By Michael J. Johnson
The halls of Saint Mary’s Home rang with the boisterous din of voices of former residents and their families during the reception prior to the Mass on June 27.
Susan Gregg Young and her three sisters called the facility home from 1954 until 1965. Bishop J. Kevin Boland read from her e-mail during the homily. Young and her sister Diane Addis spoke fondly of their time at the home.

See the audioslide show  and listen to excerpts from the interview.

Susan spoke of the day their parents dropped them off, “Eddie Robinson and Mildred were in the kitchen and when we walked in they just surrounded us with their arms and we felt at home.”

“Our day began at five when we got up to get ready for Mass,” said Addis.
After Mass there were chores to do — either helping to cook or preparing the dining hall. After breakfast there were dishes to be washed. “It was like being in a big family,” said Mary Distefano Hayes who was a resident at the same time as the Gregg sisters.

Addis commented, “So many memories come rushing back as I walk through this building. We went up to the ‘Yellow Dormitory’ and saw our lockers.”

Hayes added, “They were so small,” holding up her hands to indicate a width of about 18 inches. “Our clothes had to be hung just so or folded neatly on the shelves. The nuns inspected them.”

Diane added that “the beds had to have hospital corners.”

“The sisters let us slide down the fire escape chutes,” said Hayes. The chutes spiral down from the second floor to the ground. With glee in her voice Addis said, “We would sit on wax paper and slide down, dropping to the ground and then have to crawl back up on our hands and knees. As more and more girls came down, the slicker the chute would get and the harder it would be to get back up.”

“The girls from Blessed Sacrament School (who) we went to school with would want to come here because we had so much fun.”, said Young.

“We were loved and we were disciplined. This was home. This is where we grew up — it was a home away from home,” concluded Addis.