With the unveiling of St. Robert Gate in May, Bellarmine University has a grand signature entrance for the first time in its 63-year history. Named for the university’s namesake, St. Robert Bellarmine, the arched 3 ½-story entryway bears the Bellarmine shield, is illuminated at night, and somehow looks like it’s always been there. “It makes a great first impression, without a doubt. And first impressions are very important,” said Gincy Osborne Carosi ’70, who, along with her husband, Nick Carosi ’69, donated St. Robert Gate to the university that brought them together – him from Washington, D.C., and her from Atlanta. They both certainly have a lasting impression of their first meeting, which they 34 BELLA RMINE MAGAZINE described in separate phone interviews. It happened in the cafeteria. “I used to work for food service,” said Mr. Carosi, who majored in accounting and business. “I would do their books and make out the paychecks for the various employees. “One day I’m going through the line at lunchtime and I see a pretty girl on tippytoes reaching for something. I said, ‘Ma’am, can I help you?’ She said, ‘I’m looking for a lemon for my iced tea.’ I turned to a food service attendant, who I knew by name, and said, ‘Can you get this lady a lemon?’ “As she tells the story, that day she asked for a lemon – and she got one.” “And I tell everyone,” Mrs. Carosi added in her interview, “that I made lemonade.” St. roBERT GATE It was not love at first sight - “for her, anyway,” Mr. Carosi said. “Our first date was not very successful,” she agreed. “But then we went home for a holiday – Thanksgiving or Christmas – and when we came back, we became friends. It was an oldfashioned time, in spite of it being the ’60s. We became friends first, and then more.” The couple married in July 1970 after Mrs. Carosi (who began her college career at Ursuline) graduated. They made their home in Virginia, where Mr. Carosi became the third generation of his family (his son is now the fourth) to work at Arban & Carosi, an architectural precast concrete firm. The company began nearly 100 years ago as a partnership between Mr. Carosi’s grand
Bellarmine Magazine_Fall2013_Web
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