Thanks to the 60+ people who attended yesterday’s Moses Greeley Parker lecture called “Lowell and the Lowell”. In the coming weeks I plan to share some of the stories and photos from the lecture as blog posts. Here’s the first:

Stanley Qua was born in Lowell in 1880. He graduated from Lowell High, Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. He joined the Lowell firm started by his father, Francis Qua, that eventually became Qua, Hall, Harvey and Walsh which is still in business today. In 1921, Stanley was appointed to the Superior Court and in 1934 at age 54 he was made a justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. In 1947 he was elevated to be the Chief Justice of that court and he served in that capacity until 1956 when he retired at age 76. A profile of him published in the Boston Globe when he joined the SJC described him as studious and serene. He also liked to walk. He lived at 141 Holyrood Ave and each day he would walk from there to the train station on Thorndike Street for the ride into Boston. Stanley Qua died in 1965 at age 85. He is buried in Lowell Cemetery.