Vacation time! Fun for all!

Early on, Sisters Mary Catherine Widger and Sue Rogers felt that the archdiocesan special ed staff should get to know their students apart from a classroom, and that the students should experience vacations, summer camp, eating out.

Disneyland here we come! For nine years all those in the special ed program who were able to travel were treated to a Disneyland vacation. This amounted to 53 travelers and counselors per trip. All the money was raised through bingo so parents did not have to pay.

Summer camp was another treat. For 38 years, the kids got to spend time in the Colorado mountains where they experienced the joys of nature and camp life.

Of the many trips and vacations, Mary Catherine says, “It was fun!” “And … “she wonders, “where did we get that energy? Those things were fun and exhausting, and looking back, I think, I don’t have any idea how we got through all that. We were tired but happy.”

Early on, the Rev. Larry Freeman and Mary Catherine attended the annual meeting of a Catholic organization active at the time, the National Apostolate for Mentally Retarded Persons. “One year,” Mary Catherine shares, “they said we could bring a couple of our residents and they would provide activities for them. The women met the Green Bay Packers football team; Donna called them the Green Bay Crackers.”

Read all of the articles in the winter 2026 issue of Loretto Magazine here.