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Michael McLeod

MM#2 TO MM#1: YAY!

David Mitchell

M/M 

I'm guessing it's that cute little guy in the left center of the phot.

Michael McLeod

I salute Stephen Colbert for turning down the tinsel and taking advantage of his moment of glory to embody compassion, generosity, and citizenship.

David Mitchell

Mike,

I wish he would have named people specifically - like Musk, Bezos, Zuckerburg, etc. 

Imagine what a small portion of their worth could do to help the homeless problems we have. But instead they choose trillion dollar yachts, which they use for a few weeks at a time.

David Mitchell

Da Bears!   wow!

Janie Albright (Blank)

For those of you who might remember Sr. Thoma. 
 

https://www.egan-ryan.com/obituary/SrThoma-SwansonOP

David Mitchell

Thanks Janie.

Although her name brings back memories, I can't recall her face. I wish we had some photos of old Watterson faculty members. 

John Jackson

I happened to talk to my sister Liz (who is at the Motherhouse) over the weekend and she mentioned Sr. Thoma’s passing.  I remember her a bit although I never had her in class, but thanks, Janie, for posting her obit because I had no idea of all the other things she had done in her life beyond teaching at Watterson.

I think some of us tend to think of nuns as leading sheltered lives but I’ve often thought that the nuns who taught us were in the vanguard of “liberated” women because they got advanced degrees and had  careers (and not just in teaching) long before it became commonplace for women to do so.

John Jackson

My other favorite story of a “liberated woman’ was the mother of a Russian immigrant I hired for my company about 25 years ago – Leonid had just arrived in the U.S. as a Jewish refugee from Belarus (Jews were still persecuted in the later days of the Soviet Union and in those days at least, the U.S. took pity on the persecuted and admitted a fair number of them to the U.S. as refugees).  So Leonid emigrated to the U.S. with his wife, his two kids and his mother. 

I hired Leonid because he had worked for the previous 10 years in the Soviet Union in the same narrow technical area that my company is based upon.  One day not long after he started working we were discussing some point that required some knowledge of chemistry and I was of absolutely no use since I hadn’t given a thought to chemistry since I was forced to take it freshman year in college.  Leonid is a physicist and he admitted he also was really rusty when it came to chemistry, so he said “When I get home tonight I’ll ask my mother about this”.  Leonid and I are the same age and my lazy mental picture of his mother at the time was similar to my own mother who hadn’t attended college.  So I must have looked at him strangely because he then added “my mother has her PhD in chemistry”.

Joseph Gentilini

Thanks Jane for the obit on Sr. Thoma's passing. I remember her  when she taught at Watterson. I try to go to either the wakes or the funerals when one of the Dominican Sisters die. It is funny in a way because Sister Thoma would see me and tell me she remembered teaching me at Watterson when in fact, she never taught me. Recently, I saw her at one of the Masses at Mohan Hall.  'Chemistry - I took the one class at Watterson with Sister Amy. She scared the shit out of me the entire year. I think it was on October 13th or 20th of 1964 (?) when I was in her class.  Jim Hamilton was on my left and David Fredericks was on my right and we were in the 2nd row. It was our first day of working with acids and she told us to stick our hands in the little sink with a hose between Jim and myself. Well, I spilled the glass jar (?) of acid all over my desk.  Amy was in the back row and I was scared of her. I went to the back of the class and told her what I had done. She raised her arms (like the witch in Snow White and the 7 dwarfs) and told me to do what she had told me. She walked to the front of my desk and we cleaned it up. I was so nervous and my hands were shaking so i couldn't even get a spark to lite the bunson burner (?). I hated that class.

Monica Haban (Brown)

Thanks Janie for the Sister Thoma update.  

Many years ago, while I was teaching at OLP, one of the Dominican Sisters delivered a collection of "Tapicitos" to our school, handmade by the women in Sister Thoma's Chimbote, Peru mission.  They were extraordinary weavings inspired by Sister's incredible talent. Of course, I bought four of them which hung in my classroom for many years to follow. I'm passionate about art in many forms, but was not one of her art students in high school. I can't draw to save my life. :(

Will try to post photos of some of them later.  Will also send to Janie to post if I'm unable to do so on this website.  Janie has the talent and expertise to do so!!!

David Mitchell

Silly me. 

And here all this time I thought High School chemistry was a hoax, invented by Satin to convince 16 year-old boys how incompetent we really were.

Or what serious boredome could do to your brain.

I had that tall Sister for chemistry, with the obnoxious slightly high pitched mono tone voice - that could put me to sleep. I remember taking a test once - sitting with Keith Groff in the very back row - the text book open on our desk, and talking and laughing out loud about how we were cheating and didn't care if Sister caught us.

Give me Algebra - with Sister Norbertine - "Come day, go day. God send Sunday".

Janie Albright (Blank)

Sr. Thomas art as mentioned in Monica's post above. 
 

