Mr. Tynan was one of the four male members of the class that graduated from the eighth grade in 1913. Encouraged by Father Earley and his young assistant, the Rev. Thomas J. Donlon, one of the four girls in the class, May Gallagher, went on to become a Franciscan nun. All four boys entered Cathedral College to begin training for the priesthood, but of the four, only Clifford Smith was eventually to be ordained. (Mr. Tynan left Cathedral to study foreign relations at Georgetown University.)
As the first known parishioner to become a priest, Father Smith appropriately celebrated his first Mass at his church in 1926, and was to return in 1948 from his post in the Bronx to take part in the services marking the 75th anniversary of the Immaculate Conception parish.
Father Smith, now 75, recalls as a boy being recruited by Father Earley, along with his classmates to do chores around the church. "However," he recalls, "it was not all work. There were lighter moments here and there. One that comes to mind concerns Father Earley's horse, Betty. Betty was a black mare, and it was my job to exercise her every now and then. One day the devil got into us and we dressed up Betty in the sexton's overalls, shirt and hat. We then sent a note to Father Earley, telling him that Betty was seasick and had the measles, and that he had better come to the barn to check on her. This he did and got a big laugh out of the affair. However, we boys remained away from the rectory for the next three or four days.”
One of Father Earley's good friends and benefactors was Daniel G. Reid, known as the "Tin-Plate King”' who owned another of the large estates in town. Mr. Tynan remembers hitching up Betty and driving Father Earley to the Reid mansion (now occupied by Yeshiva Ohel Shemuel) "where he would be warmly greeted by Mr. Reid and introduced around to his wealthy guests. I have no doubt (although he never showed me any thing) that our good pastor never returned from any of these visits without a substantial check tucked away in his vest pocket'.' Mr. Reid contributed the Angelus bell that was hung in a specially-constructed wooden tower adjacent to the church and was said to have paid for a concrete walk to the building, and put a new roof on either the church or rectory.