Commentary                (email me at: )

I have reserved this section for comments by anyone interested in this Website particularly those who attended CHMA all those years ago. Please specify if you want me to include your email address so others may contact you. I encrypt email addresses so the bots will not add it to their spam lists.

Father Ted Ley provided the following comments:

"I went to Chaminade High School and graduated in 1958. I don't have anywhere near the pictures you have of the property, so I was delighted to see your website. Of course the buildings and their interior, too, didn't look that different in my days there. And guess what: James del Mano was our Band Director, too, for a few years.

I will, evidently like yourself, never forget the old "pink palace" as we called it -- for during my Freshman year they decided to paint the building sand color and it came out slightly pinkish, not bad looking at all, but just enough to earn it that epithet.

Did you really call those steps the "Hanging Gardens," as we did? Did you have a large 1936 model Philco radio in the cafeteria, with which to listen as a group, to the World's Series and similar radio programs?

I believe we have currently at the faculty residence in West Hills a few pieces of furniture that date from CHMA times. And I have one wool blanket from the dormitory. As far as I know, it is the only one left of all those blankets.

There were time capsules under brass plates that replaced carved squares in the concrete, all in a line, along the pavement of the upper walkway alongside the auditorium. I always wondered about them, but never realized they were time capsules [from PMA graduating classes beginning 1929]. In 1959 or 1960, a school newspaper student editor named David Reeves (I know him) wrote about how the plates were taken off to reveal little boxes underneath containing memorabilia from each class. Regrettably, no one knows what became of any of what was removed from the boxes, and the plates, too, are long gone. I think that somehow there is a bunch of stuff from the Old Chaminade, as we call it, in some forgotten corner of the current campus in West Hills where the school moved in 1961. But as I mentioned, I believe I have the only blanket left from the rather large set of them that Chaminade obtained when the Society of Mary purchased the property and much of its material and equipment, in April of 1952.

The picture you put online, of the campus seen from Cattaraugus, is almost exactly how I also remember it. By the time I came to the school, in 1954, the frame that had once housed the big CMA letters had also been taken down. In the spring of 1954, the guardhouse was replaced by a statue of Mary with the Child Jesus, a beautiful Carrara marble that has been in front of the main windows of the school office of the West Hills, since 1961."

Fr. Ted Ley, SM

"I just stumbled across your CHMA website and had a wonderful reawakening of old memories that I thought had faded for good. I was a day student there for one year, 1951-1952, and am almost dizzy seeing all those names I haven't heard in over 50 years. Binder, Blankenship..... And I remembered you the instant I saw your picture.

My memories are pretty vague, me being a first-grader at the time, but it was a vivid year. My parents had just died, and CHMA was where the world began to open up for me again, and it gave me a sense that I could be good at things. But the memories are pretty sketchy. Watching an H-bomb test on TV in one of the dorms, the names of a few of the faculty, learning to ride and swim. I just wish I could remember the names of some of my classmates."

Rik Elswit

"I have many happy memories of CHMA. I'm sure that things changed a great deal after I left. Until I saw the website, I had no idea that it closed in 1952. I especially remember the classrooms and the drills out in front of the classrooms; the mess hall and some of the friends I had back then. I lost touch with all of them when I left. But I remember a couple of names. One was a 14 year old kid named Orcutt and a 15 year old named Cartwright. And there was a kid my age that I used to pal around with by the name of Martinez. Of course the older boys lived on the second tier and I lived on the first. Major Binder, though tough, was the kind of person that would gladly help any of the cadets with their homework and was always there for us."

Byron Bacon (1946-1948)

"I went to this school from 1949 to 1952.

Year One: At age 6, I was sent away by my parents to CHMA under the pretext of going to a summer camp. I had no idea that I was to board there. I was very frightened. My housemother, Mrs. Dietz, was very strict and didn't have much compassion. On the plus side, I made some good friends.

Year Two: Still boarded on the ground floor but had become used to the environment. I was proud of my dress uniform. That was really cool. My parents wanted me to become a "day boy" but I refused in order to remain with my friends.

Year three: Moved to the second floor with the big kids and had a smaller 3 bed room. I was 8 or 9 and got exposed to Bob Hinds. As previously mentioned, I had pretty severe issues with him. He frightened me, but I got over it. My initial friends I had made in year one were now breteran. One never makes friends like that again in a life time.

In conclusion, I became institutionalized. I loved the early years. I chose to further my military school experience, and regretted when it was over. CHMA was special. The 50's were special. I feel fortunate to have captured the end of a golden era. A decade later I served in the Coast Guard, but it was never the same.

Thanks for the great memories."

Les Schwartz (1949-1952)

"I just viewed the website. I attended CHMA in the early 50's. I recall different colored shirts for sports teams; projected movies in the auditorium on weekends; eating in the mess hall; walking on stilts in the recreation area; horseback riding; and having to march back and forth as punishment for misbehavior. I think I was about seven years old and missed my parents. See the attached photo of me in uniform with my father. Feel free to use the above on the site if you like.

The academy was but a brief period in my early life, as it closed just after I had been there a year."

Obie R. Silverwood

RESPONSE

Its good to hear from you and thanks for sending the picture.

There were four sports teams designated with Indian Tribe names, Iriquois, Commanche, Apache and Mohawk.

The movies projected in the auditorium were, generally, only on Sunday nights to encourage kids to return from the weekend on Sunday rather than Mondays. I well remember Hopalong Cassidy movies were played often and a favorite.

I found it regrettable that Brick sold the school and even worse, when that great old building was razed for residential developments. I guess that is progress. I have been back on the property in recent years to see if I could identify the actual location of the building. It is difficult and one could only approximate where it once stood. I have fond memories of my four years living there.

I am unaware of any students achieving fame.

Dick Clark