w e N ^ Volume 8, No. 2
Extending the Mission of Mount Saint Joseph Academy and College into the 21st Century www.ursulinesmsj.org/alumnae
Fall 2012
Alumnae recall working off their tuition
C
atholic schools these days look for any way to help parents reduce the cost of tuition. For students of Mount Saint Joseph Academy, paying off tuition was done the old fashioned way – the girls worked it off. “I wasn’t quite sure what my mother had signed me up for during the summer before my freshman year at MSJ,” said Carolyn Sue Cecil, A73. “I rode my bicycle out to the Mount (with my neighbors and cousins, Mary Ann and Cathy Cecil) to work in the laundry two days a week all summer long. It must have been 110 degrees in the shade in there as we ran sheets through the “mangle” and all the while, Sister Blanche Rita was scared to death one of us girls was going to get pulled into it. “It was fun being with my friends,” Carolyn Sue said. “We started at 8 a.m. and stopped at 11 and got to swim for an hour, followed by lunch in one of the back rooms with the other workers. We went back to work from 1-3, folding, sorting and delivering clothing and items. “Two weeks before school started again, all of us working day students would be called in to clean the dorms from top to bottom, as well as the classrooms,” she said. “I remember Sister Ursula directing us to wash windows with water and newspaper. Sister Joseph Volk scared me to death as she directed us in the dorms. I remember one year she finally trusted me with using the huge buffer -- which was easy once you got the hang of it. I’m not sure I ever got the hang of it -Sister it kept running away with me. Ursula “I always tell the story to people how I scrubbed bathrooms to work off my high school tuition,” Carolyn Sue said. “Sister JV assigned bathroom duty to me and my cousin, Kay Beth Riney, on a number of occasions simply because she knew we would do it and do it right. “My first three years, we earned $3 a day and this was applied directly to our tuition,” she said. “Senior year, we were given a raise Sister Joseph Volk of $1. Day school tuition at that time was $100 a year. Since I loved being at the Mount anyway, being out there working was also fun. I enjoyed being with my friends, as well as seeing the sisters.” Becky Collins Morris, A71, also grappled with the floor buffer during her days at the Academy. “I worked in the library with Karen O’Daniel and M.A. Hoerter the first years,” Becky said. “We did all the normal chores –
Sister Joseph Marie Williams
dusting, sweeping, mopping. The chore I remember the most – and liked the least – was mopping and buffing the floors every Saturday. It took a while to learn to control the buffer so it would not pull me in all directions. I never understood why Sister required this every Saturday because those floors were always spotless. But Sister Joseph Marie didn’t like even a scuff mark. Or maybe she really just wanted to be sure we were kept busy.” Continued on page 6
Alumnae Memorial Mass Nov. 3 The annual Alumnae Memorial Mass will be at 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, at the Mount Saint Joseph Jennifer Speaks McGee, left, Carolyn Graves Beam (back) and Motherhouse Beth Calhoun Henderson, all 1970 Chapel, with graduates, at the Nov. 5, 2011 Msgr. Bernard Alumnae Memorial Mass. Powers presiding. This Mass is celebrated in remembrance of all deceased classmates, faculty, family and friends of Mount Saint Joseph Academy and Junior College. Please let us know of any alumnae who passed away in the past 12 months. A memorial list will be posted on our website. Please RSVP for the Mass and dinner by Oct. 29. Contact Marian Bennett at 270-229-2006 or email alumnae.msj@maplemount.org.