Today I went to an all year reunion of my high school. I attended an all-girl Catholic school in Brooklyn, The Bishop McDonnell Memorial High School, and graduated 55 years ago.
Almost 40 years ago, they closed the school and the building is now used for a school for the deaf, but every year they let us hold our reunion there. When I first walked in and saw everyone, my first thought was, "Who are all these grey haired women". Then I realized, they are all my classmates. We had a wonderful day starting with a small reception, followed by Mass and then dinner.
This school was very strict. Here is our dress code, we didn't have to wear uniforms. The issue of the stockings made some of the girls very imaginative. Of course, we didn't have air conditioning, and nylon stockings were very uncomfortable in the warm weather. Some of the girls would use their eybrow pencil and draw a line up the backs of their legs to simulate the seam of the stocking. After a while, the nuns caught on.
As you can see by these rules, they were teaching us to be ladies, 50's style. Today I was a rebel, I wore dangling earrings and a pullover top. It's a reminder how far we've come. I saw several pictures of our class trip to Washington, DC (which we took by train). We all wore hats and gloves.
I also entered the school by the center doors which were restricted to clergy, faculty and special visitors. Today, we were the special visitors.
When I saw that the program called for our reception being in the gymnasium, which was on the 4th floor and I was on the first floor, I hesitated for a moment. But, things have changed, we were now allowed to take the elevator. I guess they didn't want all those old ladies climbing 4 flights of stairs.
It was a good day although I didn't see many of the "girls" I knew, but that shouldn't have surprised me because I didn't make many friends there. It was a very large school, there were at least 300 in our graduating class and I was very shy in my teens.
There will be a special reunion for my class in September which I'll attend, maybe I'll see more people I know.
1 comment:
I ALSO ATTENDED AN ALL GIRLS CATHOLIC HS AT THE SAME TIME. I CHUCKLED WHEN I READ THE DRESS CODE, AS OURS WAS THE SAME, EVEN THOUGH WE WORE UNIFORMS. SISTER WAS ALWAYS CHECKING TO SEE IF WE HAD HIKED OUR SKIRTS UP A BIT. MY WASHINGTON PICTURES ARE THE SAME. WE HAD HATS AND GLOVES ON. WHEN I SEE HOW SOME KIDS AND EVEN ADULTS DRESS TODAY I WISH WE COULD HAVE KEPT AND SAVED AT LEAST SOME MODICUK OF DECENCY. YES, THE TIMES SURE HAVE CHAMGED.........VIVA LA 50'S & EARLY 60'S
ANGELFITZ / SSS
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