Brescia University - Brescian Yearbook (Owensboro, KY)

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milestones Every administrator, every executive, every president remembers people, events, and successes which have highlighted their terms of office. Sr. Joan Marie is no different. Visual reminders of President Joan Marie are manyg during the first year of her term she dedicated the Merici Hall Chapel complex. ln 1964, with the help of Sr. Joan Marie and the newly formed Board of Trustees, Brescia College raised over S500,000 from the Owensboro community, this money was to provide the necessary impetus for the construction of the Science Complex by 1968. Her building years were not over, and in 1970 Sr. Joan Marie dedicated the annex to the Administration Building. The first faculty academic procession d - con ucted in the dark - is well remembered. ln 1964, for the first time ever, the entire Brescia faculty appeared at the commencem t f en exercises in full academic regalia. ln the middle o a thunderstorm, they followed Sr. Joan Marie into the Sportscenter - and the lights went out. The graduating class was still outside and faculty was on stage in total darkness. Four cars drove into the Sportscenter and turned on their headlights. Commencement exercises continued on schedule and Sr. Joan Marie held the flashli ht t help announce the graduating seniors Forth f g o . e irst and last time in Brescia's history, the commencement speaker spoke without notes or interruption. Perhaps the highest obligation of Sr Joan M ' ' . arse s presidency was her responsibility to the founding principals of Brescia College. To cherish and uphold Brescia's philosophy - the ' ' ' revelat' - ' search for truth in the light of Christian ion is the hardest and most rewarding facet of her job. She hopes that the members of Brescia's community will continue to meet the w ld ' or in th light of our philosophy and make it a better place for having been a part of Brescia. -...J I fe, -. .,,.A A 4. Jr? , N fingfv ' v MA. ff? if .-Q' Ground-breaking for New Ft ' ' eceivlng Kentucky Colonel Dedication of Student Science Complex - 1964 Commission - 1964 Center A 99

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NS-f ... Sister Joan Marie Lechner could be called a precedent- setting president. She is certainly one of the few college presidents who began her term of office as a window washer. Before Sr. Joan Marie, Brescia had never had a president and there was no job description, she was forced to improvise. No one had told her she was to deliver a welcoming speecn to the Freshman class and while the freshmen were waiting for the president to appear, she was out washing windows. That she was able to leave her brush and pail, deliver the address, and then finish washing windows is indicative of the persistence with which she has accomplished her other presidential duties. From washing windows Sr. Joan Marie turned to building dedications, fund raising, recruiting an expanded board of trustees, and directing the continued physical and spiritual growth of the Brescia College community. Her last fling comes this year when Brescia College presents an honorary degree to Eunice Shriver, the first woman to receive an honorary degree from Brescia College - an event which Sr. Joan Marie has long desired. Growth, faith, problems, humor, people - all these elements characterized the fourteen years of Sr. Joan Marie's presidency. Faith, humor and people are paramount in her memories. From the first years of her term, Sr. Joan Marie has always tried to maintain an open door policy toward all members of the campus community. She credited her ability to overcome difficulties and to achieve successes to God's goodness and the supportive people who have consistently been around her. 98

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