Father Ray Kemp – Georgetown University Adjunct Professor and Priest for Life

Podcast: Download

Father Ray Kemp on why he began teaching at Georgetown University ~

“. . .a guy named Big John Thompson . . . said, ‘You gotta teach a class.’. . .’I want a class where these kids can bring their experiences to college and not just sit there and study about all the black adolescent males in trouble. How do you bring their experiences into the equation, into the classroom?’

Andy Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen, and this is Our Town. And I’m so happy to have one of my favorite men in the whole world. We call him the Priest for Life. He’s a native Washingtonian. He just celebrated his fiftieth anniversary in the Archdiocese of Washington, he’s my good friend, Father Raymond Kemp. Ray, welcome to Our Town.
Father Ray Kemp: Hi Andy. It’s good to be with you.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s incredible that you’re here in civilian clothes, which obviously you’re not retired, but you gave it up for a while. You won’t remember but I do, it’s one of the fondest things that ever happened to me. Sincerely Ray, was to meet you in a beautiful watering Georgetown, called the guards. I was with a young lady named Kathi who’s a good friend of Janice’s too, Kathi Bowers. She said, “This is my friend, Ray Kemp. He’s a priest.”
I said, “You gotta be kidding me. He’s sitting in a bar. He’s not in his uniform.” She said, “I don’t care. He is a Catholic priest from Silver Spring. I’ve known him all my life.”

Andy O and Father Ray Kemp Met in a Watering Hole

Father Ray Kemp: I love Kathi Bowers. I love Kathi Bowers. I love watering holes.
I think that Jesus met an awful lot of people in watering holes. They were outside maybe, not inside but … Kathi Bowers is one of the great people in the world. She married well too. We had a good time.
Andy Ockershausen: Well you know, growing up with people and running into them like that and being part of Washington, being in Georgetown. Frankly, Georgetown was not one of my travel places because I’m a north-east guy from 13th and D, Holy Comforter.
Father Ray Kemp: Right.
Andy Ockershausen: That you know so well.
Father Ray Kemp: Eastern High School.
Andy Ockershausen: And to be in Georgetown is special and from that day on I followed your career. I will remind you of some things that we did for you when the WMAL TV days were alive.
Father Ray Kemp: You’re great.
Andy Ockershausen: But you, you’re a native, you went to high school, I mean grammar school in Silver Spring.

On Growing Up in Our Town – Catholic | Jesuit School Education

Father Ray Kemp: St. Michaels in Silver Spring and the Sisters of Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. My sister joined the order. My brother went to that grade school as well, St. Michael’s in Silver Spring. Carrol Ann is at, Sister Carrol Ann Kemp, and she’s at Gonzaga.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, St. Michael’s is a parish. Did they have a church there too, and a different school?

St. Michael’s Parish

Father Ray Kemp: They had a church. I said my first Mass there, May the 7th, 1967.
Andy Ockershausen: Thirty days in May, ’67.
Father Ray Kemp: Yep.
Andy Ockershausen: Ray, that’s wonderful! You look so good. You obviously thrived as a priest, because then you decided to go to school when you went to DeMatha.

DeMatha Catholic High Schools

Father Ray Kemp: Yes.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s a long commute for you, wasn’t it?
Father Ray Kemp: That was a long commute. Some of us got together and pulled cars over there. Sometimes we hitch-hiked. Remember hitchhiking?
Andy Ockershausen: Oh do I!
Father Ray Kemp: We hitchhiked to and from a lot today, mostly from. We’d hitchhike from DeMatha. I was there for two years. I met a guy named Ben Wills, his family owned the little place, you know Reed Wills and that crowd?
Andy Ockershausen: Oh, yeah.

