Samaritans Didn't Reject First Ross Plaque

Makowski deposition: Bishop told Samaritans Sister Michaelinda would be "removed" from post "in very short time"

by Ed Rice

Winchester Town Crier
Thursday, October 26, 1995

In an exclusive statement provided to the Town Crier...a retired Marine Corps commander charges the Samaritans of Fall River graciously accepted a plaque on behalf of General John Ross and his wife Elaine of Winchester nearly a year before they challenged the couple's very existence and rejected a praise campaign of letters and plaques, which also carried a donation of $27,000.

Apparently grateful for more than four years of support for their severely depressed son Michael (who ultimately committed suicide), the Rosses wanted to mount a praise and fundraising campaign to benefit the Samaritans.

But abruptly the Samaritans rejected all the letters, plaques and money, condemning the whole campaign as "fraudulent" and stating that the participants were involved in "criminal activities."

Now a New Bedford woman, a well-respected, long-time United Way fundraising director in that region, confirms that she presented this first plaque, on behalf of the Rosses, on February 8, 1993.

While she admits she remains "very confused and very upset" about how the entire situation between the Rosses and the Samaritans has since "exploded into controversy." Helen Miranda, in a phone conversation Monday, says she remembers thinking that "it really was almost an honor for me to be honoring this group (the Samaritans) with such an extraordinary plaque. I've never seen anything like it, and I've seen special awards given to political leaders like Hubert Humphrey and labor leaders like Philip Randolph."

According to several sources representing General Ross, the plaque, made of gold, has a value of about $5,000.

Although she continues to "have a fine regard for the Samaritans and the work they do," she emphatically states that she has nothing but sympathy for Sister Michaelinda, who lost her job as associate superintendent of elementary schools for the Fall River diocese after attempting to mediate the dispute. Sister Michaelinda was principal of St. Mary's school in Winchester for 10 years, in the 1970s and 1980s.

"I feel she [Sister Michaelinda] is an innocent victim. I feel the nun is being persecuted, perhaps to get the identity of the general," commented Miranda.

"Ross" is the name used for public purposes by the Winchester general and his wife. It is an acronym for Reserve Officer Strategic Services, provided to the general and his international businesswoman wife to protect their identities for security and privacy reasons, say a number of military officials, including Edward J. Florino, director of Veterans Services in Medford.

Sister's deposition upcoming

Sister Michaelinda has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Samaritans. The case, filed in Dedham Superior Court last year, has progressed slowly, while attorneys for Sister Michaelinda and the Samaritans have collected depositions.

Last week, at the urging of the judge in the case, the principals attempted to reach a peaceful resolution, according to a source close to the nun; Sister Michaelinda has repeatedly said, on advice of attorney, that she will not make public comments while her case is in litigation.

First, the Samaritans' attorney offered a statement of apology to the nun from the organization as a possible solution. But Sister Michaelinda and her attorney rejected the statement as not specific enough, the source related.

Then, a proposed statement from the nun, detailing specific harms she alleges were done to her reputation and her career by the Samaritans and specific admissions of guilt, was also rejected outright by the United Way agency.

Now, both sides await having Sister Michaelinda herself give a deposition, which she is scheduled to do on Friday, November 10.

Poignant picture painted

Miranda also paints a poignant picture of Sister Michaelinda the day she lost her associate superintendent's position. She says she visited Sister Michaelinda in her New Bedford home.

She (Sister Michaelinda) was all alone in the house. She'd just been "dismissed" (the Catholic diocese claims she resigned her position; sources close to Sister Michaelinda say she was forced to resign) and she was a woman lost to all ends. It was such a shame to see so dedicated a soul in so much pain. Clearly she believed her whole career had been destroyed," Miranda said.

Though she had handled awards involving veterans before, Miranda said "I don't know why he (General Ross) close me (to present the plaque)."

She related that retired [a] Marine commander..."wrote up" the plaque, "based on an idea that Mrs. Ross had," involving a phone reaching out to the lonely and deeply depressed. She remembers entering the Samaritan board meeting, presenting the plaque with pride and leaving without incident.

In a deposition in the Sister Michaelinda defamation lawsuit, Barbara Makowski, Samaritan assistant director to Ellie Leite, acknowledged on page 172 of the brief that there is a plaque in the Samaritans building from General and Mrs. Ross, that it had been presented by Helen Miranda and was accepted by Leite.

Makowski states that the name "Ross" is on the plaque and that she and the Samaritans were familiar with the name "Ross" previous to the presentation.

Miranda commented that after she learned there might be "a problem" with the Rosses and the Samaritans, she was asked to meet with Sister Michaelinda and two other women. Later, she was asked to meet with the general, the general's secretary Sheila Gilmartin, Yvonne George (who had spearheaded the praise campaign along with Edward Florino) and Susan Lyman, former director of the New England chapter of the American Suicide Foundation. After Sister Michaelinda's involvement in the matter was rejected by the Samaritans, Lyman was the next to be asked to mediate the dispute.

Miranda said she subsequently received a phone call from a Samaritan official who spoke "coolly" to her, asked if she would describe what the general looked like and then intimated that the individual might be "an impostor." Miranda added, "I didn't like the vibes at all."

Concluded Miranda, "I've tried to piece all this together but I just don't know. I feel very badly that this has all happened. I was most impressed with the general and Sister Michaelinda almost immediately struck me as such a gentle woman. And I've always had such great respect for Ellie Leite and the Samaritans. I just can't make sense of this."

Cabral dispute

In her deposition, the assistant to the director of the Samaritans states that Lou Cabral, an aide to congressman Peter Blute, was "very concerned" about a letter Sister Michaelinda reportedly wrote. Makowski characterized the letter as suggesting to Blute that "his (Cabral's) behavior was out of line or out of place."

Makowski went on to say that Cabral feared "he would lose his job and cared very much about the work he did and his reputation, and he felt it was very unfair that she wrote it. And she--and that the Bishop (Sean O'Malley) should know that she had written this letter."

Cabral, a member of the Samaritans board, was a member of the group that went to see the Bishop.

Asked how a letter from Sister Michaelinda to Peter Blute had come to be in the possession of the Samaritans, Makowski did not identify any individual, commenting only that "it was probably given to us or faxed to us."

Makowski then talked about the meeting representatives of the Samaritans, including herself, had with Bishop O'Malley. On page 100 of her deposition this exchange takes place:

Attorney Patrick M. McCormack, representing Sister Michaelinda, asks Makowski: "Did the Bishop tell anyone at that meeting that he would take any specific actions?"

Makowski: "He said that he could do something about Sister Michaelinda but not about anybody else."

McCormack: Did he state was he would do?"

Makowski: "He stated that she was basically being removed from her position in a very short time."

© copyright 1995 The Winchester Town Crier. Reprinted by written permission of Ed Rice, former editor.