Here is a map of Hancock.This Autobiography is being written as a sequel to Mom's. She wrote hers at the age of 94 for the occasion of my Golden Jubilee. By that time she was legally blind. The original was written by hand in drawing tablets.
INTRODUCTION My mother was ordained a Free Methodist Minister in 1922. She was diagnosed with T.B. in March of 1922 just as she was getting ready for graduation. She escaped going to a sanatorium by going to live with her Aunt Luna and Uncle Lew Eckhart in Mohawk, NY. She lived outdoors and ate and slept outdoors. In 1923 she went back to see a specialist who said she was cured.
The year was 1923-1924. My mother (Bessie Ann Dutcher) was a minister of a little country Church across the road from the old Sherman homestead where I was born. She was there in preparation for going to China as a Missionary. When her mother became ill, all her plans were changed. Her mother came to live with her. My father (to be) was one of her parishioners and cared for her and her mother by providing dairy products from his farm and even buying and bringing in groceries. My mother received no salary. Her parishioners gave of what they had. Finally my father, Manville Schuyler (later baptized Catholic as Henry) Sherman asked her to marry him. She and her mother went to live with him and his mother on November 23, 1925. She continued to guide the church until her father died in Hancock, NY in 1931. She said she couldn't make it alone, that she reneged on the Lord as she had promised her entire life to Him. But later said that He would have had only one missionary but because she got married He got two.
Here is a map of Hancock Township. Sands Creek Road aka Delaware County Road 67 is in the upper left corner.
CRADLE TO CONVENT On November 28, 1926, I arrived on the scene. I was born at home on Sunday morning just in time for Church Services but as Mom said: "Just in time for Church but I cannot go to preach." I always thought that I was born in Bainbridge, NY but many years later when I needed a passport, I found out that since I had been born in the North side of the house, I was born in Afton, NY. My brother, Manville, Jr. (later baptized Catholic as John Augustine) was born on January 19, 1929. There were serious complications and because of heavy snowfall no Doctor could get to the house. He was a very big baby and grew to be a very big man. In 1930 Mom's Dad Cyrus "Claude" Dutcher passed away and because of the Depression, Daddy had to sell the old homestead to his brother, Uncle Willie. We were forced to move by horse and wagon to my mother's old home which now belonged to her mother, some 90 miles away. We lived high up a mountainside. It was quite a chore in the winter hiking down for the school bus and back up at night. We'd get down to the neighbor's and pray that the school bus would get stuck before it picked us up. That happened a few times. Daddy began cutting stone in the quarries and the whole family would spend the days in the summer time with him, each one doing something. We had to measure and draw lines on the slate that would be used for blackboards or sidewalks. One day Mom told me to take Paul down to the house and on the way we saw a big snake. We stayed still and stared at it as we had so often been told. All of a sudden it was shot and killed. Mom had sensed something was wrong. That was a big rattlesnake. Dad also cut firewood and sold it. During the Depression we exchanged it at the grocery store for food. Mom continued to minister as an Assistant and although Daddy was a Baptist, he took us to church to listen to Mom's sermons and put our pennies in the collection. In summertime we would attend Camp Meetings where tents were pitched by the Delaware River. I was baptized when I was six years old. Mom had bought me a nice white dress and shoes.(most of the time we went bare foot). Every night before my Baptism I pulled the box from under my cot and admired the dress and shoes. When the time arrived for my Baptism, Mr was in the water. Mom stood on a rock above and tossed us to the Minister who baptized us by immersion and tossed us back to Mom. I always said: "If that Baptism needed my consent to be valid, it was not for real because all I did was cry over my beautiful clothes being ruined". We also had Confession in that church. We all knelt down and started saying our sins out loud. The ministers came around and patted us and told us our sins were forgiven. There was a problem for me as when I stopped talking I could hear what the one beside me was saying, so I stopped saying mine out loud, as I didn't want anyone to hear what I was saying. Then there was Communion. We all received a tiny square of bread and some grape juice. So much for the Methodist Church. On November 5th of 1931, my brother and I were sent up to the attic to play. We looked out of the window and saw the Dr. coming up the hill with a satchel in his hand. I said to John, "I bet he is bringing us a baby". I was five and John was three. Sure enough we heard the baby cry. It was our baby brother, Schuyler (later baptized Catholic as Paul Leo). Grandma Sherman passed away in 1932. In August of 1933, Baby Schuyler came down with polio and was taken to a reconstruction center in Elmira, NY for six months. Grandma Dutcher didn't want to see him crippled but she went the last time we went in February 1934 and passed away peacefully on Good Friday of that year. Editor's note: elsewhere Ruth states that Bessie Clemens Dutcher died in 1933, but 1934 appears to be the correct year of her death. Schuyler was released in May, still unable to raise his head from his left shoulder. He was ten years old before he finally held his head up straight. He had fought a successful battle against Polio and won. Meanwhile, I had started to go to school. I attended Kindergarten through 8th grade at Hancock Central School. Mom and Dad both worked in the Northern Star Silk Company Inc.. Mom worked days for $5.00 per week. Dad worked nights for $8.00 a week. On weekends when the factory was closed for the night, I would go with Daddy (Daddy had a club foot and was not very well) to the silk mill and punch the clock every hour on