1930s

36 Miracle at Sorin Hall

The only class news is that Shelby Romero has turned 100. Congratulations, Shelby!

For the benefit of younger alumni, you might like to know about some of the outstanding priests in my time. The first was Father John O’Hara, CSC, who was prefect of religion, then president of Notre Dame. During World War II he was the auxiliary bishop of the armed forces. After the war, he was bishop of Buffalo NY and the cardinal in Philadelphia. Father O’Hara had a phenomenal memory. He would meet you years after his first meeting, and call you by name. My older brother, class of ’32, lived in Sorin. His roommate developed a sore on the back of his right hand that would not heal, in spite of visits to doctors and even the Mayo Clinic. My brother would change the bandage every night, and it got worse. Finally he and his roommate went to Father O’Hara’s room one night and asked him to bless the hand. Father did so. The next night when my brother removed the bandage, his roommate’s hand was clean and there was no sign of any sore. They raced back to Father O’Hara’s room to show him what they believed to be a miracle. Father brushed them off and said nothing. My brother and his roommate always believed it was a miracle. The next best known priest was Father John Farley, CSC, rector of Sorin Hall, affectionately called Pop. As far as I know, he never taught a class or preached a sermon, but he was a big influence on everyone. He later lost a leg and was confined to a wheelchair, but he never was at a loss for someone to push him around the campus. The students volunteered. When he died, he had one of the largest funerals at Sacred Heart Church. The next residence hall built was named for him. Last, but by no means least, was Father George Marr, CSC, rector of Walsh Hall, where I lived my senior year. He was preparing us for the outside world. He treated us as adults, not students, calling us “Mister” and inviting us to chapel every morning. If you had no early classes, and wanted to sleep in, his ready was, “be my guest.” The chapel was filled every morning and we all answered the responses along with the servers, which was not done in those days. He was ahead of his time. That is all for now. I’ll try for more history next issue. Go Irish. — John Norton; jwn176@aol.com

37 Connections

I was able to connect with Jane and Bob Neville, the daughter and son-in-law of Bernie Hartz, when they visited New Orleans for a conference. We had breakfast together and talked about Notre Dame’s always expanding campus and Bernie, who continues to impress us with his energy for riding his bicycle and socializing. Arch Gott passed away in March. While at Notre Dame, he served as the president of the Class of 1937 and ran for the track team, where he set a school record that stood for 21 years and competed against Jesse Owens. After graduating, he enlisted in the Navy and served in the South Pacific during World War II. He was committed to his community and his church and enjoyed golfing and boating with his family. I enjoyed hearing from Arch. He often wrote over the summer to let me know that he and his wife had celebrated an anniversary. They were married for 72 years. His family remembers him as a diehard Irish and Cubs fan and an avid storyteller. — Kathleen Coverick ’08; 911 Hagan Ave., New Orleans LA 70119; 708-305-5536; kathleen.coverick@gmail.com

38 Class Secretary — Meg Julian ’03, ’06JD;

171 E. 89th St., No. 5A, New York NY 10128; 646-246-5480; megjulian@gmail.com

39 Back to Normal in Boston

A year ago, still overcome by the shock of the Boston Marathon bombing, I devoted the bulk of my Class Notes to a description of how much Boston means to the many runners in my family. This year, the runners among my children — Bill, Mike, Tom and Elizabeth — are well into their 60s and have found compelling reasons to be otherwise engaged. That left it up to Tom’s son, Paul, 31, to uphold the family honor. Along with his fiancée, Laura Oliver, they ran but also received special medals for being first to finish among engaged couples. Their wedding is scheduled for the latter part of August in Sioux Falls SD where Laura grew up. For the past several years, they have lived in the Minneapolis area where Laura has an administrative position with General Mills and Paul is a computer engineer with a company that produces medical software. This year, however, Laura is on company leave to pursue a graduate degree in her area of specialization at Northwestern U. Paul has been given permission by his company to live and work there as well because in his computer world, place is irrelevant. In response to my request for some details, Paul emailed me that they both had a tough day in Boston. “The downhill start did a number on our quads early,” he wrote, “and training in Chicago, a city without any hills, certainly didn’t help.” They didn’t run together, of course. There is a wide gap between their normal times and runners are locked into their own paces. Paul finished in 2 hours and 46 minutes, about four minutes off his best time, and Laura did three hours and 28 minutes, about four minutes slower than her first Boston race three years ago. “We both struggled very much during the last eight miles or so,” Paul wrote. “Navigating stairs would be very tough for a few days but that didn’t stop us from hobbling around the city enjoying the nice spring weather in Boston.” Emails are already flying back and forth coordinating arrival and departure times for Sioux Falls, and some are even considering a side trip to St. Cloud MN where my five youngest children were born. I guess I should also mention that before that, in late June, 20 of us are getting together for a family reunion cruise from Rome to Barcelona. — Bill Donnelly; 6152 Verde Trail N, Apt. D201, Boca Raton FL 33433-2412; 852-561-9474; donnlywa@bellsouth.net