On How and Why Father Kemp Attended Gonzaga College High School

Father Ray Kemp: There’s a whole crowd of Wills’ and Ben Wills was leaving the Jesuits and ended up at DeMatha and he said, “Somebody said you want to be a priest.” I was in the ninth or tenth grade. He said, “You really need four years of Latin.” And that’s when he said, “You really ought to go to Gonzaga.” I’ll tell you a little secret. I didn’t get into Gonzaga. Didn’t make the cut, the first cut.
Andy Ockershausen: What?!
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah, people had to get me in the back door. You know a little bit about back doors?
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Father Ray Kemp: Side doors. Don’t you get, you get?
Andy Ockershausen: I know a lot about Gonzaga, too. Being from Northeast, a lot of friends of mine were Gonzaga. One was a guy from, I don’t know whether he lived, but his name was Larry Hogan. I don’t know whatever happened to him.
He went to Gonzaga and so did his brother. I knew all those guys. DeMatha was always a favorite. This is an aside for you, but Hyattsville, our friend Kathi Bowers, owns a very successful hamburger place in Hyattsville. That when she put it in there, put in this business, Janice and I went out; I said, “Janice, this place is in trouble. There’s nothing here.” You ought to see it now, five years later. Boom town, Hyattsville. Everything around.
Father Ray Kemp: I got to go. I haven’t been in it. I didn’t even know. You’re telling me.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen Elevation Burger.
Father Ray Kemp: What’s it called?
Janice Iacona Ockershausen Elevation Burger.
Father Ray Kemp: Elevation Burger. I love it.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen Over by the car dealer.
Andy Ockershausen: Pride of Hyattsville.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen Yeah, right by the car dealer.
Father Ray Kemp: Right down, to the street from DeMatha, right?
Andy Ockershausen: Yes, sir. A lot of her clients, she gets the kids from DeMatha all the time. But that shows what’s happening in our town. The explosion of Hyattsville.
Father Ray Kemp: It’s changing. It’s changing. It’s really great.
Andy Ockershausen: Mt. Rainier.
Father Ray Kemp: It’s all back, it’s all coming back.
Andy Ockershausen: And of course Silver Spring is one of the great areas in Our Town.
Father Ray Kemp: It’s unbelievable. Twelve and fourteen story buildings in Silver Spring, all around the Silver Spring metro stuff.
Andy Ockershausen: What happened then, you went to Gonzaga, but you didn’t get in at first.

More on Gonzaga: “I didn’t get in at first, but I got into Gonzaga and damn near flunked out.”

Father Ray Kemp: I didn’t get in at first, but I got into Gonzaga and damn near flunked out. I had a good time. Got through four years of Latin and graduated and decided I did want to follow up being a priest. I kissed all the girls goodbye. They all went over to St. Charles College in Catonsville with me and I said bye bye.
Andy Ockershausen: Catonsville, Maryland?

St. Charles College in Catonsville

Father Ray Kemp: Yep.
Andy Ockershausen: I know Catonsville.
Father Ray Kemp: There was another governor from Maryland used to, he grew up near Arbutus. Do you know another governor? I’m blanking on his name.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen Oh, Bob Erlich.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah!
Andy Ockershausen: Erlich! Good guy.
Father Ray Kemp: Erlich came from Arbutus.
Andy Ockershausen: Really?

Larry Hogan DeMatha Catholic High School

Father Ray Kemp: So you had a character. Now wait a minute, I got to correct you. Larry Hogan, didn’t he graduate from DeMatha? I thought DeMatha beat Gonzaga because …
Andy Ockershausen: Maybe the son.
Father Ray Kemp: … O’Malley graduated from Gonzaga.
Andy Ockershausen: Maybe the son, but the old man went to Gonzaga.
Father Ray Kemp: Oh, the old man, the old man, okay.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah, he’s my pal, my age.
Father Ray Kemp: There you go.
Andy Ockershausen: He and his brother and they were very good athletes, incidentally.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: I don’t think Junior played anything, but he went to DeMatha.
Father Ray Kemp: He’s doing a great job.
Andy Ockershausen: People who got money went to DeMatha. So I’m told. And then you went to seminary school in Baltimore?

