Morning person

Journal – January 7, 2021

On the topic of being a morning person, I’ve never been one. Christi is; Rob is, but only recently. (Okay, well: In recent years, I’ve had to become the Most Morning person I’ve ever been. Whoppee! Below was written after the 2020 holidays – such that they were – had subsided and after months of COVID blahs. I have Brothers John and Eugene of MHS to thank for various pursuits and paths I have taken. They were secular Catholic brothers, the last of their kind at MHS, and lived in the adjacent rectory.)

Brother John’s classroom sanctuary

When I was roughly 17, mornings were highly entertaining. I would wake up downstairs, bring my stuff with me upstairs, and shower. Dad would have the “CBS Morning News” playing on the television in his bedroom/den area. 

After a quick word, we’d head for cereal at the table. Usually, breakfast during this time period (Woody in graduate school in Boston, Cynthia also away at IU) was a quick exchange with Sue-n-Jim before my dad left for the day, (unless it was a Wednesday, Student Council meeting day, when he’d drive me to Memorial High School at 7:25).

A Catholic school, Memorial had a dress code. Boys had to wear a button-down Oxford shirt, tie, and either khakis or five-pocket trousers. No denim. Girls were required to wear a regulation white blouse, and either a gray skirt or navy pants. A couple times a month, however, would be “alternate dress day.” This meant that the girls — untethered from uniformity — would dress up, while the boys were allowed to go without a tie.

When I arrived at Memorial, I would head to Brother John Stout’s English classroom which he left open as a “Before the First Bell” alternative to the din of the cafeteria. As you entered the room, classical music would be playing on his audio system (bonus: Brother had himself some glorious Advent loudspeakers). 

He’d be spinning some Mozart, Beethoven, Handel or Bach.

Brother John Stout, csc, hailed from Cairo, Illinois. Born in 1922, he served in the US Army Air Force and serving as staff sergeant in England with the 8th Air Force Headquarters, honorably discharged in 1945. He went to college right here in Austin at St. Edward’s University – which had ties to the same Catholic order as Notre Dame, Congregation of Holy Cross – congregatio sancta cruce. (In 1956 he would earn a master’s in English at Notre Dame.)

In the Fall of 1953 he returned to Reitz Memorial High School where he spent the next 55(!) years teaching English literature and writing courses to generations of Memorial Tigers until retirement in 2008. He died aged 94 in 2017.

What a life!

From his memorial: John was known for boundless enthusiasm for his subjects, and a knack for demanding and getting the very best out of his students. His good humor and vibrant personality made him popular with students, as well as their parents and grandparents — some of whom had also been taught by Brother John. For more than fifty years, the students of Reitz Memorial were lucky to have both Brother John and Brother Eugene Phillipp as their teachers. [A vast understatement.]

It was a great way to begin a morning.

You’d meet with your buddies and form up a polite, semi-quiet conversational pod of chairs dragged into a semi-circle. (If you had a quiz coming up, the room was peaceful enough to find a quiet corner to concentrate.)

Greg W and Jim and I met here before school all four years, as did the main gaggle of female friends; other buddies, Greg M, Mike R, Tom H, sometimes Mark and/or Mac, all come to mind as being Regulars.

(Bonus: You would not tie your tie until the very last second. This is key: walk in to Brother’s morning sanctuary at 7:38 a.m. wearing the untied tie around your neck; actually begin tying it at precisely 7:58:40).

On occasion, Brother would get involved with the conversation as well.

After the 8 a.m. bell it was time for 15-minute Homeroom, which was directly upstairs, before the schoolday began in earnest. I have fond memories of Coach Weinzapfel who was our homeroom lead, and talking music, all sorts, with Tammy Wagner (the name abbreviations ‘WAD’ and ‘WAG’ being assigned next to one another in homeroom), including both of us being totally excited about a song, “Controversy,” by this new guy, Prince.

I miss the order and routine of that era which is utterly lacking in my life, in Austin, and in the world this morning, Jan 7, 2021. These pages helped pull that out. 

Mornings at Memorial were excellent, with Eugene’s history and psychology lectures being college-level. Brother John’s English classes — and classroom sanctuary — were just as good. 

11 a.m. Epilogue – Found myself pulling on my Brooks Brothers button-down shirt with a crewneck sweater.