Introduction to St. Pius X

There were two kinds of people we were aware of growing up in Chili: Catholics and Protestants. We Catholics didn't know much about the others but we knew it was a sin to step into one of their churches and we knew there were schools, paid for by tax dollars (!), that they attended. Other than that, we didn't know or think much about them. (So much for dreams of world peace!) For us, the world revolved around St. Pius X (SPX) Church and School which this entry will be about. Note: St Pius X was the successor of St Feehan's Church.

For those who went through the SPX adventure with me, Sr. Joseph Michelle, Sr. Rose Irene, Mrs. DeRycke, Sr. Britta*, Sr. Felicia*, Sr. Emerita, Sr. Felicia, Sr. Mary Leonard were our teachers 1st to 8th grade. The asterisks mark my favorites - stories for a later blog.  A class was a unit at SPX. You sat together all day every day from September to June. And like the House of Representatives, the next year the class was 98% intact...maybe one person moving in or out, but rarely more. I only came up with  42 names. I need help from my fellow classmates to fill in the rest. Here are the ones I think I remember, hoping someday someone else will find this, make corrections, and fill in the rest in a comment. (Update: Since original post, I got 3 more names from a classmate, and a picture from my sister's family archives to realize 3 names I had were no longer in class at graduation - indicated by ** in list below).

Here goes (no guarantees on spelling) by row 1 (front) to 6 (back) left to right; so (3,4) is row 3, 4th from left:

The Girls: Carol Bates(3,4), Karen Bailey(5,1), Debbie Bevano(3,5), Marcie Beechly(1,6), Teresa Brennan(1,4), Diane Cullather(1,1), Debby Fullerton(1,3), Joan Geary(1,2), Teresa Goodberlet(1,5), Doreen Gould(5,7), Ann Guinan(5,2), Karen Jensen(5,4), Nadine Levick(5,6), Kathy Love(5,5), Jean Michelson(5,3), Kathy Ward(3,6): (16)

The Boys: Bill Atwell(4,7), David Brandon**, Gary Braun(6,5), Tom Brugger(2,3), Dave Clair(6,2), Ray Cromey(4,6), Tom Cruciollo(2,2), David Cruckshank(6,4), Jim Doane(6,1), Dan Falls**, Bob Farone(4,1), John Firpo(3,2), Dan Goldstein(2,6), Paul Gottschalk(6,6), John Guinan(4,8), Paul Hoffmaster(4,2), Henry McCarrick(4,3), Robert McNut(3,1), Wade Muncil(2,1), David O'Neil**, Bill Powell(4,4), Jim Powell(2,5), Pete Schickler(3,7), John Schmidt(3,9), Chris Shields(2,4), Marty Spence(4,5), Dave Stebbins(3,8), Jerry Summers(6,3), Ed Wurtz(3,3): (26/3?)   ---- Thanks KB for the names I was missing.

Altar Boys, Little League, SPX Basketball, 7th and 8th grade ballroom dance classes at Florence Brassar Elementary, daily playground activities, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, this was the SPX class of '64.

More to come