Profiles

Dennis Rooks loved Benedictine Military School. He was a proud graduate of the Benedictine Class of 1960 and served the school in a variety of capacities including President of the Benedictine from 2005-2007. Dennis also previously held the position as the ViceChair of the Benedictine Board of Directors and the President of the Alumni Association. Dennis’ extraordinary vision, business principles, and leadership helped lay a strong foundation and propelled Benedictine forward. As the school President, Dennis brought his decades of business experience from Miami, Denver, and Atlanta and raised the expectations and standards at Benedictine. In fact, a few of the projects within the Forward, Always Forward Capital Campaign were seeds planted by Dennis more than 20 years ago.

On Friday, May 27, 2022, thanks to the incredible generosity of the Rooks family to the Forward, Always Forward Capital Campaign, the Engineering Laboratory in the Brown STEM Wing was named in honor of Dennis Rooks ‘60. Joining us was his wife of 37 years, Jane Rooks, his son Brian Rooks ‘00, his son and daughter-in-law, Matthew ‘04 and Victoria Rooks, and his two grandsons Ian Alexander Rooks and Callum Dennis Rooks.

While taking a tour of Benedictine to see many of the academic improvements to the school, Jane

A visionary leader is one who inspires people to unite together towards a common goal and that is exactly what Father Frank has done at Benedictine Military School. In his 16th year of service to BC, Father Frank has been the guiding force behind the transformation of BC.

Father Frank’s connection to BC dates back six decades. He received a commission in the Army’s engineer branch in 1971 through ROTC and served on active duty in Germany from 1972 to 1974 and at Fort Stewart, Ga. from 1975 to 1978, 3rd Engineer Battalion where he had a company command and the Corps of Engineers. During his time at Ft. Stewart, Father Frank was introduced to Benedictine Military School when the BC Headmaster, Father Connan, would visit the Hinesville area to say Mass. Father Frank was ultimately led to join the seminary at St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pa. which is just an hour east of his home in Pittsburgh. St. Vincent is also the home abbey of our Benedictine monks. and her sons all agreed that naming the Engineering Laboratory would be the perfect way to honor him.

Father Frank was ordained a priest in 1984, and served as Director of the Physical Plant at Saint Vincent (1984-19994) and Dean of Students (1994-1999), and then as a pastor in St. Mary’s, Pa. (1999-2007) before joining BC. As a reserve officer, he served two tours from July of 2005 to January 2006 when he was deployed to Afghanistan serving principally in the Kandahar region. Later in January and through June, he was assigned to the Multi-National Corps – Iraq, Chaplain’s Office, Baghdad where he served as the senior priest in country. His distinguished military career prepared him well to lead Benedictine.

“Dennis was always thinking, and he loved to tinker,” said Jane Rooks. “He was always working on something and had a variety of different projects in his office at home or in his workspace. Now the Cadets have a space at BC that provides the creativity to explore and may inspire the next generation of engineers, problem solvers, and thinkers.”

Prior to Father Frank’s arrival on July 15, 2007, Benedictine Military School was in a much different place. The school needed some significant upgrades to the facilities, both academic and athletic, and we needed to grow our endowment. Father began dreaming about the future of BC and asking the question, “What should Benedictine look like in 2020?” That question was the spark that lit the fire for the Forward, Always Forward Capital Campaign.

As we celebrate the success of the campaign and the leadership of our beloved Headmaster, the front driveway of the school has been renamed “Father Frank Way.” A new street sign has been installed which is topped with a bronze wool cap, a signature of Father Frank.

When asked how it felt to have a Benedictine Military School classroom named in honor of his father and himself, BC mathematics teacher Tony Orsini did not hesitate to respond in his usual humble fashion.

“Unexpected. Undeserved,” he said. “I had no idea that that was coming. I was told there was going to be a plaque for my dad, but I didn’t know I would be included on it. It was overwhelming. I had to fight back tears a little bit.”

Feb. 18, 2023 was an extra special day at Benedictine Military School as one of the new mathematics classrooms in the Brown STEM Wing was dedicated in honor of the Orsini family, which has been part of the fabric of BC for decades, dating to the BC Class of 1914. Tony’s son, David Orsini, attended BC in the 1990s and made a transformative gift to name the classroom in honor of the Orsini family; particularly his late grandfather, Sebastian “Papa” Orsini ’34, his father, Tony, and his brother, Donald Orsini ’95.

“Oh, daddy, I guarantee you, he’s dancing up in heaven right now,” Tony said of “Papa” Orsini, who died Nov. 18, 2016, at age 100.

“He loved this school, and he would have done anything for this school. And I know right now to have that honor bestowed upon him, he’s glowing right now.”

“Papa” Orsini, who was born in Savannah and graduated from Benedictine in 1934, also graduated from the University of Georgia. It was with great pride that he claimed the title of oldest-living BC graduate for many years. He celebrated many birthdays, including his 100th, in BC’s cafeteria with the Cadets, who presented him with gifts and a birthday cake each year he visited.

“Papa” Orsini and his late wife, Emma Badgett Orsini, were named the longest-married couple in the Diocese of Savannah for their 75 years together. A veteran of the United States Army Air Corps, after World War II, “Papa” Orsini spent several years teaching and coaching, and he worked with the DuPont Company until his retirement.

Tony Orsini, a BC math teacher, and football assistant coach, joined the BC faculty in the fall of 1978 and has taught and coached generations of Cadets, including the fathers of many current Cadets. He left BC in the early 2000s to pursue other avenues and earn a degree in counseling. He returned to BC in 2018. Mr. Orsini retired at the end of the 2022 school year but came out of retirement in August 2022 – at the BC administration’s request – to teach one final year at BC. He will retire again at the end of the 2022-23 school year.

Although he will retire, Tony Orsini said he will never truly leave BC. “I won’t be a stranger,” he said. “I love this place too much. People that are invested in this place can’t do that. It gets in your blood. People who worked here who griped and moaned and complained the whole time they were here, and didn’t