Nun to the Rescue!
The winter storm passed, leaving behind another half foot of snow. Sister Mary Mark drove the old yellow school bus on a quiet residential street where the city didn’t prioritize snowplows. New snow on top of an icy packed snow underlayer made driving tricky.
Ten teenage girls, still in our school uniforms, were being driven home from an exhibition women’s volleyball game at Indiana Central University. It was 1972 when women’s sports teams were still rare. This excursion was a treat for the Our Lady of Grace Academy high school volleyball team, and our coach, the irrepressible Sister Mary Mark was just the nun for the job. Fifteen years earlier she’d decided she had enough of being a farm girl and took off to Indianapolis to join a convent.
Through the shifting shadows of early evening, Sister caught sight of a car and three guys off to the side of the road. She slowed the bus as our headlights revealed a perpendicular car with its back tires sunk into a ditch. Two were trying to push it up onto the road over a packed pile of snow while a third was in the driver’s seat gunning the engine.
Mary Mark slowed the bus, “Looks like these guys can use some help.” She shifted her midi length skirt to the side and stood. We all crowded the right side of the bus to see what was going on while she opened the bus doors and walked out to talk to the boys.
The three of them stared as a woman in a nun’s habit came toward them. She said something and the trio looked up at the bus, where a raft of teenage girls stared. They shook their heads and Sister made her way back to the bus.
A weak gust of cold air accompanied the lanky woman into the bus. She plopped into the driver’s seat and lifted long bony legs covered by black tights onto the dashboard, her skirts trailing down. Her Hoosier country twang rang out. “Them fools don’t want our help!” She grinned. “We’ll just hang out here for a bit.”
We heard the car’s engine rev, but the chassis didn’t budge as they continued to push.
After five minutes, Sister pulled out her coach’s whistle and blew loudly, then said, “Come on!”
All ten of us piled out of the bus quickly surrounding the car. Two of the guys started to object but just moved over and let us in. Mary Mark shouted “NOW” and the fellow in the car pressed the accelerator. In less than 20 seconds that car was back on the road, and the guys were looking around amazed as ten teenage girls and a nun exchanged high fives.
A double blow of the whistle signaled us to get back into nice warm bus. Mary Mark was smiling broadly as she resumed her seat. We waved and laughed as we passed the trio continuing on our merry way home.
* * *
Sr. Mary Mark was the Phys Ed teacher at Our Lady of Grace Academy. She coached us in everything outside the classroom…swimming, volleyball, gymnastics, baseball, basketball and even Driver’s Education. I credit her with saving my life several times during my driving life because I can still hear her yelling for me to “Check my blindspot!”
