September 28, 2011
The plan for last Friday was for a reception to be followed by a victory over the Gonzaga Eagles in the Homecoming Football game. Not for the first time this year, the weather intervened in Good Counsel plans and the game was postponed until Saturday morning (way to go Falcons, winning 49-7).
The reception went on as planned in honor of the Class of 1962, the first to graduate from four years at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School. We will recognize these men more formally in the spring when the 50th anniversary of their graduation takes place. In the meantime, Friday night's reception was a chance to reconnect a small group of about ten alums with the school. Different building, different location—but still their school. It was a long time ago; they began at Good Counsel during the Eisenhower administration and graduated while the youthful JFK and Jackie lived in the White House. It was a treat to hear about their school memories and their fondness for the Xaverian Brothers.
One alum was returning for the first time in 30 years. Three came from out of state. Remarkably, they were joined by the first Varsity Football Head Coach, Joe Cardaci. Some of these members of the Class of '62 seemed to remember a staggering number of plays from football games long past. It was an evening of fond reminiscences and I was privileged to just hang out and listen to story upon story of schooling from a very different time.
Among the stories I heard about how:
... students stayed in the same classroom for every class and the teachers, mostly Xaverian Brothers, came to the classroom. It's no surprise that this allowed for boyish behavior between classes. There were recollections of the justice delivered when a wad of paper hit the wall, narrowly missing Brother Gary who was walking in the door.
... boys routinely hitchhiked to and from school. Without a school-supplied bus service, the thumbs were out on Georgia Avenue every day, coming and going. Sometimes, when a Good Counsel boy in his coat and tie got a sympathetic passer-by to stop it was not uncommon for a bunch of his friends to appear out of nowhere and cram into the car. The boys weren't always lucky; many recalled days when they walked miles to get home.
... the football field sod was donated from pasture land owned by a parent. Boys loaded the truck at the farm and more boys unloaded at the Wheaton campus. The field was installed in the heat of July and watered over the summer by one of the Brothers using just a garden hose. The field was ready for the first game.
Different times, indeed. I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to learn about the days when the unique family feel of our school was born.