Miriah Royal Director of Community Belonging and Engagement
Jim Stephens
6th Grade Faculty and MS Director of Curriculum
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
St. Anne’s Photo Archive
Doug Wells
Ella van Wyk
DESIGN
Graphic Details, Inc.
Letter from The Head of School and Board President
Dear St. Anne’s Community,
This year, we mark seventy-five years of St. Anne’s Episcopal School not as a culminating chapter, but as a moment to pause, reflect, and give thanks. It is a monumental milestone that invites us to look both back and forward, with deep gratitude for what has been and eager anticipation for all that is to come.
Through the decades, the spirit of this school has remained remarkably constant: one of service, joy, and a commitment to nurturing children not only in intellect but also in character. That steadfast spirit continues to guide us as we carry forward the work of our strategic plan. From advancing each of our pillars to opening new conversations about what a thriving, mission-aligned future holds, we are heartened by the progress we’ve made and energized by the road ahead.
As parents ourselves, with our children growing up in these classrooms and on these playgrounds, this work
is personal. We see, every day, the impact being made in their lives, in the present. And as leaders, we remain deeply honored to steward this school, which so many have loved into being, into its future.
We offer our thanks to the Sisters who first imagined this place, to the educators who shape it daily, and to all the families, alumni, and friends who sustain it with their belief and care.
May this anniversary year be a joyous celebration but also serve as a catalyst. There is still so much for us to build together.
With humility, gratitude, and purpose,
Chris Cox Head of School
David Chung President, Board of Trustees
INTRODUCTION:
A Garden of Stories
Seventy-five years ago, a seed was planted on a quiet stretch of land in Denver—a seed nurtured by the faithful hands of the Sisters of the Order of St. Anne. What grew from that seed is something extraordinary: a place where children are known and loved, where learning takes root in curiosity and courage, and where stories—countless stories—begin.
As we mark 75 Years of Service, we celebrate not only an enduring legacy, but a living one—nurtured daily by the people who call this place home. To commemorate this milestone, we invite you into A Garden of Stories: both the theme of this magazine and the title of an exciting exhibition now on view in the History Hallway of our campus. It is a living metaphor for the community we have cultivated together over generations. Like any well-tended garden, St. Anne’s has flourished because of care, intention, and the belief that even the smallest growth holds promise. Each student, faculty, staff member, and family who has passed through our gates brings with them a story—some tender and quiet, others wild and blooming—but all deeply rooted in this place.
Our campus itself is not just the setting of these stories, but a character in them. From the very first plantings by the Sisters to the laughter echoing today across the athletic field, the land remembers. It holds the memory of chapel songs, courageous conversations, lifelong friendships, and moments of transformation. It bears witness to both the beginnings and the endings—the joyful arrivals of new students and the poignant goodbyes of graduates stepping into high school careers.
In this special commemorative magazine, you will find stories that span decades and generations—snapshots of the people, values, and moments that make St. Anne’s what it is. Together, they form a lush, diverse, and evergrowing garden of memory, meaning, and mission.
As we mark this milestone, may we honor not just the history of our school, but also the thousands of lives that have helped it grow. And may we continue to plant, tend, and tell the stories that begin in and often return to the sacred garden that is St. Anne’s.
The Legacy of St. Anne’s
A Chronicle of Service, Resilience, and Transformation
In the spring of 1929, amid the lingering shadow of war and the mounting pressures of a global depression, three Episcopal Sisters from the relatively young Order of St. Anne arrived in Denver. They traveled frugally on discounted one-way tickets originally intended for homesteaders—an early sign of the resourcefulness and humility that would come to define their work. At the station, they were received by The Rev. Neil Stanley of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, who arranged housing for them in a modest rental home across the street from his parish. The leader, Mother Noel, had herself traversed a long and unlikely path. Born Miss Whittle in England, she left the novitiate during the First World War to train as a nurse. During her service, she became engaged to be married, only to lose her fiancé to the violence of that same war.
Credit: Text adapted from Colorado Heritage Magazine Jan/Feb Issue 2016 “The Sisters of St. Anne’s and Their Times” by The Reverend Merrie Need.
In the wake of profound personal loss, she returned to the religious life and entered the Order of St. Anne, later helping to establish a convent in the Virgin Islands. Her time there was marked by illness so severe that she was transferred to the sister house in Kingston, New York, for recovery—a relocation she later credited with saving her life. “I refused to die,” she once recalled. This may have been the first sign of her stubborn resolve.
It was from Kingston that she was eventually sent to Denver by The Rev. Frederick Powell, co-founder of the Order of St. Anne. Alongside Sisters Cecile, Isabel, and Ellen, Mother Noel undertook the formidable task of founding a new house for the Order—an endeavor aligned with its singular mission: to serve children. The Order, established in 1910 in Boston and deeply influenced by the Oxford Movement within the Anglican tradition, offered a life of service and prayer modeled on the Catholic religious orders but grounded firmly in the Episcopal context. Its founding principles—dignity, simplicity, and sacrificial care—were expressed not through grandeur, but through steadfast attention to human need.
Denver, though welcoming, offered few financial assurances. The Episcopal Diocese of Colorado, constrained by the economic strain of the Great Depression, was unable to provide the anticipated support. Within five weeks of their arrival, the Sisters began offering convalescent care to children recovering from illness—too well for hospital care, but not yet strong enough to return home. In a landscape with no existing model for such an institution, they created one. They also provided shelter for infants awaiting adoption and for children suffering from severe malnourishment, referred to them by Denver Public Schools.
Soon the Sisters’ work expanded into a second house on Glenarm Place and caught the attention of the Junior League of Denver. This organization owned a farmhouse and land at 2701 South York Street, where they wre operating a “preventorium.” They offered the property to the Sisters for a fee of $1 per year, and the Sisters and the children moved to South York Street. The new location was called “The St. Anne’s Home.”
The Sisters’ work was sustained by a patchwork of government stipends and the quiet generosity of a few benefactors. Yet it was the Sisters’ devotion—frugal, disciplined, unwavering—that allowed the effort not only to survive, but to take root. From these first, unadorned acts of service emerged an ethos that continues to shape the identity of St. Anne’s: an enduring belief in the transformative power of care, learning, and community.
already transformed St. Anne’s Home into a model of compassionate care, the Oakes Home would open once again. The Sisters agreed. In August, the four life-professed Sisters left York Street for the grounds of the Oakes Home, which reopened its doors on September 1, 1934. By the end of 1934, the Oakes Home, with a modest annual endowment of $6,000 and the willingness of the Sisters— who, by virtue of their vows, required no salary—that care facility started to thrive. Within the year, it was averaging forty patients daily and operating debt-free.
Back on York Street, the work continued under the direction of Sister Cecile, the Order’s novice mistress, who remained with the novices to oversee the care of children still housed there. Mother Noel, meanwhile, was already charting a long-term vision: to grow St. Anne’s into a home for fifty children—an ambitious plan that required not only imagination but infrastructure.
The foundation laid by the Sisters in those early months was not simply a response to crisis; it was the beginning of a living tradition.
The foundation laid by the Sisters in those early months was not simply a response to crisis; it was the beginning of a living tradition. Through their example, the past remains not distant, but deeply embedded in the daily life and spirit of the institution that grew from their work.
In the midst of economic uncertainty and institutional fragility, the Sisters of St. Anne quietly expanded their mission, responding not only to opportunity but to need. By 1934, the Oakes Home—once a convalescent facility for affluent patients suffering from tuberculosis—had sat dormant for five months. The effects of the Great Depression had thinned its clientele, and the building, though still sound, echoed with disuse. It was into this silence that the Episcopal Diocese looked, seeing not abandonment, but potential.
With a modest annual endowment of $6,000 and the willingness of the Sisters—who, by virtue of their vows, required no salary—the Bishop and the Diocesan trustees believed the facility could be revived. Under the capable stewardship of Mother Noel, whose leadership had
To realize this vision, she convened a committee of lay supporters, men and women whose civic and philanthropic ties would prove essential. Together, they developed a plan to expand the old farmhouse and dormitory. The proposal included the addition of a new wing with twobed rooms, expansive schoolrooms, and a central heating plant. Two enclosed passageways—what Mother Noel referred to as “connecting cloisters”—would join the original structures with the new construction, offering protection from Denver’s volatile winters and a physical symbol of the interconnectedness that defined the community’s ethos.
Yet even the best-laid plans were subject to the demands of circumstance. On February 8, 1936, a brutal cold snap swept through Denver, exposing the inadequacies of the existing heating system at York Street. Forced to act swiftly, the Sisters transferred the children to the Oakes Home, where a disused nurses’ residence was reopened and warmed to accommodate them. The crisis, though temporary, marked a turning point. The added space between the two facilities enabled the Sisters to care for more children. Infants and girls remained on the Oakes grounds, while kindergarten-aged children and older boys eventually returned to York Street.
By spring, the plan to construct the new wing gained urgency and feasibility. Financing would require a loan, secured against the value of the land. The advisory
council offered its assurance: the debt would be repaid within two years. Still, the Sisters did not yet hold the deed to the York Street property. Though the original agreement with the Junior League of Denver stipulated a five-year trust, only three and a half years had elapsed. Undeterred, Mother Noel returned to the League, presenting a case not of entitlement but of stewardship. It was illogical, she reasoned, to invest substantial capital into property they did not legally own—particularly when the needs of the children, and the threat of another winter, hung in the balance.
The Junior League responded with characteristic understanding. Acknowledging both the Sisters’ argument and their proven fidelity to the work, the League transferred the deed. With full ownership secured, the Sisters moved quickly. The old stable, long since repurposed first as an assembly hall and then as a chapel, stood as a symbol of their adaptability. The farmhouse continued to serve as a convent. The two-story dormitory, formerly airy and open, was now insulated and subdivided to better suit the needs of the growing community.
The new wing was joined to the original structure by enclosed hallways on both levels, which sealed off the western window walls and brought improved comfort to the dormitories. At the southern end, a two-story corner building was erected, complete with stairwells and separate boys’ and girls’ bathrooms on each floor. The additions were practical, but they also reflected something greater: a deepening commitment to a life of shared space, formative education, and sacred belonging. In form and function, these changes marked a transformation—not merely of buildings, but of mission. What began as a small act of hospitality on Glenarm Place had now expanded into a network of care across multiple properties. Each decision, each beam and wall, reflected the Episcopal values of humility, inclusion, and service. And though the Sisters spoke little of legacy at the time,
they were laying down the architecture of one—quietly, steadfastly, and with the future in mind.
The architectural expansion of St. Anne’s in the late 1930s embodied more than practical necessity—it reflected a belief in growth not simply as addition, but as commitment. The corner building, newly completed during this period, was composed with thoughtful purpose. On its first floor, two large rooms flanked a modest atrium, while the second floor opened to a spacious chamber overlooking what would later become the east lawn—a space not yet cultivated, still bordered by open cornfields. A handful of smaller rooms on the upper floor served specific residential and administrative needs, suggesting an attention to both scale and rhythm in the building’s use.
From this corner structure, the Sisters extended a secondstory hallway and a third-story attic over the site’s original stable—a humble building with a shed roof still visible from inside the present-day chapel. In this layering of new and old, one observes the architectural palimpsest that came to characterize St. Anne’s: a quiet but firm refusal to discard the past, even as the future pressed forward.
The second-story hallway gave way to several compact, two-bed rooms, each one a space of rest and recovery. A stairwell to the attic was added, and a gently sloped ramp reached the ground, providing an early and deliberate effort toward accessibility—a fire escape designed specifically for children in wheelchairs. These details, while easily passed over in architectural plans, speak volumes about the Sisters’ evolving understanding of what care required—not just shelter, but dignity in movement, autonomy, and protection.
It was during this period of ambitious construction that Sister Cecile recorded a moment of revealing quietude. She had come upon Mother Noel at an unfinished window, its frame installed but still without glass, gazing across the open fields. Believing the weight of financial strain had finally overtaken her, Sister Cecile prepared to offer consolation. But before she could speak, Mother Noel turned and said, “When we finish building this wing, we need to start the planting of gardens here.” It was a reply characteristic of her temperament—rooted not in despair, but in vision. Even at the height of logistical and financial pressure, her thoughts rested not on retreat, but on renewal.
The final phase of construction was financed in part through a quiet campaign of individual generosity. Donations were solicited for each bedroom, and the names of contributors were inscribed on plaques affixed to the doors—testaments to the lay community’s shared investment in the home’s unfolding mission. Many of those doors now open into offices, but the legacy of their original purpose remains etched in the wood and memory of the place.
By the close of 1937, with a new furnace warming every corner of the expanded facility, the Sisters had achieved what only a few years earlier had seemed a distant hope: the capacity to care for fifty children. With the work complete, all those remaining at the Oakes Home returned to York Street. The children’s laughter and footsteps once again filled the now warm and insulated halls of St. Anne’s Home—whose chapel was of equine origin.
The years ahead would be shaped by the presence of a quiet but devastating threat. The years ahead would be shaped by the presence of a quiet but devastating threat of poliomyelitis, accompanied by individuals and institutions that would change St. Anne’s future. Polio, a virus that had haunted humanity for centuries, was entering a new and insidious phase in the United States. Paradoxically, the advent of modern sanitation—most notably the widespread use of treated water—had removed the common, diluted exposure that once fostered natural immunity. In its absence, the virus found new potency. Transmitted primarily through fecal matter in areas of inadequate waste disposal, poliovirus became more dangerous precisely because Americans had grown accustomed to clean water.
In this transformed landscape, most who ingested the virus remained unaware, their bodies hosting and shedding it silently. Of the five percent who did exhibit symptoms, the vast majority experienced only transient flu-like illness. Its true origin, masked by the commonality of its symptoms, often went undiagnosed. Polio’s unpredictability—its preference for the young, its tendency to spare some and disable others—added to its menace.
For St. Anne’s, this emerging reality marked the beginning of a new chapter—one in which care would be reframed by a changing understanding of public health, by regional partnerships, and by the continued expansion of the Sisters’ mission. The story of bricks and bedrooms was giving way to one of epidemics and hospitals, of resilience and adaptation. Still, beneath it all remained the same foundation: service born of faith, buildings shaped by purpose, and a community ever responsive to the needs of its time.
By the mid-1930s, a new chapter was unfolding at the St. Anne’s Home—one shaped not by expansion of buildings, but by the incursion of a disease that had begun to define an era. Poliomyelitis, once a relatively obscure illness, had evolved under modern conditions into a complex and elusive threat. Among those exposed to the virus, only a small fraction—approximately one percent— experienced its most severe effects: high fevers, paralysis, and, in some cases, respiratory failure. These symptoms stemmed from the virus’s assault on the motor neurons, the delicate nerve cells responsible for transmitting signals between the brain and the muscles. When the virus
destroyed enough of these cells, the result was often lasting impairment. One in ten of those who became paralyzed succumbed to the disease.
For the survivors, however, the path forward was marked not by cure, but by care. These children—fragile, recovering, and frequently disabled—became the newest patients at St. Anne’s. The Sisters received them, typically after the acute infectious stage had passed, into an environment structured not only for convalescence, but for hope. Their first documented case appeared in the records of 1935, when a sum of $273.11 was received from the President’s Ball Fund to support the treatment of a child with infantile paralysis at the Oakes Home. The contribution, though modest, signaled the beginning of a new and enduring commitment.
At the heart of the Sisters’ evolving approach to polio care was the influence of a singular figure: Elizabeth Kenny, an Australian nurse whose unorthodox methods would quietly reshape the medical landscape. Kenny’s innovations did not emerge from formal institutions or academic laboratories, but from the rugged isolation of the Australian Outback. Before the First World War, she served as a public health aide, traversing remote terrain on horseback and reporting via telegraph to her supervising physician. On one such circuit, she encountered three children suffering from intense fevers and severe muscular contractions. Their limbs were so tightly drawn that their bones risked deformation.
With no immediate access to consultation, Kenny relied on instinct, memory, and the traditional practices she had observed among Aboriginal communities. She recalled their use of heat for cramped muscles and improvised accordingly—ripping wool blankets into strips, soaking them in boiling water, allowing them to cool, and then wrapping the children’s limbs in the warm, moist fabric. The pain subsided, the rigidity softened, and the children, at last, could sleep.
Days later, she telegraphed her supervising doctor, who identified the illness as poliomyelitis and informed her there was no known cure. He advised her to continue treating the symptoms, assuming she would follow the accepted method of immobilization—splinting the limbs to prevent further damage. But Kenny, unfamiliar with the orthodoxy of plaster casts, simply continued what had shown results: heat, followed by massage and movement. When the fevers broke and the acute danger passed, she began a program of exercise and muscular reeducation. Gradually, and then definitively, the children regained use of their legs. When asked about the extent of the children’s paralysis, Kenny replied simply: none.
Her report startled her physician, but within the broader medical community, her claims were met with skepticism and resistance. At the time, the prevailing standard of care involved immobilizing the afflicted limbs in casts or braces—practices Kenny believed caused irreversible harm to muscles that might otherwise recover. After serving as a nurse during World War I, where she earned the honorary title “Sister,” Kenny launched a sustained campaign to challenge the treatment protocols for polio in her native Australia. Despite mounting evidence, her ideas remained on the margins of institutional medicine. It was not until 1940 that Kenny brought her methods to the United States, seeking a more receptive audience for her therapeutic vision. Long before her arrival, however, her philosophy had already begun to resonate with the Sisters at St. Anne’s. Drawn to her emphasis on warmth, touch, and the restorative power of movement, the Sisters adopted elements of her technique within the quiet precincts of their own practice. Their decision reflected not just clinical innovation, but theological alignment: a belief that healing emerged not from rigid containment, but from attentiveness, patience, and the affirmation of human dignity.
In those years, St. Anne’s stood at the crossroads of history and healing. Within its walls, the ancient rhythms of Episcopal service—humble, inclusive, and liturgically grounded—found new expression in the care of bodies still learning to trust themselves. The children who arrived with weakened limbs and uncertain futures were met with something rare: not just medical attention, but the steady reassurance of community, the measured pace of restoration, and the quiet assurance that recovery—like grace—was both possible and worth waiting for.
By the early 1940s, the quiet resilience of St. Anne’s Home intersected with a global medical transformation—one that would profoundly shape its future. After years of resistance from the broader medical establishment, Sister Elizabeth Kenny’s technique for treating poliomyelitis had gained formal recognition. The Mayo Clinic, intrigued
by her results, referred her to a hospital in Minneapolis, where wards filled with polio patients became the proving ground for her method. There, under clinical observation, her approach—warm compresses, muscle reeducation, and therapeutic exercise—demonstrated marked success. It was adopted locally, and in time, became the preferred treatment worldwide.
By 1946, the Kenny Method had become a standard response to regional outbreaks. In Denver, Red Cross volunteers, trained by Children’s Hospital, were given twelve hours of instruction and 500 hours of supervised practice before stepping into six-hour shifts. Their work was methodical: strips of wool were boiled, wrung out three times, and applied directly to the children’s afflicted limbs. A layer of oiled silk sealed in the moisture, followed by dry wool to preserve the heat. The ritual was repeated six times daily for each patient—a rhythm of care that blurred the lines for the Sisters between science and devotion.
At St. Anne’s, the Sisters had already begun integrating Sister Kenny’s principles as early as 1942, quietly adapting her method into the rhythms of life on York Street. In doing so, they did not simply adopt a treatment—they aligned with a philosophy that privileged human touch, persistence, and the belief that recovery, though never guaranteed, was always worthy of pursuit. This new focus on polio care reshaped the physical and vocational contours of the Home, prompting a fresh wave of construction and realignment.
Even as their work evolved, the Sisters continued to fulfill long-standing commitments. In 1939, they agreed to extend their stewardship of the Oakes Home for another three years. Yet during this time, deeper challenges emerged. Legal constraints embedded in the Oakes Home Trust prohibited the diocese from transferring ownership, undermining any long-term autonomy. Then, in 1940, the trust’s financial yield decreased sharply. The home fell into manageable
debt, but the strain was growing. In 1941, the state imposed new regulatory standards for the isolation of tuberculosis patients, demanding renovations the Sisters could not afford.
Recognizing the limits of their resources, the Sisters requested to be released from their agreement. The diocese, with characteristic grace, consented—offering to reimburse the Sisters for expenses incurred beyond the home’s ability to sustain itself. On February 15, 1941, after six and a half years, the life-professed Sisters returned from the Oakes Home to St. Anne’s. Thirteen now resided on the York Street property, housed between the original farmhouse and the infirmary, by then affectionately known as “the cottage.”
The departure from Oakes marked not a retreat but a refocusing. With the sale of the Oakes estate to the Poor Sisters of St. Francis in 1943, new possibilities emerged for both Orders. The Poor Sisters gained a spacious retreat center and living quarters beyond their confines at St. Anthony’s Hospital, while St. Anne’s reclaimed its center of gravity. With quiet determination, the Sisters initiated a series of small yet significant construction projects—each one a marker of growth, necessity, and vision.
Between 1941 and 1943, a disused garage was transformed into a four-bed isolation unit. A new garage rose to the west of the main building, complete with storage and quarters for a maintenance worker. The chapel was extended to accommodate lay retreats, with space set aside for a library. Six additional acres were acquired—an expansion of the original land gifted by the Junior League. The grounds continued to evolve: a bell tower and confessional were added, and a covered walkway connected the lay chapel and the cottage to the heart of the Home. A sun porch was constructed on the roof above the chapel, offering light and air to children in recovery. From a long-anticipated legacy gift, the gardens that Mother Noel had once imagined while gazing out over uncultivated fields were finally brought to life.
With each addition came a sense of completeness. A room was built for visiting priests, appended to the cottage and connected to the chapel by the new walkway—soon enclosed against Denver’s mercurial weather. These structures, though modest, bespoke something deeper: an intentional life shaped by devotion, guided by the Episcopal tradition’s call to community, service, and hospitality.
In this period of transition, what remained constant was the animating spirit of the Sisters’ work. Brick by brick, they built not merely for shelter, but for a way of being. Each renovation, each garden, each child’s bed told a story not only of what had been done, but of what was still to come.
By the mid-1940s, the epidemic waves of poliomyelitis placed mounting pressure on Colorado’s strained health care infrastructure. That pressure—so often registered in the impersonal metrics of hospitals and public health reports—was felt acutely within the modest yet purposeful world of St. Anne’s Home. The Sisters, already practiced in the care of children convalescing from disease and deprivation, found their work transformed by the scope and scale of a public health emergency that showed little regard for capacity or preparedness.
In her 1943 report to the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado, Mother Noel described a year shaped by urgency and adaptation. “This year,” she wrote, “has our work with convalescent children extended to meet the emergencies of infantile paralysis.... Because of a general epidemic of infantile paralysis cases, prevalent in Colorado, we were asked to take several for whom the crowded hospitals had no beds.... A generous gift... made possible the purchase of the special equipment needed for the Sister Kenny treatment, which has had excellent results.... The new isolation unit was filled to capacity.” In these carefully chosen words lay both the strain of crisis and the enduring calm of vocation. The Home had not been designed for pandemic response. But it became, as it so often had before, precisely what was needed.
In July 1945, in response to the deepening crisis, the Sisters secured a loan to build a new convent. The completion of that project offered them a rare opportunity: to finally accept a gift from benefactor Henry A. Marr to replace the aging farmhouse—a structure central to their early work—with a purpose-built convalescent wing designed to meet the complex needs of post-polio recovery. Construction commenced in August, and the plans reflected a clear understanding of both the clinical and human dimensions of care.
The new wing’s first floor featured two expansive rooms joined by a hallway wide enough for wheelchairs—its width a quiet signal of foresight and inclusion. This corridor connected the new structure to the kitchen, the former
dormitory, and the wing designated for older children. The second floor offered four large rooms, also served by wide halls, and two bathrooms outfitted with raised tubs—designed specifically to ease the physical burden of bathing small children. Each room held three beds and functioned as a ward, thoughtfully arranged to balance supervision, space, and recovery.
Yet, even before construction was fully complete, the growing demands of the epidemic rendered waiting impossible. In her 1947 diocesan report, Mother Noel reflected on the decision: “It was necessary to receive patients.... The Polio Epidemic struck early and the wing was set apart for this use, as the hospitals were getting overcrowded.” On August 6, 1946—the same day the elevator was first activated—the first patient was brought in. From that moment forward, the wing remained in continuous operation, responding to an urgent and evolving need.
Patients arrived from across the region: directly from homes, from rural hospitals, and from overcrowded city facilities. Two polio hot-pack machines were obtained through the National Polio Foundation; one arrived within 24 hours, flown in from Boston—a testament to both the gravity of the situation and the reach of the emerging national response. The newly constructed three-bed wards soon held four or five children apiece. Older wings were quickly adapted: the former Junior League dormitory became a four-bed ward on one level and a two-bed isolation room on the other. Every available space was pressed into service.
Support came not only from within the Church or the Home, but from national organizations. The March of Dimes and the National Polio Foundation helped equip and sustain the work. The Red Cross, recognizing that the sheer volume of care had outstripped the Sisters’ and staff’s capacity, assigned three nurses to supplement their ranks. What emerged at St. Anne’s in these years was
more than a response—it was a transformation. A small community, grounded in Episcopal humility and animated by service, became a critical node in the region’s health care network.
At the heart of this transformation was a vision both practical and prophetic: that care should be accessible not only in cities but within communities themselves. At the time, the national health care model was bifurcated— major hospitals concentrated in urban centers, with sparse clinics scattered across rural landscapes. When a child in a farming family fell ill, transportation into the city remained a barrier to both immediate and ongoing treatment. In response, William R. Robinson of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis visited Denver, advocating for the decentralization of polio care. He offered equipment and resources to communities willing to establish local convalescent centers—places like St. Anne’s, already rooted in care, already prepared to adapt.
Through these efforts, the Sisters again found themselves at the forefront of a larger movement—not by ambition, but by devotion. Their work during the epidemic became not just a service to the moment, but a chapter in the evolution of health care in the American West. And within the quiet halls of the convalescent wing, built where the old farmhouse once stood, the values that shaped St. Anne’s from the beginning—dignity, simplicity, compassion—found enduring expression.
In the summer of 1946, Colorado found itself in the grip of the most devastating polio outbreak in its recorded history. Nearly one thousand cases were reported across the state—three times the number seen during the previous high-water marks of 1937 and 1943. The surge exposed deep fissures in the state’s health care infrastructure, especially in rural counties ill-equipped to manage the sudden demand for isolation wards, specialized treatment, and skilled nursing. The epicenter of response, as it had been before, was Denver—a city that bore the heavy burden of centralized care.
