And so, in the rural Bronx, Mrs. Rodrigue would raise her family, keep her home and tutor her children( Andrew and John were Prep grads, 1852 & 1857)— and maybe even their friends. She became a part of the Rose Hill experience— everyone’ s favorite Fordhamly aunt— figuratively and literally: her actual nephews would attend the college too.
As promised, it was quite the undertaking, for her and for her family. She stayed at Fordham until she and her husband retired, and afterwards remained a New Yorker all her days. It would be said of Margaret and her husband,“ that they were beloved of their friends, not only for their virtues and stainless lives, but for their intellectual qualifications and force of character.”
141 years after Johnnie and Mag sat to dinner— still a long time ago— another brother and sister gathered around a table. The year? 1981, October. [ No guessing here: their mother’ s house, on Narragansett Avenue, Morris Park, Bronx, New York { Full disclosure: I used to play in the alley behind Mrs. Laurino’ s house all the time as a kid!}] 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.
Mr. Armand Laurino had been a math teacher and the track coach at the Prep since 1974. His sister, Suzanne Laurino Henry, was working at Washing Federal Savings & Loans, but she had really trained to be a teacher. She had majored in math and minored in education at Iona College, and even done some student teaching at Christopher Columbus High School.
Armand coaxed, and Sue agreed to apply. She was hired. And so, on December 7, 1981, Mrs. Henry arrived at Rose Hill. Armand drove.
The weekend before, she thought she’ d get a leg up by perusing her education books from college. Her brother’ s advice:“ Throw all that away. You’ ll learn more in one week teaching than in all of those books.” Of course, it wasn’ t going to be easy, but she’ d come from tough Italian-American stock. After all, her father had been a cop in the days when it was okay to assume that Italians were by nature on the other side of the law.
Geometry it would be— all sophomores. Just in time for the second trimester. It had been a dicey year for the boys: Mrs. Henry would be their third mentor, and third math teacher, and they were only on the third chapter of the text. To echo some familiar Fordham lyrics at a time when there were far fewer women on the faculty, there were only two options for a young first-time female teacher:“ do, or die.”
Do she did, with some pointers from her brother( he would leave the Prep in 1985) and support from a few of her colleagues.“ Mr. Tartaglia was always so kind,” she has often said of Anthony Tartaglia, still a member of the Math Department today.
Soon enough she found her way. Mrs. Henry became a part of the Rose Hill experience— everyone’ s favorite Fordhamly aunt. [ No, seriously, in the 1980s“ Aunt Sue,” was one of the nicknames the boys would fondly call her— behind her back, naturally. { She heard, by the way, and was flattered. Apparently, she also heard when they called her“ Annie Lennox”— back when she had the short haircut. She didn’ t mind that either }]
In the 36 years between then and now, there are few aspects of Prep life on which Mrs. Henry has not left her mark. She’ s chaired the Math Department twice, moderated clubs as disparate as the Photography Club, Student Government [ remember all those dances in the 1990s?], and more recently, the Mathletics Club. She was the creator of Metropolitan Day in its modern form, accepted the role of first chapter advisor of the NHS at the Prep and co-founded the Peer-Tutoring Program still alive and well today. As the director of the Fordham Prep Summer Day Camp in the 1990s, she cared for some of the youngest boys on campus since Mrs. Rodrigue’ s time, and as registrar in the early 2000s she even served in the administration. And then there were all the Appalachia service trips, and the Tennessee trips, and the Emmaus retreats— she was one of the first laywomen to direct one. There can be no doubt that Mrs. Suzanne Laurino Henry is a“ woman for others.”
But, above all else, and for years to come, Mrs. Henry will be remembered for her presence in the classroom— sure, for her mathematical precision, her penchant for pencils, her insistence on graph paper, her corny math jokes and her“ Quadratic Formula Song”— but more for her love of her students, her unfailing patience, and her unstinting care and concern. The boys from the 1980s were right: at least in the 21st or 20th centuries, there has never been a more amital presence on campus. [ Look it up ]. Just ask the current members of the faculty she taught: Mr. Eric Groepler’ 87, Mr. Michael Viele’ 01, Mr. Michael Mazzullo’ 08, and even in a sense, Mr. Craig Dwyer’ 98( he was one of her little campers). Like so many of the great Prep teachers of yesteryear, she leaves behind a true maroon legacy.
For about 20 years now, a story has been circulating at the Prep that on account of some bet between feuding band members, a pre-teen Suzie Laurino was the youngest performer at Woodstock: she was the first person they saw stepping off the bus, or something like that— the details are sketchy. Mrs. Henry has never confirmed or denied the rumor, only saying that it is a story that shouldn’ t be told. Nor has she confirmed or denied that, intrigued by her performance in the summer of’ 69, Don McClean [ a fellow Iona alumnus, by the way ] invited her to play backup percussion on his 1971 American Pie album. Likely, the tales are apocryphal.
What is not apocryphal is that Mrs. Henry will be missed and remembered for her virtue, her intellect and her character. She has retired with her husband, Michael, to just up the road from the site of Max Yasgur’ s farm in Bethel, NY. [ Wait, those drumsticks in her classroom were for real?!]
As promised by her brother 36 years ago, it has been quite an adventure for Mrs. Henry and generations of students.
Bye, bye, Mrs. Henry. And thanks for everything.
62 | RAMVIEW