Gus Nolan







Gus Nolan
Marist College
Poughkeepsie, NY
Transcribed by Wai Yen Oo
For the Marist College Archives and Special Collections




Gus Nolan
Interviewee:
Gus Nolan
Interviewers:
Interview Date:
April 24, 2019
Location:
Marist Archives and Special Collections
Topic:
Marist College History
Subject Headings:
Nolan, Gus
Marist Brothers – United States – History
Marist College History
Marist College (Poughkeepsie, New York)
Marist College Social Aspects
Marist College Faculty
Summary:
Gus Nolan speaks about his upbringing, joining the Marist Brothers and observing the development of
Marist College over the years. Gus reflects on the different positions he held throughout his employment
at the college and his time teaching students and interviewing individuals on campus.



Gus Nolan
Gus Nolan (
00:00:00
):
It's a Wednesday that we have the opportunity of interviewing Gus Nolan.
Students (
00:00:08
):
Yeah, we are excited. Got it. Great. Thank you. Alright. So how are you?
Gus Nolan (
00:00:21
):
As well as they can be for all the conditions that I have to suffer like age, you know? So I start with that,
you know? Okay.
Students (
00:00:31
):
Alright. So before we begin, I just want to, he said that we have to.
Gus Nolan (
00:00:37
):
Yeah. Yeah. You're not allowed to change anything. No, no, I know. Yeah. I know I'm saying that kind of
fooling around because I've done this more than a hundred times. He's sitting over there asking
administrators, faculty, retired staff, first graduates, first female graduates. So I have an array of people
that I've done. So now what would you like to know?
Students (
00:01:11
):
A lot? Yeah, a lot of questions to ask you. Alright. You ready to get started? Sure. All right. Awesome.
So what is your full name?
Gus Nolan (
00:01:21
):
My full name is Augustin Joseph Michael Nolan, N O L A N. Some people would say Nolan as K with
like Knowland.
Students (
00:01:35
):
Okay. Were you named after another family member?
Gus Nolan (
00:01:38
):
I believe so, but I never met the individual, lived in another state. And in those days there was not much
interstate travel in my family.
Students (
00:01:49
):
When and where were you born?
Gus Nolan (
00:01:51
):
I was born in Bronx, New York on September 6th. It was a Saturday morning. I understand the year,
1930.
Students (
00:02:01
):
Do you have any siblings? If so, what are their names?
Gus Nolan (
00:02:04
):


Gus Nolan
Okay. Growing up, we were eight children. My oldest brother was Patrick. He passed away at the age of
34 in about 1960. My brother John, he came next. He was a Colonel in the air force. He's buried in
Arlington. He served in Vietnam and he passed away about 10 years ago. I have a sister, Mary Janine.
She's a [?] Dominican. She taught for a good number of years in New York City in Aquinas High School.
And, she is now 91 and is doing fairly well for a 90 year old. And I'm fourth. We are four big ones in the
family. I said the upper four and I came next. Now I was born in 1930 and I'm 88 or 90 minus 2. So that's
the age category. I have a younger brother, one year younger than me. His name is Frank Francis. He's a
Marist brother. He's in Miami, Florida in the retired community. I have one brother under him. He was
Pete. He died between Christmas and the New Year's of this past year at the age of 85. He was a
Benedictine monk. So 25 years in Japan, but was the teacher of moral theology at the seminary before he
went there as did a lot of work on what they call the creation of a program for deacons and the Catholic
Church. You have priests and then you have deacons. He created the program that is now part of
becoming a deacon for a good number of seminaries. Then, Matthew is the seventh child. He was a
former New York City policeman. And then after he retired, he became a nurse, an RN. He is still alive
and he lives in New Jersey. And lastly, my sister Rita, she was just 80 and is living at the moment in The
Villages in Florida. But her real home is in New York. She has four children and they take good care of
me.
Students (
00:04:52
):
Good, I'm glad to hear.
Gus Nolan (
00:04:52
):
That's the family.
Students (
00:04:55
):
Wow. Alright. So where did you grow up and please tell me about your hometown?
Gus Nolan (
00:05:01
):
I grow up for the first 13 years of my life in the Bronx. It was a kind of a woody, undeveloped district or a
lot of what they call playlots or empty lots which could be used for ball fields and so on. The Bronx at
that time had not really developed as it is today, 85 years later. But at 13 years of age, I left home and I
went to a little village on the other side of the river called the Esopus. In Esopus, there was a high school,
the Marist Brothers Training Center. And I entered that as a freshman. That year was September 1st,
1944. And I was there for three years. And then following that, I came to Poughkeepsie, this area. Down
opposite the entrance to the ball field, there was a Novitiate Building and I started to become a Marist
brother.
Gus Nolan (
00:06:07
):
And after that, in 1949, I came to what was then Marian College, the beginning of Marist College. And
that's the site where you are now. One of the historic things I like to talk about just to put things in
perspective in 1945, I stood on the deck outside of the chapel in Esopus and I witnessed the burial of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who is buried in Hyde Park. And I said that was in April of 1945. And I was
telling that to a Marist professor here on the occasion of the reception of the faculty back to campus, but
not this campus, the new semester, which is a big picnic that takes place on the Esopus grounds, which is
now part of Marist College, the research center. And I was telling this about the April witnessing the
burial of FDR. And he says, "That was April 12th. That was the day my father got out of a German prison
camp." As was the habit of the German soldiers, they knew the war was over. They just opened the doors,
buried their uniforms and disappeared into the crowd. Anything else?


