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1944 Pupils |
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The year is 1944. It’s the Turtle
Mountain Reservation. It’s St. Ann’s School. In the background see the
Sisters’ house at the top of the hill. It’s summer. We, in those days, had
school from Easter Tuesday till December 20th. Father Hildebrand
didn’t want children standing on the road in the cold waiting for a tardy
bus.
There was a little game played by a few adventurous, story telling, pupils. In the summer the story was, “I go to the Government school.” In the winter the story changed, “I go to the Mission.” We caught on. All graduated. In the photo are a few of the many whom daily I grew more proud of knowing. They all made a mark in life. Two Nuns are in the crowd – both became Superintendents of schools, one in Evansville, IN. The other in Bogota, Columbia. One boy became a Priest. Another a Brother. Each of the four was/is a Benedictine monastic. All were the kind that rose to a mark. George is there. At the age of sixty-three he got his Masters!! Charlie, as roads contractor, said, “Father, if I’m not flying it, you can use my plane.” A Mooney. I had to cover three States. I once got a plane, not Charlie’s, stuck in a marsh in northern Minnesota at Ball Club. Till the prop started splashing water I thought I was on a very green and nice runway approach. Those Ojibwa’s are good at pulling things out of the water. Our basketball team was playing in Rollette. On the side opposite to me were the student bleachers. George played to that side. Each time, while he dribbled, deft and hostile hands took the ball from him for an easy lay-up. He didn’t seem to mind. He was in a blissful and other world. I called time out. “George, what’s going on?” “Look, Father, the one with a red sweater. She’s tiny, MA KANI cute, enit?” He had a better look at her from his seat. We were family. They absorbed me into their homes. They were Billy and Rainy and Dummy and Charlie and Beef and Bugger and Mendamin and Flab and Chuckie and Choochie and Fuzzy and Porky and..... Girls don’t have nicknames. Boys respect them. The girls have earned it. I’ve followed each of them through their lives of service to the Tribe and to the outside world. Each a Hero or Heroine. 01/26/04 |
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