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Canisius High School Today
Catching Up With...
Alice Leech
Her Canisius connection . . .
I was a librarian for 24 years, between 1972
and 1996.
Why students remember her fondly . . .
I was a very mean librarian. The boys called
me Conan the Librarian.
As in any school, our job
was to educate the boys.
I had my rules, and they
followed them. I once
caught a boy throwing
spitballs. Imadehimand
his friends clean them
up, and I kept them. At
the end of the day he
had to report back to the
library, where I threw
the spitballs around the
room and had him clean
themup again.
Her favorite Canisius
memories . . .
The man who was my mentor, [head librarian]
Fr. Jim Greer, was a character in his own right, a
super character. I really liked him—always called
him the chief. He’d say tome, “’Miss Leech, these
are the boys”, and he would say to them, “You
do not play in my playpen, neither do you make
waves in my bathtub.” Just after I started, he’d
decided that students had to have a pass to get
in the library. The boys revolted, and the team
was led by the quarterback of the football team.
They walked into the library at end of day, took
all the books off the shelves and were going to
check them out. I stopped dead in my tracks and
said “I don’t care if you check out another book,
and youwon’t until I get the place back in order.”
That was my christening.
I met some of
the greatest men at
Canisius. Whether I was
working with the men
or the boys, they never
held a grudge. You said
what you had to say,
they heard it and for-
got about it. Those boys
could have made my life
hell, but they never did!
They were my boys. The
minute they left home,
I became someone who
could direct them. A
freshman was a “twer-
pie”, but when they left, they were goodmen.
What she’s doing today . . .
I do volunteer work four days a week these
days with an organization that provides food
and clothing to the needy. I also spend time with
the horse I have and with my dog, who’s spoiled
rotten, and I could be on the phone 24/7 just
talking to friends.
What she would like you to know . . .
Life is good.