David Dunn

 Sr.  Thoma was my homeroom teacher sophonore year, in Room 12A, which was in the basement of the school, at Watterson.  And, of course, she was the art teacher.  Although I didnt know her well, she was at our 50th Reunion at Watterson.  She gave me (& small group of us) a tour of the high school the night that we met there. 

I would go out to Sepherds Corner on Waggoner Road, which was started by some of her contemporaries at the time, like perhaps Sr. Kenneth Marie, and of course Sr. Michael Jospeph (aka later as Sr. Loretta, who was the principal of Holy Name School in the 50s, and early 60s. )

I would hear the nuns out at Shepherds Corner speak of Sr. Thoma.  Most recently I was out there last month for a pre Christmas sale which they held, and, one person I spoke with said that she was at St. Marys, and still painting, and, she showed me some of Sr Thoma's recent paintings.

I'm sorry to hear of her passing; she must have been about 98 y.o.

Janie Albright (Blank)

One more with description 
 

This with description. 
 

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

I found this photo of Sr. Thoma with Margie and Jane at our 50th Reunion in the Class of 1966 Photos. 

Joseph Gentilini

Thanks for the pictures!  She was a gentle soul - i say that because when I would go to the motherhouse for a sister's wake, she sometimes sat at the table I was at for dinner after the wake.  She seemed as if she would be gentle.

Joseph Gentilini

Thanks again for showing Sister Thoma's art work!

David M - I would take Sister Norbertine's algebra class any day over Sr. Amy's class.  Norbertine (later took her original name of Gertrude) was a good teacher and I learned Algebra I well. I wish I had had her for Algebra II. I think I would have learned it better than with Sister Malcom. joe

Monica Haban (Brown)

Thank you Janie for posting the photos of the Tapicitos.  A beautiful reflection of the women of Peru, and Sister Thoma.  

In a later year, I received shipments of items made by the women at a Maryknoll mission in Bolivia, and sold them to the students, faculty, and parents at OLP, the money sent to their mission. I commented that the faces on the beautiful handmade dolls were sad.  The missioner commented that the women Were sad. We need to be reminded how blessed we are. Thank God for the religious and lay missionaries in our world. Some of you likely remember that my husband Don, my brother Matt, and Clare's brother Ted, are former Maryknoll seminarians.  

May Sister Thoma rest in peace.

David Mitchell

Come to think of it, I think I did have sister Amy for chemistry. I think that other sister I mentioned above was in Biology - not chemistry. But equally boring just the same.

I wonder if anyone knows anything about (sister) Margarie Davis these days. Kathy O'rieilly used to call me up in third or fouth grade and ask me if I liked Margarie. I was embarrassed.

I did not recognize the photo of sister Thoma.

David Mitchell

John,

How is your sister Liz?

I may have told the story before but I had the weirdest coincidental reunion with her about 25+ years ago.

I was downtown at the Veterans offices (I could not afford the Ohip State clinic and they referred me to the VA) and they asked if - while I was there  - would I like to go upstairs and just check in with the mental health desk. I asked why I would want to do that but then relented - "Oh well, as long as I'm here, why not."

I went up to the top floor and there was one desk clerk and one staff member still there - at 4:00 on a Friday - empty and quiet except for the three of us. This nice lady in her physician's white coat walks out and escorts me back to her office. We sat down and started to talk and suddenly I read her name tag,,,

Elizabeth Jackson M.D.

I blurted out , "Liz! It's me - Dave Mitchell - John's friend from school!"

She recognized me and we got into a great conversation. Then she asked me some questions about my military service. She became very interested and concluded by asking me to return for some counseling which she suggested I needed right away. 

That next week, 911 happened and I had experienced several very scary panick attacks. I returned to the clinic in a few days and I walked into that same (once empty) lobby full of veterans - maybe 50 guys - the place was packed!  She came out to greet me and waved her arm at all the people and said "See, these are all Vietnam Vets. You all need to get some help right away." 

She signed me up to see a staff counselor and he made a huge difference in my life before I moved down here to So. Carolina.

Small world!

Please tell her I said "Hello" and will always be grateful for her care.
 

David Mitchell

footnote:

I mentioned moving down here to So Carolina. I had my VA medical records transferred down here (only took 14 them months) and began visitng the medical clinic at the nearby Beaufort Naval Hospital. they assigned me to a young lady Psychiatrist and on my first visit I noticed two framed diplomas on the wall. 

They were both from THEE OHIO STATE UNIVERISTY !

Joseph Gentilini

Dave M - loved the story about Elizabeth Jackson OP.  She was a great help with a friend long time ago.

Margie Davis is at the Motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of Peace.  I don't know what her ministry is now.  The next time I see her, I'll ask and get back to you.  joe

David Mitchell

Joe,

Tell Margie I said HI.

And John,

It would be intersting if you could run down the list of your sister Liz's rather famous carreer.

Michael McLeod

Janie! Muchas gracias! Que linda!

That is just such beautiful work, such tactile warmth, just jumps right out at you.