On Attending St. Mary’s Seminary Archdiocese of Baltimore

Father Ray Kemp: Yeah, in St. Charles in Catonsville and then downtown Packer Street. The place that gave us the Baltimore Catechism. Did those nuns at Holy Comforter, did they teach you the Catechism back in the day? Didn’t you know who made you? God made you, God made you to know, love and serve Him in this world, and be happy with Him forever. You don’t remember that?
Andy Ockershausen: That’s Dogma.
Father Ray Kemp: I went to the place that gave us the Baltimore Catechism.
Andy Ockershausen: I slept through a lot of that.
Father Ray Kemp: On Packer Street. And then I went to St. Mary’s Seminary, Roland Park. We’re having our 50th. I’m going …
Andy Ockershausen: At St. Mary’s?
Father Ray Kemp: … our class of ’67 is having a big to-do in the middle of October. Right around the time this little pod should be out.
Andy Ockershausen: It’ll be on when you want it.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah? There you go.
Andy Ockershausen: We’ll put it up for you.
Father Ray Kemp: Okay.
Andy Ockershausen: Ray, I can’t tell you, thinking about those days, what has happened to my Northeast or your Silver Spring and our town has been so wonderful. I’m so glad to we’re here to see it and enjoy it!

First Assignments and then on to St. Augustine 15th and V Streets, NW

Father Ray Kemp: It’s been a ball. It’s been a ball. I went from being ordained, I went to Southern Maryland for a couple of weeks to run a camp. Actually it was in the days of segregation. It was old, African American Catholic camp run by the Ladies of Charity and the St. Vincent de Paul Society. And then I end up at St. Augustine’s on the corner of 15th and V, NW in August of ’67. I was the priest beyond all priests, with all the answers. What happened on April the 4th 19 …
Andy Ockershausen: You were the hero of the black community in that era.

Martin Luther King Assassination – April 4, 1968

Father Ray Kemp: … What happened on April the 4th, 1968, which changed my life forever?
Andy Ockershausen: Martin Luther King.
Father Ray Kemp: Exactly. Bingo.
Andy Ockershausen: In ’68, I remember that vividly.

1968 DC Riots

Father Ray Kemp: And I couldn’t believe it. We were sitting in the rectory and here comes the word that he had been shot. We headed for the front door of the rectory. Opened the door and three kids from the neighborhood said, “Father Kemp, you used to have your way around here. We are babysitting you tonight, because we don’t want anything to happen to the priests here.” They sat with us until three o’clock in the morning.
Andy Ockershausen: At the parish?
Father Ray Kemp: At the parish on V Street.
Andy Ockershausen: I know it.
Father Ray Kemp: Fires burned and uh, good old Vance and I talked about this 25 years ago and it was an amazing, amazing time.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh.
Father Ray Kemp: I got tear gassed ten or twelve times. We were helping people, little old ladies were above these places.

Neediest Kids Organization Helps Father Ray Kemp and St. Aloysius Students

Andy Ockershausen: God do I know it well. You won’t remember this, but you came to my organization, which was called, Neediest Kids. You had a little parish somewhere in the inner city and you needed some help to send a kid to college, which is what; Neediest Kids, we were helping one of your kids that was needy. I forget the dollars, that’s unimportant, but you reached out to us and I know we helped you with that kid.
Father Ray Kemp: You sure did. And tons of other folks, all of whom you know, and I know are mutual friends; put CYO basketball uniforms and football uniforms
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Father Ray Kemp: On the back of some.
Andy Ockershausen: Pete Haley was running the CYO.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah exactly. So we could go out to St. Camillus, out in the suburbs and try to beat those folks. I know we showed up one day at St. Jude’s and we didn’t have mouth pieces. You had to have mouth pieces. St. Jude’s lent us 30 mouth pieces to our little 130 pound tackle football team, so we could beat them at St. Johns on Military Road.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh my!
Father Ray Kemp: Those were great times. Great times.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s a wonderful thing, what you did. The devotion you had to that community, well it’s long lived. It will never be forgotten, Ray. All the people that you’re talking about that helped you, that are helping me and are helping WMAL, they helped Channel 7.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: With Our Town. Everybody stood up and worked. Then we lost track of you out of the, you left that parish.
Father Ray Kemp: I did.
Andy Ockershausen: I don’t know whether.

