The campus green at St James School on the Vaughn Road looked awfully vacant last summer when I took this, but school has now started and the place teems with young people. My view looks at Furlong Hall, one not seen by the casual passers-by. STJ moved to this campus circa 1990 under the leadership of retired Lt General Raymond Furlong, its longtime headmaster at that time. 3-star Furlong arrived in Montgomery around 1975, after a rocket-rise in the Air Force, to assume command of the Air University at Maxwell. But sad to say, he was the target of attacks by higher brass who resented Furlong’s career path. Their revenge resulted in a loss of command status for the Base.

Ergo, Furlong retired from the AF, settled in Montgomery, dropped all reference to his stellar AF career, and set out on a new avocation as school administrator.  An Air Force loss, a Montgomery gain, but 35 years ago there was ample pain to go around. General Furlong passed away a few years ago. If you seek his monument, here it is.

-Charles Humphries