I would like to share with you a few of my happy recollections at SJC, as a former student of American and European brother. When I entered SJC, Fr. Karl Wilhellm was our principal. We were always a bit afraid of him in those days, he would come into our homeroom to distribute report cards personally.
He always had a remark or two for each of us as he handed them out. Many years later, after I became
a Marianist brother, I had occasions to interact with Fr. Wilhelm in Dayton, Ohio. It was a pleasant surprise to find that he was jovial, easy going priest, and I realized then that he was putting on an act as a serious faced principal at St. joseph.
Bro. Paul Beckermann was my homeroom teacher, a dormitory supervisor, as well as my science and math teacher. Presently, in Honolulu, I live with a Marianist brother who in his early was a student at St. Joseph high schools in Cleveland, OH, where Paul Beckermann was the vice principal. This brother, I'll call him Tom is 6'2" tall and weighs 230lb, told me an incident that I thought described Paul Beckermann pretty well.
At one time, a group of seniors were acting rowdy in the hall way, and Bro. Beckermann was trying to quiet them down. Tom was standing around watching the whole thing. All of a sudden, Bro.Beckermann grabs Tom by the collar and slams him against the lockers. Tom was so surprised that he could hardly speak in protest. Then Bro. Beckermann whispered in Ton's ear: "Tom, I owe you one," and released his hold.
Bro. James Masur, who is from Pittsburgh, and who became a Japanese citizen with a name of Jimmu Masuura, was my English teacher. I am always grateful to him for the opportunity to learn English literature from him. Since I was a science student in college, I never had a chance to study literature after high school. I can honestly say that all the Shakespeare I know, I first learned from Bro. Masur. He is now living at Chaminade Shudoin on the Gyosei campus in Tokyo.
Bro. Germain VonDersher was one of those hardy boys brothers from Alsace, France. He was a man of many interests. He was a first-rate philatelist, whose stamp collection, it was rumored among the students, was in the top three in the whole of Japan. It was said that he would buy a cow for a Trappist monastery, or pay nun's home visit to Europe, by selling one single stamp. He was also an avid beekeeper. I remember one weekend, when he found out that I was going to visit my parents in Kokubunji, he gave me a large bottle of honey as "omiyage. I appreciated the gift, but what I remember after all these years, is that floating in the honey were legs and wings of the bees. You couldn't get fresher honey than that.
Bro. Enrique Zabala was reputed to have been a professional soccer player before he became a Marianist.
We never bothered to check the veracity of his reputation, but he was no doubt a good soccer player.
He was our soccer coach and used to play whatever team we could schedule, like some teams made up of sailors from foreign ships that docked at Yokohama. My memory is a little vague, but I remember that when we got behind in points and our team didn't look like we could catch up on our own, he would make himself a substitute forward, run around the field and score a couple of goals, and then return to the bench to continue with his coaching. I understand that he is currently living in Caldiz, Spain.
The number of brothers in the society of Mary, specifically in the United States, has been on the decline for many years. We as a religious congregation, whose traditional apostolate has been in the field of education, need to evaluate the current situation and adapt to changing environments. But I am ever grateful to God for having given us the opportunity to experience a solid education under the auspices of these extraordinary brothers and priests at SJC, who dedicated their lives as missionaries and educators in Japan.
(Brother Robert Maruyama, SM, graduate of SJC 1957, professor of Chaminade University of Honolulu)
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