*** Campion Forever! Newsletter ***

The first Campionette, the student newsletter, was published 106 years ago, on November 11, 1917. The first editor of the Campionette was Tom O'Connor, class of 1920. The last official issue was the one announcing the closing of the school in May 1975. Over the years, various classes have published special editions for their class reunions, some of which have been pretty extravagant.

Celebrating 25 Years!

The Campion Forever Newsletter was first published by Aaron Huguenard, class of 1947, in December 2000 in the Inprivatum Campianum at Campion-Knights.org as a means for alumni and faculty to keep in touch and share life experiences. CampionForever.org began in October 2001. Tom Olson '72 became editor and publisher in July 2010 at the behest of Aaron prior to his passing.

We've been trying to get memoirs from retired and not-so-retired Campion Jebbies for our newsletter for quite some time. We don't care if the memoirs are about when they went to Campion, taught at Campion, or just what they've done since leaving Campion. We just want to hear something from our mentors in the first person; perhaps words of wisdom learned while IHS; typically, we only get third-person accounts post mortem. Not to lay all the blame on the Jebbies, but why can't we get memoirs from more alumni, or what they've done since leaving Campion? Where are all those other authors and editors of the old 'ette"?

While it has been a task getting people to submit articles, there are a few dedicated alumni and Jebbies who do regularly provide ideas for articles. This is a good thing; otherwise, I would have to conjure the 'Ghost of Joe Campion' for ideas more than I care to.

From Jerry O'Kane '64

In Memoriam Eorum Qui Servierunt

January and April editions of Campion Forever! contained profiles of Campion Class of ’64 alumni who served in the Armed Forces and fought in the Vietnam War. Theirs were two of the 77 profiles of Men of the Class of ’64 who notably served their Country, Church and Community. These profiles were compiled into a book for last year’s Sixty-Year Reunion of the ’64 Class. This edition of Campion Forever! contains the obituaries of four in our class who served their Nation and are no longer with us. The first is Jerry Atkinson ’64, who was killed in combat in Vietnam. The other three are Campion ’64 Vietnam vets who returned from their service and led productive lives before passing. Obituaries of nine other ’64 alums who served and have since died will be featured in future editions.

Gerald T. Atkinson 1964

Gerald “Jerry” Thomas Atkinson, a native of Muscoda, WI, attended Loras College after graduating from Campion Jesuit High School.

While in college, Jerry was a member of the Delta Sigma fraternity and a part-time employee at the Dubuque Packing Company. Jerry was married on November 30, 1968 to Jana Lansing. He graduated with a degree in sociology in 1969.

Drafted into the Army almost immediately, Jerry arrived in South Vietnam in September. SP4 Atkinson was an infantryman in D Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division.

On March 12, 1970, his unit engaged the enemy northeast of Tay Ninh City, South Vietnam near the Cambodian border. During the engagement SP4 Atkinson was killed. He had served less than one year in the military. He was 23.

In honor of his sacrifice, a small base called Fire Support Base Atkinson was established. This base was occupied by units of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry and 2nd Battalion, 19th Artillery. Security for the base was provided by B Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division.

On April 15, 1970, FSB Atkinson faced intense mortar attacks and a determined ground assault. American infantry and artillery defense repulsed the attack, but seven soldiers and a helicopter pilot were killed.

Daniel B. Garrity 1964

Daniel B. Garrity age 67 of Bloomington, MN died unexpectedly February 13, 2014. He was born April 3, 1946. He graduated from Campion Jesuit High School in Prairie du Chien, WI, where he excelled as an all-state athlete, and from the University of Minnesota, where he earned a Batchelor of Science degree in Mortuary Science. He married Karen Ostrem in Minneapolis on February 8, 1969.

Dan served in the U.S. Air National Guard in the Twin Cities. Although never mobilized during the Vietnam War, the Minnesota Air Guard flew hundreds of supply and transport missions to Southeast Asia.

Dan was renowned in the funeral profession regionally. He served as a funeral director, embalmer, and casket and vault salesman. He was an avid outdoorsman who loved to hunt and fish. His familiar and easy-going manner endeared him to all he met. He was survived by his wife Karen; his children Cassie, Brian (Teresa), Shannon, Cullen (Jenny); 3 grandchildren, Maddie, Ellie, Jeylen; nine brothers and sisters, Tim, Peggy, Bridget (Lee), Kevin (Judy), Sheila, Maura, Katie (now RIP), Mike, Brendan (Lisa) and many nieces, nephews and cousins. Dan was a devout man of faith, devoted husband, loving son, beloved father, grandfather, brother and Campion classmate, who is missed by all.

