Sportsviews: wednesday -
october 20, 1993 usa-today
David
P. Woodmansee is director of communications and public affairs of the American
Cancer Society, Connecticut Division.
I
would like to address the concluding paragraph of Irish eyes not smiling about
(this) book (Sept 7) which quotes Doug Looney as writing, "Notre Dame is
football. Without it, Notre Dame is simply a small Catholic institution with a
great chemistry department in a small northern Indiana town with lousy
weather."
I am the oldest of seven
boys. My two youngest brothers, Donald and Mark, were fortunate enough to
graduate from Notre Dame. Donald is completing his final year of medical school
at Northwestern and Mark studies at the Notre Dame School of Law.
On the morning of Jan. 25,
the lives of all my brothers, my father and myself changed forever. Our beloved
mother, a high school language teacher, suffered a cerebral aneurysm while at
work and died instantly.
It was my unenviable task to
phone my brothers. Mark was the last one I called. His reaction was one of
predictable grief and sorrow. Fortunately, his roommate, realizing something
was wrong, immediately went downstairs to get the resident dormitory priest,
Father Steve Newton.
Father Newton was at my
brother's door by the time Mark had hung up the phone. Upon hearing the news,
he suggested they take a walk around campus to talk and pray together. Father
Newton then went downstairs to get his coat and make a phone call - to whom our
family still doesn't know.
Father Newton and my brother
returned to the dorm almost two hours later. Waiting for my brother was a
university official who told him the Notre Dame family shared my brother's
grief and wanted to help. With that. he handed my brother an envelope
containing a round-trip plane ticket, to depart in one hour, from South Bend to
Chicago, to (Groton, Conn. -- an airport 10 miles from my father's home).
My brother was very
surprised and more than thankful. Mark then mentioned he and our brother,
Donald. were hoping to fly home from Chicago together. With that, the
administrator handed him another envelope. This one contained plane tickets
with Donald's name on it, for the seat next to Mark's on the flight from
Chicago to Connecticut. Both tickets were open-ended. No mention of money was
ever made.
On Wednesday, our mother's
wake was held from 2-4 p.m. At one point. I paused to look down the line of
those patiently waiting to pay their respects and I thought I recognized some faces
from a recent visit I had made to the Notre Dame campus. The faces were of 20
Notre Dame students, young men and women who had left their campus at 6 p.m.
Tuesday and driven all night, for over 14 hours, to be with my brother.
Accompanying the students was Father Newton.
It should also be mentioned
that received two very special letters were received at my father's home,
addressed to Mark, during the week our mother's passing, One was from the University
President, the Rev. Edward Malloy. It read:
"Dear Mark, "I
want to offer my condolences at the news of the death of your mother. The loss
of a parent is ways a difficult emotional time for any of us. I hope that you
are able to properly celebrate her life and death in her funeral services. Be assured
of my prayers and continued concern. May our common faith in the risen Lord
console you."
It should be noted that Mark
knows Father Mallory quite well. The other letter, however, was from a
gentleman who my brother had met only once. It read:
"Dear Mark, "It is
with great sadness that I write to you to express my sympathy over the death of
your mother. There is very little that one can say at a time like this that
will help take away your grief. I hope that it is enough for you to know hat
many of us share it with you. I have had a number of people speak to me about
you, Mark. You are obviously a fine young man. well respected in Sorin Hall and
throughout the campus. Rest assured that your mother left behind a major
accomplishment in you. "Sincerely, Lou HoItz, Head Football Coach"
For the cynics out there, I
would like to point out that ours is a simple family. Neither of my brothers
was a scholarship athlete at Notre Dame; neither of my parents graduated from
there; our father is not a doctor or a lawyer; and no one in our family is a
donor.
I thought it important for
you to hear another side of the Notre Dame story. It is a side many people do
not know, a side the university chooses not to make public. and it has
absolutely nothing to do with football. The University of Notre Dame is much
more than just football. You can ask my family.
Leyden note:
ND President, the Rev.
Edward Malloy -- lives in the dorms with the students -- as do all the priests
at ND. Father Malloy ( a former ND basketball player ) -- has his dormitory
door open to students from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. so that anyone who wants to can
stop by to chat.
During my son's tenure in
the ND Law School -- '94 to '97 -- he told of several instances when students
piled into a van and crossed state lines to console a colleague whose parent
had died.
About 10 days before
graduation, a wheel-chair-bound student, Joe, died. At graduation, the
first person to receive his degree was
a 13ish year
old boy who walked across the stage in the blue satin gown with yellow piping
of the Law School. It was Joe's brother. With the
main speaker, Supreme Court justice, Anothony Scalia, looking on, the students,
re-creating a scene from, RUDY, chanted: "Joe -- Joe --
Joe". There wasn't a dry eye in the house.