the hour. It was very eerie, especially when I had to go down the back stairs where the coal bins were to punch that clock. There were three clocks in all - one by the front door, one at the back, and the scary one! When it was cold we crawled into the warmed bin on top of the rolls of silk to sleep in between punch times. (That probably helps to explain why I have always been a night person). When I was in the 7th grade I had the opportunity to take violin lessons and played in the Orchestra for my 8th grade graduation. In school we had many opportunities to perform. I was Flopsy in Peter Rabbit and managed to fall and squash my basket of berries. Our Gym Teacher had us Tap Dancing to "Oh Where, Oh Where Has my Little Dog Gone" which by then I could play on the piano better than dance to (At one time Mom was a piano teacher). Well, there was no getting out of dancing and it was not my turn for new shoes. Mom bought John his shoes and had taps put on them for me to wear for that performance. While we lived up on the farm at Sands Creek, Mom and Daddy started working in the Northern Star Silk Company Inc. silk mill. They walked a mile to work and after eight or ten hours of work, walked back home. Mom worked from 2-10 pm. One of our neighbors whose house she passed late every night, was an elderly Irish lady who lived alone during the winters when the rest of the family went to Florida. She refused to go. Mom stopped by every night to stoke up her stove to keep her warm. She was always saying the Rosary. They would talk about religion. Also, another family who lived at the foot of the hill to our house was Irish Catholic; they were Jim and Mary Foley. Their son, "Little Joe" was left alone after his parents died so he came to live with us. The Diocesan Bulletin for Little Joe then came to our house. Even while Mom had been studying comparative religions and translating much of the New Testament, especially the Gospels, from Greek to English, at the Theological Seminary many questions arose. She began to read the Catholic paper with investigative interest. She was still helping the Reformed Methodist Church. There was a meeting of ministers which she was expected to attend but she had decided earlier to wait until everybody had gone and then go to St. Paul's Rectory. Father John Rausch (St. Pauls pastor 1935 - 1955) answered the doorbell and in a gruff voice said: `What do you want?" Mom replied: "I want to know what you believe, and why you believe in it". In his office he asked a few questions and they talked awhile and he gave her some pamphlets to read. He told her to come back the following Saturday. She had had a vision of a beautiful church. When she finally saw the inside of St. Paul's she knew that was it. Now it was time to break the news to the family. I was twelve years old at the time. When Mom told us, Daddy left home with the horse and buggy. He didn't get very far. One of the neighbors came to tell us that he was sick. Mom brought him home and cared for him. Once again he started off for the old homestead where his brother Willie and Family were living. Again he came home sick. I said: "If that Church is good enough for Mom, it's good enough for me. Mom and I had to take a course of preparation. Then four of us were baptized,at the same time, provisionally of course. Mom had been baptized in the Chenango River and I had been baptized Ruth Esther, in the Delaware River. I was baptized Catholic, Teresa Ruth, Manville II was baptized as John Augustine, and Schuyler (Skyrocket or Sky as he was called) was baptized as Paul Leo. Daddy, being a staunch Baptist, did not at this time become Catholic. Daddy was hospitalized with kidney stones which were not removed and thus caused him much suffering the rest of his life. While he was in the hospital in Cooperstown, NY, the Chaplain visited him at Mom's request. When he came home he wanted Father Rausch to visit him. Meanwhile Daddy purchased a second hand Buick which, in the summer time, he was able to drive all the way up the mountainside to the house. We were very excited about that. Every Monday night there was the Miraculous Medal Novena. Mom would walk from the silk mill at the far end of town to church. We three children, pushing Paul in his stroller, would walk from home. Dad would bring the car to the factory and wait there for us to get to the factory to take us home. In the winter sometimes it was impossible to make it because of the snow drifts so Daddy drove us to the silk mill and we walked to church and back. Finally, Paul said: "Hey, Dad why don't you just take us to church and wait outside in the car. It's just as cold here as it is there. I'll stay in the car with you." Then after awhile Paul said: `Hey Dad! You know something, when you go in those doors you are still not inside the Church and it is warm in there". They went inside and Daddy held Paul up to look inside through the little round windows in the second set of doors. Next, they began to sit in the back seat and finally up with the rest of us. Daddy took instructions and became Catholic. John and Paul became Altar Boys and I asked: "How come there are no Altar Girls?". Mom's answer was: "There are and someday you will be one". That was fulfilled years later in Hilo when I was in charge of about 100 Knights of the Altar (new name for Altar Boys with new meaning and preparation). I also assisted in the care of the Altar and Sanctuary at St. Joseph's Church in Hilo at the same time in the 1950s. Daddy, John and I were Confirmed by the Bishop of Albany, NY at the same time. At that time I received the name Esther. While we lived up on the farm we had honey bees, cows and horses. John and Paul were always teasing me and daring me to do all sorts of things. We had a cow posted out back and John dared me to milk it. I had our little sand pail and proceeded only to find myself kicked into an empty well nearby. John ran to call Mom to get me out with a rope. We romped and played in the hay mow in the barn but as we got older we had our chores to do. In the summer time we had to roundup the cows and bring them home for milking. It was a long way some times to get to them. One evening the