1930s

37 Class Secretary — Kathleen Coverick ’08;

kathleen.coverick@gmail.com

 

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

804 Jersey Ave., Spring Lake NJ 07762; 646-246-5480; megjulian@gmail.com

 

39 85 Years!

Back in the spring of 1959 the Class was preparing for its 20th reunion. Secretary James Motschall lamented that so many life updates were being sent to him that he was “12-14 months behind” in reporting them! This is a dilemma not often experienced by today’s class secretaries. He encouraged classmates to attend the reunion by writing, “I would love to buy the next beer for our entire class of 558 men, and I sincerely hope that as many of you as physically and financially possible will be on the campus.” Thinking about all life’s demands for these men — family, work, life — one realizes just how much was going on for them and their families, and how much was yet to come in the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s and beyond! The September 1959 Alumnus noted that “Substituting enthusiasm for numbers {about 90 men registered}, ’39 was notable in its taste for vermouth.” The Alumni Mass was held at the Grotto. In a sermon given by Rev. Monsignor Edward J. Seward ’34, chancellor of the Diocese of Cleveland and a former flying chaplain in World War II, ND men were called to “rededicate their lives to the Patroness of their student years ... to warn the modern world of the possible consequences of its folly and to urge our prayer for the conversion of Russia.” At the 20th Reunion, Dave Meskill was elected class treasurer and Mario Tonelli VP. Mario was a football player who scored the winning touchdown against USC in 1937. He later joined the Army and survived over 1,200 days as a Japanese POW, including the brutal Bataan Death March. At one point his ND class ring was stolen by Japanese guards, only to be subsequently returned to him by a Japanese officer who had attended USC and seen him play in 1937. He hid the ring for the rest of this multi-year horror, survived, and carried the ring for the rest of his life. I ask those family members who read this column to share their father’s, grandfather’s and perhaps great-grandfather’s most-told Notre Dame story. — Seth O’Donnell ’04; 17 Marion St., East Greenwich RI 02818, 603-828-7335; seth.odonnell@gmail.com