William R. Robinson of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis voiced his concerns publicly in the Rocky Mountain News, offering a stark assessment of the crisis. Denver, he explained, housed most of the state’s polio treatment facilities, yet “counties outside of Denver are reporting half the cases.” These areas, he continued, were “almost wholly without facilities, beds, special equipment, and trained personnel necessary to cope with infantile paralysis.” The result was a growing reliance on emergency transfers. “Because of the time involved,” Robinson noted, “many doctors do not wait for a complete diagnosis before ordering patients sent to Denver. They are right in doing this. When life is at stake, we cannot afford to take chances.”
The city’s existing resources strained under the pressure. At the start of the year, only two institutions—Children’s Hospital and Colorado General—maintained designated isolation wards for polio patients. As numbers rose, Colorado General converted its gymnasium into an emergency fifty-bed ward. Nurses were dispatched from private hospitals unequipped for infectious disease care. Yet even with these measures, by August, the Rocky Mountain News reported that there were still far too few nurses to meet the scale of the need.
This acute shortage underscored the essential role of the Sisters of St. Anne. More than a supplementary presence, they became, in many cases, the only alternative for families with nowhere else to turn. In particular, the Sisters offered a lifeline for rural families whose economic survival often depended on the able-bodied labor of children. For parents facing the impossible calculus of bringing home a disabled child when every hour of labor was needed on the farm or ranch, surrendering their children to state care became, heartbreakingly, the only viable option.
In at least one such case, the Sisters stepped in to provide more than temporary refuge. They became the official and permanent foster guardians of a child named Nancy Olson—a young girl whose parents could no longer care for her. Her story, while singular, mirrored the silent tragedies repeated in countless families whose lives were shaped by the intersection of disease, poverty, and geographic isolation.
The medical protocol of the era further compounded the trauma of the illness. Upon diagnosis, children were immediately quarantined. At Children’s Hospital, patients remained in isolation for a minimum of two weeks. During this time, as they endured fevers, excruciating muscle spasms, and the looming fear of death, they were denied
contact with loved ones. Their suffering took place in the presence of well-meaning but unfamiliar caregivers. The absence of familial comfort during these critical days left lasting emotional scars.
Thus, when children emerged from the hospital setting and arrived at St. Anne’s, they came not only to heal broken bodies, but to mend fractured hearts. Physical recovery could be measured in mobility, respiration, and muscle strength. The deeper wounds—the loneliness, fear, and disorientation of isolation—required subtler forms of restoration.
To this end, the Sisters of St. Anne offered something more than a convalescent ward. They offered presence. Within the rhythms of the Home, they combined the rigor of medical discipline with the gentleness of spiritual care. The children received regular therapy: hot-pack treatments prepared with meticulous care, massage protocols aligned with the best practices of the Kenny Method, follow-up appointments, and individualized occupational therapy routines. But alongside these regimens, there was music, storytelling, gardening, sunlight on the porches, and the reassuring cadence of daily life shared with others.
In a time when the state could offer only structure, the Sisters offered sanctuary. Their work was not loud. It did not appear in headlines. But within the walls of the Home, a different kind of healing took place—one that recognized wholeness as more than the absence of illness. In the shadow of one of the twentieth century’s most feared diseases, the Episcopal ethos of St. Anne’s—grounded in humility, openness, and quiet resolve—shone with clarity. Within the walls of St. Anne’s Home during the height of the polio epidemic, care extended far beyond the clinical. The Sisters of St. Anne tended to every detail
of the children’s daily lives with steadfast attention and unwavering gentleness. They changed clothing and bedding, managed the endless cycles of laundry, bathed the children, prepared their meals, and fed them with the same care one might offer to a child of one’s own. They rose early and worked deep into the night—waking children, putting them to bed, and filling the long in-between hours with schooling, recreation, and companionship.
They became educators as well as caregivers, helping the children keep pace with lessons sent by their home schools. Beyond academics, they created spaces for recovery not just of the body, but of spirit: gardens that soothed, playgrounds that encouraged resilience through movement, and the presence of dogs—living balm for the wounded hearts of children emerging from clinical isolation. Special events, simple pleasures, and daily rituals brought shape and joy to days otherwise defined by therapy and limitation.
None of this was done for profit. St. Anne’s offered its services without charge to the families it served. Support came from the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis— known more widely as the March of Dimes—as well as from modest state reimbursements and the generosity of private donors. These contributions sustained the work, if never fully compensating for it. Yet, for the Sisters, no luxury was needed, and none was desired. Their lives were shaped by simplicity and guided by an ethic of sacrificial love, drawn from their Episcopal vocation—a tradition that honors humility not as lack, but as strength.
In a 1971 interview with the Rocky Mountain News, Mother Noel reflected on those years with quiet clarity: “We had polio victims in every room of the house,” she recalled. “We had to give each child four hours of hot packs and four hours of massage.... It meant that we worked around the clock. There were 80 polio-stricken children who were carried into St. Anne’s. All but one walked out.”
The traces of that time remain. A visitor walking the main building today may still see the raised tubs used for bathing children who could no longer support their own weight. The fire escape ramp, built with wheelchairs in mind, testifies to a forward-thinking commitment to accessibility long before it was codified. The elevator, once a lifeline for non-ambulatory children, remains in use. And the small plaques on doors—tokens of generosity from those who supported the Sisters’ work—endure as quiet witnesses to lives changed within those rooms.
These markers are not relics; they are remnants of a culture shaped by service. The Sisters’ calling—to love, to restore, to serve—was not an abstract theology. It was enacted daily, in sweat, in silence, in prayer, and in perseverance. And while such single-minded devotion may seem remote in a world of fractured schedules and divided attentions, its imprint lives on. Those who walk the corridors now—educators, staff, families—know they inherit not only the buildings, but the spirit in which they were built.
By 1950, the state’s health infrastructure had begun to transform. Polio, in many ways, had catalyzed that change. Hospitals and convalescent centers began to appear in rural parts of Colorado, recognizing the urgent need for accessible, community-based care. As patient numbers at St. Anne’s began to decline, so too did the need for the home’s original function.
But where one chapter neared its close, another was quietly beginning.
In the main building—once filled with hospital beds and therapy stations—Mother Noel saw new possibility. The large, ward-like rooms, once designed for recovery, could serve another kind of growth. Plans emerged to open a day school within those walls. A woman with several years of teaching experience. Her name, before entering religious life, had been Laura Nathan. She would take her vows as Sister Irene.
With Sister Irene’s arrival, a new chapter was set in motion—one that would preserve the legacy of compassionate service while reimagining it for the next generation. St. Anne’s, a place once forged in response to illness and suffering, would evolve into a place of learning, formation, and quiet transformation. What had been a sanctuary of healing would become a school—built not only on stone and timber, but on memory, faith, and love.
Before the Bell Rang: Pre–1950
1929
April: Three Sisters of the Order of St. Anne—led by Mother Noel— arrive in Denver.
May: Within five weeks, they begin offering in-house convalescent care for the children still remaining.
Initial residence established across from St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church on Glenarm Place.
1930–1931
Expansion of services: Infants awaiting adoption and severely undernourished children from Denver Public Schools are welcomed.
Recognition from the Junior League of Denver leads to use of the South York Street preventorium property for a symbolic annual rent of $1.
Relocation to York Street; the facility is named St. Anne’s Home.
1932
Property trust agreement begins: The Junior League agrees to deed the property in five years if the Sisters maintain their work.
First major expansion: A seven-room infirmary (“the cottage”) is built to the south of the chapel.
1934
Mother Noel is asked to manage the nursing staff at the Oakes Home in north Denver.
Life-professed Sisters move from York Street to Oakes.
1935–1936
St. Anne’s reports treating forty patients daily.
Vision for expanded children’s wing developed, including new schoolrooms, bedrooms, and a heating system.
February 1936: Extreme cold leads to temporary relocation of children to Oakes.
May 1936: Junior League transfers full ownership of York Street property to the Sisters.
Construction begins on connecting wings, upgraded dormitories, and a two-story corner building.
1937
Completion of major expansion: New wing accommodates up to 50 children.
All patients return to St. Anne’s Home from Oakes.
Polio care begins to define the work of the Home.
1939–1940
Sisters agree to manage Oakes for three more years.
Oakes Home trust restrictions and financial shortfalls create strain.
1940: A decline in trust income and increasing state regulations make Oakes unsustainable.
1941
February 15: All professed Sisters return to St. Anne’s Home.
Oakes Home agreement vacated; Sisters reimbursed.
Oakes Home sold to the Poor Sisters of St. Francis.
Construction at York Street resumes: New garage, isolation unit, chapel expansion, library.
1942
St. Anne’s adopts the Sister Kenny Method for polio treatment, emphasizing heat therapy and muscle rehabilitation.
1943
Mother Noel reports full occupancy and polio specialization.
Six additional acres acquired. Covered walkways, bell tower, confessional, and sun porch added.
Henry A. Marr donates funds to replace the original farmhouse with a modern children’s wing.
1946
Peak polio outbreak in Colorado (nearly 1,000 cases reported).
August 6: First patient brought into the new wing—on the day the elevator is activated.
Three-bed wards overcrowded; every space converted to care for polio victims.
Red Cross nurses and Polio Foundation equipment augment Sister-led care.
1947
Mother Noel reports continuous operation of the new wing.
St. Anne’s functions as a full-scale pediatric polio center, often receiving patients from across the region.
BY 1950
Decline in polio cases and improved rural hospitals lead to fewer patients.
Mother Noel envisions a new purpose for St. Anne’s Home: the creation of a day school.
Sister Irene (formerly Laura Nathan) begins planning and leading this next phase, establishing the foundations of St. Anne’s Episcopal School
The Founding of the School
St. Anne’s Episcopal School began not with fanfare, but with faith—a faith borne by women whose vocations took them to the margins, where need met compassion. In the aftermath of epidemics and in the presence of great societal change, they built not only shelter but a sanctuary of learning. Theirs was a ministry of action, and their legacy endures in every corner of the school that flourishes from their vision.
Origins Rooted in Service
The Sisters of St. Anne arrived with a singular mission: “to serve the poor, the weak, and the neglected.” Their earliest ministry in Denver was not academic but medical, born from a commitment to care for children recovering from tuberculosis and polio. The campus began as a convalescent home, quiet and healing, where compassion was both practice and prayer.
But by 1950, medical science—particularly the development of the polio vaccine—reduced the need for long-term convalescent care. In response, Mother Noel charged Sister Irene with a new task: to build a school for children underserved by the public system. It was a commission rooted not in ambition but in obedience, and Sister Irene answered with conviction.
The school began humbly, with just two kindergarten students and a makeshift classroom in what had once been a chicken coop. Tuition was $25 a month, and that included a sandwich and a glass of milk. Retired teachers volunteered, the Sisters worked without daily pay, and from those modest beginnings grew a student body of 80 by 1965.
A Philosophy of Compassion
The Sisters were omnipresent—gardening, teaching, preparing meals, and tending the hearts of all who walked through the gates. Their influence permeated not only the daily rhythms of school life but also its ethos. Civility, good manners, and a deep respect for every individual were not lessons so much as lived truths. This became the soul of St. Anne’s—a place where education was inseparable from character, where reverence for every person guided every decision.
No Sister more embodied this spirit than Mother Irene (previously Sister Irene). Having joined the Order in 1946, she gave her life to the children of St. Anne’s. She is remembered for her sharp wit, her love of baseball and books, her championship roses, and her absolute devotion to literacy and beauty in all forms. Even the roses she tested for catalog companies had to meet a higher standard—they had to thrive in Colorado’s climate—just as she believed children should be nurtured to flourish wherever they were planted.
This became the soul of St. Anne’s— a place where education was inseparable from character, where reverence for every person guided every decision.
Mother Irene’s impact was foundational. At her retirement in 1993, John Comfort noted, “It is her vision that makes possible our being here today… that offers a future to our school and a promise to students not yet born.”
A Campus Grown with Purpose
From the converted chicken coop to today’s vibrant buildings, every corner of the campus carries the fingerprints of devotion. The library—named for Mother Irene—sits near a garden filled with peace daffodils, planted by children as part of a national movement for peace. The chapel, once a stable, still echoes the Sisters’ prayers. Behind the greenhouse, a 60-year-old fig tree planted by Sister Geraldine bears quiet witness to decades of springtime bloom.
Each addition to the school’s physical form mirrored its deepening mission. In 1969, the first classroom building was completed. By 1975, the school expanded to include seventh and eighth grades. In 1980, it began adding sections to each grade, steadily broadening access while maintaining the intimacy of small class sizes.
Middle School rooms were built in 1983. The Campus Center opened in 1986, and by 1988, the Order of St. Anne had formally gifted both the York Street campus and the 17-acre St. Anne’s in the Hills outdoor education property to the school. The Sisters’ Building came soon after, and in 1993, the library was inaugurated as Mother Irene stepped back—though never far—from the institution she had shaped. Her passing in 1996 marked the end of a chapter, but not the story.
Tradition as Living Memory
St. Anne’s traditions serve as annual remembrances of its roots and aspirations. On May Day, flowers bloom across the yard as children dance around the Maypole—some traditions tracing back to when children once rose from crutches to join the celebration. Mothers of pre-school students wear hand-decorated paper hats. On Founders and Trustees’ Day, we hold a special community-wide chapel service and symbolic bell ringing in the morning. Throughout the day, students participate in activities that celebrate our founders’ values of service, gratitude, and connection.
The Episcopal identity of the school, while explicit in name, is quietly inclusive in practice. This is a community built not on dogma but on dignity—where students of every background are welcomed into a shared endeavor: to build a world steeped in compassion, intellectual curiosity, and civic responsibility.
A Future Rooted in the Past
Today, the mission of St. Anne’s remains remarkably aligned with the Sisters’ founding vision. Small classes, individualized attention, and community service are still the foundation. The school continues to evolve—adopting research-based teaching, cultivating real-world problem-solving, and preparing students not just to succeed, but to serve.
Yet despite all growth and progress, one truth remains: St. Anne’s is still defined by love expressed through action. In the gardens tended, in the books read aloud, in the laughter of students, and in the quiet wisdom of teachers—there is continuity. There is faithfulness.
There is a rose that still blooms where Mother Irene once walked. And beneath it, the soil remembers.
The History of St. Anne’s Episcopal School Grounds and Buildings
Amid the open farmland that once stretched south of Denver in the late 19th century, a quiet thread of service and sanctuary began to weave itself into the soil. The land now home to St. Anne’s Episcopal School was, in 1870, part of a vast tract sold by the Union Pacific Railroad to help finance its westward expansion. By 1891, the acreage had been platted as part of “Kirkland’s First
Edition,” complete with designated blocks and streets— yet still untouched by brick or beam. Sometime between 1900 and 1910, a modest farmhouse rose on this parcel, anchoring what would become a haven of compassion, healing, and education.
From Farmland to Preventorium: 1923–1931
The first institution to imprint its purpose on this land was the Junior League of Denver. In 1923, they acquired the farmhouse and surrounding property from Hazel Brown, whose family had long tended a poultry farm at the corner of Dartmouth and University. The League’s vision was one of healing and protection: a “Preventorium” to shelter children exposed to tuberculosis or suffering from malnutrition. Over 500 children passed through its doors, receiving not just medical care but also lessons in hygiene, schooling, and the domestic arts. Parents, too, were offered instruction in nutrition and health efforts grounded in a spirit of public service that would echo through the years.
Arrival of the Sisters: 1929–1937
In 1929, three members of the Episcopal Order of St. Anne arrived in Denver, beginning their ministry at St. Andrew’s Parish and the Oakes Home. Their mission of convalescence and education soon brought them to the Preventorium. In 1931, the Junior League deeded the property—10 lots and a large house at 2701 South York Street—to the Sisters for $9,750. With the formal transfer completed in February 1937, the Sisters assumed full stewardship, transforming the site into St. Anne’s Convalescent Home for Children.
A west wing was constructed in 1932, joined to the original farmhouse by a central hallway and improved with indoor plumbing. In 1937, this wing was further expanded, increasing capacity from 20 to 50 children. The work was practical and prayerful—main floor and upstairs rooms overlooked the East Lawn, where the children gathered for study and therapy. A fire escape ramp and dumbwaiter—an elevator pulled by rope—were soon added.
Sanctuary and Service: 1941–1948
The early 1940s brought new structures and spiritual deepening. In 1941, construction began on a chapel extension for lay visitors and a sun porch for bedridden children. The adjacent room became a small library. A bell tower was erected in 1942, with a confessional below, honoring the Episcopal tradition in its quiet reverence. Nearby, an old garage—eventually known as the Margin—was remodeled into an isolation unit for children during the polio epidemic. By 1943, it held seven beds.
Their vision was one of healing and protection: a “Preventorium” to shelter children exposed to tuberculosis or suffering from malnutrition.
The physical transformation continued with the addition of a new priest’s room (the “Rabbit Room”) and a greenhouse in 1944, where Sister Geraldine planted a fig tree still growing today. Amid these improvements, the farmhouse—by then the Sisters’ convent—was razed, and a new cinder-block building was quickly erected to serve as their cloistered home. The new convalescent wing opened in 1945, its first patient ascending in the elevator the same day it was activated.
A gift in 1948 from Mrs. A.E. Humphries funded the expansion of the Margin, now two stories high and equipped as a physiotherapy unit. In this period, the land’s purpose evolved gently but definitively from convalescence toward education.
The Birth of the School: 1950 and Beyond
By 1950, education had taken root. In a structure once used to house chickens—on the very spot where the art studio stands today—two kindergarteners became the first students of what would become St. Anne’s Episcopal School. The mission had grown, yet remained faithful: to nurture the young in mind, body, and spirit.
Construction followed need. In 1969, the Lower School building was completed. By 1975, the addition of 7th and 8th grades led to the construction of Middle School classrooms in 1983. The Campus Center opened in 1986, a place of gathering and grace.
In 1988, a significant turning point arrived. The Order of St. Anne formally gifted the campus and its summer camp in Indian Hills to St. Anne’s Episcopal School. A new building—the Sisters’ Building—was constructed to house Preschool, Kindergarten, and Music. The Mother Irene Library opened in 1993, honoring the Sister whose presence had shaped much of the school’s direction since her arrival in 1946.
By 1998, both the Lower and Middle Schools saw further additions, symbols of a school blossoming within a legacy of service.
Continuity in Faith and Purpose
Across generations, the land has borne witness to quiet acts of compassion, faithful innovation, and enduring dedication. Guided always by the Episcopal tradition— humble, inclusive, and anchored in service—St. Anne’s has grown not by ambition, but by devotion.
It began with care for the sick, extended to the education of the young, and has matured into a community rooted in history yet ever looking forward. Each new brick and beam has built upon the last, not erasing the past but layering upon it—each addition a continuation, not a replacement.
And so, the fig tree stretches upward still. The bell tower stands firm. The children’s voices ring out where once there were quiet hospital wards. What began as a preventorium is now a place of learning—but the spirit remains unchanged: a place of healing, of grace, and of belonging.
Timeline of Events
LATE 1800s–1910
1870s Union Pacific Railroad sells land grants in the Denver area to finance rail expansion.
1891 The land is plotted as “Kirkland’s First Edition”; streets and blocks are designated, but no buildings constructed yet.
1900–1910 A farmhouse is built on the land, likely the first structure on the property.
1920s
1923 Junior League of Denver acquires the property with the farmhouse from Hazel Brown to establish a Preventorium for children exposed to tuberculosis.
1929 Three Sisters of the Order of St. Anne arrive in Denver and begin their ministry at St. Andrew’s Parish and the Oakes Home.
1930s
June 1, 1931 The Junior League deeds the property (10 lots and a large house) at 2701 South York Street to the Sisters for $9,750.
1932 A west wing is constructed; hallways and bathrooms are added, connecting and modernizing the original farmhouse.
1936–1940 – The Sisters acquire surrounding land at discounted rates due to unpaid taxes during the Great Depression.
February 8, 1937 The property is officially deeded to the Sisters.
1937 Construction begins on a new convalescent wing, increasing capacity from 20 to 50 children.
1940s
1941 A chapel extension is constructed for lay worship.
Sunporch and adjacent library room are added.
Old garage remodeled into an isolation unit (later called the Margin).
A new garage, storage room, and men’s residence (future art building) are constructed.
1942 Bell tower is erected with a confessional below.
1943 Isolation unit expanded to seven beds due to a polio epidemic.
“Rabbit Room” (priest’s room) added behind the cottage, opening to the Cloister.
1944 Greenhouse constructed; fig tree planted by Sister Geraldine.
Farmhouse is torn down; a new cinder block convent is built.
August 4, 1944 Offer accepted to build new convalescent wing.
1946 Sister Irene arrives in Denver.
August 6, 1946 First patient uses the elevator in the new convalescent wing.
1948 Margin is expanded to include a second floor for physiotherapy, funded by Mrs. A.E. Humphries.
1950s
1950 St. Anne’s Episcopal School officially opens with two kindergarteners in a repurposed chicken coop (now the Art Studio location).
1960s–1980s
1969 Original Lower School classroom building is completed.
1975 7th and 8th grade programs begin.
1983 Middle School rooms are constructed.
1986 Campus Center opens.
1988 The Order of St. Anne gifts the campus and the Indian Hills camp to the school.
Sisters’ Building is constructed for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Music.
1990s
1993 Mother Irene Library is opened.
1998 Additions to the Middle and Lower School buildings are completed.
2010s
New Lower School Building is completed; Dining Hall and Performing Arts Facility and Outdoor Amphitheater are constructed.
St. Anne’s in the Hills:
Origins of SAITH
Nestled in the foothills just west of Denver, St. Anne’s in the Hills—often referred to as SAITH—serves as an extension of St. Anne’s Episcopal School’s educational and spiritual mission. This 16-acre property in Indian Hills has long been a place of gathering, growth, and reflection. Deeded to the Founding Sisters by the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in 1931, the land was first used as a summer refuge for their convalescing patients. Before long, it welcomed children from underserved communities across Denver—many of whom had never left the city—offering them rest, nature, and the healing power of fresh air.
That early commitment to service and inclusivity remains central to how the property is used today. SAITH is now a dedicated outdoor education campus, supporting students from Kindergarten through Grade 8 in experiences that combine environmental learning, community-building, and personal development. Though the programs have evolved, the intention behind them—grounded in the Episcopal tradition of open-hearted welcome and deep respect for creation—continues to shape every visit, every hike, every shared meal by the fire.
Rooted in Healing and Service
Our knowledge of the land’s story as it pertains to the Sisters begins in 1931, when the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Denver deeded the property to the Episcopal Sisters of the Order of St. Anne. These women, who had already established a ministry of healing within the city, brought their patients here to the foothills each summer—a reprieve of clean air and pine-filtered sunlight. The camp soon welcomed impoverished children from Denver, for whom the rhythms of nature offered a respite from urban hardship. In this simple gesture, the Sisters extended their radical compassion, creating a sanctuary where wellness and wonder intertwined.
Continuity of Purpose
Though the architecture of usage has evolved, the soul of the place remains unchanged. SAITH continues to serve—now as a cornerstone of St. Anne’s Episcopal School’s outdoor education program, welcoming students from Kindergarten through Grade 8. Where once stood canvas tents and open fire rings, there are now thoughtfully designed spaces: a low ropes course for testing courage and collaboration; a fire pit for storytelling and reflection; a modern lodge with an industrial kitchen and bunk rooms that foster both independence and togetherness.
These physical additions are less a transformation than an organic continuation—an honoring of the Sisters’ vision with tools befitting the present day. Like the land itself, which shifts subtly with the seasons while maintaining its essential character, the program adapts while remaining faithful to the enduring ideals of dignity, community, and growth.
A Curriculum of Belonging and Wonder
To visit SAITH is not merely to take a trip to the mountains—it is to step into a living curriculum shaped by a reverence for the natural world: open to all, rooted in humility, and committed to the sacredness of each human life. Through a carefully scaffolded series of experiences, St. Anne’s students engage with the land and one another in ways that foster connection, resilience, and reverence.
From their earliest years, children come to know SAITH as a place of learning and belonging. They return often—
season after season, year after year—developing not only outdoor skills but also an emotional geography of the land. Each visit offers new perspectives, just as each bend in the trail offers a different view of the same familiar valley. The landscape itself becomes a teacher, revealing cycles, surprises, and the wisdom of interconnection.
Leadership through Experience
As students grow, so too do the challenges they undertake. Third graders learn ecological systems and outdoor self-care while hiking Chief Mountain. Fourth and fifth graders embark on overnight stays, paddling Bear Creek Lake and spending time immersed in nature’s lessons. From sixth grade onward, overnight experiences at SAITH deepen into transformative journeys, culminating in the storied partnership with the Colorado Outward Bound School. High ropes, river rapids, and wilderness treks become metaphors for the inner terrain of courage and leadership.
In seventh grade, students confront the edges of their comfort zones at the Great Sand Dunes and beyond—developing a grounded sense of self, forged in the context of team and trust. Eighth graders bring their years of learning to bear, stepping into leadership roles that echo the Sisters’ own example: quiet, steady, and purposeful.
An Enduring Ecology of Faith and Flourishing
SAITH is a place where spiritual formation happens not through sermon, but through soil and sky. It is where lessons in biodiversity and community coalesce into a larger understanding of stewardship—of both the land and one another. In a digital age, it is a counterpoint of presence. Amid the rustle of leaves and the rhythm of campfires, students are called not to escape the world but to engage it more deeply, more fully, more humanely.
The Sisters’ legacy was never meant to be confined to stone buildings or fixed doctrine. It was, and remains, a living invitation: to serve, to learn, to grow. SAITH carries this legacy forward—not as a relic, but as a living trust passed from hand to hand, heart to heart, across the long arc of time.
From Pastor Merrie’s Archives:
What is now known as SAITH was originally inspired by a Sunday School class in 1921, when the land was owned by the Ascension Recreation Camp. Donations were sought in June of 1923. With a cabin and a few shacks on the 15 acres, campers came to live in tents while the main lodge was being built. When the Great Depression made the camp a financial burden, the Church of the Ascension gave the property to the Sisters of St. Anne in 1931. The Sisters and children arrived on June 1 of that year. During the three summer months, 65 children were cared for, with an average stay of six weeks. It became a recurring program of four encampments (two weeks each) for 40 children every year. In 1947, a fire of unknown origin started in the dormitories, causing a total loss of the buildings.