Gus Nolan
Students (
00:07:32
):
Sounds good. Alright. What were your parents' names and occupation?
Gus Nolan (
00:07:37
):
Okay. My mother is Ann. She was Ann Connelly and she didn't get very much. She got eight grades of
traditional school. And in her day about 1920 or so, she came to the USA and she entered what was then a
hospital service. She became an RN and those days hospitals, and she went to what they call Montefiore
Hospital that's in the Bronx. She was a nurse there for a number of years. And she knew my father from
Ireland in the next village. And he pursued her here. He was a 50 year old bus driver at the time. And
following that, he joined the New York police department, not as an officer, but as an auto mechanic. And
so he used to repair and keep the police cars on the road. He was a great mechanic, which I never had to
learn anything. So I only know how to turn the key, not even a key to drive the car. I can't even change a
flat.
Students (
00:08:52
):
Okay. Sounds good. Tell me about your education as a child and as a young man.
Gus Nolan (
00:08:59
):
Well, high school in Esopus, it was a terrific program. We were a small class of about 13 and go up to
maybe 20, by the time we finished our third year because more joined the group as we went along, not
that many more two or three each year, but some left. So they were replaced. And so I had a high school
over there. I went to a typical grammar school here, parochial school, grades one to eight. And then I
went to Esopus for high school and following high school, I came to Marist College and you want the rest
of my education?
Students (
00:09:44
):
Yeah, that's actually a question that's gonna come up. So you could do that if you want now.
Gus Nolan (
00:09:49
):
Following the educational line, I came to Marist and in those days we were just brothers at the college and
we took for a major what the need was of teaching Marist Brothers at the schools. So they needed two
years. So now they thought they needed Math majors. Then you majored in Math or they thought they
needed science. They're all, they went and majored in science, physics, or chemistry. I had two options. I
could major in Biology or English. I decided to major in English. And so for the next four years, I
majored in English here at the college. Two years later after graduating in 1952, I entered St. John's
University in Long Island and worked to get and did get a master's degree in English. And then part of my
career was, I was called by the Marist Brothers to come up and take part of the training program in
Esopus that I had gone through.
Gus Nolan (
00:11:02
):
But now the religious program, the Novitiate that was here had been transferred over there. And there was
no more religion, Theology involved. And so because of the need, I went on and I got a master's degree in
theology. Okay. And then when it came to teach at the college, I had the opportunity then because of
needs. I decided because there was a need for a communications person. So I had to study the theory of
communication, or what is communications and mass communication, interpersonal communications,
public relations, public opinion. These are all in place now what they want when I started. So I went to
Fairfield and I got my third master's degree. So I do not have a doctorate, but I have more courses than
anybody probably.


Gus Nolan
Students (
00:11:58
):
I can tell.
Gus Nolan (
00:12:00
):
And in the process I had to write three theses for each of those courses. So I've not been negligent in
study but I didn't get, I'm not the (?). I didn't get the PhD,
Students (
00:12:18
):
That's a lot of education. So were you ever married? If so, please state the name and occupation of your
spouse.
Gus Nolan (
00:12:27
):
Alright. I married my wife obviously. It's my first marriage. And I hope the only one, but we've been
married about 47 years. I was a Marist Brother until I was 40 years old. And then I left them the Marist
Brothers with all the changes that were taking place post-Vatican II. I'm not sure if you're aware of all of
the implications of saying that, but great reevaluations were done about what people were doing and so
on. So I had, so more than 20 years with the Marist Brothers and now decided I would find a spouse. So if
there was one out there looking, who would be interested in me. And lo and behold, I found Elizabeth.
And so, she was a school teacher and, she eventually finished teaching in New York City. And then as I
was at the college here, there was a need for a woman, a person to come and be the director of the teacher
education program. So, my wife Elizabeth came and became the teacher director of the teacher education
program. And she taught Teacher Ed here at the college for about 20 years. She had 20 years in New
York city and she had 20 years here. And so that was her career. And she does the New York Times
puzzle and ink every day.
Students (
00:13:56
):
That's so funny. Do you have any children, if so, please state their names and occupations.
Gus Nolan (
00:14:02
):
Yeah. That's a quick answer. No, we went out, we were both married later in life and we were not blessed
with the happiness of having children. I only wish we did because they could take care of me now.
Students (
00:14:15
):
I know. That would be nice. Right. Alright. So what drew you to the Marist community? What drew you
to the Marist community?
Gus Nolan (
00:14:23
):
What drew me to the Marist Community... As a youngster growing up, my brother went to St. Ann's
Academy. That was Archbishop Molloy before it became. So St. Ann's was at 76th street, Lexington
Avenue in New York City. Eventually that school was transferred and became Archbishop Molloy High
School in Queens. Well, my brother went to St. Ann's. He used to come home with the yearbook and
those days, high schools had yearbooks. The graduating class would have them. The others would get
them along the way. And I used to turn the pages and I would see the picture of these guys with
habits/cassocks. So we called them on playing in the schoolyard with these kids. And I said, gee, that
looks like a very interesting thing. And one day, while a van came, his name was Brother Aiden Francis,
and he gave us a talk about opportunities to come and begin to study for the brothers.


Gus Nolan
Gus Nolan (
00:15:25
):
So I said, I'll give it a try, you know? And, then they never sent me home. So that was the beginning of
how I became a brother. And then my brother followed me. So I have another brother who is a Marist
Brother, whether he is still a Marist Brother. I mentioned that at the beginning, he's retired. And then, my
youngest brother always wanted to become a priest. And he became a priest. He also followed his interest,
which is the Benedict, the quiet life and the contemplative study.
Students (
00:16:08
):
What were your initial expectations in relation to working at Marist? Did these expectations reflect what
you actually experienced here at Marist?
Gus Nolan (
00:16:20
):
That question is very educated and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to, my expectation was certainly to
try to do the job I was asked to do as well as they could. What was that? Well, it was to teach
composition, English literature, and, whatever else was assigned to me. And also to kind of be
encouraging to the students, to be available for advisement, if that was needed. Incidentally, I dropped
my... Before I came to teach at Marist College, I was teaching at Esopus for 10 years. And then that time I
used to come to the college, driving a school bus. So that story is that when I first came to Marist college
on a yellow school bus and I was the driver. Okay, well, I didn't stay here. They needed a teacher at Saint
Francis Hospital, which was the Westchester Hospital up here before. It had a nursing school and the
nurses needed what they call a liberal arts courses.
Gus Nolan (
00:17:37
):
And I was chosen to teach the nurses, English, poetry, writing. They had to be able to read and write in
English and I was supposed to teach them. It was a very interesting job teaching nurses because you
know, I was the only male in the class. I don't know all these beautiful women were out there when I was
an Marist Brother. So I was home-safe. Following in that tradition, of course, time will change. And then
women began to come to Marist college in the sixties. My expectations were that we were giving at that
time, many students coming, parents had never had to come here. They were the first to go to college.
And so then it was a new experience. And there was also the beginning of the new dormitories here.
When I first came here Leo, Sheahan was up. Leo had just been constructed and the Champagnat Hall
was being constructed.
Gus Nolan (
00:18:45
):
And so that was what was happening. So it was the developmental stage. A great bonding took place
among the students because they were the first ones to come to the college as lay students. Of course they
felt it was unfair because they were competing with the Marist brothers in the same class. And the Marist
brothers, all they had to do is go to class and study. Whereas the regular students had to go to class and
get into sports and date and have a good time in the night. And, and they felt that they didn't get the same
time. But they suffered it well. They didn't complain. They still do. Yeah.
Students (
00:19:26
):
Approximately how many brothers were present at the time that you started? How many brothers when
you started working at Marist?
Gus Nolan (
00:19:34
):
Oh, well, the college was really all brothers. It was one or two lay students to start. Dr. George Somner
was here. Dr. Hooper was here. But we were maybe 20. In a short time, nine of us decided to leave the


