The Rover learns more about behind-the-scenes people who make up the Notre Dame community

 

Before heading home last Tuesday to greet my family and the fattened turkey, I had the opportunity to meet with Gloria Krull, Faculty Administrative Assistant at the Notre Dame Law School, to converse on all things life, love, and law.

When asked about her family, Gloria told me that she met her husband, Kevin, well before the Facebook era through a mutual friend. She said she visited Kevin during her senior year of college (during football season, no less), and upon attending the sporting event-of-sorts quickly realized, “I knew nothing about football.”

Yet such an epiphany did not stop Gloria. “I had to learn about football because I knew that it would be a part of our life. So I watched Sunday highlights with my dad,” she said.

Gloria’s prediction proved accurate, as Notre Dame football has been a part of their life since 1975. She added with a laugh, “And 40 years later, we’re still in South Bend.”

Since moving from her childhood home in the Robertsdale community of Hammond, Indiana, to South Bend, Gloria has had two daughters. Gloria shared stories about each daughter, Gretchen and Bridget, and the ways in which their lives have been a constant source of energy and joy.

Both attended Saint Joseph High School but, sparked by individual interests, pursued very different career paths. “Gretchen went off to Manhattan to live and attend school and is now an aspiring actress in Los Angeles. She works in event planning,” Gloria said.

Gloria’s second daughter, Bridget, graduated from Indiana University and started working for Ticketmaster in Houston. “Since then, Bridget has been transferred to London, where she has worked for eight years,” she added. Bridget started working for the Manchester City Football Club just this year.

Aside from keeping up with the Krull daughters, Gloria stays quite busy on a day-to-day basis at the law school. “As a faculty administrative assistant, I do whatever professors need to be done,” she said.

Gloria works with Professor Patricia Bellia, who is on the faculty board for NCAA Athletics; Professor Gerard Bradley, who directs Notre Dame’s Natural Law Institute; Professor Kristine Kalanges; and others.

“Right now, I’m coordinating a public defender class and trying to arrange tours of the Juvenile Justice Center, County Jail, and police rides for the law students,” she explained. Gloria also is working on organizing a group of judges to come for trials at the end of the semester, as well as on various projects related to articles and books that professors need to complete.

Finally, I asked Gloria where she would be heading off to for Thanksgiving. She said, “We’ll be spending Thanksgiving with my brother in St. Joseph.”

The question that necessarily followed was about her favorite dish. “I love sweet potato casserole,” she said. She tried describing to me the essence of such a luscious recipe yet ultimately admitted,  “I can’t even remember the secret … it’s like a sweet potato soufflé.”

Other than creating soufflé-like nourishment for her family, Gloria enjoys watching television in her free time. She finds “The Blacklist,” “Game of Thrones,” “Chopped,” and the hit comedy “The Goldbergs” particularly exhilarating.

When asked “Have you ever tried replicating a dish you saw from ‘Chopped’?” Gloria answered, “Yes, I’ve become a lot more adventurous! Sometimes it works and other times it doesn’t.”

Although finding time to cook during a 40-hour work week is difficult, Gloria explained that when she does have time, she makes pastas and homemade soups, saying, “I always come back to the way I started making it years ago.”

Whether the soup is in the pot or not, Gloria and her husband love working in their garden: “It replaces some of our TV watching in the summer and spring.”

Gloria said, “Kevin’s in charge of the grass, weeds, and lawn. I took over the edge trimming. Once it’s all cleaned up at the end of the day I look at our work, and there’s such a feeling of satisfaction.”

This satisfaction was not limited to looking at the garden, for in her closing remarks Gloria expressed, “I have a great job and work with so many wonderful people; I am so blessed.”

Tierney Vrdolyak is a sophomore allegedly studying the Program of Liberal Studies and theology who, in her free-spirited time, enjoys playing a multitude of sports and board games, singing, wearing patterned socks, and rolling her roommate around the halls of Breen-Phillips in a wheel-equipped laundry hamper.  Due to hyperactivity, however, the wheels have since detached. So if you enjoy playing pick-up of any kind or fixing stubborn wheels, contact Tierney at tvrdolya@nd.edu.