An original McGuire painting of the abbey, in the McGuire Fine Arts Center

Regular readers of this newsletter may recall that the person featured in October for this ongoing monthly series called “Artists of the Abbey” was Eileen McGuire (1920-2016), who also wore several other hats in her long career at Portsmouth (going back to the days when most women wore hats, especially to church). We rarely have the opportunity to spotlight a husband-and-wife team of artists in back-to-back articles, but that is exactly what we have been planning to do. This month’s feature focuses on Eileen’s husband, Donald Thomas McGuire (1919-1986). As previously revealed here, the couple was known by their nicknames within the family circle, “Muzz” for mom and “Dado” for dad, and it is that playful familiarity which sets the tone for us.

Donald McGuire teachingFollowing his graduation from high school, Donald entered the Rhode Island School of Design in 1936. One of his teachers was John R. Frazier (1889-1966) who himself had matriculated from RISD in 1909 (Painting) and 1912 (Normal Art), joined the faculty in 1923, and became the Head of the Painting Department. This detail is key to understanding the influence that Frazier had on a group of young artists, Donald McGuire included, who are known as the “Artists from the Frazier Tradition”. Others were Robert Hamilton, Florence Leif, and Gordon Peers, all painters, as well as sculptor Gilbert A. Franklin whose Polytropos is sited mere yards from the Donald T. McGuire Fine Arts Center. The program for the dedication of the McGuire Center notes that Frazier “truly believed in art for art’s sake and passed that on by example in those early years.”
Dedication plaque in Fine Arts CenterThe young Eileen Farrell had also attended RISD at about this same time and it is fitting that a budding romance between the pair was possibly initiated and nurtured in the studios and environs of an art school. But as the story line in so many family sagas takes a turn toward the unexpected, we can easily imagine, too, how the budding romance between Eileen and Donald was interrupted. The United States officially entered World War II on December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. McGuire Family lore holds that both Donald and his brother prevaricated, shall we say, about their ages and had enlisted in the U.S. Army to aid in the war effort. Eileen, meanwhile, had put aside her entrance into RISD for the time being in order to enroll in secretarial school, becoming the breadwinner to her mother and two sisters. Eventually the romance was rekindled post-war, the couple married and began a family which produced six children, twelve grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren, several of whom have graduated from Portsmouth. During its pre-coed days, the family’s two sons studied here, Donald T., Jr. ’74 and James L. ’78 (or “Jas” in continuing the nicknaming trend).
Donald McGuireDonald Sr. became a member of the school’s art faculty in 1970 and served as member of the faculty until his death in September 1986. It was also in the 1970’s that Eileen also came on board as the secretary for the Alumni Association, later serving as the assistant to a succession of seven Heads of School. Providentially, shall we say, the 1986 yearbook, The Gregorian, was dedicated to the couple. The editorial staff of students composed a loving tribute to them and began by writing, “Throughout our career at the Abbey, the McGuires have become very special friends who have made our daily lives much happier. As a professor of Art History and Art, Donald McGuire has transferred his love of teaching and art to his students.” It is crystal clear that the love of teaching and of art inculcated by John Frazier at RISD decades earlier was now being passed down to the next generation. The dedication continues, “On numerous occasions he has found ways of raising student interest. Through art trips to New York and Boston his students have discovered the applications of Art to the world outside of their textbooks. The McGuires have made a great commitment to Portsmouth Abbey. Whether it be Mr. McGuire in the Art building or Mrs. McGuire in the Ad. Building they have always been there for the students and fellow faculty. Their concern for the school will always be remembered by the class of 1986.” By summer’s end, Donald had passed on, while Eileen lived and painted into her 90’s, joining her husband eight months shy of thirty years later, in 2016.
McGuire paining of the abbeyDonald T. McGuire was memorialized – and his wife and the entire family are indeed remembered – in the naming of the McGuire Fine Arts Center situated on the lower campus of the School. Reminiscent of a late-19th century shingle-style barn, the completely reconstructed building replaced the property’s original early working barn, which had later served as a dormitory, the student center, office space, and assorted other uses. As the new center for Fine Arts, it was named in his honor and dedicated on May 20, 2001. Architect Timothy G. McKenna ’76 spoke at the dedication on “Reflections of a Student,” while Fr. Damian Kearney, O.S.B. ’45, spoke on behalf of the Fine Arts Department. Donald’s son, James L. McGuire ’78, offered “Family Reflections”.

Several of Donald’s landscape paintings continue to be proudly displayed around the campus. In his work, he used his time wisely while capturing some of the school’s lush and verdant surroundings, as did Eileen. Whereas her views include glimpses of the ocean and bay in the distance, Donald’s favorite far-off view seems to have been the 1960 Abbey Church, nestled among fields, stands of mature trees, and surrounded by a cushion of a wide variety of lower flowering bushes. Today, similar outgrowths of these same bushes, hydrangeas and rhododendron shrubs surround the peaceful graveyard on campus, a short walk from the Lourdes Shrine, where Eileen and Donald rest together in the lay section of the monastic cemetery.
McGuire family members at dedication of arts center (Eileen McGuire is front center)