Chairs

Chairs: A Transformation

You may have noticed Ken Lahane of the maintenance staff driving out of the 40 acres with a truck load of dining room chairs.  Well, these chairs have a history.  They are chairs that are light weight and were originally placed in the bedrooms of the Novitiate-Juniorate (then called the Coolock Building). 

When we first started Mercy Center, I began to substitute these chairs for the ones that were in the “professed” dining room (now Dining Room A). I made the substitution, chair by chair.  I can’t remember my reason for doing so, but I do remember lugging those chairs from the bedrooms to our dining room and then lugging the dining room chairs up to the Mercy Center floors.  (Could be one of the reasons I have shoulder problems!)  Why did I do this?  

Being Director of Mercy Center was not a good fit for me!  I certainly lacked the skills necessary and seemed to find little jobs that seemed like a good idea at the time.  (Watering plants on all four Center floors while throwing balls for our dog, Andy, was another favorite.)

Many years later our dining room chairs began to look scuffy, full of nicks and scratches.  I made an arrangement with Jack Mulqueeny, who together with Fr. Tom Hand created the Labyrinth.  Jack needed a place to stay, and I made an arrangement with him to sand down the chairs in return for room and board.  This lasted only one chair’s worth because Jack got sick.

And so, we have lived with these terrible looking chairs for decades.  What a delight when we heard that Sr. Jean Evans asked Jerry McClain and Ken to have the chairs refinished.  It seems that they can be dipped into a substance, several at a time, and come out looking quite grand.

Thank you Sr. Jean, Jerry and Ken!