A Bad Day For a First Grader – September of 1925

In the year of Our Lord nineteen-hundred and twenty five, during the presidency of Calvin Coolidge, at a time when only 15% of the population owned a car, a time so long ago that home air conditioning was unheard of, a young girl named Marjorie Riblet began her first year of schooling at St. Vincent De Paul Catholic School in Elkhart, Indiana.

Her day did not get off to a good start.

As her first ever school day started, she found herself trembling and feeling overwhelmed with with what we today might call sensory overload. Just too much going on! Trying not to panic, she asked her teacher to go to the lavatory. (Yes, the standard request back then was, “Teacher, may I please go to the lavatory?”) Once she was out in the hallway, the quiet was comforting and calming. She went in and out of the restroom and then just before turning towards her classroom, she her eyes were drawn to the front door of the school with warm golden light shining through it. It beckoned to her. An escape!!! So she followed her instinct and snuck out of the building. Being only seven years old, once she got outside she didn’t know where to go or what to do. So she walked up to the curb of the street out front and sat down. Then she started sobbing.

The Power of Kindness

After a few minutes, a man approached her. He seemed to come out of nowhere and sat down next to her. He was not angry or cross. He was calm and concerned. They had a great conversation. He got her to talk about what was troubling her. He got her to relax and laugh. Then suddenly her teacher – a nun in full habit – realized that Marjorie was missing! After a frantic search of the school building, she burst out the front doors and hurried to the Main Street curb where the little Marge was sitting. That is when Little Marjorie learned that the kindly man was actually Fr. Francis Jansen, the pastor of the parish. He wasn’t wearing his clerics because he had not yet gotten ready for work. He was still drinking coffee in his rectory when, through his window, he saw a little girl wander out of the school. The story ends well. Little Marjorie went back into school with her teacher and began to adjust. After the first week, she felt relaxed and at home and ended up liking the school quite well.

Still Resounding Nearly 100 Years Later

Little Marjorie, or Marge as I called her, told me this story in 2013, exactly 88 years after it occurred. That’s quite an impactful conversation she had with Fr. Jansen! Marge’s son was my friend, and he had died an untimely death a couple years before. After the funeral, since she was still living alone with no living children, I would go every Thursday afternoon at 4:00 pm in the two years immediately following her son’s death to sit with her and enjoy her stories along with a couple of fingers of our favorite scotch, Johnny Walker Black! She was 95 years old when she shared this story with me. Soon thereafter she started to decline and moved to a nursing home where it was more challenging to find a good time to drink scotch and listen to stories from her. Johnny Walker just doesn’t work too well in the mornings! Eventually she passed away a few months before her 97th birthday in 2015.

Besides being a charming little story that took place among the old parish buildings that still stand today, how did that encounter between a parish priest and a seven year old echo throughout time? Well, Marjorie ended up very happy in school. She carried that positive experience with her throughout her entire life. But there’s more. Her son was very wealthy when he died. He gave most of his fortune to the Elkhart County Community Foundation, but reserved a significant gift to the parish in honor of his mother. A very sizable gift I am told. All because of a kindness shown to her by a man devoted to God who had no thought whatsoever of getting anything in return.

Maybe we should all strive to treat people like Fr. Jansen treated Little Marjorie.