Saluting an icon — & a friend
It was probably entirely appropriate for Neumann University to hold its commencement exercises last weekend. After all, it was Mother’s Day weekend.
It was probably entirely inappropriate that a driving rain forced the ceremonies inside.
Actually, that was not rain. It was tear drops, shed by the school’s graduates, their families and friends, who were not only saying goodbye to the Class of 2017, but also to the Class of Neumann.
When classes resume next fall, Dr. Rosalie Mirenda will not be there to greet the incoming students.
After more than four decades at the helm of the Aston school, Dr. Mirenda is retiring, stepping down from the post where she served as much as a “mother” as the figurehead of a prestigious institution of higher learning.
As the editor of this county’s daily newspaper, I get to meet all kinds of people.
Dr. Rosalie Mirenda was one of my favorites.
I assure you she took that role of “mother” to heart.
I’ve had many reasons to visit the Neumann campus over the years. Inevitably, every time I would encounter Dr. Mirenda, she would give me a big hug.
That’s not something that doesn’t happen to newspaper editors every day. I’m as likely to be met with a sneer as a smile when I tell someone what I do for a living. Not from Dr. Mirenda. Every time are paths crossed, she was always sure to give me a big hug. Just like mom. We would always exchange pleasantries, I would joke about when she was going to hire me, and she would always encourage me to do just that, to consider teaching a course at the school.
I never did. I never seemed to have the time. I wish I had. If only so I could spend more time around this magnanimous woman.
Whenever I speak to a community group, especially educators, one of the things I am always asked is how to get more good news about kids into the newspaper.
I always strive to let them know we welcome the opportunity. But then I always tell them something else.
I tell them that inevitably the day will come when we would likely be calling the school in what can best be described as not the best of circumstances.
You’d be amazed how quickly the other end of the phone goes dead silent. Newspaper people have long memories.
We especially notice who steps up at times of crisis.
Dr. Rosalie Mirenda ways stepped up.
She always returned our calls, even when the cir- al- cumstances were embarrassing to the school, or one of her students, or a member of her staff.
That’s because Dr. Mirenda – much more so than so many people in leadership positions that I deal with – understood my job, and more importantly how I go about it.
She knew innately that we were going to do a story one way or the other, and she wanted to be sure that the school’s version of events was placed in the proper context.
When Dr. Mirenda arrived in Aston four decades ago, Neumann University could not even have been a figment of imagination.
Our Lady of Angels College was a small commuter
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