Oh no, Grandpa...

Memories, like birds--fleeting.  Catch us, catch us if you can.


Oh no, Grandpa, you couldn’t have graduated from Notre Dame Academy!

Oh yes, he could have, and if he said he did, he probably did.  The Sisters opened a grade school as soon as the new 5^th St. building was completed.  Boys were accepted with the same enthusiasm as the girls.  While the records are sketchy, to put it kindly (maddeningly), there’s plenty of proof that boys were there.  They may not have abounded—the girls always outnumbered them, as far as blogger can determine.  Here are a few photos to attest to their presence. 

The reason for this posting is that blogger realized that many, maybe most, people aren’t aware of gentlemen grads from this august institution.  What brought this to light was a recent  conversation with a  high school alum who said an aging relative told his family that he too had graduated from NDA.  The family was in serious doubt.  Blogger assured the grad that it was quite possible, and was able to verify the assertion from the records that the school does have.  The doubt was understandable; only people in their late 70s or older may remember the fact since the grade school discontinued in 1937.  The last 8^th graders to graduate should be around 87 now.  That means there could still be quite a few male alums (properly called alumni) still gracing the area.  Therefore, Gentleman, please stand up and claim your rightful place in our gallery of fame!

50 Years? Already?

Memories, like birds—fleeting.  One must grasp and hold in heart hands.

Hey, a new look!

Yes.  Do you like it?  Let blogger know.

Apologies are in order, blogger supposes, to all readers who have evinced interest in this blog and have found that it has not been updated for a very long time.  One can update history, blogger must remind herself.

Having said that, she asks herself, “What next?”  To which she responds, “What do you mean, what next?  You have a whole closet + crammed with the school’s history.  Get on it, girl!

Having scolded herself sufficiently by this time, she goes about trying to make up.  Let’s see.  Well, we’ve been on Hilton Dr. for nearly 50 years.  Imagine, those of you who were part of that historic move—50 years!  Maybe the place to start this posting would be to take a look at some of the events surrounding that momentous move.  Hmmm.

Here’s what the CHRONOLOGY looks like, edited to reveal the events around the new academy with a few (historical notes).

1955	Mar 1st:  Sr. Mary Agnetis writes her first letter to Conrad Hilton, the hotel magnate, eliciting his interest in contributing to the building of a new school to replace the 5th St. building. (Jan. 23rd: Covington Catholic High School dedicates their new building on the Dixie.)

1961

April 16th: Ground breaking takes place for the new school on Hilton Drive, on the St. Joseph Heights property in the south pasture.  The Lourdes grotto has been removed by this time (roughly where the foyer of the new building will be). Aug. 10th:  NDA Boosters Club forms to aid in the building fund campaign.  Members are from the original campaign and from the PTEL.

