A Three-Generation Family of Notre Dame College Graduates: Dorothy Cerny Wright ’33, Pamela Wright Waitinas ’61, and Carol Waitinas Alaqua ‘97/’04
In her hundred-year history, Notre Dame College counts many families with multiple graduates: siblings, cousins, aunts, nieces and nephews, mothers and their daughters and sons. But at least one family can boast three generations of NDC graduates: Dorothy Cerny Wright ’33, her daughter Pamela Wright Waitinas ’61, and granddaughter Carol Waitinas Alaqua ‘97/M.Ed. ’04.
Commuter Students
All three women were commuter students. In 1929, Dorothy Cerny graduated from Cleveland’s East Tech High School with ready job skills, but chose to attend Notre Dame College through a scholarship from the Wm. A. Taylor Department Store. She took three buses to get from her home at E. 55th and Broadway to the College’s year-old South Euclid campus. Her daughter Pamela grew up in Cleveland Heights and was in the inaugural freshman class at Regina High School, but while Pam was in high school, Dorothy and her husband LeRoy Wright moved their family to Chardon. Pam followed her mother and attended Notre Dame as a commuter student, traveling by car each day. Pam’s daughter Carol grew up in Chardon and was in the pioneer freshman class at Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin School. Like her mother and grandmother, Carol commuted to the College, where the Tot Spot was available for her twin boys when they were very small.
Involved in Campus Life
Commuting did not prevent these women from being involved in campus activities. Like seventy years of commuters, they took advantage of the Willow Room for studying, snacking, and building life-long friendships. As undergrads, Dorothy and Pam both worked on the campus newspaper and literary magazine. Dorothy was active in student government, Pam accompanied the choir, and Carol served on the commuter board and on “O-Teams” for incoming freshman orientations.
The Power of a Liberal Arts Education
Dorothy, Pam and Carol are all examples of the power of a liberal arts education for women. When she graduated in 1933, in the darkest days of the Great Depression, Dorothy used her writing, editing, and analytical skills as a training director for Taylor’s department store, and, after her marriage, she used those skills working alongside her husband in his public relations consultancy business, assisting churches, hospitals and other non-profits in fundraising. (The Wrights were instrumental in fundraising for the construction of Harks Hall, built in 1955.) An English major like her mother, Pam landed her first job out of college in 1961 as a technical writer/editor for TRW. Pam had also majored in music (piano and organ), and used those skills as parish organist at St. Mary Parish in Chardon, as director of the English Handbell Choirs at Notre Dame Elementary School, and as a private piano teacher and adjudicator with the National Guild of Piano Teachers.
Carol’s Career
Carol’s 1997 degree in early childhood education led her to positions at St. Mary, Chardon, and in the East Cleveland City Schools. She soon returned to Notre Dame for her M.Ed. in special education/inclusion in 2004. While teaching in the Warrensville Heights school system, Carol was also an adjunct instructor in Notre Dame’s Division of Professional Education for five years. When she accepted a position with the Duval County Schools, Carol and her husband Victor relocated to Jacksonville, Florida. In 2022 Carol and Victor returned to Northeast Ohio when Carol joined the Cleveland Metropolitan School District as one of the regional Special Education program managers.
Celebrating NDC as Alumni
As most alumni would agree, college friends often become life-long friends. Dorothy Cerny was one of 31 graduates in 1933; since five of them were women religious, it was understandable that the 26 lay students would have formed close bonds, sharing their class experiences and developing the still-new College extracurriculars. Several of Dorothy’s classmates became lifelong friends, including Maria Mizer Miller, Elizabeth Seliskar Kuhar, and Lucille Santo Sherwin. Thirty years later, Pam Wright found her closest friends among other “day hops” of the Class of 1961, including Toni Bouhassin, Fran Brezar Harbert, Marlene Cassesa Kersman, Denise Gallagher Rochford, Sr. Kay O’Malley, Carole Prochaska Smith, Jean Rees Dobos, Mae Thomey Nagel, and Cathy Wincek Fallon. Carol Waitinas is still a close friend of several of her fellow commuters and education majors, including Dana Hill Brown.
Even after graduation, all three women continued their relationship with the College through the alumnae/i board, planning, coordinating, and cleaning up after campus events, spring luncheons and—in the 21st century—homecoming clambakes. Pam’s husband Bill Waitinas was a steadfast, life-long supporter of NDC and alumnae activities. In recognition of their commitment, Dorothy Cerny Wright was named NDC Alumnae’s Woman of the Year in 1975, as was Pam Wright Waitinas in 1986.
A Legacy of Catholic Tradition in Education
For Dorothy, Pam, and Carol, the choice of Notre Dame College meant continuing their Catholic education with the Sisters of Notre Dame who had known Dorothy at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Cleveland, Pam at St. Margaret Mary School and Regina High School in South Euclid, and Carol at Notre Dame Elementary and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin Schools in Chardon. For them as for others over the past century, Notre Dame College provided a rigorous, faith-infused liberal arts education which launched them into professional careers, shaped them as wives and mothers, and influenced them in their church and civic engagement. As her second century dawns, Notre Dame College will continue to shape lives, and families, who can transform the world for good.
