OLPH class of 1974 gathers for 50-year reunion

Many students in the class return to reminisce at the Chattanooga church and school

By Dan McWilliams

The class of 1974 from Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Chattanooga returned to the campus July 20 for its 50-year reunion.

Some 80 percent of the 58-member eighth-grade class attended the event, with many coming across the country to be present.

Father Mike Nolan, pastor of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Parish in Cleveland and a member of the class of 1974, presided at a Mass at OLPH Church before the alumni took tours of the school and gathered in the parish life center for a “Ram Power Hour.”

The Mass was celebrated in memory of the eight deceased members of the class. Deacon Dennis Meinert assisted at Mass, and wife Ann Meinert played piano for the liturgy.

Following Mass, the former students posed outside the church for a re-creation of their class photo from five decades before.

Class members shared many memories of their days at OLPH, remembering events from the 1970s as well as their favorite teachers, who included members of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the community that founded the school in 1937 and taught there until 2003.

To begin his homily, Father Nolan thanked OLPH pastor Father Arthur Torres and school principal Dr. Caroline Carlin, who led the tours of the school—much expanded since 1974—after Mass. He also saluted reunion organizers Jean Payne and Julie Steele.

“It’s good to be home,” Father Nolan said. “I thank Father Arthur for so graciously allowing me to offer Mass this evening on the occasion of the eighth-grade graduating class of 1974, assembled to celebrate its 50-year reunion.

“A special thanks to Dr. Carlin, the head of school, Cathy Clifford, Carlene Lori Evans, and Kari Ingle, who helped us make this happen, and to Mrs. Meinert, who agreed to try to incorporate hymns from our graduation Mass into tonight’s liturgy. Our class certainly owes a debt of gratitude to Julie Steele and Jean Payne and the many characters who shepherded an idea for this celebration to a reality.”

Father Nolan, who served as pastor of OLPH from 1997 to 2009, introduced Dolores Howell, the class of 1974’s first-grade teacher. She stood and received one of several ovations the assembly made during the priest’s opening remarks.

“Mrs. Howell was our first-grade teacher. Look what you started,” Father Nolan said to laughter.

The Gospel for the Mass came from Mark 6:30-34, where Jesus asks his Apostles to rest from their labors.

“When I was a kid, I hated taking naps, and now if I’m not careful, naps take me,” Father Nolan said as the assembly laughed. “Yes, I do tire more easily, but I’ve still got more to do, more that I want to do, more than I’m able to accomplish. Frankly, we all do. Yet our Good Shepherd, Jesus, is insistent about His invitation to His disciples, worn out by their mission. Jesus is directing them to ‘come away to a deserted place’ by themselves, not abandoning their mission but to be refueled to further the kingdom.”

Chapter 6 of Mark’s Gospel recounts several miracles.

“The Gospels are chock-full of miracles, and there are a lot of them just in this one chapter from the Gospel of Mark proclaimed by Deacon Meinert tonight: feeding the multitude, walking on water, healing the sick, wonders upon wonders,” Father Nolan said. “From tonight’s passage, just as Jesus plans for getting away and spending some alone time with His disciples, their plans are ruined by a needy crowd, and we encounter one more often-overlooked miracle: Jesus has compassion for them.

“Jesus responds to the enthusiasm of the crowd not with exasperation but with compassion. That’s a miracle, a miracle we have benefited from, participated in, and frankly given to others throughout our lives, perhaps multiple times each day of our lives, for compassion is not simply a feeling. Compassion for others is at the very heart of the Gospel. It’s a way of looking at life, and it factors into the choices we make each day.”

Father Nolan urged his listeners to keep the Sabbath.

“May we be blessed with the ability and desire to take time to think, that we may puzzle out peace, take time to read, to expand wisdom, take time to be quiet, unless we’re a little child”—as a child cried during his homily—“and take the opportunity to seek God. Take time to love and be loved—it’s God’s greatest gift. Take time to be friendly—it doesn’t cost any more to be nice. Take time to dream—it’s what the future is made of. Take time to pray, the most underestimated hour on earth.”

Father Nolan expressed gratitude for the founders of OLPH Parish and School.

