Siena College - Saga Yearbook (Loudonville, NY)

Page 14 text:

ON MAY 29, 1947, The Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes was dedicated to the valor of the Siena war dead. As early as September 50, 1939, Siena Col- lege was approved as a Primary Flying School by the Civil Aeronautics Administration. Under this program ground training was offered to Civilian cadets 0n the Siena Campus and Hight instruction at Albany Airport. When the charter was formed on October 1, 1939, twenty students registered. In 1942, to meet the war- time emergency the program was extended to include a naval combat pilot course of study. The naval students and future Army radio technicians participated in this accelerated cur- riculum from 1942-1944. During these years Siena received the for- mal approval of Catholic University and was awarded membership in the Middle Atlantic States Association Of Colleges. The six year term of Ft. Cyprian Mensing, O.F.M., was con- cluded on July 51, 1943.

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nedy, O.F.M., as first Guardian. The .1 A first lay member of the faculty was 99 Mr. John R. Wilkinson, who taught accounting, and was later named .. Dean of the Business Division.During . ,. . ii i a t r the scholastic year of 1940-41, Dr. A ' 1e; Egon Plager and Dr. Albert Uffen- 9; ' heimer were engaged in the depart- 7 ments of Sociology and Biology, re- spectively. From the staff of seven . priests and one layman in 1937, the 1 faculty had increased to fifty members by the Fall of 1941. From the founding years, many in- cidents could be recalled which reHect the pioneering labors of the faculty, clergy and lay. The Loudonville Police were rushed to the Garret Estate in the first week of school in 1937, to in- vestigate the complaint of neighbors concerning men dressed in bathrobes. Occasional rat hunts in the original building gave zest to the dreary as- spects of education. Yet, in the Fran- ciscan spirit the smaller and friendlier animals, such as dogs and chickens, were tolerated, and many Friars adopted hobbies which involved the care and feeding of these creatures. As the fateful guns of Europe resounded about the world, an em- bryonic Franciscan college had been firmly established in Capitol District. The words of Bishop Gibbons had taken seed on this fertile spot 4 This college will stand for truth. THIS CORNERSTONE marks the beginning of the physical growth of Siena. AS REFLECTIONS of Divine Love, animals have always been welcomed by the Friars. THE CAFETERIA in Siena Hall served as a student center for the young college.

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Fr. Mark Kennedy, O.F.M., was appointed by the Provincial as the new president. Fr. Mark had previously been Lector of Sacred The- ology at St. Bonaventure College and had held the title of Lector Generalis, the highest distinction in the field of education that can be conferred by the Franciscan Order. The academic year was necessarily altered with the adoption of a temporarily accelerated curriculum. Three semesters of college work in each calendar year became the basis of this approach to the emergency. Because of limited enrollment only freshmen attended the day session; all other students were registered in the evening division. In 1943 registration declined to two hundred and' ninety- four. In the midst of the war, December, 1943, Fr. Maurus Fitzgerald, O.F.M., expressed poignantly the spirit of courage that pervaded the hearts of Siena men: Without our religion to strengthen us, it would be a terrific struggle to carry on in the face of such difhculties. We are consoled by the fact that we are not carrying our cross alone. With the knowledge that we are lighting for what we believe to be right, with a clear conscience, are we not captains of our souls? This was Siena; this was America in the war years. The growth of the College was intangible. The tradition was formed by her sons throughout the world. This crisis brought maturity to Siena men and to their College. SIENA GRADUATE, American serviceman, and casulty of Anzio Beach- head, Paul Gregware jests with the Friars. SERVICEMEN on leave often visited their former instructors.