Palo Alto Online - Lasting Memories - Shirley Grace Connolly's remembrances
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Shirley Grace Connolly
July 23, 1936-April 18, 2018
Menlo Park, California
From Marilyn McMorrow, RSCJ
April 25, 2018

It was my joy to work with Shirley and, as a young educator, to learn from her real gifts in this area. I also have a humorous memory that still makes me smile. Shirley told me this story herself while laughing over it. We are working at Sacred Heart Atherton (when it was still "CSH Menlo" and still a boarding school.) And Shirley was the Principal of the High School. We had a quick succession of middle-of-the night fire alarms. The first turned out to have been pulled. The second was caused by the pipes flooding which short circuited the fire alarm. And the last one was caused by an actual fire. So that meant three middle of the night awakenings, knowing we had to assist all of our students in getting out of the building. The last one found Shirley so dead asleep that she told us as she stood up in her room trying to waken and move: "I found myself standing there thinking. I need my robe, and my glasses, and my keys. But if I put on glasses and grab my keys, I can't put on my robe. . . ." Finally she said she was able to figure all out. That was the only time Shirley was one of the last to leave the building rather than the first to jump up and mobilize!


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