Sister Gertrude Marie, RSM

 Sister Gertrude Marie, RSM

 My Junior High School Principal

 Merion Mercy Academy

 Merion, PA

 1967- 1970

I remember her as being very old, maybe 65 years old. I know she lived to be 94 and so she was not as old as I thought she was back then. But I viewed her as a mean, old bitch. She was tall and stood with a formidable presence. When she entered the room, we jumped up and stood in respect. She was in charge. She knew it. We know it and we did as we were told.

She had a human side to her which she showed from time to time, just enough to lure our affection towards her. But we all knew, even if these moments, not to mess with her.

One time our English teacher, Mrs. Zappacosta gave us a test on a day that we were having an assembly and a mass. That meant our class time was cut in half but the test wasn’t. And so, we all failed miserably. Rather than speak to us, Mrs. Zappacosta gave the test to Sister Gertrude Marie who was furious with our results.

The next day Gert charged into class and handed out the test to us, one by one, announcing our dreadful scores and shaming us publicly. We were humiliated but too frightened to defend ourselves.

 “You do not earn grades like that in this school,” she told us, “in this school, we are serious about our academics. if you continue to fail like this, you may as well just go to public school. I will not come back and do this again. Do I make myself clear!”

 We nodded in shame and fear and Mrs. Zappacosta smugly started a lesson for the day.

Thirty years later I attended a reunion at the high school. There was Sister Gertrude Marie. She was now in her 90s. She was no longer a tall woman. She stooped over and had to look up at to see us. She was nearly bald and wore round eye glasses that made her look like a bug. Her mind was still sharp and she remembered us. She wanted to hear of our successes and so we brag about our careers and families and accomplishments.

“Well I have something to brag about to you,” she told us, “I have been a member of AA for 15 years. I’m very proud of.”

That announcement stunned me and I pretended I didn’t quite hear it right. When we got back to the table, all of us admitted we were stunned. “When was she an alcoholic? Did you think she ever come to school drunk? Did the other nuns had to cover up for her? Did anybody have any suspicions? Do you think that other teachers were alcoholics? Do you think that’s why she was so stern? Did we drove her to drink?  Is that why she left?”

This news put a damper on the evening. While I never liked most of my teachers, I held them to a certain, higher standard. I never saw them as human beings who could be so flawed.

 Of course, I called my older sister immediately to share my gossip. My sister loved Gert.

 “Maybe you heard her wrong,” she said defensively. “Maybe she said she was a member of AAA.”

 “Kathy, nobody brags about being a member of AAA. She said she was a member of AA”.

 Kathy agreed and then began to offer some excuses as to why this nun slipped into alcoholism.

“You know she is French and they drink a lot of wine. Maybe she just drank wine and wasn’t an alcoholic but just joined before it got away from her. I know my classmates’ families often give the nuns a lot of wine. Maybe it just got away from her a little bit. I don’t think she was a full-blown alcoholic. Do you?” she asked hoping for me to say I agree.

I don’t know how severe Sister Gertrude Marie’s drinking problem was. But I do know that her announcement was just one more moment in time that showed me life isn’t always what it seems.

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