0:08 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you for watching. 0:32 [SPEAKER_00]: 50 years ago today at approximately 7 p.m. Eastern time, Sister Kathy would leave for carriage house apartment for the very last time. 0:42 [SPEAKER_00]: The world has become aware of Kathy's tragic faith that night, so today, Jim and I ask you to take a moment to remember Kathy, Kathy was a real person with dreams and goals of her own. 0:54 [SPEAKER_00]: On November 7, 1969, Kathy's life was taken. 0:59 [SPEAKER_00]: But her memory, live strongly in those whose lives she touched, these are some of those memories. 1:06 [SPEAKER_01]: This is Sharon Hamill Bush. 1:26 [SPEAKER_01]: I just wanted to leave a memory of Kathy on the 50th anniversary of her appearance. 1:31 [SPEAKER_01]: I knew Kathy from Archbishop Kia High School, where I was part of the first graduating class and Kathy was my English teacher. 1:41 [SPEAKER_01]: She was the type of teacher that everybody loved. 1:44 [SPEAKER_01]: She was a gentle force. 1:46 [SPEAKER_01]: She demanded that she give your best, but she was gentle and kind and her poetic nature 1:55 [SPEAKER_01]: was just something that drew everybody in. 1:58 [SPEAKER_01]: She was very intelligent. 2:00 [SPEAKER_01]: She was an excellent drama teacher. 2:02 [SPEAKER_01]: She was a director of the plays at Kiel for the four years we were there. 2:07 [SPEAKER_01]: She pulled out the best of everybody. 2:09 [SPEAKER_01]: I knew her after she left the condon in 1969 and didn't what Mr. Russell was my best friend. 2:18 [SPEAKER_01]: And I knew Kathy more through Russell as we went on after she left. 2:22 [SPEAKER_01]: I had more contact with Rust and Kathy, but Kathy was still a very soft strength. 2:27 [SPEAKER_01]: She was gentle, but very strong. 2:30 [SPEAKER_01]: When she disappeared, we couldn't believe it. 2:32 [SPEAKER_01]: And it still, for years later, is the power and the strength of the feelings are still there as if it happened yesterday. 2:39 [SPEAKER_01]: It's something that we never can get over. 2:42 [SPEAKER_01]: And now that everyone is working so hard to solve and get actual justice of what happened, it makes it a little bit easier. 2:50 [SPEAKER_01]: But at the same time, every morning, I wake up and I know that the feeling is still there for Kathy, just a year's later. 2:57 [SPEAKER_01]: And I just hope that there will be justice in me and for her, and she can actually rest in peace. 3:04 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for letting me give a memory. 3:06 [SPEAKER_01]: She was a very powerful and loving woman, and I'm just glad to have known her even for a little while. 3:12 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you. 3:21 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you. 3:36 [SPEAKER_00]: Patty, commonly known as Pat, free-worker Heldman, wrote in with this memory. 3:43 [SPEAKER_00]: I am a 1969 graduate, in 1965, when I entered Kio, Sister Joe Anita, Sister Kathy, was the first person I really met, she was my home room teacher. 3:56 [SPEAKER_00]: Not many girls from St. Marks came to Kiyo, or were not in my classes. 4:01 [SPEAKER_00]: I have no sisters or female cousins, so I was just feeling very alone. 4:07 [SPEAKER_00]: But Sister Kathy was so kind, warm, friendly, and so young, I was so happy to have her as a teacher, and to get to know her. 4:16 [SPEAKER_00]: We stayed in contact throughout the summer and I went to the school to help her with getting her classroom ready for the new year. 4:24 [SPEAKER_00]: That's when I really got to know her and I remember how easy it was to share my thoughts and feelings with her. 4:30 [SPEAKER_00]: I was so fortunate to have her in my life during those teenage years that can be so tough. 4:36 [SPEAKER_00]: I joined some of her extracurricular groups like drama and creative writing. 4:41 [SPEAKER_00]: so that I could still chat with her from time to time. 4:45 [SPEAKER_00]: In the spring of 1969, I was very surprised when she told me she was leaving the school in combat because, of course, I had no idea what was really happening at the school and what she was going through. 4:57 [SPEAKER_00]: We wrote back and forth that summer and I'm so glad I kept her letters. 5:01 [SPEAKER_00]: I pulled them all out last year after watching the keepers. 5:05 [SPEAKER_00]: She had the gift for saying just the right thing at just the right time. 5:09 [SPEAKER_00]: She really cared about me despite all she was dealing with. 5:14 [SPEAKER_00]: I am so glad that I visited her just a few weeks before she was killed. 