Terri (Walker) Czopp was just 3 years old when her father, Gene Walker, graduated from Le Moyne in June of 1951, a member of the College’s inaugural class. She remembers standing on the steps in front of Grewen Hall that summer day, taking photos with him wearing his cap and gown, along with the class ring that would remain on his finger for the rest of his life. Terri grew up listening to Gene talk about his education with a sense of profound gratitude, taking trips to the Heights, where she and her siblings were given wide berth to explore the nascent campus. No one told the Walker children that they had to go to Le Moyne one day, but three out of eight did, including Terri, a member of the Class 1970.
“All in all, I think it was a pretty good showing for our family,” she says.
While Terri couldn’t have known it at the time, it was just the start of what would become her family’s enduring connection to the College. She and her husband, Stefan Czopp ’69, whom she met on campus, have four daughters, two of whom, Laura (Czopp) Barnum and Stefanie (Czopp) Lints, graduated from Le Moyne in 1997 and 2000 respectively. And in August 2001, Laura’s daughter, Alyssa, joined the Le Moyne Class of 2025, making the family the first four-generation one in Le Moyne’s history. (Alyssa shared the news of her decision to attend the College with her grandparents by walking into their home in Buffalo, N.Y., wearing her mom’s Le Moyne sweatshirt and a huge smile.)
Gene Walker’s brood has witnessed Le Moyne’s history as it has unfolded, from its earliest days, when classes were held in the Hiscock Mansion on James Street with just a few hundred students, to today, with 2,800 undergraduate and 600 graduate students living and learning on a bustling 160-acre campus. During Gene’s undergraduate years, many of his classmates were veterans returning from World War II and the majority of his teachers were Jesuits. Terri arrived on campus as the war in Vietnam was at its peak and as many Catholics were still adjusting to life post-Vatican II. Laura and Stefanie’s years at the College were largely marked by peace, prosperity and the proliferation of the Internet. As for what Alyssa’s time on the Heights will hold, that remains to be seen. However, it will surely be shaped equally by nearly 500 years of Ignatian tradition and the College’s capacity to grow and change with the times, the latter of which is one of the things that Laura appreciates most about the College.
“No matter what is thrown at them, no matter what challenges they may face, I know that Le Moyne’s strength will carry its alumni, students and staff through it all,” she says.
For this family, Le Moyne is not so much a place as it is a group of people. Terri recalls that whenever she walked by an administrator’s office, the doors were always open and she was welcome to have a conversation with that person, appointment or not. Laura remembers the day she visited the campus as a high school senior and bumped into a student who then spent 45 minutes talking to her, answering her questions, and making her feel at home. She may have been hesitant about attending her parents’ alma mater before, but in that moment, she knew Le Moyne was the place for her. Stefanie recollects always feeling part of the larger ’Phin family, whether it was on the soccer field or in her classes. And all three say they forged some of their longest-lasting friendships at the College.
Alyssa hopes to have a similar experience on the Heights. By early September, she was already settling into a new routine on campus, diving into her classes as a student in the Integral Honors Program and joining a student trip to Orchard Park, N.Y., for a pre-season Buffalo Bills game. She noted that no one in her family put any pressure on her to attend Le Moyne. (In fact, when she visited the campus, she did so only with her dad. Her mom stayed home, confident that, if the College was the right place for Alyssa, “it would sell itself.”)
Still Alyssa can’t help but be aware of her family’s strong connection to the College. She’s heard the stories, for example, of her great uncle, Jack Shea ’58, giving Le Moyne’s yearbook its name, Black Robe; of her father coming to campus to visit her mother when they were dating; of her large extended family donning their Le Moyne gear and cheering as loudly as they could for the College’s teams. Today one of her most treasured family mementos is a simple notebook that her grandmother gave to her. Terri purchased it in the Le Moyne bookstore for 25 cents when she was a student and, some 50 years later, it contains notes from her classes as well as from the process of planning her wedding to Stefan.
Today, it is hard for Terri to describe what it is like to watch her granddaughter forge her own path on the campus that has been a home away from home for so many people she loves.
“It brings tears to my eyes,” she says. “I want my granddaughter to have the same experiences, to develop the same lasting genuine friendships, to receive a quality education, to be challenged to the best of her ability, and I know she is going to get all of this wrapped up in one word: Le Moyne.”
By Molly K. McCarthy
The family connection does not end there!
Terri’s uncle, Jack Shea ’58, sister Sheila (Walker) Barrett ’69 and brother-in-law Thomas Barrett ’68 are also Le Moyne alumni, as is her late sister Marypat (Walker) Bowen ’74 and nephew Mark Demarest ’06.