The Lucier Courtyard Garden
Walking Tour Script: Lucier Courtyard
Welcome to Lucier Courtyard, one of the quieter and more charming corners of campus tucked between Hayes-Healy and Hurley Hall. In 1930, Hurley was built.
As the college grew, the Hayes-Healy Center was added in 1968 with funding from John Francis and Ramona Hayes Healy and . When the business school moved to DeBartolo Quad in 1995, Hurley Hall became temporary space for other departments.
This courtyard was officially dedicated in August of 1971 as the Ralph and Philip Lucier Courtyard. It's name is in memory of Philip J. Lucier, a 1942 Notre Dame graduate who served on the advisory council for the College of Business Administration. He was also the president of the Continental Telephone Company in St. Louis. In July of 1970, Philip died in a bombing incident during a lunch outing, it happened to be a case of mistaken identity. He was only 49 years old. He left behind his wife and eleven children.
The courtyard was established by Loren Berry, a friend of the Lucier family and president of an Indiana telephone company. At the time, this location made sense for his memory. Hurley Hall housed the Center for Graduate Business Education and Hayes-Healy was home to the College of Business Administration. It was here that Philip had once studied—and where students still study today.
The dedication ceremony was presided over by Father Hesburgh, the president of Notre Dame, and Bishop Leo Pursley. Philip’s wife and ten of his eleven children were in attendance. It was a very meaningful moment making this space into not just a physical memorial, but a living part of the university community.
Now, fast forward to a more modern part in the life of this courtyard: the ducks.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WoIzCBcXN59VHEFjeLgmF1ouDMaYkl5p/view
I spoke with Judy Hygema, the Administrative Assistant in the Math Department, who’s become the official duck caretaker. When the department moved into Hayes-Healy and Hurley in 2001, they quickly noticed that ducks would fly in each spring, lay their eggs, and stay until the ducklings were ready to head out into the world.
Judy told me, “We noticed the ducks immediately, and I had chickens at home, so we fed them the chicken feed.” There’s even a science professor who advises the math department on how best to care for the ducks. Since 2013, the Math Department has been sharing photos and duck updates on the Mathematics Facebook page, where they’ve built up quite a following.
Typically, one pair of ducks returns each spring, but occasionally they’ll have two or more sets nesting here. And once the ducklings are old enough to leave, the department organizes a sort of ceremonial "Duck Walk," guiding the little family safely from the courtyard to the lake—faculty, staff, and students all pitch in. So, Lucier Courtyard is not only a place of quiet study and remembrance, but also a site of community and duck caretaking. It holds layers of memory of various departments and the community created between the two buildings.
Author: Ashley Estelle - Notre Dame class of 2026, History Major
This paper was written as a final exam for Ashley's Archives and Museums class. It was intended to be written as a walking tour where she speaks on the history of specific sites on Notre Dame's campus. Ashley has chosen the history of the Math Ducks and the Duck Walk in our Lucier Courtyard Garden as a stop for the virtual walking tour.
Sources
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https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.434856760036646&type=3
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University of Notre Dame Archives. "Philip J. Lucier Memorial Courtyard Dedicated," Notre Dame Alumnus, September 1971. https://archives.nd.edu/pn/PN_14_09_1971_06.pdf.
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University of Notre Dame, College of Science. "Campus Courtyard is Home to Lucier Memorial." Last modified August 3, 2021. https://science.nd.edu/news-and-media/news/campus-courtyard-is-home-to-lucier-memorial/.
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University of Notre Dame, Department of Mathematics. “Judy Hygema.” https://math.nd.edu/people/administration/judy-hygema/.
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Judy Hygema, Administrative Assistant, Department of Mathematics, University of Notre Dame. Interview by Ashley Estelle. April 15, 2025.