Today, there are three buildings on the property: a rustic cabin, a new cabin, and the main building. The main building, which houses dorm rooms, a great room, and a kitchen, underwent renovation from 2017 to 2018.
This served to winterize the facilities and allow for year-round use and multi-night stays. St. Anne’s in the Hills is the base point for the school’s outdoor education program.
Quotes from the Chapter Minutes of the Order of St. Anne regarding SAITH:
“The original cross, which was two feet high, marked the place where two bodies were interred. After the Sisters agreed to cremation, the marker was changed. The Reverend Mother made a motion that Latin stone crosses be placed on the Sisters’ graves in the cemeteries.”
–Page 14 of the Chapter Minutes of the Order of St. Anne, dated November 19, 1929
“In May 1931, the Sisters’ new summer camp, formerly known as Ascension Camp and now known as St. Anne’s in the Hills, was made ready. The Sisters and children arrived on June 1. During the three summer months, 65 children were cared for, with an average stay of six weeks. All gained weight and otherwise benefited from their time at camp.”
–Page 39 of the Chapter Minutes of the Order of St. Anne from an annual report dated November 25, 1931.
“The summer camp in Indian Hills had its usual four encampments of two weeks each for 40 children. Three days before closing, a fire of unknown origin started in the dormitories, causing a total loss of the buildings. Happily, no one was injured. Some very plucky counselors got the girls out in just a few minutes.”
–Page 205–206 of the chapter minutes of the Order of St. Anne from an annual report dated February 3, 1947.
“The greatest event of 1949 was the remodeling of the storeroom and two other rooms at St. Anne’s in the Hills into a permanent chapel, which was consecrated by our Bishop on September 7. A cement foundation for the new camp had been laid.”
–Page 220–221 of the chapter minutes of the Order of Saint Anne from an annual report dated October 24, 1949.
Timeline of St. Anne’s in the Hills (SAITH)
1921
Inspiration for Ascension Recreation Camp: Sparked by a Sunday school class.
JUNE 1923
Fundraising Begins: Donations sought to support the camp.
First Structures: A cabin and a few shacks built on 15 acres. Campers initially lived in tents.
Main Lodge Constructed: Beginnings of permanent facilities.
MAY 1931
Property Deeded: Church of the Ascension formally deeds the camp to the Sisters of the Order of St. Anne.
JUNE 1, 1931
Camp Opens as St. Anne’s in the Hills: 65 children cared for over the summer; all gained weight and benefited from the retreat.
LATE SUMMER 1947
Dormitory Fire: A fire of unknown cause destroys the dormitories. Counselors heroically evacuate the girls safely. No injuries reported.
SEPTEMBER 7, 1949
Chapel Consecration: A remodeled storeroom and two rooms converted into a permanent chapel; consecrated by the Bishop.
2017–2018
Main Lodge Renovation: Includes dorm rooms, a great room, and a kitchen. Renovation winterizes the facilities, enabling year-round and multi-night stays.
2024
Caretaker’s Cabin built. A new cabin replaces the chapel.
MODERN USE AND EVOLUTION
SAITH is now a 16-acre outdoor education campus 30 minutes from St. Anne’s Episcopal School.
It is an integral part of the Kindergarten through Grade 8 curriculum, supporting:
• Environmental learning
• Community building
• Personal and leadership development
Facilities include:
• Low ropes course
• Fire pit
• Modern lodge with bunk rooms and an industrial kitchen
“It was an inspired gift that sparked a new interest.”
–JILL COWPERTHWAITE
The Rose Lady
Over the years, how often had I driven or been driven south down University Boulevard past DU, cruising past a certain block bordered on the north by Yale and on the south by Amherst. Prior to 1922, this area had been the site of a small farm—a little brick house with several barns for cattle and chickens on a one-acre plot. However diminutive, it must have been quite productive to support the family which lived there, surrounded by neighboring farms, as well as by the nearby plots which—in those days—were furnished by the University to its professors, on which they could pasture their cows and goats. Today, hidden there behind the Sixth Church of Christian Science and a luxuriantly thick hedge, is a beautifully landscaped 10-acre parcel which—since 1950—has been St. Anne’s Episcopal School. This is where I have had the good fortune to work over the past two and a half years.
It is the metamorphosis of this original piece of land and of those who figured prominently in its development which I would like to explore today, in particular, the life of a woman who daily ties our present with that proud past tradition. She is Mother Irene, the last remaining Nun of Denver’s Episcopalian Order of St. Anne. I call her—as per the title of this paper, and for several reasons, including her unique ability to perceive, nurture, and appreciate the world around her—“the Rose Lady.”
According to a videotaped interview of Mother Irene on November 20, 1993, she was born and christened “Laura Nathan” on April 2, 1900, in the northern Vermont town of East Fairfield—the second of William and Lucy Nathan’s three children.
East Fairfield was a small town 13 miles east of Lake Champlain and 50 miles north of Burlington, and both Laura’s parents were from old Vermont families, having taken up some of the original Hampshire Grants before Vermont—named for the lovely Green Mountains— became a state.
Laura’s father was a civil engineer and worked ostensibly for the Boston and Maine Railroad, as well as being “farmed out” to other railroads to build bridges and railroads across the country. Her mother was a registered nurse, and although she was one of the first nurses graduated from the Mary Fletcher Hospital in Burlington, she remained so busy with her family and little town that she never practiced medicine outside her home or neighborhood.
When little Laura was growing up, East Fairfield consisted of approximately three to four thousand people, many of whom were farmers. Normal town goings-on, however, provided a vast amount of activity and entertainment in
By Jill Cowperthwaite
March 5, 1996
The Denver Fortnightly Society
those days. There was a blacksmith shop which shoed oxen and horses. Wheelwrights made wagons, and the grist mill made flour and grain. The town doctor served as both a veterinarian and a regular doctor and evidently allowed others—at least Mother Irene—to trail him around. In getting around town, there were no automobiles yet and one always had to look out for horses, for “people used to drive very carelessly.” The town meeting was also central to the community, and Laura remembers that children were taken regularly as soon as they could sit up. Her father was one of three elected selectmen of the meeting which was responsible for maintaining the schools, the roads, and the poorhouse. Her family was also very active in a small Episcopal parish where every family was very important.
From the time they were quite small, Laura, along with her older sister and younger brother, were taught to be useful. They were given many duties and responsibilities around their house and 150 acres. There were animals to feed and care for, gardens to be tended, ashes to be taken out, music lessons and sewing class—a life that Mother Irene claims would be ideal for any growing child. Even when they visited their cousins’ nearby maple grove, the youngsters were put right to work making the sugar and syrup.
When Laura was four, she ran away to the nearby threeroom schoolhouse, making such a nuisance when they tried to send her home that the teacher told her parents they might as well leave her there. After all, playing school at home was one of her favorite activities and took up many a Saturday, especially during the inclement Vermont winters.
Mother Irene has very fond memories of her childhood, especially of her father. Evidently, he had been an only child himself and, as a result, loved spending time with his own children. Laura feels certain she learned to read by sitting on his knee as he read the daily newspaper (starting with the sports page!). He was an inveterate reader and read every night to his children—not just children’s books, but books which he wanted to read or reread himself. Mother remembers particularly his love of Scott, hearing Ivanhoe and A Tale of Two Cities read aloud while she was still quite small. Her father felt strongly that time was scarce and that, with such great literature surrounding them, his children should not waste their time reading what he considered to be trash. No Bobbsey Twins for them! He also exposed them to drama and music, occasionally taking them down to Boston when he went on business to attend the theater or opera. All in all, he loved being with his children and, according to Mother Irene, got as much pleasure out of taking them to the park
to sit and watch the swan boat and feed the birds peanuts as doing anything else.
Although Laura’s father was a civil engineer, he still considered himself a farmer—and a very good one at that. He had animals, gardens, and fruit trees. He would spend many a morning and evening working in the garden and was just as proud of his new potatoes as of anything else. This love for the outdoors and for animals (except horses, with which he did not get along!) was certainly passed on to Mother Irene.
Laura’s family had lots of customs as they were growing up. Every Fourth of July, from the time she could remember, they would get up early in the morning and board the train to Crawford Notch, New Hampshire, to take the cog railroad up Mount Washington. Once at the summit, they would put up the flag, say the Pledge
of Allegiance, sing the “Star-Spangled Banner,” and celebrate the Fourth of July. At Advent, they would bring out all their old dolls and make them new clothes, as well as get a new doll. For the holidays they would cut their own tree and make all their own greens and Christmas decorations. Another favorite activity was playing with their cat, Mufto (who was so named because he so resembled the mixed bred dogs Laura and her sister used to have). They would dress him up in their dolls’ clothes— bonnets and capes—and he would more often than not be mistaken for a baby.
At about age twelve, Laura was sent to boarding school at Hopkins Hall in Rockpoint, a church school just outside of Burlington. She missed her family, pets, and home terribly, however, and because of this homesickness was often not allowed to go home at all.
Mother Irene with former Head of School, John Comfort
When she was sixteen, both her parents died in the flu epidemic—her mother in June and her father in November. She and her sister and brother were sent to live in Lake Placid with friends of the family, and Mother Irene entered New York University. She went on to complete her Bachelor’s and then her Master’s in Education at Columbia and began teaching in 1921. After tutoring fellow students in math for 50 cents an hour and other practice teaching, she found that she particularly enjoyed teaching young children and proceeded to teach in the public schools for 25 years.
She had had a lifelong dream to go into the mission field, and when she finished college, she hoped to go to China or Africa. Unfortunately, due to a history of heart problems in her family, she failed her physical. After her many years of teaching, however, she decided that—instead of retiring— she would try to do some church work, having continued to be active in church during college and throughout the years. At this time, she met Sister Cecile, whose nieces and nephews she had taught in New York. Sister Cecile was in the Order of St. Anne in Denver at the time, and knowing of Mother’s fine work with her nieces and nephews, persuaded Mother Irene to come to Denver to visit, saying that they needed a good teacher in their Home.
Having grown up in the East, Mother Irene was familiar with Episcopal religious orders and their work—St. Mary’s and the Home of the Epiphany specifically, and St. Anne’s less so. The Order of St. Anne was established in 1910 in Arlington, Massachusetts, by the Reverend Frederick Cecil Powell “at the request of a group of devout women whom he had gathered together to care for poor and neglected children.” It was to be composed of women living the dedicated life, under vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, to carry on the work of prayer and draw others, especially children, to know, love, and serve God. The Sisters began by establishing a small private school to raise money to support the children and, over the years, built up the Order. They then began sending Sisters out for branch work. Some went to the Virgin Islands, another group to China, and another group to Chicago. By 1938, at the time of the Reverend Powell’s death, there were eight houses—in Kingston, New York; Chicago; Versailles, Kentucky; Wuchang, China; Denver; and in Arlington Heights, Cambridge, and Boston. Unlike most religious Orders, though, each House was autonomous. Father Powell’s idea was that you’d go out and stay and make your branch succeed—and those Sisters did.
At the repeated request of the late Reverend Neil Stanley of Saint Andrew’s Church in Denver, the Reverend Powell gave Sister Noel Juanita—who had been brought home from the Virgin Islands—a charge to “Build me a Western Foundation.” She was made the Reverend Mother of the group of Sisters on the eve of their departure, and along with Sister Cecile and Sister Ellen of the Boston Convent,
came on the last “settler tickets” issued by the railroads, arriving in Denver on April 13, 1929. Bishop Ingley was asked to be the Order’s Visitor, and according to Mother Noel, “after a conference with physicians, it was decided that a convalescent home for children should be started immediately,” as Mother Noel was a nurse, and there was great need for such a service in the state. St. Andrew’s leased the Sisters’ first home at 2050 Glenarm Place, directly across from the church, and supported them for a year while they worked in the parish. When they outgrew the first location, they leased an adjoining house to care for their babies, but after two years had clearly outgrown their space.
Over the first few years in Denver, the work of the Order came to the attention not only of foremost physicians but of Denver society as well. In 1931, two auspicious developments occurred, testifying to widespread admiration of the Sisters’ work. In 1921–22, the Junior League of Denver had identified the need for a home which could care for children who had been exposed to tuberculosis until their resistance could be built up. They purchased a house at 2701 South York Street and called it the Junior League House or Preventorium. It was operated by the League until 1931, when they determined that offering nutritional classes in the public schools might accomplish more and enable children to remain at home. The League then abandoned the Home and gave over its charge to Mother Noel and the Order of St. Anne. In the same year, Ascension Church gave the Sisters their 15 ½-acre camp in Parmalee Gulch in Indian Hills, which they had purchased in 1923 as a place to take their Sunday school children. Having become self-supporting and solvent, the Sisters received the title deed of both the Home and the Camp.
In 1934, the Sisters were also asked to take over the work at the Oakes Home, located at 2925 West 32nd Avenue in northwest Denver, and run it for the Diocese. The Oakes Home, which was established in 1894 by the Reverend Frederick W. Oakes, was the second institution of its kind in the country. According to a Denver Post article of May 23, 1934, it was regarded as one of the “most fashionable institutions of the West,” richly endowed by wealthy members of the Episcopal Church and “a bright page in the history of the conquest of tuberculosis.” When new methods of treatment came along which made climate but one factor in the treatment of tuberculosis, however, patronage—particularly among wealthy easterners— dropped off, as had the value of securities which had formed a three-quarters-of-a-million-dollar endowment, and it was forced to close. By 1929 there were over 700 tubercular institutions countrywide, 150 of which had been closed by 1934. Nevertheless, Mother Noel and four senior Sisters (Sister Patricia, Sister Andrea, Sister Doris, and Sister Maris) moved in and lived there until the facility
closed in 1941, commuting to the Home on York Street two to three times a week. To look through the articles written during the ’30s and ’40s is truly impressive. During this time, approximately 40 children recuperating from illness were regularly cared for and taught during the winter at the York Street Home. In the summer, those who could be moved spent the season in Indian Hills at camp.
This work of Mother Noel and the Sisters at both the Home on York Street and the camp (which were the only convalescent homes for children in Colorado at the time) was certainly not overlooked and had, in fact, become a real cause célèbre among Denver prominents.
Parenthetically, Helen Prindle Grant, who became an associate of the Order as just a young girl, described Mother Noel as being an extraordinary presence—someone who could get anyone to do anything for her cause. Indeed, in a September 1933 Denver Post article, it was remarked that “the Personnel of the board and of the working Committees of St. Anne’s Convalescent Home looks as tho some pages had been lifted from the Social Register.”
Rummage sales, Louis Mullins’ dramatic readings, garden tours, motor corps, bridge, tea, and Welsh rarebit parties were arranged. There was also generous support from church auxiliaries and local doctors, who gave freely of their services.
When Mother Irene arrived in Denver in 1946 at Sister Cecile’s invitation, the house on York Street was riddled with polio. They were at absolute capacity with 50 patients—every room of the house filled. Even the tool shed had been turned into an isolation ward.
None of the children were contagious—they had to have reached a certain point of recovery to be moved to the Home but continued to require round-the-clock care. They came from all over the state, as well as from Montana and Wyoming.
Rather than being disappointed about not being able to teach, Mother Irene simply rolled up her sleeves and went to work, doing whatever needed to be done. Her years of teaching had been superb training. She had learned to take orders and to be extremely frugal. After all, the Sisters were working 20-hour days then—even with the help of a resident doctor from Colorado General, other visiting doctors, and additional nurses on loan from the Red Cross. The Kenney System was in use then. You would cover the patient with hot packs for four hours followed by four hours of massage—round the clock. They still have the high tubs used for the patients at St. Anne’s today, along with the sun porch they would roll their bedridden children out on so they could be outside, and the ramp up and down which they would take children in their body casts on the express wagons so they could be taken to the hospital—often daily.
Faced by such a terrible need, however, Mother Irene said she worked all those hours and “never felt tired.” Amazingly, in the end, of the 80 children who had been carried in, nearly all walked out on their own—some with the help of crutches or walkers, and a few with lasting physical disabilities. According to Mother Irene, though terribly hard, it was rewarding work, even fun in a way— work which made her feel as if life were worth living.
Around this time as well, Mother Irene remembers the group of Sisters who returned to Denver after being released from three years of confinement in two concentration camps in the Philippines. In 1936, they had been driven out of China and their branch in Wuchang, only to go back and be driven out again—this time landing in Japanese captivity. The other Denver Sisters took great care to see that they were well fed and cared for, and Mother Irene remembers fondly how appreciative they were to be living in such a comfortable and beautiful place after what they had been through.
After polio, but before the introduction of sulfa drugs, there were quite a few rheumatic fever cases at the St. Anne’s Home. The Sisters also took care of motor impaired children. This area had such excellent doctors that it drew a lot of people from Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska—even from Arizona—mostly welfare cases who would live in the Home and be taken into clinics for special work and therapy. There was a little girl Mother Irene remembers—a private case—who came all the way up from Frank Lloyd Wright’s place in Arizona for rehabilitation and brace work.
Yet in 1950, having treated more than 1,400 children over the years, the Home was going down fast. The only kind of children they could get were children who needed so much care, they really belonged in the Ridge Home. Additionally, the Sisters simply didn’t have the training or the physical ability to do all the lifting necessary to care for
such children. Accordingly, one day, Mother Irene was up at camp in Indian Hills cleaning, and Mother Noel called her out to the fireplace, saying that she had something she wanted her to do for her.
Anticipating a simple request, Mother Irene was told that they were going to start a school. “Just like that!” Mother Irene exclaimed. Knowing that they had no funds, Mother Irene asked what they were going to start it with. Mother Noel simply replied, “With faith.” Evidently, Mrs. Arndt and Mrs. Lukens felt that since the Sisters had their extensive property and were no longer getting sick patients, this would be a marvelous opportunity to start a church school and help some well children who were in need of assistance.
Thus, about a month later, in September 1950, their Kindergarten began with two pupils from St. John’s Cathedral out in a little shed, which is now our art building. By February, they had over 30 students and proceeded to add a grade every year up through sixth grade. We now have 419 students and teach preschool through eighth grade. This “act of faith” was really the beginning for our Mother Irene, as well as for the St. Anne’s Episcopal School as we know it today.
A November 1965 article in The Colorado Episcopalian described St. Anne’s as it was then and, in many respects, remains today:
On South York Street in Denver, set far back from the noise of the city, are the beautiful secluded acres which are “home” for the Sisters of St. Anne.
Behind the high hedges great trees loose a carpet of crisp autumn leaves over the grass and around the quaint sundial. Arbors and winding paths connect charming old buildings. There is a smell of apples, the faint drone of bees and an air of rural tranquility and peace. This, one thinks, is the proper atmosphere for a convent.
Then, at the side entrance where a bell may be rung to announce one’s arrival, the door suddenly opens. A Sister in her medieval habit steps quickly aside and holds the screen for a scramble of small boys and girls who break the quiet with shouts as they head for their playground.
What is hard to believe for many of us today is that in addition to being a school, St. Anne’s was an operating convent where, at its height, there were 12 Nuns—not to mention the Novitiate. Women—such as Mother Irene upon her initial visit to Denver—were welcome to come as visitors for a month. If they chose to remain, they became “postulants” and then “novices” before electing to take their final vows a number of years later. Mother Irene took hers in 1950.
The convent was governed under a book of rules enforced by the Mother Superior. If you did not follow them, you could leave in good grace or be suspended. To elect a Mother Superior for a four-year term, the Sisters assembled in Chapter and voted by ballot—a very democratic process. Mother Noel was the first Mother of the Denver branch— she was a Mother for 28 years, followed by Sister Cecile who had two terms, Sister Patricia, and then our Mother Irene, who was elected in 1977.
The Sisters lived on the first floor of the convent on York Street—a building which remained closed to the outside world after its dedication in 1947. Each Sister had her own garden to care for, as they were virtually self-sufficient when it came to food. They also each had their own room (or cell) and ate in the refectory, sitting according to a strict rank, as they did in chapel where they prayed and sang five times a day. Further, according to the rule, each Sister was obligated to retreat once a month. Mother Noel would pack a lunch basket and good books and send the Sisters off to the one-room, spartan “Hermitage” for the day. There they could read, sleep, walk around, and come back restored. This little building still sits among the pines on our campus and is occasionally used by priests from Christ Church and others.
The Order also regularly planned retreats for groups, operated the camp in Indian Hills every summer, and baked altar breads. Although you might not exactly consider them to be a “hot” commodity—and their production was not by any stretch of the imagination lucrative—St. Anne’s found itself in the communion wafer business for a number of years. According to Mother Irene, “You do not make much money on altar breads, but you made good connections!” As such, St. Anne’s supplied altar breads from California to the Mississippi River and from the Canadian border to the Mexican border.
For those of you who might have always wondered, communion wafers are made from a few cups of flour and cold water stirred together and cooked on a waffle iron. After they were baked, you had to cut all the individual wafers and wrap them—the priest hosts are a bit bigger—and they manufactured over a million a year. Indeed, many of the friends the Sisters made during those years were through selling their altar bread.
Mother has—above all— been totally dedicated to the education of children.
Sister Patricia and Mother Irene attending a school celebration
Although they stopped production in about 1987, people were still trying to call in orders several years later. From the beginning, the Order was unable to staff the school from within. Most of the Sisters had come from nursing backgrounds, and Mother Irene—who was put in charge of the school—was one of the only teachers from the Order. They always found good teachers, however— excellent, certified teachers who were generally retired and who could help the children who came to the school. “Surely they did not come for the money!” pointed out Mother Irene. Rather, they were paid very little, and the school was able to charge only a modest fee—$25 per month, which included a sandwich!
Nevertheless, there seemed to be a great need for this new school and it began to grow quite fast. Mother Irene posited that although people would not admit it, busing was certainly a factor in attracting a number of children in the beginning.
Further, the school eventually organized an excellent Board which guided and promoted the school’s growth. As the school added teachers, children, and grades, the need for a governing Board had become more and more obvious. The Sisters themselves knew next to nothing about education or running a school. Mother Irene, along with a number of parents, however, felt that the school should always be compliant with state regulations and certification. So in 1967, they organized a Board. The school was incorporated and, to the Sisters’ great relief, the Board took over its finances.
According to Judge Field Benton, who was Legal Advisor to the Order for many years, “St. Anne’s was and is an Episcopalian Diocese institution, much like St. Luke’s Hospital—a completely separate entity recognized by the Diocese, but subject to no control by the Bishop. It is a group that existed by grace and with the blessings, advice, and benevolent counsel of the Bishop—not his authority.” In 1988, the Order of St. Anne gave the campus and the camp in Indian Hills to St. Anne’s School, subject to a reversionary interest in the Order or its assigns—
the Diocese—if the school were ever to cease using the facilities as a school.
Mother Irene attributes the success of the school to a number of factors. They lived simply, were extremely frugal, and they were given sound advice—which they embraced. At one point, Jesse Hackstaff, my mother’s cousin, who was in the lumber business and one of the oldest friends of the school, was reminiscing to Mother Irene about conversations he used to have with Mother Noel. She would come to him with an idea for some building and he would say, “Mother Noel, this isn’t the time, this isn’t the time… let’s wait a little.” She would always listen to him.
According to Mother Irene, “Although Mother Noel appeared to everybody as a person who marched forward, she always knew where she was going. She didn’t just strike off—she’d done a lot of figuring.”
Although the first Headmaster was appointed in 1967, Mother Irene has remained the real pillar and inspiration of St. Anne’s. She continued to teach officially through the end of the 1992–93 academic year when she retired at age 93. Still, she lives on campus in a small apartment in our main building, cared for by her nurses and surrounded by her modest possessions, books, flowering plants, and beloved cat, Fluffy. Through this last fall, she would go over to the Mother Irene Library several times a week to read stories to the preschoolers.
Throughout the years and even now—just shy of her 96th birthday—Mother has had an extraordinary influence on those who have been privileged to know her. There have been so many people whom she has looked after over the years. From the kids she used to carry around because they could not walk on their own, to a number of former students and employees at St. Anne’s, to the sick Sisters she nursed up until the end, she has acted in many cases as the mother some of them never had. She always seems to know about everything that’s going on and takes a real personal interest in people. She is just as likely to be “up” on someone’s pet dog or cat as on their education or career choice or success. For the last 12 or 13 years, she has presented our Kindergarten teacher with a chocolate cake on her birthday, and just last fall she took 45 minutes to hobble upstairs with her walker and nurse to express her sympathy to one of our Jewish teachers over the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Rather consistent with her interest in and concern for others, one of her favorite activities has always been to sit down for a cup of tea and just chat.
Mother has—above all—been totally dedicated to the education of children. She also has been known over the years to be extremely critical of educational changes. One teacher remarked that “she might as well be
from Missouri—she has to know it works!” And she has been known to practice some rather unconventional techniques. One former secretary to the Headmaster recalled how fun it was to see her playing cards and rolling dice in her special reading classes to spur on children’s attention to detail and quickness, or teaching kids to knit granny squares to help their manual dexterity. Additionally, she certainly has never been known to pick up a calculator or—heaven forbid—encourage any child to depend on one!
Likewise, she too has been a lifelong learner. She forever has taken weekend classes—mostly readingrelated, but even computer courses. She still reads three newspapers a day, recently finished an autobiography of Colin Powell, and just a month or so ago went over to the Tattered Cover (where she goes all the time!) to get some books with which to do some research on King Arthur. She also has loved to travel. Evidently,
“Even when she was slowed down by arthritis, she shunned the elevator, choosing instead to labor up the stairs because ‘it was good for her.’”
she had always talked about traveling to Europe with her brother. When he was killed in the Second World War, her plans were dashed and she waited another 40 years to go. She made three European trips in the 1980s, however, and just loved doing so. She greatly enjoyed her tour guides on what I can gather were her “12 countries in 10 days” trips and learned all about the families with whom she traveled.
Another Mother Irene trademark is her great love of and appreciation for the outdoors. Long before the summer months arrive, she plans her garden, carefully choosing her seeds and varieties. In the summer—at least until recently— she has gardened, pickled and canned fruit and vegetables, and made jams and jellies—mostly to give away—and taught others how to do likewise. For years, it has been she who has supervised the maintenance of the grounds, the tending of the flower beds, and the pruning of the trees. She also just loves animals. A secretary spoke fondly of Mother’s penchant for gazing out a particular window from her third-grade classroom. She loved the orioles’ nest which they had built outside the window and would return to each year, and used to worry aloud that the starlings would scare them away. Only recently, a number of geese nested outside her apartment and she insisted that large tubs of water and food be put out for them regularly.
