Area feels effect of loss
By TOM DALTON
News staff

SALEM -- The city was in mourning yesterday for Stephen O'Grady, the 30-year-old executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Salem, who was killed Sunday night by an alleged drunken driver. The impact of O'Grady's death was felt across the city -- from the club on Hawthorne Boulevard, which he helped resurrect, to the baseball field at Forest River Park, where his beloved Reds won so many Little League championships.
They grieved at St. James Church, where O'Grady had taught religious education classes; at St. Joseph Church, where he coached youth basketball; at Salem High, where he coached the freshman baseball team; and at St. John the Evangelist School in Beverly, where he had been athletic director.
The loss was so great that the homeroom period was extended Monday morning at Collins Middle School so that teachers could speak with students about the death of an adult so many knew and loved. Grief counselors met last night with children at the Boys and Girls Club.
"I can't imagine any young man of 30 years of age having the impact on their city that Steve O'Grady had on the city of Salem," said Peter Merry, the board chairman of the Boys and Girls Club.
"It is astounding. ... And that is his legacy, and that is also the tragedy." "He was entwined in so many ways in so many grown-ups' and students' lives," said Mary Manning, principal of Collins Middle School. "He reached out in all directions, and in every direction he reached out he was real important."
O'Grady's contributions to the city's youth were lauded at Salem State College and at City Hall.
"This is a just a tremendous personal loss for me, but also a great loss to this community. I'm absolutely devastated," said Mayor Stanley Usovicz, who had been a CCD teacher with O'Grady at St. James. "In my lifetime, I've never met anybody as caring ... and giving as Steve O'Grady." "He was a wonderful, wonderful young man -- an absolutely spectacular person," said Salem State College President Nancy Harrington. She worked with O'Grady to open a satellite facility for the youth club last year at Rainbow Terrace, a public housing complex next to the college.
Since taking over the Salem Boys and Girls Club in 1995, when the doors were shut and the club was $70,000 in debt, O'Grady had worked with a dedicated board to give the club a new life. Under his direction, the club was renovated, programs expanded and day-care programs opened on Hawthorne Boulevard and at three elementary schools. "That was what he was all about -- connecting to all segments of the community," said Assistant Superintendent Larry Callahan, who was principal of Bentley School when a day-care program opened there.
He also made special connections, school officials said, to students who needed him most.
"He was the missing piece in a lot of kids' lives," Manning said. "He filled (the role) of important male and also important person in the lives of so many kids that I don't think we even have a grip on how many kids this is going to have a big impact on, let alone the grown-ups who will miss him so much."
O'Grady was killed returning from a weekend at his condominium in New Hampshire. He was with close friends, Wayne and Rosemarie Cross, who lived next to O'Grady's mother on Webb Street. O'Grady, whose father died in a car accident when he was an infant, lived in the Webb Street house until just a few months ago. He bought a two-family home on Jefferson Avenue, where he lived with his sister, Beth. Rosie Cross, the administrative assistant at the Boys and Girls Club, was treated and released from the hospital. Her husband remains at Boston Medical Center.
The Crosses, who ran the concession stand for Little League games at Forest River Park, also are well known in the city. Their two sons, Joe and Jeff, both had coached with O'Grady.
Before coming to the Boys and Girls Club, O'Grady worked briefly for Corporate Design Insurance Agency in Salem and for several years as athletic director at St. John the Evangelist School in Beverly. "After someone dies, you hear all these accolades," said Karen McCarthy, principal of St. John. "But, you know, everything they say about Steve is true. It's so true. ... When he came here, he couldn't have been more than 20 years old. ... That day I saw someone very special walk through that door."
"Some people were meant to handle a lot of responsibility, and Steve was that kind of person," said Corporate Design owner Mike O'Brien. "This city has lost a tremendous asset and I have lost a valued friend."
The Boys and Girls Club, which was staggering four years ago, climbed high under O'Grady, officials said. It went from serving no children, to reaching several hundred every day -- and the potential seemed limitless. "We all worked hard, but Steve was the one with the inspiration," said Merry. "He was the glue that held it all together. ... (His loss) is catastrophic for our club because he was so great." O'Grady, they said, had done so much in 30 years and held such promise to do much more."
"He was the greatest kid you ever wanted to meet. I was hoping Steve would replace me when I retired," said Larry McIntire, superintendent of the Park and Recreation Department. "I can't even explain how much his loss is going to be to this community," said Joyce Gendron, a close friend. "It's going to be felt now and next year, and probably for many years to come."

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