Like a lot of girls at Saint Mary’s, I followed in my mother’s footsteps when I chose to come here. I’ll be totally honest, I only applied because she went here, and I told everyone I would never, ever come here. Literally, I would list off everywhere I applied, ending with Saint Mary’s, and finish with “But I’m not going to go there”. Well, life worked itself out and here I am. Like mother, like daughter I guess! I love being able to chat with my mom about her time at SMC and seeing what remains the same and sharing our different stories. Seeing that it is Heritage Week here at Saint Mary’s I thought it would be fun to let my mom, Cecilia Walsh Burke class of ’76, share some of her stories on what SMC was like when she was here.
“I started at SMC in 1972 – this was the first year that girls were admitted to ND. There were only about 325 girls at ND the first year, so that is probably one of the biggest differences between then and now. The only girls’ forms that first year were Walsh and Badin. By my senior year they had also added Farley, Breen-Phillips and Lyons to the girls. Saint Mary’s girls were still really the “only game in town” so the ND boys spent a lot of time on our campus. They took classes at SMC, and very often came over for dinner, especially on Saturday night Steak night. My friends and I also took several classes at ND over the years – I probably took 5 at least over my 4 years. On days that we had classes at ND we would usually eat over there, too, so we did spend a lot of time on the ND campus.”
My mom in the second row all the way to the left, and my aunt in the second row all the way to the right!
“Freshman year we mostly partied on the ND campus. Every week, starting on Monday, the guys would put up flyers in all the dorms about parties that weekend. We really had our pick of parties, and did a lot of party hopping. (Mom, you party animal!) Gradually, we picked dorms that we liked more than others – the dorms that had good parties in my day were Dillon, Morrissey, Sorin and Stanford. The parties usually had kegs, and sometimes also had a kind of punch that we called “wapatula” (sp??) I have no idea what was in it, but it was usually served from a big garbage can. It was good but deadly.”
Dorm parties and all their glory still live on, and a deadly concoction of jungle juice has become the wapatula of today. Although, I really think we should bring that term back…
“By sophomore year the Indiana laws had changed, and parties weren’t really permitted on campus, so we started going off campus more. We did go to some bars (certainly NOT when we were underage, of course!) We went to Nicky’s, Corby’s, and The Library (clever, huh?). We also went to a place called Kubiak’s in Michigan, mostly on Sunday nights. (no alcohol in Indiana on Sundays. Also, drinking age 18 in Michigan). (Mom knew what she was doing) Kubiak’s was just over the state line, in Niles. It was a big German bar, with polka bands, and much polka-ing by all of us. It was a lot of fun.”
“A big difference between then and now is Senior Bar. There used to be a very big, old house on Notre Dame’s campus that was officially called the Alumni Club, I think, but was known as Senior Bar. You were supposed to be a Senior to get in, but we did go a little bit before that year. We would always run into people we knew there, so it was really fun. On football weekends it was a madhouse – with all kinds of alumni coming back, and there was usually a big party going on outside and inside. Senior Bar was where Legends is now – and it was a real fire trap – we are all probably lucky it didn’t collapse or burn down when we were there.”
Mom (right) hanging out in McCandless
“I think my favorite dorm at SMC was Le Mans. I lived there sophomore year and senior year, and I liked that all the rooms were different, and even though it was big, it seemed to be the friendliest. I liked the chapel there too – very beautiful.”
Bonus quote from my grandmother, Marie Murnane Walsh, class of ’49: “I loved the chapel. My dorm room was right down the hall so I would always go say my prayers in my pajamas before bed”
“Also, on Sundays for breakfast we had “make your own doughnuts” with all kinds of toppings that you could dip the doughnuts into and then on Sunday nights we had make your own sundaes. Always a treat.”
These days the dining hall is most packed for make your own pizza night on Friday’s and any time they have fancy dinner for Fr. Moreau or Sister Madeleva. But I’m all in favor of bringing back the make your own doughnut day…
“Football weekends – my parents came to a lot of games with their friends the Archibalds and they always parked right next to the stadium, near what we called Gate 14 (I can’t remember what it’s called now). We did some fun tailgating, and they always had great food. And they were very nice about having all my friends, so even if my parents weren’t there, we would still always go to Archibald’s car. Many times friends would come to visit for football weekends, so that was fun too, but exhausting! After a day of tailgating, and then the game, there were a lot of Football Saturday nights that we just faded.”
Mom reliving the glory days
What did you like to do in your free time?“Free time – what free time??? Only kidding. We didn’t have an Eddy street to go to, and there were not very many stores to shop at. There was one department store in downtown South Bend – I think it was named Ayres. We would take the bus into town and go there to shop, and then ALWAYS go to Dainty Maid, it was the best bakery in the world – and if you ever got a Dainty Maid cake for your birthday, it would be gone in a minute. I still miss Dainty Maid. I think it is still in South Bend, and if it is, you should go there.”
You current Belles might be wondering what happened to this department store. Well, allow me to turn your world upside down. The department store that my mother shopped at in college turned into Club Fever, a place I don’t think I ever want my mother to see. But on the plus side, that amazing scent you smell while waiting in the tragically long, freezing line at Fever? It’s Dainty Maid!
“I did work my senior year at The Pan Pizza – it was just a carry-out place, so I would bring my homework, and answer the phones when people called to order, then take the money and hand over the pizza when people came to pick it up. It was really good pizza, but when you watched them make it all night, it kind of lost it’s appeal after a while. It was a good job but the owner took off in the middle of the night one night, and the place closed up.”
Sounds like another sketchy but delicious South Bend pizza place I know…
“Another thing that is different is that we had “hours” our freshman year. During the week, we had to be in by midnight, and on the weekends, we had to be in by 2:00 AM. We had to sign in and out when we left our Dorm By second semester of Freshman year, if our parents signed an agreement, then we didn’t have the curfew. Of course, my parents said, “What could you possibly be doing after 2:00?????
I don’t know Mom, what could you be doing after 2:00???????
While much has changed, Saint Mary’s remains a verys special place. Thank you, mother, for allowing me to share your stories with all of the internet and introducing me to this wonderful school!