The School Lunchroom   Lucille Eckman Murray, lunchroom worker and then supervisor from 1960-1984; parish member from 1946-1984

The lunchroom in the basement of Cleary Hall was an important part of the school and a busy place, according to Lucille Eckman Murray who worked there from 1960-1984 and ran the kitchen her last four years.  There were three lunch periods in the 1960s, and up to 250 children were served at a time.  Originally students had to live at least seven blocks away from school to be eligible for the lunch program; until that regulation was eliminated, Lucille could not feed her own four children who lived across the street!

Everything was made from scratch and they did their own baking.  Menus were based on government surplus food plus some extra food purchased.  Lucille had lived through the Great Depression, so she knew how to stretch a dollar, helping make hot lunches possible for tens of thousands of children over her 24-year tenure.  Even though lunch cost only 25 cents,  many students received free or half-price meals.


The Folk Mass   Fr. Stephen Adrian, parish priest and then pastor from 1968-1978, and Ted Gordon, folk group guitarist and director in its last few years

The Folk Mass started around the mid-1960s. At that time there were 3,000 households in the parish, with six Masses upstairs and three Masses downstairs each Sunday.  The downstairs Masses were less formal than the Masses upstairs, and the last of these was changed to a more contemporary format shortly after Vatican II.  The music was led by a guitar group that sometimes included string bass, drums, mandolin and piano, as well as singers leading the congregation in the newer folk hymns.  Several different groups led the music during these years. As the church population began to decrease, only the Folk Mass was held in the basement, and the pews were removed to make it even more informal.  Many children enjoyed Mass with their parents here, rather than staying in the nursery.  Eventually the parish could not depend on having an extra priest available to allow two Masses to be held at the same time, so the Folk Mass was moved upstairs and held once a month until the folk group disbanded in 1994.

Fellowship Sunday began with the Folk Mass participants.  At the time, they simply called it “Coffee and Donuts” and served them every Sunday.  When the Mass was moved upstairs, the name changed to Fellowship Sunday and was held every two weeks, then once a month as it is today.


Cana Club

The Cana Club, a social and educational group for married
couples, met for several years in the 1950s and early 60s. They met monthly in the Cleary school cafeteria for dinner and to hear a speaker.  Dinner was planned and prepared by a steering committee whose members rotated. Talks were on some aspect of marriage; the speakers, which included marriage counselors, lawyers, doctors, priests and nuns, were selected by the priests. Because most of those attending had children in the school, the parents also served as an informal “neighborhood watch” group, keeping tabs on one another’s children at play.

Other social activities stemmed from the club meetings.  One of
these was Cana bowling.  The team played in the spring at the old bowling alley at 38th and Nicollet and ended each season with a steak cookout.


Snowflake Frolic Geri Teefy and Sue Kenney

This semi-formal dinner/dance was held in January in the early
1970s.  It began with a catered dinner in the Cleary Hall cafeteria and was followed by a dance with a live band in the gym at Moynihan Hall.  Snowflakes made by the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders decorated the gym ceiling. This was strictly a social event which came to an end when it was suggested that it become a fundraiser.


St. Valentine¹s Circle  Mary Kay Olson, founding member and coordinator

St. Valentine’s Circle, an outgrowth of the Women’s Club, existed from February 1970 until 2007.  Because it began in February, the members named it after St. Valentine.  They were a sewing group that made tablecloths, wall hangings and banners, but the main items were Christmas ornaments that required a lot of hand sewing of beads and sequins. The machine sewing was done at home, and the hand work was done at the monthly meetings. They had a booth at Oktoberfest until 1995 where they sold their goods and donated all the proceeds, as well as the cost of materials, to the parish.  After 1995 they no longer had a separate booth at Oktoberfest, but continued to meet as a social group until the membership dwindled.  Over the years 32 women participated in the group.
We Remember