The Vidette-Messenger Centennial EditionThe 1936 special edition celebrating Porter County's centennial year . . . .
The following article has been transcribed from the August 18, 1936, issue of The Vidette-Messenger, published in Valparaiso, Indiana. This particular special edition focuses on Porter County's centennial celebration and contains a 94-page compendium of Porter County history up to that time.
Return to the index of articles from The Vidette-Messenger's Porter County Centennial special edition.
Source: The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso,
Porter County, Indiana; August 18, 1936; Volume 10, Section 2, Page 19.
Catherine Corboy Has An Unofficial Family of 30,000 Children
Kindly,
white-haired Catherine Corboy, secretary of the Valparaiso University Alumni
association, has an unofficial family of more than 30,000 children" to look
after.
Some of them have been in her thoughts for over fifty years, for "Kate" Corboy
has been associated with the university that length of time.
Thousands of letters come to her, many of them from alumni who have become
nationally known -- judges, authors, executives.
"Kate" Corboy's keen memory accommodates each one. She does not have to search
the records to identify the members of her school family. In her memory she has
stored thousands of anecdotes of college pranks and she is able to relate them
as vividly as though they were incidents of yesterday or the day before.
Recently she received a bundles of letters, and the first one opened was from
Lowell Thomas, fames author and radio personality.
"Dear Kate Corboy," it began, and the other copied that salutation.
Miss Corboy has a keen appreciation of life and its complications, which she
says, are easily avoided. To her "children" she has imparted the germ of that
understanding, and has seen them develop it under the light of her personality.
Miss Corboy is Irish and generous, and she wants every one to love life as she
does.
"It is true," she said, "that through mismanagement the human family has
permitted its affairs to get into a sad state, but we are entering a new era in
which the human factor of life will be given more attention."
Miss Corboy pointed out that the university is preparing students for this new
and better order by placing emphasis on character building.
"The tools life places in our hands," she philosophized, "may become the weapons
of destruction rather than the implements of creation, unless we introduce
character-building to sharpen the understanding of their uses."
Like many of the Irish, Miss Corboy has a delightful sense of humor.
Strange, but the motto of Valparaiso university fits "Kate" Corboy. It is: "In
Luce Tua Videmus Lucem." (In Thy Light We Shall See Light.").
Article transcribed by Steven R. Shook