Her determination and self-sufficiency are also legendary. She obviously recognizes the virtue of hard work and has always practiced it herself. Even when she was slowed down by arthritis, she shunned the elevator, choosing instead to labor up the stairs because “it was good for her.” Perhaps this emphasis on and admiration of selfsufficiency has also carried over to other areas. On the light side, she is an ardent baseball fan—of the New York Yankees and now of the Colorado Rockies—and greatly admires their spirit and fight. A teacher remarked recently that she could just see Mother Irene getting up to yell and root for her team, and that the only thing that would ever keep her down would be her arthritis. In all seriousness, as much as she has done to help people who are in need, she seems to feel quite strongly about personal responsibility and effort—and it seems to even extend to her political outlook. At least the story goes that when Mother’s bedroom was located in my cohort Mimi Stone’s office, she had three pictures hung in a row: Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Jesus Christ—her heroes!
Indeed, Mother has never waited around expecting anyone else to do anything for her. Well quoted in a 1990 Denver Post article, she said, “I always feel there’s something to do… like the teacher I knew who said he couldn’t die yet because he hadn’t cleaned out his closets.”
When Mother was 71, she had cancer. When she came home from the hospital, St. Thomas Church had sent over five rose bushes with best wishes for her recovery, and she planted them in the vegetable garden. Since then, she has been a lover of roses of the highest order. For years now, she has been a test grower for Jackson & Perkins, and St. Anne’s has become all the more lovely for the hundred-some roses which have been planted in every nook and cranny of our grounds. She has also been extremely active in the Rose Society and watched with great interest and enthusiasm a particular project through which the Society made a grant to a prison that trained their prisoners to become master gardeners. She points proudly to the fact that two thousand roses have been planted at the prison and that men who have never in their lifetime earned an honest wage have been taught to do something they can be proud of.
Perhaps this is one of the greatest lessons we could learn from Mother Irene. Our lives consist largely of work, which, once done, is often not lasting but must only be repeated—whether it be gardening, cooking, cleaning, or raising our young. As with nurturing a rose, she has shown us that with hard work, patience, and dedication, along with a great appreciation of what we have been provided on this earth, we all have the ability to look beyond the thorns and create a life which is worthwhile, beautiful, and of which we can be proud. It is a lesson for which I will always personally be grateful and a powerful legacy for the institution she will leave behind.
Reprinted by permission from “The Green Thumb,”
Denver Botanic Gardens Incorporated, 909 York Street, Denver, Colorado 80206
Spring 1982, Volume 39, Number One
Velma A.
Richards, Editor
Mother Irene A Gift of Roses
By Josephine Robertson
Mother Irene of St. Anne’s School in Denver found it hard to pick a favorite among the beautiful roses she tests for Jackson & Perkins. But when pressed, she chose Honor, the white hybrid tea selected as the 1980 Rose of the Year and an All-America Rose Selections winner. In August, it was loaded with large, pure white flowers, had grown shoulder high, and was in its third blooming.
A member of the Episcopal Order of St. Anne, Mother Irene organized the school on behalf of the Order in 1950. Today, it enrolls more than 200 boys and girls through the 8th grade. Though a native of Vermont, she grew up on Long Island with a love of flowers, as that was the spare-time hobby of her engineer father. She holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from New York University. For many busy years of teaching, she had no time for the flower she so enjoyed. Now, in her 80s, she confines her teaching to remedial reading.
The rose chapter of her life began ten years ago. While recuperating from a serious illness, some friends—rather than sending flowers—gave her five rose bushes to plant and tend. It was an inspired gift that sparked a new interest. Someone later suggested her name to Jackson & Perkins for testing, and that made her hobby even more rewarding.
Each April, the growers send her four or five strong bareroot bushes—labeled with numbers, not names. She is ready for these ahead of time, with holes dug and soil mixed with dry manure. The new stock is soaked in water for 24 hours, and the hole is watered before planting. At the bottom, she builds a small mound over which she spreads the roots, carefully trimming any that are damaged. In six weeks there are leaves, and by the end of May—flowers.
She fertilizes in early spring with more manure or Ortho Rose Food, and again after the first blooming. After the first frost, she mulches with shredded leaves and grass clippings.
Her obligations consist of filling out a form for Jackson & Perkins on such points as: date of first leaves, shape and quality of foliage, fragrance, strength of stems, color retention, heat resistance, and how well the flowers last
after cutting. The varieties that receive good reports from the many test growers are named and offered commercially the following year. Some are tested a second year, and some never make it to market at all.
Mother Irene now has a collection of about 40 thriving bushes. Hers is not a formal garden—there is neither time nor help for that sort of weedless display—but tucked here and there in an informal setting, the roses look distinctly happy. Among them are the two other 1980 top winners: Love, a red grandiflora, and Cherish, a showy pink floribunda. Other favorites are Orgold, Madras, and New Day.
Mother Irene is pleased to be a member of the Denver Botanic Gardens and glad that her pupils have the opportunity to visit the Gardens on guided tours. “Rose growing,” she says, “is a very rewarding hobby. Roses are not very expensive, are not too demanding, and last a long time. I have found that working with them is wonderful therapy and a great pleasure. And part of the pleasure is being able to share them with others.”
Transcript of 1989 Interview
Early Work in Denver and the Depression Era
Sister Noel devised a plan to take care of unwanted babies. They had a house opposite the church, then shortly had to take another house. They kept the babies for the welfare department until they were placed for adoption, being paid $5 a day.
When they had the nursing home, doctors gave their services, and the churches—particularly the Ascension Auxiliary—were always generous. They held rummage sales, garden parties, etc.
This property belonged to the Junior League. They ran a preventorium for children during the Depression and eventually gave the property to the Sisters. Ascension Church also gave them the camp the same year. It was just a brick house with barns because they kept cattle. It was a small farm—front lawn was a cornfield, and the land extended back to about Asbury. Very productive.
A family lived here and made a living. These were all farms in the neighborhood. From the chapel windows, you could see fields. University professors pastured goats and cattle north to University. They got a small stipend. The university gave professors a little piece of land over near Clayton and pasture privileges.
When she came, this property was in Englewood. The division line was Yale. University was a small paved street. Yale was just a country road.
There were eight in the order when she came in 1945. They had nurses, a cook, a laundress, and a man on the grounds. Financial support came from gifts, the Ascension Auxiliary, and some Sisters who brought small amounts when they joined. There was a fellowship that came from all over. Groups in Boulder and Colorado Springs all gave support. Even Independence, Missouri—Trinity Church had 75 members.
Polio Care and Early Medical Practices
They had about 50 children with polio when she arrived. There was a resident doctor—Chinese, affiliated with Colorado General—and they had visiting doctors from there. No one was in an iron lung, and no one was contagious. They also had a few adults and a few babies. They accepted as many as they could take.
Oral History Collection
Interviewee: Mother Irene, Order of St. Anne, St. Anne’s Episcopal School, 2701 South York Street, Denver, Colorado 80210
Interviewers: Eleanor Vincent, Field Benton, Barbara Benton
Date of Interview: 15th of April, 1989
When she came, they used the Kenny Method: hot packs, warm baths, and physiotherapy. Some children were taken into clinics when not ready to go home, but they couldn’t receive the necessary care there. Most were welfare patients and came from all over—Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. Some parents visited only once a month, or not even that often.
One 45-year-old man came in the other day who had been there when he was five. He had rheumatic fever and remembered her because she made him eat his first fruit and vegetables.
There was such a terrible need that she didn’t miss teaching. She went through regular training when she joined: first a postulant for six months to a year, then a novice in junior orders for five years before taking final vows. She took hers in 1950.
She had one sister left when her parents died and lost her only brother in World War I. Her sister is still living in Florida; Mother Irene visits her.
Order Expansion and Governance
After running homes for babies, the Order moved to Oakes Home in northwest Denver—now the St. Elizabeth Center at 2825 West 26th. They ran it for several years for the diocese, caring for patients with tuberculosis. They were supported by very wealthy people back East. Roman Catholics now own the facility.
None of the Sisters ever became ill. Alongside Sister Noel were Sister Patricia, Sister Davis, Sister Andrea, and Sister Morris. They were all out here at the time. This place was given to them, and they had both locations for a short time, going back and forth.
The Order in Arlington had a school and later sent out different houses. One group was in China until 1946. They were driven out, returned, and were driven out again. They then went to the Philippines, where they ended up in concentration camps. Sister Ursula, Sister Isabel, Sister Eunice, and the Chinese Sister were held in two different camps. They all survived.
Each house was autonomous. Father Powell’s idea was that once you went out, you didn’t come back—you made the work succeed with no help from back home. Governance consisted of a chapter with officers and a book of rules. It was up to the Superior to ensure the rules
were followed. If not, she could appeal to her Warden, and the Warden could appeal to the Visitor. The Warden was an advisor, and they also had a legal advisor. A bishop was supposed to visit each year.
There were rules for leaving. A Sister could leave in good grace or be suspended if she didn’t follow the rules. The Mother was elected by chapter assembly. Mother Noel was Mother for a long time, followed by Sister Cecile, then Sister Patricia. The term was four years, followed by another election. Mother Cecile served two terms. The Mother chose an Assistant Mother, a Secretary, and a Treasurer.
Facilities and Physical Campus
The houses are now very small. Arlington House is now called Bethany and has about eight Sisters—some very old. There are small groups in Arlington and Cambridge, and three Sisters in Chicago. They cannot function as an order here anymore, as there are only two Sisters in Denver. The most they ever had in Denver was twelve. Most of them were around the same age. Five have died since she came. She has been Mother for about 12 years.
The Junior League built an addition to this building, and Sister Noel added another wing in 1945. They tore down the original red brick building, and the Marr family gave the money for the new wing. They built one story of the convent, and a few years later added a second floor. The barns and sheds were converted. The chapel is the old stable.
Mrs. Ruth Botcher Humphrey built the physio building in memory of her father—it is now the library. Therapists
would come from Sewall. The building had pools and was fully outfitted. Later, the order built a structure to house the first and second grades. It was first called the Montessori building, though Montessori classes are no longer held there.
A group donated the Annex Building, which used to be the science building and now houses the sixth grade. When polio was conquered, around 1955, they shifted to caring for children with rheumatic fever. There were no sulfa drugs then, so children were hospitalized for a long time. Later came motor impaired children and orthopedic cases—children from Nebraska, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana.
Mother Noel began the school in 1950 because the home was declining so fast. The only children they could get required so much care that they really belonged in Ridge. The Sisters weren’t trained or physically able to manage that level of care.
The camp at Indian Hills was given to the Sisters by Ascension Church. Mrs. Ardent and Mrs. Lukens were active in promoting a church school.
School Growth and Structure
They took well children who needed special help. At first, they used a shed in the back of the garage. They started with two children from the Cathedral in September, beginning with a kindergarten. By February, they had added a grade. They never went beyond 7th grade until the school was fully organized. They now have 8th grade. They always used certified teachers—many of them retired. These teachers were excellent and worked for a pittance. They charged very little. Growth and “busting” (overcrowding) had something to do with it. There was a good, interested board. As the school grew, the Sisters, who didn’t initially know anything about running a school, were urged by parents to organize.
Mother Irene always insisted on meeting state standards. The school grew very fast and continues to grow. By September, there will be 400 children: eight grades, two kindergartens, and one Montessori class. The school is fully accredited by the state and by Independent Schools.
Mr. Benton commented that the school has always been a diocesan institution—like St. Luke’s Hospital and the hospital in Pueblo—independent institutions smiled on benevolently by the diocese, but not subject to any direct control by the bishop. They exist by grace.
Support, Finances, and Facilities
They made altar breads—not much money in it, but good connections. They were sent as far as California, the Mississippi River, the Canadian border, and Mexico. Made with flour and water, cooked on an iron like a waffle iron, packaged and wrapped. Priest hosts were a little bit bigger.
St. Gabriel’s is making them now. Very tricky to bake. Sister Beryl and her helpers made them. Sister Andrea also baked well and handled the books. She quit about two years ago but still gets calls. It was hard work.
They now have more buildings. Opened new ones last year. A group of parents organized fundraising; Mr. Milstein helped raise over a million dollars for the gym. The order paid for facilities until the Montessori addition; parents paid for the gym. The old music building became the Sisters’ Building. The Montessori building was remodeled.
George Fancher, an oilman, is Director of Development. He is unpaid, has two children, is a good churchman, and comes from Texas. They don’t carry debt long—they get it paid.
Mr. Benton commented there are three separate entities: the religious order (which is also a corporation) and St. Anne’s School Corporation. Around the time the school board was formed, the school corporation began using the order’s land and buildings. Gradually, there has been a transition. The school corporation now owns the land and buildings, subject to reversionary interest to the order if the facilities cease to be used as a school. Mother Irene said that if that happened, it would go to the diocese.
The Sisters have had good advice and have been willing to act on it. They live simply and frugally.
Mother Irene’s Role and Roses
Mother Irene teaches all day and is part of the faculty. She teaches remedial reading and has taken many summer and night courses. Since 1971, she has raised roses. After recovering from cancer, someone gave her five rose bushes and recommended her as a test grower for Jackson & Perkins.
She now has about 100 rose plants in three different places. Testers receive four or five roses and a checklist. You follow their instructions, report five times during the summer, and may keep the roses each year if you re-enroll. The Denver Rose Society sells a good organic fertilizer— she avoids chemicals. You are supposed to keep test roses healthy. You can’t exhibit them until they have a name; that may take 2–3 years.
“Honor” is one she has shown. Its hybridizer won first prize at the American show three years in a row: first with “Honor,” second with “Love,” third with “Cherish,” and this
year with “Grayson.” He spent his whole life working for Jackson & Perkins. She has all those varieties in her garden. They also grow vegetables, make grape jelly, chili sauce, and pickles. The grape arbor was planted by Mr. Bixby of the city garden so the Sisters could make their own wine, though they never did. All the big trees on the property came from the city park when they cut off a corner. Their crabapple orchard is on the Water Board calendar for April. Children make grape jelly to give to their mothers for Christmas.
Campus Life, Student Activities, and Reflections
The new classroom building was named the Sisters’ Building. Now, they are working to improve the library and have already started the garden. Scouts put in three trees and a picnic area. The Boy Scouts meet here—one of the oldest troops in the country.
It’s a wonderful group of supportive parents. Many are working mothers, but they still find time to volunteer. There is an auction every other year, a book fair in November, and they sponsor clubs and Girl Scouts. The 8th grade goes to Washington at Easter and has a dance to honor them. Children go on summer trips—last year to Alaska; this summer, they’ll go to the Grand Canyon and up the West Coast. Ski trips have stopped.
She had to stop driving when she came to the convent around age 75. They wanted her to drive, but she wouldn’t. Two boys now drive. She had a car until she got rid of it last year. Chapter did use public transportation. The school owns two buses but doesn’t use them to bring children to school. Fifteen children recently went to Boulder for the Science Olympics.
They are gathering archival documents and have discussed giving them to the Historical Society. Father Wells may have them. Mr. Benton has legal document files and old deeds—sentimental value only. The chapel has a crèche at Christmas with very old lambs that came from Jonas. Sister Noel got them. Mrs. Marr gave the cedar waxwing. The baby was modeled by another Sister Noel, who also made crucifixes. She was a talented sculptor.
The school has a chaplain. Chapel is an elective course. It is definitively an Episcopal school—private, not publicly funded. It is guided by Christian ethics, particularly Episcopal ones. They have all kinds of children: a few Jewish, Catholic, and Muslim students. They don’t ask about religion when hiring. Many of the teachers are Catholic. There are 25 teachers. Average classroom size is 20. They have computers starting in first grade—one in each classroom. The 8th grade has several. There is a room with 20 computers. Some of the little children put her to
shame. She says next year will be her last year teaching— she’s said that for years.
Continuing Legacy and Closing Thoughts
You have to meet change. It’s important to be a liaison between teachers and students. She attends their games. They have a cultural fair. She likes it and always contributes, often making food to sell.
One little boy, James Smith, was sent to the school by Mrs. Marr. He got a scholarship to Choate, then to MIT, earned his master’s and Ph.D., and left a life insurance policy for $25,000 to the school.
There are many stories like that. Once, Mother Noel needed a water heater and didn’t have the money. She ordered it anyway, and the next week, they received exactly the needed amount from an unexpected source.
A lot of children who were “written off” have turned out to be very fine students. Active alumni have built up a trust fund of over $50,000, started three to four years ago. Each graduating class gives a small gift from money they’ve earned.
They have a large financial aid fund. Some funds are set aside for underrepresented children. Children of teachers receive full scholarships—there are 15 of those. Some students have other needs: high IQ but difficulty with peers, physical or learning challenges.
In 8th grade, students are learning algebra. Some children lack motor skills. In 4th grade, they choose between French or Spanish, but if they struggle elsewhere, they receive special help instead of taking a foreign language. There are three remedial reading teachers and one remedial math teacher. One works just with upper grades, both individually and in small groups. Mother Irene works with kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade.
She is satisfied that they’ve helped a lot of children and parents. All children are tested before being admitted, and standardized tests are given twice a year. They don’t admit children they don’t think they can help.
At the time they started, there weren’t adequate schools for children with special needs. One mother, a speech therapist, comes on her day off to test children and has tested all the kindergartners. She is on call. Once, she did all of it. She took additional courses at Greeley. Mother Irene’s first teaching job was with brilliant children whose skills were terrible—they couldn’t read, spell, or do arithmetic. As a reward, they’d take them to ball games at Yankee Stadium. Children still receive rewards today.
They have 30 Japanese children coming this summer. They’ll attend a sports camp for four weeks, then tour Colorado by bus for a week, then camp in Rocky Mountain National Park. Later, they hope to organize an exchange. The Washington Park soccer team—4th grade—plans to go play in China in 1990. Many girls are on the Falcons team. They are selling geraniums. There are so many more opportunities now.
Mother Noel would love it. She doesn’t think Sister Cecile would have seen the sense in it—she was a bookkeeper. They now have Environmental Studies.
“She says next year will be her last year teaching—she’s said that for years.”
Mother Noel was tall and thin, very British, but very sensitive to people. She was a nurse—an Englishwoman with a brother who was a merchant sea captain stationed in Vancouver. She came to him after the war, having served as an Army nurse.
Mother Irene says she’s only met one other nurse as intuitive as Mother Noel.
Sister Noel went to the Virgin Islands first. When it closed, Father Paul appointed her Mother and sent her out here. He gave them three one-way tickets. One returned. Recruits came and went, but as they aged and became sickly, the Order decided not to take any more in. If people inquired, they were sent elsewhere—often to Holy Nativity or Bethany.
They couldn’t use more now except as teachers. Sister Patricia is in a nursing home. Mother Irene is alone. She is on oxygen but eats with the children at noon. She wanted to travel with her sister this summer, but someone persuaded her they were too old.
She will move from the big house into the cottage this summer and settle in. She’ll be ready for a trip next year. She invited me back to see the flowers in early June and will enter the rose show again. They cut the blooms.
The root cellar was used until it was condemned four years ago.
End of Interview
Faith Amid War
While some of the Sisters—such as Anita Mary, Augusta, and Helena—served primarily overseas, others from the Order of St. Anne came to Denver, answering a different but equally urgent call: to care for impoverished and sick children in the Rocky Mountains. Whether in Bilibid Prison or a Denver hospital, the Sisters were united by their commitment to walk humbly, act justly, and love mercifully in every place they were called.
Their journeys weren’t just about suffering, but about sanctified resilience, and their recovery wasn’t just physical—it was spiritual, communal, and transformational. Their quiet, radical love helped rebuild broken bodies and broken communities. That same love echoes today in classrooms, clinics, and hearts nurtured by the legacy of the Order of St. Anne.
Timeline of Faith Amid War
Sister Anita Mary, the Order of St. Anne, and Our Connection to China (1917–1950s)
PRE-WAR CONTEXT AND
FOUNDATIONS
1837
William J. Boone, grandfather of Sister Anita Mary, travels to China and becomes the first Episcopal Bishop of China.
Establishes a long family legacy of Christian mission in China.
Late 1800s–Early 1900s
Anita Mary is born and raised in Shanghai, daughter of a missionary doctor. She grows up speaking Chinese and immersed in crosscultural ministry.
1917
Anita Mary enters the Order of St. Anne at the convent in Wuchang, China.
→ Begins her lifelong vocation of missionary service.
RISE OF CONFLICT IN CHINA AND WWII PRECURSORS
1931
Japan invades Manchuria, beginning military aggression that escalates tensions in East Asia.
1937 (July)
Second Sino-Japanese War begins with full-scale invasion of China.
1937 (December): The Nanjing Massacre: over 200,000 civilians are brutally killed by Japanese forces.
→ Sets a harrowing context for Anita Mary’s return to China the following year.
RETURN TO CHINA DURING WAR
1938
Sister Anita Mary and Sister Isabel return to Japanese-occupied Shanghai after a long furlough.
Denied a visa at first, Anita Mary secures one with backing from the Missions Office and U.S. State Department.
They are redirected from the damaged Wuchang convent to Hankow, where they shelter over 100 people.
Later that year, they move to Wuhu and continue offering medical care, education, and spiritual support amid occupation.
THE SHADOW OF WORLD WAR II
1939
World War II officially begins in Europe with Germany’s invasion of Poland.
1941 (December 7)
Attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan.
→ The United States enters WWII. American missionaries, including Anita Mary, become enemy nationals in Japanese-held territory.
INTERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES
Early 1942
Anita Mary, Sister Augusta, Sister Helena, and others are interned by the Japanese in the Philippines.
Initially held in the mountains, they are later moved to Bilibid Prison in Manila.
Conditions are horrific: near-starvation, disease, and severe deprivation.
Sister Anita Mary’s health deteriorates drastically—her weight drops to 65 pounds.
LIBERATION AND RECOVERY
February 3, 1945
Bilibid Prison is liberated by the U.S. Army.
General Douglas MacArthur personally visits the site and shakes hands with Sister Augusta.
A handmade American flag is raised, symbolizing both political and spiritual liberation.
May 3, 1945
Anita Mary writes from Monrovia, California:
“It seems almost too good to be true... We were so thankful for the daily Mass.”
August 1945
Japan surrenders, marking the end of WWII.
POST-WAR MISSION RENEWAL AND FINAL DEPARTURE FROM CHINA
1946
Sister Anita Mary returns to Wuchang, China.
The Sisters reopen the school, clinic, and convent.
But civil war erupts between Nationalist and Communist forces.
1949
Communist victory in China; Mao Zedong declares the People’s Republic of China.
→ Foreign missionaries are forced to leave to protect their Chinese communities.
1950
Sister Anita Mary departs China permanently.
Moves to Mindanao, Philippines, to work at a mountain mission.
Reunites briefly with her sister Muriel, a Presbyterian missionary, for a week of shared reflection and peace.
LEGACY AND REFLECTION
1950s onward
Sister Anita Mary returns to the Order’s convent in Massachusetts where she lives out her final years.
Continues to inspire through letters and witness of resilience, humility, and love.
Sister Anita Mary
“Walk Humbly with My God”
An account written by Mary
S. Donovan
The person I want to talk about is Sister Anita Mary, a member of the Episcopal sisterhood, the Order of St. Anne. I discovered Anita Mary in the Archives of the Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas, where I was reading the letters sent by missionaries to the national missions office.
I know only a little about Anita Mary’s early life. She was the granddaughter of William J. Boone, who went to China in 1837 and became the first Episcopal Bishop there. Her father was a missionary doctor in Shanghai, where she and her sister and brother were raised. She joined the Order of St. Anne in 1917 at their convent in Wuchang.[1]
My first introduction to her was a letter from China informing Dr. Wood, the head of the missions office, that she and Sister Isabel had arrived in Shanghai. The year was 1938. Reading further, I found that she had been on furlough in the U.S. and was returning to China in 1938— but even that was difficult. Because of the hostilities in China, the U.S. government refused to grant Anita Mary a visa. To attain that visa, it took repeated pleas from her, plus finally a letter from the missions office assuring the State Department that Anita Mary had been raised in China (her father was a missionary doctor), spoke Chinese fluently, and was well aware of the military situation within the country.
Brief History of the War in the Pacific
Life in China had been turbulent throughout the 1930s. The Nationalist forces under Chiang Kai-shek were attempting to unite the country under one government— an attempt that meant moving slowly up the Pacific coast, taking control of one city after another from the warlords who held sway there. Meanwhile, the Chinese Communists, under the leadership of Mao Tse-tung, had marched deep into the mountains of western China seeking a respite where they could gather strength. The Japanese invaded Manchuria in 1931 and made occasional forays south toward Beijing from that position. Then, in July of 1937, the Japanese moved on to mainland China.[2] Japanese troops seized control of Shanghai, then moved northwest toward Nanking, the former capital of Chiang Kai-shek’s forces.
On December 13, 1937, the Japanese Army unleashed its victorious forces on the common people of Nanking—the ensuing tirade of mass murder, rape, and pillage made up one of the worst atrocities of the war.[3]
Thus, when Sister Anita Mary and her companion arrived in Shanghai, the city was already occupied by the Japanese army. The nuns’ intention had been to make their way upriver to their convent at Wuchang, but that building was
damaged, so Bishop Gilman ordered the St. Anne Sisters to move to Hankow, where they gathered in the Roots’ house with some of the workers from the church hospital, several war orphans and babies, and some old women who had lost their homes—over 100 people living in two buildings that usually housed about twenty. They finally were able to make their way to Wuhu in November of 1938.[4]
What was life like for the church in an occupied country? The mission compounds continued to minister to the unfortunates—refugees, children, old people. Bible and hygiene classes, writing courses for the illiterates, confirmation instruction continued. The conflict produced more orphans, and against great odds, a new house for the babies was completed.[5] Because the U.S. was not yet at war with Japan, American citizens had a privileged status and were allowed to move out from the convent. That meant that for a time, the roles were reversed—the missionaries became the indentured laborers from China. Bishop Gilman accompanied the cooks every morning to the market and back. Missionaries delivered messages and materials to the Japanese launches that were running upriver to Wuchang. But the necessities of food and fuel were in short supply, and electricity and running water were available only sporadically.