On Working for Archbishop James Aloysius Hickey

Father Ray Kemp: I left that parish and I went to work for the Arch Bishop. That’s called the Peter principle. You go to your next level.
Andy Ockershausen: You reach a level of incompetence.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah, of incompetence, right? I worked for him for five or six years.
Andy Ockershausen: Who was the Cardinal then?
Father Ray Kemp: It was Hickey.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh, Hickey, I remember.
Father Ray Kemp: You ever have a hickey?
Andy Ockershausen: What was it Francis Cardinal Hickey?
Father Ray Kemp: No, what was his name? James Aloysius Hickey. He made me his Secretary of Parish Life in Washington.
Andy Ockershausen: Is that right? Was he downtown?
Father Ray Kemp: We moved it all out to Sargeant Road out there by …
Andy Ockershausen: The hospital?
Father Ray Kemp: … by St. Ann’s. Yeah, beyond Providence Hospital. Out there next to St Ann’s.
Andy Ockershausen: Wow.

Holy Comforter – St. Cyprian

Father Ray Kemp: Worked for him for five years. He’s the one that sent Father Ray East and I when the Josephites left Holy Comforter. Then Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian’s, we went there for six years.
Andy Ockershausen: Boy, you got it.
Father Ray Kemp: That was East Capital Street from ’86 to ’92. We had a heck of a time.
Andy Ockershausen: Was it St. Cyprian’s then, you bought St. Cyprian’s?
Father Ray Kemp: St. Cyprian’s had been there. It had been in.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah. They had been merged.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah, they had been merged. The school was there and we had a good time. Got to know everybody in Eastern Senior High School. I think you have a little history with Eastern High School. Don’t you?
Andy Ockershausen: I was very famous in High School.
Father Ray Kemp: You were very famous.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, we’re gonna take a break and talk about my being famous. With great, great conversation with a very dear man for this community, Raymond Kemp. This is Andy Ockershausen and this is Our Town.
[GEICO Commercial] Daughter: Daddy, where do babies come from?
Daddy: Honey?
Daughter: Mommy went to the store.
Daddy: You see, there’s a mommy and a daddy, right?
Daughter: Right.
Daddy: See, when they call GEICO, they could save a bunch of money on car insurance.
Daughter: Really? That makes them happy?
Daddy: Yes, that makes them very happy.
Daughter: That’s good.
Daddy: I’m glad we could have this talk, Sunshine.
GEICO Announcer: GEICO, because saving 15% percent or more on car insurance is always a great answer. [End GEICO Commercial]
Announcer: You’re listening to Our Town.
Andy Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen, we’re back talking to Ray Kemp. He prodded me with one of his suggestions about one of the riots of 1968, when Martin Luther King was shot. I had a call from the Georgetown prep graduate named, Leonard B. “Bud” Dogget. That there’s a riot. He was downtown and it was terrible. They didn’t know what was going on and we had a helicopter, WMAL doing traffic reports. He said, “Do you think you could get the helicopter?” I said, “Absolutely.”
He came out and we met and we went over to National Airport and got on a helicopter, WMAL. With a guy named Bill Calomeris and Bud and myself and the pilot. And flew around Our Town, you couldn’t believe what was burning.

