This one letter covers much territory and is presented as a diary chronicling events and the philosopher’s experiences from December 16th to January 1st.

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Mount Saint Michael

Spokane, Washington 99207

January, 1966

Dear mum and Dad,

It’s hard to believe, but Christmas and New Year has come and gone, and now we are back to school again.

Before I go any further, thank you to all of your for your prayers, cards, and gifts. All the parcels arrived in plenty of time and the contents were in excellent condition. Even though everything in the package was listed on the outside, I did not spoil it all by reading the list. Instead, I tore off the list without looking at it. All the gifts were lovely.

Bernice sent a huge Old Spice set and some delightful edibles, Marlene and Viv, a comfy pair of slippers, Lil, a Citation Aftershave set, Myrna, two lovely pairs of socks, and a lovely ball point pen from the kiddies.

Thank you mum and dad for the lovely shirt, handkerchiefs (I was needing some new ones), the white and greenish socks (Myrna’s were black and all of them are winter dress socks which were something I needed), the T-shirts with the nice long bodies so they can be tucked in to stay, and all the wonderful food. In all, it was a marvellous Christmas but a very busy one.

In order to tell all I thought it might be a good idea to make this letter a sort of diary, and I’ll start with the week before Christmas and give you an idea of what I’ve been doing.

December 17– Up to today we have been busy studying in preparation for the exams coming up next week. After supper we moved chairs into the choir loft and began a recording session for our T.V. Program. We began about 6:30 and went through till 10:15 with one fifteen minute break, but we got all the songs recorded at last.

December 18– Saturday, villa day. We spent some more time today trying to record an English polyphonic Mass to use in the T. V. Program. Our time was wasted however because we just didn’t have it down well enough. It was good practice however.

I did a little work on my skis trying to get them ready for villa out at Priest Lake [Idaho] after Christmas. Some time was also spent studying.

December 19- Sunday. Another lad and I began to study philosophy at 8:00 a.m. and went through until 11:00. By that time both of us were exhausted. Dinner was early for the choir because we were leaving for the mental hospital and T.B. Sanitorium to give them both a Christmas show. We left about 12:00.

Christmas solo.

I discovered today that one of the songs for the T.V. Program had to be redone and this time I was supposed to solo (the song was Silent Night). The only difficulty was that we couldn’t pre-record the song and so it would have to be done live on video-tape.

We sang the song a number of times going around the mental hospital so that I could practice a bit. We got home in time for supper.

December 20- Monday. Today is recording day down at the T.V. station. The bus left for the station at 7:30 a.m. After much todo and whatnot down there, we finally started to video-tape the half hour show at about 11:00. It is difficult to imagine all the organization that is necessary for one little half hour program.

Everything came off quite well even my live solo which was just a little shaky at the start, but, c’est (the) la vie. I spent the rest of the day studying for the next morning’s exam.

December 21– Today I wrote the exam I dreaded the most. It started at 8:30 and ended at 10:30. I’m pretty sure I got at least a C but I’d like to get a B for the course. The more I think about the exam after however the worse I think I did. So, I have stopped thinking about it.

Most of the rest of the day was spent in preparation for the Ancient Philosophy exam next morning.

December 22– Wednesday. The exam this morning was a breeze compared to yesterday’s. There was another little choir practice for midnight Mass today. Most of the rest of the day was spent preparing for the Anthropology exam the next day.

December 23– The Anthropology exam was even easier than yesterday’s so I finished it quickly and was free from exams. Feeling free as a bird, I tried to catch up on some of my sleep and rest today. (By the way I got my paper back today from Anthropology and it had a lovely A. on it.)

I forgot to mention that on the 16th we went to G.U. [Gonzaga University] to sing for the ‘Mothers’ Christmas party. The ‘mothers’ are a group of dear ladies who have teas and everything else in order to raise money which they use on us, making sure we have lots to eat, and clothes to wear, etc.

December 24– Most of today was spent in decorating the house and in choir practices (three of them, and I have to go to all three”. I helped decorate and set up the crib in the chapel. The decorations all over the house were rather beautiful. I got a little sleep during siesta time because I knew it would be a long evening.

Right after super all the choir piled into the big green bus and off we went to one of the hospitals down-town to carol. We went through a number of the floors and then stopped to watch our T.V. program in color on a color T.V. set.

That was a lot of fun because everyone was laughing at the little mistakes and at people’s expressions etc. All in all though, the T.V. program wasn’t too bad. After that we finished singing on all the floors and then started for home.

Someone suggested that we stop and sing for a crippled man, so we did. He and his mother were really touched saying it was a wonderful thing to happen on the anniversary of their trip to Lourdes.

We also stopped to sing for Mable, a coloured lady, who is a great friend of everyone here and who is always doing things to help us.

We got home a little after ten. Some of the lads opened their presents. I saved mine until after midnight Mass. At 11:10 the choir got together again and began singing in the halls of the house to wake people for midnight Mass.

At 11:30 the chapel was crowded (so many people want to come to Mass up on the Mount that they have to send out tickets. When they have sent our as many tickets as the chapel can hold, they have to turn down people.) , and we began a Christmas bible vigil.

