Information and photo via North Haven Funeral Home
For many years Bradley Pierce owned a New York City bar and nightclub where some of the best bands played. In November 1963 Pierce accompanied a friend actor Richard Beymer, to Mexico to attend a film festival in Acapulco. They stopped in Mexico City where they tried to get a visa to Cuba, and where Beymer became friends with Sylvia Duran, the Mexican national who worked at the Cuban embassy and handled requests for visas to Cuba, including requests by Lee Harvey Oswald and Beymer.
According to Phil Shenon, there were two American "Gringos" at the "Twist Party" Duran hosted at which Lee Harvey Oswald was encouraged to kill President Kennedy. The morning after the party Oswald was seen walking down the street with the two Americans, and according to Duran, one of them was a famous film actor who she wouldn't identify because he was still alive.
A CIA report released under the JFK Act says that the film actor Richard Beymer called the Cuban embassy after the assassination requesting information on Duran, who was arrested and tortured by the Mexican police. I tracked down Beymer and Pierce and talked with them on the phone, and they acknowledged being in Mexico for about two weeks, and were there at the time of the assassination, so they weren't there when Oswald was ostensibly there a few weeks earlier.
When I talked with Pierce I mentioned how odd it was for him to go from being a nightclub owner to being a priest, and he said he had a good life, and a good life I'm sure it was.
OBIT:
Reverend Bradley Pierce, M.S.A., 82, of Cromwell,
formerly of North Haven, passed away peacefully on Saturday, January 5, 2019 at
the Autumn Lake Healthcare at Cromwell. He was born in New Haven on September
6, 1936 and was the son of the late David and Marguerite (Fultz) Pierce.
Predeceased by a sister Nancy Black, he is survived by a nephew Kurt Black.
In his younger life Father Pierce started a few
night clubs in New York and after having a spiritual conversion to the Church
in 1974 at age 38, he had the opportunity to volunteer with (Saint) Mother
Teresa in Calcutta, and he joined the Missionaries of the Holy Apostles. He was
ordained to the priesthood on September 8th, 1983, serving for many years as
Formation Director of Holy Apostles College and Seminary and Spiritual Director
of the Mary Heart Crusaders in Meriden, Ct.
Viewing will be from 3:00 to 5:00 pm on Friday,
January 11, at the Holy Apostles College and Seminary, Queen of the Apostles
Chapel, 33 Prospect Hill Road, Cromwell, CT 06416 with a prayer service to
follow.A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in the chapel at 11:00
Saturday morning. Interment will be private at a later date. Memorial donations
in honor of Father Pierce made be sent to: Missionaries of the Holy Apostles
Scholarship Fund, 22 Prospect Hill Road, Cromwell, CT 06416.
Father brad was a wonderful human being, i met father brad at the new haven Colosseum where i was demonstrating state of art water purification system in which father brad was very knowledgeable about the quality of drinking water and had me come to meriden to install under sink water system and shower filter.he was a customer for many years and he told me that god gave me my passion and blessed me often
ReplyDeleteI talked about my visions with water
And how it came to me in dreams to do preaching about natures first soft drink Water! Father brad will certainly be missed by me. Father brad inspired me even more and said
I had been chosen by God for this mission.miss you father brad! Dale abbott the water man.
What were the two music clubs he started? Musician/Mousaa
ReplyDeleteI don't know their names. I did talk with him for about an hour on the phone before he died and asked him about them. All he said was that they were shot and beer bars in Uptown Manhattan where musicians hung out after their gigs, and sometimes performed.
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