SPRINGVALE — It was the first basketball game played at Sanford’s Memorial Gym ”“ local historians figure it was in February 1949. Sanford High School boys were playing the St. Ignatius Saints, of the local Catholic high school, and were leading by one point with just a couple of minutes left in the game.
Roland Jacques, playing for the Saints, stole the ball from SHS’s Charlie Caramihalis and went in for a lay-up.
“And that was the end of the game,” recalled Gilles Auger (St. Ignatius, ’52) with a small smile of what looked like satisfaction.
A few years later, the newly-built St. Ignatius Gym was dedicated and the first game, recalled Richard Bergeron, was again between the Saints and SHS.
“It was a smaller gym and it was mobbed,” said Bergeron, (St. Ignatius, ’54). “The place was rocking. It was so loud, and we were so nervous ”¦ unfortunately for Sanford High School, they had a lousy team that year, and we won by about 20 points.”
As in many towns and cities in Maine and across the nation, parochial schools have helped shape the fabric of the community. But times changed and staffing difficulties emerged ”“ with fewer teaching brothers and nuns ”“ which lead to changes.
St. Thomas School, formed in 1972 at the consolidation of the three former Catholic elementary schools ”“ Notre Dame, St. Ignatius and Holy Family ”“ continues to teach young people from pre-kindergarten through grade six. St. Ignatius High School closed in 1969.
St. Ignatius High School and three of the former Catholic elementary schools may be gone, but memories remain and so do artifacts, including textbooks, a treasure trove of photographs, sports uniforms and other mementos of school days. They’re on display through Thanksgiving in a new exhibit at the Sanford Springvale Historical Museum in Springvale.
Parochial education in Sanford and Springvale can be traced to 1895, when St. Ignatius Parish organized its first school, said historian Harland Eastman. According to information on display at the museum, there were 57 boys and 57 girls enrolled in 1900. By 1905, there were 356 students enrolled.
As the textile mills proliferated and the influx of French Canadians from Quebec and New Brunswick continued, the demand for Catholic churches and schools increased. Notre Dame Church in Springvale was built with a school in 1916. Five years later, Holy Family Church and school was built on Cottage Street.
Last week, Auger, a director of the Sanford Springvale Historical Society, spoke about the parochial schools during a tour of the exhibit.
The schools, Auger related, had educated students through eighth grade. But in the 1920s, one priest looked ahead and saw a need for a commercial school, where students could learn office skills and go to work in mill offices or elsewhere ”“ providing another alternative to the mill factory floor. The two-year program continued, Auger said, until it was dovetailed into the high school program.
“In 1939, Fr. Nadeau saw a need for a four-year high school and invited the Brothers of Christian instruction to come in,” said Auger. St. Ignatius High School was established in 1941.
“The Brothers” taught high school subjects to boys, while the Ursuline sisters taught the girls in the new high school.
Among the items in the historical society’s display are a class ring, a 1943 book outlining school rules and regulations, a grammar book printed in French and a colorfully illustrated volume called “Les Provinces de France Illustrees.” There’s a St. Ignatius Spartans warm-up suit worn by Roger Laprise, who went on to be inducted in the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame, and a Spartans sweater that appeared on an Internet auction site. When the owner Armand “Pop” Legere learned the historical society was bidding on the item, he made a gift of it, Auger said.
In addition to the exhibit, the museum’s library contains many yearbooks and albums of school photos, collected by Historical Society board member Gerard Lamontagne and may be viewed in that section of the museum.
— Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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