Childhood's End: November 22, 1963

Fifty-three years ago today, a little after 1:30pm, the entire SBHS student body was gathering in the Auditorium for a Friday pep rally before Saturday's football game against our biggest rival, Waterford. The excitement was palpable, and the mood raucous. Little did we know that in a few moments our world would be changed forever, as a very somber Father Benedict announced, "The President has been shot." Stunned into momentary silence, the auditorium quickly erupted into a bedlam of confusion and crying, as the cruel reality began to sink in. It was the moment we went from childhood to adulthood. I am sure that I am not the only one who can remember exactly where I stood when I heard that awful pronouncement. This is the only color photograph in the 1964 Crosier. Requiescat in Pace, President John F. Kennedy.

Crosier 1964: Freshman Religion classes.

Bob Keefe, Kevin McTigue, Tom Falvey and Gary Aguiar in the library.

Patricia McCarthy.

Jack Carr.

Crosier 1964: Some classroom scene photos of our freshman year on Broad Street.

Some classroom scene photos of our freshman year on Broad Street.

Uncaptioned pic introducing the classroom pictures section of the 1964 Crosier. (L to R) Priscilla Lutz, Margery Lacey, Ann Carboni (unconfirmed) and Mary Cawley (unconfirmed).

Uncaptioned pic on the contents page. Class of 1967 Moderator Brother Roger Baillargeon, S.S.E. with Charlie DeLauro.

"In World History Eileen Curley, Kathleen Locarno and Anita Beaulieu pore over the ancient civilizations of the Near East."

Freshman Boy's Homerooms, Fall 1963. From The 1964 Crosier.

Freshman Boy's Homerooms, Fall 1963. From The 1964 Crosier.

Freshman Girl's Homerooms, Fall 1963. From The 1964 Crosier.

Freshman Girl's Homerooms, Fall 1963. From The 1964 Crosier.

Blue Velvet-Themed Freshman Mixer, Fall 1963

OK, OK. Now you've done it! I was trying to hold off on posting this but, I can't resist it any longer!  ;) Jack Turner.  Carol Kenyon.  Bill Beth Crocker, can you get 'Skippy' McDonald to come to this page?  ;) Freshman Mixer, Blue Velvet Theme, Fall 1963. Lordy!  :) Click on the pics.

OK, no question about it. This qualifies as an "OMG' moment, am i right?  ;) I love it!

A Musical Interlude: Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode

Ok, after all that, it is time for a musical interlude. IMHO, without this guy, there is no rock 'n roll. My all-time favorite, bar none.

Fr. Benedict, Principal of SBHS 1964.

Fr. Benedict, Principal of SBHS 1964. After we graduated in 1967, you will recall that the school was split in three: St Bernard Girls in New London, St Bernard Boys in Uncasville, and Notre Dame de Namur in Norwich. Father Benedict became Principal of the SBHS New London Girls campus. He later left the priesthood, got married, and lived in San Francisco. He died a few years ago. Jim Higgins, SBHS '66, interviewed his widow prior to the 1966 Reunion last August, and published it in their Class Directory. You may find it quite interesting. I will contact Daneen Roth, one of our Guardian Angels for this Reunion project, and see if I can publish it here. In case you are wondering, our other Guardian Angel for this Reunion is Lucille Larrivee Naughton, the former Sr. Lucille. Both of them have been amazingly supportive 'cheerleaders' for this reunion effort, and I wish to publicly acknowledge that we are in their debt. Thank you, Daneen Roth and Lucille Larrivee Naughton!

SBHS Circa 1963-4

I will get a few of the obligatory pics out of the way first. Here is the SBHS campus in 1964. This is what we saw as we arrived on campus, transitioning from 'kids' in grammar school to 'adolescents' in high school. That transition took us from being "BMOC" or 'BWOC" to lowly, beanie-wearing freshmen! Pics from 1964 Crosier.

1964 Crosier: Our Freshman Year at SBHS

OK, folks! Thanks to my sister Francine Schuch (SBHS '64), I now have a copy of the 1964 Crosier. That's right! Pics of you at the tender age of 14 or 15! This will be an equal opportunity, take-no-prisoners, cringe-fest, btw, so brace yourselves! If your pic was in that yearbook, prepare to see it here! With all due affection, naturally. So, as Izzy Mandelbaum (Lloyd Bridges) said on Seinfeld years ago ..... "All aboard the Pain Train!"  ;) 

(L to R) Dave Walsh, Bill Crocker, Priscilla Lutz, Joanne Foster, Charley Hennegan, Tom Falvey and Bob Mingo. This is a great pic!

Stay tuned!  Lots more pics to come!  

Cherish The Ladies: 1965 Crosier Classroom Pics

SBHS evolved through several permutations over the years:  starting as an all-girls school, like its predecessor on the site WMI (Williams Memorial Institute, now The Williams School), it went co-ed with the class of 1964, I believe.  The Class of 1967 was the last co-ed class to graduate from the New London campus.  The following year the school was divided in three:  St. Bernard's Girls took over the NL site, St. Bernard's Boys moved to the brand new Uncasville campus, and girls from the Norwich area moved to the brand new Notre Dame de Namur campus in the Mohegan Park area of Norwich.  Although we were co-ed as a Class, many of our classes remained segregated by gender, as these pics from 1964-5 demonstrate.  

Learning Citizenship

Today is another momentous Election Day. Please get out there and vote. The 1960s were a turbulent time in the US, and I always felt that the Class of 1967 was riding the very crest of that wave of change. And for many of us at SBHS, our first introduction to the world of politics took place in our History, Civics and Problems of Democracy classes.

Contemporary Pics of the Former SBHS Campus

Three pics of the former SBHS Campus area as it appears today: the former baseball field; the former Rialto Pizza; and the main campus entrance. Pics were taken on November 5, 2016, when I had occasion to drive by.

The lower field is now a parking lot for G.A. 10 Courthouse and the New London Senior Center. View is from lower Brainard Street. 

The former Rialto Pizza, across Broad Street from the SBHS campus. Form follows function: less of a demand for pizza in the neighborhood these days, apparently, and more of a demand for attorneys and Bail Bondsmen! 

St. Edmund's Hall is now the "State of Connecticut Superior Court Geographic Area (G.A.) 10".  Marian Hall is the Thomas Martin Social Services Center, housing a variety of City of New London municipal departments, in addition to the NL Senior Center. St. Albert's Hall is now a church.  The former convent houses a number of agency offices, including, I believe, the State of CT Office of Adult Probation.

Freshman Year: Be My Baby - The Ronettes - 1963

My personal choice for the greatest song of 1963, and one of the great songs of the era: Phil Spector's Wall of Sound in full flower! Enjoy and.... Turn it UP!

Learning Latin, Circa 1964-5 A.D.

From the 1965 Crosier.   Learning Latin: Susan Powell; Bruce Gallemore and Julius Cinquegrani.

My favorite Latin phrase (and the only one I still remember):

De gustibus non disputandum est.  
The literal translation is:  "In matters of taste, there is no argument."  

But I have always preferred the Mark Twain translation:  "There is no accounting for taste."  

Freshman Mixer Theme October 1963: Bobby Vinton ~ Blue Velvet

I am not particularly a sentimentalist, nor a Nostalgia nut, ----- but it looks like I may be playing one on this page for the next nine months or so!  It's a tough job, etc. etc.....  ;) I believe that this tune was #1 on the Billboard Top 100 in early October 1963. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think it also became the theme of the Class of 1967 Freshman Mixer in the fall of 1963.