SR IMMACULATA'S GRADE 6 CLASS, 1948

This is a picture of Sr Immaculata'a Grade six class of 1948.   I have to thank Doreen (McAllister) Heffernan for contributing the photo.  Doreen has also supplied most of the names but if you can fill in any of the missing names we would be happy to add them.  I am going to post two versions of this photo.  I will post the original because there is so much great background visible.  I will also post a cropped version, all the better to see everyone.

 

Doreen said that the photo was taken, by Sr Immaculata, in the Nuns' garden. The old Convent Square School can be seen in the background.   The double windows that can be seen in the school are Mother Berchman's Grade 9 class, grade 8 class, and Sr Immaculata's Grade 6 class.   In the left hand corner of the photo, part of the Convent is visible and to the right of the school, among the trees, you get a little glimpse of that 'famous' Passage Way! 

 

Those who wanted a copy of the photo could buy one for 10 cents each!  I think Sr Immaculata must have been the official photographer because she was still taking class pictures in the late 1950s and possibly early 1960s.  For that we should be grateful to Sr Immaculata because she has left us an excellent photographic record of St Patrick's Girls.  While I am thanking people, I have to say a big 'THANK YOU' to Sean for all his hard work in getting this and some other fantastic pictures to me. 

 

By the way, Doreen has dug into the family archives and come up with some First Communion pictures (St Patrick's and Holy Cross) and a certificate or two. One is from 1911! I hope to post some of these soon so if anyone out there has a First Communion or Confirmation picture, certificate, etc, that you would like to submit, we would be more than delighted to post it.  Just send it to mcallistersmith@gmail.com

 

 




Sr Immaculata's Grade 6 Class, 1948

 

Front Row: Dorothy Nugent, Doreen McAllister, Lorraine Nugent, Maureen Molloy, Margie Stafford, Eileen Penny

2^nd Row: Irma Kelly, Tess Dunphy, Anne Buckingham, Bernadette McCormick, Helen Walsh, Joan Turner, Dorothy Dillon, Joan Skinner, Kay Fowler, Betty Ryall, Mary Tobin

3^rd Row: Shirley Cromwell, Betty Hayes, Mary Hawco, Mercedes McAllister, Helen Power, Anna Tobin, (?), Jean Connolly, Geraldine Horan, (?), Barb Green

4^th Row: Imelda Walsh, Margie Kavanagh, Patsy Picco, Madeline Kavanagh, Blanche Green, Claudine Horan, Pauline Corbett, (?), (?), (?), Genevieve Power, (?)

 



The cropped version


THE RUBBER BAG, PART 2

Last post I promised that I would post any comments or memories from those of you who were able to identify the “curious object” pictured there and below.   As expected, all of you recognised it as a rubber bag or a gaiter bag.  The following are some of the comments received on said “curious object”!

THE FAMOUS 'RUBBER BAG'

 

Anonymous 

“Oh, the gator bag....I haven't thought of one of these in years. When you think about it these things made a lot of sense.”

 
 

c984d1d2-a786-11e2-8167-000bcdcb8a73          

“God help you if in Sister Immaculata's class, your rubbers were thrown outside the door, which she watched everyday! Some of us called it a rubber bag.”

 

Carmelita Hearn

“I remember it well....and I remember running back home as fast as I could because I forgot my 'rubber bag'.....it was just as bad to be late. Sister Immaculata would stand by the front entrance of the school on Patrick's St. and check if you had your bag, you could be sent home to get it if you forgot. I also remember mopping the second floor corridors outside our Grade six classroom when we were in her class, anyone else remember that? She was a real 'sergeant major' but we sure learned to do as we were told.”

 
 

Frances Noseworthy “That is a gaiter bag.....in winter you wore your boots to school, carried your shoes in this bag, changed in the front porch and carried your gaiters to the classroom in your gaiter bag. I'd say most moms made these for the kiddies, I know mine did.”
 

 

Catherine Altini “The dreaded boot bags. All the Moms had to make them for the girls. Carrying book bags, then boot bags, traipsing thru the snow, and then walking home uphill or downhill. No wonder we turned out strong as bulls.”

 

MARY KENNEDY   “Of course, I was in Sister Immaculata's class!!”

 

CARMEN CATTLES “Who could forget Sister Immaculata at the front door of the school making sure your boots never touched that floor.”
 

 

CAROL DUGGAN  “Someday I'm going to walk on that floor with my wet boots on in her memory---- and in memory of "rubber bags" as they were called.”

 

JACINTA DOYLE “She (Sr Immaculata) had eyes like a hawk....watching the back door and the front door at the same time...all the while doing her crocheting.....like Madame defarge.”

 

GABRIELLE PAFF   “I'm not a St. Patrick's girl but we had those bags at Mercy Convent also - they were called shoe bags. Same difference.”

 

DOREEN (McALLISTER) HEFFERNAN “ In the late 40s and early 50s I was a pupil at St Patrick’s on Convent Square, the real ‘old school’.  The entrance was on Convent Square, the doors by the auditorium.  Even way back then, dear Sr Immaculata stood at the top of the stairs waiting to see if you had your rubbers/gaiters in your rubber bag and NOT in the sleeve of your coat!  Occasionally pupils would forget their rubber bag and try to sneak their rubbers into school in the sleeves of their coats.  When Sr Immaculata asked where their rubber bag was some would pretend that they hadn’t worn any rubbers and had walked to school in their shoes.  Of course with the snow possibly up to your knees and dry shoes, Sr Immaculata certainly didn’t fall for that one!  She would know immediately that the rubbers were stuffed into the sleeves of their coats and she would say, “Let me see your coat” and then check to see if the gaiters were in the sleeves.  If they were, you got punished for lying AND sent home to get the forgotten rubber bag!”

 

Well everyone, this has been a fun post for me and I hope it has been for you too.  I certainly remember the famous (infamous?) rubber bag days.  Like most of you, I remember Sr Immaculata doing sentry duty at the ‘new school’ on Patrick St.  I know that all that you have said in your comments is fact because I too remember attempting to smuggle rubbers in coat sleeves, being sent home to get a forgotten one, and being told to leave the ‘bagless’ rubbers outside the front door.  Gabrielle, I am very pleased to learn that you girls at Mercy had to suffer the rubber bag ordeal too.  It is great to hear Doreen’s story of her days in the old school on Convent Square.  It just goes to show that, as the saying goes, “There is nothing new under the sun”.  Thanks everyone!”