Marker honors heroic Mary Klinker in new CC plaza

Mary Klinker, Central Catholic grad and Air Force nurse, died in the closing days of the Vietnam War, volunteering in Operation Babylift. Marker stands in CC’s new Spiritual Plaza along Ninth Street

• Thanks to the ongoing support from Long Center for the Performing Arts, sponsor of today’s edition. The Laughayette Comedy Festival starts Oct. 1 with multiple shows in Long Center, Lafayette Theater and other venues. For show details and tickets, go to longpac.org or click on the flier below.

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

• Thanks, also, to sponsor Stuart & Branigin for ongoing support of the Based in Lafayette reporting project.

---

MARKER HONORING HEROIC MARY KLINKER PART OF NEW CC PLAZA

Bishop Timothy Doherty gave fair warning to Central Catholic students and staff gathered as he prepared to bless what the school was calling a spiritual plaza, what stands as a new gateway and marker dedicated Friday in front of CC along South Ninth Street.

“Don’t be surprised to find me out here reading a book someday, while everybody else is in there working,” Doherty told a small crowd there that afternoon to mark the completion of the plaza.

You can’t miss the plaza from Ninth Street, a stone marker and landscaping that replace an aging – and tiny, by comparison – letterboard sign in Central Catholic’s front yard. School officials were touting it, in part, as a symbol of permanence and commitment to a thriving Lafayette Catholic school community. Up close, the $250,000 project includes a circle of benches lined by walls engraved by the Ten Commandments in a space meant to double as a sacred space and outdoor classroom for the high school.

Tucked inside and incorporated into the plaza is a fresh historical marker honoring the life and service of Mary Therese Klinker, Central Catholic class of ’65.

(Photo: Dave Bangert)