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I was calling him because Ray Renola, born and raised in Providence, holds a unique military distinction. He is the oldest living graduate of West Point, where for centuries the Army has trained its elite candidates. There are 54,132 graduates of the academy still among us. Ray, at 104, is their elder statesman. I found him in assisted living in Virginia — that’s now home. My hope was to tell his full story, but it seemed there was a piece of it I would never know: what Ray went through in World War II. He married late, did not have children, and never spoke of it to his wider family.

Opinion/Patinkin: At 104, Providence native is West Point's oldest graduate Mark Patinkin, The Providence Journal © Courtesy of the Renola family Ray Renola in 2019, with nieces Karen Renola, left, and Jean Boshco. The old soldier’s image came onto FaceTime. I was calling him because Ray Renola, born and raised in Providence, holds a unique military distinction. He is the oldest living graduate of West Point, where for centuries the Army has trained its elite candidates. There are 54,132 graduates of the academy still among us. Ray, at 104, is their elder statesman. I fou...

You read about the marvelous Misha Marshall in the Light just before the end of the year. Now you can meet her and the young writer who brought you her

Her career in the Providence public schools spans 35 years, first as a social-studies teacher at Mount Pleasant high School and later as an assistant principal at Classical High School.    Abood-Tavares retired in 2004, but she returned to Providence to work as a retired administrator and mentor at Harry Kizirian Elementary School and Hope High School.  She was raised on Federal Hill, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants. Her father, Joseph Abood, represented Rhode Island at JFK’s inauguration. A framed copy of the president’s speech hung on the walls of Abood-Tavares’s classrooms fo...