1913 – 2006 (September 23)
John F. Glynn was born February 26, 1913, in Lawrence Massachusetts, one of three sons and one daughter of Michael and Margaret Glynn, both from Ireland. John attended public schools in Lawrence and then began his preparation for religious life at Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, New York. He spent a year at Good Counsel Novitiate in New Hamburg New York and professed his first vows on September 13, 1932. He studied at Villanova College, graduating with an AB in Philosophy in 1936, and then until 1939, pursued theological studies at Augustinian College, Washington DC. During those same years, he earned an AM in Classical Languages from Catholic University of America. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 30, 1939.
Father Glynn’s first assignment was to St. Augustine High School, San Diego, California where he taught from 1940 to 1959. At various times during those years, he was also vice-principal, moderator of the alumni, coach of junior varsity football, founder of CARRA, a social organization for the city’s Catholic high schools, and Latin teacher to the Diocesan seminarians.
From 1959 until 1965 Father John was stationed at Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai, CA, teaching Latin and eventually serving as Headmaster. In 1965 he was with a small community of Augustinians teaching at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, CA. In 1966 he became the founding co-principal of Central Catholic High School in Modesto, CA, and remained there until 1974 when he returned to Villanova Prep.
In 2001, when his health began to decline and he showed signs of early Alzheimer’s, he moved to St. Joseph’s Health Center in Ojai. As the disease progressed, he moved to Autumn Years, an Alzheimer’s care facility in the Ojai valley. In both facilities he received loving and professional care. He died on Saturday, September 23, 2006.
Although Father John has had a distinguished career as teacher and administrator at a number of schools, it is with Villanova Prep that he is most associated. Thousands of alumni remember receiving his Christmas card each year with a had-written personal note. He personified to parents, students, faculty and to the larger community the stated values of the school: truth, love and community.
His Funeral Mass was celebrated on Thursday, September 28 at Villanova Preparatory School. A memorial Mass was held at Saint Patrick’s Church, San Diego, the following day. Internment followed in the Augustinian plot at Holy Cross Cemetery.
