2nd Grade, 1957

Pat Nevins, Scott Schaeffer, Mary Beth Grennan, Bill Gawne, Mary Lou Bennett, Ann Mercurio, Pam Fitzgerald, Kathleen Sullivan, Irene Kiep Longua, Mother Angela, Linda McCarthy, Linda Brozeau Moss, Mike Trainor, Pattie Oakey, Danny O'Brien, Mary Louise Maes, Pam Marchewka, Pat Brennan, Larry Whalen, Mike Brennan, Mary Kay Von Ebers, John Cullen

Room 111, 1960 -- with names!!

End of the Ursuline Era 1985

Jesus and three boys, circa 1929

Ursuline Sisters at Ascension: The first 50 years

Written in 1962 for the 50^th Anniversary of Ascension School

Four years after Ascension Parish was formed, Father McDevitt recognized the ever growing need for a school, so he made a trip to Springfield, Illinois to talk over his problems and ideas with Mother Paul Nagle, Superior of the Order of St. Ursula, a semi-cloistered order of nuns with an outstanding reputation as teachers.

“Mother,” he said half apologetically, “I need some teachers. I have a new Parish in Oak Park, a Chicago suburb. Already we have many children and no school and you know how my Archbishop feels about that. The only thing we really have at Ascension is a debt. So your sisters wouldn’t have many comforts. I don’t want to deceive you. It isn’t the best situation in the world. But I will tell you one thing: we have good Catholics and you and your sisters will have the great satisfaction of helping make their children even better Catholics.”

Father McDevitt's words must have impressed Mother Paul. Simply, and with the calmness which seems reserved for the religious, she unfolded her clasped hands and said: “How many Sisters will you need, Father, and how soon?”

On the first Sunday of September 1912, Mother Raphael Armstrong, newly appointed Mission Superior and Principal of Ascension, arrived in Oak Park with her four companions, Mother Genevieve St. John, Mother Fidelis Sams, Sister Aloysius McGrath and Sister Johanna. When registration was completed 240 chilrden were on the first roll of Ascension students and all eight grades were to be in operation.

Living quarters for the sisters were in makeshift rooms on the upper floor of the combined church and school building. Within three years the growing enrollment made it necessary to provide separate living facilities for the sisters. The old Phoenix Clubhouse on Scoville Ave. (once the temporary location of the Church and not the K of C clubhouse) became the new home for the Ursulines.

The sight of this group of black robed nuns walking the three blocks to the school became a familiar one to south Oak Parkers. Neither the summer’s heat nor the winter’s chill could bring a word of complaint from the Ursulines. Six years passed before the Parish was able to purchase a building for the Sisters directly opposite the site of the present Church, and the famous “Bridge of Sighs” was erected later to join the two frame buildings into a single unit. The present beautiful and still modern Convent was erected by Monsignor Cummings in 1940 and due to his farsightedness it provides even now for all the needs of the greatly enlarged community, presently numbering 21 Ursulines.

In the hearts of all of us who have had the advantages of Ursuline education and training for ourselves, for our children and now for our grandchildren, there is a never-ending  font of gratitude to thise hold and dedicated women – OUR Sisters – The Ursulines.

1950s basketball

1950s boys basketball team

Christmas memories

Kindergarten class, Christmas, 1945

What a magical time it was during the Advent days before Christmas.  Every single kid was excited with the prospect of a Christmas vacation: but equally important was the way in which we celebrated it at school.  Each corner of the hallway had a wreath mounted about 8 feet high with lighted candles.  I was in the choir and our high falsetto voices could be heard wafting into the school when we practiced in the choir loft next door:  O Come O Come Emanuel, O little Town of Bethlehem and Adeste Fidelis.  

The school would hold a craft fair in the Pine Room so we could buy just the right gift for Mom.  As Christmas approached you could feel the excitement in the air.  Walking to school in the hard packed snow and hearing the crunch as it was compressed with each footstep made by your galoshes.  Getting out of school at the end of the day and walking the several blocks home to the 500 block of south Elmwood; staring at the Christmas lights and trees on every single house you passed, your breath passing your eyes every few steps.  You would walk along with friends or if I was lucky I might get a ride from Mrs. O'Connor in their big blue Chrysler limo with jump seats.  More often than not you would hitch on the bumper of a car for amusement. Many times I had to accompany my little sister Nancy on these walks to make sure she arrived safely; as if there would be a problem in Oak Park during those times.  Everyone looked out for each other.

The culmination for me was at Midnight Mass.  We all wore the vestments and we actually had a trumpet accompanying the organist.  The manger was set up on the side of the church and I can still see the worn and weathered wise men, sheep and cow. On that night the baby Jesus was placed in the crib.

It is in grade school that you really "grew up" so to speak. Staring out the window or at the blonde hair of the little girl in front of me in wonderment took up most of my time.  The education must have entered my brain by osmosis.  But by magic the nuns did educate you; like it or not.  Bad memories you tend to put away in the back of your mind, but the good ones, the ones at good ole Ascension Grade School are indelible.      

John Tourtelot '61