Attendees started to arrive as early as 9:30 a.m. and were treated to a church filled with sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows. As the Alums arrived, squeals of recognition could be heard echoing off the walls and welcoming bear hugs could be seen between classmates of earlier times.
The Youth Ministry Mass, celebrated by Fr. Peter Premarini, provided the opportunity for the community children, many under 10-years of age, to sing, dance and narrate sections of the service. As Carol Broderick said at the Mass “All Masses are beautiful but I’ve never seen one this interesting and energetic.” Several of the STA Alums participated in the liturgy as Readers, Eucharist Ministers and even one who sang an incredibly beautiful version of the Our Father.
Although we hoped to get a group photo in the Church of all the attendees, the numbers were too large to round up and so we moved on to the Canteen for refreshments where many Alums, and in particular the Houlihan family, provided an abundance of muffins, coffee cakes, donuts, sweet rolls and other snacks for the hungry crowd to enjoy.
Numerous Alums brought photos, letter sweaters, school newsletters, autograph books and even a first Holy Communion veil, filling several tables and pillars. Considerable time was spent enjoying these articles which triggered memories of our time at STA.
Then we were off to travel the halls of our grammar school. A comment overheard several times during the walking tour was: “So many things look the same, but only much smaller than I remember.” It was fun to visit Sr. Immaculata’s classroom which still has its cloakroom attached, to walk the stairwells where an Alum remembered “seeing sawdust on the steps and smelling the unforgettable odor of vomit,” and to see the old school alive again with desks, colorful bulletin boards, plants and textbooks, all ready for the students to return the following day for class.
At the end of the day, the STA Reunion Committee, as you can see in this photo, smiled from ear to ear, feeling the event will be savored by all who attended for some time to come.
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| L-R: Carole Keough, Peggy Dernbach Kuzminski, Joan Laughlin LaBeck, Carol Broderick, Kathy Houlihan Redel, Dan Carr, Elaine McIntyre Beaudoin (All Class of 1960) and Maurice Bowman, Maintenance Engineer, St. Martin de Porres |
Photos from the reunion will be posted on this site as they are received. If you have photos to share, please send them to Elaine McIntyre Beaudoin at elaine.beaudoin@gmail.com.
Photo courtesy: Dan Carr, photo taken by Maureen Houlihan
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