Save the date!! Octoberfest!!
Octoberfest Social Dancing through the decades
Friday, October 18th, 2024
8-11 pm
Branch 69 Legion, Wilson Street
Door prizes and 50/50
$10.00
Our Vision Statement
“A women’s association fostering women’s issues and education. We strive to promote a sense of community through life long learning, spiritual values and tradition, locally and beyond.”
Join us on Facebook: “Official St. Vincent’s Alumnae Association“
AUDITORIUM SEAT RAFFLE
And the winner is Lynne Breen! Congratulations Lynne! Enjoy the memory.
Grad Gowns for Haiti
St. Vincent’s Alumnae Executive is extremely proud of our project to have donated over 100 graduation gowns to the Sgt. Mark Gallagher School in Haiti.
After investigating several options to donate the graduation gowns In the Greater Saint John area, we decided to look to other areas where the gowns may be used.
The Sgt. Mark Gallagher Memorial Vocational School sits in Carrefour, a suburb on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Sgt. Mark Gallagher a well-known spokesman for the RCMP in the Maritimes, was killed in the devastating 2010 earthquake while he was on an educational mission in the Caribbean country.
Sgt. Gallagher and his family lived near Woodstock, N.B., and soon after his death, people in the area began talking about ways to honour him and help the people of Haiti. A group known as the Friends of Mark Gallagher was formed to examine their options and start a fundraising effort.
Chairman Richard Blaquiere said that because Sgt. Gallagher was in Haiti to educate police officers, the group decided it would work with international partners to build a vocational school in the Haitian community.
We reached out to Richard Blaquiere and with great enthusiasm embarked on the project to get the gowns to Haiti.
Friends of Mark Gallagher were coordinating a visit to the school by a group of RCMP officers from Halifax. Some of these officers worked with Sgt. Gallagher and were anxious to see the school built in Mark’s name.
We packed the gowns into four hockey bags (which were donated), had them transported to Halifax by a St. Vincent’s grad, and then they were taken to Haiti by a group of RCMP officers from Nova Scotia under the direction of team leader Cpl. Robin Churchill.
We found this project a most worthwhile cause. It was a very emotional moment for us when we received a photo showing the gowns arriving on the top of a van and another of one of the sisters holding up a gown to show the students.
REMEMBERING M. LORETTA MACKINNON…
It was with great sadness that members of St. Vincent’s Alumnae Association learned of the passing of M. Loretta MacKinnon on April 2, 2016 in Halifax, N.S.
Ms. MacKinnon, known to many as Sister Mona, taught in the Business Education Dept. at St. Vincent’s for 30 years and served as Principal from 1979-1992.
To honour and pay tribute to Ms. MacKinnon, St. Vincent’s Alumnae Association invited friends, former students, and colleagues to a Memorial Mass on May 24th at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Rothesay, N.B. Celebrant of the Mass was Father Stanislas Paulin, con-celebrated by Father Michael LeBlanc.
Ms. MacKinnon was born in North Sydney, N.S. but spent most of her life in Saint John as a Sister of Charity of the Immaculate Conception. It was in Saint John that she began her teaching career at St. Peter’s School, then joined the faculty of St. Vincent’s High School in 1960 and was instrumental in establishing the Business Education Dept.
Although Ms. MacKinnon moved to Halifax when she retired, she maintained her position as Honorary President of St. Vincent’s Alumnae and returned on several occasions to attend the Annual Reunion Dinners, the last time in 2013.
Loretta was multi-talented in many areas, but loved music above all. She not only sang, but also played both piano and organ. She possessed a wonderful zest for life, and was always ready for a challenge to learn and absorb new ideas.
Ms. MacKinnon’s academic strengths have been demonstrated in the Thesis she published for her M. Ed. at UNB entitled: “St. Vincent’s High School: A History of Adaptation of Education”.
We are grateful to Father Paulin for his role in planning and celebrating the Mass. Father Paulin and Loretta were close friends and during the 1980’s he was the Director of Chorale St. Vincent’s when they won several provincial competitions as well as being named Star of the Festival.
The celebration of the Eucharist was particularly special because of the music ministry. Music was Ms. MacKinnon’s greatest love and she was dedicated to the choirs of St. Vincent’s throughout her teaching career. Father Paulin selected some of the Chorale St. Vincent’s pieces that he knew were special to Loretta. How proud she would have been of former choir members as they performed beautifully under the direction of Maureen Beckwith.
Patricia Gallagher, a former accompanist for Chorale St. Vincent’s, played gathering music at the grand piano before Mass.
Thank you was extended to those who participated in the Mass: Congregational Leader of Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception; President, St. Vincent’s Alumnae Association; former Faculty members St. Vincent’s High School; and students from her first class at St. Peter’s School.
