Sister Jerome discusses years on front line of service

October 19, 2014 at 12:06a.m.

LIBERTY

Since World War II, the nation’s economy has gone through its share of dips and rebounds, but what has remained the same is the many poor people who continue to struggle to obtain basic needs and services, along with a decent education and livable wage.

Remaining on the front lines throughout that time trying to make that all happen more effectively has been Sister Jerome Cor-coran.

“We’ve selected 12 city college kids with a strong work ethic already in place,” Sister Jerome said, referring to Mission College, a program she started last year to allow the 12 to better manage the difficulties of college or technical school before graduating.

Mission College is the 98-year-old urban-education pioneer’s latest in a series of longtime countless efforts toward assisting those less fortunate. One of its primary aims is to provide gift cards for food on campus, gasoline, school items, clothing and other needs to students who fulfill several requirements.

The program also was one of the topics Sister Jerome touched on during her presentation to several dozen members of the William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society on Saturday at Kravitz Delicatessen Inc., 3135 Belmont Ave.

Sister Jerome, a longtime part of the Roman Catholic Ursuline Order, is perhaps best known for founding the Youngstown Community School and Mill Creek Community Center in the 1970s, both of which have earned excellence rankings. During her nearly 60-year education career, she also has earned numerous awards and received many grants.

In her 90-minute talk Saturday, Sister Jerome also shared a wealth of early memories that included spending about a year in Ireland as a child, living during the Great Depression and growing up on Youngstown’s North Side.

When she was 5 or 6 and living with her family and grandmother in a small cottage in Ireland, British soldiers paid an ominous visit, recalled Sister Jerome, a 1934 Ursuline High School graduate. From 1919 to 1921, the Irish Republican Army was fighting the British Army and paramilitary police units known as the Black and Tans, so the soldiers searched the cottage for ammunition that might be given to the rebels, she recalled.

“The one thing they did find was a Marcel waving iron,” a curling iron that provided the Marcel Wave, a hairstyle popular in the 1920s, she said.

The family weathered the Great Depression — which began when she was in eighth grade, largely because her father was highly resourceful, Sister Jerome said.

Despite a limited education, he was adept at electrical and plumbing work, gardening, painting, hauling trash, lawn work and other skills before becoming a street-car conductor, she noted.

Also helping the family and many others cope during that difficult time was the song “Dance with a Dolly [With a Hole in Her Stocking],” an upbeat tune that largely captures the often carefree decade.

“That was our attitude,” she added.

Sister Jerome also had fond memories of having grown up on Elm Street near Youngstown State University. The Jewish Community Center on Lincoln Avenue had a well and pump, so neighbors often got their water there, she said.

Other good times included visits to the lunchroom at McKelvey’s department store downtown and family meals at the former Century restaurant, Sister Jerome said.

In early 1935, she entered a convent near St. Columba Cathedral on West Rayen Avenue before teaching six years each in an elementary school and at Ursuline, then attending Case Western Reserve University.

During their time at the convent, the Sisters saw little of their families but were committed to the effort, she explained.

Sister Jerome spent much of her 15 years with the Youngstown Diocese, which started in 1953, stressing the importance of reading, she explained.

That priority coursed through her career as an educator.

In 1976, she opened a child-care facility that became the Mill Creek Community Center, which offered a remedial-reading program and gave many poor children an opportunity to earn their high-school diplomas.

She also brought in a dentist, tutors, a speech therapist and a health coordinator for the youngsters.

In 1998, Sister Jerome helped start a charter school and opened one four years later for those in kindergarten through sixth grade.

Two years ago, she founded and became director of Sister Jerome’s Poor, a nonprofit program at the Ursuline Center in Canfield.

In 2013-14, the effort raised about $60,000 and provided $34,400 in direct assistance for food, utility expenses, rent, clothing and other essential needs.

“We’re [also] trying to raise $5,000 for each of the 12 kids per year,” Sister Jerome said about her Mission College program.