“May we thank God for faithful generations past, who dreamed that the old Anderson Farm in East Ridge could be purchased and cultivate a whole different crop through what would become Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, nurturing and shepherding the faith and minds and hearts of successive crops of children,” Father Nolan said, “first by the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who came down from Iowa in 1937 and lived upstairs in the old farmhouse while opening the school downstairs, before this church, this sanctuary, was even completed.

“Give thanks for the faithful who sacrificed to build our main school building and convent during the Second World War, when resources were scarce, for those who supported the building of the current middle-school building in the 1950s, which I still refer to as the new building, who created the ball fields and the playgrounds and the parish hall and the additional education space, to the parishioners today who bolster the many ministries and outreach and opportunities for spiritual growth. Brothers and sisters, popes and bishops and pastors—they come and go, but the faithful remain faithful. Who knew what could grow through all those who kept the Sabbath to shepherd us? Praise God for each of them. Amen.”

During the Eucharistic Prayer, Father Nolan read the names of deceased class of 1974 members Tim Black, Steve Brick, Rico Deocampo, James Jabaley, Doug Reardon, Charlie Sumrell, Vinny Waters, and Tim Willett.

Jack Martin and Charlene Jabaley Martin allowed the reunion organizers to display a sketch made of James Jabaley, Mrs. Martin’s brother. The sketch was created by Cessna Decosimo.

After Mass, Father Nolan said he was “just thrilled” over the reunion.

“We grew up in this Catholic bubble of Our Lady of Perpetual Help with friends and family who literally moved here so their kids could walk to school,” he said. “It’s a different age today, but certainly the parishioners of OLPH continue to support this mission, and it’s vital, I think, to our community.”

Father Nolan again mentioned the organizers of the reunion.

“I have to thank Jean Payne and Julie Steele for coming up with this idea and then turning an idea into a reality,” he said “If you had asked me what the percentage of classmates that would come, I don’t know—we were hoping for half. We had like 80 percent pay and say they were coming, from Colorado, from Texas, from Florida, from Virginia, from Maryland.

“It’s great to be happy and to see each other and to recognize the gifts that we received from our parents, even though we might not have been appreciative at the time.”

Father Nolan said it was a “good sign” that he could still name so many of his OLPH teachers 50 years later.

“Mrs. Osteen, fifth grade. Mrs. Howell, one of our first-grade teachers who was here tonight. Sister Mary Margaret Devereux was our principal,” he said. “We had Sister (Mary) John Phillip (Bassford), Don Waters, Kathleen Wilkins, Madeline Rogers, Bob Fazio. We can name all of our teachers. They were very dedicated to us.

“We knew that our teachers had our back, and they were willing to help us do what was right.”

Following the class photo, the alumni gathered in the Bishop James D. Niedergeses Parish Life Center at OLPH for the Ram Power Hour. Bishop Niedergeses was pastor of OLPH from 1962 to 1973, his latter years covering the class of 1974’s time in school, before he was reassigned to Sts. Peter and Paul Church in downtown Chattanooga. He was serving at the future basilica parish when he was named bishop of Nashville in 1975.

Dr. Carlin greeted the reunion attendees.

“All I want to say on behalf of the faculty and staff is welcome back. Welcome home,” she said. “Thank you for traveling, some of you cross country, to be here with us, to celebrate the Ram family.

“Going through the tours, you saw that the buildings may have changed, but it’s not really buildings that make a school. It’s the people who make a school, and it’s the people who make a community. And the fact that we have such a strong representation from the class of 1974 here today just speaks volumes about the community that you left a legacy for and that we hope to continue to carry on. Cheers to you, God bless, and go Rams.”

Ms. Payne and Ms. Steele were part of a reunion planning committee whose other members were Teresa Morrison Bruns, Pam Martin Franklin, Pat Higney, Father Nolan, Mike and Debbie Prater, Karen Morrison Ryland, Mike Smith, Mike Smotherman, Vivian Dearing Stone, and Terrie Lamsey Weiss.

“I loved it here,” Ms. Payne said of her school days. “It was like a big family, an extended family. It was a safe place. It was really what fostered our faith. You can see we’ve got lifelong friends. With this large turnout, it just goes to show that we were a close-knit family of community and faith.”

The reunion could have taken place five years earlier, she said.

