Charles and Maureen McPartland Smith '65 met in Emmitsburg, while he was a student at the Mount and she at St. Joseph's. Maureen is Vice President of the SJC Board of Trustees and Chair of our 2009 Bicentennial Reunion.
The relationship between St. Joseph’s College and Mount St. Mary’s is a big part of our history. What memories do you have of these connections?
Did You Marry a Mountie?
Requests for info on marriages between the women of St. Joseph College (SJC) and the men of Mount St. Mary’s University (MSM) brought submissions from the Class Years 1916 through 1975—that’s 123 marriages documented so far!
View the current results here…
If you “married a Mountie” or have a special memory about SJC-MSM connections, we’d love to hear from you!
Tags: Mount St. Mary's
Memories of dress include no Bermuda shorts, they were very much in
style, and of course no pants, maybe for snow, probably not. If we were doing a production that included a man he/she had to wear a long coat to hide the lack of pants.
To get a tan before leaving for the summer required some sneakiness , a bathing suit under a dress and a walk to the creek carrying a ? towel. OK a redness appears at dinner with a nun suspiciously looking at the lobster colored skin – never a question asked. I think the nuns thought maybe a farm worker might see the suit or maybe a ‘Mountie’ might be around. It was such fun getting away with whatever!
The best stories were in dating and the good night kiss in front of the Angel Gabriel statue with the spotlights all beaming down on the couples. And then a nun walking between or classmate in nun’s garb playing a prank – such fun and games!!
Please update to show our marriage date. I married James Reilly (MSM ‘69) on 5/23/70.
Thank you.
It would be hard not to have special memories of the Mount and all that they added to our lives at SJC. How can we forget Friday night mixers and the boys standing on one side of the room (it was the cafeteria wasn’t it?) and the girls on the other…and the strong smell of onions. I think a lot of us thought it was intentional to load up the onions on the boys dinners to keep us all from getting too up close and personal !?! And we had our songs about them which helped all our jilted hearts feel better, but after the song was over we’d be plotting the best way to get to see another Mountie.
We all must have all been in pretty good shape for the many walks into town to go to Charlie’s and see who from the Mount might be there or who of them might drive by. Do you think the good Sisters put a pool table in our Student Center to encourage the boys to “drop” by??
I didn’t marry a Mountie, had hoped at one point that might happen – well maybe at a number of points when I was getting really nervous that marriage was not in my future – but it was always great to hear about the SJC and MSM matches. And don’t you think the good Fathers and Sisters were patting themselves on the back for helping to create the possibilities for those matches to happen?!
My husband, Ray Purkis, was the class of 1963 at the Mount. We met in Charlies (where else) and were married January 16, 1965. We have 3 children who graduated from Mount St. Marys. Both Ray and I enjoy attending each others reunions.
Well, for my birthday in April of senior year , Connie Mauro ‘70 gave me a blind date with a Mountie, the last thing I wanted. It was for Spring Week-end, and I did want to see the Jefferson Airplane. He was Dick Rasmussen MSM ‘71, cross country champion; it was love at first sight. We’ve been married for 37 years. Thanks again, Connie.
Sheila Degnan, ‘63 married William McCarron, MSM ‘61 on 11/30/63
Greetings to all: Now I have the full story of my Sister, Maureen’s and my Brother-in-law, Charlie’s first date. The blog is a great idea. Thanks to all who are sharing their stories and recollections. Love and peace, Eileen
I married a Mountie, although that meant I would leave St. Joseph’s before my graduation year, 1959.
My husband, Edward Alexander Montgomery, was a 1958 graduate of Mount St. Mary, in fact his father, Gen. Edward Alexander Montgomery inducted all those in the Platoon Leader’s Corp into the Marines that day and gave them their Lieutenant’s commission.
We were married the next Saturday. , June 7, 1958. Obviously, my mother had all the arrangements made before I got home from school after graduations.
We had an active life moving with the Marines then with various companies while raising our 5 daughters. Sadly, a heart attack took him at age 40 in 1975. But there are many happy memories of days in Emmitsburg.
WOW, I never put our names on the list for “married a Mountie” and voila! we are the pictured couple.
Charlie Smith (MSM 64) and I met on a blind date… Jan, 1962. It was my freshman year and I was still dating a “guy from home”. There was a Junior Class dance on a Saturday and I am certain it was winter…. after January exams. I just remember making my dress (home ec major here!) during a time I was somewhat ‘free’ – it had to be late January or early February. I guess I should remember this but not really certain of the exact date.
What I do remember was signing up for a “blind date ” for the dance. Since it was my freshman year, I had to have signed up with Kitty Fulcher (class of 63?), my 1st floor Seton proctor. The story gets a bit complicated so, if I can summarize….
The “blind date” information, besides my name, included my height. I was and still am 5′ 3″. The day of the dance arrived and, not known to me, my “real” blind date decided to opt out. But the “bureau” got into high gear.
Jo (Joanne) Barkley and another classmate had the job of escorting the altar servers for that Friday’s Mass to breakfast. “Reb” Saunders (MSM, from VA) was one of the altar servers that morning and Reb recruited another Mountie…Charlie Smith. Charlie was enticed to sign on because Reb promised a “great breakfast”, Those who know us both will acknowledge Charlie enjoys cooking and eating a good meal! Charlie was from Lake George NY and did not get home much … in fact only for Christmas and Easter. Reb and Charlie served Mass and they enjoyed a good SJC breakfast a la Janie and Sister Georgia. At breakfast, Jo Barkley convinced Charlie that he didn’t have much to do on Saturday night so why wouldn’t he “sign on” for a blind date at the dance?
Perhaps it was fate but 6′4″ Charlie Smith and 5′3″ Maureen McPartland met on a Saturday evening in 1962 – matched by height and a blind date bureau. It wasn’t the best of meetings since I complained about Mount guys for most of the evening. The rest is history… and it is a complicated one but we celebrated 42 years of marriage in June, 2008. And yes, he is still interested in cooking and good food.