Four Catholic high school classmates are great friends after planning a reunion brought them back together.
Mary (Hoelker) Snook, Mary (Anglim) Groves, Tess (Calderone) Galvin and Teresa Hooper are 1974 graduates of the former Columbus St. Joseph Academy, an all-girls Catholic school in the diocese that closed in 1977 after 102 years. While the academy closed its doors, close friendships among several former students remain alive today.
Four ’74 graduates regained connection after planning their 50th high school reunion, which was held last summer. The group now meets on a regular basis.
Galvin, who serves as the class president and belongs to Columbus St. Christopher Church, helped bring the group together while planning a class reunion for St. Joseph Academy’s class of 1974.
“We’re the ones that initially talked about it on Messenger on Facebook,” Snook recalled. “And then, Mary Groves and I would see each other in Lancaster, run into each other, and then she jumped in. Teresa did, too, but I knew Teresa when we were young.”
Groves and Snook reside near each other today in Lancaster. Snook, a parishioner at Lancaster Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption, hails from the west side of Columbus. She attended the former Columbus St. Agnes School for first through fourth grade and Grove City Our Lady of Perpetual Help School for grades five to eight.
Hooper, who lives in Lewis Center and belongs to Westerville St. Paul the Apostle Church, grew up with Snook in Grove City.
“We rode the bus together into St. Joe’s, and we stayed in touch off and on over the years. I think by the time I moved to West Virginia and had (baby) number three, and she was so busy working, … I lost track of her,” Snook recounted.
“We ran into each other helping plan the 50th class reunion, so it kind of renewed this, and Tess was our class president. … Tess messaged me and said, ‘Mary, I’d like to talk to you about it’ … and that’s how we all got together the first time.”
The group has been near inseparable ever since.
“We’re all retired, and so, I think, when you’re busy with your family life, you just don’t have the time. You don’t have the time for the friendships … but now we do, and it’s just such a blessing that we all connected, and it wasn’t planned,” Snook explained. “It just happened. Beginning the planning of the reunion brought us together.”
The quartet consistently gather each month, rotating restaurants and places in Columbus to meet for lunch. Get-togethers often last two or three hours.
“We talk about memories from St. Joe’s, and sometimes, if we’ve heard from other classmates, we talk about them, just news, not gossiping,” Snook explained.
St. Joseph Academy, formerly located at 301 E. Rich St., was established and operated by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. The school first opened on Sept. 6, 1875.
The Sisters came to Columbus from Cincinnati in 1855 to teach in parish grade schools – about 12 years before the Diocese of Columbus was established and was then part of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. The Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur was co-founded decades earlier in France by St. Julie Billiart in 1804.
Snook described the academy as a wonderful place.
“I was very blessed to go there, and I had a half scholarship. The Sisters did have some, and I had to maintain a B average to keep it, but I was thrilled to be going,” she said.
“I remember at first I didn’t want to go there. I wanted to go to the new Grove City High School. My mom said, ‘Just go for a year,’ and she knew I’d fall in love with it in a year, but I did.”
As part of the 50th anniversary celebration, the class of ’74 toured their former school building, which is now part of Franklin University. A new academy building, now part of the university, was built in 1924 – marking its 100th year at the time of the reunion.
Snook said she appreciated seeing former classmates whom she had not seen in years. Some have since moved out of state. The reunion was an opportunity to reflect on fun times from high school days, catch up with classmates and learn how life evolved 50 years later.
“Some people have had real trials,” Snook acknowledged.
While the graduates were grateful for the friendships during their time at Columbus’ last Catholic all-girls school, they are perhaps more appreciative of them today.
“It means a lot, especially at this phase in our life,” Snook said. “It just means a lot – so much – and I couldn’t imagine my life without them.”
They are hopeful that the diocese will one day again offer a Catholic high school for girls. The classmates benefited from the experience.
“Because there were no boys there, we could really be ourselves,” Snook explained.
When it comes to their friendship, she said they are supportive of one another, wish each other well, and have fun but are serious about the important things in life.
During a monthly get-together last August, the four St. Joseph Academy graduates gathered to spend a sunny day at Buckeye Lake. Snook owns a pontoon boat at the lake located about 30 miles east of Columbus. Her husband offered to chauffeur the ladies.
“He was driving us around, and we went to the Buckeye Lake Winery to have lunch, and he said, ‘No, just go on,’ and he could hear all of us talking. He’s pretty blunt,” Snook explained, “and he said, ‘You have the nicest group of friends.’ He said, ‘I’m jealous.’ So, he meant it.”
Snook’s daughters also recognized what a treasure such friendships are. They noted the difficulty in making and keeping good friends.
When it comes to her St. Joseph Academy trio of friends, Snook is taking her daughters’ advice: “If you’re lucky enough to have some, hang on to them tight,” she said.
“We love each other.”