FITCHBURG — The title of Joe Cronin’s memoir “The Last Narrowback” is a reference to the term Irish immigrants used to refer to their American-born children at the turn of the century.

The name insinuated that their perceived easier lives in the United States had left them too weak for hard labor, but Cronin said that he didn’t mind the label that was meant to be derogatory. If anything, it fueled his determination and now through his 179-page book, he’s reflecting on a life full of success and achievements that came from hard work.

“It brought back an awful lot of memories and the thousands of people I have met, and I’m still meeting people. I meet people every day, and people are good,” the 93-year-old said via phone on Thursday afternoon from The Gables, the assisted living facility on John Fitch Highway he has called home for many years. “I would do it all over again.”

His daughter Anne Howard, an attorney and best‑selling author, enjoyed helping her father put together his memoir, which she said, “is the story of a life well-lived.”

“Joe overcame childhood poverty, the sting of Irish bigotry while studying among wealthier classmates at Boston Latin, and financial obstacles that made college and dental school feel almost out of reach. Through it all, he carried a resilience and determination that ultimately paid off,” she said. “This is why we chose the title ‘The Last Narrowback.’ The term, once used by Irish‑born parents to describe their American‑born children, implied they lacked the hardiness of kids raised in Ireland. It’s a humorous twist because Joe is anything but weak. Still, that label lit a fire in him.”

Cronin was born on Oct. 19, 1932, at the height of the Great Depression. His family lived in a three‑decker tenement on Mozart Street in Jamaica Plain, a crowded two‑bedroom apartment in a gritty neighborhood shared by nine people. They later moved to Round Hill Street, also in Jamaica Plain, and he attended a Catholic parochial school until age eleven then transferred to Boston Latin School.

He finished high school at Roxbury Memorial, where he captained both the football and baseball teams before going on to Loyola College in Montreal on a full football scholarship and later graduated from McGill University’s dental program in the early 1950s. He and his wife Kathleen moved to Orléans, France, where he served as a dental surgeon for the U.S. Army in post‑war Europe and they eventually settled in Lunenburg, with Cronin building a dental practice in Leominster that his son later took over.

The nonagenarian said the idea for the book was hatched during COVID when he was quarantined in his room at The Gables for weeks.

“I just started writing and we put the whole story together,” Cronin said of the collaboration with his daughter.

Howard said her father has read a lot of memoirs “and began to wonder if his own story might be worth preserving.”

“He also wanted to share a lifetime of memories with his family and friends,” she said.

Her dad told his stories, she “shaped them into a series of vivid vignettes, adding historical research where needed,” and the entire experience was memorable for both of them.

“The collaboration brought us closer together and I learned so much about my father that I never knew,” Howard said of working on the project with her dad. “I learned so much about my father that I never knew. I knew his Irish immigrant parents were poor, I just didn’t realize how poor. In one scene, a priest gives money from the collection plate to my grandmother so she could buy proper shoes for Joe and his brother, who were altar boys. I also didn’t know my grandfather, Paddy Cronin, couldn’t read or write. He left school early to work the fields, later becoming a laborer at the Randall‑Faichney company in Roxbury, loading the furnace and making repairs. My grandmother left school after fourth grade and was sent to work on a neighboring farm, as many rural Irish children were in the late 1800s.

“I also loved hearing my father’s perspective on major moments in American history,” she continued. “He lived through the Great Depression, World War II, and America’s ‘golden years.’ Writing this memoir made both of us reflect on how much the country has changed. I found myself almost envious of his experience in a more unified, post‑war America. He writes about visiting Ireland in the 1950s and seeing a country torn apart by religious and political strife, something he and my mother had never witnessed in the U.S. at the time. Now we see similar divisions here.”

When asked what some of the challenges were growing up poor in an immigrant family, Cronin said “one of the biggest problems was trying to exist with all our neighbors in Boston.”

“They were well to do people, and we couldn’t go to the same schools,” he shared of the economic gap. “We had to fight for everything. It made us work because if we didn’t succeed, we would have failed. It meant a little extra work and a little extra money and a little extra everything.”

Cronin relayed that while the initial idea behind writing the book was to pass along his story — his family’s history — to his children and 11 grandchildren, he is hoping people outside their circle connect with it as well.

“This book is not for money,” he said of the publication that is available for purchase on Amazon. “It’s about humor and stories and showing it can be done.”

Cronin was recently interviewed by Fitchburg Access Television alongside his grandson, State Sen. John Cronin, who wrote the forward for the book. In addition, the newly minted author is looking forward to meeting those interested in learning more about him and “The Last Narrowback” at a book signing on Saturday, Feb. 7 from 1 to 3 p.m. at The Wine Bar, 759 Main St., Fitchburg.

“Joe would love to see friends and former patients stop by and say hello,” Howard said. “He is delighted by the feedback he’s received. Many people know him as a dentist, but this book gives them a window into his life.”

Nowadays her father is affectionately known as “The Mayor of the Gables.” An avid New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox fan, Cronin spends much of his time at The Gables reading and likes doing research at the Fitchburg Historical Society.

“He doesn’t plan to write another book but his fascination with local history continues,” Howard said.

Cronin is content when he thinks back on his life, a life certainly well lived as his daughter articulated — and emphasized that he never forgot his roots.

“I knew where I came from,” he said, disclosing that he was happy to help those who couldn’t afford his dental services by charging “a little less.”

“It’s important to take care of people. That’s what it’s all about.”