(During the vigil I read one of the readings and then sang “What Child is This”). The Vigil ended a couple of minutes before 12:00. At 12:00 John Traynor, a [Canadian] lad with a beautiful bass voice, sang the Roman Martyrology in Latin.

The Mass began. We sang a Mass that all the people could sing and the choir sang the harmony. The choir sang carols and after communion I sang Silent Night again. The community stayed for the second Mass, a low Mass, and after that everyone went down to the refectory for a bite to eat and some coffee.

After wishing everybody a Happy Christmas, I went to my room, opened the gifts, and then hit the sack. Morning came all too soon. We had Mass at 11:00, so we could sleep in a bit. I spent most of the rest of the day relaxing.

December 26– Sunday. Today we all piled on the big green bus again (I should say the choir did) at 7:30 a.m. and began our big tour of the city, singing at all the hospitals, the Old Folks Home, convents, (we even sang in the Poor Clare’s chapel, and they had their grid open, which was a first for them, so we could see them. [And they could see us!] It was the first time we sang for them, and they really seemed to enjoy it.) and other establishments.

We ate lunch at one of the hospitals, and supper at the Good Shepherd’s home for girls. At this last place we gave our concert, and they sang some songs for us and all of us had a marvellous time. We got home about 10:00.

December 27– Monday. Today was the “deaf Party” day. We had it in the Cog Dining room down on the Gonzaga U. Campus. We left about 10:30 and spent the whole day playing Bingo and talking with the deaf people and their families.

Three of us sang Mary had a Baby in the deaf people’s sign language. (We also signed two verses on the T.V. Program) Enclosed is a picture ofus from the Spokane Newspaper. A lady called the next day asking about me. She was wondering where I was from.

She was apparently from North Dakota, so I assume she is a relative of Aunt Pauline [who lives there]. I didn’t get to talk to her because I was not home the next day either.

December 28– Tuesday. Today was C.C.D. day. They had a day of talks and fun for all the children that the lads teach catechism to. We went down in the early afternoon and helped in discussion groups and just talked to the kids. In the late afternoon we had Mass, and after supper, we had a hootenany.

The Iguanas

A number of us got together, called ourselves the Iguanas (a nice name for lizards) put on some crazy wigs and other crazy clothes and played some rock and roll songs. It was a lot of fun and the kids got a big kick out of it; I think some of the sisters got a bigger kick out of it though. We got home even later that night.

When I got home I threw a few things together for our three day stay at villa. One dear lad had finished fixing my skis, so I was all set to try my hand at a new sport.

December 29– Wednesday. We left for villa and arrived there after a two and one half hour drive at about 11:00. I wasn’t feeling so well after those late nights and the long drive so I slept most of the day.

December. 30– I caught up on some more sleep today, and in the latter part of the afternoon tried my hand at skiing. I was a little disappointed however. The hill was so glassy that I had not control whatsoever. The only thing I learned was to go up the ski tow to the top of the hill.

Priest Lake tow rope.

That was so much fun that I made up my mind to go out the next morning to try again. The rest of the day was spend watching T.V. , playing cards, and ‘yakkin’.

December 31– Friday. Since we were going to leave for home at 2:00 p.m., I got out to the ski slope early, about 9:00. The night before it had snowed about 6 inches, and so the slope was beautiful. With the new snow on the ground I was able to ski quite well.

I went to the way top of the hill and skied all the way down (I only fell once in that descent and that was at the bottom of the hill). You might say that today was enough to get me hooked on skiing. I’m looking forward to our next trip.

Skiing at Priest Lake

We got home in time for benediction and supper. After supper we went down to sing at the Children’s home and St. Ignatius parish. (The singing was terrible, everybody was hoarse.)

January 1, Saturday. We spend a rather quiet day. There were multiple football games on T.V., Rose bowl, Orange bowl and every kind of bowl you could think of. I wrote all my thank you notes and planned on writing this letter too but didn’t get at it. Now we have started school again and I have to finish a term paper by next Monday. So there’s a good intention for your prayers.

I made a couple carbon copies of this diary, one for Myrna [sister] and one for Sister Doreen [cousin]. Sister wrote me a very long letter at Christmas so I owe her a long one back. This diary should do it.

As you can notice, my typing is getting worse and worse, so it is almost time to sign off. I suppose you were wondering when I’d finally get this letter off. At times I was tempted to phone and tell you I was still alive, but at last I did sit down and write.

My Christmas mail was a real stack this year. I got almost fifty cards and letters. Aunt Eva [godmother] sent me five dollars, and some other people sent me some money. I appreciate hearing from all of them very much. I don’t know when or if I will get to answer some of the letters until next Christmas, I hope so but time will tell.

Well, I’d better get back to my term paper. I want to finish it so that if we get a chance to go skiing this Saturday, I’ll be able to go.

Again, thanks to all of you for making my Christmas a Happy one. I hope and pray yours was the same.

May God bless all of you, and please continue to pray for me.

Love

Frank

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All photos courtesy of Frank Obrigewitsch, SJ