#SHESAHOUND - Alice Stefan Henderson '51

Notre Dame College was a second home for me. On the farm where I was raised, I learned how to work, do chores and housework to help my parents run our home. It was the same at the college. We were assigned tasks, some daily, some weekly. We developed a strong work ethic and acquired life-skills that would be invaluable on our journey through life.

The Sisters and teachers gave us an excellent education which prepared our minds to enter post-graduate work or embark on a chosen career. Social activities also aided us in making meaningful leisure time choices; singing, skating, crafts, drama, sports and dancing.

Our spiritual life gave us the opportunity to attend Mass and receive the sacraments daily; the Rosary was recited in the convent chapel every day before supper; Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament was scheduled in the church on Sunday evening.

I was most influenced by the Sunday morning talks by Mother Louise of Jesus or Sister Mary Louise (Sister Marjorie). They might have been compared to a finishing school where young girls were instructed on how to become gracious young ladies. One year Sister Mary Louise read Dale Carnegie's, 'How To Win Friends And Influence People'. Years later I read that book and was surprised to find I had followed his suggestions throughout my life.

In 1951 while preparing for our final exams, there were only two of us left in the Latin class. We realized we would never pass without some extra tutoring. Pere kindly coached us for a number of weeks, often straying to other interesting topics, sharing his amazing wisdom.

Father Peter D'Aoust, a former student, was Pere's assistant. He took many pictures around the college and offered to teach me darkroom procedures so I could print the photos ordered by the students. These skills enabled me to start a career as a photo-journalist and darkroom technician for publishers: Moose Jaw Times Herald; North Battleford's MacIntosh Publishing Company; Turner Warwick Printers.

Father Peter was also the director of Notre Dame's Choral. Singing in that four-part harmony group prepared me for church choirs and 38 years of singing barbershop harmony with Battlefords Blend Chorus, which is a member of  Sweet Adelines International.

My experience in photography and publishing inspired me to publish three history books; Homesteading in Surprise Valley, 1971; Taming the Prairie-The Stefan Gergen Story, 1985; Notre Dame of the Prairies 1987; one biography: A Day To Remember 2020; three children's' books: Tiffany's Lost Brother, 1984; Farm Animals, 2015; Cowboys, 2017. I also wrote dozens of short stories and four poems-one of them put to music.

With so many students from all over Canada and the United States, we learned to respect our elders and live in harmony with fellow Hounds-our Notre Dame brothers and sisters. We are forever one big family, each of us retaining that intangible “Spirit of Notre Dame”.