Our Days At...
Our Lady Of Good Counsel Elementary School
Page 2
IN SECOND GRADE, OUR FIRST LAY-TEACHER WAS MISS CATHRINE M. COWLEY, WHO WAS A 1958 GRADUATE OF OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL HIGH SCHOOL. DURING THAT YEAR, THE MINIMUM WAGE WAS A WALLOPING $1.00 AN HOUR, BACKED WITH THE APPEARANCE IN THE MOVIES OF ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S THRILLER ,”PSYCHO”. IN SPORTS., THE NEW YORK YANKEES WERE WINNING THE WORLD SERIES . IN MUSIC, "THE TWIST”, BY CHUBBY CHECKER, REACHED THE NUMBER ONE POSITION ON THE MUSIC CHARTS. WE ALSO RECALL THE SOUNDS OF THE OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL “WOODSIDERS” DRUM AND BUGLE CORPS.
WE REMEMBER THEM PERFORMING LOCALLY, IN NORTH NEWARK, TODAY, OUR FORMER MISS CATHRINE IS A MEMBER OF OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL'S SCHOOL BOARD.
OUR THIRD GRADE TEACHER WAS THE INIMITABLE MRS. MARY MC PHEE, WHO WAS A STRONG BELIEVER IN THE CODE OF SILENCE, ESPECIALLY WHEN MOTHER SUPERIOR WOULD MAKE HER DAILY ANNOUNCEMENTS TO THE SCHOOL OVER THE LOUD SPEAKER. MRS. MC PHEE TOLERATED ABSOLUTELY NO MISBEHAVIOR TO ANYONE IN AUTHORITY IN OUR SCHOOL. MRS. MC PHEE DID SPEAK A LOT TO US ABOUT HER HOMETOWN OF MAPLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY. SHE WAS PROUD TO BE FROM MAPLEWOOD. WE, AS STUDENTS, FELT AN AFFINITY FOR ANOTHER CITY BESIDES NEWARK. MRS. MC PHEE WAS TRULY AN OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL LEGACY. IT WAS ALSO THE YEAR THAT WE STUDENTS FOUND OUT THAT AS OF SEPTEMBER OF 1961, OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL HIGH SCHOOL WAS NO LONGER ACCEPTING ANY NEW BOYS AS STUDENTS TO THE EXISTING HIGH SCHOOL. ON THE NATIONAL SCENE, THE BIRTH CONTROL PILL BECAME AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC. AT OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL PARISH, THE START OF BUILDING A NEW CAFETERIA, ”THE SOCIAL ACTION CENTER”,
A NEW AUDITORIUM, AND A SMALL SIZED GYMNASIUM BEGAN, AS ADDITIONS TO AN ANTICIPATED BUILDING OF A NEW OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL HIGH SCHOOL.
HOWEVER, THE NEW HIGH SCHOOL NEVER MATERIALIZED AND TO THIS DAY THE REASONS ARE NOT CLEAR AS TO EXACTLY WHY THE NEW HIGH SCHOOL NEVER SUCCEEDED IN COMMENCING. NOTE: THE RENOVATED GYMNASIUM STILL SHOWS THE STAGE WHERE THIS WAS ONCE A FULL SIZED AUDITORIUM.
IN FOURTH GRADE, OUR TEACHER WAS, ONCE AGAIN, SISTER MARIE EMMANUEL. ON THE WORLD SCENE, THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS WAS HEATING UP, WITH PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY STANDING HIS GROUND AGAINST BOTH CUBA AND THE SOVIET UNION. HOW MANY OF YOU REMEMBER ”BERNIE'S”?. LOCATED AT THE CORNER OF HELLER PARKWAY AND SUMMER AVENUE, FACING THE NORTH EAST SIDE ENTRANCE TO OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL CHURCH, IT WAS OWNED AND OPERATED BY BERNIE AND ESTHER KANOWITH.
THE CANDY STORE THEY RAN FOR MANY YEARS HAS PLENTY OF MEMORIES FOR THE STUDENTS OF BOTH THE ELEMENTARY AND THE HIGH SCHOOL. BOTH ESTHER AND BERNIE WERE VERY NEAR AND DEAR TO ALL OF US. OUR HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI FONDLY RECALL THEM AS PEOPLE WHO TRULY HAD A PERSONAL INTEREST IN THE STUDENTS OF OUR LADY GOOD COUNSEL .I CAN RECOLLECT ESTHER KANOWITH WALKING PAST THE FRONT OF OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL CHURCH AND BLESSING HERSELF. THAT IN ITSELF IS NOT SO UNUSUAL, EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT THE KANOWITH’S WERE JEWISH.
IT WOULD BE REMISS NOT TO INCLUDE THEM IN THIS TRIBUTE TO OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
MUSIC AND THE PRE-BRITISH INVASION WERE TAKING PLACE AS ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, BETTER KNOWN AS BOB DYLAN, WAS TELLING US THAT THE ANSWERS OF LIFE COULD BE FOUND “BLOWING IN THE WIND“, AS HE FOREVER CHANGED THE CONCEPT OF FOLK MUSIC.
