Bye, Bye, Mrs. American π
by Lou DiGiorno ’88, School Historian
A LONG, LONG TIME AGO, a brother and sister sat down
for dinner [Best guess: the old family farm back in
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania]. The brother had some
news: there was an opening at Fordham. It would likely
mean a long commitment, but in the end, it would be a
real adventure.
Being an all-boys school, the last 175 years have given us
thousands of stories of fathers and sons and brothers.
Jack and Robin Wu, for example, both Class of 1960. Or
how about the Corcorans: John, Class of 1934 and his five
boys: Michael, John Jr., Kevin, Brian and Richard: ’61, ’63,
’73, ’76 and ’78 respectively.
Mother-son sagas? Obviously, there are a lot fewer of
them, but sure, we’ve got some on the books. Heck, the
ink hasn’t even dried on all of them yet — Assist ant
Principal Napoli, Administrative Coordinator O’Halloran,
Attendance Officer Downey and School Nurse Donohue:
Prep mothers, one and all. [And, hey! Yeah you, Mrs.
“I-Can’t Believe-I-Got-on-a-Commons-Table-in-
‘93-and-Did-the-Macarena,” don’t forget we’ve got all
those Mom Prom pics on file.]
Husband-and-wife narratives? Anyone remember Mr.
and Mrs. Bischoff from the 1980s? And wait, didn’t a Mrs.
Gilligan teach here too? You know some of us even met
our future wives right here at Rose Hill, on a May
afternoon when everything was in bloom and the
cottonwood made the whole campus look like a snow
globe in springtime.
Down through the decades, we’ve even had a number of
good grandmother-grandson yarns — really good ones,
atthat. Have you heard the one about St. Elizabeth Ann
Seton and her grandson, Billy, Class of 1848? [No joke.]
And, please, let’s not get started on cousins. I still can’t
figure out how Mr. Anthony DiFato ’99 of the Science
Department and Yours Truly ’88 are related. [Is
cousins-in-law once removed even a thing?]
As an all-boys school, however, the Prep has very few
brother-sister stories on record. They simply don’t
happen here — just the way the demographic cookie
crumbles. But we can honestly say, and with pride, that
the couple we do have are epic.
That brother and sister back in Chambersburg — Johnnie
and Mag as they’d called one another growing up — were
none other than Bishop John Hughes and Mrs. Margaret
Hughes Rodrigue. The year? Late 1840.
Johnnie was getting ready to found his school by the
Bronx River and he was going to need help, architectural
help. As bishop, he had already hired William Rodrigue,
Mag’s husband, to work on a number of smaller projects.
But this was different. He was opening a college in
Fordham, New York. It was remote — out in the country
— and more than a couple of buildings would need to be
built. This was going to be a long-term gig. Margaret and
the kids would have to relocate.
Brother Johnnie made the offer, and sister Mag and her
husband agreed. She packed up her household, her
children and her books — she had been a teacher, you
know — and moved to the small, stone cottage her
husband built on campus — Rodrigue’s Coffeehouse
today. Of course, it wasn’t easy, but she came from tough
Irish stock. After all, these were the days of “Irish Need
Not Apply.”
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