Theodore R. Glaser 1964

Ted served in the US Marine Corps and was a Veteran of the War in Viet Nam. Ted died January 14, 2024 at age 77. Interment was in the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery. In 2020 Ted shared with Campion classmates how he felt about his military service during those chaotic years. “It seemed that if you were in the Service, you were crap and it all went downhill from there. People relied too much on the ‘truth’ as media chooses to present it. Too bad that people could not think on their own. My years in the USMC were trying but also some of the best I have had. Humble thoughts . . . stay safe and healthy all, please.”

Ted’s service to Church, Community and Country continued throughout his life. Ted was District Deputy of the Knights of Columbus and locally a Grand Knight. For many years he ran the organization’s Special Olympics Fundraising activities. Ted and Carolyn’s oldest daughter Colleen continued the Glaser legacy of military service. She is a Commander & attorney (JAG) in the US Navy, a sitting Judge, and a three-tour Veteran of the Iraq War.

John J. Klieforth 1964

A lifelong educator, John died at his home in Golden, Colorado on December 24, 2023. He was 77. John served as an officer in the United States Army. He was a First Lieutenant and instructor at the US Army Armored Force School at Fort Moore GA. His MOS was Tank Unit Commander. Burial was with military honors at Ft. Logan National Cemetery in Denver. John was born April 11, 1946, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. After he graduated from Campion, he earned Bachelor of Science and Master’s degrees in business education from Utah State University. His Administrative Certificate was earned at University of Colorado. John also graduated from the College of Financial Planning and was a Certified Financial Planner.

During his long educational career, he was a teacher, coach, athletic director, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent of schools at Clear Creek School District in Idaho Springs, CO. He also served as principal at Accelerated Schools in Denver. John and Elizabeth were married December 29, 1979. They were five days away from celebrating 44 years of marriage when John passed away.

From Cliff Schroeder '64

Graduating from Loras College in 1968, Cliff was awarded a three-year Presidential Scholarship to Boston College Law School. His local draft board was unsympathetic, however, declining his request for deferment.

Cliff enlisted in the Marine Corps in August 1968 and was enrolled in the 54TH Officers Candidate Class in Quantico, VA, graduating 1st in a class of approximately 500 fellow officer candidates and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant on December 6, 1968.

Next came The Basic School, at Quantico, and in June 1969 he again graduated 1st in a class of approximately 250 fellow officers. Cliff selected Infantry as his primary MOS, 0302.

Cliff then attended Vietnamese High Intensity Language School at Quantico before deployment to Viet Nam in August 1969, where he was assigned as an Infantry Platoon Commander with India Company, Third Battalion, Third Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division.

Cliff joined India Company as the Third Platoon Commander as it was literally marching into battle to contest the North Vietnamese presence on a place known as “Mutters Ridge”, a foreboding ridgeline overlooking the southern edge of the DMZ. The Operation was known as “Idaho Canyon.”

Third Battalion Third Marine Regiment was “battle hardened”, during four years of combat having suffered approximately 25% KIA with most everyone else wounded in some capacity or another. Two Marines from India Company 3/3 received the “Congressional Medal Of Honor” posthumously.

Cliff’s orders: “Search and Destroy”. His unit patrolled, directly attacked, and ambushed infiltrators as they attempted to move south across the DMZ, also defending against direct PAVN infantry, mortar, and artillery attacks. The Battalion’s nemesis was the 324 B NVA Division, and Cliff has many moments seared into his memory as his Unit contested North Vietnamese control of an area south of the Ben Hai River south of the DMZ.

Late in the evening of 5 September 1969, and early the next morning, the PAVN attacked as Cliff’s Company was entrenched in fighting holes in its’ night defensive perimeter. (No barbed wire, only fox holes). The Company-Sized Attack was directed at Cliff’s Platoon but was repulsed. Cliff and several of his Sergeants policed the battlefield in the morning and took three PAVN soldiers prisoner, all between 14 and 16 years of age, who had received only one month's training before being sent into combat. They had advanced to approximately 15 meters in front of Cliff’s platoon’s fighting holes, armed with AK 47s and RPGs. One was gut shot and dying; the other two unscathed. Cliff interrogated them before they were returned to Division HDQTRS.

