One out of every ten Le Moyne College graduates has a Love at Le Moyne story. For the Schoeneck, Monaco, and Chambers families, Love at Le Moyne is not just a statistic, it’s their family history. They trace three generations of Love at Le Moyne through three chance (or maybe planned?) encounters on the Heights that have culminated into one large, Le Moyne family.
1949:
Carol Hall did not planning on leaving home and going away to school. At the time, Le Moyne College was still brand new. It was run by Jesuits and admitted women. A perfect match.
As she takes classes, she decides on majoring in Industrial Relations. Most of her professors are Jesuits. A classmate, John Schoeneck, asks her to go to a Syracuse Nationals game with him in December.
She and John are married in 1953 by their professor, Fr. Andy Brady.
1972:
Debbie Schoeneck would spend hours pouring over old Le Moyne yearbooks. Her parents, aunts and uncles— all of them—had attended Le Moyne. Sometimes her parents, Carol and John, would reconnect with some of their Industrial Relations professors, visits, she says, that were like “royal visits.”
It’s the first class on the first day of Debbie’s first year at Le Moyne-- Chemistry with Fr. Schubert-- and she sees a fellow classmate, Jim Monaco. He’s so shy, she thinks, so she asks him to lunch. In their first semester biology class, Debbie and Jim experiment with mating fruit flies. Jim devises an an etherizer out of an aspirin bottle for Debbie to use while the other students have to wait for the limited lab supplies. They both decide to major in biology, and, consequently, have many classes together, including a seminar with Fr. Andy Brady, who officiates their wedding years later.
2007:
For Carrie Monaco, choosing Le Moyne seems like a “no-brainer.” She comes from a long line of Le Moyne graduates. Her parents, Debbie and Jim, and grandparents, Carol and John, tell her stories about their time on the Heights.
During her first year at Le Moyne, Carrie and her friends get brunch at the cafeteria on the weekends where they see the same student working the omelette station. She calls him, affectionately, the “omelette boy,” until she learns his name, Patrick Chambers. She makes silly requests for her orders, trying to get him to remember her, until she realizes that he has been in her biology class this whole time. A few weekends of omelettes later, Carrie and Patrick start studying and doing homework together.
2015:
It’s Family Weekend at Le Moyne, and the Panasci Family Chapel is filled with alumni and guests, family and friends, of the Schoeneck, Monaco, and Chambers families. There is a tree outside the chapel dedicated to the memory of John, who passed away in 2011. Debbie, Jim, and Carol always make it a point to stop and see its growth each time they visit campus. It’s where Carrie is making last minute adjustments to her dress while her bridesmaids hold her bouquet and help her get ready. As she enters the chapel, she and Patrick begin a new chapter of their love at Le Moyne story, surrounded by so many of their family and friends.
2017:
Reflecting on the life and legacy they’ve built over three generations, here’s what Carol, Debbie, and Carrie say about their experiences.
For Carrie, Love at Le Moyne is “sharing a sound foundation of growth both personally and academically with my husband,” celebrating “the proud graduates it has produced-- my parents, my grandparents, my sister and brother-in-law, my cousins, aunts, and uncles,” and recognizing that “Le Moyne and its community has shaped me and my successes today.”
For Debbie, Love at Le Moyne is “that feeling one can get just by stepping back on the college grounds,” “feeling the presence of her parents and Le Moyne friends when I’m there," and “having that sentiment be echoed by so many of our classmates.”
Carol, who did not plan on leaving home for college, who took a chance on the brand new school in town run by the Jesuits, has had the most time to spend reminiscing, and seeing how her family has grown. For Carol, who agreed to go to a Syracuse Nationals game with her classmate, John, and began a legacy spanning three generations, Love at Le Moyne is, simply, “everything.”
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