Teenage years During her freshman year in high school, Mom was a boarding student at St. Martin's School, run by Benedictine nuns in Sturgis, South Dakota. Because of a better scholarship offer, her sophomore year was spent at Mount Saint Gertrude's in Boulder, Colorado. It was here that Mom stole the nuns' gas cap (actually just snatched it while walking by and put it on the roof of the car). "They called a major convocation of the school and raised hell over it", and Mom admitted to having done it. They harangued and humiliated her saying how much they had done for her with a scholarship and all, how unappreciative she was, and she was asked not to come back the following year. Back at home in Lead, Father Shanley was a close friend of Carrie's, and he started the high school in the remodeled basement of the church. So Mom's junior and senior years were back in Lead at Saint Patrick's school and she remembers: "I loved being back, I was the most popular girl in the school, it was glorious being home." Her junior year she went steady with Arnold Payne, and her senior year with Pancho Guerrero, both of whom can be seen in photos and Mom visited many decades later in life. Senior class photo, 1952 "My senior year in high school Saint Pat's team went to the state basketball championship., We were in the Catholic League which included all of the Indian reservations' teams, and they were particularly good. That was a big deal for a school as small as St. Patrick's, and they came pretty close to winning. We all bought green silk jackets and rode in cars to Mitchell where they played in the Corn Palace. It was a big trip." Previous Table of Contents Next