Our family recently got together for a nice lunch. The first time since Christmas. We, our children and grandchildren, gathered at our twin son’s home in San Jose. The only one missing was the other twin in Michigan, who happened to call and we all talked to him. He had been home for Christmas. It was a fun time. Get-togethers are really so nice.
But, in the middle of our fun times the question arose from one of our kids, “Did you read about Mary Ann?” they asked.
“Who?” we asked.
The response: “Mary Ann Quigley.”
According to a Dec. 30, 2006 San Jose Mercury News story, a “cold case” slaying had been solved. The 1977 slayer of Mary Ann Quigley, a Richard Armand Archebeque, 47, of Santa Clara, had been arraigned on murder charges for the killing almost 30 years ago. The crime lab matched his DNA. For all these years, the brutal slaying of 17-year-old Mary Ann Quigley had remained unsolved. She was hanged at a Santa Clara park after being sexually assaulted.
Our daughter seemed most surprised. At one time, Mary Ann had befriended her. Additionally, our twin son said that one of his buddies dated her. In fact, he said she had been to our house several times.
To expand the story. We lived on Doyle Road in San Jose in the 1970’s, west of where Doyle crossed Saratoga Avenue. My career was with Lockheed in Sunnyvale and, as such, we had work-related friends as well as neighbors with whom we partied on Friday or Saturday night. Not justifying this, however, it seems our twin sons partied at our house when we were out. And, among their close friends was one who dated Mary Ann Quigley. That is why our son said that she had been to our house many times as the girlfriend of their close friend. Our son remembered her as very sweet and nice. All these buddies attended Blackford High School.
During those times, it was my opinion that Blackford High School was one of the worst I had ever seen. If I took my sons to school I might see students drinking beer on campus in the morning before classes started. I didn’t feel that their education was enhanced much from hearing their stories of their teachers.
Nevertheless, we felt most unfortunate when it came time for our daughter to attend. We lived on the north side of Doyle that was in the Blackford realm. On the south side of the street, the side that all our daughter’s friends resided on, went to Prospect High School, a very prestigious school. So, she was relegated to a school without her friends. However, here came a friend of her brothers, Mary Ann Quigley, who took our daughter under her wing, protected her and introduced her and made her life a little more pleasant at Blackford.
By 1977, from what our children remember, Mary Ann had moved away, apparently to Santa Clara. And, our daughter transferred to Prospect High School with all her friends. How we did that we won’t tell.
Although one life may end in tragedy, that life may well be remembered, fondly.
God Bless Mary Ann.
Burton Anderson, a U.S. Marine veteran of the Korean War, has lived in California for about 50 years. He has a background in aerospace industry. He can be reached at
ba****@ao*.com
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