More on 1968 DC Riots

Father Ray Kemp: Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
Andy Ockershausen: We flew over the staging where the 101st Airborne was landing at Bolling field.
Father Ray Kemp: Right.
Andy Ockershausen: We flew over that. Flew over National Airport. Eight Street was burning, downtown was burning. It was incredible.
Father Ray Kemp: If you’re watching Vietnam Now, the series at night. My God, all those cities were on fire. It was incredible.
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely!
Father Ray Kemp: Utterly incredible.
Andy Ockershausen: People think it’s so bad now, it was terrible. Everything was terrible. But it happened before.
Father Ray Kemp: Oh my God, we’ve been through it all, we’ve been through it all. Danzansky was a great guy.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah.
Father Ray Kemp: I was working with Geno Baroni.
Andy Ockershausen: I remember him.
Father Ray Kemp: Baroni called Danzansky and we got, the Catholic Churches stayed open, and we got all kinds of food, all kinds of blankets.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen From Giant Food?
Andy Ockershausen: Giant.
Father Ray Kemp: We got some clothes from Giant and all the rest of them. We were out there in the streets. Because, the people that were suffering were the little old ladies who were living above the building that had gotten torched. We had to pull a lot of them out and do a little shelter work. But the neighbors really, everybody really responded. I must say, there was a fest going on too, that’s not usually talked about. I think I got a pair of orange socks from DJ, what was …
Andy Ockershausen: D J Kaufman.
Father Ray Kemp: … D J Kaufman! I have a pair of orange socks that his.
Andy Ockershausen: 14th Street and F.
Father Ray Kemp: 14th or G?
Andy Ockershausen: On the corner.
Father Ray Kemp: I thought it was, yeah, you sure it was?
Andy Ockershausen: D J Kaufman.
Father Ray Kemp: 10th and G wasn’t it?
Andy Ockershausen: Maybe it was.
Father Ray Kemp: Down from St . . .? Anyway, I ended up with a pair of orange socks.
Andy Ockershausen: A lot of looting.
Father Ray Kemp: Everybody had a TV. But, everybody looked real good. I think Palm Sunday was the next Sunday and folks looked, it was.
Andy Ockershausen: Our Town was on fire, brother.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah, it was on fire. But, there was a certain, the first couple of days were not good and then it got a little.
Andy Ockershausen: But, we lived through it.
Father Ray Kemp: Oh my God, it was great!
Andy Ockershausen: We existed. It was fabulous.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: Thanks to you and the Catholic Church and what you guys did standing up for Our Town. You saved a lot of buildings. I remember Joe Danzansky offing to help. He could do it, ’cause he had inner city stores. Safeway had fled to the suburbs, I think, by then.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: But, Joe was a great citizen, a great man. But Ray, then in all these parishes.
Father Ray Kemp: Hechinger was in there too. John Hechinger, don’t forget old John Hechinger. He had some folks around.. He was a great help.
Andy Ockershausen: Hechinger, I grew up in Northeast. That’s where he’s from, you know.
Father Ray Kemp: Right.
Andy Ockershausen: I remember Mr. Hechinger. Sydney was the old man. What happened to you, most of your churches were to help in, lets say …
Father Ray Kemp: We were in the African American community.
Andy Ockershausen: … African American community.

Georgetown, Holy Trinity and Woodstock Theological Center Calls

Father Ray Kemp: I got a call from a guy who had been the pastor of Holy Trinity in Georgetown. He was the head of the Woodstock Theological Center.
Andy Ockershausen: That was never an African American Church.
Father Ray Kemp: No, no, no. They …
Andy Ockershausen: We go there, Janice and I go there.
Father Ray Kemp: … Well, Jim Connor was then running the place called the Woodstock Theological Center in Georgetown. He said, “Would you help us put together a retreat program for parish priests, not Jesuits. I want to use Walter Burghardt.” Who was a distinguished Jesuit and some others.
I don’t think we got the message of the Second Vatican Council, this is 1990. Burghardt was 75 and getting ready to retire from the Head of Theological Studies. I went up and helped them put the thing together. He said, “You ought to run it.” I said, “No, my place is at East Capitol Street.” 14th and East Capital, right off of Lincoln Park. I turned him down twice. I had done some work around the country with a couple of Catholic little causes and whatever. There was that Monsignor in Chicago named, Jack Egan, who was a good friend of.. .
Andy Ockershausen: A good Irish name.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah, a very good Irish name. He was a blue sky guy. He saw the possibilities. Like, we’re talking about the city and he said, “You’re crazy man, take this job.” So I took this job and Hickey. Cardinal Hickey said, “Why don’t you do it for two or three years.”
And don’t tell anybody, but I got an e-mail a couple of months ago that said, come get your 25 year pin. I’ve been at Georgetown for 25 years.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s incredible. That is incredible. I thought you’d dropped out. You’d disappeared from the parish.

