Jerilyn Fay Collier Kelle:  

As an extremely shy second semester Freshman in the Sp. '64, I came from St. Joseph's Home for Girls every day to attend Bishop Dunne H.S. with my two older sisters , Caren and Paula Collier ( Sophomore and Junior). I go by my middle name, Fay, and remember very little of my time at Bishop Dunne (just there that Spring semester). But I do appreciate that I wasn't teased given that we arrived in front of the school every day by pilling out the back of an old ugly green "paddy wagon." Once inside, I must have appeared strangely out of touch and quiet--the traumas that I'd experienced that led us being placed in the Home are indescribable, so I won't. I was in a shell of shock and spent a few months in silence. However, an unusual employee or volunteer tutor at the school in the Math Department helped me in Algebra class and gradually got me to speak. Because she made such a positive impact on me, I'm compelled to find out who she was and what her story was. She spoke with a heavy accent and seemed pretty old to me (but I was no judge of age being only 13). The rumor was that in WWII the nuns helped her escape from a concentration camp or hid her from the Nazis because she was Jewish, so she came with them to Dallas and stayed. I remember her teeth seemed to be in bad shape because she had bad breath; most of the girls in class tried to avoid her coming up too close. I tried to keep my head down in my classes so no one would notice me; I was probably drenched in shame for not being a normal student. It did help immensely though that we all wore the same uniforms; I could just blend in and hide that way. My plan worked in all of my classes, but didn't work with this Jewish woman. She was kind, patient, gently encouraging, very smart, and before the semester was over she had me in front of class explaining how to solve an equation! Unbelievable! I don't think I had spoken to more than two people in the orphanage, no one else in school, and she had me not only speaking to her, but solving algebraic equations in front of the class, and answering their questions! I was quite pleasantly pleased that I understood something and that I could help others who didn't. Naturally it made me want to become a teacher. She put me on a path of recovery emotionally, but she also gave me confidence in my own intelligence, which led me to continue to do well in high school--three more be...Expand for more