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May 22, 2018By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press
WORCESTER – They came, they served, they found community. Now they’re retiring. There’s life to be lived, family to enjoy, ministry to continue, in different ways. Beth Tobin and Dawn VanRiper are finishing up years of service – to students and adults – at St. Peter-Marian Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School.
BETH TOBIN
“St. Peter Marian provided me a community in which to live out my calling,” commented Beth Tobin, who has been campus ministry director for 17 years, and also taught in the theology department. Prior to that she was a full-time theology teacher there for two years.
“I was given the privilege of ministering beside numerous faith-filled colleagues who inspired me every day to love, pray and be kind,” she rejoiced. “I was provided a front-row seat to watch many, many young people grapple with their faith and come out the other side with a deeper love for God, themselves and others.
“I was blessed with a community eager to change the world while embracing Catholic social teaching and responding to the needy amongst us, both within the walls of SPM as well as the diocesan church and the greater Worcester community.”
Asked in an interview with the student publication “Guardian Globe” why she chose this profession, Mrs. Tobin replied: “I firmly believe that living the teachings of Jesus and the Gospels are the way to happiness in this life and the next. Being a campus minister is a venue to share that belief with the younger generation, helping them to develop a relationship with Jesus that is life-giving. When I was a high school student I had teachers who showed me this way and they inspired me to do the same.”
She told The Catholic Free Press she’d been asked to take the campus ministry position after teaching full time at the school.
“One of the things about campus ministry is, it gives you the opportunity to work with all of the kids, not just the ones in your classes,” she said. “Campus ministry is more about the total person.”
Her work included planning liturgies, service projects and healing opportunities (such as a grief support group) for students, and retreats for faculty, to help them see that they contribute to the mission of a Catholic school.
“In our day and age, Catholic schools need to have one person on staff whose primary focus is being true to the mission of Catholic schools and the Church,” she said.
Mrs. Tobin said she officially retires Aug. 31. So, though she doesn’t usually work summers, she’ll be available to help any successor chosen during that time.
She’s been the heart of the school as far as faith formation goes,” said William R. Driscoll, assistant principal. “Her Catholic presence has been essential for the growth of students. Her commitment to community service has been a model of social justice and a reminder to all of us about the dignity of every human being.”
He said administrators looked to her to help ensure that their decisions aligned with the faith, and her contributions to adult spiritual formation have been invaluable.
Students too have high praise for her.
“There was a time … I was struggling a lot … and I went and talked to Mrs. Tobin,” said Delaney Proko, a junior. “She helped me through that hard time. I appreciate that so much. … I love Mrs. Tobin. … She’s such a great role model. She’s so great for the community.” She said Mrs. Tobin helps them with Thanksgiving food baskets and Christmas giving trees for people in need, and puts others before herself.
Brianna Rawlston, a sophomore, said more people should be like Mrs. Tobin.
Despite all the good she’s done, Mrs. Tobin said this seemed like the right time to leave. In October she’ll be “retirement age” – 65.
“The older you get, the further away you get from the kids, the harder it is to understand where they’re coming from,” she said. She said it’s not bad for them to have someone older and wiser, but a youthful perspective is also good.
In her younger days, she directed religious education programs at St. Mary Parish in Southbridge and St. Joseph Parish in Charlton. She and her husband, Bernard, live in Charlton, and are members of St. Peter Parish in Worcester.
They have three grown sons and two grandsons, and her parents are in their 90s, she said. She hopes to have more time with family upon retiring. She’d even like to visit the girl in Tibet whom she sponsors.
“We love to travel, my husband and I,” she said. “We’ve traveled through a lot of Europe, but we hope to broaden that. Encountering other cultures and people throughout the world … helps us to be better global citizens.”
“Ultimately, I’d like to touch each continent,” she said. “I’d love to do mission work in another country.” She doesn’t know if she will, but volunteering with hospice is local mission work that she does, she said.
DAWN VANRIPER
“I think 31 years here is ample time; my expectation was to be here three,” said Dawn VanRiper, who taught computer science and worked on the school’s computer equipment at St. Peter-Marian Junior/Senior Central Catholic High School.
“I thought maybe it would be a stepping stone, but it became a family.” She said she developed a closeness with some faculty members that will continue, and has some former students as Facebook friends.
The rewarding part is when students thank her for helping them, Mrs. VanRiper said. Like one who wasn’t planning on going into computer programing – until his first class with her. Now he works for Google, in Switzerland.
“Those are the types of things that make it worthwhile – the people that have made things of themselves,” she said. “I used to say to the administrators, when we’d do evaluations … the stuff that I taught was important, but more important was the relationships.”
She quoted from a book she read, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
“And I’ve always taught like that,” she said. “More important is the life lessons that they learn.”
“She’s very smart, smarter than most people,” but not just about computers, said Brianna Rawlston, one of her students. “She’s smart about everyday life.” She said Mrs. VanRiper reads to them from a book of prayers before they start class.
“Honestly, it helps me so much,” Brianna said. She applied one of the prayers to a problem she had and “it got me out of the situation.” But, she said, “It’s not just me – she helps everybody.”
“I just remember how helpful she was to us,” said Delaney Proko, who also had a class with Mrs. VanRiper. “She was never rude. She never got mad.”
“She’s very patient,” added Brianna. “If we make a mistake … she’ll make sure you figure it out.”
“She’s so knowledgable, and her intellectual contributions on how to shape our technology curriculum have made us a stronger school,” said William R. Driscoll, assistant principal. “What’s even more impressive is her dedication to this community. I’ve seen her climbing through the ceiling to run WiFi cables. She’s also been faculty adviser to seniors; “she has shaped the lives of thousands of students.”
Mrs. VanRiper said her summer job at the school was updating all the computers, getting them ready for the following year, and she often did problem-solving on weekends. She and her husband, Keith, a retired computer programmer, rewired the ethernet cables so the computers can be connected to each other and to the internet, she said.
So now she’s looking forward to her first summer vacation in awhile.
“My husband has been retired for four years, and he told me now I can retire,” she said. “Financially, we’re OK now.” And maybe he wants her to take over the house cleaning, she quipped.
But there’s another reason she’s retiring: “I have a grandson. He is just turning 9 months old.”
She pulls him in a carrier behind her bicycle. She and her husband like biking, kayaking and walking, and hope to do a lot of that together, she said. They also hope to visit family out of state.
But it’s not all about entertainment.
“I’ll probably be volunteering at our church,” a non-denominational congregation in Holden called Next Level, Mrs. VanRiper said. “I’m in charge of small groups.” She said she’ll teach leadership skills to leaders of the small, faith-sharing groups.
