Alice McKeever Riley, Alumna of the First Graduating Class of Mount Mercy College
Alice McKeever Riley, 96-year-old alumna, remembers well her time at Our Lady of Mercy Academy and Mount Mercy College. Now the last living member of Carlow University’s first graduating class, Alice says she loved the Academy, which she started attending in the 8th grade, so much so that when Mount Mercy College was founded, she knew there was no better place for her.
It was September 24, 1929, 102 years after Catherine McAuley founded the first House of Mercy in Dublin, and a month before Black Tuesday. Yet this didn’t dissuade Alice’s father from sending her to college. “Papa,” as she called him, wanted all of his children to have a Catholic education and to attend college—an opportunity he and his wife never had. Never mind the obstacles. Sending his children to college—Alice’s twin brothers were enrolled at Duquesne University— during the Great Depression only meant that everyone in the McKeever family would need to find extra work wherever they could.
“It was a hard time for everyone,” says Alice, of the class of 1933. “We didn’t have a lot of money, so we worked very hard for our education. I took new jobs at different places to pay for my education.”
The job Alice remembers most vividly was working as a waitress at the lunch counter at Woolworth’s Five and Ten Cent Store. “Every night, after the store closed, I had to polish all of the equipment before I went home.”
Alice always gave part of her paycheck to her mother, and used the rest to pay for tuition and expenses.
Unable to afford room and board at Mount Mercy, Alice had to ride the streetcar from her home in Mount Washington to Oakland every day. But that didn’t bother her.
“Whatever I had to do to make my way through college was worth it,” Alice says. “I learned through that experience to never give up!”
Now, living at the Motherhouse at Sacred Heart Convent in Springfield, Illinois, where her daughter, Sister Rose Marie, is the prioress general, Alice warmly remembers Mount Mercy as a relaxing place, even though students put most of their energies into studying.
“We worked very hard, but knew that our teachers were preparing us for the future,” says Alice. “I was never fearful. Everyday, I passed by a life-size statue of the Sacred Heart. I used to stop and put my hand in his outstretched hand. Then I would say a prayer for guidance that day. I prayed hard if it was a test day! I also stopped at the chapel where it was so peaceful.
“At that time, Sister Regis was the dean of the college. She and the other teachers really cared about every student. I can’t remember the names of the other sisters. I just remember liking my classes very much.”
A home economics major, Alice recalls how excited she was when her teacher, Ms. Griffin, missed a day of class, and she was asked to teach the class in her absence.
“I wanted to get into education and teach,” says Alice. “My dream was to teach in a Catholic school. I especially loved sewing and I wanted to teach that to young people. My mother was a seamstress and taught me so much about sewing from the time I was little,” she says.
What Alice liked most about college were the people—the students and the teachers. “We were a pretty small group,” says Alice, “and got to know one another very well. There were college dances, and school activities including plays and other gatherings.”
On a more serious note, Alice says that by attending Mount Mercy College she learned the importance of working hard and keeping God in her life.
“Prayer was very important,” she says. “At Mount Mercy I learned a lot about myself and what I could do. I left with a career and with many things that I would teach my own children later.”
After graduation, Alice says it was difficult to get a job because of the economy. She started out as a substitute teacher until she sat for the teaching exam at the Placement Testing Office. Of the 200 students who took the test, Alice scored the highest. She was thrilled.
“Sister Regis called my mother to tell her that I had gotten the highest grade on the teacher’s test for the city of Pittsburgh,” she says. “I think it speaks well of the education I received!”
In May 1937, Alice signed a 10-month contract to teach as a “professional employee” for the Pittsburgh Public Schools for $1,400. During her first year, she received an “Excellent Teachers” prize. After moving to Illinois in 1959, Alice continued teaching until her retirement in 1974.
A strong foundation in education, life lessons, and preparation for a career wasn’t the only thing that Alice gained from her time at Mount Mercy. It was through a fellow classmate, Bernice, that she met the love of her life, Austin Riley. Catherine (Bernice) Riley Hartung (’37), Austin’s sister, gave a party for teachers who had graduated from Mount Mercy College. This brief meeting between Alice and Austin turned into weekly double dates, and then marriage in 1943.
Asked what words of wisdom this alumna of the class of ’33 has for today’s Carlow students, Alice says, “Be diligent about your studies. Have fun and enjoy one another’s company. Give yourself wholeheartedly to study because that will prepare you for the future. Those who hire you will want to see if you worked hard and can be trusted. Don’t forget to pray and let God be in your life.
“Most of all, what I want to say to students is, ‘You can do it! You will make it! Never give up!’”
Carlow University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. (267-284-5000)
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the
US. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