1962	Jan. 22nd:  NDA receives word that the state is granting a no-tax status for items for the new building since it will be a not-for-profit institution. Drives are carried out in the course of this year to earn money for the building campaign: chocolate sale--$2,250; Pepsi cap col.--$516.50 Ap. 4th:  Photo-Reflex of Cincinnati presents the school with a large sepia portrait of Conrad Hilton in a classy Closson’s frame—for the new school’s foyer. July 2nd:  Friends of NDA (FONDA) is first announced—a fund raising group for the new academy (Friends of Notre Dame—a fundraising group of loyals). Sept.18th:  The corner stone is laid for the new NDA on Hilton Drive.  See Sisters’ Annals for contents. (Oct. 11th:  Opening of the Twenty-First Ecumenical Council in Rome.— NDA will not be discussed at the Council.) Dec. 27th:  Final Open House at 5th Street for the Sisters.  This was the first provincial house well within the memory of many Sisters. Dec. 30th: Introductory meeting for the FONDA (Friends of Notre Dame).
1963	June 3rd:  Last graduation from the Fifth Street NDA is held at Mother of God Church. (Also on June 3 Pope John XXIII dies, age 81, having reigned four years, seven months and six days as the 261st pontiff. June 21st:  Pope Paul VI is elected.) Oct. 14th:  Wrapping up is a two week home study period declared in order to give the Sisters a chance to clean the new facility on Hilton Dr.  The cleaning is completed and the first Mass here celebrated on Oct. 27th Feast of Christ the King. Oct. 15th:  The first day of school on Hilton Drive--the faculty and students move from 5th St. in Covington to Hilton Drive. Nov. 13th:  The Stations of the Cross in the new chapel are blessed. (Nov. 22nd:  President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.  This and subsequent civil unrest and assassinations will affect the mood of the nation which, in turn, will affect the outlook of students well into the ‘70s.) Dec. 7th:  The Sisters have the first Holy Mass in the 4th fl. chapel which is dedicated to the Infant of Prague. Dec. 9th:  The final papers for the sale of the old academy are signed. Dec. 12th: PTEL holds it first meeting in the new building. Dec. 29th:  Open House for FONDA members and their families is held in the new building.
1964	(Jan. 12th:  Three seniors, among them the future Sr. M. Ethel Parrott, appear on the “It’s Academic” show, and achieve second place.  Prize: set of books Gateway to Great Books.) Feb. 2nd:  Sr. M. Immacula organizes the group Home Room Mothers. Feb. 19th:  The school, like many in the area at this time, experiences its first vandalism with the breaking of windows and entrance doors. Feb. 22nd:  Open House for SNDs and other religious in the diocese. Mar. 1st:  Formal dedication of the new school takes place. Aug. 17th:  The property on 5th St. having been sold, demolition of the old school building begins.  Only the chapel building will remain standing and will be used for offices and storage of a car dealership. (Nov. 29th:  The new Liturgical Reforms are inaugurated, much to the delight of all here.  The Mass will now be said in English among other significant changes.)

Later, of course, the chapel building will come down and two SNDs will be there to rescue the cornerstone of that structure.  The cornerstone can still be seen in Heritage Hall to your right as you enter Hilton Dr. NDA.  In a latter blog posting we will get a glimpse of Sr. M. Agnetis’s first letter to Mr. Hilton—quite interesting and telling.

This is all for now.  Blogger hopes memories were stirred, curiosity piqued, and interest held.

True to our German roots, blogger bids you "auf wiedersehen" (until we meet again). 

'40s in NDA History

For now, let’s take a parting look at the Annals entries for the 1940’s

Mar. 19, 1940: Every year the girls present their fathers with a gift on the Feast of St. Joseph. They also prepare a spiritual bouquet, and offer Holy Mass for their father in our chapel. This year they gave their fathers Miraculous Medals on untarnishable chains.

November 13-16: This annual event spanning four days recalls at once the German fall festival of Kermess and the American celebration of Thanksgiving. Covered in the prayers of the Sisters, over a thousand turkey suppers are served, and thousands of chances are sold, all for the benefit of St. Joseph Heights and its various ventures.

Feb. 11, 1943: The Victory Corps is inaugurated as the NDA support of the war effort. The girls will be trained as air-raid wardens, nurse’s aids, bandage wrappers, and other tasks that will aid the country in this time of need.

Mar. 26, 1944: Perhaps the first of such programs, the women’s retreat draws over 150 women, probably mostly alums. It is held at the Heights. Father John I. Malone gives the conferences.

Jan. 24-25, 1945: The diocese of Covington and NDA welcome our new bishop, William T. Mulloy. The parade welcoming Bishop Mulloy to Covington meet him at the Kentucky end of the Suspension Bridge and escorts him to the cathedral at 11^th. (sic) and Madison. There are four bands in the welcoming parade. The sidewalks were the viewing stands for thousands of school children and local citizens with business suspending operations for the afternoon.

Fall of 1946: NDA gets its second principal in the retirement of Sr. Mary Agnetis who has served the school in that capacity since 1906. The new principal is Sr. Mary Jean Boeh who has been on the faculty as assistant principal, religion, Latin and French teacher and moderator of the student government.

Feb. 15, 1947: An intercom system is installed for the first time.

April 14ff: A six-weeks Courtship and Marriage course is offered by Fr. Paul E. Ryan.

Nov. 23: The Annals give the annual Baby Day its first mention in that record. Alums bring their babies to share/compare cuteness and stories of their tots.

May 11, 1948: NDA looks forward (somewhat optimistically) to the construction of a new gym, never to be realized on 5^th St., with the formation of the Guild to build the necessary finances.