boys dared me to ride a horse we had, bareback. They lifted me up and the horse took off and was about to jump over the high gate into another pasture. Luckily Daddy saw me coming and got the fence poles down in time. In winter time we rode down the hill on makeshift cardboard sleds. We thought we had a good idea when we took Daddy shovels and sat on them with the handles in front to hold onto. That was a "No-no!" Daddy was not known for punishing us. Mom was the one for that. We liked to sleep outdoors in the summer time but were afraid of porcupines and snakes. One night we woke up and began to scream, Mom and Dad ! came out to find there was a skunk slinking around the corner of the house. Nature was a very important part of our lives. The lilacs, roses, lilies of the valley, stars of Bethlehem, jack in the pulpits, lady-slippers, trillium, wild berries and nuts of all kinds we had in abundance. The winters were too harsh. Our Buick had to stay parked down at the bottom at our neighbor's. Finally it was decided that we had to move to town, Hancock, NY. The old school-house had been turned into apartments after the new Hancock Central School was built. We rented an apartment there. It had a huge parlor. Mom had a grand piano in storage with former parishioners of hers, a black family, in Afton, NY. She decided to bring that piano to our apartment. It's about all we had in the parlor. It was then that I began to take piano lessons from her. I had about five lessons but I loved to practice. The black family and ours always had wonderful visits from way back and we children had lots of fun especially up on the farm when one of the black boys got up on the harvesting machine and made believe he was conductor of a train. We finally got a sled. All there was to ride down in town was a sidewalk and a road. John was riding with me behind him and my leg hit the stonewall by the sidewalk and my ankle was sprained. I felt bad that I could not attend the Midnight Mass at Christmas. Our Christmas gifts consisted of whatever we could make for each other. That Christmas we each got a jack knife as Daddy was always loaning us his for carving things out of wood. The first thing I did was cut my hand. The scar stayed there most of my life thereafter. Now it seems like old age wrinkles have taken over. Mom and Dad were still working at the Silk Mill. One night as Mom left the mill Daddy was just about there. They walked to and from work. When Daddy got closer he saw police cars and found that a drunken driver had left the road and hit Mom with his headlight. There was a big puddle of water where she was laying. She had been thrown 12 feet but there were no major injuries. They brought her home and I took care of her. Daddy had lost his watch, an heirloom. The next morning when he was coming home he found it in the puddle and it was still running. All this to him was miraculous. There was a man named Virgil Whitaker who lived at the end of the road on the other side of the railroad tracks. He was considered a wealthy man. At one time his family had horses and stagecoaches but the Stagecoach Barn was now vacant. Daddy made an agreement with him to let us live there. In return he would redo the inside and make it liveable. We all worked hard and got the place looking really nice. We bought tar paper for the floor and Mom and I stippled it. We painted it light gray and stippled it with pink and blue using sponges. When we first began we didn't like the stipples so close together so we decided to cover that part with the couch and continue. Mom got some silk and I made the curtains. We had an old fashioned crank washer and wringer. Clothes were hung outside to dry even in the winter time. We went barefooted most of the time and I went out that way to hang clothes even in winter. Often times the one who did something not considered proper ended up cranking the washer. It never lacked someone to do so. One day John came home with two second hand bicycles. One a girl's and one an old battered up boy's. He told me if I could learn to ride the boy's then he'd let me ride the girl's. Needless to say, I learned fast. With these bikes we rode through town and across the bridge from New York State to Pennsylvania. There were beautiful ferns and princess pine in the woods there. We picked the ferns and laid them carefully on top of each other, point to point, and when we had 105 we tied them in a special way. Bunch after bunch we piled up neatly and covered them with branches. When we had enough Dad would pick them up and take them to the florist who bought them. We picked wild berries when they were in season and sold them to Ma Bell for her Hotel. She was so good to us. She'd buy flowers and fish. I'd row my brothers by the moonlight and they'd fish. None of us liked fish but Ma Bell bought them all. At Christmas time Mom made little poinsettia plants of crepe paper. We took them in a little wagon to sell. I was too shy to sell so I pulled the cart and my brothers sold them. We were poor but we never wanted for food or clothes. One day Daddy sent me to the hardware store for something and I saw a pair of clamp on roller skates hoping to earn the money to pay for them before Daddy got the bill. It didn't work that way. I had to take them back but one day Daddy brought them home for me. I should have known that due to a former experience. We had a grocery account at my Godmother's store. We lived on one end of the town and St. Paul's Church was on the other. We went to daily Mass and since Anna Houghtaling's store was on our way to school Mom let us buy sweet buns to eat with our hot cocoa in the back of Annie's store before going on to school. Many times Mom would send me to Annie's from where we lived to get groceries. I loved Nabisco Wafers and she had the 5 cent packages which I could finish eating before I got home. One time she had only 10 cent ones. It was so big, I hid half the package under the bathtub by the back leg. Mom found it. End of story. Mom had to have surgery when I was in the 7th grade. In those days you had to have permission to have a hysterectomy from the Church. I had wanted to be a nurse before that but after taking care