Occasionally an individual stands out. One young orphan, about thirteen years old, was blind. Anita Mary said she’d love to get her into the school for blind girls at St. Louis —$5 would pay her tuition for a year. Couldn’t the U.S. find some Sunday School class that would contribute the $5? They got the money.[6]
Let me read you one of the most moving notes Anita Mary wrote in this period:
Last Sunday a Japanese soldier came and made his Communion. He had letters from his church in Japan, and from the priest in Nanking where he had attended services, and from one of the Methodist ladies in Kiukiang. Someone had told him to find St. Michael’s when in Wuchang. As he spoke neither English nor Chinese, all conversations were done through writing characters. He seemed so happy to be with Christians and have an opportunity to make his Communion.”[7]
That letter is the last letter in Anita Mary’s file before the U.S. entered the war against Japan.
Just before Pearl Harbor, several missionaries, including Anita Mary and her niece, Lucy, who with her brand new husband was working among refugees in Shanghai, were
evacuated to the Philippines, where they could work in an Episcopal mission there.
Even though Anita Mary had been quite sick and Dr. James (a wonderful woman missionary doctor) was concerned about her health, she could not be brought back to the United States because she had had her furlough three years earlier. So they sent her to a “safe” position in the Philippines.
And, of course, you know what happened. MacArthur left the Philippines, the Japanese moved in, and U.S. citizens there were rounded up and placed in internment camps. Anita Mary, Lucy and her husband, and all the other foreigners on the mission staff were imprisoned in early 1942 and held until 1945.
At first, they were held near the mountains where they had been working, and the Igorot tribesmen were able to smuggle them food. But later, they were moved to the infamous Bilibid Prison in Manila. Anita Mary’s teeth were so bad that she couldn’t chew the hard corn that was the chief food distributed to the prisoners—when she was finally evacuated, she weighed only 65 pounds, and the malnutrition had affected her sight and hearing.[8]
The next letter I have is written to the missions office from Monrovia, California, on May 3, 1945. She said:
We had a very good trip over and are most happy to be in free America. It seems almost too good to be true. The peace and quiet are wonderful after being on the front lines.”[9]
And in that letter, the only mention she made about life in the concentration camp was:
“We were so thankful for the daily Mass. No one would have dreamed that would have been possible. God was good to us in so many ways.”[10]
So what did Anita Mary do after 3 years in occupied China and 5 years in a Japanese concentration camp? As soon as possible, she convinced the missions office to send her back to China. The Sisters returned to Wuchang, reopened the convent and the school, and continued the medical clinic. But peace did not return to China—instead, the internal fighting between the Communist and Nationalist parties escalated.
All of us realize that there is only one certain thing in this life & that is the uncertainty of everything. We are learning to live and work and pray day by day, just for the day, leaving the future in the hands of God,” wrote one Sister.[11]
The last glimpse I have of Anita Mary is a farewell letter from Stephen H. S. Tsang:
How fine a work you have been doing for the whole Diocese; and so silently! ... On behalf of all our clergy and our church members, we thank you. May you return to us before many years have passed.”[12]
The letter was written October 28, 1950, about a year after the victory of the Communists and the expulsion of the Nationalists to Taiwan. The Communist forces increased their pressure on any Chinese who were associated with the Christian missionaries, and finally, to protect their Chinese converts, the foreign missionaries withdrew. So Sister Anita Mary had to leave forever the Chinese people to whom she had served for so long.
I know little about the rest of Anita Mary’s life. She moved to the Philippines and worked for some time there at a new mission on the island of Mindanao. She later returned to the convent in Massachusetts, and I think died there.
So that’s what I know about Anita Mary right now. So many questions remain unanswered. I still don’t even know how she came to the convent, or anything about her life before she joined the order. I don’t know when she was born or when she finally returned to the United States.
But look at what we do know about her. We know she used her gifts; she spent her life on other people. We know she had the courage of her convictions. She put the welfare of her charges above any considerations of her own comfort, or safety—indeed even her own life. Her people needed her in China—she bullied the missions office and even the U.S. State Department to let her go back to them. And even after four years in a concentration camp, she went back again. And all she ever wrote about her experience in the concentration camp was how fortunate they were to be able to have the Eucharist.
However, trying to enlarge my picture of Anita Mary, I discovered an autobiography written by her sister Muriel. Muriel and her brother Wilmot had become Presbyterians and served as Presbyterian missionaries in China throughout the same period. And Muriel wrote about the conflict she had after she finally came back to the U.S. in 1950. And I would guess that Sister Anita Mary entertained some of the same questions. Muriel wrote:
Where had I failed? Over a period of one hundred and twenty years our family had tried to help China. We were only a tiny fraction
of the thousands of missionaries who had come to give of their faith, love and expertise in ways that we believed were redemptive for individuals and for the nation. We did not come to exploit but to give the best we knew. That, in our eyes, was the meaning of love. To share the saving message of the Bible, to offer education, medical care, disaster relief—these seemed to us all things we should undertake.... We had longed for that fullness of life of which Jesus spoke—for all people.... Were we too hasty?”[13]
And that’s the question I must leave with you. Extending God’s love through gifts. Surely Sister Anita Mary, and Muriel Boone, and Lucy and Jack and Wilmot and the first Bishop Boone spent their lives extending God’s love through gifts. And surely each one of them at some point echoed Muriel’s question, “Where have I failed?” And surely each of us, if we are realistic, must know that we too face the possibility of failure when we attempt to extend God’s love through gifts.
But should the possibility of failure defer our attempts? I guess this is what I want to say about Anita Mary’s life. In the end, what a rich life she had. There’s a poignant little afterward to her story. After a period of what really was deep despair, Muriel picked herself up and went back to work for the church. And one day she found herself headed back towards China, to work in Hong Kong among Mandarin Chinese refugees there. On the way, she stopped to visit Anita Mary in the Philippines. The two sisters had a wonderful week together in the mountainous mission station on Mindanao. Then Anita Mary escorted her back to the airport. As Muriel describes it:
Halfway down, passing through a jungle,
Sister Anita asked the driver to stop so we could watch the wildlife. A family of monkeys was playing in the trees, swinging from branch to branch. As we watched, a heavy-bodied hornbill flew onto the tip of a tall tree, displaying its bright plumage and its enormously heavy bill. All these added to the joy of being with my sister... It was an unforgettable experience.”[14]
Can’t you just see it—these two sisters, both at least in their sixties, sitting in a jeep in the midst of a tropical jungle watching the monkeys playing in the trees?
Letter from Sister Augusta to Mother Rose
Dear Mother Rose,
How wonderful it is to be free again! But the prison experience has been fine, and learning what it meant to be hungry has been good for us too.
This morning I heard a commotion outside and went to the door of the prison just in time to meet the great General McArthur coming up the steps and felt honored to shake the hand of so fine a leader. The Prison Walls echoed and re-echo the cheers and applause of the internees.
The last few days, beginning with February 2nd, have been full to say the least. That night, around 11:00, there was a steady boom that told us something was happening not too far distant. The next morning it happened. The tanks arrived with a cracking and a banging such as we had never dreamed of. Some of the boys looking out over the walls suddenly heard and saw tanks coming along the road. They could not believe their eyes. Breathlessly they gazed for a moment or two when they were quickly ordered downstairs by our Japanese guards who then went to the roof to watch, shoot or snipe. The men were wild with joy and excitement ran high with the Roar of “the Yanks are coming.”
We were called together early the next morning and first stood by as the guards all filed downstairs quietly and walked out ominously, I thought to their own quarters outside the gate. When they had gone our conditions of release were read. There were three points of special interest. The first was that the release had been dated January 4th, 1945, and underneath later changed to February 4th, 1945. The second was that the Japanese stated they of their own accord, were releasing us. And third, we were not to be molested unless we offered resistance, etc. The “StarSpangled Banner” was a fitting climax as Old Glory was unfurled, the flag that so many in camp had had a share in sewing, some making a star, others a stripe.
The next episode of course was the battle, and it continues. There was a run out of Bilibid through fire and shell, and then the next day a run back as thrilling as the run out, but that must wait for the next letter. I am writing to the tune of Canon now and it is hectic to say the least. We may be seeing you in the not-too-distant time. Plans are a question mark. I would be grateful if copies of this could be sent to the addresses given on this letter.
Much love to all, Augusta, O.S.A.
Somehow, for me, that moment captures their lives. Lives of joy in creation, and commitment, and service, lives that embodied extraordinary adventures and lots of hard work. Lives in which both women used their gifts to spread God’s love. And lives that were supported by that love.
So what do we do with Sister Anita Mary? First, let’s appropriate her as one of our heroines. Think about her in one of your spare moments. Imagine what life was like in occupied China—the crowds, the hunger, the diseases, the bombs, the soldiers, and above all, the uncertainties—what will happen next? Will the soldiers invade the convent? Can we find enough food to feed the babies? Will our Christians be shot?
I hope many of you have read or will see the movie The Joy Luck Club , for there is such a gripping image there of one Chinese woman in the midst of a war—a woman who finally had even to abandon her babies. See that movie—and put Anita Mary beside Suyuan Woo as she flees across the Chinese countryside. Admire and appropriate the courage of these women.
But beyond admiring these valiant women, we can use their stories to help reorder our own priorities. Obviously, most of us are not going to be called to serve in war-torn China; but some of us may be called to wartorn Dallas—or Fort Worth—or Little Rock. There are problems out there in our worlds that are just as great as those before Anita Mary—and you and I know what some of those problems are. I think the hardest thing for us to do is to decide to take the first step, to start to tackle a problem we know is there. Once women get going, they are good at finding solutions, at creating new programs, at mobilizing the resources of the community effectively. But it’s getting started that is so hard! It’s deciding that for the next week, or month, or year, I’m willing to commit myself to this task. It’s being willing to be consumed by what I know I should be doing.
So look at Anita Mary, and use her as a role model for using your own gifts.
“And know one more thing. The faith is enough. The God who gives us these gifts will stay with us. God’s presence was more, not less, real to Sister Anita Mary in the Chinese internment camp; God’s presence will sustain us too.”
And know one more thing. The faith is enough. The God who gives us these gifts will stay with us. God’s presence was more, not less, real to Sister Anita Mary in the Chinese internment camp; God’s presence will sustain us too. Depend on that. Call for that. Expect to draw strength from a source beyond yourself—and that strength will be there. It’s so hard to take that first step; it’s so hard to say, “God, I’m depending on you to see me through.” But once we do, we may well move into worlds we never dreamed possible.
Who knows—we may end up in a jungle watching monkeys!
Footnotes:
[1] A Theme for Four Voices, Vol. I, Book 2. Typescript manuscript assembled for the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of The Order of St. Anne, 1985, in the possession of the Order at Arlington, Massachusetts, p. xix.
[2] Samuel Eliot Morison, The Two-Ocean War (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1963), p. 23.
[3] Dan van der Vat, The Pacific Campaign: The U.S.-Japanese Naval War 1941–1945 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), p. 64.
[4] Sister Anita Mary to Dr. Wood, 18 December 1938. D&FMS Collection, ABC.
[5] Sister Anita Mary to Dr. Wood, 25 February 1939. D&FMSC, ABC.
[6] Anita Mary to Dr. Wood, 17 December 1939.
[7] Anita Mary to Dr. Wood, 17 December 1939.
[8] Muriel Boone, The Four Flags Over a Changing China (privately printed by the author, 1983), p. 284. Book in the
possession of the Order of St. Anne in Arlington, MA.
[9] Anita Mary to Mr. Parson, 3 May 1945.
[10] Anita Mary to Father Swift, 25 May 1945.
[11] Sister Isabel to Miss Beardsley, 18 March 1950.
[12] Stephen H. S. Tsang to Sister Anita Mary, 28 October 1950.
[13] Muriel Boone, pp. 350–351.
[14] Muriel Boone, pp. 363–364.
Letter from Sister Helena to Sister Geraldine
[Handwritten on American Red Cross letterhead]
Bilibid Prison
Manila, P.I.
Feb. 7, 1945
Dear Sister Geraldine,
We are free at last even if in prison and such a prison! The Japanese transferred us here on December 29th. It was after midnight when we arrived, pitch dark. We were marched after roll call into a building that had been condemned as unsafe in 1939 and was partially demolished then. The third floor was gone all plumbing removed, the place infested with spirited ancestors and germs. You never saw such filth. The poor military prisoners who had been here had been dying rapidly. Recent graves line the grounds. 500 men, women and children were expected to live in such a place. Protests did no good so we fell to cleaning up. Dysentery and Dengue broke out but no cases have been lost. Through it all we have been kept safe. I had Dengue but the other Sisters escaped. The prison diet consisted of corn, occasional rice, and camote greens.
On February 3rd when the American Army was arriving the Japanese gave us our freedom but said it was safer to stay behind these walls as fighting would be intense. My it was good to see the U.S. soldiers! They have been so kind to us. When fire circled us they drove us to a factory 5 miles from the city and fed us on Army rations. Since then I am growing much stronger.
Yesterday they brought us back to Bilibid and last night the attack on the old walled city of Manila was terrific. We have been kept safe through everything. Today General McArthur visited us and such cheering as he received. The Sisters all send their love to you, Mother Noel, and all the Sisters and hope you all keep well. The night we were away all our things were looted so I have only one habit and the clothes I was wearing. Today the Sisters, like everyone, are picking up tins and coconut shells for bowls and food containers. Like China!
Lovingly, Sister Helena, O.S.A.
Selected Art of St. Anne’s
Transcribed from “Art on Campus” by Pastor Merrie Need
The Sisters of St. Anne and Artistic Legacy
The Sisters of St. Anne at the Mother House in Arlington lived among numerous pieces of ancient Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation art. Mother Noel, a World War I British nurse who lost her betrothed to the war, spent some time at the Mother House before leaving for Denver. Mother Noel’s opinion of how a chapel and convent should be furnished seems to have been shaped by the model at Arlington.
Within the private space of each Sister’s room, stark simplicity reigned—with no ornaments except a crucifix. The personal possessions we have from the Sisters are crucifixes, rosaries with medals of St. Anne attached, and some items of overused furniture. And that is all.
However, they accepted many gifts of art for their public areas—not for their own sake, but for the glory of God.
Mother Ethelred: Artist and Founding Sister
Mother Ethelred, founding Sister of the Order of St. Anne, had once illustrated children’s books. She depicted activities on the campus at Arlington, Massachusetts, the first school the Order established. She designed stained glass panes of Maypole dancing, which can be found in the sacristy of the Sisters’ chapel there.
Mother Noel: Devotion through Sculpture
Mother Noel, perhaps imitating her Mother Superior’s love of the visual arts, created at least one sculpture with her own hands—a sculpture of the baby Jesus, which we still use when decorating the chapel for Las Posadas and Christmas. It was modeled after one of the first children under the care of the Sisters of St. Anne, just after they arrived in Denver.
Eva Lucille Kirkner (1901–1991)
The white marble rabbit in front of St. Anne’s was designed by Eva Lucille Kirkner.
Kirkner was born in 1901 in Rich Hill, Missouri, in the southwestern part of the state. She moved to Colorado in 1905. She attended the Chicago Art Institute, Columbia and Alfred University in New York, and the University of Southern California. She is listed in Who Was Who in American Art and is described therein as having studied with Eastern European sculptor Albin Polasek, the
American sculptor Lorado Taft, and with Gladys Caldwell Fisher in Colorado.
During the troubled 1930s, Kirkner helped sculpt the sandstone bighorn sheep at the Denver Post Office and the stone plaque entitled Montezuma on the 4th floor of Denver’s City and County Building, as a student assistant to Fisher.
Kirkner taught at the University of Denver from 1944 to 1946. She began working with silk screen prints (serigraphs) after learning the process at Columbia, New York, in 1945. She also taught art at the Denver Art Museum and in Denver’s public and private schools.
Kirkner is well known for her color serigraphs, which often featured as many as 12 colors—requiring 12 different passes through the press. Her editions were always limited to 6 to 12 prints; many prints in shows are the only remaining copies. Her decorated ceramics are beautiful, sturdy, and fanciful. Kirkner worked with all possible glazes, a wide variety of clay mixtures, and techniques of cast and thrown pieces. She used native clays of Colorado as well as imported clays from Death Valley, New Jersey, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Her ceramic Christian triptychs reflect her lifelong interest in the Church and its values.
Mother Noel
Kirkner also worked in glass, wood, and fiber. She completed a $50,000 commission for 46 stained glass windows designed for the Augustana Lutheran Church of Denver, built in 1958 and located at Forest and Alameda Parkway. This was her largest and most important public project. She experimented with all mediums during her 90 years of life and was working on a tapestry entitled Peace on Earth at the time of her death.
Kirkner was a member of the Denver Artists Guild, the National Artists Equity Association, the Rocky Mountain Liturgical Arts Association, and the Fine Arts Commission of Augustana Lutheran Church. She died in Denver in 1991 and is survived by her husband Carl, whose generosity and love helped make this show possible.
Gladys Caldwell Fisher (1909–1952)
Gladys Caldwell Fisher was born in Loveland and worked most of her career in Denver. She studied art in both New York and Paris. In 1936, she married Denver architect Allen B. Fisher. Gladys Fisher worked with the support of the New Deal, a 1930s government program that offered commissions to artists.
Fisher is best known for her sculptures of animals. Her work includes the mountain sheep that stand outside Denver’s Byron White Federal Courthouse. She also created a bas-relief for the 4th floor of the Denver City and County Building and another bas-relief in wood for the Las Animas Post Office. She sculpted our very own iconic bunny in marble, which sits in the garden outside the main building.
Mina Conant Billmyer (1910–1999)
Mina Conant was a Denver artist who numbered a butterfly wing—a symbol of the Resurrection—in an obscure corner of every one of her paintings. She often portrayed religious content with a whimsical style. She planned to create 1,000 works of art in her lifetime but completed 850.
Born in 1910 in Fort Collins, Mina moved with her family to Denver in 1915. In 1933, she married John Billmyer, who rose to the status of full professor of art at the University of Denver.
Mina was a spirited social activist. She protested such things as the Vietnam War, the Rocky Flats nuclear plant, and the aesthetic blight of billboards. She occasionally taught at the University of Denver, in the Denver Public Schools, or at the Denver Art Museum. She died in 1999 at the age of 88.
The triptych currently in the chapel is by Mina Conant. It was originally commissioned for the chapel at Spalding
Convalescent Hospital. When that chapel closed, the triptych came to St. Anne’s chapel, as the Sisters were also doing convalescent care. This is, of course, only a photo of it—the original is on the altar in our chapel. Can you find Mina’s signature butterfly?
Jules Jacques Benoit Benedict
Jules Jacques Benoit Benedict procured two stained glass windows to adorn his home’s chapel. These replicas of windows from Saint Denis Abbey near Paris now flank the entrance to our Children’s Chapel. One window offers a “window to God” by Abbot Suger, who bravely experimented with Gothic architecture—making his the first church with walls thin enough to hold stained glass. The second replica depicts Saint Benedict, founder of the monastic order.
Benedict was born in Chicago and educated in architecture in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts, a prestigious school that emphasized architectural history as the foundation for original design. He opened his architectural firm in Denver in 1909. Many of his Colorado creations are on the National Historic Registry of Buildings.
Left: Jules Jacques Benoit Benedict window 1; Right: Jules Jacques Benoit Benedict window 2 detail
Benedict was responsible for several landmark buildings within Denver and the Colorado mountain parks. Architect Peter Dominick, who lives in a Benedict home, summed up his legacy: “Without a doubt, he was one of the best architects to have ever practiced in Colorado—a virtuoso in his manipulation of details, his organization of space, his sense of proportion. It’s just beautiful work. His work is timeless.”
Another gift from J.J. Benedict is the statue of the Madonna in a niche on the east side of the main building. Our May Queen crowns the statue during the May Day ceremony. This statue depicts Mary and her child Jesus serenely standing on an orb encircled by a snake with an apple. It suggests that Mary, like Jesus, was unaffected by the sin of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden.
Baptismal Font: Came from the Order of St. Anne’s Chinese Mission, shipped out of China in 1938–39 during the Japanese invasion. The base is clay marked “Made in Italy,” with a brass bowl donated by Geraldine Cabot, missionary in China.
Chairs in the Children’s Chapel (beside altar): For the Mother Superior and Prioress
St. Michael: found in a trash bin in London by one of the Sisters—possibly Sister Geraldine
Ambry: Used to store holy oils
learning SERVICE IMPACT
Over $2,000 raised for two Episcopal schools impacted by the California fires
42 loans sponsored through Kiva
100 snack bags for residents of Warren Village
850 sandwiches distributed at the Soup Kitchen
175+ sack lunches prepared and delivered
13,900+ pounds of food packed for the Food Bank of the Rockies
900+ HOT MEALS served at the Soup Kitchen
$600 raised from cookbook sales to support gardens and Denver Food Rescue
300 pounds of bean soup packaged for Project Our Town
50 hot chocolate jars assembled & given to neighbors
$1,500+ raised from honey & produce sales for Denver Food Rescue and others
By Assistant Head of School, Lori Frank (revised 2025)
Service has always been at the heart of St. Anne’s Episcopal School. The Founding Sisters first came to Denver with the goal of taking care of children suffering from illnesses such as polio and tuberculosis. Later, they created a school with the purpose of meeting the needs of children who were not being well served by their neighborhood schools. Loving God and loving children was at the heart of everything the Sisters did.
Inspired by the work of the Sisters, St. Anne’s has long been committed to creating opportunities for students to reach out to the Denver community and serve those in need. Middle-school students have made regular visits to soup kitchens, day care centers for the elderly, and local
public schools. Younger students have made donations to animal shelters, visited nursing homes, and written letters to troops, among other projects. As a school community—and with the support of the Outreach Committee of the Parents’ Association—St. Anne’s has collected food, books, clothing, shoes, toiletries, and coins for various organizations.
At times, circumstances have limited in-person outreach. Yet even during periods of disruption, the desire to help others has remained strong. The school has continued to collect donations and maintain its commitment to service while also reexamining how best to serve in ways that are meaningful for students and those they support.
20 nighttime bags assembled & delivered to Warren Village
2024/25
Blankets made & delivered
100 care bags assembled for Urban Peak $520.45
2,000+ food items collected for the Tipi Raisers raised to buy books for a local school
Faculty members have come together to consider how service might be made more impactful and sustainable. Discussions have focused on the importance of teaching children about service in a holistic and intentional manner, grounded in authentic community engagement.
Service learning, unlike one-time volunteering or traditional philanthropic efforts, is a pedagogical model that combines critical thinking, social responsibility, and civic education. It builds meaningful partnerships and encourages students to practice their values, become thoughtful leaders, and embrace a mindset of positive change. Situated at the intersection of theory and realworld experience, service learning responds to genuine community needs—whether in the classroom, across the city, or beyond. It fosters student agency, ownership,
and belonging while cultivating civic and cultural literacy. Rooted in reflection and action, it enhances personal growth, empathy, and self-understanding.
In reimagining the school’s approach, service learning has been integrated into the curriculum across grade levels, with connections to core subjects such as math, reading, and writing. It is both curricular and co-curricular, allowing for deeper connections and relevance.
Approaching service with dignity, humility, and compassion reinforces the inherent worth of every person. It means treating individuals with respect, acknowledging shared humanity, and fostering a culture of empathy that can break down barriers and create lasting change.
The restructured service learning program includes dedicated time for lesson planning and implementation, teacher-led instruction, curricular integration, and regular opportunities for student reflection. Grade-level topics have included themes such as gratitude, pet care, community support, wildlife, food insecurity, wildfire prevention, literacy, recycling and composting, microloans, and environmental stewardship at St. Anne’s in the Hills. While the program continues to evolve, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Teachers have embraced the opportunity for meaningful conversations with students, and students themselves have expressed pride in their contributions. As one student remarked after working in the school garden, “At first I felt sad that there are people in the world who need this much help. Then I felt happy that I could actually do something about it as a third grader. And at the end, I looked at what we harvested and I was so excited and proud of what we accomplished.”
“At first I felt sad that there are people in the world who need this much help. Then I felt happy that I could actually do something about it as a third grader.”
At designated times during the year, students are given the opportunity to share their experiences with parents and caregivers, offering a glimpse into how service learning reflects the school’s enduring mission: Grounded in our founding values, we cultivate a community of curious and compassionate learners who are inspired to serve and enrich our world.
The St. Anne’s community remains deeply committed to service and continues to explore the most meaningful ways to bring that commitment to life.
Heads of School
1950–1968
Mother Irene
In 1968, after more than two decades of visionary leadership, Mother Irene stepped down as Head of School at St. Anne’s Episcopal School. Her departure marked the end of an era defined by compassion, spiritual guidance, and a steadfast commitment to service and education. That same year, the school appointed Mr. Mitchell Walker as her successor.
Mitchell Walker 1968–1976
Newspaper Clipping: Principal Named for St. Anne’s Denver
The trustees of St. Anne’s school 2701 South York Street have announced that a lay principal, Mr. Mitchell E. Walker, has been engaged to administer the school’s educational program. The school is owned and operated by the Order of St. Anne and Incorporated in the state of Colorado. it was reorganized last year under a new Board of Trustees which included several laymen.
Mr. Walker is a native of Parkersburg, West Virginia. He earned his B.A. degree at Marietta College in Ohio and started his teaching career with the Cincinnati public school system in the field of mathematics more than 10 years ago. After receiving his master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati Mr. Walker began gaining his experience in administration at both Junior and Senior High schools. He is active in various organizations connected with the field of education and has many years of experience in teaching adult classes.
Mr. Walker is married to the former Marjorie Houghton of England. They have two young children. The program planned for grades 1 through 6 for the 1968 to 1969 school year will be the identical, excellent program of the past years, with its emphasis on small classes, individual attention, and scholastic achievement.
In addition to the program for the conventional grades one through six, St. Anne’s has a Montessori program for children age 3 to 6 years. Morning and afternoon sessions are identical.
1968–1976
Richard L. Wood 1977–1980
Source: Newspaper Article
Richard L. Wood, 29, has been named Headmaster of the school, 2701 South York street, effective January 1st, 1977. He is now Principal and Associate Headmaster at Bethany School, an Episcopal school in Glendale, Ohio.
