A 1962 Alum's Memories

Carol Anne Guglielmo Bock (Class of 1962) shares some of her random memories of her years at St. Thomas Aquinas:

One of my stories is that I use to arrive early in order for Sr. Eunice to lift me up to dust the statue of St. Thomas at the top of the stairs of the entry to the school!  I thought that was really special.

Another was our trip to the Brookfield Zoo (maybe 6th grade) where we sat on the big stone lions and Patti Carr, Kathy Kernaghan, Carre Segerson and myself all dressed alike with pink and white striped tops and pleated white skirts.  Jimmy Erwin is pictured on one of the lions with me.  Don't know where he is these days, but he did go to St. Joe H.S. in Westchester.

I have a picture of Gary Kelley in his "crossing guard" uniform.

I remember going down to the back door on the ground level of the school to help get the trays of milk cartons to be delivered to the classrooms, interesting that we had that since everyone went home for lunch.  (Editor note: I remember having milk, not at lunch but as a break in the class day)

We did have an eighth grade trip to Springfield, Ill. to visit the home of Lincoln and other sites.  I have pix of that.

Ok...here's the risky one--I was kissed in the phone booth at the bottom of the stairs outside the Canteen during a dance.  (Name of "kisser" withheld to protect the innocent)

Kathy Kernaghan and I use to slip away to go to the bathroom on the second floor and we would practice our "jitterbug" dance together, sometimes with a small "transistor radio"--don't know how we smuggled that in! 

We had to wear those "chapel veils" that looked like a small doilies on our heads to church because our heads had to be covered. 

Our 3rd grade room had the iron fire escape outside the door and we had to put it down when there was a fire drill. Always a scary event! 

When we came in to Sr. Honore's classroom in the morning, we had sentences on the board to "diagram" while waiting to start the day. And when the phone rang in the office while Sr. was teaching, I had to run in there and answer it, "Good morning, St. Thomas Aquinas student speaking, how can I help you?" I guess I was a trustworthy kid.

Cathy McGrath was chosen to do the May crowning of Mary in the church.

And, we were cheerleaders I think for 7th and 8th grade.  We had navy sweatshirts and navy pleated skirts.  Also, Deedee Meyer, daughter of Coach Ray Meyer, came to the "gym" and taught us girls basketball!

By pooling their respective memories, Kathy Kernaghan Xaverius, Carol Guglielmo Bock, Carroll Segerson, Patti Carr, Pat Capizzi and Gary Kelley provide a list of teachers at STA 1954-1962:

First Grade:   Sister Aloysius - Sister Immaculata 

Second Grade:   Sister Eunice - Sister Alberta

Third Grade:   Sister Theodora - Miss Lane

Fourth Grade:   Mrs. Jones - Sister Cyril

Fifth Grade:   Miss Flanagan - Sister Honore/Sr. Beatrice*

Sixth Grade:    Mr. Fogli - Sister Malcolm

Seventh Grade:    Miss Mercurio - Sister Francesca 

Eighth Grade:  Sister Beata - Sister Cassandra 

Sister Giovanni was our original Principal and later Sister Honore.

Great times and wonderful memories.

Carol, these truly are wonderful memories.  Thanks for sharing them with us. On September 30, you will have to check and see if that phone booth is still there outside of the Canteen!  

And to the rest of you, it is wonderful you haven't forgotten the great teachers we had at STA, thank you.  *Bill Clarkson, thanks for adding Sr. Beatrice to the list of teachers.