of her at home, I changed my mind. This was in 1938. When I was in the 7th grade two Franciscan Sisters came to Hancock. Sister Amanda was very sick and Sister Huberta accompanied her. Sister Amanda had taught in Amsterdam, NY where Father Rausch, our Pastor was from. They stayed at the Rectory. Hancock was a Health Resort. We went to daily Mass. I asked Mom if I could wear my Sunday clothes to Mass. That morning the Sisters motioned for me to cross the aisle and come to them. I was shaking, but I went. They asked me if I wanted to be a Sister. I said "Yes" and they told me they would be back. The next year they came and our house was almost finished except for the upstairs so I invited them to come home with me and meet the rest of my family. Our old stagecoach house had a Cupola on the roof and Mom had nailed boards up a pole to climb up there to meditate and pray. We were allowed up there on the 4th of July to see the fireworks. As the Sisters and I we were walking home about all I talked about was that Cupola. Mom was very surprised when they asked to see it. The rooms upstairs were not finished. My room had been a chicken coop where the tiniest chickens were housed to keep them warm.. It had been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. They went and looked up but decided against climbing the pole. With the yardage of the habit it was formidable. They liked the old fashioned mantle piece (we had no fireplace) that Mom had painted. The mirror was large and she had painted the scene of the crucifixion. We had our statues and Bible and other Prayer Books there. We prayed as a family every night. Mom also had framed the Holy Father with an old round headlight of a car. I think it was Pope Pius XII. Sister Amanda and Sister Huberta made arrangements for me to go to the Juniorate after I finished 8th grade. We used to go swimming in the Delaware River. We had to cross a car bridge and walk down a narrow foot path through the trees to the place where we had made a diving hole. We cleared rocks around a big rock and dove from there. There were flat rocks to lie on in the sun afterwards. Children from many families along the river would come there. We girls had devised a dressing shack where we could change our clothes before walking home. Paul and I were the last ones to leave one afternoon. He was still small. I told him to wait for me outside the shack while I changed. Meanwhile a big boy came and told Paul to run along. He sat beside the shack and caught me by the leg and pulled me down. I was scared and furious. I hauled off and hit him in the face with my elbow and got loose and ran as fast as I could. When I got home I told Mom what had happened. She told John to watch out for me. A few days later we were all at the swimming pool at school where I had earned a Life Savor's Certificate. The boy was on the high dive and I said to John "That's him". John shimmied up and tripped him off the high dive shouting, "You leave my sister alone". That happened several times and we didn't see him at the pool anymore. In September 1941, Mom and Daddy drove me to Syracuse. The Motherhouse was on Court Street. There was also a Cloistered Sisters Convent on Court Street. When we got inside we found ourselves talking to someone behind a screen. She told us where to go. By mistake I had received an outdated list of what to bring and wear. Mom said: "Well, you may as well get dressed in these as that is what you have to get used to wearing." Gun metal stockings, black shoes and a long simple dress. When I arrived on the scene it seemed that I was expected but not on that particular day. All the girls were lined up to go down to Chapel for Confession. A Senior Juniorate was appointed to help me get settled. She gave me a pair of tan pantyhose with a run in it, telling me that she would take me to the store to buy new ones. She took off my dress and hemmed it up on the sewing machine. Everyone was very friendly and kind and I loved that place from the very beginning. When I came home for summer vacations during High School, Mom's boss Mr. Vanderbilt let me work in the silk mill to earn money to get me through school. I was underage so when a "big shot" came in I "shot" out the back door. I'd go to my girlfriend Nettie's house. Mom would fasten a white handkerchief to a tree when it was safe for me to return. I ran six quilling machines and bad to go down between the looms to get empty quills out of the bins. One day as my head came up out of a bin, a man had his arms around me trying to kiss me. My "elbow act" landed him on top of the loom, mining the silk. When Mom and I were called before the boss, Mom said: "You tell your hired help to keep their hands to themselves. This would never have happened if he left my daughter alone." (Several years later when I was a teaching Nun, that man drove my parents to Albany to visit me. He dropped them off at Our Lady of Angels Church and picked them up there after their visit. I did not see him.). My pay couldn't appear on the payroll but at the end of the summer Mr. Vanderbilt handed me the difference between what I got and Mom's salary for the summer. A seminarian from our hometown, Walter Ding, was ordained in our parish church and my brothers served the Mass. John was very impressed and was accepted to go to the SVD Seminary after he finished 7th grade. Society of the Divine Word Seminary was located in Erie, Pennsylvania. I was in high school at the time. Mom and Dad brought his best friend and fellow server to Syracuse to pick me up and we drove to Erie to visit John. It was a very long drive in an old car. We camped out overnight on the way. We tried to get to Niagara Falls on the way back but had no luck. He found the Seminary Life very difficult especially since he had to go to ninth grade. Also going from a public school to a Catholic one made a big difference. At the end of the year he was asked if he wanted to stay. His answer was: "I don't know". He was told if that is so maybe you better not. When he got back home he did not fit in with his former classmates so Mom and Dad made a big effort to send him to St. Jerome's in Kitchener, Ontario. They could only afford