The Retreats

Father Ray Kemp: It’s been great. I went around the country. We did 130 retreats for people all over the country. We went across Canada. We went down to Australia.
Andy Ockershausen: Ray, I never knew that.
Father Ray Kemp: You’re not supposed to know that. I mean, I keep some secrets here. We went to the Caribbean, a couple of places that people are worried about right now. We did some retreats down there for folks, and well, they ought to be.
Meanwhile, a guy named Big John Thompson, who you gotta recall, said, “You gotta teach a class.”
Andy Ockershausen: Junior.

Request from Former Georgetown Basketball Coach John Thompson, Jr.

Father Ray Kemp: Yeah, John Thompson Junior, not the third. Junior.
Andy Ockershausen: I know, Junior.
Father Ray Kemp: He came out of Northeast.
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Father Ray Kemp: He grew up around the corner. He grew up on W Street NW. But also back behind Spring Garden.
Andy Ockershausen: By O Street?
Father Ray Kemp: And back by Spring Garden. He was at St. Anthony’s and goes to Georgetown. He’s there a number of years by the time I get there in ’92. He said, “You gotta teach a class.” Most people in this town would say Thompson wants an easy class for his ball players. You know what he wanted Andy? You’ll appreciate this. He said, “I want a class where these kids.” He was getting some real ball players from a variety of neighborhoods that were not what you’d call …
Andy Ockershausen: On the edge.
Father Ray Kemp: … Upper crust.
Andy Ockershausen: On the edge. They’re on the edge.
Father Ray Kemp: Exactly. We’re talking about police sports club places, Lonnie, Durham and a whole crowd of folks. He said, “I want a class where these kids can bring their experiences to college and not just sit there and study about all the black adolescent males in trouble. How do you bring their experiences into the equation, into the classroom?” At the same time Leo O’Donovan who was the President at Georgetown said, “We don’t have anybody that knows these things at Georgetown.”
Andy Ockershausen: That’s sad.

Father Ray Kemp Teaches Unique Course to Georgetown Basketball Players

Father Ray Kemp: And that was the beginning of me getting into teaching. The Woodstock Theological Center and the guy that invited me on those retreats, they closed down. We got a new Pope, you know this Pope? I turned all that justice talk over to Pope Francis and I’m teaching kids.
Andy Ockershausen: He’s an Argentinian, right?
Father Ray Kemp: Yes he is. I think he’s really an Italian.
Andy Ockershausen: O’Donovan went to New York Library too, is he still the head of that?
Father Ray Kemp: That was Tim, Tim went there. Not O’Donovan. Tim Healy went to the New York Library. No, he dropped dead getting off an airplane.
Andy Ockershausen: He did.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah, he was a great guy. But he was a guy that said, and this is where the current Jack DeGioia was really his son.
Andy Ockershausen: Is that right?
Father Ray Kemp: I mean, he was the guy that got promoted by Tim Healy to be his Assistant Director. He and
Andy Ockershausen: You’ve outlasted a lot of people, Ray. You’ve lived a long time too.
Father Ray Kemp: We’ve outlasted a lot of people. Long story short is, he said, “Georgetown’s only as good as it’s relationship is to the town.” Town and gown have got to be connected, that was Healy’s line and I think Jack DeGioia is trying to do it. He’s opened up this whole thing about the slaves.
Andy Ockershausen: Right,
Father Ray Kemp: And his idea.
Andy Ockershausen: Gonzaga’s doing it too.
Father Ray Kemp: Gonzaga got into Georgetown’s piece of this.
Andy Ockershausen: Right.

