WHY I GIVE
Vivian Cardia ’70 Vivian Cardia ’70 recently gifted ND with a $20,000 donation to be received annually in perpetuity. She continues to be a Chez Nous Angel by listing ND in her estate. She is a blessing and hopes others wil be inspired to follow her lead. Vivian stopped by the school this fall to reminisce about her high school years and update us on her current busy life.
Fond Memories and Lasting Values Like so many Notre Dame students today, it was the Open House on West 79th Street that convinced Vivian she wanted to attend ND: “It felt like home. All the students were welcoming and inclusive. I was lucky enough to be admitted.” Growing up on Carmine Street in Greenwich Village (not far from the school’s current location), community was important for Vivian. She remembers well starting out as a ninth grader and being worried about not knowing anyone, but as it turned out the girl who sat right in front of her that first day became her close friend. Notes Vivian, “The nuns were really our friends, too,” citing Mother William, especially, who tutored her in Chemistry, after Vivian received the warning “white card” in the subject. Sr. Genevieve taught students how to set a table and how to have tea. Vivian and her classmate, Dr. Virginia O’Brien, S.U., current President of ND, reminisced about having to memorize Geometry theorems every week and being expected to get them all right. Students had access to wonderful costumes from the Met Opera and loved donning them for school cantatas, which were performed on a very small stage in the building on West 79th Street. Vivian also remembered fondly Ring Days and the Feast of St. Ursula celebration. She loved being in an all-girls school, finding it to be one less distraction. Boys and girls got together for dances and activities 28
such as Glee Club with Cardinal Hayes and Debate Club with Regis. Some aspects and traditions have changed. There were only three lay teachers during Vivian’s years at the school. She recalled having to wear hats and gloves, and even galoshes when it rained. Students had to work off demerits by cleaning around the school and, sometimes, polishing the silver. Vivian admits to often rolling her skirt and also noted that, “If we got in trouble, we never told our parents, because we would get in trouble all over again at home!” She remembers a particular time when a classmate forgot her gloves, and Vivian volunteered to throw her own pair down to her from inside the building. Unfortunately, Vivian’s gloves hit Mother Daniel as they sailed out the window, and her good deed backfired quite dramatically.
Life after ND A lover of languages, Vivian took four years of French and Latin while at ND and was fluent in Italian, which was spoken at home. She is proud that she can still remember the first lines of Virgil’s Aeneid from her time at ND. The school didn’t offer electives back then, but she ended up being grateful for the typing class, which helped her a great deal in college. Her family told her she could go to any college she wanted, as long as she could still sleep at home. She loved her years at Fordham, where she continued to study languages (including Russian) and which she relished as another close community. Vivian found that Notre Dame prepared her for college, having taught her how to organize her thoughts, use her time well, and get things done. To this day she still has a copy of the notes she took of her class’s reading of the Dickens classic Bleak House. She also admits to resubmitting a high school English paper in college. She got a B at Notre Dame and earned an A for the same paper at Fordham. Says Vivian, “I told Sr. Kieran I wanted my high school English grade changed retroactively!” While a high school student, Vivian taught CCD and also volunteered at the Foundling Hospital. Those early service experiences cemented a love of working with young people, and she currently helps
