Almost everyone is familiar with teams called the 49ers and the 76ers. Locally, and in recent years, a group of old grads whom I like to call the 65ers have been holding mini-reunions to renew old friendships.
Who are the 65ers? A group of 1965 Marmion Academy alumni who have really enjoyed recounting their memories of 57-plus years ago. What makes the memories a bit unusual is that the actual school which they attended hasn’t existed for a little more than 50 years.
Known as Marmion Military Academy until more recent times, the Marmion entity operated a campus for “day” students at the corner of North Lake Street and West Illinois Avenue in Aurora from 1933 until 1971. It was closed that year, and the academy transferred all of its operations to the familiar Butterfield Road campus, which had previously served only boarding students.
McCullough Park and the Prisco Community Center of the Fox Valley Park District have occupied the Lake Street site for many years.
Regular members of the 65ers group have included Tony Johnson, Ted Grabow, Bob Weber, Art DeMartini, Bill Loftus, Tom Huberty and Tom Strong. Memories of that long ago are sometimes strained, but the Lake Street campus and its faculty, coaches, staff and students were unique in many ways, and many memories come alive wherever old Lake Street grads get together.
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It is hoped that a short story can serve as a walk down memory lane for all the men who attended that school. It’s hard for us to believe, but the youngest of the men who attended there would be about 66 years old.
Marmion Lake Street drew students from Aurora proper, but also many “upriver” kids from Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles. There were also a few guys from Naperville and other surrounding towns. Just getting to and from school was one of the memories shared.
“The Aurora-Elgin bus line traveled Route 31 and had a stop directly in front of the campus,” Loftus said. “But if your after-school schedule didn’t allow the return bus ride, students opted for a ‘Marmion in the ’60s’ method of transportation – hitchhiking. It was not unusual to see 10 to 20 students in full uniform on Lake Street with their thumbs out. I had to explain to my mother that ‘everyone does it so it must be safe.'”
I also recall that some of the Naperville guys took the Burlington train to the old South Broadway station, and then the bus from downtown Aurora. Except for the nearby St. Joseph Parish guys who walked to school, most students relied on rides from parents or the few older boys who had cars, or the city bus. A few even rode their bikes.
The Lake Street campus consisted of six buildings: the main classroom building (with its “cracker box” gym), the rec hall (which also had a cafeteria), the barracks (home to boarding students during the time they also attended Lake Street), and two quonset huts, which housed the chapel and rifle range. A small one-story building housed the tailor shop.
The asphalt drill field was directly behind the main building and rec hall, and each day began with formation on the field. The campus afforded a wonderful view of the Fox River directly to the east.
The faculty consisted of mostly Benedictine priests, always with a few lay teachers mixed in. The ROTC military science teachers were active Army men assigned to the school. The groups’ memories were of some wonderful teachers, and of others maybe not so great. Some personal memories were of Father David Palmatier (one of the “top 10 human beings of all time” according to Johnson), and of Coach Berg, Father Bernard and Father Alcuin.
DeMartini remembered that language skills he learned in high school served him well in later years.
“The most important skill I learned at Marmion was writing,” he said. “This served me well through college and my career. I taught English, art and humanities before venturing into the advertising and corporate communications business.”
The school offered many sports teams, music and many clubs and activities. Its rifle team won many awards and competitions through the years.
The lighted athletic field, where home football games were played, was located several blocks behind the Northgate Shopping Center, and old grads remember marching through the streets for special events at the field. The area is now all housing, with no evidence of the field having been there.
The North Lake Street “strip” of fast food restaurants and other businesses was somewhat important to cadets back in the day. Topps Big Boy restaurant (currently the Nikarry’s Restaurant location) was especially remembered as offering a fun gathering place after games and other events.
“I’m sure we were rowdy every time we went there,” Loftus said. “We had a great time, but I don’t think the staff at Big Boy was as happy as we were.”
“In the last two years, we were likely at Big Boy several times a week,” added Johnson. “That means I probably ordered at least 85 Brawny Lad Combos. Cholesterol hadn’t been invented yet.”
The memories of the 65ers and of all former Lake Street campus students could go on and on and easily fill a book. It was a special place in time for thousands of men who spent their formative years there.
“I have many wonderful memories of the school, students and people that surrounded us and developed us … in a ton of different ways,” Weber said. “I was very lucky to make wonderful friends and to get an education.”
Tom Strong is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.