The new Headmaster received his bachelor’s degree from Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio, and his master’s in education from Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio. He is working on a doctorate at the University of Cincinnati. 1977–1980
1950–1980
1980–PRESENT
Ramsay Stabler
During the 1990s, Ramsay Stabler oversaw additions to both the Middle and Lower School buildings. The school also secured the strength of its endowment. Today, that endowment supports tuition assistance and teacher training, while helping to ensure the school’s long-term financial stability.
Chris Cox
John Comfort 1980–1994
Under the leadership of John Comfort, Head of School from 1980 to 1994, St. Anne’s grew in enrollment, academic reputation, and capital improvements. During the 1980s, the school added the preschool and kindergarten classrooms and a new gym. By 1989, enrollment had reached 400. In 1993 the Mother Irene Library was completed.
Alan Smiley
The commitment to excellence continued under Alan Smiley’s leadership, beginning in 2006. His tenure saw the expansion of academic offerings, the integration of new technology, and the construction of a new Lower School building as well as key community spaces such as the outdoor amphitheater and the dining hall/performing arts facility. These developments ensured that students would continue to thrive at a school founded on service and dedicated to academic excellence.
Under Chris Cox’s leadership, the school has adopted a revised mission statement accompanied by five founding values as well as a strategic plan that will keep St. Anne’s moving forward into the future. In 2025–2026, Chris will oversee the expansion of the pre-K program and the celebration of St. Anne’s 75th anniversary year.
Bill Clough
Bill Clough was at the helm when the COVID-19 pandemic began in the spring of 2020. He led the response to the shutdown as well as the school’s successful reopening in the fall of that year. Mr. Clough was also responsible for modifications to the plaza west of the middle school and the replanting of the athletic field.
Lori Frank
In April of 2021, Lori Frank stepped in as Acting Head of School and then Interim Head. She maintained that role until the arrival of Chris Cox in July of 2022. Under her leadership, the school continued its response to the pandemic and prepared for the arrival of its new Head of School.
CAMPUS THEN AND NOW
THEN NOW THEN NOW
May Day
May Day is the longest-standing tradition at St. Anne’s. Students dance around the maypoles in celebration of our history and an appreciation of the natural beauty of our campus. Songs and pageantry mark this special day.
An excerpt from the Chaplain’s explanation of the origins and traditions of “May Day and May Queen” as understood at St. Anne’s. Largely the work of Merrie Need, Chaplain (retired 2017).
“When the Romans came to England with an April festival to celebrate spring, they encountered a Celtic celebration called Beltane and held it on the first of May. The Romans and the Celts combined their efforts to honor the beauty of flowers and to pray for abundant crops. When the Roman Empire was Christianized, the Catholic Church transformed the May Day celebration.
In France during Medieval years, the whole month of May was declared sacred to the Virgin Mary. Church processions honoring the Mother of Jesus wound throughout village streets and ended in the church, where young women were enthroned as May Queens.
Meanwhile in England, people decorated homes and churches with flowers, sang carols about spring, chose a Queen of the May, and danced around maypoles in order to weave brightly colored ribbons.
Although the Puritans disapproved of such frivolity, the enthusiasm of most English and French immigrants to this continent eventually overcame Puritan objections.
Ethelred Barry, a well-known children’s illustrator of her day, helped found The Order of St. Anne, joined it and became Mother Ethelred. Shortly the Sisters founded the school in Arlington, Massachusetts, where from the beginning, the maypole was danced. Mother Ethelred drew that dance and transferred that illustration to stained glass, a glass that can be seen today in the chapel on the Arlington grounds.
When the Sisters of St. Anne came to Denver, they brought May Day customs with them. As early as 1937 they carried children down the stairs to crown a Queen of the May and picnic. That makes the tradition of May Day on these grounds at least 81 years old.”
May Day Queens Timeline Since 1978
1978: Rebecca Beach
1979: Jennifer Ball
1980: Julie Koehler
1981: Karen Ashley
1982: Elizabeth Fisher
1983: Ginny Grant
1984: Jennifer Algor
1985: Keyonyu Smith
1986: Kam Rope
1987: Molly Larkin
1988: Danielle Russell
1989: Burch Meriwether
1990: Anna Duvall
1991: Argy Stathopulos
1992: Jennifer Stoffel
1993: Maggie Kral
1994: Mimi Hammerberg
THE MAY DAY CAROL
The moon shines bright, the stars give light, a little before ‘tis day.
Our heavenly father, He called to us and bid us to wake and pray.
Awake, awake, O pretty, pretty maid, out of your drowsy dream. And step into your dairy below, and fetch me a bowl of cream.
A branch of May I bring to you as at the door I stand.
’Tis but a sprout, well budded out, the work of our Lord’s hands.
My song is done, I must be gone, no longer can I stay.
God bless you all both great and small and send you a joyful May!
1995: Anne Harrington
1996: Mandy Helwig
1997: Polly Breit
1998: Kristen O’Neill
1999: Amy Pennington
2000: Betsy Rice
2001: Whitney Peterson
2002: Caroline Caccia
2003: Stephanie Reyes
2004: Isabel Breit
2005: Taylor Duke
2006: Lucy McNamara
2007: Rivie Jacaruso
2008: Caroline Brewer
2009: Catherine Sheehan
2010: Lauren Bredar
2011: Kristina Beck
2012: Mary Emmerling
2013: Celia Osman
2014: Katie Kennedy
2015: Maria Giulianelli-Cone
2016: Carley Wiley
2017: Margaret Bird
2018: Frances Middleton-Davis
2019: Abby Alem
2020: Abby Cohen
2021: Aziza Diallo
2022: Keagan Boyd
2023: Ashlyn Adams
2024: Tillie Burn
2025: Campbell Walter
Strategic Plan Updates: Living Our Pillars
As we reflect on the work accomplished this year and look ahead to what’s to come, we ground our progress in the five strategic pillars that continue to shape and strengthen St. Anne’s. These updates not only mark milestones but also reflect our shared commitment to fostering a vibrant, mission-aligned community.
Pillar 1—Episcopal Identity & Belonging
Our Episcopal Identity statement is a lived commitment that informs how we gather, celebrate, reflect, and support one another. This year, we have made intentional efforts to integrate this identity more deeply into the fabric of daily school life. From chapels that center our shared values of love, respect, and service, to moments of quiet reflection and courageous conversations, our Episcopal roots help anchor our sense of belonging. They remind us that we are all connected—to one another, to the broader Episcopal tradition, and to a higher calling to serve with humility and purpose.
Pillar 2—Character & Community
This year saw meaningful developments in the ways we cultivate leadership and empathy across grade levels. By enhancing the Buddies Program, we have brought a deeper intentionality to mentorship, ensuring that older students not only serve as role models, but also learn the value of listening, guiding, and growing alongside their younger peers. These cross-age relationships foster a culture of inclusion, trust, and mutual respect, underscoring our belief that character is formed in community. As we look to next year, this program will continue to evolve with greater structure and support, reinforcing the leadership pipeline and sense of purpose in every student.
Pillar 3—Teaching & Learning
Driven by the Academic Council, our curriculum continues to evolve in response to research, reflection, and the needs of our learners. A key focus this year was writing: we implemented a new school-wide alignment
initiative to ensure consistency, clarity, and creativity in how we teach writing across grade levels. After two years of research and planning, we are proud to roll out a revised Lower School Language Arts curriculum, spanning Preschool through 5th Grade, which reflects best practices in literacy instruction and developmentally appropriate rigor. In Middle School, we are expanding our focus on executive functioning—providing tools and strategies for students to organize, plan, and self-regulate— while also transitioning to Canvas as our new digital learning platform. This shift will streamline communication, enhance transparency, and empower students to take ownership of their learning journey.
Pillar 4—Faculty Growth
Great teaching is the heart of a transformative education. To that end, a dedicated committee of faculty and administrators has been working diligently to define what it means to be an exceptional educator at St. Anne’s. The result is “The Portrait of a Teacher,” a comprehensive framework that outlines ten key characteristics of effective, mission-aligned teaching. These traits—ranging from intellectual curiosity and cultural competence to relational warmth and reflective practice—will guide hiring, professional development, and performance conversations. More than a checklist, this portrait is a vision statement for the kind of educators we aspire to nurture and become.
Pillar 5—Sustainability & Stewardship
As stewards of this beautiful campus and the legacy we inherit, we are taking meaningful steps to ensure our physical spaces reflect and support our educational mission. We are in the early stages of launching a Capital Campaign focused on enhancing our academic facilities while preserving the expansive green spaces that make St. Anne’s unique. This initiative will prioritize spaces that inspire learning, connection, and innovation, ensuring that our campus continues to serve current and future generations. In the coming months, you will learn more about this vision and how you can be a part of building St. Anne’s next chapter.
Looking Ahead
As we embark on this new chapter together, we carry with us the rich history of St. Anne’s—a story of purpose, courage, and grace. We also carry the hopes and dreams of the generations to come. This future is not abstract— it is here, and you are part of it. Thank you for your partnership, your passion, and your unwavering belief in the power of this community.
Introducing the Episcopal Identity Statement of St. Anne’s Episcopal School
After more than a year of thoughtful reflection and intentional collaboration, we are excited to share St. Anne’s first Episcopal Identity Statement—an effort to formally articulate what it means for us to be an Episcopal school and to be more united around this vision as a community. Such statements, though painfully short, are a common practice among schools like ours; they help to live out an ethos of character, spirituality, and religious practice of the Episcopal tradition with greater clarity, confidence, and fullness. Through rigorous but tender discussions and multiple rounds of feedback, we worked hard to authentically represent a wide range of St. Anne’s voices, perspectives, and aspirations. With a firm commitment to the legacy of the Sisters and their Christian faith, we aimed to be responsive to the needs of our diverse and evolving community and create a common language for a living expression of what it means to be St. Anne’s Episcopal School in the City of Denver today. We hope that this statement conveys the spirit of our Founders as well as a warm welcome felt by many who step foot on campus and opens a door for all to consider a St. Anne’s education.
This Episcopal Identity Statement serves as both a touchstone and a compass. It also illuminates the connection between our faith heritage and our commitment to inclusion, service, and building a beloved community. Knowing that St. Anne’s Sisters were wholeheartedly dedicated to God and to following Him in the world, the statement reflects our deep respect for the variety of religious and secular backgrounds of our families and serves as an invitation for a continued dialogue about questions of faith, belief, and belonging.
We are proud to share this statement with the full St. Anne’s community so that together, we may continue to practice what has guided this school since its founding with authenticity and grace. Because the statement, by nature, is limited in length, we invite everyone to visit our website and read more about the gifts of Episcopal education and the answers to Frequently Asked Questions. We look forward to the conversations, reflections, and shared experiences this work will continue to inspire. Thank you for supporting us in so many ways!
Rooted in the faith, service, and unconditional love exemplified by our founding Sisters, St. Anne’s strives to be a welcoming community that respects and advocates for the dignity of all students, faculty, staff, and families. As an Episcopal school, we tend to the many life stories, spiritual journeys, and religious traditions present among us. We invite all community members to engage in the joyful and courageous process of learning—a lifelong endeavor that calls us to grow and work together for justice and peace.
Rosary belonging to one of our Sisters, featuring a medal of St. Anne
75th Anniversary Events
September 5, 2025
BACK-TO-SCHOOL PICNIC
Our traditional community picnic will serve as the biggest celebration of the year for our current families, infused with 75th anniversary flair.
September 20, 2025 “75 YEARS OF SERVICE”
AN ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
A story walk across our historic campus, the grand unveiling of our History Hallway exhibit, and moments that reflect the legacy and spirit of St. Anne’s. We look forward to seeing you at this event. Email development@st-annes.org with any questions.
April 25, 2026
ST. ANNE’S BENEFIT
The Benefit will provide a chance for current parents to celebrate this important milestone in St. Anne’s history. It will feature a festive 75th anniversary theme and will combine fun, fundraising, and school spirit.
Additional Highlights:
First Day of School Kickoff
Opening Day will be a celebration-filled launch to the anniversary year for students.
Updated Edition of A Rabbit’s Tale
Our beloved children’s book has been refreshed and will be gifted to every family.
Anniversary Swag
Exclusive merchandise featuring a special edition 75 Years of Service logo will be available for purchase.
Dress-Up Days by Decade
Students will have a fun way to celebrate our history as they dress up to honor different eras in our school’s journey.
A variety of activities in the classrooms throughout the year will spotlight and celebrate our anniversary, the history of the school, and the bright future!
April 17, 2026—Founders’ Day
This event will spotlight the anniversary year in its programming and theme.
This year is so much more than a celebration. It’s an opportunity for all of us to honor the people, events, and lived values that have defined St. Anne’s Episcopal School and will continue to do so for at least the next 75 years.
OUR STORY THANK YOU for being part of
75 Years of Service
What began with the humble conversion of a chicken coop laid the foundation for a legacy of learning. In 1950, the Sisters of the Order of St. Anne transformed this simple structure into the first classroom of St. Anne’s Episcopal School. This unassuming space marked the beginning of a new mission: to serve through education. Today, this spot on campus is where the art room is located in the Lower School building. The same spirit of devotion and adaptability continues to shape our community, 75 years later.
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
Opening Day
Fall Sports Begin
All School Picnic
Halloween
Fall SAITH Trips
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
Fall Drama Production: High School Musical
Grandparents and Friends’ Day
Holiday Events
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
Winter Adventures
Valentine’s Day
APRIL
8th Grade DC Trip
MARCH
Bingo
Founders and Trustees’ Day
Graduation
May Day
7th Grade Colorado Trip
Field Day
CONGRATS, CLASS OF 2025
CLASS OF 2025 HIGH SCHOOL MATRICULATION
Andrew Almaraz
Colorado Academy
Mackenzie Brown
Valor Christian High School
Reagan Cannizzaro
St. Mary’s Academy
Parker Charbonneau
Cherry Creek High School
Dawson Craig
Colorado Academy
Max Craver Maharishi School, Iowa
Jeffrey Diosdado
Regis Jesuit High School
Cooper Dolsen Community School, Idaho
Evie Elsner
Kent Denver School
Cora Essary
Colorado Academy
Will Gaffney
Kent Denver School
Will Goodman
Mullen High School
Eddie Hajim
Kent Denver School
Pip Harris
Kent Denver School
Nao Hayashi
Colorado Academy
Kate Johnson
Colorado Academy
Lila Kozlowski
Valor Christian High School
Margot Krug
Kent Denver School
Jonathan Levit
Mullen High School
Maz Merow
Valor Christian High School
Cooper Miles
Undecided
Tairis Mitchell
The Putney School, Vermont
Josh Neumann
Colorado Academy
Grayden Overstake
Arapahoe High School
Rex Parkinson
IMG Academy, Florida
Sloane Parkinson
Regis Jesuit High School
Jack Petchesky
Kent Denver School
Katelyn Pingenot
St. Mary’s Academy
Sloan Rule
Heritage High School
Ilyana Schilling
Valor Christian High School
Harper Seaton
Colorado Academy
Ainsley Snyder Mullen High School
Graydon Sozio
Regis Jesuit High School
Chloe Stutz Regis Jesuit High School
Ezat Tamim
Mullen High School
Lane Thompson
Colorado Academy
Mila Toland
Colorado Academy
Campbell Walter Cherry Creek High School
Charlotte Wilbourn
Kent Denver School
Stella Yeager
Arapahoe High School
New Additions to Our Permanent Art Collection
Ilyana Schilling ’25
Tairis Mitchell ’25
From left to right
Jaclyn (Wylie)
Weldon ’01, Alyssa (Yates) Kitts ’04, Eloise Johnson ’02, Margaret (Grant) Mitchell ’90.
Coming Full Circle
Celebrating Four St. Anne’s Graduates Now Inspiring the Next Generation
Some stories come full circle. At St. Anne’s, four remarkable alumnae— Eloise Johnson ’02, and Alyssa (Yates) Kitts ’04, Margaret (Grant) Mitchell ’90, Jaclyn (Wylie) Weldon ’01, —have returned to the halls they once walked as students, now serving as beloved educators and mentors. They are reminders that St. Anne’s is not just a place you pass through—it’s a place that stays with you.
Returning to St. Anne’s after college was an easy decision for Eloise Johnson—because it felt instantly right. “I first came back fresh out of undergrad as an assistant teacher, and again 10 years later as a lead preschool teacher,” she shares. “I was welcomed with open arms both times.”
Eloise’s love for early childhood education runs in the family. Her mother was a passionate educator, and young Eloise often tagged along to her classrooms. That same joy for teaching was mirrored by her own teachers at St. Anne’s—especially Mr. Gifford. “I was incredibly shy and had moved around a lot. Mr. Giff saw something in me
and helped me build confidence. His humor and the joy he brought to the classroom made a huge impact.”
Now, as a preschool teacher, Eloise finds magic in the outdoor classroom. “It’s incredible to see our students turn a grove of tree stumps into a car or block water tables and then cheer when the ‘river’ flows. It’s a space where they can run, play, and just be kids.”
“I wanted kids to feel as loved as I did here.”
Alyssa (Yates) Kitts ’04
Third Grade Teacher - Fourth Grade Assistant (2012), LongTerm Second Grade Substitute (2013), Third Grade Teacher (2014–Present)
For Alyssa, teaching is in the family—both her dad and grandfather were educators. But it was her time at St. Anne’s that truly cemented the dream. “I remember feeling so loved here as a third grader. I wanted to give other kids that same feeling.”
One of her most cherished memories is when her teacher read Harry Potter aloud to the class. “It had just come out, and she was so excited to share it with us. It made reading feel magical.”
Alyssa admits she struggled in math as a student: “I just could NOT figure it out. I had no idea why we were doing what we were doing!” But thanks to patient, joyful
teachers like Ms. Emery and Mrs. Fleming, she learned to love learning. “They understood how I learned and helped me feel successful. They also told the best stories!”
Being back at St. Anne’s feels surreal, but deeply right: “It’s such a special place, and it’s fun to be part of something that shaped so much of who I am.”
These women represent the best of what it means to be a St. Anne’s alum: resilient, joyful, committed to growth—and always deeply rooted in community. They’re not just teaching. They’re shaping the next generation of St. Anne’s stories.
“I wanted to give back to a place that gave me so much.”
Margaret (Grant) Mitchell ’90
Head of Middle School - Middle School English Teacher (2002–2005), Admissions Team (2018–2022), Head of Middle School (2022–Present)
Margaret’s journey began in third grade, when she joined St. Anne’s and instantly connected with its values, community, and people. Her first spark of interest in education came the summer after 8th grade, when she worked at Sports Camp. “That was the first time I thought that teaching would be awesome,” she recalls. Years of camp counseling solidified that sense, and after time teaching English, she eventually stepped into the role of Head of Middle School.
What makes St. Anne’s so special to her? “At its core, this place sees each person as a human being and values them for who they are.” Her favorite place on campus?
“The grape arbor,” she says instantly. “Chapel was under renovation when I was in third grade, so for a while we
held chapel there. There’s a little altar at the far eastern end. I have always loved it there. It’s peaceful, beautiful, and a natural shelter.”
She also remembers her “magical” fourth grade year spent in a classroom in the old Convent: “We felt like we were entering a secret world every day. It had a fireplace and was covered in vines.”
And her least favorite subject? “Handwriting. It’s the lowest grade I ever got at St. Anne’s—from Mrs. Zinn in fourth grade. Yes, I still get teased about it by my family!”
“Watching
my students grow—just like I did here—is the best part.”
Jaclyn (Wylie) Weldon ’01
Second Grade Teacher (2021–Present)
For Jaclyn, teaching wasn’t just a career choice—it was a calling rooted in the impact her own teachers had on her. “They made learning exciting, built strong relationships, and inspired confidence,” she says. “I wanted to do the same.”
Returning to St. Anne’s as a faculty member felt surreal at first. “I was nervous to work alongside my former teachers—and calling them by their first names was weird!” But now, it’s one of the most meaningful aspects of her work. “One of the most special things has been teaching the children of my former classmates. That full-circle moment makes it even more meaningful.”
Jaclyn remembers her fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Fleming, as someone who made every student feel seen. “She shared hilarious stories and made learning so much fun.” She also recalls a middle school math teacher whose patient approach changed the way she saw herself: “For the first time, I actually felt good at math.”
Just for Fun: Faculty Favorites & Personality Picks
If you could swap roles with anyone for a day…
Alyssa: “Morgan Boaman! I’d love to be outside all day working with every kid on campus.”
Margaret: “Probably the middle school English teachers—that’s my first love.”
Three words to describe St. Anne’s? Margaret: Home. Sacred. Family.
If you had a totally free day with no responsibilities…
Margaret: “Read a novel, nap, hike or ski—something outdoors.”
Eloise: “I would spend my day in the mountains, hiking or paddleboarding”
Favorite cafeteria item now vs. then?
Eloise: “Now? Shrimp salad and smashed potato bar. Then? Definitely those crockpot hot dogs!”
Margaret: “Sweet potatoes in any form. But there was no food service when I was a student!”
Alternate dream jobs?
Margaret: Park ranger, novelist, or professional hockey player
Jaclyn: Interior designer or therapist
Alyssa: Professional organizer
Eloise: Children’s book author
Alex Oberg ’10
Alumni Spotlights
Each year, we feature a handful of alumni stories on our school website and social media. Featured below are spotlights from last school year, 2024–2025. To explore the full collection of alumni spotlights, visit st-annes.org/alumni-news-archive.
Submit your story for our future alumni spotlights to ahart@st-annes.org! We’d love to share your journey with the St. Anne’s community.
From the Classroom to the Colorado Peaks, A Life
of Adventure and Service
Alex Oberg, a 2010 St. Anne’s graduate, has followed an adventurous and impactful path since her school days. Now working for the Beaver Creek Ski Patrol and Eagle County Paramedics, she reflects the school’s values of community, curiosity, faith, compassion, and humility in her professional life. Her journey is one of resilience, growth, and a passion for helping others.
Alex’s career wasn’t a straightforward one. She began in government and later moved into commercial real estate, but eventually found herself drawn to the mountains. Volunteering with the ski patrol at Loveland Ski Area sparked her love for outdoor work and hands-on problem-solving. “Being outside and skiing, tinkering and playing with your hands—it just clicked,” she reflects. When the pandemic hit, she moved to the mountains full-time, joining Beaver Creek Ski Resort. Five years into the job, she enjoys the diverse challenges of ski patrol, from avalanche mitigation to helping tourists. “It’s a lot of fun,” she says with a smile.
One of her new and exciting endeavors is training Bridger, a black Labrador puppy who is on the path to becoming a certified avalanche rescue dog. Alex finds the process both eye-opening and fulfilling, adding to her already multifaceted career.
Working in a male-dominated industry comes with its challenges, and Alex is candid about facing bias
from both inside the field and the public. “You’ll have people look around and ask, ‘How are you going to get me down this mountain?’” Yet, Alex has thrived, thanks in part to the support of her fellow women on the ski patrol. “Our director is a woman, which is really inspiring,” she says, emphasizing the importance of creating opportunities for more women to join the field. Alongside her ski patrol duties, Alex is a member of Eagle County Paramedics, working 48-hour shifts responding to 911 calls. She finds the work fulfilling, especially as she serves her own community. She is currently pursuing her paramedic certification, with long-term plans to expand her scope in emergency medicine and possibly attend medical school.
The strong bonds she has formed with her teammates are one of the most rewarding parts of her ski patrol career. “The coolest part is going through your career with the same group of people,” she says. Her rookie class of four became her best friends, creating a tight-knit group that continues to support one another. This sense of community mirrors the values she first experienced at St. Anne’s. “Community was a big part of St. Anne’s, and I’ve taken that feeling with me,” Alex shares. “If I don’t find that sense of community in the work or the people I’m surrounded by, I move on until I do.” This approach has been ingrained in her since childhood and remains central to how she lives her life.
Curiosity has also been a driving force in Alex’s career. Reflecting on her work as a ski patrol member, she shares that moments of challenge constantly push her to learn more and improve her skills. “You have to be curious about everything,” she says. “Learning and
understanding the world around you makes you better at what you do.” Alex credits St. Anne’s for fostering this mindset. “They made learning fun and engaging,” she says. “Some of the best teachers I’ve ever had were at St. Anne’s, even through college. They were compassionate, made learning accessible, and always encouraged curiosity.” That foundation in lifelong learning is something she carries with her in every role she takes on, striving to constantly improve and stay engaged with the world around her.
Alex credits St. Anne’s with instilling both a strong sense of community and a lifelong love of learning, both of which have influenced her career. Curiosity drives her to continuously improve, while compassion and humility guide her in high-stress situations. She believes in meeting people where they are, showing them grace, and never assuming she knows everything, always staying open to learning.
Looking ahead, Alex aims to advance her medical career and explore new opportunities in ski patrol. Whether responding to emergencies or mitigating avalanches, she remains dedicated to serving her community and
living the values she learned at St. Anne’s. Through every challenge, Alex embodies curiosity, compassion, and humility, making her not only a skilled professional but also a role model for others.
Gretchen Leggitt ’98
Transforming Communities Through Art and Empathy
Gretchen Leggitt, a proud alumna of St. Anne’s Episcopal School, has transformed her artistic passions into powerful community initiatives in Bellingham, Washington, the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish People, including the Lummi and Nooksack Tribes. As the co-founder of Paper Whale Arts and the Noisy Waters Mural Fest, Gretchen is dedicated to integrating indigenous voices and fostering diversity in public art.
A Foundation in Art and Community
Reflecting on her time at St. Anne’s, Gretchen recalls the profound influence of her art teacher, Rick Sigler. “He taught me for eight years and left a lasting impression,” she shares. “His passion for art brought joy to education and made school a safe haven for me. Art was my refuge, especially when I struggled in other subjects.” Inspired by Rick’s approach, she became an elementary and middle school art teacher herself, nurturing the creativity of young minds for over 13 years.
Gretchen’s artistic journey took a significant turn when she painted her first mural in Bellingham. This experience illuminated the transformative power of public art, allowing her to share her voice and positively impact her community. “It was the first time I realized art could change a community’s mindset,” she reflects. “Public art can spark joy and curiosity in the people around us.”
Building a Creative Future
Gretchen’s entrepreneurial spirit blossomed when she founded Hydrascape Stickers in 2019, creating a global presence with her designs. Despite having no
formal education in business development, she leveraged her creativity and collaborated with friends to turn her artistic ideas into a thriving venture. The passive income from her sticker business allows her to focus on her art and community initiatives.
