Game of life
Brother William Wohlleben, S.M., founder of the University’s chemistry and chemical engineering departments, was a double three.
Those were the numbers on his domino, one of 300 wooden tiles that also bore names of Marianists and locations worldwide. Brother George Sauer, Society of Mary Cincinnati Province inspector from 1909 to 1938, arranged them in eight tight rows to ensure every school had its teachers and every Marianist had his assignment.
Sauer’s personnel listing instrument, on display in the Marianist Archives in Roesch Library, was a practical solution to the challenge of skyrocketing high school enrollment nationwide. He wrote, “In 1909-1910, we were conducting five high schools; 1916-1917 will find us in charge of 11 of these schools — an increase of over 199 percent in seven years.”
In Sauer’s time, Marianists traveled yearly with their trunks to Cincinnati to await the reading of assignments.
“Sometimes, if you had to move one person, then you had to move another, which was cause to move another,” said Father Paul Vieson, S.M. ’62, archives director. As the wooden blocks shifted, Marianists were off to new assignments. “Some of it was the domino effect, and some of it was so you kept a wider perspective of things.”
Vieson fingered the wooden blocks, pulling out ones glued with yellowing slips of paper typed with recognizable names: Father Norbert Burns, Brother Al Rose, Brother Frank Deibel — who recently celebrated his 100th birthday — and Father Charlie “A.B.” Bloemer, nicknamed for the only two grades he gave.
Today, it’s a bit different, Vieson said. “I’ve been here since 1984; I’ve taken root.”
There are also fewer of us to move around, he added.
The province likely has spreadsheets and HR programs to track personnel assignments these days, but they feel nothing like the soft, worn wood or indented pips that once marked out the Marianists’ numbers in the game of life.
Editor's note: Since this story first printed in summer 2009, the Marianist Archives has moved to St. Mary's University. That's where you'll now find the dominoes.
Photos by Larry Burgess