On 10 September 1969, in the morning, during a three-day cease fire in observance of Ho Chi Min’s death, First Platoon walked into a U-shaped ambush. Cliff’s Unit Commander observed the NVA in their Pith Helmets running across the Company’s designated Night Pause the night before but was not allowed to engage them with artillery in observance of the Cease Fire. The enemy had no intention of observing this Cease Fire, however, using the time and circumstance to carefully prepare their ambush.

As First Platoon moved out of the perimeter on patrol in the early morning hours of the next day, their point man inadvertently tripped a “defensive trip flare “ set out by the Marines the night before and dove for cover thinking he had triggered a booby trap; not so, and all the Marines laughed at him for apparently overreacting. The patrol proceeded another 100 yards or so, however, and Cliff then heard and saw a huge explosion of what turned out to be a Chinese Claymore Mine triggering an NVA ambush which killed that same Point Man.

Cliff can still visualize the huge plume of smoke rising from the initial point of contact and hear the cacophony of the AK 47s as they opened up on the Marines. All hell broke loose, and a day long battle ensued. Cliff reports that “all the NVA died in place”, fighting to the end and demonstrating great courage.

Cliff’s Third Platoon was ordered to protect the rear during this battle to repel any attacks which might come from that direction as other Company elements directly engaged the enemy ambush site to the front. Cliff can still hear the “zip” of a round that just missed his head as he was moving with his radio operator to direct rear defensive perimeter defense. Idaho Canyon cost the Third Marine Regiment twenty-four dead and seventy-four wounded.

When the Regiment was pulled out of Vietnam on or about 7 October 1969, Cliff was transferred south to the First Marine Division and assigned to Lima Company, Third Battalion, Twenty-Sixth Marine Regiment where he became the Executive Officer of Lima and, for one major operation, the Acting Company Commander. He went out on patrols by day, ambushes by night, and by night used Starlite Night Scopes from Hill 190 (Strong Point north of Da Nang) to spot and call in mortars and artillery on infiltrating enemy crossing the rice paddies below.

As Acting Company Commander in early 1970, Cliff conducted a Cordon and Search Operation of the Village of Ap Loc Hua to find a reported unit of 30 NVA Sappers. He had about 150 Marines under his command as the Company moved in the night and cordoned off the Village in the early morning hours. Didn’t find one Sapper the next day; but the Sappers found Cliff’s Company at nightfall; a night long battle ensued with grenades being the weapon of choice so as not to disclose unit and individual positions in the deep thick elephant grass. In March 1970, the Twenty-Sixth Marine Regiment was redeployed from Vietnam to the States.

Cliff was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in the Spring of 1970. Initially assigned to 1st Marine Division Headquarters in Da Nang after the Twenty-Sixth Regiment redeployed to the States, Cliff’s newly assigned duty involved the preparation and delivery of the Commanding General’s Daily Brief for the first Marine Division. Cliff immediately sought reassignment from the Rear back to the Field. After a month of this “Rear Echelon Duty” his request was granted. Cliff then became a Team Leader with the First Reconnaissance Battalion, First Marine Division, commanding 4 long-range reconnaissance patrols deep behind enemy lines before returning to the States.

Cliff left active duty in August 1971 to attend Georgetown University Law School in Washington, D.C. where he was awarded a Housemaster Fellowship for which all room board and tuition expenses were paid, upon the condition that Cliff provide “oversight” of about 15 Resident Assistants and 500 students while attending Law School. Cliff reports that this was almost worse than Viet Nam. He was the last Student Housemaster at Georgetown University. While attending the Law Center (1972 – 1975), Cliff was attached to a Marine Corps Reserve Unit.

Upon graduating from Georgetown Law, Cliff practiced law in D.C. until he moved to Denver in 1976 where he was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Marine Corps Reserve. He continued his service with the Marine Corps Reserve in Denver as Officer in Charge of several Units, a Photo Imagery Intelligence Unit as well as a Marine Air Base Squadron Detachment. He also graduated from a six-month Naval Intelligence School at Lowry AFB in Denver in 1977, obtaining an additional Intelligence MOS.

From 1986 to 1990, Cliff was an Instructor of the Law of Armed Conflict with a Reserve Augmentation Unit Mobile Training Team headquartered in Washington D.C. In this capacity he instructed at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island where he was also an Instructor in “Operations” after his deployments to Bosnia during the Balkan Wars. Cliff also graduated from the Naval War College (Reserve Course), the Army War College, and the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo, Italy.

