Childhood memories of beloved school

Former students remember St. John’s Acacemy

Story by Lindsay Panzica
Photos courtesy of Lindsay Panzica

It’s been more than forty years since she graduated from St. John’s Academy, but Jann Shambel can still recall one of her favorite school memories. Every morning, the students in all the grades would gather in the downstairs hall. They would stand together around a piano, and sing a religious hymn and a patriotic song. Afterwards they would recite the pledge of allegiance and then proceed to their morning classes.

The building was divided into two parts; with K-7 in one side, and 8-12 in another.  The only time the grades interacted was first thing in the morning.

“It was always so nice to have all the classes come together like that and share that part of the day,” Shambel says.

For years, they’d all come together at this spot, safe within the walls of this historic community landmark. Even after it was closed, the site of the old St. John’s school building brought back fond and happy memories for all those who had been a part of its existence.

Shambel’s sister Nancy Monette also went to St. John’s Academy. Monette spent her entire school and watched her children go through school at the academy.

“My time there was absolutely wonderful; it was very a family oriented atmosphere,” Monette says.

Monette describes St. John’s as providing her with a rather circular life. The values and beliefs she shared with her family were the same that were instilled in school.

“The way we were brought up everything was beautifully interwoven with school, church, and home,” Monette says.

St. John’s Academy opened in 1920.  Originally, the academy taught all grades, kindergarten through 12. This stayed the same until 1989, when the high school and Mount Assumption Institute merged to form Seton Catholic. In 2004, grades seven and eight became part of Seton's middle school. In 2006, the remaining grades merged with St. Peters, and the old St. John’s building was shut down.

The closing of St. John’s affected former students and the faculty as well. Sister Eileen Chambers taught at the academy back in the 1960s and 1970s remembers St. John’s fondly.

“The community support was very positive, and the students were all ambitious and academically oriented,” Chambers says. “It was just a very happy environment to be part of.”

Thomas Graves, who graduated from St. John’s in 1967, remembers St. John’s as having a lot of tradition and strict discipline.

“I remember we had to wear ties in first through eighth grade, and once we were in high school, we had to wear sports jackets and ties.” Graves says.

A big part of what made St. John’s so special was the strong Irish spirit that resonated through the halls. According to Maryellen Boswell, the spirit resonated from the Heritage of the Irish immigrants that built the school.  The original founders of St. John’s were poor Irish immigrants that managed to build a beautiful school complete with marble front steps leading up to a door with a stained glass window.

“The spirit also came from the Sisters who taught at the school,” Boswell says. “Their mother house was in Ireland, founded by Mother Catherine McCally.”

The spirit of the school came from all the Irish immigrants and sisters who came from Ireland to build this school so that their children and all who came after could have an education.  Those who were a part of St. John’s knew where they came from and always celebrated it.

 “I greatly enjoyed the overall spirit of the school; the Irish spirit just seemed to envelope the school atmosphere,” Chambers says.

With so many fond memories of her time spent at St. John’s, Boswell said that she still is unable to drive past the lot where the school once stood because it would be too painful to see the building gone, but she will always have her memories of all the wonderful years she spent there.

 “St. John’s won’t really be gone until the last of us is gone,” Boswell says.

Shambel expressed similar sentiments over the loss of a place that held so many of her childhood memories.

“I felt terrible that the building was torn down, and I think that it never should have happened,” Shambel says.

St. John’s had been closed since 2006, yet it still stood as a constant visual reminder for all those who had been part of its existence.

“I felt a real sense of personal loss for myself when the building was torn down,” Chambers says, “There was also as a loss for the community, and the community of sisters who had worked there for so long and gave a great part of their life to the school.”

While sad to see the beloved building gone, some are at least grateful that the land will be put to good use.

“I felt bad, but I looked at it as although the building was being torn down, I’m glad that it’s going to be college housing,” Graves says. “I’m glad that the land is going to be used by students again.”

The lyrics to the Counting Crows song Big Yellow Taxi “They paved paradise to put up a parking lot” is a similar sentiment to the one felt by those who were part St. John’s.  Their beloved school building has now been demolished, paving the way for a new state of the art modern student housing complex to be put in its place.  Yet, while the building itself may be gone, the memories of the times spent there will live on forever.

“We were so blessed to have been part of the school,” Monette says. “There is no way that anyone who wasn’t part of it could understand, and those who did have it are still grateful today.”

Did you go to school at St. John's?