St. Mary’s Education Spans Generations
When a school has been open for as long as St. Mary’s Elementary School has been, and provided so many years of outstanding Catholic education, it’s not surprising to find former students, on whom the school had such an impact, send their children to the school as well, leading to second- and third-generation families in the St. Mary’s Elementary School community.
Suzanne Bossé, who graduated from St. Mary’s in 1983, currently has three children who attend the elementary school. “My favorite memory was getting out early every Tuesday,” she remembered. “The public school kids came to St. Mary’s on buses and used our classrooms for CCD.” She also recalled playing the glockenspiel in the elementary school marching band. “Everyone dreaded band practice and the itchy woolen navy blue hats we had to wear,” Bossé noted, “but loved marching in the parades.” She said she recently visited her mother, who kept big bins full of childhood mementos for her and her three siblings, who all also attended St. Mary’s. “I opened mine and found my old St. Mary’s uniform jumper and seventh and eighth grade skirt. Some things never change—it is the same plaid my daughter wears to St. Mary’s every day.”
“The religious values learned at St. Mary’s have stayed with me my whole life,” noted Patricia Hurley Donnelly, a graduate of the Class of 1952, who also sent her children to St. Mary’s. She remembered fondly the IHM sisters who taught her, especially “Sister Susan, for her friendship and encouraging me to appreciate music, and especially for her support of my participation in Band, Choir and Glee Club,” and also “Sister Maura, for her kindness and teaching of organizational skills in her book room, often asking for my participative assistance.” Donnelly shared that a highlight of seventh grade was “being chosen to crown the school yard’s Blessed Mother statue.” Donnelly continued her involvement with the elementary school even after she graduated. She noted that after she moved back to Manhasset as an adult and started her family, then-pastor Msgr. Wiest decided to form a marching band at the elementary school and asked her, Bill Baxter and Peggy Reilly Taylor to head up the program—the band “took first place in the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade that year,” Donnelly said.
“During those years (at St. Mary’s), many great friends were made,” she noted, “and those ties still exist today. And of course, we must remember our parents, priests and all the teachers who made these the formative and fun years and led us to eventually enroll each of our four sons in St. Mary’s Elementary School as well.”
90th Anniversary Celebration
Ninety years after St. Mary’s first opened, a total of 900 nursery through 12th-grade students arrive daily on campus. St. Mary’s Elementary School is a vibrant Catholic academic institution, and since the 2013-14 school year, has been governed along with St. Mary’s High School under the umbrella of The Schools of St. Mary. While the two schools remain separate, The Schools of St. Mary provides a continuum of education aimed at preparing students for success in elementary school, high school, college, and beyond. Under The Schools of St. Mary governance model, many opportunities have emerged between the elementary school and the high school for cooperative learning experiences, student mentoring, faculty partnerships, and other curricular and co-curricular experiences. “With the times changing so quickly, it is comforting to know that St. Mary’s Elementary School has remained true to its mission centering on the Gospel values and reaching the spirit, hearts and minds of the young people through the years,” stated Grace Cavallo, president of The Schools of St. Mary. “St. Mary’s Elementary School has and will continue to be instrumental in shaping future leaders of our Church and the people it serves.”
The community has been celebrating this milestone anniversary throughout the spring. The Take A Break dinner dance fundraiser in April featured a video in which a student from 1926 traveled to the future to see what the school and students were like in 2016. Participants who attended Take A Break were asked to write down their favorite memories of the school, which will be put in a time capsule to be opened on the school’s 100th anniversary in 2026. St. Mary’s students, teachers and administrators were also asked to write down their favorite memories for the time capsule, and all the memory forms will be put into a binder. Other items inside the time capsule will include an iPhone box, an iPad box, local newspaper issues, presidential pins, copies of the Take A Break journal and video, historical photos, pictures of Pope Francis, Monsignor McCann and Fr. Romeo, a list of emojis and a list of text slang and their meanings and a menu from Gino’s. The time capsule will be sealed at the end of the school year.
Students from the school took a picture in front of the building, standing in the shape of a 90, as another way to commemorate the anniversary. The 90th anniversary festivities will culminate with a huge celebration on Sunday, June 5, with a 12 p.m. Mass at The Church of St. Mary. Rev. Fr. Robert A. Romeo, pastor of The Church of St. Mary, gave his blessing last year for a committee to gather in preparation of this historic event. “It gave me great joy to have this opportunity to spearhead plans for the 90th anniversary in my first year at St. Mary’s,” he noted. “The dedication of past and present parents, faculty and alumni who formed this committee have spent many hours planning and I am grateful for their time and energy. I know this will be a wonderful tribute to the school’s rich history and I look forward to celebrating this special day.”
The anniversary Mass will be followed by a complimentary community-
wide reception in Monsignor Wiest Gymnasium. All will be welcome to walk the halls of our beloved school with current students as tour guides.
To register for the reception, visit www.stmary11030.org or call 516-627-4605.