Mar. 4, 1949: The near-brush with vandals who had been troubling the area schools is thwarted by Sr. Mary Oliva when they attempt a night invasion of NDA. This story appeared in an earlier Heritage blog: quite an exciting saga.

Summer: The academy gets a walk-in cooler in the conversion of the old ice cellar. Hmm--big deal? It was then.

Thus closes for now the most notable ventures and adventures of that memorable decade, the 1940s.

In the Memories of Alums

In the last few years I have been interviewing graduates from the 1930s and 40s and have shared with you the memories and little treasures of Rosemary Hanneken O’Brien, ‘46 . In reviewing the interviews I am reminded of recurring ideas. “My father really believed in education, and he wanted his girls to have a high school education,” recalled Betty Tuembler Moser, ’34. This fact was repeated in other interviews and certainly agrees with the trend in the first part of the twentieth century to allow and even encourage education for daughters in the family. With Notre Dame Academy grade school expanding its curriculum to include ninth grade classes in 1904, there were enough young ladies interested in continuing their education to establish a separate academy for them in 1906. The curriculum included commercial (commerce) and college prep (classical) courses. By the 1930s then, the commercial and regular high school were well established.

Uniforms have been mentioned by each interviewee. Mrs. Moser recalls that the grade level of any student was clearly seen in the color of her tie: freshmen wore green (no surprise there); sophomores red; juniors corral; and seniors brown (hmmm). The uniform proper was a plain blue shirt dress with white collars and cuffs (both starched!). (Photos show the high school uniform and the grade school uniform.) Also mentioned by those interviewed were the infamous black bloomers worn for gym class. Of course, this was accompanied in the interviews with a hearty chuckle.

Another aspect of interviewees’ lives here at Notre Dame was the fact that most of the teachers were Sisters of Notre Dame whom they dearly loved. Special mention went, as may be expected, to Sr. M. Agnetis who was principal from 1906 to 1946. Others frequently mentioned by name were Sr. M. St. Claire and Sr. M. Jean who taught music and French respectively. Sr. M. Jean replaced Sr. M. Agnetis as principal in 1946.

If you were an NDA student during these years, which memory here strikes the strongest chord with you? In future Heritage Blog entries we’ll revisit these interviews and many other treasures of memory.

Intruders in the Night

This account appeared in the NDA Annals kept by the Sisters. The entry is dated March 4, 1949.

“Notre Dame narrowly escaped being the ninth school to be raided by unknown vandals when intruders broke into the Academy by way of the main entrance about 3:30 a.m., Friday. S. Mary Oliva was awakened by the sound of falling glass, and with alertness of mind, she buzzed the house-phone on all the floors. The Fourth floor answered, and Sister said: “I think someone is in the building—I heard the sound of breaking glass.” S. Mary Xavier, who took the message thought for a moment, “What shall I do?” Then without hesitation she hurried to the fire-siren and turned it on. In less that no time all the Sisters were hurrying down, the siren still howling. Entirely forgetful of danger, one Sister went down stairs alone to the first floor. There she found the glass in the main door broken, just enough (for someone to) to reach inside to open the lock. However, all signs of the vandals were gone. And the siren screamed on. ..The police who had also been called, arrived and made a thorough search but found no one. And still the fire siren screamed on. We tried to turn it off on different floors, but by this time (some) switches were on and some off and we could not determine which one would turn it off. Then to our dismay, smoke began to curl up around the siren horns and we had to call the fire department. One Sister called, and said, “Please come QUIETLY!” But how was this to be done? In a few moments’ time a huge fire motor and ladder truck zoomed up before the Academy. While the firemen searched for smoldering wires, suddenly some on found THE button that turned off the siren. What a relief! Quiet and safety at last. The smoking sirens soon cooled off, the firemen departed, and we went to Chapel to pray a MAGNIFICAT in gratitude for divine protection. The next day we had an exciting story to tell the girls.
Eight other schools in our vicinity did not escape so easily. Unknown vandals did much damage in them by breaking windows, throwing ink around, tearing out wires, and turning on faucets. In less than 24 hours after Notre Dame’s invasion, Holy Cross School sustained about $200 damages from vandals, especially (from) smashed doors and windows. We are longing for the capture of these vandals who seem to be young boys bent upon destruction rather than upon stealing."
So ends another exciting episode of 5th. Street Panda History.

