Oldest Bernardians invited to lunch; more than 100 to attend

BY BILL DOYLE
CFP CORRESPONDENT
 
Much has changed about St. Bernard’s High School in Fitchburg since Angela (Capone) McGuire graduated in 1952.
Students attended at no charge back then because the parish paid for everything and Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary taught the classes.
“I idolized them,” Mrs. McGuire said. “To me, just to touch their habit meant you were nearer to God.”
 
The nuns lived in the convent behind the church and they taught the students as much about values as the subject matter.
“It’s just something that lives inside of me and to this day I love St. Bernard’s,” Mrs. McGuire said.
Mrs. McGuire, 89, of Leominster remembers that religion was the first class of the day when she attended St. Bernard’s elementary school and high school.
“I think that gets you through the day,” she said.
She credited her Catholic education with helping her take care of her husband Michael at home until he died last year at age 86 of Alzheimer’s disease.
“It was only through my faith in God that we were able to do that,” she said.
Mrs. McGuire plans to attend a free luncheon at noon on Friday, Nov. 10, at St. Bernard’s Elementary School for graduates of the high school from 1936 through 1963, those who have graduated 60 or more years ago. The luncheon will be held at the elementary school because it has better handicap access, but a tour of the high school will take place at 10 a.m.
 
St. Bernard’s High School wanted to welcome back older alumni who hadn’t visited the school in a while. Most alumni events, including the road race and golf tournament, aren’t appropriate for the elderly and planning reunions isn’t easy for them.
 
Kathy Krysiak, a 1990 graduate of St. Bernard’s and a member of the school’s board of trustees, is coordinating the luncheon. Cristina Valeri, a 1989 St. Bernard’s graduate and owner of Cristina’s Restaurant in Leominster, is donating the food and catering. There will be a raffle and display tables with old yearbooks, old copies of the student newspaper, “Blue and Gold,” and old lettered sweaters. Alumni will also be allowed to ask questions of current students about attending St. Bernard’s today.
 
Ms. Krysiak said the oldest alumnus who has registered to attend is Charles Audet, who graduated in 1936. Mr. Audet turned 105 on Oct. 9 and his hometown of Framingham declared that day “Charles ‘Charlie’ Audet Day.” Mr. Audet was born in Fitchburg and was wounded during the Battle of the Bulge in 1945 during World War II.
He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.
 
One alumnus told Ms. Krysiak he is looking forward to attending the luncheon because he hasn’t seen the high school since he graduated in 1962.
 
The luncheon was originally planned to take place in 2020 at St. Leo Parish’s hall, but was postponed due to the pandemic. Unfortunately, some of the older alumni have since died, including Ms. Krysiak’s father, Edward Krysiak, a 1955 graduate.
 
St. Bernard’s alumni coordinator Joanne (Taitano) Pagnotta graduated from the school in 1978. She pointed out that St. Bernard’s High consisted of only one building when these older alumni attended. A separate wing opened in 1964. That wing replaced a set of smaller classrooms in trailers that were known as “chicken coops.”
 
St. Bernard’s raised funds to become an independent Catholic high school for the 2020-2021 school year after being on the verge of closure by the Worcester Diocese due to declining enrollment and financial losses. Enrollment has since doubled to more than 200.
“What I want to show them,” Mrs. Pagnotta said of the returning alumni, “is that the Catholic education is still there at St. Bernard’s. A lot of people who graduated a long time ago, they went there for the Catholic education, and even though we are an independent school now, we’re an independent Catholic school. So the Catholic values are still there. You walk through the halls and every single one of those students will look you in the eye and say hello.”
 
Times have changed, but the Catholic values have not.
“First of all, it’s love for one another,” Mrs. Pagnotta said. “That’s where it all starts.”
 
Alumni can register for the luncheon by Sunday, Nov. 5, by calling Ms. Krysiak at 781-718-0390 or by visiting https://stbernardshighschool.org/upcoming-events.
 
Nearly 110 alumni have registered so far.
 
“Part of our role is to make sure that all these alumni feel like they’re a part of something, part of a community,” Ms. Krysiak said, “and I think we’re going to achieve that.”
 
Theresa Nally, 83, is a parishioner at St. Bernard Parish and she’s looking forward to the luncheon. She graduated from St. Bernard’s High in 1957 and later taught and raised money at the school as a member of the Sisters of the Presentation before leaving the order in the early 1990s. She expects about a dozen members of the Sisters of the Presentation to attend the luncheon.
The first mission in the U.S. for the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary was to found St. Bernard’s High School in 1920. Originally open only to girls, the school became co-ed by the time it moved into its current building in 1927.
 
“We were always taught, even at the grammar school,” Miss Nally said, “that No. 1 you have to be respectful of everybody, no matter who they are, where they’re from, what their color is. I don’t remember getting in an argument with anybody. We always helped each other and uplifted everybody.”
One of her best memories was riding in a truck as a senior during the homecoming parade with a real St. Bernard dog borrowed from a family in a nearby town.
 
James “Dick” Moran, 85, plans to make the 35-minute drive by himself from his home in Milford, New Hampshire, to the luncheon.
Mr. Moran grew up in Fitchburg, attended St. Bernard’s Elementary School and graduated from St. Bernard’s High School in 1956. He said St. Bernard’s taught him some important lifelong lessons.
“As a lot of the nuns in those days used to say,” he said, “‘Have stick-to-itiveness.’ You get into a job and that’s what you did, you stuck with it until it was complete.”
 
Mr. Moran went on to a career in the Navy and rose to the rank of chief petty officer. The Spanish he learned at St. Bernard’s came in handy when he was stationed in Spain, but his typing class paid off even more. Early on in his Navy days, he was assigned to chip paint and barnacles off an old landing craft that had been pulled out of the water.
“It was a nasty job,” he recalled.
But he was called away from that job when the Navy found out that he could type.
Mr. Moran said the sisters at St. Bernard’s were great teachers, but they were strict as well.
“You didn’t get away with much,” he said.
It’s safe to say that the sisters prepared him for the discipline of the Navy.
 
David LaLiberty, 78, of Leominster graduated in 1962. All these years later, he still remains friends with some of his classmates and he looks back on his time at St. Bernard’s with fondness.
“It created an environment that was conducive toward a good outlook on life,” he said. “I’m going to attribute that to the Catholic environment in terms of how we treat one another. I’m not saying everybody was walking around like saints, but there was a moral code that was understood and accepted.”
 

PHOTO: From left, St. Bernard’s High School Board of Trustees member Kathy Krysiak ’90, former Bernardian Foundation President Laura (Martino) Reynolds ’79, and volunteer Alumni Coordinator Joanne (Taitano) Pagnotta ’78 stand in the Bernardian Room at the high school with some of the memorabilia that will be on display at the St. Bernard’s High School alumni luncheon on Nov. 10.
Photo by Amanda Michaud, school business manager