I watched Bierlein Construction Crew begin to tear down our school building this afternoon. I stood with Fr. James Wm. Bessert, the current Rector of the Cathedral, watching the crane struggle with the job. Fr. Bessert mentioned that the crew told him this morning that the building was so well constructed that it would take most of the week to complete the job. The diocese also will put aside a limited number of bricks from the demolition to make available to St. Mary Cathedral School alumni.
I have mixed emotions about the demolition. I know the building had to be torn down but as I watched the crane tear down Sr. Roberta's classroom and the fact that my Mom, Elinor Shea, was the secretary in the grade school the last 20+ years it was in existence, I realized how much the building meant to me.
The building, strong and true, is a true comparison of how I think of the alumni of St. Mary Cathedral High School and all the people that made it possible fo us to attend. We can thank our parents and grandparents for their support and dedication and we can thank the good sisters and priests and wonderfully dedicated lay people that cared so much about us and our faith that they worked for years making St. Mary's a great school.
So even though our school building is being demolished this week, each and every one of us holds the spirit of that school within us. WE ARE ST. MARY'S.
6 comments:
Well said Mary Ellen.
Jim
I will try to send you some more pictures of the demolition today. Maybe you can do a Going, Going, Gone type thing.
Jim
I hope when they got to the gym floor, the took off their street shoes. Otherwise the ghost of Mr. Coon might haunt them.
While I was in town this past week, I went by and saw the pile of bricks. The empty space looked so small compared to what a huge impact the school had on all of us. I agree with Mary Ellen, we are St. Mary's and will always be St. Mary's.
I grew up a block away(Warren and Thompson). Before I was old enough to go to St. Mary my mom would take me to the babysitter who lived on the other side of the school. That was when the windows of the gym(in the front of the school) were painted different colors. I remember asking my mom what that building was. She told me that it was a school. Every time I saw it after I would be in awe of it. I couldn't wait to go. I got to go from 1st grade through 12th grade. I graduated in 1982, the last year it was called St. Mary. I haven't seen the site yet. Tears come to my eyes just thinking about it.
Even from Mexico after so many years having left Saginaw and though I read this and gaze at the pictures in awe and, yes, sadness I also agree with the Mary Ellen we are St. Mary's and will always be St. Mary's
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