Gus Nolan
dormitory to practice and lay students to become a judge. The seniors could take over and we decided to
go and we bought a house in town, a place called Eden Terrace. There's a residence there. It's still there,
but actually there's only one Marist Brother living in and at the moment. Well, the route that went there,
which would include a number of passes while we were all professors at the college. And so we had
random time schedules to be at the college. But it worked out very well. So how many brothers? There
was a residence here for brothers still on campus and there was the Eden Terrace. So I would say about
20, 25, 30 brothers. Now there's just one brother teaching at Marist. His name is Brother Frank Kelly.
Yeah, he's the only one who's actually in the classroom who is a Marist Brother.
Students (
00:21:01
):
Okay. So please state the title and describe the nature of the positions that you've held at Marist.
Gus Nolan (
00:21:08
):
Okay. I came as an adjunct professor. I didn't have full status. I was teaching two courses at the hospital
and then here on campus. The nursing school eventually closed. And I took the role here as adjunct. And
after that, I became the assistant professor. This ranks of professors, you have adjunct, assistant, to full
professor. And so with those certain responsibilities of what you're expected to be able to do in research
and publication and so on. So I, [?] and I'm not quite sure now, where are we going, what are the
expectations?
Students (
00:22:00
):
Positions that you held in Marist?
Gus Nolan (
00:22:06
):
Okay. I eventually was chosen to be the Chair of the Communications Department. Now what happened
in the interim was, we used to be just an English Department and then we began to separate English and
became the Communications Department separated from the English Department. And the reason was
more students wanted to be involved in interpersonal small group, public relations, mass communication,
public opinion, you know, all those things that are in place now. They evolved out of this. And I had a
part to do with that because I had gone to Fairfield and learned all of these subjects, and how they were
different and what were the expectations in each of them? And then, there came a point in time when we
developed schools. So we have a School now of Communications and the head of the school as a Dean.
So I was technically a Dean for two years. So I jumped to professor, a Chair, a Dean, and now they pay
me to stay home.
Students (
00:23:17
):
How long were you the chair for?
Gus Nolan (
00:23:19
):
About four years. The department elects to be their own chair. And then the college knows someone to
supervise communications. The school has a journalism. It has mass media or TV production. So on,
fashion design and advertising. So those are all separate entities under the umbrella of the director, the
chair, the Dean. So that's, so then only two years ago. They followed, they found a real good Dean. His
name was Guy Lometti. He was here for 10 years. And since then, I have lost track of who is in charge,
they don't tell me everything.
Students (
00:24:10
):
Yeah. So tell me about the size and the type of staff you have worked with over the years?


Gus Nolan
Gus Nolan (
00:24:18
):
Well at the beginning, we would maybe be 10 professors in the civil communications department. I was
never allowed any English. We had already separated from the English department. So we're just
communications people. And then, 10 or 12. And then when I became the Dean that involved, everybody
that I just talked about, advertising, fashion design, and they were all. And so, the only time you get to
realize that is at the end of the year, each of the Deans get what they call a budget to operate the school
with and the budget is used for various and sundry expenses along the way. If you don't use your budget,
there will happen to be a time when the administration would come around now with a, kind of a big
vacuum cleaner, they would sweep up any money left over and any of the budgets. So before that would
happen, I didn't realize that I had so many people under me. Fashion Design would come and say, "Well
Gus, you have $200. Can we have a $100 of that to buy a cabinet to put". You know, and then Art would
come and say, "Oh Gus, you know what? You still have $300 left. We saw." Okay, I didn't even know I
had $300 left. Because it was not my money and it was to be used. And when expenses came to me, we
did it. But that, that was it. You know? So that's when I gained aware of how wide an interest I was
supervising, I was not a good supervisor.
Students (
00:26:10
):
In particular, are there any staff members, which you feel have played a fundamental role in the
development of Marist College?
Gus Nolan (
00:26:20
):
Yes. Richard Lewis in Digital Photography and so on has really played a major role. Dr. Susan Lawrence
has been. This was the first job she had at, 37. She came to same year Dennis Murray came. Dennis
Murray was here for 38 years. And he's gone two years and Susan Lawrence is still here, you know? So
she has been a Northern Star as a word, directing and keeping the thing going in there. Outside of that, I
mean staffers like John Ritschdorff. That's a math department, but he has moved up to be the Associate
Dean or something in this school. And he has been very sharp and keeping the academic level of
professors. Kidding around, I say I probably would not be able to get a job to teach you. I probably
couldn't even get as a student because the requirements now are so. I probably could, but, you know,
saying it I'll leave because they teach you almost someplace, I guess, and I can get it, of course there. And
of course, you know, to the administrators, they will have that administrators like Dennis Murray as a
president has really been a super job.
Gus Nolan (
00:27:46
):
We've had Dr. van Der Heyden was here before. Tom Wermuth, who is now the Dean of the whole
college. Tom was a student here too. So it's a kind of interesting that the Marist spirit has kind of
continued on in some of these people who moved in. I'm lost for more names at the moment, but I'm sure
they were out there, so I hope they will forgive me.
Students (
00:28:16
):
Yeah, I do forgive you. So where were your offices located?
Gus Nolan (
00:28:23
):
Before the library was put up, there was a building here called the Fontaine Building. The Fontaine
Building was, it was built by the Marist brothers. Always had addition to the chapel of ours, after Marist
Brothers built a chapel after they built the chapel, they put a dormitory up. And next to it where offices
and some classes were, that's the Fontaine building. I had an office at the Fontaine building. I looked out
on the river just like being in the library up there now, looking at it. It was a beautiful view. Okay. So that