one year. So back he came to Hancock Central School for his Junior/Senior Year. In 1949 when I was on a home visit prior to leaving for Hawaii, John drove Sister Grace, Margaret and me to Binghamton to meet his girlfriend, Irma. Soon after he married her. He never went for higher education but was a great mechanic. He built his own plane and racing cars. He would take one lap around and then loan his car to some poor fellow who was longing to drive. He worked much of his life as a mill wright in the sawmill factories of Idaho. One time when I was in Paramonga, Peru our maintenance man needed a part for our lawn mower. I took the old part with me when I went to visit John and his family and he made three new parts. Needless to say Narciso was very happy. Getting back to my high school days, I was the shy country girl and my nickname was "Gabby". Since John and Paul both used their Baptismal names, I decided I would too, so I was known as Teresa. We Juniorates (those who planned on entering the Convent after High School) were on work study programs. We carted the food from the Motherhouse kitchen through a long tunnel over to our dining room in the basement of the school, dished up and served the meals and cleaned up afterwards. We ran the dishwasher every evening and we each had a Sister's home room to clean. We each had a favorite Sister whose room we wanted. I got a little French Sister who wanted her room done before school every morning. I was happy as I was free to clean Sister Consuela's after school. One day I was told by Sister Mary Presentation to come after school and I totally forgot. She came down to the ground floor and my friend told me to hide in the closet. It didn't work. She saw my big feet sticking out!! At the beginning of every school year there were elections of class officers. I was elected Treasurer in Freshman, Sophomore and Junior years. A group of us adopted the little ones at an orphanage run by Sisters, in Syracuse. We called ourselves: `Pals of all Tots - PATS". I was asked to be treasurer of that, also. The class officers were in charge of the May Crowning each year. I was honored to be the Crown Bearer. There were both Boarders and Juniorates that lived on the fourth floor of the Motherhouse. We were allowed off campus on weekends. Some of us couldn't afford to go out. One Saturday morning we decided to be explorers. We climbed from a storeroom up into the attic. We had to crawl with our knees on the beams. There were little trap doors. We were having fun guessing what was down below before with lifted the door. We crawled all the way from one end to the other and thinking that Sister Teresita (our moderator) was out, I said in a loud voice: "And guess whose room is down here." What a surprise. There were Rev. Mother Carmella and Sister Teresita looking up at us. Sister Teresita said: "You girls get right down from there". We were ready to jump down one by one. She said: "No, go back the way you came and meet me." We were campused for a time. We could go ice skating across the street at Grant School or up behind the Grotto. My skates were the clamp on kind like my roller skates. They kept coming loose and I kept falling. I never was one for sports. I like to watch the Ice Skating Competitions and that's about all. From the beginning of High School, I would gain a lot of weight each school year. My Mom made my clothes. She never knew what size to make and most of my Christmas Vacation at home she would spend altering my clothes. Every summer, I would loose weight working in the silk mill. We girls always looked forward to getting our laundry cases from home and the six of us Juniorates who shared the six bed dorm would hide our goodies in the trunk room behind our dorm. After we were blessed by Sister and she put the lights out we would head for our snack. That's one thing we never got caught at. We were supposed to turn everything in to be shared by all. We turned some in and kept some. As Juniors, Helen Larkins and I shared the double bedroom. That was special. On Holidays and Saturdays we would go to Mass at the Cloistered Sisters Convent. We could get up later and have breakfast on 4th floor. One day when we got home from Mass before we got to our room, we saw Mother Carmella and the Bishop of Honolulu on a tour of 4th floor. Sister Teresita, thinking that our room would surely be in order, opened our door! What a mess!!! We were right behind them and could say or do nothing! At Christmas time I went home to find our Pastor, Father John Rausch very sick with the Flu. I took care of him, and got the Church ready for Christmas Mass. He said the Midnight Mass and went right back to bed. At the end of vacation, I couldn't return to school on time as I had gotten the Flu. We, as children earned our collection money from Father Rausch by picking stones out of his garden and dumping our pails at the bottom. We earned ten cents an hour. Every Sunday before we went to Mass Daddy would kill a chicken and we plucked the feathers and Mom dressed it and we took it to Father. School was going quite well. I especially liked Math. Sister Gertrude was our Algebra teacher. Every Friday she gave us a test and the following Monday we were seated according to our grades, the highest being the one by the front door. That meant that one had to answer all door knocks. I had that seat most of the year. Next year came Geometry. It started out OK but our teacher took sick and passed away at Easter time. Our next teacher was very different and her methods of teaching were not the same. At the end of the year we had to take Geometry Regents and everyone failed except one student who cried because she expected 100 and got 99. That was at the end of my Sophomore year. One subject that I never liked was History. Sister Matilda was our teacher. Every Friday we each got an American Observer and she called on all the best readers in the class to read. I had been called on so I settled back in my seat but much to my surprise Sister called on me again. I didn't have the place and received a demerit. That was an awful thing to get as a Juniorate. I had to tell my parents and that went on my report card. It was the