Class of 1970 turns forty

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“One day in eighth grade,” Lymon Hall ’70 recalled. “I was called out of class by Fr. Damian [the headmaster]. He told me he was going to take me to my mom and dad.”

Hall’s father had suffered a stroke the year before. But Hall had no idea that, earlier on this day, his father had passed away.

“Over the course of the car ride,” Hall said, “Fr. Damian prepared me and then passed along the news as gently as he could.”

“I don’t remember much about the specifics because my head was spinning,” he added, “but I knew that Fr. Damian cared deeply for me and wanted to help me through it the best he could.”

Cistercian was so small in the early days that each member of the early classes was personally tested for admission by Fr. Damian and Fr. Melchior. The priests dined with many of the families in their homes. The bonds were strong.

The form master system that the Cistercians imported from their Hungarian schools only added to the personal touch.

“The form master created a fatherly type relationship,” said Peter Kurilecz ’70, “that one can go to at any point, not just while you’re at Cistercian, but long after.”

During their reunion this past fall, Fr. Melchior played a key role.

“We were very close to ‘Frank,’” emphasized Johnson. (Fr. Melchior was nicknamed Frank because of his fondness for saying, “Let me be frank with you boys.”)

The reunion would not have been complete without him.

“It really energized Fr. Melchior,” confirmed Williams. “He was in great spirits.”