5:18 [SPEAKER_00]: She was not feeling well and seemed preoccupied. 5:40 [SPEAKER_03]: Good morning, it's Chris Senza-Fonti, Chris Constantine, Senza-Fonti. 5:46 [SPEAKER_03]: I was in the first graduating class of Artorship, P.O. 5:50 [SPEAKER_03]: and I knew she was a coffee very well. 5:52 [SPEAKER_03]: And a daunting task for me to choose only a few things or a few memories, coffee, because there were so many special ones. 6:00 [SPEAKER_03]: One memory I remember her standing in the wings of stage while directing the musicals in place. 6:09 [SPEAKER_03]: Really fun memory was when I saw her singing along some of this song from the sound of music. 6:16 [SPEAKER_03]: I couldn't hear her voice, but I'm sure she was not singing loudly. 6:19 [SPEAKER_03]: We just met with her style. 6:21 [SPEAKER_03]: She was having fun and she was happy. 6:23 [SPEAKER_03]: But she just seemed to be enjoying the music and being in the moment. 6:27 [SPEAKER_03]: She was pretty stern on the stage. 6:28 [SPEAKER_03]: No, she didn't take any nonsense. 6:31 [SPEAKER_03]: So seeing her in that mode was always fun. 6:34 [SPEAKER_03]: In the same scene, 6:35 [SPEAKER_03]: type of situation when some Saturdays mornings we'd have to go over to school to help out with the plays and different things. 6:42 [SPEAKER_03]: We had to plan our next moves and rehearsals and all that business. 6:46 [SPEAKER_03]: One Saturday it was blazing hot in the auto-screen as we didn't have air conditioning and I don't think they did until even the last day that school was open. 6:55 [SPEAKER_03]: That auditorium was always hot, 7:05 [SPEAKER_03]: And we were somewhat in apprehensive and slightly intimidated, I think. 7:09 [SPEAKER_03]: But we wanted to make sure she was comfortable. 7:11 [SPEAKER_03]: So we said, fine, when she emerged from backstage without her valon, was absolutely astonishing. 7:19 [SPEAKER_03]: When I served absolutely beautiful human being inside and out, of course, her humility kicked in, and she wanted to continue on everything with the same for all of us who were present, it was a moment that 7:34 [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, this is a beautiful woman. 7:37 [SPEAKER_03]: I love her, my all especially, and she has dimples and just a beautiful person. 7:42 [SPEAKER_03]: As an English teacher, she was and always will be my favorite. 7:47 [SPEAKER_03]: We not only learned about Shakespeare, we had to perform in class in front of everyone, which always not so much fun time. 7:55 [SPEAKER_03]: The solo agrees were always the most difficult to do, which even saying that word is difficult for me. 8:03 [SPEAKER_03]: question how I pronounced it, but she would always smile and let us continue on. 8:08 [SPEAKER_03]: Wish she taught me what has courage and courage to face my fear of being alone. 8:17 [SPEAKER_03]: Even though I was standing face my classmates alone, she would stand in the back of the room and from days when block one to yours and the words come out naturally, and I think that was a gift she had, 8:31 [SPEAKER_03]: make you realize that you still could do these things. 8:34 [SPEAKER_03]: I knew she always had my back, and many others felt the same way. 8:37 [SPEAKER_03]: Even when she displaced this appointment, and she did occasionally, sometimes for our delivery of things or her lack of memory, words, or whatever, in a merge because she had a great desire to see all of us to see. 9:00 [SPEAKER_03]: That meant tough love once in a while, and it was never done in an of being way. 9:05 [SPEAKER_03]: It was discerned, and I knew she meant to try your best in the moment and take your time. 9:12 [SPEAKER_03]: I always thank her for that pushing me and pushing others that way. 9:16 [SPEAKER_03]: One of my fondness memories will always be the first time Kathy and I've really talked one-on-one. 9:21 [SPEAKER_03]: And I will say that her pressure beforehand will be interested in fear because of it. 9:29 [SPEAKER_03]: It says, he may have to class, you knew the wrath of God was in him. 9:33 [SPEAKER_03]: So in this case, I was a little worried. 9:36 [SPEAKER_03]: Not particularly a day, I remember being very sensitive and started thinking of any and all disobedience situations, so I'll use that word loosely. 9:45 [SPEAKER_03]: I may have been involved in, but none surface that had nothing came up that I thought would be relevant, so it was a little worrisome. 