one and only! ever received. When I went home for summer vacation after my Sophomore year Mom kept asking me how soon was I going to enter the Convent. I angrily told her: "Not until I pass my Geometry Regents". In September 1943, 1 went back to begin my Junior year and to repeat Geometry. Sister Teresita met me outside my home room and said: "Guess what, you passed your Geometry Regents". All the grades, nationwide had been readjusted as so many students failed. I had note paper with me to write home to let Mom know that I had gotten to Syracuse alright on the DL&W Train (we called it the Delay, Linger & Wait), so I sat down and my first words were: "Well Mom, I guess I'll be entering the Convent in February 1944". When I went home for Christmas, preparation for my entrance day began in earnest. Daddy got to work on Mom's old trunk that she had used in her Theological Seminary days. My Godmother, Annie Houghtaling, made me a goose feather pillow. We got all the things on the list to put in the trunk. Then we started looking for a black suitcase. We drove to the big city, Binghamton, NY and went from store to store (Sears Roebuck -"Sears and Sawbuck" as we called it and Montgomery Ward - "Monkey Wards") and everywhere else we could think of and found nothing. This was the day before I was to leave for Syracuse. There was only one store in Hancock that we had not gone to. It was a Jewish store and things were known to be very expensive. The Dirig girls worked there and Helena told the owner that I was entering the Convent and needed the suitcase. The only one they had was a gray and black striped one. We got it at a big discount and Daddy bought car roofing paint to paint it. He hung it on a pole from our pot bellied stove to the wood box overnight. The next morning Mom and I hurried to finish packing and Helena Dirig drove Mom and me to Syracuse. Father Rausch handed me 100 one dollar bills for my dowry when he came to say "Good-bye". Mother Carmella met us at the front door. Mom said to her: "Don't you think she looks strong enough to go to Hawaii?" That was on February 2, 1994, the Feast of the Purification of Mary. Thus ends the section titled "From Cradle to Convent". EARLY NOVITIATE DAZE Sister Mercedes and Sister Agnes Marie were in charge of us. The first thing I was told to do was to unpack once I had been shown my cubicle and closet. Well, it was impossible to open my suitcase. It had been painted shut. We had a good laugh over that and the maintenance man pried it open. It was put to use for many years after that. It surely served as a good "ice breaker". There were five of us in the February group. One, older person from Hawaii had gotten her hands frost bitten and left shortly after that. The four remaining were sent every evening to the Motherhouse to wash dishes. We were not allowed to talk to any one and had to report all conversations to Sister Mercedes. One day I reported that I was told not to put the soap where the water is wet. She said: "What else could water be but wet?" We tried to beat the Novices Office that was scheduled right after supper. We'd run across the yard between the Novitiate and Motherhouse. One time a veil was caught on a clothesline. That made us late as it had to be retrieved. Since I had entered in the middle of my Junior year! had to take courses in the Novitiate. I had had a half year of French so I was tutored. I had to study History and English and take the Regents exams. When I was told that I had to go to school to take the French Regents in the same classroom as my former classmates, I began to cry. One of the Novices, a dear friend of mine in school, dried my tears and powered my face and said:"You don't want to scare the girls away from becoming Nuns do you?" The French teacher was none other than Sister Mary Presentation. She was so tiny she had to kneel on a chair to read the dictation for us to translate. All I knew was it was something about a dog. I made up the story and failed that Regents. I bad studied Latin I and II and passed before I entered. Sr. Acquiline tutored me in my Junior year hoping I could pass Latin III Regents in a half a year before I entered the convent. That didn't work either. My strengths as far as studies were concerned were in Science and Math. I did finish High School in the Novitiate. (Many years later my Regents Diploma was sent to Peru. I needed to show it there to get into Nursing.). Before long it was close to time to receive the habit and get our Religious names. We were asked to put three suggestions for names on a slip of paper. I put any form of Elizabeth and/or Ann would be fine. In the group ahead of us most all the Sister received double names without the Mary. It was the custom to have Mary in every name and there was a saying that: "Must be that Rev. Mother can not find any more names with Mary in them." Thus our names were Sister Mary Laurence, Sister Mary Claudia, Sister Mary Clarence (yours truly), and Sister Mary Justin. As Investing Day approached the Asian Flu was going around. It caught up with me as well as with a couple of Novices who were to be professed on the same day as our Investing Day. We were seated in the bathroom and given Castor Oil and Orange Juice to drink, Our motto was:"Keep it down, there's more where that came We survived and had a blessed and glorious day. Many of my family and friends came from Hancock and my class - even the boy who dated me in High School. Being the nephew of four Aunts who were Franciscans in our Community, he was not surprised when I told him I wanted to be a Sister. My Pastor, Father John Rausch was there also. That day was August 22, 1944. The Holy Father had just proclaimed that day as a special feast of Mary, the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We were now Novices. The year that followed was one of in depth studies of Religious Life, Scripture, Vows and Virtues, Imitation of Christ, Meditation and Prayer ,Theology and other related courses. At the end of that year we were allowed to go out on Mission. I started teaching Catechism at St. Daniel's Church in Syracuse where I had taught before as a Juniorate in High School. The Pastor, Father John