Georgetown President Jack DeGioia Creates Reparations for Slavery

Father Ray Kemp: Long story short is, his idea of reparations is, if you can prove you’re a descendant of one of their slaves from the Maryland plantation; either the ones that stayed or the ones that were sold to Louisiana. Come on up, we think we’ve got an education for you here at Georgetown and you’re gonna enrich us by your experience. I think that’s exactly the way to do it.
Andy Ockershausen: ‘Cause that’s something those people could never get.
Father Ray Kemp: That’s right.
Andy Ockershausen: A scholarship to Georgetown.
Father Ray Kemp: Right.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh my God. That’s great!
Father Ray Kemp: That’s what’s going on. As you said, Gonzaga’s getting into this.
Andy Ockershausen: They’ll probably do the same thing.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah, they’re doing it.
Andy Ockershausen: They’ll research if they can find somebody.
Father Ray Kemp: Yup.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, Ray, that’s amazing! Amazing all the people you outlasted at Georgetown. Even John Thompson the third, you’ve outlasted. This is Our Town, this is Andy Ockershausen we’re talking with Father Ray Kemp.
[Commercials] Attorney Mike Collins: Maybe your kids are about to graduate from college or even get their graduate degree, or you’re looking forward to retirement, finally. Don’t go another day without getting your legal house in order. This is Attorney Mike Collins. Let me show you how to get a basic estate plan in place that will protect you and your loved ones in the years ahead with our trademarked Reservoir Trust. All I ask is two hours of your time. Check the mail for your special invitation and register now at mikecollins.com. I’ll even waive the tuition. That’s mikecollins.com.
Tony Cibel: Hi. Tony Cibel here to tell you about Tony and Joe’s and Nick’s Riverside Grille at Washington Harbor in Georgetown. Spectacular new restaurants. We’ve spent a lot of time rebuilding. You’ll love it. It’s really fantastic. For any information, you can go online to tonyandjoes.com. It will be a wonderful experience for the whole family. Call 202-944-4545 to make reservations. Everything is fabulous. You’ve got to come down and have some wonderful food.[End Commercials]
Announcer: You’re listening to Our Town with Andy Ockershausen. Brought to you by Best Bark Communications.
Andy Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen, this is Our Town. I’m talking with Father Ray Kemp. We’re talking about Georgetown University as an academic institution, but they’ve also been a world class sports institution.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s started by John Thompson Jr. and the third. Now a developing star, a developing coach name, Patrick Ewing.

Georgetown Black History and Gentrification

Father Ray Kemp: Patrick Ewing, I taught his son in class. You know what his son, to speak to Our Town, there’s a book out called, “Black Georgetown Remembered.” It’s the 25 years anniversary, you ought to see it. When Georgetown was, parts of it were 30 and 40 percent African American.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh, absolutely.
Father Ray Kemp: Neville Waters and that crowd, that’s an old name you should remember. Those folks, young Pat Ewing read that book and said quietly, “It’s the only book I’d ever read on Georgetown. I had no idea that Georgetown was so African American.” Slowly but surely, it got gentrified. There’s still maybe a couple thousand folks that own property and grew up there. A lot of folks got moved out ’cause it’s.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, being a native Washingtonian. My early years, thinking about Georgetown was mostly the black people who lived in Georgetown.
Father Ray Kemp: Exactly.
Andy Ockershausen: I know. Not M Street, but way in the back there.
Father Ray Kemp: Right,
Andy Ockershausen: There were a lot of black families.
Father Ray Kemp: A lot of folks. A lot of folks there and they all went to Francis’. They swam in Francis’ pool, in the days of segregation, when you couldn’t go to Gordon. Now it all kind of has come back.
Andy Ockershausen: Gordon Junior High, that’s right. It was another school up there.
Father Ray Kemp: Gordon was the white school.
Andy Ockershausen: Right.
Father Ray Kemp: Francis was the black school. Those were in the days of segregation.
Andy Ockershausen: They had a black High School too.
Father Ray Kemp: I had thrown out page tell me yesterday, the greatest thing in the world was coming from Congressional control to where the city really grew into itself. You were a great part of that. You were a great part of the city coming into itself and WJLA. I mean you all helped the whole place grow and develop.
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah.

