Wow Father Healy that brings back memories of CCD classes on Monday afternoons. Father Healy would roam the halls with his hands behind his back to see who would walk in late and was it because you had to stop at Rainbow market to get candy? If so make sure he never found it because it would be his and you would be sitting in the hall waiting for your parent to arrive, Or would he be doing his power walk down the hall to catch up to you because someone ratted you out.
Rob, as for your first choice in confirmation names, best one yet.
Did anyone get one of his unexpected visits to your house for coffee with your parents to discuse "Church Business"? With us it seemed weekly.
I remember when "I Want it All Now" was aired on NBC. I was visiting my folks in SoCal. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. Edwin Newman was censured forever and couldn't get a "real" news job after this. I think it had to do with his reporting of the suicide rate - higher than reality. This sort of sensationalist reporting is the norm, now. Ironic.
I remember hearing about those movie listings, but I never saw them. For me, at least, it would have made me want to see them all the more!
Father Healy......on the momentous occasions where he would come into our classroom, mainly to hand out report cards, one of the goody-two-shoes girls would raise her hand and ask "Father Healy, could you bless us please?" Then we would all kneel down on the floor and he would raise his hand and give us a blessing.
When he died, I think in 1977 or 78, we in the older classes had to stand as an honor guard along Magnolia, both sides of the street. During the funeral mass, one of the boys in my class fainted. Father Healy's passing was a HUGE event.
rob miller wrote: How's about good old Father Healy at St. Patrick's.
Ah, yes, Father Healy. As if sitting through Mass wasn't boring enough for me (plus itching to get out of there and head down to the Larkspur Pharmacy to buy comic books), there was the incredible tedium of Father Healy's sermons. Strangely enough, part of them became burned in my memory: "And we know that..." He must have stuck at least two or three of those in every single one.
I did like checking out the list of Legion of Decency "Condemned" films that was posted out in the entry vestibule and fantasizing about what got them Condemned.
I never read The Serial because it was written by a New Yorker who did not know a thing about the real Marin at the time, she made it all up and it was not accurate at all. Cyra didn't have a clue about what was really going on here. She was part of the first wave of New Yorkers that arrived in the late 60's. At the time New Yorkers were not too well liked around here. Remember what the locals said about the invasion , we used to call Bolinas, Bo York and Mill Valley, Mill Hatten. Some other famous people that arrived from New York at the time were Rita Abrams who wrote the Mill Valley that's my new home song, and Barbara Boxer. None of those people ever told anyone of their actual home state because it was not popular at the time, and they hoped that they would never be found out, because they all pretended to be from Marin. I knew all along and have met Rita , she is a very nice person. I did not like the fact that her song put us on the map.
Ah yes. St. Pat's stories. I could go on for hours. Yes, we did find the trap door that went under the gym. Did they still do "hot dog day" on Thursdays, for lunch? The full-blown lunch was 45 cents back in the sixties. Of course, we'd sneak down the street to Fred's and blow our lunch money on candy. When I was in the fourth grade, they decided that more playground space was needed. The parish owned two really nice, old homes on on Locust, next to the school. They evicted the tenants, and leveled the houses. Thus was born the "lower playground".
In the 8th grade, of course, it's confirmation time. We were told to pick a confirmation name. Something personal and meaningful. Yeah,right. Whatever. I picked up a bible, closed my eyes and thumbed though the pages at random. put my thumb down, and whever it landed, that was to be my name. So, I came up with "Bezelbub". Great!! I dug it!...Boy, oh boy, did the sh*t hit the fan when the "holy ones" got wind of my choice. Thought I'd never hear the end of it. They made me pick a new one, of course. So I used the same technique that I'd used prior, and came up with "Levi". Not quite the same snap as another name for Satan, but, OK, I'll live with it. They make pretty good pants, anyhow.
You know, I still have lots of dreams about that place, and they're normally unpleasant. Six years of trauma doesn't just wash away.
I did watch it. What can I say?? I forgot that the peacock feathers were used for a massage....
