Diamond Jubilee History
By M. M. Howard Miller, Originally published in the 75th Anniversary booklet in 1990
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
Three nuns taught eight grades, which meant that there were
three grades in two of the rooms and Sister Mary Ellen,
who was Principal and general administrator, taught two
grades.
It was an exhausting schedule for all of them. Finally
in 1929, Sister Mary Ellen had a serious illness, and Sister
Albertine
who cared for the principal and who with Sister Conception
tried to take over part of her work, became ill herself.
At the end of the school year, Father Fogarty shifted to the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, from Dubuque, lowa. Sister Albertine and Sister Mary Ellen recovered and became principals in the extensive Immaculate Heart System in Los Angeles.
The heirs to St. Brendan's School have a deep sense of gratitude, understanding and compassion for the extraordinary work done by the native IHM's of the California Province and the BVM's of the Midwest.
Stan Chambers' beautiful mother, the actress, brought him to first grade. His brother, David, who came later, is a doctor. Also, that f~rst day of the school year, Marie Smith brought her son Bob (his older brother Morris was already there and Larry and Dick would be in later classes). John Woodard, Jack.Connelly, Jack McAtee, Eileen Scully, Pat Burke, Anne Farraher and Betty Mason also started that day. Both Anne and Pat became nuns and Anne's older brother, Joe is a Jesuit.
Martha ("Tootsie"), Woodward brought John 111. Don, Marlyn, Martha, Larry and Dick came later. Martha 11, married Ira Marshall and they raised Tony, Bobbie, Mimi, Michael and Marilyn, and sent them all to St. Brendans.
Eileen Scully's brother, Bill, married Mary Burke. They had 10 children, one of them, Michael, became a priest. There were three Scully families in St. Brendan's. John Schneiders opened the church every morning before 6:30 A.M. Mass. His sons took up the tradition after him. One of his many sons became Father Joseph Schneiders, S.J.
As the population of the Los Angeles burgeoned,
so did the student body of St. Brendan. The parishes
of Precious
Blood,
St. Kevin and St. Basil had not built schools and
all their children descended on St. Brendan's (along
with
many non-Catholics
who were aware of its excellent academic standing).
Parents paid only the small tuition which did not meet the
cost per
pupil by half. No one was turned
away,
which was
in the altruistic and charitable tradition of Catholic
education.
So, the numbers in the classrooms grew and grew, until the school's friends, the firemen, finally said "Stop no more!" There were 75 in someclassrooms and still only one exhausted sister. So Father Fogarty divided the classes and had morning and afternoon sessions conducted by the same willing but worn-out nuns.
Concomitant with the actions and reactions of Vatican II, the nuns had begun to demur and offer their resignations for the coming school year, 1966. The small stream of students that parents were placing in other schools became a river. The remaining parents were very vocal in their dismay.
Father Konoske, who arrived amid the torrents of dissension and emotion, not unusual when children's education is at stake, found it understandably difficult to discern a bedrock of reason in the deluge of complaints and demands which beset him.
So Father formed the Parish Council. He selected Carl Barrow, Phil Hawley, Dr. Frances McKeever, Hubert Laughran and Paul Crawley. They were five men whose backgrounds had been interwoven in many ways with St. Brendan's and whose large families had attended the school.
The pastor, the nuns and parents were invited to speak with the Council as separate groups. There were two meetings held this way, and then finally an open session in the old school hall.
Everyone came out beaming. There was agreement that minimum Los Angeles public school standards would apply for qualifications and pay for teachers. A maximum of thirty-five students to a classroom would be permitted. Parish children would be accepted first, then those of the three satellite parishes.
Tuition was raised from $6.00 (Families with more than one child attending school paid only $3.00 per child!), to $15.00 a month, although it was clearly understood that the sisters would not charge anything for families who would find such tuition difficult.
An annual Library Day was instituted. The empty library and classroom bookshelves each received dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases and other excellent books. The empty library was filled. Volunteers ran the new library system. The sisters were given trained volunteers to staff the playground, and the office and to get out announcements and report cards and answer the phone. They had time-offfor lunch and two breaks. None of these things had been done before! The sisters, priests and parishioners were swept forward in the exhilaration of their accomplishments.