Cliff was mobilized by the Marine Corps to active duty many times. He served in Desert Shield/Desert Storm, the Balkan War, and the “Military To-Military” Contact Program in Eastern Europe following the end of the Cold War. He prosecuted court martial cases at Quantico, was an Instructor in Leadership at the Estonian Defense Academy in 1993 and served as a Senior European Command Military To Military Contact Officer on missions to Estonia, Lithuania, Albania, Macedonia, Romania, and Hungary. He was also involved in the development of the Marshal Center in Germany in 1983.

In 1994 Cliff served as Senior European Command Liaison Officer to the United Nations Command in Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina, during the Balkan War; and in 1994-1995 was the Senior Chief of the (EUCOM) Military Liaison Team to the Republic of Slovenia. In 1996 Cliff served as Senior EUCOM Military Liaison Officer to NATO in Sarajevo, during the Dayton Peace Accord peace implementation process. In 1999 Cliff retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a full Colonel (06) with approximately 12 years accumulated active duty and thirty years of reserve service.

His Awards and Decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal (Oak Leaf Cluster), Naval Commendation Medal with Combat V, Combat Action Ribbon, Gold Medal of the Slovenian Army, Navy Unit Commendation with Star, Meritorious Unit Citation, National Defense Service Medal with Star, Vietnamese Service medal with four Bronze Stars, Selective Marine Corps Service Medal (4th Award), Armed Forces Reserve Medal with Hour Glass Device (2nd Award), Republic of Viet Nam MUC with Gallantry Cross with Palm, Republic of Viet Nam MUC Civil Action Color, 1st Class, Republic of Viet Nam Campaign Medal with Device, Overseas Service Medal, United Nations Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Award.

From the desk of John Duskey '63

When I arrived at Marquette University in September 1963, I already had a positive impression of the City of Milwaukee, acquired on a tour with a Campion student who was older and wiser than I. (see CF July 2015) and was happy to live in this city. I had a small room in Monitor Hall, about half the size of a room in Lucey Hall. It had bunk beds and two desks. My roommate and I didn’t have much space to spare. The dorm was across 16th street from the Engineering building, where half of my classes were held. I took courses in English, Engineering Graphics, Speech, Calculus, Theology, and Chemistry.

The English course was simply Rhetoric and Composition; the teacher was a graduate assistant who, I heard, was the daughter of the chairman of some other department—and she was an excellent teacher. The course really met my needs. Calculus, Chemistry and Graphics were the standard courses for freshmen in the Mechanical Engineering program in which I was enrolled. I especially benefited from the speech course, as the teacher, Mr. Driessel, was also the University Debate coach. He invited me to join the Debate team, which I gladly did, knowing that it met a need, one which I didn’t have enough time to meet at Campion. I remained on the debate team for a year and a half, until I had sufficient confidence in my abilities.

I had chosen to go to Marquette because, among other reasons, the university had a concert band, which I was eager to join. Band practice was held three times a week at the Odd Fellows Temple on 10th street, an old building that Marquette had rented for this purpose. It was scheduled for demolition as freeway construction continued. The band Director, William Geisheker, worked for the University in the afternoons of those three days. The other two days he taught Music at Dominican College in Racine. This was a surprise to me, because at Campion we had about 580 students and we had a full time Band Director. Marquette was a University (from which one might expect a universe of knowledge) and had something like 20 times the number of students, yet only a part time band director.

I played the E-flat Tuba, which I had previously played in my senior year at Campion. One of the highlights of all my years at Marquette was our performance of the Finale of Dvorak’s New World Symphony in our 1963 pre-Christmas concert at Brooks Memorial Union.

Those who know US History will remember what a troubled time we, as a nation, had in November that year. I was on a weekend Ignatian retreat at the Jesuit Retreat house in Oshkosh Thursday evening through Sunday of that tragic weekend. The Friday morning conference told us how any of us could die at any moment. When we reconvened for the Friday afternoon conference our retreat master, Fr. John Naus, told us that President Kennedy had been assassinated. The news shocked and saddened us, even though we had the best possible preparation for the news. Classes were canceled for the three class days before Thanksgiving break; our next classes were held on December 2. In Calculus class, Prof. Branovan had scheduled a test for that date, but he decided not to give the test because of the lost class time. When I spoke with him, he told me not to mess up the final, and that he would then give me an A. I actually did mess up the final, but he gave me an A anyway.