Lawler, said to me: "You were here before as a Novice weren't you?" I simply answered: "I was here before, but I wasn't a Novice". We were called Mission Novices by that time. One Sunday morning the Sisters that I went with to St. Daniel's were talking about a break-in at our Convent in Hoboken, NJ. I heard all the details but couldn't say anything. Next thing I knew, I was taken out of the dormitory and put in one all by myself that had metal lockers. It was winter, cold and windy and the lockers made noise. It turned out to be a test run. Sister Mary Roch took me by train to that Convent in Hoboken. Sisters Mary Frederick and Ignatia were busy stuffing a turkey and I noticed the dressing was going in one end and coming out the other, falling to the floor. I was to take the cook's place. All I knew how to do was to boil water and make bread. I had been chosen by Sr. Mercedes to make and knead by hand huge pans of bread to make enough rolls and bread for all the Sisters in the Motherhouse as well as for us in the Novitiate. I learned about boiling water from making a pot of tea, I had to watch and watch the water boil before I made another one. This was going to be quite an experience!! One of the other things I had to do was start the laundry down in the basement at 4 AM every Monday. One Monday there was a man outside the window with his face between his hands looking in at me. I tore up those stairs to the third floor Chapel and said: "You, Sisters don't think I know what happened but I do. I heard all about it in the car going to teach CCD" The man had gotten in by using the pulley clothesline, through a window over the refrigerator in the kitchen. It was Thanksgiving Eve. The Sisters had been working very hard that day and Mother Bernadette told them that they could have a late snack before going to bed. That man was in the pantry looking out the window while the Sisters were walking back and forth between the dining room and kitchen through the pantry. They wondered why a Sister would be looking out the window at night but it was the time of the "Great Silence" that was observed from after Night Prayer until after breakfast the next morning. He then made his way up to the third floor to the room next to the Chapel. He left his jacket in the spare room next to Sister's room and when Sister started screaming Mother Bernadette got to the door and turned on the light which he immediately turned off as there was another switch over the bed. Mother Bernadette went to the bed and was patting him on the back saying that everything would be OK. Sister had just come home from surgery a few days before that. Sister Mary Laurence noticed the open door and picked up the jacket and was holding it up to the hail light at the top of the stairs when the man came running out. He snatched the jacket from her and got downstairs and out the back door that he had left open. That man had made deliveries to the convent of fruits and vegetables that had been donated to give to the poor. He was caught later in a Rectory in New York City. Back to the man peering into the laundry window. The Pastor had insisted that we have a dog after the incident above. Thus we had Michelina Patricia alias Michael Patrick. Sister Ignatia took him/her out on the back porch and called down: "Who"s there?' It was one of the cleaning people. He took off as fast as he could. This dog was something else again. We had children's play pen gates put across the stairway and the hail going to the front door. We were told to be sure to lock these gates. The dog was allowed the run of the basement and the kitchen and dining room. One day we came home to find all our chapel veils from third floor strung down the stairs. Michael Patrick had figured out how to unlock the gates. It was my duty to put a check in the milk bottles which were between the vestibule and the hall doorways. That dog got past me and into the street. It was very early in the morning and here I was chasing that dog until we both were tired and he finally came in. When I got up to the third floor Chapel I was exhausted. I told Mother Bernadette what had happened and she said: "Thank God you got the dog in and made it in time for Mass." There were crocks of dried prunes and apricots in the basement. Mother Bernadette suggested that I cook enough for a week at a time. Well, not knowing how much apricots swell, I ended up with the biggest pot in the house full by the time they were cooked. It was during the time that sugar was rationed. I was told to fix grapefruit for breakfast while Sister Ignatia and Sister Mary Frederick followed her instructions for making apricot jam. That was good jam!!! Every Saturday mid-morning we all gathered around the kitchen table. Each Sister had a turn to pick her favorite snack which we all ate. Limburger Cheese and crackers were not to my taste. However we all ate them. When it was my turn, I wanted Ice Cream. Sister Mary Laurence and I were in the same group (dumb Novices!!) at the time. Mother Bernadette gave us the money to go buy the Ice Cream. We got it and came out of the store. A man on the street handed us some money and insisted that we take it. When we got home we gave it to Mother Bernadette. When she counted it she noted that it was the exact same amount that we spent for the Ice Cream. She said the she would have to send us more often. That made us feel pretty good. We were supposed to have recreation together after supper and prayers each evening. What it amounted to was conversation while darning holes in our stockings. Sister Mary Laurence and I ended up alone most of the time as some Sisters were studying at Fordham University and others were in charge of Church and Servers. One evening I asked Sister Mary Laurence: "How big is the ferry, as big as this room?" She howled with laughter and I laughed at her. One by one the Sisters came out of their rooms to see what was so funny. A few days later, Mother Bernadette took me to New York on the Ferry. She went during school time as she was the Principal of the school and I still had time to prepare the meals that day. Another thing that I discovered in the basement was a large tin can full of bottles of