Madden Moments: James H. Madden

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

James H. Madden - Notre Dame

Some thirty years ago, Dad contacted Notre Dame asking for verification of the fact that he had been an instructor there. They responded that they had no official documentation of the fact. I was therefore very pleased when I found a notice in the school newspaper announcing his appointment as a part-time instructor. How could a University lose the documentation. Did they ask the archives? There must be class lists that show the instructors.

I'm guessing Dad was not a really "popular" instructor. He firmly believed that if you wanted an "A" you needed to earn it. None of this grading on the curve where 50% right might earn an "A." He felt that the students coming on after the war veterans didn't know how to work.

I remember hearing this many many times as I grew up. It definitely served as an impetus to achieve that "A", without either Dad or Mom stressing that we needed to. Imagine my surprise when I found my Dad's report cards one day and found more C's than A's.

Struggling to feed his growing family, Dad not only earned his Master's in Aeronautical Engineering and taught part-time, he also drove a taxi and occasionally played a game of golf with a bit of a bet! The family struggled a bit but thrived.

Here is the 3rd installment of Dad's Story - The Notre Dame Years. This volume is heavily annotated by my Mom, Jean Ann English, as it is also her story. Here my sisters Maura and Colleen first appear in the family story and I am there "almost", arriving less than a month into the next adventure.