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Âť3^ The j_l September
Volume
Number
11
\3/dLll011C NEWS & HERALD
2001
28,
3
Serving Catholics
i
By
Western North Carolina
in
the Diocese of Charlotte
—
CHARLOTTE
hope Page 7
...
ALESHA M. PRICE Staff Writer
Holy Trinity students write letters of
in
0'Donoghue School graduates gather for reunion
n$ d
I
1
It
was
a day of
gasps and shouts, tears and smiles and hugs and kisses surrounded by a warm,
September day. Memories of bobbysocks, glass soda bottles,
and
women
World War
rations
II
religious in long, black habits
spilled from the minds and fell from the mouths of those for whom Catholic education was a way of life. Graduates from the O'Donoghue
School in Charlotte gathered for their
We are all commissioned,
multi-class reunion
Mepkin Abbey abbot tells
Charlotte.
on
what is now St. Over 40 men and women, some of whom had not seen each other for over 50 years, met again to reminisce about old times and to catch up on what has hapbuilding,
audience Page
...
8
first
22 at their old Patrick School in
Sept.
pened since graduation. Helen Brown Herlocker from the class of 1948 said that she and several others had discussed the idea of a reunion for many years but had finally decided to bring the plans to fruition recently.
Local
The
reunion consisted of a tour of Charlotte
News
Catholic
High School (CCHS), Mass
at
St
Patrick Cathedral, social time and dinner.
Parishioners demonstrate
"It
has been exciting and nostalgic to
work on
me
cultural diversity ...
Page
4
Author writes book on
because
them
St.
native's view ...
Page 9
Every Week
which stands adjacent to
Patrick Cathedral, was opened in
1930 and served as an elementary school staffed by the Sisters of Mercy. It was named for the late Dr. Denis O'Donoghue, a longtime benefactor of the Catholic church in Charlotte, whose bequest provided a jump start for Catholic education during the early part of the century.
In 1943, the school was expanded to
.Pages
10-11
& Columns 12-13
"You shall love the Lord, your
all
all
your heart, with
your being, with
strength,
in
opera-
and with
all all
your your
mind, and your neighbor as yourself."
Those who
Luke 10:27
arrived early for the Sat-
who
Minnick,
taught physical edu-
cation and coached girls' basketball
dents face today.
"The
were mischievous, but our smoking or someone of wine. There just wasn't any
kids
biggest problems were
trouble back then," said Minnick,
so
religious.
there with the kids
much from
was so
exciting.
The words
many
Dinner was
of the
made them
latecomers came in and saw their friends
our
and extended family from years ago. Mary Agnes Harris Moeslein, a
Betty Minnick with a smile addressing
five
boys and 12 to
'We were just
ing Catholic High back then, so forge our gether.
own way and do
start-
we had
to
things to-
We grew up together and started
in the first grade,
and
we gradually added
a class each year," she remembered.
"I
miss the closeness of the school. Charlotte
was so small back tiien, and you knew everyone so well. I would visit with Helen (Herlocker)
all
of the time."
Benedictine Father Kieran Neilson,
1950 and campus minister at Belmont Abbey College, agreed, "I enjoyed the closeness of the school and reclass of
member the influence that the Sisters of Mercy had during my formative years."
whom
Father Neilson,
his classmates af-
fectionately call "Patty" because of his
baptismal
Mass
name
'The Mercy derful
Patrick, concelebrated
at the cathedral that afternoon.
tiieir
Sisters
were very pro-
thinking and were
women who
said Herlocker. "It
won-
really cared about us,"
was
and I think all of us to happy times."
just like family,
this
day remember
slightly delayed as
to almost fight to library," said
1948 graduate, had 14 girls in her class.
gressive in
graduates talked about their grade-school
special.
for
learned
"nuns" and "family" were
days and reflected on what
room
I
the kids and the nuns."
O'Donoghue high
little
acted
"Being able to simply be
heard throughout the day as
get a
who
go-between for the students and the
women
hood of Charlotte were impressed at the sight of the school whose enrollment far surpasses the less than 60 students in the
we had
from
1946-1955 at O'Donoghue and CCHS and later taught at St. Ann School, was one of the few lay teachers at O'Donoghue at one point during its history. She said that what she remembers most about those days is that there never seemed to be any of the serious problems that stu-
brick building in the Dilworth neighbor-
late '40s.
li-
She also said that the school lunch menu was miles ahead of anything served at her old place of employment.
as a
school classes in the
CCHS
brary.
urday gathering were treated to a tour of the current CCHS building. Many of those who attended classes in the old
"Students,
-
large space set aside for the
taking a sip
School in later years.
...Pages
God, with
was
1954 when the first CCHS building was constructed. The O'Donoghue School reverted to elementary grades and was named St. Patrick tion until
Entertainment
Benedictine Father Kieran Neilson, Martha Pfund and Patsy Hartle Bardford, O'Donoghue School graduates, laughed about their school days at their first multi-class reunion on Sept. 22 held at St. Patrick School in Charlotte. The school, in operation from the '30s through the 50's, served area students until Charlotte Catholic High School was built in the '50s. those she taught while she looked at the
reunion."
school,
include upper grades and
Editorials
some of whose
husband Joe, now deceased, also graduated from the school. "CCHS has had reunions, and we've been included. However, it hasn't been the same. We wanted an
O'Donoghue
Amistad saga from
haven't spoken to
I
for years," said Herlocker,
The
Photo by Alesha M. Price
the reunion with people calling
Contact Staff Writer Akslia
calling
(704)
370-3354
amprice@charlottediocese.org.
M. or
Price by