Mayor Walter Washington and Bud Doggett

Andy Ockershausen: And it’s all about Bud Doggett. Those guys made Washington. He and Walter Washington were the best of friends.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: They did a lot of great things for the African American community. As you did, but that was your calling as a priest.
Father Ray Kemp: I had a good time.
Andy Ockershausen: A lot of people did it because of your personality. You got them doing it. Look what you did to me and Neediest Kids.
Father Ray Kemp: We had a good time with Neediest Kids.Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.

Mayor Marion Barry and Stuart Long Build Gonzaga Football Stadium

Father Ray Kemp: We had a good time as well with Stu Long. The other great thing, don’t forget Marion Barry has a lot of detractors around. But, Marion Barry and Stu Long helped Gonzaga get …
Andy Ockershausen: Don’t I know that.
Father Ray Kemp: … a heck of a football field.
Andy Ockershausen: Football stadium. I was there when they built it. It was built by the District of Columbia and nobody knew it!
Father Ray Kemp: Don’t tell anybody. It was another Jesuit land grab. It was fabulous. They just put a 20 million dollars garage into the place. I was down there last week. Incredible. Stu gets a lot of credit for that.
Andy Ockershausen: Janice was asking me, what was your mother’s parish. I said it was St. Aloysius, where we went to the wedding and funeral.
Father Ray Kemp: My father went to St. Aloysius, from Swampoodle.
Andy Ockershausen: Swampoodle.
Father Ray Kemp: On 4th and K NE.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s where my mother was from, 1st and K. A good family. In fact my Grandfather used to hang out in one of the saloons there. He was an Irish tenor, so he’d sing from, that’s the way they did it.
Father Ray Kemp: My father’s father was a Metropolitan policeman who dropped dead of a heart attack.
Andy Ockershausen: Wow, that’s a hero.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah, yeah. I never met him and he went to work – my dad went to work at the railroad and then gave 43 years to C&P.
Andy Ockershausen: Everybody in those days worked somewhere, for the cops, for the fire fighters, or the railroad.
Father Ray Kemp: Or phone company.
Andy Ockershausen: Not American Express, what’s it called, some express thing down there.
Andy Ockershausen: Railway Express.
Father Ray Kemp: Yeah, yeah. Sure they did, sure they did.
Andy Ockershausen: Well Ray, you’re a fountain of information and rightly so. There should be more of you being exposed. Now, Georgetown has turned it’s back on you, but we haven’t.
Father Ray Kemp: Georgetown has not turned it’s back on me, I’m still there and having a ball.
Andy Ockershausen: You’re getting paid?
Father Ray Kemp: I’m getting paid.
Andy Ockershausen: Good man.
Father Ray Kemp: Jack DeGioia is paying me, I’m making a little bit of money.
Andy Ockershausen: I like him.
Father Ray Kemp: But, you owe me a lunch.
Andy Ockershausen: Okay. That’s what you told me at church.
Father Ray Kemp: That’s right.
Andy Ockershausen: He said, “You gotta take me to lunch.” I thought this would suffice. But Ray, it’s been so special, I mean that. If Janice gives it an eye, which she does, she’s brought me back to the church Ray.
Father Ray Kemp: Praise God.
Andy Ockershausen: I even have to suggest it, lets get up and go. You know.
Father Ray Kemp: Can you still make the sign of the cross? As long as you can make the sign of the cross without any help, you’re a Catholic. Right? That was my idea.
Andy Ockershausen: You’re gonna be around for a long time, Ray Kemp. This is Andy Ockershausen, this has been Our Town with the most delightful guest we’ve ever had, Ray. You were really great.
Father Ray Kemp: Great fun, thank you Andy, for all you’ve done.
Announcer: You’ve been listening to Our Town Season 3, presented by GEICO our hometown favorite, with your host Andy Ockershausen. New Our Town episodes are released each Tuesday and Thursday. Drop us a line with your comments or suggestions. See us on Facebook or visit our website at Ourtowndc.com. Our special thanks to Ted Hunter, our technical director and WMAL radio in Washington, DC for hosting our podcast. Thanks to GEICO, 15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more on car insurance.