Gus Nolan
was my, I was not the chair at the time. I just happened to be a professor and I happened to get a good
window of one of the best sights that you could have. Then when they took this building down and they
put this with the communication department over in Lowell Thomas and only communications. I now had
a view of Route Nine with trucks on blast. So this is a funny promotion, you know, somehow reversed,
but that was my sight. And then after when I stepped down from that again, just was a professor in
communications. I had an equally good view of Route Nine. So that, those offices, they're still over there,
you can go and see them anytime, you know? Yeah. So that's where I was located.
Students (
00:29:57
):
What and how many buildings were on campus when you first arrived on Marist Campus?
Gus Nolan (
00:30:03
):
On one hand, I think we can count them. Yeah. There was Greystone. It was always there. It was also the
library. It was also the chemistry lab underneath. So those two were in there and the one part of it. Then
there was the Fontaine Building. I was always in Fontaine because Marist Brothers built the chapel, but
there was a wooden structure out there. And sometime, I can show you a slideshow I have of these
buildings, but that's it. There was the study hall, there was two classes at it. Upstairs, there was a typing
room, all patient typewriters, you know, we had about four of them, a row and three rows or 12 of them.
And you had to take your time to get to typewriters. You didn't have your own. It was just community
operated typewriters. So those are the two buildings here. Then there was the gatehouse that's still out
there. Okay. That's a part of historic preservation that belongs to the Marist Brothers. Actually that's
another story. And then there's a St. Peter's. You know what St. Peters' is? That's that little building, right.
That's called St. Peter's because the Marist Brothers who lived in it taught in St. Peter's school, which was
in Poughkeepsie. And they came up and that's where they had their residence. Then across the road there,
the road that goes down to the river, used to go out to route nine. Now it's called River Road. And the
other side of that road was a big building. That was our dormitory. It was our refectory, it was our chapel.
And so, we slept, ate and prayed on the this side of the road. And we went to school and played at this
side, the ball fields were here. So there's like, Oh, that is a barn. We had a big barn and we had cows. So,
we had people and then we had chickens. We had...it was a farm when I came here virtually, you know,
and so, we didn't even have a four year charter yet. We were just a temporary college in 1946. 1947, and
then 1950, we had a permanent charter and things began to take off after that.
Students (
00:32:42
):
Okay. Can you name one of your favorite things here at Marist?
Gus Nolan (
00:32:47
):
Now, one of the favorite things here at Marist today, you mean? I helped build the chapel. It's there.
Okay. These two hands were used alright. There was a girder that when I can go when I give toys. I say,
you see that? I put that in. I would not as part of it, you know, and then we were taught to be careful don't
fall. Thank you. You know, I know how to put this thing in place. But to this day, I mean, yesterday I was
at the noon time near chapel. And it's just, for me, I'm a religious person. I think at least I don't pretend to
be, but I go there and it's very peaceful. The two Marist Fathers are wonderful guys. They say a nice Mass
and a nice little talk and it's peaceful and quiet. And so that's a kind of a favorite place. On Saturday,
we're going to have a funeral there for Dr. Foy, who was the second president of the college, who is a
good friend of mine. And I knew his wife very well. In fact, she sent me an email the morning that he
died. Because I was supposed to see him that afternoon. But he had really left us sometime before,
because he had lost his cognitive abilities to be able to function. And he would look at you but he didn't
know you, you know, and it's made you cry to go through that kind of experience. And he was so smart. I
mean, he was a very brilliant mathematician but that's why, and he would be buried from this chapel on


Gus Nolan
Saturday. Yeah. And the other place I like is the McCann Center. I mean, I like to. I had Rick Smits in
class and I used to like to watch him play basketball. And so that was thing. And then the racquetball
courts, it was a time I can play racquetball, not very well, but I went in there anyway and swung the
racket, you know? Do you know Dr. Bettencourt? He was a biology teacher. He just retired last year. He
was here for 50 years. He was in competition with me for the longest run. He does not participate much
on campus now but he goes to all of this and war games. Why am I telling you that? Oh, that's another
favorite place to go.
Students (
00:35:22
):
Yeah. Have you seen the construction?
Gus Nolan (
00:35:25
):
No, that was professionals. We didn't, we didn't have anything to do. I was here to witness the
construction. I used to get down and look at it and just like, now you're going down. Well, we're down to
the Marist. People are putting up the girders and things of that sort. Yeah.
Students (
00:35:44
):
Alright. We're going to move the questions onto Courtney. Alright. Was there a dramatic change in life,
on campus with the introduction of female students?
Gus Nolan (
00:35:56
):
I wouldn't use, it came gradually. You see, female students came personally, came at night and this, we
had night classes. The first people to come were IBM women who were finishing degrees and we had
made special arrangements for them to be able to come and to take courses. And then about 1968, we
began to open regular classes for female students. Somewhere in my records, my interviews, I
interviewed one of the first to go through and she talked about her experiences and it was different. It was
an all male. And you could count the number of women here, but, now you dominate. There's more
women on campus than men. So that has made, so, I think I might say this, we might have become a little
bit more civil with women. I mean, all guys sometimes language slips abit and sometimes. Well, just
generally speaking, I think the culture of the college is lifted by the presence of women. So I would say
that part was one thing. I don't know what else I could say about it. Do you have an idea? Oh, go ahead.
Students (
00:37:25
):
Yeah. I was just going to ask if it was like a positive change to the campus.
Gus Nolan (
00:37:30
):
Well, the level of civility would be a positive change. I think there's a mixed blessing here now. When it
was just men, you had to wear a tie and coat to class. So, I mean, you know, we've gone a long way down
since then. Not hardly better than then. So, you know, that's that part of it is a little bit different. But I
think the graciousness, it's certainly a positive sign. And also I think what would have turned out to be
better students, I think the valedictorian for the last four or five years has been a woman maybe for the
last 20. For all I know, you know, whether they're smarter or they seem to achieve better academically I
could be wrong about that, but it's just an impression I have. Okay.
Students (
00:38:29
):
Got it. What type of impact did co-educational institution have on the Marist campus, students and
faculty?