Through Paper Whale Arts, Gretchen aims to cultivate creativity in her community. The non-profit organizes multisensory events, public art installations, and mentorship opportunities, particularly for marginalized communities. “Our mission is to preserve the cultural fabric of Bellingham through public art and community festivals,” she explains.
Lessons from St. Anne’s
Gretchen credits her St. Anne’s education for instilling core values that continue to guide her work: community, empathy, compassion, curiosity, and humility. Her experiences, including a service learning trip to a soup kitchen in eighth grade, broke down barriers and deepened her understanding of empathy. “Seeing the struggles of others taught me that we are all just humans trying to live our lives,” she reflects.
For current St. Anne’s students aspiring to pursue a career in the arts, Gretchen offers this advice: “Whatever you do, don’t stop creating. It’s easy to get distracted. Use technology as a tool, but don’t let it define your imagination.”
The Power of Public Art
As she continues to create, Gretchen envisions public art as a catalyst for community connection. Her murals often celebrate the landscapes of her childhood in Colorado, intertwining her personal narrative with the stories of the communities she serves. “Public art fosters a sense of belonging,” she emphasizes. “It transforms spaces and encourages dialogue.”
Bo Walker ’08
Bo Walker’s path to becoming a firefighter for the Denver Fire Department (DFD) was deeply influenced by his family’s legacy of service. Raised in a family with strong ties to law enforcement and the military, Bo was naturally drawn to a life of public service. “My family has always been involved in service-oriented careers,” he says. “The world of public service felt natural to me. I was drawn to roles like search and rescue, where you get to solve problems as part of a team.” This commitment to service was further nurtured during his time at St. Anne’s, where he developed the core values of teamwork and community that would guide him throughout his career.
While at St. Anne’s, Bo fondly recalls the small, tight-knit community that allowed him to build deep, lasting relationships with his classmates and teachers. “St. Anne’s was special because it gave me the chance to really get to know my classmates,” Bo explains. “The relationships I built there were unlike anything I experienced anywhere else.” Teachers like Mr. Gifford and Mr. Sigler helped instill in him a strong sense of integrity, humility, and respect— qualities that continue to influence his work as a firefighter today.
The lessons he learned in the St. Anne’s community— particularly the emphasis on teamwork and service—have stayed with him throughout his career. “What I carry with me from St. Anne’s is the importance of being part of a team and giving back to the community,” he says. “It really taught me the value of hard work and respect for others.”
Gretchen Leggitt’s journey from St. Anne’s student to influential artist and community advocate exemplifies the power of creativity in fostering understanding and connection. Her commitment to integrating diverse voices and uplifting her community serves as an inspiration for all aspiring artists.
During his senior year of high school, Bo became actively involved in the Arapahoe Rescue team, a group of high school and college students responding to emergency calls and looking for missing persons. “That experience gave me my first real exposure to emergency services,” Bo recalls. After high school, Bo attended the University of Colorado Boulder, where he continued his commitment to public service. While in college, he went through his first fire academy, gaining critical training that laid the foundation for his future in the fire service. He also took hazmat classes, which further fueled his passion for emergency services. After volunteering for a year with Winter Severance Fire Rescue, Bo was hired by the Denver Fire Department.
Today, Bo works out of Station 1 in downtown Denver, home to a special operations team specializing in high-angle rescue, rope rescues, confined space, and collapsed structure rescues. He finds the unpredictability of the job both challenging and
fulfilling. “Firefighting is such a unique profession because no two days are ever the same,” Bo explains. “We’re constantly solving new problems, and I love that about the job.”
One of the things Bo appreciates most about firefighting is the sense of camaraderie. “The guys I work with are like family. At Station 1, we have a team of eight personnel. Four are assigned to Engine 1, and four are assigned to my rig, Tower 1,” he says. “We work closely together, and the relationships we build make everything easier when things get tough.”
Despite the technical demands of firefighting, Bo emphasizes that compassion is equally important. “One of the core values of the Denver Fire Department is compassion,” he says. “When you go out the door, the people you’re helping are often having the worst day of their lives. It’s our job to treat them with dignity and care, no matter the situation.”
Bo’s focus on community and compassion is rooted in his early
experiences. At St. Anne’s, he learned the importance of working together and helping others, and those lessons have shaped how he approaches both his job and his community. “Sometimes, it’s not about putting out the fire—it’s about making a difference in someone’s life when they need it most.”
In a field that demands so much of his time and energy, Bo also makes a point to maintain a healthy worklife balance. “It’s definitely tough at times, but I make sure to take care of myself—whether that’s spending time with family, going on trips, or enjoying the outdoors. You have to make time for yourself so you can be there for others when they need you the most.”
As he looks back on his journey, Bo feels proud of the career he has built and the values that continue to drive him. “St. Anne’s taught me a lot about community, respect, and the importance of helping others,” he reflects. “Those values are what continue to drive me today as a firefighter.”
Bailey Walker ’16
Bailey Walker, Class of 2016, has always been passionate about the outdoors and environmental stewardship. His journey from St. Anne’s to Middlebury College reflects his commitment to sustainability, community, and leadership.
From St. Anne’s to Colorado Academy
At St. Anne’s, Bailey developed a strong foundation in writing and outdoor exploration. “The time I spent at St. Anne’s in the hills was formative and special,” he reflects. “I had great memories of outdoor trips and community experiences.” This love for nature and curiosity led him to Colorado Academy (CA), where he joined the cross-country team and participated in the Redi Lab program. A key experience during high school was a month-long wilderness course with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). “It was formative, teaching me both backpacking and leadership skills,” Bailey recalls.
Bailey continued his academic journey at Middlebury College, majoring in environmental studies and geography. He chose Middlebury for its small, community-oriented atmosphere and strong environmental focus. “Middlebury’s values around the environment and community really resonated with me, much like those I learned at St. Anne’s,” he says. Though the pandemic
altered his college experience, Bailey thrived in the liberal arts environment, embracing learning across disciplines.
Hands-On Experience: Food Systems and Community Engagement
Bailey’s internships have connected his academic interests with real-world impact. At the Addison County Relocalization Network (ACORN), he helped map local farms and distribute food to restaurants and institutions. “It was exciting to see how the local food system connects,” he notes. He also contributed to ACORN’s FARMacy program, providing fresh produce to people referred by healthcare providers. “It showed me the power of food to improve health,” Bailey explains.
A particularly meaningful project was his personal initiative to screen the documentary Farming While Black, highlighting the challenges faced by Black farmers in the U.S. The event, which drew 100 attendees, sparked important conversations about racial and environmental justice.
Looking Ahead
After graduation, Bailey plans to return to Colorado, where he hopes to work in sustainable agriculture and continue working in outdoor education. “I’m excited to connect my environmental studies with real-world food systems work,” he says.
Graham Osman ’15
From St. Anne’s to Professional Baseball
Graham Osman’s journey from St. Anne’s Episcopal School to playing professional baseball for the Cincinnati Reds organization is a powerful testament to perseverance, hard work, and the importance of building a strong foundation. His story is defined by athleticism, determination, and a relentless drive to succeed—qualities that were nurtured during his time at St. Anne’s.
Graham’s passion for sports began at a young age. “I started playing sports when I was about five or six,” he recalls. Raised in a family where athletics were a key part of everyday life, Graham had plenty of inspiration from those around him. His parents were both accomplished athletes, and his sisters excelled in multiple sports as well. Growing up in such an active environment naturally shaped Graham’s own athletic development.
Reflecting on his time at St. Anne’s, Bailey credits the school for teaching him the importance of community and compassion. “St. Anne’s taught me to be humble and to build strong connections with others,” he says. “Those lessons have stayed with me as I’ve moved through college.”
Advice for Current St. Anne’s Students
Bailey’s advice to current students is simple: “Stay curious, be compassionate, and embrace your community. The relationships you build now will be important later.”
Bailey Walker’s journey from St. Anne’s to Middlebury is a testament to the power of curiosity and community. As he looks toward the future, he is poised to make a lasting impact on both the environment and the communities he serves.
“At St. Anne’s, I played soccer and basketball, but without baseball, I’d jump into whatever sport was available. After school sports, I’d head straight to Little League for baseball,” he says. These early years were filled with movement, teamwork, and fun. “I loved hanging out with my friends after school. Those friendships were really important to me growing up.”
While sports played a significant role in Graham’s life, St. Anne’s provided much more than just athletic opportunities. The school offered a well-rounded education that helped him grow both as an athlete and as a person. “St. Anne’s taught me a lot about teamwork and the importance of being part of a community,” he reflects. The school’s nurturing environment encouraged personal growth and helped Graham balance his academics with his athletic commitments.
Academically, Graham found that St. Anne’s laid the groundwork for his future. “I really enjoyed PE and sports-related classes,” Graham says. “But I also loved the relationships with my teachers. They helped me step out of my comfort zone.” One defining experience was performing, with Mr. Amend’s support, in the school’s talent show with a group of friends, where they played Holiday by Green Day. “That was a big moment for me, being an introverted kid
and pushing myself to get in front of people. It helped me grow in ways I never expected,” he says. “The environment at St. Anne’s made me comfortable being myself. It really helped me figure out who I was and what I wanted to do.”
Graham’s athletic interests at St. Anne’s were diverse, but as he entered high school, his focus shifted more toward baseball. Although he started out primarily playing basketball, he soon realized that his physical build and natural skills were better suited for baseball, particularly as a left-handed pitcher. “Basketball was my main sport at first,” he admits. “But as I got older, I realized baseball was a better fit for me.”
Graham credits his high school coaches with being instrumental in his development, not just as a player, but as a thinker of the game. “The coaches were incredible mentors. They taught me the chess game of baseball—how it’s not just about physical talent but about understanding the mental aspects, reading situations, and making the right decisions.”
By his senior year, Graham’s talent had caught the attention of college scouts. “I was on track to be drafted right out of high school, but I chose to play college baseball at Arizona State,” he says. “I wanted to challenge myself, and ASU offered me a chance to grow and refine my skills.”
Graham’s time at Arizona State was a transformative chapter in his career. “I had great memories there— amazing coaches and teammates who really pushed me to improve,” he says. However, after three years, a coaching change led Graham to transfer to Long Beach State. There, he found his rhythm and felt a stronger connection with the team. “The transition was smooth, and I loved it there. I really found my stride.”
All his hard work paid off when he was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in 2023. “Getting drafted was the culmination of everything I worked for. I’d been working toward this moment since high school, and when it finally happened, it was an emotional moment for me.”
Since being drafted, Graham has moved up in the minor league system. He started in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is currently with the Dayton Dragons, High-A affiliate of the Reds in Dayton, Ohio. “Professional baseball is a lot of moving around. You’re constantly packing and living out of suitcases,” Graham says. “But the opportunity to play the game I love makes it all worth it.”
The minor league lifestyle isn’t always glamorous, but it has allowed Graham to meet teammates from all over the world. “The diversity of backgrounds is one of the most fun parts of the game. You meet players from all over— Italy, the Netherlands, Latin America—and you get to pick up bits of different languages, like Spanish and Italian. It’s all part of the journey.”
While baseball’s physical demands are well-known, Graham has learned that the mental side of the game is just as crucial. “Baseball is such an individualized game, but at the same time, it’s a team game,” he says. “You can’t rely on anyone else to pull you out of a slump. It’s up to you to stay mentally strong, which can be tough, especially in pro ball, where there’s not a lot of coaching guidance. It’s all on you to show up and perform.”
As he’s grown, Graham has become more analytical about his game. “When you’re younger, it’s easier to just have fun and not think too much about it. But as you get older, you start diving deeper into the game’s intricacies. You analyze every move you make,” he says. “But you have to remember not to overthink. It’s tempting to try to copy what others are doing, but you have to stay true to your own style.”
Reflecting on his journey, Graham is grateful for the opportunities he’s had, but he knows there’s still much to achieve. His advice for current students at St. Anne’s? “Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone,” he says. “Whether it’s sports, academics, or something else, trust in the work you put in. You’re always learning, always growing.”
For Graham Osman, his journey from St. Anne’s to professional baseball is far from over. No matter where the game takes him next, he’ll always carry the lessons learned and the relationships built at St. Anne’s with him.
As his professional baseball career continues, Graham hopes to inspire future generations of St. Anne’s students. “I want to be remembered as someone who worked hard, stayed true to myself, and never gave up on my dreams,” he says. “St. Anne’s gave me the foundation to build on, and I hope I can give back in some way—whether by inspiring others or sharing what I’ve learned.”
Graham Osman’s story is far from finished, but it serves as a reminder to all: with dedication, hard work, and a strong support system, anything is possible.
CLASS NOTES
Send in your Class Note for next year by emailing ahart@st-annes.org!
CLASS OF 1961
Jim Smith
At 78 this September, Jim is three years older than the school where he attended first and second grade, taught by Sister Irene—his earliest and fondest memories. He rarely sees classmates at alumni events, as the Sisters disposed of their alumni records to save space. Fortunately, Jim kept in touch with Mother Irene, who surprised him when he moved back to Denver in 1991 by recalling the names of all his classmates and what had become of many of them. He was honored to stay in contact until her passing.
Currently, Jim hopes to retire from the real estate brokerage he founded in Golden 18 years ago. He and his wife, Rita, enjoyed a 120-day world cruise with Viking in 2024 and look forward to a 140-day world cruise next year. Jim blogs about their travels at WhereAreJimandRita.substack.com and plans to continue documenting their journeys. Above is a photo of the couple in Honfleur, France.
CLASS OF 1982
Elizabeth “Buffy” Fisher
Elizabeth has been an active member of the St. Anne’s Alumni Association over the years since graduating from St. Anne’s. She loves coming back to St. Anne’s! Most recently, she served as the Alumni Board Representative to the Board of Trustees.
Here she is pictured hiking in Vail, CO, last summer—something she hopes to do more of this year as she continues to enjoy Colorado’s beautiful outdoors!
photos and memories.
Halloween 1976: 3rd grade annual Halloween Parade around the blacktop— I was a mortgage banker; my father was one at the time, and I decided to emulate him for Halloween! That is Amy Pearson ’82 on my left; she was also one of my attendants when I was May Queen in 1982 as an 8th grader.
The next picture is from 1983: Kate Culkin ’83 on the left and Sarah Culkin Mengshol ’87 (Kate’s young sister) on the right. Kate was the sandman, Sarah was a witch, and I am a mortgage banker.
Pictures of the Sisters from the 1978 Sundial Yearbook. Sister Maris was the Sister who would get on her step ladder and take any expired textbooks out of the dumpster and go around to the classrooms and ask if we could use them. She was very tiny and very sweet—one of my faves!
Kate Culkin and Amy Pearson were my May Queen Attendants, I signed the May Queen Book with Sister Joann; she was the youngest Sister at the time.
Below are Buffy Fisher’s throwback
= throwback photo
Mr. David Vander Meulen and Mrs. Lyn Church gave speeches at my 8th grade graduation in 1982, which was also the same day as May Day back then!
Mr. John Comfort and Mrs. Rose Kelly at my graduation, giving out our diplomas!
Sean Keefe
Sean is finishing his fifth year teaching and coaching at Graland Country Day School and is approaching three decades in education. He is proud of his affiliation with the St. Anne’s Alumni
The Emmerling Family
Joseph (Joey) Emmerling ’03
Joe married Isabel King of San Francisco on November 9, 2024, at Hudson Ranch in Napa, California. They live in Santa Monica and are expecting a baby girl at the end of August.
Association and treasures the teachers and lifelong friends he made here. He credits Dave Vander Meulen for instilling a love of reading and writing and fondly remembers John Comfort. In his free time, he enjoys time with his dog, Maizy.
Sean included a throwback photo of him playing for the St. Anne’s basketball team!
CLASS OF 1993
Will Grant
Will is featured in the Summer 2025 edition of Outside Magazine with his article “All In for the Hang and Rattle in Kazakhstan.” The story covers the U.S. team’s bold entry into the high-stakes, ancient sport of Kokboru at the World Nomad Games. As the article puts it: “The sport is ancient. The horses are fierce. The riders are fearless. And the U.S. team is—well, at the World Nomad Games, the U.S. team is ready for whatever the game of Kokboru dishes out.” A huge congratulations to Will on this impressive feature in one of the top outdoor adventure publications.
Daniel (Danny) Emmerling ’08
Danny lives in San Diego and leads a team as a Process Engineer in life sciences and biotechnology at BarryWehmiller Design Group. He recently earned his Professional Engineer (PE) certification from the California Department of Consumer Affairs.
Mary Emmerling ’12
Mary just completed her third year in the MSW/JD program at the University of Denver. This summer, she serves as the Sattler Civil Rights Fellow for the Colorado Lawyers Committee, collaborating with law firms to support civil liberties.
CLASS NOTES
CLASS OF 1994
Shaundeice Bennett
Shaundeice lives in North Alabama and works for the U.S. Army. She has an 11-year-old daughter who keeps her busy and recently inspired her to become treasurer of her Girl Scout troop. She enjoys spending time with family and friends and is an avid Formula 1 fan. She sends her best wishes to everyone.
CLASS OF 1995 (AND FORMER FACULTY MEMBER)
Katje Steenrod
Katje is living on the Silver Coast in Portugal with her daughter. They love everything about their new life!
CLASS OF 1999
Christie Osborne
Christie lives in Philadelphia with her husband Eric, their children Adeline (4) and Connor (2), and their dog Sadie. She completed medical school at the University of Colorado in 2014, followed by pediatric residencies and fellowships in infectious diseases and critical care. She is an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania and an attending physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Christie remains close with fellow St. Anne’s alumni Tom Seibert, Emily (Simpson) Sabella, and Vanessa Brenengen. She treasures memories of teachers like Mr. Dicker, Mrs. Grant, Mrs. Bird, and Dr. Figlino.
CLASS OF 2000
John Arigoni
John couldn’t be more excited to have two children at St. Anne’s. JB is in second grade, and last year he had Mrs. York, the same 1st grade teacher that John had! Lettie is starting in preschool this year and is excited to finally go to the same school as her big brother.
CLASS OF 2004
Julianna (Reed) Corliss
Julianna works in financial counseling at Children’s Hospital in Aurora, helping families navigate medical expenses. She has been there for five years. Married to Wade Corliss, they have two boys: Emmett (2) and Owen (3 months). Julianna earned her Master’s in Business in January, balancing work, studies, and family. She describes her busy life as fulfilling and looks forward to summer family time.
CLASS OF 2005
Brooke O’Neal
Brooke and Blaze Heuga were married in a beautiful ceremony in Capri, Italy, in September 2024. The couple is expecting a baby boy in July 2025! Proud mom Pamela O’Neal hopes to share a photo of the new arrival in a future newsletter—stay tuned!
CLASS OF 2006
Kathleen (Dermody) Ferrando
Kathleen (Dermody) Ferrando moved back to Denver in 2022 after spending 12 years in the San Francisco Bay Area with her now husband, Zak. The two were married on August 3, 2024, at the Denver Country Club, surrounded by many St. Anne’s friends and family, including Lucy (McNamara) Merrill ’06, Anna (Miller) Dolven ’06, Emily (Pirnack) Green ’06, and Dr. Lexa (Taylor) Pearson ’06, just to name a few. All of the beautiful floral arrangements were created and designed by the talented Kendall Richardson ’08.
Kathleen and Zak honeymooned in Australia, where they had the chance to visit with St. Anne’s former teacher Jodi Jones, and her daughter, Alli Jones ’16. Kathleen and Zak now live in Bonnie Brae with their chocolate lab, Bonnie, and enjoy traveling and adventuring in Colorado and beyond.
Kathleen reports that it’s been nearly 20 years since graduating from St. Anne’s, and she can’t help but reflect on how much of an impact Mr. G had—and still has—on her. He made learning fun and remains one of the best teachers she’s ever had. Gifford is truly indispensable and irreplaceable.
Lindsay O’Neal Knutson
Lindsay and her husband, Connor Knutson, traveled to Capri, Italy, for the wedding of her sister, Brooke ’05. Lindsay was Matron of Honor, and her husband was a groomsman. They live in Cherry Creek with their dog, Pocket.
CLASS OF 2008
Myles R. Scolnick
Myles Scolnick is the Co-founder and CTO of the company named Marimo, a next-generation Python notebook designed to be reproducible, interactive, and shareable.
CLASS OF 2009
Jiovanni Mancarella
Jiovanni recently launched LUX FORGE, a jewelry atelier in Denver’s River North Arts District. The workshop crafts jewelry celebrating life’s treasured moments, using recycled metals and ethically sourced gemstones.
CLASS OF 2012
Alec McCranie
Alec was accepted into a plastic surgery residency in New Mexico, where they will train for six years. Newly engaged, they plan to marry in 2026. Alec and their spouse recently put an offer on a house in New Mexico, aiming to move in by June.
Atlee Witt
Atlee is pursuing an MD/PhD at Vanderbilt, expecting to graduate in 2027. She received the PEO Scholar Award. Atlee credits St. Anne’s teachers— including Dr. Figlino and Mr. Bird—for guiding her career. The photo shows Atlee with her partner, Shane, an anesthesia resident at Northwestern.
CLASS NOTES
CLASS OF 2013
Celia Osman
Celia recently moved back to Colorado near Old Town Arvada and works in global supply chain & logistics for Target. She’s enjoyed traveling and reconnecting with friends. The Osman family is thrilled to have her home. Celia thanks Mr. Saslow for his mentorship.
CLASS OF 2016
Barrie Barto
Barrie graduated from Vanderbilt University in May with majors in medicine, health & society and communication of science & technology, and a minor in neuroscience. She traded cowboy boots and Music City for tea and Big Ben and now lives in London, one of three women chosen for the 56th cohort of the Wattles Fellowship. While there, Barrie will be working for AJ Gallagher, a Lloyd’s of London company, and continuing to pursue her passion for travel photography.
Barrie would like to give shoutouts to a collection of current and former faculty and staff:
Thank you to Mrs. Drees, whose immersion-style classroom was both hilarious and eye-opening to the endless possibilities available through learning.
Thank you to Mr. Dicker for setting us up to reach for the stars, knowing we could do that and so much more. When I went to practice consulting cases, I realized I had been prepared for them since I was 11 years old.
Thank you to Mr. Amend for bringing adaptability and personality to make each day more impactful than the last.
Thank you to Mrs. Fleming for treating us like the big kids we thought we were.
Thank you to Mr. Lemire for modeling how to channel important ideas and feelings into conversations and art.
Thank you to Mr. Saslow for the two bags of books curated for a young reader ready to move past dystopias.
CLASS OF 2017
Maya Cederlund
Maya, a senior at American University, won the 2025 White House Correspondents’ Association Investigative Journalism Scholarship. She is the DEI and Community Engagement Editor at The Eagle and a reporting fellow at the Investigative Reporting Workshop. A Denver native and journalism major,
she co-founded AU’s Asian American Journalists Association chapter. Maya’s investigative work on Title IX impressed judges for its tenacity. She looks forward to mentorship and a career in investigative journalism after graduation.
Source: American University’s School of Communication
Karlee Osman
Karlee graduated from the University of Arizona with a B.S. in Business Administration (Marketing) and a minor in global business. She is moving to Australia for a year to work and travel. Karlee fondly remembers Mr. Lemire’s drama productions, field days, and school carnivals.
CLASS OF 2018
Parker Secrest
Parker is studying this summer at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, before returning to CU Boulder for senior year in engineering/computer science. He also plays keys in the local Boulder band, Sketchwork.
CLASS OF 2019
Abby Alem
Abby is a sophomore at Pomona College majoring in physics and minoring in art.
Brogan Andrus
Brogan is committed to playing NCAA ice hockey in New Hampshire starting fall 2025. He thanks all his St. Anne’s teachers for shaping him. One favorite memory: doing the worm at the 7thgrade dance!
Maisie Bogitch
Maisie finished her sophomore year at Sarah Lawrence College, studying history and audio production. She appeared in The Wolves and will study abroad in Florence next year. This summer, she’s working and traveling with friends and sends thanks to the St. Anne’s community, especially Mr. Amend and Mr. Bird.
Tayler Secrest
Tayler is a business analyst intern at AtkinsRéalis in Denver this summer. A rising junior at Chapman University, majoring in finance, he will study abroad in Budapest, Hungary, in the fall.
CLASS OF 2021
Myles Conant
Myles graduated from DSST-Cedar High School in 2025 and started college at Colorado School of Mines, joining the Grandey First-year Honors program. He plans to study computer science.
Parker Stava (Class of 2018)
Parker will graduate from Northwestern in June with degrees in biology, political science, and bioethics.
Catherine Stava (Class of 2020)
Catherine finished her freshman year at Carnegie Mellon University and ran the fifthfastest time in school history at regionals in the 200m.
Aziza Diallo
Aziza graduated from Colorado Academy and is starting her first year at Wellesley College. She received the prestigious 2025 Daniels Fund Scholarship and spent summer working with Generation Teach (AmeriCorps). She also completed a mural for CA’s Diversity Pod and helped lead Community and Culture Week.
Antonia Lhevine
Antonia graduated from South High School and will attend CU Boulder’s Leeds School of Business this fall.
Lucy Nadolink
Lucy graduated from Colorado Academy, where she played field hockey, and will be a freshman at UC San Diego this fall. She’s preparing for her first gallery exhibition.
ALUMNI DAY AT SAITH
St. Anne’s alumni of all ages came together at St. Anne’s in the Hills for our second annual Alumni Day—a fun-filled afternoon of reconnecting, reminiscing, and making new memories! From outdoor games to a casual lunch on campus, the event was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with old friends and share stories from our days at St. Anne’s. Alumni and their families explored the SAITH grounds and hills, revisiting the trails and special spots where so many meaningful memories were made during school trips. It was a joyful, family-friendly celebration of the community that continues to bring us all back together.
Jasmine Seeber
Jasmine graduated from St. Mary’s Academy in May 2025 and will attend CU Boulder’s School of Engineering, Integrated Design Program, combining art and mechanical engineering.
CLASS OF 2022
St. Anne’s Alums Win Back-to-Back Girls’ Soccer Championships at Colorado Academy!
Congratulations to Bella Torres ’22, Keaton Miller ’23, and Eva Gifford ’22.
CLASS OF 2023
James Coors
James is a sophomore at Mercersburg Academy, where he runs, serves on the Community Engagement Council, plays in the band, co-presides over the Engineering Club, and recently competed in a triathlon. He credits Mr. Dicker’s math class for keeping him ahead.