Root Beer Extract (the kind Daddy always used to make for us when we were kids). Some man in NYC had sent cases of crystal clear "fizzy' water. Mother Bernadette was the only one who drank it. I filled a pitcher with "fizzy" water, added the Root Beer Extract and some sugar and ice and served it at noon when the Sisters came home to eat. They were thrilled!!! My parents drove down to Hoboken to visit me one Sunday. They brought freshly butchered meat from their home. They could spend only a couple of hours and had to drive back. Just as they were about to leave Daddy noticed that the tire was going flat. He didn't have enough money to buy a new tire. The man at the service station near our Convent fixed his tire situation and Mom and Dad returned home safely. In June of 1946 after a year in Hoboken, it was time for me to return to Syracuse to the Novitiate to prepare for making First Profession of Vows. After Visitation by a Canon Lawyer, Retreat and all due preparations, I was accepted to be Professed, on August 17, 1946. One funny episode stands out. All the Novices and Postulants were over in The Convent School doing the annual summer cleaning. Sister Claudia and I had been left home to iron the starch wash. Those were the days of the long hand starched and ironed veils. I was also in charge of the huge washing machine. Sister Tesesine was upstairs sewing and she called me. I said to Sr. Claudia: "Count to ten and turn the water off on the machine". By the time I got back the whole cellar was flooded. I had failed to tell her which way was off!!. Well we swept and swept. Lucky for us no damage was done. It did not quite reach the trunk room. Sister Mercedes praised us for working so hard and doing such a wonderful job of cleaning the basement. September of that year found me stationed at Our Lady of Angels in Albany, N.Y. to teach second grade. We had superintendent inspections and a Christmas Play to perform. All in all it was a very good year. During the summers we always went to the Motherhouse to go the Summer School in order to get a Normal School Diploma for teaching. In the fall of 1947 after I had returned to Albany, Sister Damien got a phone call from Mother Carmela saying that I should take the 4PM train to Utica. I had just finished decorating my classroom and unpacked my trunk. I was in my closet getting dressed and directing the Sisters what went in my trunk and what not as I had some materials from my classroom there also. After I got on the train, I discovered that I had the keys to the Albany Convent and School in my pocket. Lucky for me I met the Sister who was going to take my place at the train depot in Utica. I handed her the keys and that was it. Mount Cannel Parish had a Day Care for babies and little children. I was send to teach those of Kindergarten age. There were two rooms full. Very small rooms in the basement of the school. There were only enough tables and chairs for half of the children. Since I was the young Sister my section had to sit on folding chairs from the auditorium. Well, i discovered that someone had donated rhythm band instruments and a book. There was a piano in the room I had so I decided to learn to play and let the children sit on the floor and play. We ended up with a part in a program for our Pastor's Jubilee Celebration. Our children had to go outside to get over to the Day Care Building for the second shift to eat. In winter that was quite a hassle.. The next thing we knew was that inspectors were coming. and our children could not go over to eat. We had no dining area. There was just an old kitchen with counters. They stood at the counters and stuffed their mouths with pasta fagiole. Then a stop to the bathroom and onto their cots for their afternoon naps. There were some little characters. With names like Eddie Elias, Sinatro Nudo, and Butch Carbone - we had the makings of the future mafia. We had cots with folding legs. They loosened the front legs so that the little ones when they got in, went head first into the wall. Those boys needed to be punished. It was my lot to do so. I laid them one by one on the counter and spanked them. (In those days parents asked us to discipline their children if necessary). That was the end of those episodes. All I had to mention was a trip to the kitchen. Our Pastor came back from a trip to Brazil, his home country, and unbeknown to me was coming down the stairs just as some children were running up to meet their parents. Toys were strewn everywhere. It was close to the 5PM closing time. I was trying to fit all the cots in the small closet we had. Father scolded me severely and I began to cry. When I get home and told Sister Ermelinda what had happened she called Father and told him never again to talk to any one of her Sisters like that. He accepted that graciously and everything went very well after that. During the 1948-1949 school year, they decided to renovate the Kindergarten and we were told to take the children to the gym. We had our hands full alright. Then I got laryngitis that lasted for a month. The boys threw the little girls dollies up into the basketball hoops and they cried!! We survived that and were truly happy to return the freshly painted rooms. Mom and Daddy came to visit and brought a Piglet with and apple in its mouth for us to roast. They brought a nice portable phonograph for me to use with my class and Daddy made the necessary connections for the electrical outlet that I needed. It was during my time at Mt. Cannel that Mom and Dad decided that the old grandsquare piano would not fit in the new home that he was building next to the rectory. So he made me a bookbox out of that. It was beautiful. Daddy became caretaker of St. Paul's Church and Cemetery in Hancock, and Father John Rausch got permission for Daddy to build a small home near the rectory. Daddy tore down the house on the old homestead up Sands Creek and used that to build the new home. Apparently that home eventually belonged to Mom and Dad because Mom told me that after Daddy passed away, neither of the boys wanted the home so she made a quick deed to St. Paul's Church. Here is Sister's outline that she used to write this autobiography.
