Swampscott priest ‘really loved what he was doing’

SWAMPSCOTT – The Rev. Clyde H. Chetwynde, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church, died unexpectedly Saturday evening at the rectory at the age of 59.Chetwynde, who had some ongoing health problems, was appointed pastor of St. John the Evangelist by Archbishop Sean O’Malley and he was installed as the pastor of St. John the Evangelist on April 17, 2005 by the Most Rev. Francis X. Irwin, bishop of the North Region.The Rev. Terence Curley, who serves at St. Thomas Aquinas in Nahant, was a close friend of Chetwynde. In fact, the two had met for coffee the day Chetwynde died.”I was the last person that was with him on the day he died,” Curley said. “He was more than a colleague – we were really close friends. I’m going to miss him. A lot of people are going to miss him. He was a good spiritual priest and always put the people before himself. This is a real loss.”Curley said there is much about Chetwynde’s life that should be honored.”He loved and cared for people,” he said. “He did a lot of good deeds while he was here on earth.”Curley said Chetwynde had a history of heart trouble, but on the afternoon of his death he was making plans for the future.”He was in good spirits,” he said. “He was talking about the future and making plans for things he was going to do in the parish. We were working together on several projects involving both parishes.”Jim Hughes, who has been attending St. John’s for 75 years, said many people would miss Chetwynde.”He was a real good person – very personable with a good sense of humor,” he said. “He was very understanding and compassionate. He worked really hard and very rarely left here.”Peter Cassidy Sr., who has been a parishioner at St. John for 70 years, said Chetwynde was a wonderful human being, who had a lot of compassion.”I knew him very well,” he said. “He was a wonderful guy and he really loved what he was doing. He was raised Protestant and converted then became a Catholic priest. He was a wonderful man.”In an interview with The Item shortly after his appointment, Chetwynde, a native of Duxbury who had been in the ministry for 25 years, praised the t own.”It is a very dynamic and wonderful community. This is a great parish and I am looking forward to serving here,” he said. “Since I have been ordained I have not been situated near the ocean. I love looking out my window and seeing the ocean.”Prior to his tenure in Swampscott, Chetwynde served at St. John the Evangelist in Townsend. Chetwynde was ordained in 1980 at the age of 31 and was appointed pastor at St. John’s in Swampscott during a tumultuous time. The church had three priests in less than a year and it was suffering financial setbacks.Chetwynde immediately got to work to bring parishioners back into the fold and to attract young people to the church.He also had the difficult task of consoling the parish and community at large when two of its young people were killed at war within six months of each other.Jared Raymond, who was the first Swampscott military casualty in the Iraq War, was killed in action Sept. 19, 2006 in Iraq while serving with the 1st Battalion 66th Armored Regiment 4th Infantry Division. In February 2007, Capt. Jennifer Harris, who was a helicopter pilot with the elite HMM-364 Purple Foxes, was killed during her third tour of duty in Iraq.Agnes Raymond, who is the grandmother of Jared, said Chetwynde performed the funeral Mass for her grandson and was an immense comfort to the family.”He came to our house the night Jared was killed,” she said. “He was a wonderful man and a tremendous help to our family after Jared died. He stopped by to check on us and, anytime we needed anything, he was there.”Fr. Clyde will lie in state Wednesday from 4-7 p.m. in St. John the Evangelist Church in Swampscott. A concelebrated funeral Mass, with the Most Reverend Francis X. Irwin, Auxiliary Bishop of Boston, as the principal celebrant, will be held on Thursday, 11 a.m., in St. John the Evangelist Church with burial following at Fox