LEAVING HOME
I left home in the fall of 1951 at the age of 13 to go to St. Bonaventure in Milwaukee. I did get to come home for a week at Christmas and a little over 2 months of summer vacation.
The trips to Milwaukee were difficult for both me and Mom. I recall it was Mom who drove me to the train station in Berlin, WI. It was near the river and not too far from main street . It became a candy shop in later years. It was a mail train that stopped in every town. Chugging along belching smoke.
It was a sad time for me. I hated leaving home but felt that I made a commitment and somehow would make it work. I was very home sick at least my first two years Freshman year was the worst of course The train ride was exciting in ins own way and terrifying for a boy my age who had never traveled alone before. I remember passing through towns whose names I have since forgotten. I guess what is most vivid in my mind were the Christmas trips when there was a lot of snow and ice. The train was warm but the scenery was stark. When I got to Milwaukee I had a nearly 3 hours as I remember before catching the train to Sturtevant and St Bonaventure. I spent that time walking to the Milwaukee museum just a few blocks away. It must have been free at least for kids I visited the museum every trip to Milwaukee. It was my time killer and I found it interesting. Of course being a worry wort, I always had to rush back to the train station so I wouldn’t miss my train to school. I remember one trip I was sitting in the station and was approached by a man who started asking a lot of questions about why I was there. If I remember right he identified himself as an FBI agent. I had to explain that I was in my way to school after some time he told me to go. I am sure he was looking for run-aways even back in 1952. I made it to school of course but those were hard days. I was much too young to be separated from my family. The church doesn’t do that anymore thank God but it was the 50’s and the church lived in the middle ages and in a lot of ways still does. Thank God it was safer then. 13 year olds try that today and they go missing for years.
I graduated in 1955 and entered the monastery taking a new name (Brother Kennan). The monastery was tough and after a year and a half I decided to stop studying to be a priest but stayed on working in the Franciscan printery in Pulaski WI. I foolishly extended my vows another three years.
LIVING IN PULASKI, WI
Then I had to stay until August of 1960. I left under difficult circumstances. I was not liked very much by the men in charge and I felt they were all a little bit wacko. If you recall 1960 was a year of religious fanaticism. The Fatima secret was to be revealed and some priests in our monastery thought it would be the end of the world. When I disagreed publicly I sealed my fate. It was the end of my monastic world and the beginning of my army world. My biggest regret was spending all those years in the monastery and the army so far from my family.
I could not go home all those years in the monastery and they always read my mail and if they didn’t like it they tossed it out. Marilyn said she wrote to me many times but I never got the letters. They were really a paranoid group. Of course then I ended up out in California and that meant even more family separation. Thank God for the telephone and email. At least it is easy to keep in touch now.
THE MONASTERY
The Franciscans turned me into the draft board when I left, and I got a draft notice in less than a month. I did shoot at crows in the monastery. They gave me a shot gun, and told me to chase them away. There were about 100 of them that use to disrupt morning meditation with their noise racket. The cawing drove the priests nuts. I think I actually did kill a couple of them, the crows that is.
The garden incident was over radishes I took without permission. Someone saw me and reported it. The monastery was full of spies. I got two weeks extra prayer time for that one from midnight to two AM. Since we got up at 5, I lost a lot of sleep. The best part is they had someone check on me so they lost sleep also.
IN THE ARMY NOW
I was assigned to Kagnew Station, Eritrea (was called Ethiopia then) in January of 1962. We left Ft. Dix New Jersey, landed in Newfoundland, Shannon Ireland, London, Berne Switzerland and spent 3 days in Athens recuperating. Athens to Cairo, Cairo to an emergency landing somewhere in the Sudan (dirt runway) with engine problems. Took off and lost two engines but made it to Addis Abba for repairs. Spent two days in Addis and took off, only to return again after another engine failed about 5 minutes after take off. I prayed a lot on that trip. After repairs, we finally made our final destination of Asmara. I spent a two full years there. Returned four days after Kennedy (November 64) was killed, via Athens, Rome, Madrid, New York and then home. All cities except Athens were airport stops.
I went back to California but left Petaluma after Dad’s death for Sinop, Turkey in January of 1965. By this time jumbo jets were in service and if I recall correctly my flight was San Francisco to London non stop, then to Istanbul for a full day. Then a Turkish prop plane to Samsun, Turkey. There I transferred to a U.S. Army 5 passenger Beaver single engine and got the ride of my life over Turkish mountain ranges to Sinop, Turkey. I spend 13 months there and returned as a Staff Sergeant E-6 back to Petaluma, California in February of 1966.
I was discharged at the Presidio, San Francisco in November 1966 after 6 years of active duty. The Vietnam War was in full swing and by the grace of God I missed it. So did Jim and Dan. We are a lucky family.
Ralph
When Ralph left for the seminary, I was very upset. I cried and cried and cried and cried some more. As we went into the building to take Ralph in, the priest tried to comfort me by telling me it would be ok. I did not believe him and continued with the crying. I could not understand why others were not equally upset as I knew I would never see him again.
As a young child it seems that I was confusing “seminary” with “cemetery.”