Gus Nolan
Gus Nolan (
00:38:38
):
Well, I think the same thing, women in class made a difference, you know, just in how I think it's
operated the deference to hearing more voices. You don't always want a guy to talk and you don't always
want a woman to talk when a question is raised about appreciation when teaching literature right? You're
talking about a poem, you know, is it as evident to me as in a tree, which way the wind has blown and
what do you mean by wind, as far as, how does the wind affect a person? What are the forces that affect a
person? And, you know, you know, we just want guys to tell you that, or just willing, you know, you
want a variety of answers to give you a more complete understanding of what it might have been or what
the poet meant in writing it. So for that part, I think you might say there is probably more. The cafeteria, I
suppose, would be another area where, you know, there's a certain amount of more humane eating habits
and ordering and design. But I haven't thought about it, but I could come back and tell you what another
time I think.
Students (
00:40:00
):
Why was the ownership of Marist College transferred to Marist College Educational Corporation in
1969? And how did it affect everyone on campus?
Gus Nolan (
00:40:13
):
Very few knew about it. It was not, not that it was a secret, but it was a decision by the Board of Trustees.
And the decision by the Board of Trustees was initiated by Brother Linus Foy, who we're burying too on
Saturday. And then his notion was that the Marist Brothers cannot take care of all of the schools that
they're running out there because there's one administration for that. There's a provincial, he's in charge of
all the USA operations. And he has a council of about five people. And then you have a college over here.
If they're trying to run the college, it's going to be too diverse. Yeah. There will be divided interests and
there might be, the college might get less and Marist Brothers schools get more. So Foy come up with the
idea, "Let's get the Marist College separated from the Marist Brothers." Interesting in his own diploma.
Whereas Brother Paul Ambrose was said to be the first president. On his diploma, it doesn't say that. It
isn't Brother Paul Ambrose. Brother Thomas Austin is the president of the college. That's a Marist
provincial now it's different. You know with the several Board of Trustees, it's a separate corporation.
With that, there's another little bit of intrigue that goes on here. So far as expenses in the upkeep of the
college is concerned, the Marist College Board of Trustees is responsible. If it was still Marist Brothers, if
there was a fire on campus, or if there was some major tragedy, the Marist Brothers would have to handle
it. You see, whereas now Marist College has its own Board of Trustees. They have their own insurance.
They're just focusing on this campus of 300 acres rather than 20 States and all these schools and
everything like that. You see. So they couldn't do both well. And Linus had the foresight to see that. And
then moreover, the level of direction, the Marist Brothers didn't have as many doctorates and
professionals to be able to run a college as you would need having a good college as we have here. So
there's always a very important decision. It took courage to do it because it was like, he's robbing the
Marist Brothers of all this property. And so all this talent while there was that part of it, not really. There's
another point here I could say, or maybe I should just interject it too, because Linus made this decision.
The Marist Brothers had a cemetery on campus. Outside the McCann Center. There's a big gray stone
listed there, here are the names of the Marist Brothers. It's about 60 there maybe, who are buried in the
site near here. Down from that stone, it has been covered over, there was a cemetery and it's been covered
over and now it's just a lawn. And then the driveway goes beyond it. And then you'd go up to the center at
the entrance to the McCann Center. The Marist Brothers, some of them were enraged that we dug. That
we just buried the cemetery. They knew those guys and they were buried and how we buried the
cemetery, you know. On the Resurrection Day, they have to go through two levels of... well. But the
reason it was, we would never be able to have that end of the campus. We can never have that. And put
up, you say, if we had left the cemetery there, because it had the grading of the whole area, how to be
leveled and raised in order to be able to build and to put the ball field. So technically a side law, if you


Gus Nolan
were going to dig up those Brothers' graves' and moving them to Esopus where the new cemetery is, you
would have to get permission from all their families. Okay. And their families are in France and they
don't even know they have, and they could get involved in technical. "No, I don't want my grandmother. I
don't want my grandfather or my cousin moved, you know, Oh, he's a great uncle to me. I want him left
the way." You know, and what we're going to do? So what they did was that they just buried the
cemetery. And you know, very few people know that now. I mean, this... It's passe. Have you ever heard
of it? You didn't know about the cemetery? Alright. Don't tell anybody. I mean, there's the gray stone. Is
there? The stone is there. Yeah. So what do you think it was representing physical?
Students (
00:45:40
):
Alright. During your time at Marist, what do you feel has been your greatest challenge?
Gus Nolan (
00:45:46
):
My greatest challenge is probably keeping up with a quick changing age. I was not a youth when I came
here, I mean, I was when I first came here, but you know, 30 years later, I'm still here, you know,
teaching and the youth, the children, the students coming in are more advanced in many ways. Keyboard
skills, for instance, I can type. I make an effort at at least and have a computer and I know how to use it.
Well sometimes, or now I have an iPad or an iPhone or whatever you call them, you know? And but I
don't carry it with me. Cause if it rings, I don't know what to do with it. That's part of it is, you know,
keeping up with the technical age is especially you are born in. I'm still in the 20th century in many ways.
I still want to get US Mail, envelope and I want to open it. You know to read it online does not do the
same thing to me as we did in my hand. You know, somebody sends me an isolator. I want to look at it,
you know? Well, that's part of it. So keeping you abreast of the times and not just the technical ways, but
also in the thinking of the ways of what's happening. I mean my understanding of the universe now, you
know. I know we sent a satellite up in 1976. In 40 years, it's going a million miles today. They'll get to
this destination on a targeted sun you know. That '76, I was already here six years when I didn't even
know that happened. Now I know about it because I'm reading some things about outer space and know
this kind of thing the whole world of thinking, so many developments. So it's hard to keep abreast if
you're not active, you know, and I think my blessing has been, I've been on act on the campus, even
though they pay me to stay home. I don't stay home. I came in to do these kinds of interviews. I do that
part. You're asking the question, I answer the questions.
Students (
00:48:10
):
Alright. How are the programs for the educationally disadvantaged developed?
Gus Nolan (
00:48:16
):
They developed through the kindness really of Linus Foy that we're talking about, who is the first to
bring, what they call Upward Bound on campus. Upward Bound was the program. We ran through the
summers for students who had interest in but did not have good grade school education. And they needed
to be brought up to speed in reading and writing and arithmetic. You know, so that was one of the first,
and then not only that we had another day on campus or it used to be traditional. Where as many people
as possible operated out with a wheelchair and to say, what are the obstacles since then? There's been a
great change on ours. Almost every building has a ramp or something. You don't have steps to get, 30
years ago. That was not the way, you know, and if you had a handicap, you know, yourself tough, you
can't come here. Yeah. So you know that part of it and all kinds of handicaps. And they know, we know,
we know a lot more about mental development. Kids, children, students who have certain needs, they
might need certain drugs. Drugs and all of that was forbidden. We really didn't have that. Now I mean, it's
part of a doctor's prescription. You know, this person should have these medications in order to be able to
operate normally, you know? So, so many things have changed that way. What are we talking about?