As a realtor in Marin during the '70's, my mom used to deal with a lot of the new-agey folks. I remember her talking about Diane Varsy, who played the nurse in the movie, Johnnie Got his Gun. She was a real tripper. Her father built the subdivision behind Redwood High School, Heather Gardens. Hence, the street name, Diane Lane.
That's hilarious about the snake! So, you may have been the student whom I remember being grabbed by the collar by a nun, and slammed up against the prickly stucco wall of the gym. ouch! That image is seared into my brain. Seeing that as a 6 year old put the fear of god into you for sure.
After 1972, everything changed at St. Pats. The nuns changed their names and threw away their habits, and everything was peace and love and groovy. Or so we thought at the time.... Did you ever find the secret passageway under the gym floor? The trapdoor was in the storage room, next to the "cloak" room.
Did you have a kid in your class whose last name was Wolf? I had a bee land on my head and everyone was freaking out and I was crying, then he came over and flicked it off. After that, he was my hero.
Hey Cat- Well, first off, congradulations. You survived St. Pat's. I started 2nd grade there in 1963. First year the joint opened. There was only grades 1 thru 4 then. They would add a grade each year till they got to 8. I finished 8th grade in 1970. Then, on to Redwood. I find it miraculous that I made it without being expelled (many times). Yes, I rember Sister Margaret Mary. Face like a snake. She took over for Sister Laodare (sp?) as principal when she retired, probably 1968. My God, I was CONSTANTLY in trouble, sometimes I really deserved it, sometimes not. But I mean CONSTANTLY. Remember that huge, imposing statue of St. Patrick in the hallway by the reception desk? Remember St. Patrick had a staff in his hand with which he was handily smiteing the evil, coiled serpent who poised at his feet? I disguised the snake to look just like a big pile of dog poo. ( I was always good at art ) Boy, was that a good one! Salt and pepper corduroys, white shirt, green sweater, lace-up dress shoes. Nothing like walking around town, feeling like a target. *** Guess I still harbor a bit 'o anger about those years, I ought to be over it, but it seems to stick around.*** To be fair, though, there are plenty of good things to be said about it. I'm just not remembering any at the moment.
Wow... this brings back memories... it wasn't so much where I was... I was at home here in Marin.... but my father who traveled for work with Chevron was in OK when it hit.... boy when they found out he was from Marin did they give him a bad time... I remember him telling us about how they just assumed that everyone was strange... and asked him all sorts of questions about our "hot tub" of course we didn't have a "hot tub", but they didn't believe him.
Father Healy!!! Yikes! How about Sister Margaret Mary? Magenta coat ring a bell?
I'll date myself; in Summer of 1978 I was just entering 8th grade. We were spending a month up in Clearlake, where there were a lot of other kids from around the Bay Area that I knew who also spent time up there. The day after that stupid program came on, on got nothing but grief, and it lasted throughout my entire summer. Peacock feathers, my arse! I hated that show. I would still love to get a copy of it, though.
Remember the kid who had the limo ride for his birthday? It was outrageous at the time, but now it isn't uncommon around here.
In 1978, I was living with 4 room mates in a house on Jessup St., in San Rafael. West End. House built in 1880. I had been reading Cyra McFadden's, "The Serial" in the Pacific Sun for monthes, so when the book version was published, and got a bunch of press, I really wasn't THAT surprised by that jive TV show. I watched it with my room mates, and we all laughed our heads off at it. Peacock feathers? Hmm... How about a cold beer and a claw hammer. Hot Tub?...How about a Whamo Slip 'n Slide on our front lawn, on a summer afternoon, with all the other kids from my neighborhood. THATS more like it. That was my reality. Gurus??? How's about good old Father Healy at St. Patrick's. Admittadly, it was kind of fun getting all that attention, but to us old-timers and locals, it was just all a big hoot.
Where were you when NBC broadcast the 1978 news special "I Want It All Now" about Marin County hosted by Edwin Newman? If you lived in Marin at the time, were you insulted by the program or did you think it was pretty accurate? If you lived somewhere else in the country, what were your thoughts?
By the way, there's a clip from the special in the "Timeline" section under "1978". Bring back any memories of your OWN Marin experience during the 70's?
