Cardinal Mooney honors 2 distinguished alumni

Staff report

youngstown

Cardinal Mooney High School Alumni Association presented its 2011 Distinguished Alumni Awards at a prayer service this week.

This year’s recipients are Deborah A. Reardon Schiavone, a 1969 graduate, and Dr. Thomas Boniface, a 1977 graduate.

Schiavone’s award was awarded posthumously and accepted by her husband, Dan Schiavone, also a 1969 graduate.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards are presented annually. The criterion requires that the awardee “demonstrate a continuing concern and dedication for others by embracing the Cardinal Mooney motto of Sanctity, Scholarship, and Discipline.”

Schiavone, who died in 2006 after a battle with cancer, was a lifelong teacher and was active in St. Charles parish. She earned her bachelor’s degree in 1973 from St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind., and earned her master’s degree in English from Youngstown State University in 2000.

She started her teaching career at Boardman Center Middle School, where she taught for three years, then took time from her career to raise a family and work within her parish and its communities.

She was a substitute teacher at St. Charles, served as president of the Home and School Association and chaired the Academic Programming Committee. She is also credited with initiating the Mardi Gras Celebration.

Within the parish, Schiavone served as a Eucharistic minister and formerly served as president of the Pastoral Council and chairwoman of the activities and ministries committee. She was a member of the Cardinal Mooney Alumni Board and St. Mary’s Alumni Association.

She concluded her teaching career at Poland High School where she taught English and French for 16 years. In addition, Schiavone moderated the National Honor Society, served as director of the Students Against Drunk Driving and advised the French Club. She is survived by her husband, two daughters, Dr. Dana Goldberg and Jennifer Venrose and two sons, A.J. and Dan Jr.

Dr. Boniface earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Akron in 1981. In 1983, he received his medical degree from the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine.

He served a five-year residency in Orthopedic Surgery at Mt. Carmel Medical Center in Columbus. In 1988, he joined Boniface Orthopaedics, an orthopaedic-surgery practice in Boardman. For more than 20 years, he and his brothers Ray (’74) and Jim (’81) to provide quality orthopaedic care to patients throughout the Mahoning Valley.

Dr. Boniface served as section director of Orthopaedic Surgery at St. Elizabeth Hospital Medical Center from 1995 to 2000. He is the chairman of the department of orthopaedic surgery at NEOUCOM and vice-chairman of the department of surgery at St. Elizabeth’s HMC.

Dr. Boniface has been recognized for his teaching by NEOUCOM, Alpha Omega Alpha and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Warren. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery and a member of the Mahoning County and Ohio State Medical Societies. He belongs to the Society for Patient Centered Orthopaedics and is a fellow in the Institutes for Professionalism Inquiry.

Active in his church, Dr. Boniface has found time to devote to the students of Cardinal Mooney High School. In 2003, he worked to establish the school’s first competitive swimming and diving program. He has served as its coach since the inception of the program in 2004 and has successfully qualified swimmers for district, regional and state competition.

Dr. Boniface and his wife, Dr. Elizabeth Young, have four children: Tom (’08), Nick (’10), Joe and Annie. They live in Poland.

“Debbie Schiavone and Dr. Boniface both reflect the ideals of Cardinal Mooney in all that they have undertaken,” said Sister Jane Marie Kudlacz, Cardinal Mooney principal. “Mrs. Schiavone dedicated her life to education and serving her church. She was a beacon, providing examples to others to join her in service to her parish, its school and to Cardinal Mooney High School.

“Tom has mirrored the motto of Cardinal Mooney in his life’s pursuit, providing quality care for his patients and at the same time donating generously of his time and talents to reach out to our students to provide them opportunities that would not be available without his dedication,” the principal said.

This is the 15th year that the Distinguished Alumni Awards have been presented by the association.