April 19

April 19, 1975.

For some weeks before, there had been talk about the fate of the school. This conjecture about whether we would die or live to see another September seemed itself to come out of the blue. There must have been serious "talks" going on at high levels before, but 15 and 16 year old boys were not let in on them. Soon after the snow melted, however, we began to understand with terrible suddenness that the fate of our school was in the balance. And on April 19, 1975, we all received a letter from Father Lucey that the game was up, that the quest of a century would fail, and that we would be the last people to take Campion with us into the real world.

"Give Campion a boy...Get back a maniac," promised the slightly altered sign behind Lucey Hall. I was a sophomore when the school closed, so I guess the job was only half-finished with me then. The administration tried its best to accommodate those of us too young to graduate. The school arranged a prep school information fair for Mothers' Weekend, surely the saddest weekend in Campion's history. Like Lou and many others (thirty in all), I transferred to Bellarmine Prep in San Jose. (Hey, they told us it was on the beach!) I remember walking behind Xav Hall with the president of Bellarmine and telling him that I was very excited about the prospect of going to California, but that I was afraid of earthquakes. He pointed to the Missisippi, which was flooding campus and cried, "Earthquakes! You're worried about earthquakes?"

I recall the last few weeks of Campion as being very quiet, or at least filled with strange silences. We really felt insulated from the beautiful spreading green of spring. No one had taught us how to be the last people, so there were many times when we just didn't know what to say to each other.

We all survived it, and I guess now we are having a chance (thanks to email and the internet) to see Campion being reborn.

On Sat, 29 Apr 2000, Lou Rosenblate wrote:

Bob, here is a little of what I can remember about the last days of Campion:

It was early spring of 1975 and a frantic buzz of gossip went right through the school. We at that time were under the impression that there was two great forces fighting over should Campion remain open, or close at the end of the school year. We thought that there was a Jesuit faction pulling for us in Rome, and Fr.Arupe' trying to put us out of business. It was now early April and I came down with Chicken Pox and was quarantined to the rectory and then sent home to Chicago. After about three weeks I came back to the school to complete my courses. The school was in a panic and everyone knew that after graduation the place was to be closed down.

In a strange move; the faculty looked for juniors who had almost enough credits to graduate. By some quirk of fate I and about ten other juniors received diplomas. Now this was weird, my life and school was mirroring what was happening in Vietnam just a month before, where orphaned babies were frantically put on planes while the Viet Cong advanced on Saigon.

Now I know (many years later) that there was not a great battle over the life of Campion. The school was down in enrollment and was said to be loosing money; so it had to go. How short sighted they were. Education is always an investment in the future. Couldn't they have sold some of there frigging art; it wasn't as if the entire order was on the ropes. Now 25 years later I have many happy memories of Campion in Wisconsin, and Bellermine College Prep in San Jose, California where I had a real senior year. I think it is time for the classes of 1976, and 1977 who never got the chance to graduate at Campion to get some recognition. Let's find these guys. I think a little reunion is in order !! Feel free to E-Mail me with your thoughts.

Lou Rosenblate (class of '75, and doomed class of '76)

roancove@pacbell.net