When I was a student at St. Turibius School, my 2nd grade teacher, †Sr. Mary Danielitta Lewandowski, had us make May Altars. I was staying with my aunt, uncle and cousins because my mother was hospitalized after breast cancer surgery. When my dad came from the hospital to see me, I was in tears saying how I had to make a May Altar and the relatives didn’t know how and had no supplies to do it.
My dad set to work. Out of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups carton and Reed’s Rolls candy box (the base on which Mary stands), he fashioned an altar, painted it blue (Mary’s and his favorite color), added corrugated paper and flowers and finished by the due date. My May Altar won the prize. I always wondered why, as I obviously had not made it myself, but I received a medal of Mary on a chain as my prize. Years later, when my son Nicholas was young, I explained what appeared every May on the dresser was my May Altar and how it came to be. I no longer crown Mary as I did, but she still has a place of reverence each May.
My father, who had a great devotion to Mary, attended the Sorrowful Mother Novena for years and prayed the rosary daily until his death at age 70 (1985) of colon cancer. This May Altar is my connection to my dear teacher, to my father and the faith he practiced and to the Blessed Virgin who watches over me (her namesake). Even though they say, “You can’t take it with you,” I hope to do just that.
-Mary Ann
