suggested finding my mentor.”
Mautone said she “was walking back to [her] room during the phone call when [she] ran into Mr. Falz.'”
“Running into him like that was so comforting because he was equally affected as me, even though he had not known Alex either,” said Mautone. “I think it is tougher to lose someone in a close community like this,” said Falzone. “When you are in other dorms they might not know the person but when everyone [in Loyola] walked by Alex’s door they remembered something about him.” Kristen Rossi ’08 was a part of that first mentor group and remembers the first meeting. “John asked us if he was our mentor, what did that make us. We responded that we were his mentees,” said Rossi. But Falzone mistakenly said “manatees” and from that point on they were know as his “manatees.” “Aaron Rude ’08 looked up at me and asked if I was comparing them to fat fish,” said Falzone. The “manatees” would only be the starting group of listeners, as Falzone, would talk to numerous groups. “I talked to Eucharistic Ministers early this month,” he said. “That [message] came off like nothing because that is my faith.” Falzone has received many awards over the years for his service to the Fairfield community, but one student has started to petition to get him the ultimate award. Each year at the University commencement ceremony the school gives an honorary degree, for an individual deemed worthy of the honor. Loyola Hall second floor RA Elizabeth Bigos ’08 has started a petition. “Mr. Falzone has been working at the University for a number of years, and gives of himself on a daily basis,” said Bigos. “He has been a crucial part of the Ignatian Residential College for the past 3 years (mentoring) and is always a group favorite.” And Fitzpatrick agree: “It is people like John Falzone that make me want to come to work at Fairfield University everyday.”
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