In the spring semester, my Theology teacher was Fr. Ed McCarthy, who had previously taught me in sophomore year at Campion. At Marquette, I still enjoyed his class. I signed up for Debate Conference, which accompanied my work on the Debate team. I added German I to my program, which took me up to 20 credit hours. During this semester I started to pay more attention to the Band’s problems, knowing that the best interests of the University would require some greater support and stability in that program. As band members, we were all going to home basketball games at the Milwaukee Arena. The team was not doing very well, and at the end of the season, Coach Eddie Hickey was fired, and a new coach, Al McGuire, was hired for the 64-65 season.

At the end of the year, during the election of new Band Officers, there was some controversy over misappropriation of money from a ‘slush fund” and the ballots had to be re-counted so that we could elect a new president, whom I trusted and who was very patient with me. For sophomore year I completed my Calculus requirement, and took German, Physics, Theology, Economics, Organic Chemistry, and I still had room for one more course. As I was walking near Brooks Memorial Union, I happened to meet Fr. Walter Halloran, who had been my religion teacher at Campion. The result of this conversation was that I signed up for History, as Fr. Halloran told me it would be an easy B. I was not taking courses on the standard list for Mechanical Engineers, but I had some doubt about whether that should be my career choice.

During my sophomore year, I started to take more interest in the Band’s problems. In talking with the Director, Mr. Geisheker, I knew he would be on board with some improvements, but because of his limited time available, it seemed that I would have to do much of the work myself, keeping him informed of my activities. I used my spare time in the evenings visiting band members in their apartments and dorm rooms. I listened to their concerns. For me, it was difficult to state exactly who taught me leadership skills; I know I had learned a lot of this by watching student leaders at Campion, though this did not necessarily come from my experience in ROTC.

In this series of interviews, I came up with a list of projects that needed to be addressed:
1. A new place to practice. We know that the Odd Fellows Temple would be torn down soon, even as the University business office didn’t have this on the top of their list of priorities.
2. New Band uniforms. We had been wearing Navy ROTC uniforms that dated back as far as World War II. We needed a new look.
3. Credit for our study of music associated with our work in Band. (I had taken Debate Conference, and I understood how the students felt.)
4. Some improvement for the status of our Band Director. “Mr. G” had been working on a limited schedule, and a very limited budget, both in his salary and in purchases for equipment.

I was elected President of the Band in spring 1965, and served two years in that office. We had some progress in all of the above areas, and some of the projects were completed. For a while, it seemed that I was working on everything at once. But there was a lot of success as time went on.

1. When the business office got official notification from the Odd Fellows, they assigned Mr. Martin Casey to work with me on the task of getting us a new home. We looked at every possible place, but there was no clear cut answer. Then they announced that the Journalism College would be moving two blocks north to a former women’s dorm and they had planned to tear down their former home, called Copus Hall, at the corner of 13th and Michigan. I’d have to give Mr. Casey credit for suggesting that Copus Hall would be turned over to the band. The building included space for offices, music library, and a slightly larger room which could be used for small groups and sectional rehearsals. There was also space for social interaction. We had full practices twice a week in the Brooks Memorial Student Union. Band members didn’t seem to mind walking a block west to the Union building.

It was at this point that two of my friends and close associates, Paul Pepin and Bob Quatman, assembled a group they called the Marquette University Jazz Ensemble. They invited me to join, but I had neither the time nor the performance skills to become an asset to that group. We were pleased to have them perform at our regular concerts.

2. All this time I had been in regular contact with two important administrators at Marquette: Jim Bie, who was in charge of fund raising, and Sebastian Helfer, who had the task of turning some of the former slum properties within the boundaries of the Marquette Campus, into a unified, respectable and, in fact, beautiful campus.

My first step was to enlist the help of Mr. Casey of the business office to see if the University could supply funds for the purchase of new uniforms. We even had Business Manage Mr. Roy Kallenberger advocating for us. We had a meeting with Fr. Raymond McAuley, VP for Business and Finance, but no funds were available. However, behind the scenes, something happened. The new basketball coach, Al McGuire, went on record as a supporter of the band, and he had some contacts with “money people” who wanted to ensure that things went well for the basketball program. New uniforms were purchased, just in time for Tipoff Weekend, marking the start of the basketball season. Some of our members were pictured, in full color, on the front page of the Milwaukee Sentinel that Saturday morning.

