Wednesday, August 7, 2024
Hello, Dr. Schlageter, aka Noel -- this is Jerome O'Neill from Monroe Class of '87. I just happened to be visiting Rochester this summer from Philadelphia, where I live now, when I heard the news about Grace. I attended the moving service but regretted that I wasn't able to stay to tell you in person how much both you and she meant to me as a student, and how I was there representing many other Monroe students of the past, including my sister Emily O'Neill, Nikki Brown, Mark Fisher, Gawain de Leeuw, and Jon Emens.
I have many fond and fun memories of your wife, who at first struck terror in me as a nervous little 7th grader in her homeroom. "You have one foot on a banana peel and one foot in the dean's office!" she liked to say. I also remember her sharing Joan Rivers jokes from The Tonight Show (I had no idea who Joan Rivers was), including the now politically incorrect (but hilarious) zinger, "Did you hear what happened when Liz Taylor got her ears pierced? Gravy ran out." (I'm sorry, that is totally tasteless, but remembering Grace saying it still makes me laugh.)
She also was my 8th grade social studies teacher and ran the amazing Humanities program with Susan, which brought us so much exposure to the arts, from GeVa to Garth Fagan to trips to the Stratford and Shaw Festivals. We didn't know how lucky we were to have the arts woven into our education, which is so rare in schools nowadays -- and probably was rare even then.
It was very moving to see your large family at the service and hear, not surprisingly, what a wonderful aunt she was. Again, I wish I could have stayed a little longer to tell you these things in person. As the years go by, I often talk to Monroe friends about how we had such a talented and caring group of adults teaching and guiding us from 7th to 12th grade.
Please know that my thoughts and condolences are with you and your family, along with those of many other Monroe alums.
