As St. Ann School alumni roamed the halls one last time Saturday as part of a farewell open house for the Lansing Catholic educational institution, there was one room in particular at the end of a hall that drew everyone’s attention. Few could pass it without comment. Some even shuddered.
It used to be the principal’s office, according to Debbie Wright, who graduated with St. Ann’s Class of 1967.
“It was scary,” she said. “The boys mostly were in there, not us girls.”
Sisters Karen Maravilla (’79) and Marilyn McDonald (’68) said the building looks similar to what they remembered. They recalled where they got in line for physical education, church basement movies and hot lunches, the annual Easter parade, the images Maravilla said a science fair burned into her mind about the dangers of smoking and the school’s random smells. McDonald said they “ran past the principal’s office” when they were in that hall upstairs.
“It’s devastatingly sad,” Maravilla said of the closing. “So many good memories.”
St. Ann School, which opened in 1950, is one of three in the Southland that closed their doors for good this month after the Archdiocese of Chicago announced in January its plans to close and merge some schools as part of its Renew My Church initiative. The archdiocese in a news release called the closure decisions difficult but based on “low and steadily declining enrollment levels and large financial deficits.” St. Ann School saw a 33% enrollment decline over the past four years, with a deficit of $270,000 this school year, according to the archdiocese.
The community helped send off St. Ann School by touring the building during an open house that ran from 1-4 p.m. Saturday. People were free to roam the building, which had water available and fans running because much of the space is not air-conditioned.
Those in search of mementos were able to grab basketball and football jerseys, gym uniforms, spirit wear, and other goodies for free in Room 110. They could even adopt trophies from the case and on the tables, largely from the 2000s, as earlier trophies were removed years ago, according to Jennifer Leick Gray, who graduated from St. Ann in 1982, spent 15 years as a school parent and a decade as the school’s director of communications.
Gray said 245 people registered to attend the open house, with 180-190 saying they planned to come back at 5 p.m. for a parking lot party that followed a 4 p.m. Mass. The event was a nice chance to reconnect with some familiar faces, and the stories being shared were a welcome distraction from the week it has been for St. Ann, according to Gray.
“I was a wreck yesterday,” she said. “We had our last Mass and said goodbye to the kids for the last time. … It’s good to keep busy, because then I try not to think about it too much.”
Maravilla said the closure was particularly tough on her and her sister because they just lost their father. It was a point of pride for him that they graduated from St. Ann. They said a prayer for him the day of the event.
“He made sure all eight kids had Catholic education,” Maravilla said. “This was really, really important to him. He really made sure this was an important part of our lives, and it’s sad that we’re not able to have it here anymore.”
Some tried to brace themselves for the closure, but it was tough to avoid a mix of feelings when inside the walls of the school again.
“We knew it was coming on for a while, but you always hope,” Wright said. “It’s sad. We had good memories. Good values were taught that last a lifetime, for sure.”
In the basement, librarian Toni Moreno encouraged open house attendees to take any books they would like. She said children at the school got first dibs at anything they wanted. Open house attendees got the second crack at them. And the archdiocese will decide what happens to whatever is left, with some likely going to other Catholic schools to share the resources, Moreno said.
Moreno’s family started coming to St. Ann’s in 2002, and they are still part of the parish. Her children went through the school, and she became a room parent until they graduated. In August 2012, she became the school’s librarian but found herself sidelined this year when library use was curbed by the COVID-19 pandemic. She returned for the alumni event with the hope of finding good homes for any books she could. She got to see some of the students one more time and heard stories from adults who went through the school in various eras.
“It’s been lovely, but it’s very bittersweet,” Moreno said. “Very sad. My friends still work here. My kids went through here. People are family, so to speak.”
Lyle Carating took the open house as an opportunity to give Catherine Vlahos a tour of his old stomping grounds. Carating graduated from St. Ann in 2004 and became a teacher, currently working at Eggers Middle School in Hammond.
“I’m trying to retrace my steps and get the nostalgia of when I went to grade school,” Carating said. “As a teacher myself, it’s just nice to see the hallways I roamed as I continue to teach kids of the same age.”
Carating said the structure of the building is the same but the classrooms have changed enough that he was having trouble figuring out which rooms were which. It probably did not help that many were already in various states of being packed and cleared. But Carating was glad he took the opportunity to revisit St. Ann.
“I have a lot of fond memories here with a lot of friends,” he said. “I still get that sense of nostalgia when I come around here.”
Alumni who attended the event have been encouraged to share their experiences on social media with #70yearsofsas. The archdiocese will archive important artifacts, including yearbooks and student records, according to Gray. And she is scanning scrapbooks and other items before turning them over to preserve a digital record.
“We also have a Scout whose Eagle project will be to hang the 70 years of class photos in the church so people will always have a reminder of their connection here,” Gray said.
Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.