Featur e
BEAUTIFUL HOLY FAMILY AND MARIAN SHRINE BUILT ON CAMPUS
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ilmour Academy’s entire community of students, faculty, alumni and friends received an incredibly meaningful and generous gift. The Brutocao Family Foundation, the Heltzel Family Foundation and the Musca Family Charitable Fund have provided three restricted gifts that will support installation of a Holy Family and Marian Shrine in the expanse of land between Our Lady Chapel and the Athletic Center. All three families have a strong devotion to Our Blessed Mother and the Holy Family. The Musca family and the Heltzel family approached the school separately over a year ago about creating a space on campus that would provide an area for reflection and prayer as well as visibly represent a celebration of family and Holy Cross tradition. The Marian Shrine will be included in this area and will be dedicated to the intercessions of Our Blessed Mother. The Brutocao Family Foundation funded the castings of the original sculpture “In Celebration of
Installing “In Celebration of Family”
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Family,” created by sculptor A. Wasil. Gilmour will be only the third location for placement of this exquisite representation of the Holy Family. Currently, there are two other castings of the sculpture. The original was installed at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. in 2006 and the other was installed at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif. in 2012. Sculptor A. Wasil passed away in 2008 at the age of 56. He was known for his oversized figures created out of bronze. His work can be found around the world. He created a bust of Christ that is part of the late Pope John Paul II’s collection and his pieces can be found at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, on the grounds of Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside, Calif. and at San Diego’s Imperial Beach. After much research, and, again, through the generosity of the Heltzel and Musca families, the Academy was able to secure the second sculpture for the space - one of Our Blessed Mother called “Our Lady of Assumption” from a foundry in Pennsylvania. In talking about why the building of the shrine was important to his wife, Heidi, and him, Bob Heltzel ’65 reflected on the gratitude he felt to his parents for sending his brothers – Paul Heltzel ’63, Lawrence Heltzel ’66, Carl Heltzel ’73 and Michael Heltzel ’83 – and him to Gilmour. The tradition continued into the next generation as Bob and Heidi’s daughters, Jennifer Heltzel Farrior ’91 and Kathleen Heltzel Ricotti ’93 and their son-in-law, Brett Schumacher ’01 (married to Maggie Heltzel) along with Paul’s son, Ryan Heltzel ’96, attended the Academy. Bob said, “Gilmour’s been a part of our family since 1961 and I just wanted to do something that I thought would be appropriate. My mother had a tremendous devotion to Mary as do I and, quite often, in our daily business, we forget about Mary.” He continued, “I just thought it would be a place where faculty, students, alumni, teachers and visitors could