Living our Catholic Identity

In our society, being burnt out can become a badge of honor; it’s important to remember that self-care is not selfish, it is a form of self-preservation that enables us to be able to give more.

“Wellness isn’t a valiant and highly disciplined effort, but rather an act of love for oneself and one’s community,” she said.

“Be easy on yourself, practice gratitude, and start small. You can always build on small successes,” she said.

“Start with something.

You can always make time for a one-minute meditation in the morning, stretching for ten minutes each day, or adding a handful of spinach to the dish you were already making. Find wellness habits that you enjoy, and continue to build on small changes.”

Learn more: View Burlingame-Toppen’s stress relief presentation to students at mtmary.edu.magazine.

Campus joins with SSNDs in prayers, grief and hope

“Fundamentally in prayer we acknowledge, accept and freely surrender to the reality of In December 2020, COVID-19 took a who God is and who dark toll on the SSNDs residing at Notre we are, creatures Dame of Elm Grove. As with many other congregate living facilities, the sisters sustained great loss, including unconditionally loved by our Creator …” eight deaths in one week. From the SSND Constitution, Coming together in the holy presence “You are Sent” of God would be the only way for the heartbroken community of Mount Mary to reflect back the love and support that the SSNDs have given our campus. On December 21, administration, faculty, staff, students, board members and the SSND from across the Central Pacific Province united in a virtual prayer service. In addition, the campus collected prayers and personal letters of love together and sent print booklets and digital copies to the sisters in Elm Grove. During the service, our shared legacy of faith, hope and courage were sustained through our prayers – the healing words of Scripture, the SSND Constitution, the Our Father and Hail Mary. Representatives from campus included Melody Todd, Jane Rheineck, Michelle Smalley and Ann Angel, who spoke on behalf of the faculty and Mount Mary community. Students Olivia Hickman and Mary Parlier offered personal prayers and Keri Schroder ‘95, director of alumnae relations, represented the alumnae community. The words from the song “Beyond the Moon and Stars,” by Dan Schutte, were particularly resonant in this moment of grief, hope, fidelity and unity: “… so great our hunger, Lord, to see your light.” The service concluded with a special blessing for all SSNDs, and a renewed sense of our bond and the sustaining presence of God, one that we share through the light and the dark. This new feature, “Living our Catholic Identity,” will appear regularly in the Mount Mary Magazine.

Friends for life

reconnect through Mount Mary

For many years, Anne Salamun Huff kept in touch with other members of Mount Mary’s Class of 1942 as a volunteer class delegate, writing annual letters filled with news and updates. She kept everyone abreast of their activities, these women who graduated from college at the height of World War II, as they established careers and settled into their lives as mothers, teachers, professionals, grandmothers and more. As the years passed, she recorded losses in their ranks too, fellow students who passed away or lost touch.

Obstacles present challenges

About a year ago, Huff got an email and photo from classmate Lynne Luchini, who had just turned 100. Lynn’s request: “Send me a photo when you get to be 100,” Huff recalled. This is the story of a milestone, and two photos worth sharing. Little did Luchini know, Huff’s eyesight had deteriorated to the point where she could no longerstay active on email. She had to close her account and lost many email addresses in the process, but she always remembered this request. It took some detective work from Mount Mary’s Office of Alumnae and Donor Relations (Lynne Luchini is listed in our records by her full maiden name, Evelyn Maliczak). But eventually these two friends, who now live in different states but grew up only a few streets away, were able to reconnect.

Anne Salamun Huff ‘42

B.S. in home economics (foods and clothing), minors in English and chemistry After graduation, Huff worked in a rural high school in Lee, Ill., for a year and then the Wisconsin Industrial School for Girls in Oregon, Wis., near Madison (currently the site of Oakhill Correctional Institution). A few years after the war ended, she returned to her family home in West Allis and began teaching home economics at Henry Clay Junior High in

Whitefish Bay. She joined a Milwaukee group for young

Catholics, the Catholic Alumnae Club, and in 1948 met

Ed Huff, a graduate of Notre Dame University.

They married the next year, moved to Wauwatosa and had one child, Melanie. Huff taught throughout the Milwaukee Archdiocese until 1970. Huff was widowed in 1995 and in 2005 moved to Texas, to be closer to her daughter and granddaughter.

Lynne Maliczak Luchini ’42

B.A. in speech, minors in English and biology Luchini taught high school in Arena, Wis., 30 miles west of Madison, for three years after graduation. She married her high school sweetheart, Harry, during his leave from duty in the Pacific from the U.S. Navy in 1945. She taught in West Allis and West Milwaukee High School after they were married. When her parents moved to California, Lynn and Harry purchased Lynn’s family home near 69th and National Ave., where they raised their daughter, Gail Anne. After her husband’s death, she moved to New Berlin for 10 years and at the age of 95 she moved to Northbrook, Ill., to be closer to her daughter.

Women share similar backgrounds

Both girls grew up in West Allis; they were the only graduates of West Allis High School from 1938 to attend Mount Mary College. As commuter students, known as “dayhops,” attending school at Mount Mary meant riding a streetcar and a bus into Wauwatosa and a shuttle from around 88th Street and North Avenue to campus. This journey could take almost two hours. “At this time, West Allis seemed like a world away,” Huff said. Before Luchini’s junior year, her parents got her a car and she would sometimes give Huff a ride to school. Like the other dayhops, they ate lunch at the grill, while the resident students returned to their own dining room in Caroline Hall. There was a jukebox at the grill and while Sister Mary John Vonderen made the grilled cheese sandwiches, Huff remembers practicing her dance moves with the other dayhops to the music of the time, Tommy Dorsey and young Frank Sinatra. They would waltz, fox trot and do the Milwaukee polka. Dancing still brings them joy. Even at the age of 101, Luchini still loves to dance. “I could dance every day, I don’t sit much because I don’t want to stiffen up,” she said. “During TV commercials I walk the halls of my apartment for those three minutes.”

Memories endure as life goes on

There are only a handful of graduates from 1942 remaining on Mount Mary’s mailing list, but these two keep the memories of departed friends alive, Edith, Betty, Leona and Anita, to name a few. Huff was godmother for Leona’s son, who recently passed away. Before he died, he gifted Huff his mother’s 50th anniversary pin from Mount Mary. After graduation, Huff and Luchini kept in sporadic contact as their lives took different directions. Both of them teachers, they moved away from Milwaukee because of licensure restrictions at the time that made it difficult to secure full-time teaching in the city. Eventually both of them returned to Milwaukee and although they lived in different parts of town, occasionally their paths would cross. Both had daughters who attended Pius XI High School. One year, their girls were in the same debate class. They connected, and moved on. Huff attended Mount Mary reunions regularly, and Luchini attended them occasionally. In