St. Rita’s puts final touches on reunion
by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com
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One week to go.
The 80-year reunion of St. Rita School takes place Saturday, May 19, from 2 p.m.-5 p.m., and organizers are counting down. The school, which closed in 2006, welcomes back its alumni, their parents, former teachers and community members for a day of reminiscing and catching up.
“It’s going great,” said Denise Szimanski, one of the alums working on the event.
Throughout the afternoon, all those interested will be able to enter the school and visit classrooms and take in displays of photos and other memorabilia. A mass will be offered at 5 p.m. in the church at Dunglow Road and Dunmanway. A formal dinner will follow the mass.
According to Szimanski, there are still some tickets left to the dinner, which will include raffles with some prizes that have sentimental appeal.
“We have the most awesome baskets,” she said. There are afghans and pillows made out of old uniforms, archive books with all the people who graduated over the years, rosaries prayed by our sisters—they’re wonderful.
“We think people will really like those,” said Sr. Mary Mark Carnes, the longtime principal of the school. “They’ll want them because it’s part of the school, something they remember.”
Sister Mary Mark, a graduate of the school’s class of 1942, went on to high school, then entered the Sisters Servant of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (the teaching order at St. Rita’s) at age 17. She came back to teach at St. Rita’s in the early 80s, then when a vacancy opened up, moved to the principal’s office. She stayed until the school closed in 2006.
These days, she’s keeping busy with the preparations for the reunion.
“She really has been working very hard pulling it all together and making it happen,” said Szimanski. “She’s really done this.”
Note: St. Rita Parish holds its celebration of the school’s 80-year tradition on Saturday, May 19. All events, with the exception of the catered dinner, are free. Tickets for the dinner will be $30, and are available by advance order from Denise at 410-284-0388. Those who want to contribute photos or memorabilia to the celebration can also use that number.
