By CHRISTIE L. CHICOINE
CS&T Staff Writer
Although most people now know that our new U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, John G. Roberts Jr., is a Catholic, few know how much his Catholicism has influenced his life. However, two teachers who taught him in Catholic grade school and high school in the Diocese of Gary, Ind., were willing to tell tales “out of school” about the 50-year-old Roberts, who is now a husband to wife Jane and father of two children, Jack and Josie.
David Kirkby taught Roberts geometry in his sophomore year, and a morals class in his senior year at La Lumiere School, then an all-boys, Catholic boarding and day college-preparatory high school, outside La Porte, Ind.
Kirkby, who is now retired, recalled issuing a reading assignment in the morals class, which was to be followed by an oral presentation to the class. Although students were instructed to select one book for the assignment, Roberts selected a seven-volume set of books pertaining to the history of philosophy.
“John decided to read all seven books. Most students were reading an article, not even a chapter, much less a book.”
Kirkby joked that Roberts had to “water-down his presentation because his classmates and his teacher — me — would have had no idea what he was talking about if he had gone into real depth.”
His presentation spanned three class periods. “He came dressed in a bed sheet, as though he was Socrates. It was superb.... I tell people, ‘If the bells hadn’t rung to end the class, John could still be speaking today, 32 years later.’ That’s the kind of student he was.”
It wasn’t unusual for Roberts to take on a larger assignment and to pursue it full-throttle — not to impress the teacher or to get a high mark, but rather, to meet “his insatiable desire to learn,” Kirkby said.
Not only was Roberts talented intellectually, he also possessed the strongest work ethic, Kirkby said. “One of his senior roommates kidded about the fact that while they were burning the midnight oil, John ... was burning the 2 a.m. oil, but didn’t need to.” In fact, he could have ceased studying at 8 p.m. and still would have accomplished more than most. “He ... set goals for himself on how he wanted to succeed. Then, regardless of whatever anybody else was doing, he was going to meet those goals.”
In fact, Roberts finished first in his senior class of 22 young men.
Kirkby also coached Roberts in wrestling and football. Although he was an average athlete, Roberts pushed himself, worked hard, and quickly learned the rules and strategies of the sports.
“At our school, we approached wrestling the same way you would approach chess, [assessing] “two or three steps ahead....
“John would make his move and know exactly how the opponent would respond, and then John would have him. That little smile — that closed-mouth smile that you see on his face so often — that smile was on his face 32 years ago when he was wrestling.
“It wasn’t the smile of mockery of the opponent, or derision.... it was just a little [humble] smile that said, ‘This is exactly how we planned this out, this is exactly how this was scripted. Coach and I have worked on this, this has come out just the way it’s supposed to.’ That little smile would come over his face and he was winning another match.”
In the high school production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” Roberts agreed to play the role of Peppermint Patty. He was the sort of student who could handle that role at an all-boys school, joke about it and be happy to be part of a production.
The self-motivated Roberts had the backing of his family and school. “He earned great respect,” Kirkby said. “His classmates loved him. There was no jealousy or animosity about the fact that he was winning all the prizes at graduation. In every subject matter, he was always number one in whatever test was given. Everyone realized he earned it.
“As faculty, we were very supportive. We had a real jewel here, yet, we didn’t push him — he pushed himself.”
Kirkby kids about what he almost said while announcing graduation awards. “I came very close to saying, after the last one, ‘And the next award is a wheelbarrow, awarded to John Glover Roberts Jr., for him to carry away all his prizes.’”
Throughout the ceremony, “his classmates applauded and applauded, because they knew here is the guy who has earned them. There was no question.”
At the same time, Roberts was just “one of the guys. He was right in the middle of any horsing around that was going on. He really was an ideal student.”
As busy as he was, Roberts served as a dormitory proctor his senior year, assisting all, and, in particular, those 13-and-14-year-olds who were away from home for the first time. He defined the word balance, one who was good not only at budgeting his time, but who also made time for others.
That included befriending Kirkby’s daughter, who was 3 years old when Roberts graduated. Roberts resided in a dorm to which Kirkby’s faculty apartment was attached.
“I would find seniors in my living room having a tea party with Tricia, who was pouring Pepsi out of a teapot for big senior boys who she felt were her big brothers.” Roberts was among them.
Roberts was also one of four students named a sacristan senior year.
“It was a position that had understood expectations of leadership,” Kirkby said. Also the sacristan assisted the priest with Masses, and helped keep the chapel in order. “It was also a position that, if you were a sacristan, you were expected anytime, anywhere on campus, to be providing leadership. It was the highest honor we could give.”
Roberts also served on the executive committee of the student council and on the athletic council, was co-editor of the newspaper, co-captain of the football team, and was also active in wrestling, drama and chorus.
While watching the television coverage of Roberts throughout the past few months, Kirkby said one thing in particular rang through.
“He was the John Roberts I remembered.”
Dorothea [Manning] Liddell, a native of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, was Roberts’ eighth-grade teacher at Notre Dame School, a diocesan school in Michigan City, Ind. Roberts’ father, a steelworker, moved the family to Indiana from Buffalo, N.Y., in the 1960s.
Liddell said Roberts was one of two students who served as her barometers of sorts for “modern [also know as ‘new’] math.”
By gauging their abilities to grasp the new teaching method, Liddell, who is now retired, said she knew whether she was successful in getting her point across.
Liddell, who was raised in St. Gabriel Parish in Norwood, described Roberts and his family as “good” and “very sincere” Catholics.
Although Liddell said she was “absolutely delighted” about Roberts’ appointment and subsequent confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, she was not surprised.
“When he was [clerking for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist] I really thought he was on his way,” said Liddell, who went on to become a principal. “I thought he’d become chief justice, but not this quickly.”
Liddell said she was glued to the television during Roberts’ confirmation hearings. Amid all the media coverage, Liddell was amused to see Roberts’ twinkly eyes, a trademark she recalled from his grade school days.
“He just loved to learn.”
Contact Christie L. Chicoine at cchicoin@adphila.org or (215) 587-2468.