From: Patrick Finneran '53: Remembering Campion

My memory of Campion begins in 1946 and the visit to our home of one Francis J. Carey, SJ. The war was over and life was getting good again.

Father Carey swooped in, 16-millimeter projector in hand, a portable movie screen and several reels of silent color scenes of life at Campion.

He was there both to recruit me and interview the family. I didn't know it then, I later learned that he'd already visited my grade school, where he "interviewed" Sister Margarita, OSB, principal of St. Bartholomew Catholic School about the Finneran boy.

The movies were really something, as was the running narrative provided by Father Carey.

When the movies were finished my mother announced that dinner was ready and we all adjourned to the formal dining room, where Father Carey regaled us with more stories of Campion. To say he was a crackerjack salesman would be to understate his talent. By the time he left that night, I couldn't wait to get to Campion!

Growing up in Columbus, Indiana, a small town in central southern Indiana- population back then about 15 or 20 thousand- I'd never been away from home for any length of time before, so my Dad decided it would do me good to spend a few weeks at a boys camp in Minnesota to acclimate me to being away from home and family.

Except for a case of mumps, it was a great time, and I found the joy of making new friends. While I was away, Mom took care of assembling Campion's required list of clothing, (so many T-shirts, socks, underwear etc.,) nametags on everything, and impedimenta required by the school. The last two required items: a footlocker, and a laundry box. These items were to be shipped to Campion via Railway Express, (remember Railway Express?), about a week before the required reporting date.

Having survived camp without pains of homesickness, a few weeks later, a day before the appointed arrival date, the family boarded Indiana's own Monon passenger train, in route to Dearborn Station in Chicago. Once there we stayed over night at the Ambassador East Hotel. It wasn't my dad's first time in Chicago by a long sight, so he took the family out to dinner at the famous Barney's out by the old stockyards.

The following morning we were off to Union Station to put me aboard the Burlington Zephyr. At Union Station I joined in a large group of high school age boys, all headed for a strange new place- Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin. A Jesuit had been assigned to keep us herded together and put on the train. If memory serves I think it may have been Fr. Paul Murphy, S.J.

By mid afternoon the train pulled to a stop and we were herded off the train. My first look at Campion was the backside of Marquette Hall, Our Lady of Angels Chapel, and off to the south a large playing field. The footlockers were placed on a stake-bed truck, and we were instructed, to take up our suitcases and "Follow me!"

Next- my first night and day at my new home away from home.

From: Bob Henkel '69: Ron, the Sneak!

For some reason unbeknownst to mankind, the Jebbies trusted my brother Ron (class of 1965)! I have never been able to figure that out because he was such a sneaky character at home.

Somehow, he got to move into Marquette Hall during his junior year. He was placed in the basement, as all juniors were because they were slime, just barely above the freshmen and sophomores (unless, of course, you were an athlete, but, alas, I digress into self-pity, being a non-athlete). So he just took care of business during that junior year.

His senior year, he was told he could move upstairs. But he assured the Jebbies he was fine in the basement and he had become friends with a mouse or two. Plus, the Jebbies had let him put some of his furniture in the basement and he did not want to bother carrying it up the stairs. Plus, he said he was looking forward to helping the new juniors adjust to being in Marquette Hall. The Jebbies fell for the malarkey and concoction!! Turned out that Ron had figured out how to open the window by taking out some screws. He replaced the screws with nails so he could take them in and out more easily. Every Friday and Saturday night, he would sneak into town and go to the various clubs in town and dance with all the girls. His "laundry lady" had a daughter who helped with the episodes!! Some times she would drive over and pick him up in the winter.

Ahhh, the winter with snow on the ground!! That would leave tracks! What to do?? Ron explained to the Jebbies that the snow was melting and leaking into his room because the heat was passing out the window, so he volunteered to shovel around the windows to keep the water out. They believed him!!!

So, legally, Ron should NOT have graduated from Campion because he broke almost every rule they had at some time or another... except for going to daily Mass. Any wonder what he was praying for??

I learned of all this at the only Campion Reunion I attended with him . I forget the year.

Bob,
in memory of Ron Henkels '65

Here is a silent film created by Matt Micka '74 during his Junior Year in 1973. The film was shot on the Campion Jesuit High School Campus. It stars several schoolmates, jebbies, and Coach Fullerton. It depects a sadistic headmaster's operations at a correctional institution. Go figure that a quarter century later the campus would become a state run correctional institution. The film is called...

From: Director Matt Micka '74: The Story Behind Begone Satan

I made my first Super-8 film as a freshman for Mr. Donnegan's English class, in the spring of 1971. The camera and editing device was borrowed from Charles Link. Mark Monoscalco taught me how to edit - how to splice film together. The film was called "Al" and starred Al Kamarowski. At the climax, he slips into a toilet stall on Wing 2-South of Marquette Hall, and emerges as Nose-Man, a super-hero in a cape with a nose the size of Al's own nose! I shot two 3 min.+ rolls of film, and the soundtrack featured Richard Strauss's Thus Spake Zarathustra in other words, the 2001: A Space Odyssey theme...

The first semester of my sophomore year I spent in Maracaibo, Venezuela, where my father worked for Mobil Oil Company. I returned to Campion in January, and, in the spring of 1972, my mother bought me, for my birthday, a lovely Rollei Super-8 camera, from a tiny camera shop in St. Louis. I shot one roll of film that semester, documenting the all-male production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which took place in a little glade of trees close by the gymnasium.

I shot two Super-8 films in the fall of 1972, both starring Roland Winkler. I appeared in the second, which consisted of Roland and I seated on the railroad tracks that ran behind Marquette and Lucey Halls, playing a game a chess. This was intercut with shots of an approaching train, plus some pixilation I'd done with my sister's stuffed animal collection, over the summer in Maracaibo. (Don't ask what these various elements were supposed to add up to, please!) I was laughing hysterically, seated on those tracks, and could not stop. Roland grew exasperated with me. I never DID stop laughing, but my long hair concealed my face! I was at that time taking Still Photography that semester with Fr. Strzok, and he was aware of my interest in filmmaking.

So, in the spring of 1973, Fr. Strzok asked me two questions, in the darkroom, while we were developing film. One was whether or not I'd ever considered joining the Society. This struck me as funny, since I had stopped attending mass as a freshman. But he also asked me whether I wanted to make a 16mm film, using the Jeb's wind-up 16mm Kodak camera, and receive credit for it. He told me that, while I'd have to pay for the film and processing myself, he'd be able to get me the Jesuit Discount from the lab. I said sure. I had $100. So I began concocting a plot... Read More!