“We were so excited because of all the excitement and enthusiasm the classmates had. We didn’t know for sure if people wanted to do it,” Ms. Payne said. “We initially thought we might try this on our 45th anniversary. But then the momentum came, because the 50th is big. That’s really when we got other people involved. Some people on the committee live out of town, and they would call in to meetings, and they brought memorabilia, or they’d know a friend. We really tried to get that personal touch with each classmate, at least reach out to them in some way and let them know we’d love for them to come.”

Ms. Payne was grateful for Mrs. Howell’s presence at the reunion.

“We loved her. She actually started out as our kindergarten teacher, and then midyear there was an opening in first grade, and she shifted there, and then Mrs. (Doris) Prevou joined Mrs. (Elaine) Pangle in kindergarten,” Ms. Payne said.

Mrs. Howell, Kathleen Wilkins, and Sister Mary Patricia Ryan were other fondly remembered teachers of Ms. Payne.

“Mrs. Wilkins was another favorite. I loved her. She was our eighth-grade teacher,” Ms. Payne said. “She was strict but very fair and fun. She also had a great singing voice. She would bring her guitar, and we would have an eighth-grade choir that would sing for Masses, so we would work with her on that. Sister Patricia—I loved her.”

Having Father Nolan celebrate Mass highlighted the day for her, Ms. Payne said.

“That was amazing. I’ve known Mike all my life, since kindergarten. He has also helped keep everybody connected through his ministry,” she said. “He’s got the best singing voice and such passion. His family home was just across the street from the church and down a block, and then our family home was behind that. A lot of families lived close by. Having Father Mike was so special today because he’s one of our classmates. To have him go through a Catholic school and be the celebrant at Mass, it was beautiful.”

Also coming to the reunion was Alicia Vines Smith, who lived near Ms. Payne when they were growing up.

Mrs. Smith now lives in the “little bitty town” of Mena, Ark., she said. She has fond memories of her OLPH days, saying that all of the girls in the class “hung out” together. She credits Mr. Fazio, the art teacher, for starting a lifelong love of art in her.

“Our class was real special, because all of us girls were really close. There were about 20 to 25 of us together,” Mrs. Smith said. “Mr. Fazio did art, and I think that’s where I got started, because in the art program there, it was the first time I ever got to do art. I do art now. That was our first time we ever got to do art, in seventh or eighth grade, and after that my life changed to a point where I could do oil painting full time.”

The seventh- and eighth-grade students in the 1970s were taught in four classrooms, boys in two rooms on one side and girls in two rooms on the other. Mrs. Smith said that made spotting men friends from the class in the 50-year reunion photo after Mass a little difficult, “except for Mike Nolan, the pastor. He’s the only one who I really recognized, because we were separated from the boys (in school). The girls were on one side, and the boys were on the other side.”

A year at Notre Dame High School, then public school and a Navy career followed her time at OLPH, Mrs. Smith said, adding that she has other memories of her school days in East Ridge.

“I remember singing in the choir. Mrs. (Mary) Gang played on the organ, and her daughter Cathy Gang and I were really close friends,” she said. “Sometimes people would request the eighth-grade girls—that was the year we sang there—to come and sing. If there was an activity or something, they would ask us to come sing because we sounded like angels. To this day, that was very rewarding for me to be able to sing, because Mrs. Gang really led us.”

Billy Brown, who now lives in Baltimore, is a member of the OLPH class of 1974 and the NDHS class of 1978. He played basketball and football at OLPH and mostly basketball in high school, he said. Mr. Brown went on to college at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for his bachelor’s degree before earning a master’s in philanthropy and development at St. Mary’s University, a Catholic institution in Minnesota.

OLPH School “was within walking distance from where we lived, so it wasn’t too far away, maybe three miles. I lived in the East Ridge area of Chattanooga,” Mr. Brown said, adding that Mr. Waters, his history teacher at OLPH, was one of his favorite instructors. “I cut through many yards to get to the school without getting caught. I was jumping fences all over the place.

“My family’s history—I have two aunts who are nuns. We’re all Catholic. My mother’s sole decree was, I want to get you and your older brother into the Catholic system and get as many degrees as you can as well as the Church-related information you’re going to learn from it.”

Mr. Brown has put his philanthropy degree to good use.

“I raise money for nonprofit organizations, especially those overseas, international nonprofits, helping them to feed those who are truly hungry, those who don’t have a place to live, helping them build homes and shelter and all the things that go with it, which fits in nicely with what I learned growing up in the Catholic faith,” he said.