LYNN — Actually, Frank Lynch’s 100th birthday party celebration was supposed to be Saturday.
Obviously that didn’t happen.
Wednesday, his pals from the St. Vincent de Paul Society and the Knights of Columbus in Lynn were going to gather for the 7 a.m. Mass at St. Pius V. Church in Lynn, and then take him to breakfast at Andy’s on Boston Street.
That didn’t happen either.
But as the saying goes, if you can’t bring Mohammad to the mountain, you bring the mountain to Mohammad. So, on a chilly spring morning Wednesday, parishioners and both priests from St. Pius, along with 25 friends and well-wishers, converged at Lynch’s residence at the Stadium Condominiums, next to Manning and Fraser fields, to give him the celebration they wanted him to have.
If having a small gathering on the lawn outside his condo seemed to be a letdown after a planned celebration and a breakfast with friends, Lynch said no, it wasn’t.
“It’s just an act of God,” said Lynch, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting month-and-a-half-long social distancing order that has resulted from it. “All you can do is put your faith in God. He’ll take care of it.”
The Mass and breakfast has become a tradition, said longtime friend and fellow knight Ray Bastarache, who called Lynch “God’s gift to mankind.” But, of course, everything changed because of the coronavirus. Still, Father Godfrey Musabe of St. Pius was able to give Lynch Holy Communion by leaning over a rail that separates his deck from the lawn around the grounds. And he also received a birthday cake. Also on hand was Father Robert Poitras, the pastor of the combined St. Pius-Holy Family collaborative.
“They had a big party planned for me,” said Lynch. “But it had to be canceled. That’s OK. We’ll do it next year. You can only do what you can do.”
All in all, Lynch feels pretty chipper for a newly-minted centenarian.
“I feel great,” he said. “I think I might make it a couple of more years.
“My sister lived to be 106,” said Lynch. “I don’t know if I’ll go that long, but I’m going to try. I feel good.”
Lynch’s daughter, Beth Dropsky, had come up from Virginia for the party, but now says the visit has been extended as the crisis from the coronavirus continues to take hold.
“I’ll probably stay another couple of months now,” she said.
Like her father, she’s not upset that all the plans the family had for her father’s 100th birthday couldn’t be completed.
“It is what it is,” she said. “We didn’t have the breakfast. We’re not having the family party. But this is turning out awesome.
“A neighbor came by and saw all the people here, and she went out to buy a plant and a card for my dad. That was wonderful. People want a reason to celebrate.”
