Last weekend, we were pleased to host the 100th birthday party for our oldest living alumna, Marion (Schwensen) Shafer, or Mimi, as our students & staff have come to know her. Her lifelong friend, Class of 1942 classmate from Mount Marie (what is now CCHS), and our second oldest living alumna, Sister Margaret Mary (Dorothy) Siegfried traveled to Canton to help her celebrate.
Mimi had dozens of guests attend her birthday party and it was clear that she shares a special bond with each of them. It was easy to see that she is a special lady, surrounded by people who love her. As recordings of her singing opera at various points in her career played in the background and images of a life well lived projected on a slideshow screen, she was handing out gifts! On her visit to campus in January, Mrs. Zahler, our Art Department Chair, gifted her with many pieces of slate from our roof which were removed after storm damage. She arrived to her own birthday party with beautiful paintings on them, gifting a beautiful piece to our faculty and another to her friend, Sister Margaret Mary.
Sister will turn 100 herself this July! Mimi & Sister amaze us; they are in good health, in even better spirits, and are as enthusiastic about their years at Mount Marie as they were when they walked the halls! They have remained friends for 80+ years, attributing their friendship to the bonds and memories they created here and after graduation. While Sister and Mimi are the last remaining students of their class, they and their classmates gathered regularly for decades and most were lifelong friends. Both shared that returning to our halls brings up the same feelings they had all those years ago, along with a sense of awe at the majesty of what they call “the castle on the hill,” and a reminder that this was and remains a special school, unlike any other.
#OnceACrusaderAlwaysACrusader
#TheCentralCatholicDifference