School Days

Susan attended St. Alphonsus School for 1st and 2nd grades. Click here for a 1923 map of the Lincoln-Belmont neighborhood, near the church.

In 1920, the family moved to 4231 N. Whipple St., and Susan completed elementary school at Our Lady of Mercy School. Susan is shown below with her 8th grade graduating class. She is in the third row from the front, second from the left.



At Our Lady of Mercy School, Susan met her lifelong friend, Eleanor Detmer. Here she also mastered the Palmer Method of penmanship, of which she was proud.

As a Roman Catholic, Susan would have been confirmed around 1923. As was the tradition then, she took "Agnes" as her confirmation (and middle) name.

Susan was a good student, and had hoped to attend high school, but her father would not permit it. It was uncommon, at that time, for girls to go beyond elementary school.