Another Look Back at the 1940s

When asked about mischief making in her day (1941-45), Rose Mary Hanneken O’Brien’s reply was,
“I heard about some of them (other girls), but they really weren’t my friends. They snuck out one time to go up to a movie up on Madison Ave., but I didn’t do anything like that. I was a good girl, believe that, or not. But I don’t remember doing anything like that. I think we, our family, and I guess, some of my closer friends, we didn’t want to bring that down on our parents (anything) that would disgrace them. I think we honored our parents that way, by trying to do what we were supposed to do. They were paying our way there (NDA), and all. We tried to do our best.” This pretty much reveals the sentiments of the day in those years and in this area.

The photos reveal other aspects of life at NDA. Having graduated in 1946 Rose Mary Hanneken was there during the war years and joined the school’s war efforts. The girls joined the Junior Red Cross and the Victory Corps. A certain Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Daley addressed the girls to encourage them to join the corps whose purpose seemed to have been to gather books for leisure reading for the members of the military. Each girl received a membership card and the cap seen in the photo of war memorabilia. The Red Cross was pretty standard in high schools across the country at that time, so it’s not surprising to see that NDA was right in there.

Another quite different aspect of NDA life is evident in the second picture of Mother’s Day memorabilia. The formal invitation sent to mothers for an NDA Mother’s Day celebration emerges from its pink envelope while a paper figure of a student waits to be stood at the place at table reserved for the girl’s mother.

Despite the time and its scarcities, the Notre Dame girls walked away with many colorful and meaningful mementoes. Those reinforced the loving memories that so many NDA alums have of their school. While the times have changed significantly, we find that more recent alums have fond memories too, although of a different kind. We trust there will always be a store of such recollections to draw from for all future alums, memories that will enrich their lives and cause them to sing with gusto, “NDA, we honor thee with our voices, our hearts, our songs.”

1942 and You're a Freshman

August 25, 2011

Now with a new school year underway (as of August17) it is interesting to look back to one alumna’s experience in her years at Notre Dame Academy. So what did the year 1942 hold for a little freshman? Quite a lot is revealed as we open Rose Mary Henneken O’Brien’s album of keepsakes.

The first piece we see: Freshman schedule. If you were a little Frosh in 1942 you were in homeroom A, B, or C on the third floor (of course) and your day was spent navigating between these three rooms with a possibility of Junior B on the second floor, in addition to the sewing room on the fourth floor. Naturally, or so it seems, if you were in Division A and had class at 1:15 in Junior B (Sr. M. Constance—Algebra) on the second floor, your last class at 2:00 was on the fourth floor—sewing room with Sr. M. Verda for Home-making. The rest of the Division A day went as follows: First period: Religion in homeroom; second period at 9:30—English with Sr. M. Josette in Fr. A; third period at 10;25—Latin with Sr. M. Cephas; fourth period at 11:10--History with Sr. M. Sheila (still living, by the way) followed by lunch and study hall period; the rest of the day as above starting on the second floor, then dashing (no, girls, we don’t dash. We walk up the steps in lady-like fashion, staying to the right) to the sewing room. Divisions B and C girls had variations of the above with a few differences. You may have had Sr. M. Josita for History or Sr. M. Jean for Latin or Sr. M. Joselind for Algebra, but you did not venture to the second floor. Your Religion teacher was no doubt your homeroom teacher. Study periods in the middle of the day apparently allowed time for “physical training,” dramatic art and library science.

The next feature of high school life revealed in the album is the Uniform Regulations sheet with a swatch of material to show the color you were to wear—navy blue. Briefly here are the specifics: any pattern with silk, wool, or crepe material; elbow length sleeves; white sharkskin collar and cuffs (purchased at the academy); optional belt of the same color as the dress. Since this was wartime the students did not have to purchase hose but could wear anklets, white or blue.

The photo shows a typical bookmark with then Bl. Julie Billiart (now Saint) you could slip onto the corner of a page, and the paper hearts from a mission-support effort, possibly in February. Courtesy of Rose Mary O’Brien.

In future postings in this blog, we will continue down the 40’s memory lane.