Villa Duchesne

My sister and I never went to the same school at the same time. As a matter of fact, Seven Holy Founders (SHF) in Affton, Mo was the only school we ever had in common (we each did second and third grades there).
BTW - I've been calling my sister 'Kathy', because that's what she preferred to be called at the time. Her given names was Katherine. As a teenager she went by Keg (her initials) and the rest of her life (which ended at 40) she went by Karina.

So after Kathy spent the second and third grades at SHF my parents enrolled her in an elite Catholic girl's school called Villa Duchesne. It was one of those schools with riding stables, a large indoor swimming pool, tennis courts, etc. I'm sure my aunt Margarete was behind the change. At that time Margarete was the dean of an elite Catholic girl's school in Germany and it was after one of her visits to St. Louis that Kathy switched to Villa.

So while I was suffering through the first grade at Reavis, Kathy was in the fourth grade at Villa. Among her classmates there were Judy Switzer (of "Switzer's Licorice"), Janet (daughter of 'Stan the Man') Musial and a handful of other St. Louis notables. My parents loved it because they were very social people and Villa gave them access to a higher circle of 'friends'... Kathy didn't like it so much - she thought most of the girls were stuck up, and she hated playing field hockey...

The first year at Villa my mom and/or dad were driving almost 50 miles a day dropping Kathy off and picking her up. Now, if you knew anything about my mom's driving (a future topic) you'd know what a problem that was. So the next year she started boarding there (Janet Musial was her roommate). Kathy couldn't believe my parents stuck her in boarding 12 miles from home. She took it very personally... But it was only for a year and 1/2 - we moved to Philadelphia in December of 1961.

Whenever Kathy had friends over back then I was an incredible pest. I just had to flirt with them. (They thought I was cute and it was mutual). I remember sitting next to Judy Switzer on the couch one day. I cuddled up to her and she started stroking my hair... I was in heaven :-)
One time Kathy told me that there were goblins hiding in the living room chimney so I would leave her and her friends alone. It worked - I was afraid to go in the living room for months :-)

Kathy was the moody sort - most of her friendships ran hot and cold: "she's my best friend" - "I can't stand her" - "she's my best friend again" - that kind of stuff...
One of Kathy's on/off friends I haven't mentioned yet was a big redhead named Marilyn Mulligan. (Now, when I say 'big' I don't mean overweight - just 'born to play field hockey'.) Anyway, all I remember about her is that she had a Chihuahua and I thought she was cute (yeah - I've always had a thing for redheads). Marilyn's 13 year old brother had an Army surplus jeep that he just drove up and down their driveway (over and over). I thought that was pretty odd. But I digress....

Just a couple of more related stories:

When she was 9 Kathy went to a birthday party at a country club. Lunch was provided and after she had cleaned her plate and finished her milk one of the waiters came by and refilled her glass. Now, at our house you never left milk in your glass - so she drank that too. And he refilled it again. And she drank it again. (She thought it would be impolite to refuse.) Eventually she asked one of the parents for help and they put a stop to the refilling. But she was pretty sick by then :-)

Around the same time Kathy spent a weekend at the Switzers. When she got home she told us that she and Judy and Judy's 12 year old brother had taken one of the cars and spent the afternoon driving around the estate. (There was apparently considerable 0ff-roading involved.) My mom was incredulous and asked if the Switzers had really let a 12 year old boy drive them around like that. And I still remember my sister's reply: "No - he was just working the pedals. The German Shepherd was driving."