GHS59-Holy-Rosary

“The foundation of Holy Rosary School did not happen by chance,” wrote former pastor Andre Dargis in the 100th anniversary celebration booklet for the Our Lady of the Holy Rosary School in 2003.

“Faced with a nationwide public school system too often animated by anti-Catholic bias, the Bishops of the United States, in 1829 and again in 1858, solemnly declared it necessary that schools be established in every parish if at all possible, in which the young be taught the principles of faith and morality, along with the usual secular subjects,” he noted.

In 1903, 19 years after the establishment of the parish, Our Lady of Holy Rosary School first opened in an old wooden chapel that once served as the first church. Spurred on by their faith, a total of 534 students enrolled that first year. As the enrollment increased significantly over the years, a new school was necessitated.

The construction of the impressive three-story brick building on Nichols Street commenced in 1924 and it was completed in September of the following year. Ten Sisters of the Presentation of Mary formed the first staff the school. Over the years, more than 200 sisters served students of the parish for many decades before eventually being replaced by lay teachers.

Many individuals gained a strong education at that school, and those same goals are impressed upon the students today – although now Holy Rosary and Sacred Heart schools have merged to form the present Holy Family Academy.

Holy Rosary School alumni have fondly recalled their days spent at the elementary school, a time period where appreciation of the Catholic faith and a strong bond with their French upbringing was a hallmark of many a childhood in Gardner. Some recalled the segregated playgrounds – that is, boys on one side, girls on the other, and never the twain shall meet. Looming high over the entryways of the school on one side reads the word “Garcons” (for the boys) while “Filles” (for the girls) is above the other entrance. “Everyone huddled in the schoolyard in winter where the wind howled and rushed between the church and school buildings,” recalled Nancy (Boucher) Turcotte, who attended through the late 1950s and mid-1960s. “In the spring, hopscotch, jump ropes and tag games began, while the boys’ side would be totally engaged in kickball and basketball.”

Kickball became a very popular year-round game for both genders, by virtue of the later tournaments held by teachers Bill Marsh and Bill Hulette dating back to the early 1980s.

Many former students recall the education learned through the sisters, as well as the discipline doled out by some of the sterner ones. Several of the nuns had been there through many generations, so parents knew quite well what their children would be up against.

“The one thing I’ll never forget are the clappers,” noted Rene Goguen, who attended the school in the 1950s. “(The nuns) would use them to call your attention or smack your fingers if you did something wrong.”

Omer Cormier, who attended the school from the late 1930s through the 1940s, also vouched that “from the opening bell, everything was disciplined, presumably for character formation, some laughable now.”

For instance, the “timed pit stops in the bathroom where a ‘claqueur’ would clap and make you exit,” noted Cormier, “no matter what stage you were at.”

The strict discipline served many students well and also taught lessons of respect that would be further stressed in the home.

“If a parent or janitor knocked on the door of a classroom, the boy at the desk closest to the door would swiftly move to the door, open and slightly bow to the visitor,” Mrs. Turcotte remembered. “Upon entry, the entire class would stand up and bow with a greeting. If it were a priest or sister, the class would say, ‘Bonjour mon Pere’ or ‘Bonjour Ma Seour.’” Many more recalled how there was a pretty serious push by the sisters to encourage as many students as possible to follow the powers from above, with boys attending the seminary and girls the convent following their time at the parochial school.

Jackie (Brodeur) Kraskouskas, a member of the Holy Rosary Class of 1955, recalled she was one of 10 girls who formed the group known as the FFNA (Former Future Nuns of America). “As someone put it years ago, it was ‘nun of this and nun of that,’” she noted with a laugh. When students attended Holy Rosary in the 1930s & 1940s, the girls wore uniforms called “le costume” with starched white collars and cuffs that were laundered each week at the Chinese laundry, Mrs. Turcotte stated.

“The children’s choir was large at that time and many students took piano and voice lessons at the school,” she said. “By the 1950s, the uniforms had been done away with, only to come back again in the ’60s.” In addition, the Grotto with the Blessed Mother in front of the school was built at the request of one of the nuns at the old convent.

The rigorous educational standards saw religious lessons taught, as well as the importance of introducing English to French-speaking students, while still maintaining equal time for the teaching of French. However, there would also be time for many important extracurricular activities that helped to build the all-around student.

Over the years, the boys would take part in a CYC basketball league, while girls would serve as cheerleaders. By the early 1950s, with the building of the Gardner Junior High School, many parochial students were allowed to take part in sports there.

Lavish musical performances were also introduced as far back as the mid-1950s.

“Holy Rosary had a traditional yearly concert and variety show at City Hall where each grade would perform,” Mrs. Turcotte recalled.

To this day, the church community still flourishes with the annual fall bazaar and popular poutine factory, which helps fund many of the school activities. The annual Ulysse Cormier Student Government Day has also been a popular activity with the school’s eighthgraders.

Things have certainly changed over the years, the move from all nuns to a complete staff of laypeople, as well as the change in name from Holy Rosary to Holy Family.

They may be the differences observed on the surface, however, the same quality education and the foundations laid by the priests and sisters to educate young people in the Catholic faith are as evident today as when they were first introduced more than 100 years ago.