Gus Nolan
Students (
00:50:01
):
Educationally disadvantaged.
Gus Nolan (
00:50:02
):
Educationally. Okay, I went into the physical disadvantage. So educational disadvantage. Well, this is the
tutorship programs for you. You can get a tutor to help you. You'll get somebody to read your paper. You
know, some people have dyslexia. They don't see. They cross words and they've missed things. Their
thinking is good but they don't see on the paper. And that's not what they're saying. You know? So you
have those kinds of problems. They're not, you know, intellectually slow. They have a problem with
seeing or recognizing and articulating. We have needs. I mean, those needs are there. And the college is
addressing them as much as they can. I just know that more has to be done, but there are limits on my
answers.
Students (
00:50:58
):
Alright. In 1978, Marist was awarded a $1 million Title III award from the US Department of Education
for institutional development. What was your reaction to this?
Gus Nolan (
00:51:12
):
Delighted? I don't know why, because I didn't know. I wasn't part of the grant. And I don't know
specifically. Do you know what it was for? In a way you're saying that.
Students (
00:51:25
):
I'm not too sure. No, no.
Gus Nolan (
00:51:29
):
Well, if you could find out or exactly what they meant by it, there are, the college has gotten various
grants for different things. With New York State Dormitory Authority makes millions of dollars available
for building dormitories. So the dormitories, they go up all the times and a good bit of it comes from the
state. We don't make any money out of it. We have to give the money back to the state, but there's an
occasion to have students on campus who can go to courses and they pay for their tuition to go to courses.
So the money for the dormitories goes back to the state. So that, and that see, without the dormitories, we
wouldn't be able to function. This could not operate as a local college. There's not that many kids in the
Hudson Valley. They wouldn't want to come to Marist. They would now. I mean what when we were
starting, why would they come here? We were nobody. Nobody knew it. We didn't have a Rick Smith yet,
you know, so we didn't know that that they will be ready to really move.
Students (
00:52:32
):
Okay. Have you continued to play a role at Marist since you left? And if so, what compelled you to
continue to be a part of the Marist experience?
Gus Nolan (
00:52:42
):
Well, this is my home, you know. I've been here for since 1948. Yeah. I don't come to campus every day,
but many days I do come and I have friends on campus. I've made friends. Some of my students now
work here, you know, Valerie Hall who works in Advancement. Mary Beth Geisler works and so on. So I
have these students and they hug me in the hallway. So I love being greeted by former students who
would not hold, hold that against me. Now I didn't give them an A. You know what my name was? I'm C
plus Gus. Did you ever get? Oh yeah. [inaudible] Not true. They call me C Plus Gus. And I know that's


Gus Nolan
not true. It's just a threat. You know, I, sometimes I go right there, I get a C+ for that's the only cause of
the kindness of my heart. That's one thing. The other thing, of course, you'll probably I've done over 150
of these. So since 202, after I really retired, I didn't retire. I came in and meet with the administrators who
are teachers who are retiring and graduates who'd come back. Vinnie Boccalini just came back this year.
He graduated in '52, no graduated, in '68, sorry. You know what this means? The class of 68 celebrated
their 50th anniversary last September. And they had their hat and they gave me one. Cause I had John
Ritschdorff within this class and I had him in class. So you see and he got an A because he's my kid.
Gus Nolan (
00:54:42
):
So it's a lie. I'm C Plus Gus. I do make C pluses but I made a lot of other things too. And the question is,
why do I keep coming on campus? I liked the place. Yeah. And I love the students that. They still open
the door for you here. I mean, this is a very nice, you know, experience to come to and the personnel and
the staff. I just, I like it. I like the chapter. I like the students. I like going into a library and getting the
attention that people will help me. Like I can use the elevator and not have to use the stairs.
Students (
00:55:17
):
That's awesome.
Gus Nolan (
00:55:18
):
All of these things are helpful. Yeah.
Students (
00:55:20
):
I didn't even know we had an elevator.
Gus Nolan (
00:55:24
):
Not for you.
Students (
00:55:24
):
Not for me.
Gus Nolan (
00:55:25
):
No you can use those. You want to go from here. You can't come down and go out. Cause you are gonna
be taking books, you know? So they have that checked the book, and you've got to get permission for the
desk to use it. Is that that's coming down. You can walk there anytime and go up. You seem to use them
more than they do here.
Students (
00:55:51
):
I have never used it. How would you define good teaching?
Gus Nolan (
00:55:54
):
Good teaching. I think good teaching is the ability to be able to interest the students and open his mind.
To have them see something he didn't see before, you know, to, to learn to observe, to be able to see and
understand some new concepts. It's not a matter of just repeating what I say. It's a matter of methodology
of learning how. While I taught literature, for instance, reading a novel and the questions that you would
ask, you know, who is the storyteller? You know, within a novel, you know, what is the time setting?
What's the timeframe of this story? What about the characters? What are their problems? You know, how


Gus Nolan
did they handle it yet? So those questions can be asked for any book you read, but you have to have a
methodology to be able to do it. So that would be my take.
Students (
00:56:55
):
Alright. And then here's the stuff to cheat.
Gus Nolan (
00:57:00
):
These are the hard ones.
Students (
00:57:05
):
Are there any subjects you feel this interview has neglected or not mentioned? If so, please state and
describe what they are.
Gus Nolan (
00:57:14
):
I'm not quite sure why we're having this interview. That's you know, why John said, you know, "Would I
be willing to teach me to meet with you." Last year I worked with two students who took some of the
interviews that I had done and I would transcribe them, I think. And after a year that they said, "You
know what we would like to do? Would you go on a golf cart with us to go around to the various
buildings and describe them?" I don't know if they were doing that for a project for this year or they were
doing it for a recorded, you know, or curiosity. I didn't know. So one of the questions if you would told
me at the end, "Gus, we're doing this because we have to get a paper into John or we have to bring a
digital thing to him." This can be used as you know. So that, that would be. Not that I'm holding it against
you. So I'm almost not quite sure what the purpose is.
Students (
00:58:20
):
So I'll tell you a little about it. So for the final project or paper or whatever it is, a lot of people... Probably
should have told you this at the beginning. But a lot of people are doing different things, but he suggested
a list of possible things to do. When I saw oral history interview with someone of the Marist community,
and I thought that's different. So I've never done an interview with anyone from the Marist community or
an interview alone, I guess. So I thought that was pretty interesting. So with this interview, we're going to
also make a website and transcribe the audio. We're going to go into the archives, get some pictures, like
old campus photos, old student yearbooks, stuff like that. We'll take a picture posted on the website and
maybe it'd have like a little bio underneath all the pictures. Describe them a little, but basically we're just
going to create a website to have people use this exhibit to learn from it.
Gus Nolan (
00:59:18
):
That's a big job. Transcribing is going to take a lot of, because what I'm saying may not come to as clearly
when you're just hearing it. Cause you were here to witness and so you, you get the impression of what I
was saying, but when you're just working in front of the tape, that may not be that clear. Yeah. Okay.
Students (
00:59:38
):
Alright. Alright. Next question. If you could give any advice to the faculty of Marist College, what would
it be?
Gus Nolan (
00:59:46
):
Well, I don't know that I could give them advice. I would encourage them to learn with what the Marist
spirit is. To learn that, you know, the Marist Brothers who founded this college founded on a matter of


