HOLY ROSARY ALUM—Rashall Brackney, Betsy Capone Worrall, Sister Sandy Kiefer and Ed Gainey
by Debbie Norrell, Lifestyles Editor
Reunions of all types happen all the time. Normally the gathering will revolve around a milestone time frame where 10- and 50-year reunions are common.
During the weekend of Aug. 30 through Sept. 1, the first Holy Rosary School All-Class Reunion was held. It was unique because a reunion had never been held by the students that graduated from the school. The reunion was held at the DoubleTree Hotel in Monroeville. The day before the main event students toured the building that was Holy Rosary and is now home to the Community Empowerment Association (2012). Holy Rosary opened with 377 mostly Caucasian and Catholic students in 1904. Its peak enrollment in elementary and high school was over 1,500 in 1941. With community demographic shifts Homewood and Holy Rosary became predominately African American and non-Catholic in the 1960s; the student enrollment had dropped below 200. The Extra Mile Foundation was created to subsidize tuition at Holy Rosary and other Catholic schools in Pittsburgh’s economically disadvantaged neighborhoods (1989). Due to declining enrollment, Holy Rosary was merged with St. James School in Wilkinsburg to form Thea Bowman Catholic Academy in 2010. Former students, teachers and administrators attended the three-day event.
Honorees included: Father David H. Taylor (priest assigned to Holy Rosary Parish), Shelbia Randolph Sorrells (teacher 1969-2010), Sara V. Bottoms (Holy Rosary cafeteria supervisor), Rosemarie Elizabeth Morelli Capone (Capone is 92 years old and attended grade school and high school at Holy Rosary—all eight of her children did as well), Sister Sandy Kiefer (former teacher and co-principal), Satara Snyder Sparrow (former student and teacher at Holy Rosary) and Kathleen Gallagher, better known to students as Sister Kathy. Before awards were presented, City Councilman Ricky Burgess presented a proclamation. Reverend Burgess actually went to Holy Rosary and met his wife, Carlotta, there. He was in third grade and she was in the first. State Rep. Ed Gainey also presented a proclamation; he graduated from Holy Rosary in 1984. Guests had a great time and ended the weekend with a picnic in Monroeville Park. The Holy Rosary Committee included: Adriene Gardner-Hogan, Jamie Calloway, Anthony Sloan, Pamela Tarpley, Mary Rivers-Poellnitz, Victor Capone and April I. Smith.
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