Dear Reader, 

This is a story of a missionary, a mission, a family, and  a community of learners. Sister Marie Esterre was a devoted nun of the Sisters of St.Joseph of Carondelet in St Paul, Minnesota. In the late 1960s, she became the Mother Superior of the order’s congregation in Arequipa, Peru. Sr. Marie  also was my aunt. During a Christmas visit to our family in the States, she and Frank Wood, my father, collaborated with St. Norbert College  to create a program for St. Norbert students to teach and  study at La Universidad de Santa Maria in Arequipa while  living with Peruvian families. Dad led seven students to  Arequipa in the program’s first year in 1970, accompanied  by our entire family of eight children. Tom and Luci  Phelan guided the students in 1971, and Richard and  Mechtilde Calnin helmed the program in 1972.

Nowadays “study abroad” programs are an established  feature in higher education; back then, they were a rarity,  and St. Norbert was charting a course through a seldom traveled wilderness. For many of the students, the  journey to Peru marked their first exposure to a different  culture, leaving them forever changed and connected to  people, places, and history.

The instability of the Peruvian economy under the  dictatorship of Juan Velasco Alvarado posed difficulties  that ultimately became insurmountable. At one point in  1971, the program participants were trapped in Peru after  Aerolíneas Peruanas, the airline they were counting on  to bring them home, went bankrupt. Ultimately the third  year was also the last year because of the increasingly  volatile political climate. Nevertheless, it was a  remarkable experiment that paved the way for St. Norbert  College’s international study programs today.

Visiting a foreign culture with both differences and  shared virtues can profoundly impact individuals. This weekend, a Peruvian Reunion at St Norbert College honors Professors Wood, Phelan, and Calnin and their  spouses for blazing the trail for future learners with  the installation of ceremonial benches in a prominent  location on campus. This fitting memorial will remind all  who participated to cherish those special moments from  long ago.

PATRICK J. WOOD 

Publisher