Frank Cheers, the son of Eloise Sutton Cheers ’70 wrote a gratifying letter to the Alumnae Association last summer, lauding the talents of a number of A.O.L. alumnae he has known over the years. Among them is Joan Dressel Temple ’52, mother of Celine, who was Frank’s 2nd grade teacher at St. Ethelreda School. Frank thinks Joan did a terrific job of raising Celine, who, he says, “was the first adult, other than family members, who took an interest in me personally.”

Terry McCartin ’73, Frank recalls, was the school nurse at St. Ethelreda when he was a pupil there. As a
member of her school “health club,” he learned the importance of eating healthful foods: “When I was training for the Chicago Marathon several years back, in the back of my mind I could hear Terry telling me to eat my carrots.”

Cathy Deegan Seibt ’64 and JoAnne Duschinsky Collins ’69 taught Frank at Brother Rice High School. Cathy taught Spanish, nudged Frank into working harder when necessary and later, in his first year of teaching at Rice, mentored him. In high school JoAnne was Frank’s Student Council advisor, always helpful.

Mary Gately Berg ’69 is the mother of Mary Alice Berg, a friend Frank met while a student at Marquette University. While conversing one day, Mary Alice and Frank learned that they knew a lot of the same people on Chicago’s South Side. Peggy Gately, Mary Alice’s aunt, was an A.O.L. classmate of Frank’s mother.

Frank enjoyed the wry humor expressed by Mary T. Burke ’72 and her sister Peg Burke ’75 whenever they shared time traveling downtown via Metra’s Rock Island line.

Audell Adams ’67 and Eloise Cheers, after growing up together in St. Raphael’s parish in Englewood, have
supported each other through the years. When Eloise’s mother, Emma Canada, died in 2008, Audell continued that support, as did Debra Vernon Baxter ’70.

Frank sums it up: “You Longwood Ladies have been such a rich part of my life since the beginning. I’m sure each woman I know would have turned out well had you not gone to A.O.L., but I think that attending A.O.L. helped make you an ‘extraordinary’ bunch.”