Fifty Years of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Scottsdale Catholic school still going strong

By Gina Keating, The Catholic Sun
December 7, 2006

SCOTTSDALE — For half a century, Our Lady of Perpetual Help School has been a fixture of Catholic education and values for thousands of children.

What began as a vision by a humble priest from Ireland 50 years ago has since embedded itself into the fabric of the community.

What the late Msgr. Eugene Maguire started is now “our soul and identity,” said Fr. Thomas Hever, the parish’s pastor.

Fr. Hever said strong character development of integrity, justice, love and forgiveness is fostered in a Catholic environment.

“Education is something we take for granted,” he said. “To have a Catholic education is a blessing and a gift. We are called to receive the gift, but share… talents and be the light for others.”

Hundreds of former OLPH alumni, staff and faculty members offered prayers of thanksgiving during the school’s Mass of Celebration, Nov. 25.

Tom Ronan, class of 1968 and anniversary reunion committee member, thanked the “faithful community of faithful witnesses” for their steadfast commitment to Catholic instruction.

The “Footsteps of the Past” theme was evident throughout the campus with huge, black and white photos that chronicled the history of the school.

“This school made an impression on my life forever,” said Bobbi Broaddus Cerro, class of 1990. “The influence of the Sisters of Charity went beyond academics. They gave us our ethics, morals and values.”

The school welcomed its first student body Sept. 10, 1956, with 87 children.

The current enrollment is 500, but peaked in the mid-1960s with more than 900 students.

Back in the day, children walked past farms, rode bikes on dirt roads or got a ride to school on a horse.

One favorite memory recalled by many at the event was when Msgr. Maguire, in 1961, gave students a free day on St. Patrick’s Day.

Principal Sr. Marian Grace Brandt, SC, has been at the school for the past 15 years and is the eighth Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill nun to take the helm.

In fact, the reunion drew former principals who were schoolmates and former teachers of Sr. Marian.

Sr. Mary Joseph McElhinny, school principal from 1965 to 1971, attended grade school with Sr. Marian in Homestead, Penn.

And Sr. Miriam Ellen Chalmers, principal from 1976 to 1981, was her seventh-grade teacher.

“We have a very strong, faithful community with such stability among the teachers,” Sr. Marian said. “We have worked at creating community. The teachers enjoy the environment because there is such good spirit in the school.”

It’s not unusual to see second- and third-generations of families pass through the doors and into the classrooms.

Susan Wrobel Alpers began her teaching career in 1984 at the school. She is now teaching the children of her former students.

“I am seeing a lot of faces of children that have grown up, gotten married and now their children attend OLPH,” she said. “It’s a nice place where people take care of each other.”

Megan Oldre Kraatz of Fountain Hills graduated in 1990.

As the mother of a toddler and a baby, Kraatz said she would not hesitate one day making the drive so her children could attend OLPH to be instructed in the Catholic virtues of humility, kindness and patience.