Gus Nolan
service and not a money making operation. That to help, there's nothing more important than learning.
And so helping people learn, one of the dangers I say is that we may price ourselves out of the market as
much as it costs so much. Now for students to come, you may not get the diversity. You may not get
students who don't always have the meal they want, you know. Sometimes I have an opportunity to go to
the lunch spots in Poughkeepsie and I see families there. And they depend on the charity of the state as a
way to eat. Now, what are those, what grade is telling their classmates when they go to school, where did
he go to supper last night?
Gus Nolan (
01:00:53
):
You know, or what did you have for dinner yesterday with? It's not always, you know, "Oh we had steak
or we had burgers." I know, you know, whatever you might say. So to Marist to maintain an openness, to
bring in the diversity that it has now that have to be continued. That the teachers we dedicated, and I've
heard that in many number of cases, it's somewhat here to see where they're going to go next. When my
time here, we were here with Tony in 30 years, you know, it was a lifelong commitment here. Not that
you have to stay here in prisoners at work, but that, you know, you be dedicated toward the school
represents. So that would be one of the things. Not to be judgmental, you know, you what you see is not
what ? is. You know, the things are not what they seem. Oftentimes you have to be patient and the older
you get, the more you realize that, but the younger teachers coming in, kind of. Maybe they make quick
judgments and they think, "Well, I've seen this before Now It's okay." I said, yeah, that would be what of
what I would say.
Students (
01:02:14
):
Okay. And what advice would you give to current students here?
Gus Nolan (
01:02:19
):
To current students? You've made a good choice and I'm glad you got in. Now stay here.
Students (
01:02:27
):
Yeah, yeah.
Gus Nolan (
01:02:28
):
You know, the point of you have to make the grade, you know what I mean? In my time, if you didn't
attend classes, you could stay in the dormitory, you know, and just kind of glide along and hope that the
teacher would be kind to you at the end. You'd tell him, "Well, you didn't feel good or too good." I'll give
you a C you know, well, yeah, that's not exactly the way it works, you know, so to encourage them to
make the best of it. And that's another thing, Marist has great opportunities, the internship programs, the
opportunity to be able to touch the world to make good friends while you're here, lifelong friends, you
know, and that you maintain that contact as the years go on. I think that would be a wholesome thing for
any individual. Yeah.
Students (
01:03:23
):
Okay. What do you feel was your greatest achievement here at Marist?
Gus Nolan (
01:03:31
):
Yeah, I mean, I never thought I would be a college teacher. I, you know, I was going to be a high school
teacher as a Marist Brother. I came on board and I thought "This, Could I do it?" You know? And it
turned out I could, you know, and that was, you know, in that sense that, that achievement is fine. I
managed to find a woman who is very interested in me. I didn't know that, but it turned out that she was


Gus Nolan
for whatever reason and that's been a cause of a happy marriage. And so what else am I saying? What are
my achievements? Right. I think I've been blessed with good health. So yeah. Opportunity to exercise to
go to All Sport, or here I don't go to here to the Marist gym anymore.
Gus Nolan (
01:04:29
):
Well, but even in the last two or three years, I was more an advocate in going and working out swimming
and trying to stay healthy. I had All Sport. So, and I think that's physical exercise is a part of good health.
And prayer. I will also do a meditation group just to stop, to think and to be kind upon the greatness of the
universe and my belief in God and God within us, and so much in terms of theology. All of those things
have been very positive effects that have helped me.
Students (
01:05:10
):
Would you have done anything differently during your time here at Marist?
Gus Nolan (
01:05:17
):
Yes. I couldn't tell you off the top, but I mean, what would I have done different? I think I probably could
have been more patient. Things I'm saying now, I don't think I was so virtuous when the time came to be
that especially as a younger teacher. I think that, I was probably not as kind to students as I should have
been and understanding their problems. Well one or two example would come up. That's generally
speaking. I think I probably could have been more understanding. I think I worked hard, but I could have
worked harder, you know. I just don't know what specifically in what areas, that I let go by that were
missed opportunities. Yeah, I'm at a loss to say here. I'm happy. It's been a, it's been a wonderful ride, you
know? So that part of it is true. Could it have been a better ride? Probably, but I don't know how.
Students (
01:06:43
):
Okay. What do you envision for the future of Marist College?
Gus Nolan (
01:06:47
):
Oh, this is the question I asked others. First, do you think it's gonna be here in 10 years? You know, well
will we be absorbed by some other big institution that sees us and would want to bring us in. Or will we
come to a place that you don't need a college education anymore. You know, I mean, if you go to school
here for four years and you spent a $200,000 and you had to borrow half of it and you're paying interest
on it, and then you come to graduate and you can't get a job in public relations. You can't get a job in
English teaching. You can't get a job in what you thought you might. Or you can get one but you're gonna
make $40,000 a year at 35. It was just about standing survival in today's economy as things go. So, you
know, those would be well, certainly, but, you know, you would go to a mechanical school or an
electrical school or both. So you know, learn how to do trades and make a hundred dollars an hour as a
carpenter, a plumber, an electrician, you know? So if money is what you were after, I keep saying, you
know, you don't know how to make a limit here. You learn how to live. You see, this is the concept of
saying, how. Can you read a book? You know, can you see a movie and` understand, you know, first of
all, that it is a movie. Yeah. There's a guy, they were the counter taking it. That's not real, you know, and
like the change, do you have the ability to be able to comprehend? Which is what college will do.
Gus Nolan (
01:08:32
):
I mean, you take good courses in all this school we've been talking about and especially philosophy and
thinking and things about, you know. I've seen war of outings about, well, you still want you still believe
in Santa Claus, you believe in God. Yeah. Well, you know, I could put a watch on the table and say, you
think that was just made itself. The world is made at the top. Yeah. It had to be in my view, you'd have to