9:56 [SPEAKER_03]: And I had to see her and talk to her about something I wasn't sure of. 10:00 [SPEAKER_03]: What I will never forget, any across from her. 10:03 [SPEAKER_03]: And she asked me if I was okay. 10:05 [SPEAKER_03]: I remember pondering about how to reply. 10:08 [SPEAKER_03]: And with the consequences might be, by saying, no. 10:12 [SPEAKER_03]: So I did reply that I wasn't okay. 10:16 [SPEAKER_03]: And what emerged from that session was a real connection with her. 10:19 [SPEAKER_03]: And another person who I was doing was a true friend. 10:22 [SPEAKER_03]: She listened to every word I had to say and never dress me for some things that I carried with me in a negative way. 10:29 [SPEAKER_03]: She spoke to my heart every time. 10:31 [SPEAKER_03]: And I really feel she was the reason I became a stronger woman. 10:34 [SPEAKER_03]: I do have compassion for so many and that's the way she was. 10:38 [SPEAKER_03]: And she taught me that can be accomplished even as you are a strong person. 10:42 [SPEAKER_03]: She was always there when I needed her, especially my senior year when my mom was dying. 10:51 [SPEAKER_03]: I see what was needed with the needs. 10:54 [SPEAKER_03]: I pray to Kathy every day. 10:55 [SPEAKER_03]: And I went hard to intervene when my behalf for all people that are in need, especially people I'm close to. 11:01 [SPEAKER_03]: I have a very large boast that you have an age or in my family room, that I applaud many years ago in memory of Kathy. 11:08 [SPEAKER_03]: I saw it in an antique store and it just threw me over to it. 11:11 [SPEAKER_03]: And I thought I have to bring that on with me. 11:14 [SPEAKER_03]: It was a weird situation. 11:16 [SPEAKER_03]: I had people with me and they're all 11:20 [SPEAKER_03]: And I just said, I just feel like I need to bring it home. 11:23 [SPEAKER_03]: So it's been in my family room for over 20 years in the same place. 11:28 [SPEAKER_03]: It's like she watches over everyone while we're there and while we're not there. 11:32 [SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, she really does resemble Kathy. 11:34 [SPEAKER_03]: My family and friends are in need at times that I feel like that's Kathy's gift to be able to intervene for all of us. 11:42 [SPEAKER_03]: And I would encourage anyone that needs help or they need to pray to someone to choose her. 11:50 [SPEAKER_03]: My mind is memory that can actually hold in my hand is the note card that Kathy gave me on my graduation day. 11:59 [SPEAKER_03]: I've treasured this card for 50 years, and it's significant for me is that she held this in her hand. 12:05 [SPEAKER_03]: I only know one other person who received a note card from Kathy, that's my friend Kitty who lost her mom two weeks after mine. 12:12 [SPEAKER_03]: Her love for poetry always resonates with me, and I continue to write the press of her, 12:19 [SPEAKER_03]: So this theme, my fond of memory, also blends into our mutual love of poetry. 12:25 [SPEAKER_03]: I've only shared this the words on this note card with a few people, a feeling more comfortable now, a sharing it. 12:32 [SPEAKER_03]: And those of you who knew Kathy won't understand how she wrote. 12:37 [SPEAKER_03]: The poetry was very meaningful to me. 12:39 [SPEAKER_03]: I hope it's meaningful to you on going to read it now. 12:44 [SPEAKER_03]: Continue encourage in the face of the real world. 12:47 [SPEAKER_03]: Your strength has been a real encouragement to me. 12:51 [SPEAKER_03]: People like you will keep me a sister in a real sense, all the days of my life. 12:56 [SPEAKER_03]: I owe you a home, but you can't rush phone. 12:59 [SPEAKER_03]: Be patient, the full little longer. 13:02 [SPEAKER_03]: Be gentle in the face of cruelty. 13:05 [SPEAKER_03]: Be warm in the face of coldness. 13:07 [SPEAKER_03]: Be a woman in the face of everything that Melatate against that. 13:11 [SPEAKER_03]: You make my life worthwhile. 13:13 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you. 13:29 [SPEAKER_00]: life can get overwhelming, and talking to someone can make all the difference. 13:34 [SPEAKER_00]: Better help, the sponsor of this episode, make starting therapy simple. 13:40 [SPEAKER_00]: Complete a short questionnaire and you'll be matched with a licensed therapist, and as little as a couple of days, you can connect by message, phone, or video, from wherever you feel comfortable. 13:53 [SPEAKER_00]: And if the first therapist 13:59 [SPEAKER_00]: Better help include a journal for personal reflection, and daily group sessions on a variety of topics, and they accept HSA and FSA cards. 