Meet Our Donors Bill Gilmartin ’71

Bill Gilmartin ’71

I was raised in Chicopee, Mass. I’d be called a first-generation college student today.

My father was a policeman and my mother a waitress. We weren’t astute about the college application process, so HC’s generous aid package came as a shock. It meant I could make something of myself.

As a waiter in Kimball, I learned a lot from upper classmen waiters when we ate dinner together after serving. Jim Matthews ’70 and others mentored me and John Skoczylas ’71 from nearby Holyoke became a friend.

I was proud to credit History Professor John Anderson in my Senate confirmation hearing, for inspiring me to work in government service.