Gus Nolan
be lacking to say that the watch made itself. But at the same way, the world itself, it's a big watch. Yeah.
It works the same. Yeah. I'm just preaching now get off podium.
Students (
01:09:14
):
So Marist College has had four different presidents. Brother Paul Ambrose Fontaine, Dr. Linus Richard
Foy, Dr. Dennis J Murray, and our current president, Dr. David Yellen. How do you feel that their styles
of leadership have differed?
Gus Nolan (
01:09:32
):
Oh, greatly. I don't know that much about the leadership of David Yellen. You know what I lived under
Paul Ambrose. He was my director when I was in college here. He was the so-called president.
Technically, he really wasn't once but he labeled as being the president. Okay. And we worked on a
budget, a limited budget. There was very little of money around. We had two vehicles on campus. We had
a station wagon and a car, that was it. And then we had a tractor. And so on. He had funny notions about
fundraising. You know, we took part in Saint Joseph and hoped that, you know, we had kids participate.
Some of the Brothers, young brothers participate in contests, you know, various word contests. They
would stay up hoping to get funding, winning by these things.
Gus Nolan (
01:10:35
):
So it was but see what he did. He was able to raise Marist from a two-year college. Two-year was what
they call a normal school. A normal school is a school where you teach teachers. Why do they call it a
normal school? Because it comes from the French, ecole normale. And in France, ecole normale was the
school where you want to learn the normales that you have to teach. How much mathematics do you need
to teach to be able to teach a fourth grader? How much geography does an eighth grader need? You know,
how much reading and spelling does a third grader need? So the norms were set in a (?). And so over here
we had Paul Ambrose comes. He gets a degree in library science. He comes here and the Brothers say,
"We'd like you to make this a four year college."
Gus Nolan (
01:11:34
):
Okay. So he sits down at his typewriter now. No secretary, he was by himself. No computers. just a
typewriter. We call them paper. You know what carbon paper is? Where you, you put a piece of paper in
there that probably another piece of paper. So when you type, you get two or three copies. Yeah. You
ever saw that? Oh, okay. Two fingers. He has no faculty. He has no staff. He has no legal advisors. He
has no endowment. He has no campus. He's got a farm. Okay. And he's got a student body of 50 and he's
asking Albany to give him a charter for four year college and he gets it. Okay. And then four years after,
they come and examine what's going on here and they said, "This is pretty good. You really should open
it to the Hudson Valley, not just the Brothers you should. " So he moves to open the college, you know,
and they would get up for his license. Okay. So as I said, he didn't have an endowment and he didn't have
a faculty. Four people on staff when I was here as a student. Yeah. We are only 60 students. So you had
philosophy, you had math, you had languages, you had the science. We had a librarian come in teaching
us literature. And so that was it. And so that's Paul. Linus comes along and he is the one who begins to
move and said. I think I said this before that they were able to tell Linus. There's not enough students in
the Hudson Valley to be able to support this. We had to put up a dormitory because we have 10 schools in
New York City who knows the Marist Brothers. Do you know, New York City? Are you familiar with
like Cardinal Hayes, Mount Saint Michael, Archbishop Molloy, St. Agnes. Okay. And then we have other
schools in Jersey., So every year, there's two or three hundred students graduating from the schools. They
know the Marist Brothers. If they know about Marist College, maybe some of them would like to come
up here and that's what happened. Okay. So Sheahan Hall gets filled and then Leo gets filled and
Champagnat gets filled. Okay. And so this keeps and then he also moves along and was the person to put


Gus Nolan
in the Masters programs. Master's Degree in Psychology, you know, a Master's Degree in, I forget where
we were Business. That's the next one. And then so he's here. Paul was here about 10 years. '36 to '57, I
guess. I have to put the Mathematics together, but then Linus comes. He's here for 20 years, '57 to '77.
And putting up the dormitories, Dennis comes for the next 40 years. This thing takes off. He gets a new
Board of Trustees. we got, you know, people with a lot of money, Dyson Foundation, you know, are able
to count and put up the Dyson building and he backs other things. McCann Center goes up. McCann was
a millionaire in town that we all get his lawyer, which was a Gartland, Jack Gartland who was the
administrator of the McCann Foundation. And he was a friend of Linus. So he comes out and bought out.
We get a big grant to put up the McCann Center, and then the other buildings will go up, you know, each
in time. And then we get donors to back them and we're doing that in May 5th.
Gus Nolan (
01:15:30
):
I know the dormitory will be named another major contribution to the college. So Dennis did a wonderful
job. And also he created this campus that we have. I don't know, you can walk into. It goes right down to
the Hudson. Vassar has a nice place over there, but they don't have the Hudson river. You see, we have
the Hudson river. That's, that's a gem, you know, and he's really made use of it. You know, you go down
to the river, you know, where the dock is, you know, the Regatta and all of that. Linus also brought the
Regatta back in place here. So he was the one who instituted. Do you know the Open Boat story about the
R-. That's a story about winning the Regatta. Washington State came and they rowed here. Marist rowed
also in that Regatta. Okay the Regatta. Moving on. After Dennis leaves, now we have David. We thought,
well, we'll rest for awhile. I mean, we just had this big expansion and so on. And Dennis had this plan for
more new dormitories that went up at the North End. Plus what's on the other side of the road. So all of
these things like, Oh yeah. And I said, "Oh, I will rest now." Only to find out that MedTech is coming up.
We have plans for a medical school, you know, excuse me.
Gus Nolan (
01:17:03
):
So we've come a long way. All of them, through it all though, they're all very simple, nice guys. You can
talk to anyone, you can knock on the door and they would generally, you might have to make an
appointment, but Dennis called me yesterday about Linus to talk to him about life. I mean, there's a very
openness in communication between the highest and the low, just the faculty, you know and happy to talk
to him. David Yellen does the same thing. I was telling him about that. The Esopus story. He couldn't get
over it. So he tells the whole faculty about Gus Nolan is here for the burial of FDR. So there's a nice, you
know. It's a change that takes place among the faculty, administrators, the presidency, and members of the
Board of Trustees. They treat you with respect. Okay.
Students (
01:18:02
):
Last question. Do you have any questions for us?
Gus Nolan (
01:18:06
):
While I got the big one out already? What is this there? I'll leave an envelope over here later. No but no, I
don't have a question, but I have an advice you're done a terrific taking the initiative to do this. I admire
your courage because you didn't know what you're going to get when you're not me. And I don't know
what you think, but nevertheless, here we are. We've got this spot. I do have a slideshow, a show and tell
kind of thing about Marist College. "The History and Development of Marist," I call it and I have pictures
of the first buildings and what it was like 20 years later when I come. What was up and then the buildings
through Dennis Murray's. I don't have the most recent, I don't have the dormitories. I don't have the Med
Tech. I don't have the new fashion or, you know. I haven't done it in two or three years, so, but I would be
happy to show you those pictures or, you know, we can meet at another time and just I'd show you and
explain to you what they are. Okay.


Gus Nolan
Students (
01:19:22
):
Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for doing this.
Gus Nolan (
01:19:28
):
I'm not going to sign anything.