Graduation Weekend, in Three Takes

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River Forest, Illinois, June 1976. Where did I imagine I'd be in 40 years?

The New Principal

Suburban Chicago, about 1966. After my favorite grade-school principal got reassigned to a different post, this sister took over the leadership role. I remember her as a stern, but fair and quiet, person.

(Here she is in post-Vatican II habit.)

Puzzled

Suburban Chicago, 1965. The sister on the left is Sister Margo, my beloved second-grade teacher.

"Bonjour!"

River Forest, Illinois, November 1975. Here's another snapshot from my stint as a high-school yearbook photographer. The woman on the right is the Dominican sister who taught French. I enrolled in French-language classes after I completed my two years of Latin study. She was an amazing teacher: she never allowed us to speak English in her classroom. I felt nearly fluent in French after I completed the coursework.

This teacher's training was so good that when I enrolled in college, I tested out of the foreign-language requirement and earned the equivalent of four years' credit in French. I was so excited when I learned the news that I called her from my dorm room telephone to thank her.

(Does anyone still install terrazzo floors [distinguishable from "terrazzo tiles"]? The Venetian apartment in which I lived had them, too. I just love them.)

Camp Memento

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Schweinfurt, Germany, 1945 to 1949. This is a "holy card" Dad carried throughout the postwar years. The text printed on the back is not a prayer; it's the lyrics to the Lithuanian Anthem.

Happy Halloween.

Suburban Chicago, October 31, 1967. I revisit my favorite costume.

My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, sewed a white, trick-or-treating tote to match the costume. I dragged the tote through the puddles as my Best Friend and I walked around the neighborhood late in the afternoon that Halloween. When I got home, Tatjana and my Mom saw that the bag—and the candy I'd collected—had been soaked. They threw everything away. I only got the remnants of what we'd bought to pass out to trick-or-treaters. The splendid variety of my haul was gone, and I was left with one bag of Life Savers.

Related by Marriage: Fiftieth Reunion

Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1997. Mr Irene's Mom joins her classmates from the St. Casimir Academy Class of 1947. (St. Casimir Academy later became Maria High School.)

The View from the Other Side

Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Rome, Italy, October 1983. My peculiar tour of Rome begins with a visit to a thirteenth-century cloister.

"I thought, is that a way to make money? ... Maybe I could fly around. I could be the flying nun."

Los Angeles Catholic sisters don't think Katy Perry is an appropriate buyer for their former home, the Immaculate Heart of Mary convent.

First Grade

Suburban Chicago, 1964. This teacher was not one of my favorites. She was, however, better than the sister next door who was ruler-whacking happy.

(I am hard to see here. I sit third from right in the second row. You can see my eye glasses popping up over a dark-haired, classmate's head.)

Second Grade

Suburban Chicago, 1965. That's Sister Margo. She was my favorite grade-school teacher. During one recess period, a group of children persisted in teasing me. Sister Margo walked across the parking lot and hugged me. I remember wiping my tears in her dark-brown habit.

There were 45 children in that classroom.

"Ticket Nunsense"

The President of my high school encounters a vanity-plate problem.

Related by Marriage: Graduation Weekend

Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois, June 1947. Here's the diploma Mr. Irene's Mom received when she graduated from high school. The school, St. Casimir Academy, became Maria High School.

"She wanted students to see it all."

My beloved high school English teacher, Sister Angele, died last week. Some of the reflections at her wake stirred up memories. 

Although I don't share Sister Angele's love of travel, touring Greece with her was a great experience. She was a tolerant chaperone who left us on a long leash as we explored Greece and Turkey. We dodged serious trouble a couple of times. Our group also avoided some of our responsibilities. For instance, we all carried assignments overseas because we had homework. I was supposed to read Vanity Fair during that trip expressly for Sister Angele's class. I started reading the book on the plane ride home.

When we returned to school, Sister Angele pulled me aside into the hallway outside of her classroom. She warned me not to detail our "escapades" to classmates. Sister Angele's message and tone were stern, but her head posture and glint conveyed an appreciation of the mischief.

Santorini, Greece, April 1976. Sister Angele is the teacher who required us to memorize and recite the prologue to Canterbury Tales in Middle English. She taught me not to fear public speaking, and she introduced me to the study of the Middle Ages. She thereby started two threads that ran through my life.

Think Big.

River Forest, Illinois, November 1975. Here's another image from my stint as a high-school yearbook photographer. I took this in the office of the school's library. You likely notice the card catalog and typewriter. Did you see the film-strip canisters?

Happy Dance

Suburban Chicago, about 1982. That's my friend Kris dancing with Dad, and Mom takes a spin with Uncle Al. Kris reports the group danced to the piano playing of Sister Bernarda (back visible on the right), a family friend and a member of the Sisters of St. Casimir. Sister Bernarda was a music teacher at Maria High School—the high school from which Mr. Irene's Mom graduated.

Thanks to my friend Kris for making this photo available to us.

"Lap dancing is a vague phrase: it covers a lot of sins."

News from the home town: The Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo amend their lawsuit against their neighbor, the "Allure" strip club.

Waiting for the pageant.

Melrose Park, Illinois, December 1963. I sit patiently with the other Lithuanian-school students while Father Stanley talks with the parents.

Keeping her cool.

River Forest, Illinois, November 1975. I served one year as a "photographer" for the high-school yearbook. Here, I captured the amazing nun* who taught our AP English class. She's also the woman who organized and chaperoned that trip to Greece. I credit her with refining my understanding of culture.

*The women who ran the high school were "sisters," not "nuns."

Pastor's Address

Melrose Park, Illinois, December 1967. Our parish pastor addresses the Lithuanian-school PTA. Left to right: an associate pastor; the priest who officiated at our wedding; the grade-school principal (wearing a mod habit); the parish pastor; two Lithuanian-school teachers; and Father Stanley, the retired, Lithuanian priest who lived at our parish rectory.