1962 - 1964: Novitiate, College Freshman
The summer of 1962 brought more adventures than ever before: a cross country train ride from Los Angeles to New York, a brief stay at Mount Mongola, a summer camp in the Catskills, and a bus trip from there to Don Bosco College in Newton, New Jersey. There I would enter the Novitiate, a year-long program to prepare with fellow novices to become Salesian Brothers. Years later I wrote a chapter of a book by former Salesians about this unique experience: Novitiate.
The Novitiate experience was so intense and controlled that it was easy to lose track of the rest of the world. I wrote home regularly and have inherited a letter to my dad in the fall of 1962. Mom and dad also sent pictures to keep me current with the rest of the family. As I was attending the Novitiate, Joyce was graduating from San Jose City College, Zoe was preparing to teach Catholic school, Mom was busy at the Monastery, and Dad continue working at FMC. Life after the Novitiate was like coming out of a cloud and entering a new world of the seminary college.
Joyce and Dad in Santa Clara; Joyce's graduation picture
Don Bosco College students, faculty, and staff 1963 - 1964
The realities of college seminary academics hit like a lightning bolt when the novices joined the college seminarians on the same campus down the hill. I remember the trauma of my first Latin class with Fr. Zuliani. He was determined to refresh our memories of Latin verbs when he started the class drilling each student, "Domine Collins, third person singular, present tense, passive voice, movere." If I didn't respond in a few seconds, I sat down, and he demanded a response from someone else. When the drill was complete, he required the English translation of last night's assigned passage: "Domine Collins, Rede Anglice eas lineas...
This trauma was soon followed by tragedy when we were shocked by the news of President Kennedy's assassination. We were busy moving books from the library in the old college building into the new library when it happened. After gathering for prayer in the chapel, we returned to our duties. When we returned to our moving activities, I thought of joining the library staff instead doing some other menial job on campus. When I applied, Fr. Sarnowski tested my skills by handing me several card catalog drawers filled with cards and a book of filing rules. A few weeks later, after he checked for my filing accuracy, I officially joined the staff.
Library staff 1963 - 1964
Thanksgiving Day was somber after Kennedy's assassination, but the focus on the annual Turkey Bowl (a flag football battle between Brothers from the East
and West Provinces) took center stage. The freshman joined the sophomores and upper classman to form a mighty team from the West. It would be several years before the East would win again. I kept a few pages of the 1963 - 64 college newspaper and yearbook with more pictures and stories.
Top row: Brothers Schulte, Lansford, McBride, Tom Jaso, Pena, Klemowitz, Waldie, Teurfs
Front row: Brothers Roberts, Vautier, Itzaina, Hassa, Fisher, McClure, Bill Jaso
In the spring we traveled to Washington DC to sing at the Basilica of tne Immaculate Conception and to visit the Capitol monuments including the gravesite of JFK with the eternal flame. I joined a group that stayed with a classmate's (Steve Higbee's) family. Steve's dad had special connections that gave use easy access to all the sites.
Somehow, I survived the academic rigors of my freshman year at DBC. Now I looked forward to joining the staff at Camp Don Bosco on the hill behind the college. I thought this would be a nice break from college life. Somehow during the school year, a few of us had crammed a crash course in NRA rifle skills to instruct campers to shoot .22's on the rifle range. I worked there for a few days before I was assigned to run the camp infirmary with a local retired high school teacher. We took care of cuts, bee stings, infections, pink eye, and a variety of other ailments. After one camper gorged himself on treats that his parents had dropped off on a visit, he came to the infirmary clutching his stomach while yelling, "Brother Jack, I think I'm going to..." as he threw up on my cassock (I was called 'Bro. Jack' because we had too many Brother Jim's). As the campers returned to their cabins at night, a long line would form at the infirmary for medicine and bandages. After a few days, the Camp Director became furious about the nightly ritual insisting that we were taking too long with the campers. He started administering cough syrup to everyone no matter what the complaint. I had to keep my cool because he was my superior and Education professor. The camp counselors were wearing out as the season progressed. My teacher/supervisor advised the traditional remedy: orange juice with a shot of terpin hydrate. This approximated a 'screwdriver' cocktail. Soon the counselors were lined up with the campers seeking sore throat medication. If they needed a longer break, they would ask me to tell their campers a bedtime story while they rested in the infirmary. I made up a pretty scary story the first time. At breakfast the next morning the counselor told me, "You need to lighten up the bedtime story. I had three 'Japanese flags' last night." The 'Japanese flag' was a bed wetting issue -- a wet mattress hung out to dry on the cabin's railing. Early in the camp season, the Camp Director became very upset when one of the campers referred to the punch being served as 'bug juice'. He lectured all the campers to never use that term. A few days later, one of the campers tripped and dumped a large pitcher of punch on the floor just as the Camp Director entered the dining room. Furiously and spontaneously, he yelled, "Who spilled the bug juice!" No one dared to laugh, but the counselors teased him the rest of the camp season. It was great comic relief after a very intense freshman year of college.
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1964 Camp Don Bosco Staff
More great Camp Don Bosco pictures and stories (Dominic Vautier)
As the camp season ended, I got word that my dad, mom, and sister, Joyce, were driving from California to visit after seeing relatives in South Dakota:
Aunts Marcella, Zita, and Dad's Aunt Senna; Aunts Senna, Fidelis, Grandma Collins, Aunts Zita and Marcella
Grandma Collins, Joyce, Mom with Cousins Tim and Patrick
This family visit would break a long tradition of most Brothers not seeing parents from California for five years (Novitiate and college years). I tried to keep the news quiet until they arrived. After showing my family around the grounds, we gathered a few of my classmates for a picture and shared some California news. About that time, exciting news had just leaked: Next summer all of us would be working in summer camps in California.
More great novitiate pictures and stories (Dominic Vautier)
Next: 1964 - 1967 Don Bosco College