By Mary Lackie

Miss Bernadette Williams owned a successful catering business in Cleveland, Ohio, when Msgr. Paul J. Hallinan asked her to take a job as supervisor-housemother for 29 boys living in a remodeled rooming house.

In 1947, shortly after the diocese purchased the house for a Newman Center, Miss Williams was asked by Msgr. Hallinan, the chaplain, to take the job. She recalled, “I told him any woman in her right mind would say ‘no,’ but I didn’t have the sense. I agreed to stay three months until things were in shape and I have stayed 20 years.”

The center was headquarters for Newman Club members attending the Cleveland area colleges and universities. The chapel was so small that one nun said, “You can read the missal over father’s shoulder,” and she later wrote a song about it.

In 1948 Msgr. Hallinan moved in and began studies that led to a master’s degree in history from Western Reserve University. During his 11 years residence, he prepared for his doctorate.

Miss Williams said, “I think one reason Father understood the problems of students so well was because he was a student himself, and a scholar - though he would never admit it. He was always studying at the last minute for his exams.”

“Before one exam, he told me, ‘I know my rule is to see everybody, but today they will have to make an appointment.’ An hour and a half later, he was downstairs visiting with someone.”

During the archbishop’s illness, Miss Williams spent several days in Atlanta as the houseguest of former Newman Club members, Mr. and Mrs. John Cawley of Holy Cross parish.

Mrs. Cawley said, “He always had time to listen to us, and liked to throw out questions. Back in 1953, he asked us what we thought of Mass in the vernacular. Our first reaction was, ‘In English? Are you kidding?”

Mrs. Cawley said, “Father always had confidence in us. If someone had an idea for a project, it was his custom to walk up to the student, shake hands, and say, ‘Let me be the first to congratulate you. You are the new chairman.’”

She said, “When we were afraid we wouldn’t get enough kids for a seminar, Father would tell us, ‘It isn’t the quantity, it’s the quality that counts.’ I would rather have four interested students than 100 fidgety ones.”

There were always crowds for the Newman Club’s musicals with honky-tonk songs and lyrics composed by the chaplain. Mrs. Cawley said, “Father could only play honky-tonk piano. When he left Cleveland, he said he wouldn’t play the piano again.”

The Cawleys were one of 300 couples who met through Newman activities during the time Msgr. Hallinan was chaplain. Miss Williams said, “We never had enough money in those days, and Father didn’t take a vacation in 11 years. He never married any of his students, but he never missed their weddings - sometimes there were three or four in one day. And he never missed the funerals of his students’ parents.”

The chaplain found time to attend meetings of Newman chapters on the local campuses. Mrs. Cawley said, “It was a joke with all of us. Whenever he spoke at a chapter meeting, Father would begin with the words, ‘This is my favorite chapter.’”

Two nights before his consecration as Bishop of Charleston, Msgr. Hallinan attended a Newman dance at Fenn College. Miss Williams said, “He was always a humble man. He was neat, but he didn’t pay much attention to clothes, and never wore his hat. That night he said, ‘This is my last appearance as Father Hallinan. I am going to wear the hat.’”

“It was a calm night, but as Msgr. Hallinan stepped out of the car a whirlwind came up and blew the hat away. When he came back to the house and told the boys, they all went to look for it, but it was never found,” Miss Williams said.