Aiden Lindberg
Aiden is excited about recent musical opportunities, including performances at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and other venues.
CLASS OF 2024
Alumni Spotted on the Sidelines
A fun moment from the Kent Middle School lacrosse game: Quinny Sherry, Josie Storfa, Tillie Burn, and Harper Calkins were all smiles as they caught up with former teachers Mr. Amend and Mr. Gifford. Always great to see our alumni supporting local teams—and each other!
CLASS OF 2021 REUNION
A group from the Class of 2021 gathered for lunch on campus this June before heading off to their respective colleges. Congratulations to all—we’re so proud of you! Best of luck on this exciting next chapter. We hope you’ll always consider St. Anne’s your home and come back to visit often!
LIFELONG FRIENDS AND TEAMMATES: ST. ANNE’S ALUMS REACH 1,000-POINT MILESTONE AT COLORADO ACADEMY
Adapted with permission from Colorado Academy Communications, originally written by Bill Fisher
St. Anne’s Episcopal School alums Anna Johnson and Clyde Love have shared a friendship—and a love for basketball—that began in early childhood and has grown into something truly remarkable. This past winter, both seniors reached a major milestone: scoring over 1,000 career points as varsity athletes at Colorado Academy (CA), where they helped lead their teams to deep playoff runs. Johnson’s team reached the “Great 8” in the CHSAA Class 4A State Tournament, while Love’s team advanced all the way to the state championship game.
Anna and Clyde’s shared journey started well before their high school achievements. The two met as young children and were classmates from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade at St. Anne’s. It was during their middle school years at St. Anne’s that they began playing organized basketball together, building both skills and a friendship that has lasted more than a decade. Photos over the years capture the two of them side by side in St. Anne’s gear—on the court, at school events, and with their families, who remain close friends.
“We’ve been playing basketball together for a really long time,” says Clyde. “Whenever we see each other in the hallways at CA, we joke about who got the most points in the last game.”
While Clyde has always had a deep love for basketball— joining CA’s feeder program as early as sixth grade—Anna discovered her passion for the game a bit later. Originally focused on tennis, she quickly fell in love with basketball during her freshman year at CA and committed fully to the sport, eventually breaking CA’s all-time Girls Basketball scoring record. She was named to the CHSAA/ MaxPreps All-State First Team and will continue her basketball career at Claremont McKenna College next fall.
Clyde, known for his dynamic play and consistent scoring, was a key contributor throughout his time at CA. In addition to basketball, he also played varsity soccer and excelled academically, taking a rigorous course load in STEM fields. He was frequently recognized as “Player of the Game” and played a pivotal role in his team’s run to the state finals this spring.
Their parallel successes on and off the court speak not only to their individual talents but also to the strong foundation they built at St. Anne’s. It’s clear that the supportive community, emphasis on character, and opportunities to grow as student-athletes during their middle school years helped shape who they are today.
As Anna and Clyde head off to the next chapter, their St. Anne’s community celebrates them—not just for what they’ve accomplished, but for the friendship and spirit they’ve carried with them from the very beginning.
CURRENT AND FORMER FACULTY & STAFF
Stephen Bertles
Theater Arts Teacher
St. Anne’s Episcopal School is proud to honor Stephen Bertles as the first recipient of the Mother Irene Distinguished Service Award.
This was established to recognize teachers and staff members who have contributed significantly to the life of the School. It acknowledges faculty and staff at St. Anne’s who serve kids and colleagues with compassion, humility, and commitment. They consistently inspire, motivate, and challenge students and peers by fostering an environment of curiosity and lifelong learning. Recipients have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the school’s mission and community.
Stephen’s lasting impact on generations of students, tireless support of his colleagues, and wholehearted dedication to the St. Anne’s mission make him a truly fitting inaugural honoree.
Lori Frank Assistant Head of School
Lori has been helping St. Anne’s overhaul its service learning program and prepare for its 75th anniversary. After summer trips to Illinois, Wisconsin, and California, she will embark on her 39th year at St. Anne’s!
Nancy Franks
Former 4th Grade Teacher
After teaching about Africa in 4th grade at St. Anne’s for many years, Nancy finally visited Egypt on an unforgettable trip!
Kim Grant 4th Grade Teacher
Christine Hain
Health Assistant
Kim won a Summer Sabbatical Grant! She and her sister will travel to London this summer—photos and stories to come next year.
Chistine’s son graduated from Dakota Ridge High School on May 16, and he’s off to the University of Hawaii at Manoa this fall!
Craig Knippenberg
Former Mental Health Consultant
Former SAES mental health consultant Craig Knippenberg announces two exciting releases. His second book, Shame-Free Parenting: Building Resiliency in Times of Hardship, Guns, and Social Media, is now available on Audible—a compassionate guide helping parents navigate modern complexities while letting go of stress and guilt.
He’s also launched a new series within his established podcast Legit Parenting. “Things of Beauty Make Me Cry” explores his four-decade search for the beauty that surrounds us, sharing powerful stories of profound joy, vulnerability, and the paradoxes that often beautifully emerge from our deepest pain. In a world where trust has reached historic lows, Craig invites us to slow down and notice the “lures to beauty” that exist alongside the hardships. With close to 100 episodes
spanning five years, Legit Parenting continues to remind us what it means to be human, whether as parents building resilient families through “good enough” parenting or as individuals seeking moments worth etching in our memory.
“Shame-Free Parenting” is available on Audible. “Legit Parenting” is available wherever you get podcasts.
Jeanne Maxwell
Former 4th Grade Teacher
Jeanne’s grandson, Payton Maxwell, is graduating from Arapahoe High School and will attend Flagler College in Florida to play lacrosse. Jeanne volunteers at Holly Creek Retirement Center and loves it. She reflects, “I loved my students at St. Anne’s, and I now love the people at Holly Creek. I’ve led a blessed life.”
Erin Ménard & Patty Jordan
French Teacher and PE Teacher
These dedicated educators led their fourth France Trip from June 6–15 with 16 middle schoolers. Stops included Paris, Versailles, and Carcassonne for community service and school exchange experiences.
Laura Park
4th Grade Assistant Teacher
Laura and Brent Park welcomed their daughter, Eleanor Dorothy Park, on January 8, 2025, weighing 5lbs., 2oz.
Warren Saslow
Former MS English Teacher
Warren enjoys substitute teaching in the St. Anne’s middle school and remains active with tennis, pickleball, hiking, and travel. He and his wife visited Alaska last summer and will explore Nova Scotia and Ireland this year. He stays in touch with former students over walks or coffee—minus grammar lessons!
David Vander Meulen
Former MS English Teacher
Dave and his wife spend a lot of time with their granddaughter Magnolia. He recalls a dramatic graduation ceremony in the chapel by candlelight—an unforgettable moment from the early years of St. Anne’s.
Richard and Debbie Wood (Richard, Former Head of School) Richard and Debbie Wood are so happy that all three of their grandchildren (Bennett Krug ’23, Margot Krug ’25, and Gwennie Krug ’31) could attend St. Anne’s—Bennett and Margot are graduates and Gwennie will be in 3rd grade! Below is a throwback picture of Richard Wood as Head of School (1976–1980) standing with Mother Irene.
CLASS OF 2021 COLLEGE MATRICULATION LIST
The following reflects information submitted by alumni families. Though some did not submit information, each graduate is equally celebrated.
Ward Abramowicz Tulane University
Michael Alem
Davidson College
Berit Allen Villanova University
Kate Barton Babson College
William Blount Tulane University
Gabriella Brower
University of California, Berkeley
Sophia Capra
Texas Christian University
Myles Conant
Colorado School of Mines
Maggie Coors
University of Pennsylvania
Annecy Damon
California Polytechnic State University
Ryan DiTanna
University of California, Santa Barbara
Aziza Diallo
Wellesley College
Kees Eckenhausen
Texas Christian University
Justin Fagelson
Wake Forest University
Katherine Grinney Indiana University
Madeleine Hepworth
Auburn University
Agnes Holena
Loyola Marymount University
Henry Hughes
University of Colorado, Boulder
Anna Johnson
Claremont McKenna College (basketball)
Audrey Johnson
Boston College
Antonia Lhevine
University of Colorado, Boulder
Clyde Love
Pomona College
Cabot Miner
University of Michigan
Julia Montoya University of Notre Dame
Jackson Moroye
Cornell College, Iowa (baseball)
Lucy Nadolink
University of California, San Diego
Ryan Nguyen
Case Western Reserve University
Tommy O’Keefe
Miami University, Ohio
Andrew Schweitzer
Santa Clara University
Jasmine Seeber
University of Colorado, Boulder
Charles Sharp Haverford College (soccer)
Ben Strong
Lehigh University
Andres Taboada-Cross
University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign
Ellie Toland University of Pittsburgh
Will Toomey
Sewanee: The University of the South
Wyatt Walker
Southern Methodist University
Jack Wilson
University of Virginia
Jordan Wright
Sewanee: The University of the South
RETIREMENTS
Honoring Mandy Keiley, Teacher (Preschool/PK, First Grade), 1996–2025
Presented at Founders’ and Trustees’ Day by Kyra Smiley and Christy O’Keefe
We are so pleased to celebrate Mandy Keiley, a truly exceptional individual and educator, for her 29 years of dedicated service in the field of education and more notably—the unique challenge and joy of guiding our youngest learners. Mandy has shaped countless lives but has also inspired
Honoring Tim Seitz, Director of Plant Operations, 1984–2024
Presented at Founders and Trustees’ Day by the Head of School, Chris Cox
Tim Seitz was hired by Head of School John Comfort in June of 1984, over 40 years ago. There were five Sisters living on campus at that time, including Mother Irene. At one of the earliest Founders’ Days, Tim started a special tradition of placing potted flowers at the entrance to the Mound on campus and laying a white rose on each of the Sisters’ headstones. We promise to keep up that tradition, Tim!
When he was hired, Tim was the school’s only maintenance person, and his office/shop was an old storage shed
all of us with her unwavering passion, commitment, and love for teaching.
During her time at St. Anne’s, Mandy has nurtured children’s curiosity, fostered their creativity, and provided them with the foundation they need to thrive. We are honoring a colleague who has dedicated countless hours working with children and celebrating their accomplishments as if they were her own. In speaking with her current students, they mentioned they love holding her hand, hugging her, and playing games with her. Several others remarked they enjoy her stories and the knowledge of books she has shared with them.
But it’s not just the children she has touched; she has touched all of us. Her kindness, wisdom, and unwavering support have made this community stronger and more connected. Mandy came to St. Anne’s first as a parent of
with no heat, no water, and a single lightbulb. One of his fondest memories is from his first few days of working at St. Anne’s. Mr. Comfort had instructed him to replace some damaged shingles on the Main Building roof. There were quite a few that needed to be replaced, but he was young and full of energy so he found it to be an easy task. After a few days, he finished all the roofing and a handful of other small tasks he had been given. He was sad because he thought he had just worked himself out of a job. When he told Mr. Comfort “everything” was done, Mr. Comfort just laughed and said, “Let’s take a walk and see if we can find anything else for you to do.” Over the next 40 years, the to-do list just kept growing!
At that time, the campus looked very different from how it looks today. In fact, the only things that remain after those 40 years of change are the Main Building and a few of the trees on this campus. Aside from being the Director of Plant Operations, he has had many additional responsibilities, which in a nutshell, can be summarized as a “will do/can do” guy for everyone on campus. Mr. Seitz could be seen behind
her two daughters, Meg and Katie, who attended St. Anne’s under Mother Irene’s watchful care. Soon after, Mandy joined the St. Anne’s staff as a teacher. Mandy’s love of the school, its history, and her desire to keep Mother Irene’s legacy alive led to her involvement with the Heritage Committee and the important work of imparting Mother’s grace to the entire community.
Mandy, you’ve shown us that teaching is more than just a career—it’s a calling, and it’s one that you have answered with all your heart. And the impact you’ve had on all our lives will be felt for years to come. On behalf of everyone here—your colleagues, your students, and all those whose lives you’ve touched—we thank you for your 29 years of service. Your legacy is not just in the lessons you’ve taught, but in the love and care you’ve shared.
Congratulations, Mandy! Cheers!
the scenes at every community event, including assemblies, chapel services, picnics, Benefits, and Bingo Nights. He was typically one of the first to arrive in the morning, sometimes shoveling sidewalks, and he was often one of the last to leave if there was a special event in the evening. He worked tirelessly with contractors and others to make sure that students and teachers had the spaces and furnishings that they needed to keep learning on track.
Tim is grateful for his years at St. Anne’s. During that time, he says that he had the honor of working with six heads of school, including Mr. Comfort, Mr. Stabler, Mr. Smiley, Mr. Clough, Ms. Frank and me. His three sons, Jerry, Dan, and Kevin, attended St. Anne’s from Montessori through 8th grade. He is most proud of all the things he learned, the people he helped, and all the friends he made here. In his words, “This has been the ultimate job for a person like me!”
Tim and his wife, Fran, have moved to their dream home on the Western Slope of Colorado, and we wish them all the best as they enjoy a welldeserved retirement.
Presented at Founders and Trustees’ Day by 6th-grade students Libby Harris, Charlotte Lipsey, and Henley Nourse
Two years ago, when we were in fifth grade, we were having a conversation with Ms. Jordan, and we asked about her plans for retirement because we didn’t want to be at St. Anne’s without her. She said that she would probably retire while we were still here, so we asked her if we could give her a retirement speech. One day at break recently, she told us that she had decided to retire this year and that she remembered our fifth-grade conversation. She asked us if we still wanted to give her a speech, and we were so honored.
Ms. Jordan has such a big heart. She loves all of her students, and we love her. She is kind, supportive, open, and caring. She always greets us with a smile and a hug, which makes us feel warm and comforted. As a teacher, she always tries to make us enjoy P.E. It isn’t just the class that is enjoyable, but also the chance to spend time with Ms. Jordan. She also has a good sense of humor. One day, we were outside playing Risk, and we all picked up cones and put them on our heads. We said that we were gnomes, and Ms. Jordan couldn’t stop laughing at us.
Ms. Jordan always thought she wanted to be a P.E. teacher, but when it came time to go to college, computers were just becoming a really big thing, and computer jobs paid well. She started out at Metro State College in the computer science department, but she also took a handball class just for fun. The teacher, who was the head of the P.E. Department, asked all the students in the class to teach a lesson. After Ms. Jordan finished teaching
her lesson, the teacher told her, “You need to change your major to P.E. today.” So she did!
Ms. Jordan did her student teaching at Cherry Creek High School, where she coached one of our former parents, Lisa Osman, on the volleyball team. Years later, she taught Lisa’s son, Graham, here at St. Anne’s. In 2023, Graham was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, and Ms. Jordan calls that her claim to fame.
When she graduated from college, she taught and coached at Aurora Christian Academy, a K–12 school. It’s no longer around. Then she taught at Colorado Christian School for 10 years. It’s no longer there, either. Then she came to St. Anne’s. She hopes that, for St. Anne’s sake, the disappearing school trend does not continue!
Ms. Jordan first heard about St. Anne’s from a Metro State professor who knew Ms. McKleroy. Ms. McKleroy had told the professor about a P.E. job opening at the school. Some of Ms. Jordan’s favorite memories at St. Anne’s include beating Kent and CA in different sports. During one of her first years at St. Anne’s, the school had one of the best track teams we’ve ever had. That team got first place at every meet against really large public schools, and several students broke school records.
Ms. Jordan shared with us that she has loved teaching all her students. They make her smile every day. She loves getting to watch students start out in preschool and end up playing high school and college sports because of things she taught them.
She has made many friends during her career and estimates that she has taught over 10,000 students and worked with over 500 different teachers and administrators. One of the things she likes best about St. Anne’s is that this school values teaching the whole child: mind, body, soul, and spirit in art, music, P.E., and academics. She loves that we grow good kids at St. Anne’s.
Ms. Jordan claims that she has been one of the luckiest teachers on the planet because of the places where she got to teach and the people she got to know. She says that she will miss everyone
at St. Anne’s, but there’s a rumor going around from the fifth graders that she will become a National Park Ranger. So look for her if you go hiking!
Congratulations on an amazing career, Ms. Jordan! We will miss you!
A Timeless
Tribute to Ms. Jordan
Presented at Founders and Trustees’ Day by 8th grade students Pip Harris and Lila Kozlowski
We were asked to come up today and share a Taylor Swift song that we believe represents Ms. Jordan as our coach. Ms. Jordan has done the same with us for almost every sports season.
Ms. Jordan has coached us in St. Anne’s athletics for 7 seasons. Through our 7 seasons with her, we decided that the song that best represents her is Timeless by Taylor Swift.
Ms. Jordan has taught me in PE class from preschool to 8th grade. Every year she makes it fun and her humor has always made our class laugh. Because of this, the way she teaches is Timeless.
To me Ms. Jordan is timeless because she has always been there for me as an athlete. Through every sport she has coached me in, I find that her encouragement and love for her teams is Timeless.
Thank you, Ms. Jordan, for everything you have done for us and the rest of the kids at St. Anne’s.
You have impacted all of us in so many different ways.
Although we are sad to see you move on, we know that your love for St. Anne’s is timeless.
St. Anne’s will forever miss your incredible spirit. We know that life has great things in store for you.
Thank you.
IN MEMORIAM
TRUSTEES & FORMER FACULTY + STAFF
Edward L. Calligan
Edward Leo Calligan, 77, passed away peacefully on April 16, 2025. He was born in Queens, New York, to Edward J. Calligan and Anna (McFarland) Calligan. Ed was one of six children and the only son in a house full of sisters.
He was preceded in death by his mother and father and sisters Virginia (Calligan) Brewer, Barbara (Calligan) Brathe, Mary (Calligan) Resteghini, and Amy (Calligan) Dibens.
Ed, a devoted husband, father and grandfather, is survived by his loving wife Glenda (Beckman) Calligan; his children Ryan Calligan (Ashley) and Erin (Calligan) Eicher (Eric); his cherished Grandchildren, Brooke and Emmitt Eicher, his sister Nancy (Calligan) Synek, Mother-in-law Dolores Beckman, Sister-in law Gloria Sumner and Brother-in-law Jay and Rose Beckman. He leaves many loved nieces and nephews and way too many friends to mention.
Ed proudly served his country in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War. Ed was stationed at Lowry Air Force Base and knew that he wanted to return to Denver. He met his wife, Glenda, and they married in 1973, enjoying 52 years of bliss. Following his service, he built two successful careers, first in the garment industry and later in the import craft business. His work took him around the globe nurturing a deep love of travel and adventure that he passed on to his children.
Though he once aspired to become a teacher, Ed found his calling in many forms of mentorship. He had a deep appreciation for learning and sharing knowledge, whether through professional experiences or personal relationships.
A passionate volunteer and timeless supporter of his community, Ed dedicated over 30 years of fundraising for St. Anne’s Episcopal School in Denver. He found joy giving back to the school that both of his children attended.
Those who knew Ed remember him for his gentle spirit, steady presence, generous heart, and sense of humor. Among family he was affectionately known as a “prince of a guy,” a nickname that captured his warmth, humility, and unwavering kindness.
Gilbert “Gil” Henry Erbisch May 8, 1925–October 8, 2024
Gilbert “Gil” Henry Erbisch, of St. Simons Island, passed peacefully from this life at his home on Tuesday, October 8, 2024, at the age of 99.
Gil was born at home on May 8, 1925, to Adolph and Emma Nietzke Erbisch in Sebewaing, Michigan. He grew up in Sebewaing, attending the Emmanuel Lutheran School from grades 1–8, and graduated from Sebewaing High School in 1943. After graduation, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps during WWII and served for two years in Pilot Training at various stations in the United States. He was honorably discharged in 1945.
Gil attended Central Michigan College of Education on the GI Bill and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949. He began his teaching career in Homer, Michigan, teaching high school physics, chemistry and biology, and earned a Master of Science Degree from Michigan State University in 1964. During this time, he served as the Traveling Science Teacher for the National Science Foundation. Gil moved to Colorado and taught at St. Anne’s Episcopal School and at Graland Country Day School. He retired from Graland in 1997.
In addition to his years as an educator, Gil was also a Union Carpenter, a patented inventor, inventing a game based on physics principles, and an artist. His sculpture, Rural Memories, was donated to the city of Fruita, Colorado, and is installed on Aspen Street, the main street in town.
He was an active member of the Lions Club International in Michigan and the Golden Isles Lions Club, who awarded him the honor of being a Melvin Jones Fellow.
Gil was predeceased by his parents; his five siblings, Helen, Clarence, Art (Carol), Nelson (Betty) and Marie Rhines (Jerry); and his son, William.
He is survived by his Life Partner, Joy Coleman, and her sons, Brent and Kirk Thompson.
Gil married Evelyn Stengle in 1949 and is survived by their children, Robert Erbisch (Deborah), Carol Phelps, and Katherine Marini (Sal); his grandchildren, Mike Erbisch (Charlotte), Sarah Thimms (Mattias), Juliana Phelps, Ryan Marini (Cristie), Stacie Weller (Justin); numerous great-grandchildren and a great-greatgranddaughter, Lilyann Erbisch.
A letter written by Buffy Fisher ’82
Some teachers leave an impact that lasts far beyond the classroom, and Mr. Erbisch was undoubtedly one of them. His passion for science was contagious, sparking curiosity and excitement in his students with every lesson. Whether it was through engaging experiments, thought-provoking discussions, or simply the way he made complex concepts seem approachable to young St. Anne’s students, Mr. Erbisch had a gift for making learning an adventure.
But beyond his knowledge and teaching skills, what truly set him apart was his kindness, patience, and unwavering belief in his students. He had a way of making everyone feel seen and capable, always encouraging us to think critically and push beyond what we thought possible. His dedication to education and to his students’ success was evident in everything he did.
Mr. Erbisch didn’t just teach science—he inspired a love for learning, a sense of curiosity, and a belief that knowledge has the power to change the world. For that, and for the many lives he touched, he will always be remembered with gratitude and admiration.
Thank you, Mr. Erbisch, for your wisdom, your encouragement, and the difference you made. Your legacy lives on in all those you taught and inspired.
–Buffy Fisher ’82
ALUMNI
Theresa Leh Waymire Dunn ’94 July 4, 1979–February 19, 2025
We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of a beloved wife, mother, daughter, cousin and friend, Terri. She is survived by her husband of 15 years, Matthew Dunn, and their four children, Katherine, Luke, Beatrice and John, as well as her parents, Tom and Ginger Waymire, her sister, Sarah Sato, and her brother, Randy Waymire.
Terri attended Colorado Academy’s Integrated Day Program for grades K–2 for two years before moving on to St. Anne’s Episcopal School. George Washington High School International Baccalaureate Program followed, where she was inducted into the National Honor Society. Terri was a member of Westernaires in Golden, Colorado, for nine years, becoming a member of their Precisionettes, Harness Team, Red Chariots, Belle Star Whippers, Liberty, and their elite Red Rangers.
She loved skiing, climbing, fencing, horseback riding, drama and music. Her artwork won first place in SSIP, the Space Science Involvement Program, Interplanetary Art Competition in Colorado. Terri graduated from Vassar College in 2002. She was captain of Vassar’s Epee Team, traveling to the Netherlands to compete. She studied law at CU-Boulder, graduating in 2005. She practiced law for years before deciding to stay home to raise her children.
Terri loved to travel. She taught English in Bilbao, Spain, studied abroad in New Zealand, traveled to Israel with a study group, toured Sweden and Great Britain with her church choir, went to Nicaragua for a service project and spent time in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Iceland, Italy, France and Mexico. She climbed most of the Colorado Fourteeners and enjoyed backcountry skiing all across Colorado. She also participated in several triathlons, 5Ks and endurance races.
After a two-year battle with Stage 4 metastatic cancer of unknown origin, she died peacefully at home with her family around her. She was a bright light in the lives of everyone who knew her and will be greatly missed. We will hold her in our hearts forever.
A Letter from
I remember the day I first met Terri. It was the first day of 2nd grade. While all the other kids were chatting on the sidewalk, catching up with each other about their summers, and gossiping about what the year would bring, there was one girl I didn’t recognize galloping around the soccer field with a pure look of joy on her face. She was enjoying the outdoor air and looked like she was just happy to be here and alive—“happy serenity” (The Tao of Pooh). I decided then and there I had to meet this girl. I ran toward her onto the field, and she galloped up to me.
“Hi! I’m Juliana. What’s your name?” I said. “I’m Terri! Do you want to play with me?” she said. “What are you playing?” I asked. “Horses.” “Sure. Sounds fun!”
And we began galloping around the soccer field together, each taking turns being the leader. That was the start of our long and wonderful friendship. She was the Yin to my Yang, the Pooh to my Piglet.
We were inseparable during our time at St. Anne’s, and St. Anne’s shaped our friendship in more ways than I can count, allowing us to continue to build so many more wonderful memories over our 35+ year friendship. She will be deeply missed by so many of us whose lives she touched in both big ways and small.
Juliana Phelps ’94 (SAES classmate and lifelong friend)
Baking with Mother Irene A
Legacy in Every Bite
Mother Irene, our beloved founder, was known not only for her deep compassion and steadfast leadership but also for her simple gestures of love—like a warm cookie fresh from the oven. Whether offered to students after a long day or shared among Sisters and staff, her cookies reminded everyone that they were home.
This year, we invite you to celebrate that spirit of care and connection in your own kitchen. Try her original chocolate chip cookie recipe— handwritten and passed down through our community. You may just find that the legacy of kindness she baked into every batch still lives on today.
Gather your family, turn on the oven, and enjoy this sweet tradition.
Mother Irene’s Original Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup oleo (unsalted butter, margarine, or Crisco)
• ⅔ cup granulated sugar
• ⅔ cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons water
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large mixer bowl, beat butter (oleo), granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until creamy.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
6. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using).
7. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
8. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
75TH ANNUAL CAMPAIGN
In honor of St. Anne’s 75th anniversary, we are reimagining our approach to community giving. This year we’re excited to launch three dynamic giving events, each lasting 75 hours.
These short, impactful campaigns, spread across the school year, will invite our entire community to rally together in support of our mission.
Together we’ll honor the heart of St. Anne’s—our people, our purpose, and our shared story. Let’s make this 75th year one to remember, 75 hours at a time.
