Flynn’s ship comes in with renaming of port
Dozens of political figures, dignitaries and family members gathered yesterday as the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal was officially renamed in honor of former Mayor and former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Raymond L. Flynn.
“I appreciate the naming of this cruise port where I worked, where my father worked, where Cathy’s father worked,” Flynn told the crowd, referring to his wife, Catherine Coyne Flynn.
“Where I saw troops coming in from the second world war, where I saw caskets coming in, hundreds of them. Where I saw my father getting carried off a ship, going to the hospital for the incurable, because he was sick. Where I saw Cathy’s father getting his leg crushed, 35 yards from here, never to be able to work again.
“I saw countless of these stories,” the former mayor added. “There are so many emotional stories and experiences that I’ve had over the years.”
A blue sign on the wall behind the stage reads “Flynn Cruiseport Boston at Black Falcon Terminal,” and a banner rising above the building has a quote from Flynn: “It is the mark of Boston’s greatness that the hopes which unite us are much stronger than the fears that divide us.”
The ceremony also took place in the shadow of Royal Caribbean’s 4,180-passenger Anthem of the Seas, which docked yesterday morning. State Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry, state Rep. Nick Collins, and City Councilors Bill Linehan and Michael Flaherty were among the notables.
Gov. Charlie Baker, who signed the bill renaming the cruiseport last August, extolled Flynn as “one of those people who fought and worked for everybody, whatever role he had in the public sector.”