S. Linda served one-half of her ministry life in her native Albuquerque, including 20 years at St. Pius X as theology department chair, as associate vicar for religious for the diocese and as director of senior well-being clinics as part of St. Joseph Community Health Education. “I am proud of the beautiful city it has become, especially the spectacular mix of cultures,” she said.
her students exercise in the upper auditorium with small barbells to the music of ‘Stars and Stripes,’” Emma remembered. “In her classroom Sister would stop what she was doing when a military plane flew close by, and had us pray immediately for the safety of the pilots. It became so engrained in us that we still pray when a plane flies by.”
San Felipe School opened in September 1882 with five classrooms on the first floor to accommodate the demand; they used the third floor for plays, programs and meetings. By 1956 the new junior high building was blessed and dedicated by Archbishop Edwin Byrne. Three years later enrollment numbered 400 children, five Sisters of Charity and five lay teachers. For the move each child had to pick up a desk and their belongings and walk to the new building; by noon hot lunches were served in the new cafeteria at a cost of 25 cents. In 1972, still located in the historical Old Town Plaza, San Felipe School boosted a bilingual program, ungraded math and reading and a strong emphasis on Christ-like living. S. Grace Catherine Aufderbeck served as principal from 1973-1979. The last Sisters of Charity to teach there were Sisters Terese Sherritt and Ann Reimund; the school closed in 1987 following more than 100 years of ministry to the children of the area.
St. Francis Xavier Mission opened in 1927 and the Sisters of Charity opened the school the following year under the direction of S. Mary Walburga Koverman. It was an extremely poor Spanish mission with little known about its early years. In the 1930s the Sisters lived at St. Vincent Academy and each weekday morning the pastor, Father Weeks, called for the four SCs in a rattle trap car, which, in spite of its appearance and many halts along the way, got the Sisters to and from school. A Jesuit Brother started the wood and coal fires in each classroom in the early morning in the winter. It was up to the Sisters and the children to rebuild them. Even tiny first graders used to trot down the old wooden steps each afternoon to empty the ashes and bring up the coal for the next day.
Stories are told of S. Mary Nolasco Sanchez by a former San Felipe pupil, Emma Moya; she was regarded as a legend in the parish. Emma remembers S. Mary Nolasco being very patriotic, writing to President Roosevelt during World War II and receiving a letter from his secretary, Grace Tully, which was proudly shared with the third and fourth grade class. “She had
The parish – church and school – had a facelift in the 1940s, and in 1950 a pre-first grade was introduced. The children came from old Spanish families; they were poor or in moderate circumstances and had bilingual difficulty. Spanish was the only language spoken in the home. Sisters De Paul Sandoval, Rita Patrick, Alice Glutz and Catherine Roberta (Marge) McCullough were faculty members at that time. Enrollment reached 600 in 1955. By 1978 the school closed after financial difficulties.
In 1892, two Sisters of Charity arrived at St. Mary’s to open a school for boys. The parish was a mission of the Jesuits of Old Albuquerque. Twenty years later, the school became co-educational with the curriculum including high school subjects. S. Francis Regis Poll was the principal. In 1941, a new two-story building at Seventh and Kent streets became home. More expansion continued as enrollment increased throughout the 1940s and 1950s. In the late 1960s St. Mary’s became a regional high school drawing students from throughout the valley. Strong SC educators who served St. Mary School for lengthy periods over the years include Sisters Anne Hermine Gerver, Bernadette Kambeitz, Mary Christine Falsetto and Isabella Glenn. S. Barbara Padilla is a proud graduate. Fifth grade students of St. Francis Xavier School take a class picture with their teacher S. Ann Pierre Brunelli in 1975.
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