3. Credit for the study of music was the furthest thing from the minds of the Marquette Administration when I started to promote the idea. By that time, we were on campus and working to make ourselves a real part of the University. The College of Liberal Arts had courses in Music appreciation, but those courses were simply not on the same level as regular college-level Music courses. In my various conversations with administrators I had mentioned the possibility of having at least a minimal program that could go as far as a minor in Music. This didn’t happen. However, I was successful in gaining approval of a new sequence of four courses under the Fine Arts title, for the musical literature that band members were studying. I was told about this after a meeting of the university’s Academic Senate in fall 1966; the approval was effective in the spring semester 1967, just in time for me to have the course appear on my transcript, when my Mechanical Engineering degree was awarded. I assume, but I was never told, that this involved granting a specific title to Mr. Geisheker, with some sort of additional remuneration.

4. As for the position of Band Director, there were some developments while I was at Marquette. The Jazz Ensemble had developed a close relationship with Dr. Nick Contorno, who had become their director. Thus it seemed there was some sort of plan to be developed for continuity. Later on, I remember hearing that some students had expressed their concern to the administration that Mr. G was unaware of the retirement benefits that were available to him. (I can’t say whether this was true or not, but it certainly was a clever way for them to bring that issue to the administration’s attention.)

Meanwhile, I finished my work on a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree and an M.S. in Materials Science. I was at UCLA from fall 1968 to summer 1970, and during those years I had nothing to do with the Band. However, when I returned in 1970, I suggested, at a Band officers meeting, that the Band should provide some kind of break, instead of continually playing Ring Out Ahoya. I cited the UCLA custom of inserting an “8-clap” cheer between two verses of their fight song, Sons of Westwood. This discussion resulted in the suggestion that the crowd should shout “Go Marquette Go” between verses of Ring Out Ahoya. As far as I know, they are still doing that at basketball games. (I have written more about my years at UCLA in other places.)

Another event that was helpful to the cause of Music at Marquette was the donation of a Carillon to the university by Mrs. John C. Dwan, who was obviously interested in the Fine Arts, and Music in particular. This meant that Marquette needed to have someone assigned as the University Carillonneur. Mr. Geisheker served as Carillonneur from 1967 until his death in 1998. Prof. Mark Konewko has held that position since that time.

As far as my suggestions for a music program that would lead to a minor in music, that proposal hit a dead end in the College of Liberal Arts. But two decades later, the University decided to move the Music program to the College of Communication, and the program was expanded to the point where it was just about the same as what I had earlier proposed. Today the program also includes a Carillon Discovery course and courses in Wind Band History, the Business of Music, the History of Jazz, History of the Musical in America, and Music Technology. For a complete description, see https://www.marquette.edu/music and select “about the minor” I have been to concerts, which are now held in the Varsity Theater, and I can report that the work of Dr. Janners, the director, and the student-musicians is excellent If you have a chance, go to one of their concerts.

Nor everything I did or promoted was successful. When I was President, some other student-leaders came to me with the message that they wanted to have a parade to state their support for our troops who were fighting in Vietnam. You may recall that, at that time, the war was very unpopular among the general public, including many students. But I saw this parade, not as an endorsement of Lyndon Johnson’s policies, but as a simple statement of support for the soldiers who were suffering and dying in that war. I was happy to have the band join that effort. Unfortunately a noticeable number of Band members did not show up for the parade. I thought they misunderstood the purpose of the parade. But, in any case, I believe I did the right thing.

Some people believe that I had a difficult relationship with the two Jesuits who were the powerful leaders of the university at that time, Fr. John Raynor, President, and Fr. Robert Gassert, dean of Liberal Arts. Now I knew that Fr. Gassert had taught at Campion, 1949-51. I was always able to have a friendly conversation with him. One time, when Patrick Nugent (Campion’61) was about to marry Lyndon Johnson’s daughter, I saw Fr. Gassert on the sidewalk in front of Johnston Hall. He told me that both Fr. Raynor and his Assistant Dean, Fr. Michael Sheridan (Campion Faculty 1958-61) were invited to the wedding, and that he was just going to stay home and pout. I had a somewhat difficult relationship with Mr. Sheridan when he was my English teacher at Campion. However I got to know him better at Marquette as we worked on some projects together and had a mutual friend or two. He died in 1978 and I suggest prayers for the repose of his soul.

Anyone who was a friend of Fr. Gassert was also a friend of Fr. Raynor’s. I didn’t have to be told this. When all was said and done, when I ended my studies at Marquette, Fr. Raynor gave me a special appointment to Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit Honor Society. There was no better way of saying thank you for my efforts. In any case, those accomplishments came from a variety of sources: Those who gave money, services, equipment, and especially the carillon deserve special thanks. The students in the band by their enthusiastic support helped make this all happen.

VOLUME 25 • CHAPTER 3 • July 2025

Memoirs