14:09 [SPEAKER_00]: with over 2,000,000 users, and a 4-point star rating on trust pilot. 14:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Better help is a trusted platform for accessible mental health care. 14:19 [SPEAKER_00]: If you think you could benefit from therapy, visit betterhelp.com, choose our podcast during sign-up, and get 10% off your first month. 14:28 [SPEAKER_00]: Taking care of your mental health is a sign of strength. 14:32 [SPEAKER_00]: Start your journey today. 14:39 [SPEAKER_00]: Dorothy Heldidge, boss of 1969 Kiyo, wrote in with his memory. 14:50 [SPEAKER_00]: In my 1969 yearbook, I remember Kathy Seznick, sister Joanita, as my favorite teacher I Kiyo. 14:58 [SPEAKER_00]: I had Kathy as my English teacher. 15:01 [SPEAKER_00]: I believe it was my freshman year. 15:03 [SPEAKER_00]: Later in my junior or senior year, she was my home room teacher. 15:08 [SPEAKER_00]: I recall her love of classic literature, and her enthusiasm, as she introduced us to books, such as Dickens, Great Expectations, Poetry, and Plains. 15:20 [SPEAKER_00]: She was a true romantic and so animated, as she shared her love of these literary words. 15:27 [SPEAKER_00]: I vividly recall the quote she had on her bulletin board in the front of her classroom. 15:32 [SPEAKER_00]: quote, it is better to have love and lost than to never 15:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Knowing now more for personal life at the time, as described in the keepers, it makes total sense, as she interpreted this line in detail for us to contemplate. 15:50 [SPEAKER_00]: Another strong memory is the production of from Lali Pops to roses that I believe was during my sophomore year. 15:59 [SPEAKER_00]: It was a musical compilation of songs from various musicals. 16:04 [SPEAKER_00]: such as, by by birdie, westside story, the sound of music, and many other popular musicals. 16:12 [SPEAKER_00]: Of the time, I believe Kathy was the one who combined all of the numbers to be performed in a progression, which described the journey of young girls becoming young women. 16:23 [SPEAKER_00]: The performance was very moving, and the three shows were sold out with standing revations. 16:29 [SPEAKER_00]: I still have the program from that show. 16:31 [SPEAKER_00]: Her life was cut short so tragically, and it was a tremendous loss to so many who had the privilege to know her. 16:39 [SPEAKER_00]: She could have influenced so many more young women, but she'd been given the opportunity. 16:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Jean, who was seven at the time and whose parents were friends of Kathy's, wrote in with this memory. 17:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Kathy was very special to my family. 17:08 [SPEAKER_00]: She and my parents, who were the same age as she was, were close friends in the last few years of her life, my siblings and I just loved her. 17:19 [SPEAKER_00]: She was like a fun big sister. 17:21 [SPEAKER_00]: She was easy and open. 17:23 [SPEAKER_00]: It's no instinctively, when they meet an adult who relates to them genuinely. 17:29 [SPEAKER_00]: Kathy stood out for her caring and kindness, for her passion, for sensitivity, for intelligence, and her authenticity. 17:38 [SPEAKER_00]: She could connect immediately with people. 17:40 [SPEAKER_00]: She and my mom became instant fast friends. 17:44 [SPEAKER_00]: Even though I was only seven when Kathy died, 17:47 [SPEAKER_00]: The years I knew her were formative for me. 17:49 [SPEAKER_00]: My parents were young and still in college, and the mid to late sixties were an interesting time for the country, and for the church. 17:59 [SPEAKER_00]: Mom and dad were aware and involved, and their friends, many of them sisters and priests came for dinner as parties. 18:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Kathy was the first one in the group to leave the convict, but her experience was inspirational. 18:15 [SPEAKER_00]: It was possible to thrive and create a meaningful life outside of the convict and to do it with the support of faith. 18:24 [SPEAKER_00]: In the fall when she died, I began preparations for my first communion of following spring, and she was excited about it. 18:32 [SPEAKER_00]: I still have the Mary metal necklace 18:37 [SPEAKER_00]: When Kathy disappeared, my family was devastated. 18:41 [SPEAKER_00]: It was a terrible time, but my mother has a giant heart. 18:45 [SPEAKER_00]: In a real neck, or keeping alive, the connections that matter. 18:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Kathy's photo, but one in the green dress. 18:53 [SPEAKER_00]: The first dress she bought out of the convent. 18:56 [SPEAKER_00]: Mom took that photo. 18:58 [SPEAKER_00]: I hung on our wall then, and it still hangs in my parents' house now, when I had to choose a saint's name for my confirmation name. 19:07 [SPEAKER_00]: She suggested Kathy, and I agreed, let's just say my required pre-confirmation essay on my chosen name saint, caused a little stir at my school, but it worked out. 19:21 [SPEAKER_00]: More important is that my mom made sure that Kathy's love and care would always be part 19:28 [SPEAKER_00]: and that her spirit would live on in the work of my parents and their friends to help people leaving religious orders. 19:36 [SPEAKER_00]: There was a clear line from Kathy's place in our family life to our supportive group of friends and I'm grateful for that. 19:44 [SPEAKER_00]: My family, what a great... 20:01 [SPEAKER_00]: This message is from Jean Wainer. 20:05 [SPEAKER_00]: If I had to pick one word to describe Kathy's presence in my life, it would be faithful. 20:11 [SPEAKER_00]: her ongoing faith in me, whether alive or dead, has been a healing palm, with that victim ice part of myself. 20:19 [SPEAKER_00]: She has become not only a spiritual guide for me, but a heart friend, whose faithful presence intangues to teach me what love is really all about, a hold her family in my heart today. 20:40 [SPEAKER_02]: Hi, everybody. 20:46 [SPEAKER_02]: Just get on my Hopkins. 20:48 [SPEAKER_02]: And I want to take a minute to talk about Mr. Kathy 50 years when we lost her. 20:54 [SPEAKER_02]: And that's so hard to believe for me. 20:57 [SPEAKER_02]: She was so young when I think that she was 26. 21:01 [SPEAKER_02]: And we only had her for a few years. 21:08 [SPEAKER_02]: I also feel really good about the impact that she's had in the world with there's some justice right there, right? 21:15 [SPEAKER_02]: So the first time I ever saw Kathy was a T.O. 21:19 [SPEAKER_02]: When I entered as a freshman, there she was getting in the middle of the first square hallway in her long black dress with her black and white headpiece but still so pretty and so sweet and just so welcoming to everybody. 21:35 [SPEAKER_02]: I was so fortunate to be in her English class and she grew so many of us through the drama club. 21:44 [SPEAKER_02]: It was for that treat to be part of her show and to just be around her. 21:49 [SPEAKER_02]: Kathy exuded incredible positive energy. 21:54 [SPEAKER_02]: And I think because of that, so many girls were comfortable going to her with problems or issues. 22:01 [SPEAKER_02]: And I think that's really important 22:05 [SPEAKER_02]: and not how she died. 22:08 [SPEAKER_02]: We don't know yet if that's going to be solved. 22:11 [SPEAKER_02]: I still have hope, and I'm still logging away keeping one. 22:17 [SPEAKER_02]: But I think it's really an opportunity for us to talk about what tracking meant to each one of us. 22:24 [SPEAKER_02]: And to me, she was a highlight. 22:27 [SPEAKER_02]: She was a mentor without knowing it. 22:29 [SPEAKER_02]: And she's the reason I became a teacher. 22:32 [SPEAKER_02]: And I used so many of her strategies in my classroom and she ever worn ahead of her time because they all worked and they still worked today. 22:41 [SPEAKER_02]: So just now I'm sending positive energy, a man's daddy to all of you and that we need to keep on keeping on for Kathy Sresnik. 22:50 [SPEAKER_02]: And let's not forget Joyce Malekki four days or the 11th, it's the 50th anniversary of Joyce's death. 22:58 [SPEAKER_02]: And we still don't have answers for her family. 23:03 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you very much for watching this video. 23:17 [SPEAKER_00]: At the same time, thank you for continuing to touch the lives of people all around the world. 23:23 [SPEAKER_00]: Your life reminds us that our actions and words live on, long after we are gone. 23:30 [SPEAKER_00]: Tonight people from all around the world are lighting a candle in your memory. 23:34 [SPEAKER_00]: The candle flame will burn out eventually, but the memory of the light will live forever in our hearts. 23:58 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you for watching. 24:23 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
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