Stories and memories were shared by those in attendance at a reception organized by Marilyn Holder, Church Secretary following the Mass.
Loretta’s legacy will live on through “The M. Loretta MacKinnon Memorial Award” established in 2006 and given annually by St. Vincent’s Alumnae Scholarship Committee to a worthy recipient attending a post-secondary institution. Several donations in her memory were received for this award.
Ms. MacKinnon touched the lives of many and was held in high esteem by her students and staff. We especially give thanks for the gift of Loretta in our lives.
+Rest in peace.
ST. VINCENT’S ALUMNAE LOGO – THANK YOU CATHERINE!
We would like to acknowledge and extend a special “thank you” to Catherine Wilson, an alumna who designed our new logo. For the efforts made on our behalf and Cathie’s willingness to share her talents, we are deeply grateful and most appreciative. The design is an expression of her pride in St. Vincent’s and her support for St. Vincent’s Alumnae Association.
Cathie graduated from St. Vincent’s High School in 1994 and is the daughter of Rosemarie (Kerrigan) Wilson, class of ’69. While a student at St. Vincent’s, her favourite subject was Fine Arts with Mr. Neil Lydon. Cathie continued her education at NSCAD University and obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. After living and travelling throughout Canada and Ireland, Cathie returned to New Brunswick. She attended St. Thomas University and received her B.Ed. in 2004 followed by a Masters of Education from UNB in 2009. For the past few years Cathie has held a position of teaching Fine Arts in the Anglophone South School District and has also taught in Canada’s Great White North. She teaches drawing and stage makeup classes for teachers in N.B. She is active in all aspects of theatre except in the spotlight! You can find her with a flashlight backstage, painting backdrops and props, teasing hair, applying false eyelashes in the makeup department and as a volunteer at the Imperial Theatre.
She is currently on a teacher exchange in Sydney, Australia. On her school holidays she swam with the fishes in the Great Barrier Reef, hopped along with kangaroos in outback, cuddled some devils in Tasmania, gave a backscratch to a koala named Boris, sailed away in Fiji and is contemplating skydiving in New Zealand (but would probably be safer to swim with dolphins).
Cathie hopes to be a role model and inspire students in the same way her teachers at St. Vincent’s influenced her and helped her choose her path in life.
St. Vincent’s High School Yearbooks
A set of St. Vincent’s High School Yearbooks has been donated to the Saint John Free Public Library at Market Square. Yearbooks for the years 1952-2002, with the exception of 1955 and 1959 when yearbooks were not published, are located in the Reference Department of the Library for public viewing.
In his letter of thanks to St. Vincent’s Alumnae, Ian Wilson, Regional Director of Fundy Library District stated: “Many patrons come to the library in order to trace their family roots and to research the history of both schools and students. Yearbooks are an invaluable resource and will be well used.”
Cabinet for Graduation Photos
Since the closure of St. Vincent’s High School many grads have inquired about the graduation photos that hung on the walls in the school. Where are they now? Will we have access to them?
Recognizing the importance of preserving the photos, St. Vincent’s Alumnae Association has had a new cabinet built for the class composites from 1961 to 2002. In 1979 a cabinet was built for the graduation photos from 1899 to 1960.
We are pleased to inform our members that both cabinets are now on display at the New Brunswick Museum on Douglas Avenue. This location will allow members of St. Vincent’s Alumnae and the public easy access to view photos of graduation classes of St. Vincent’s High School over many years.
As you can see from the photo, the new cabinet had to be large enough to accommodate photos of several large classes. The cost of the cabinet was $6500.00. We currently still have a balance owing of about $3000. As St. Vincent’s Alumnae does not embark on major fundraising efforts annually, our finances do not permit us to pay for the new cabinet without support from our members.
Therefore we are soliciting contributions from Alumnae members toward the cost of construction of the cabinet. We hope you will agree that having this cabinet built to preserve our history and protect the composites is a worthwhile endeavor and will consider making a contribution.
Cheques may be made payable to St. Vincent’s Alumnae Association and mailed to:
St. Vincent’s Alumnae Association
P.O. Box 27133
Saint John, N.B. E2M 5S8
Display Cabinet
On October 25, 2005 members of St. Vincent’s Alumnae Association attended the Official Opening of the expansion of St. Malachy’s Memorial High School known as the “St. Vincent’s Wing”.
This photo shows the Display Cabinet built for us by School District 8 located in the “St. Vincent’s Wing”. It contains photos and memorabilia depicting our history as well as group photos of classes celebrating their upcoming reunion.
2022-2023 Executive – St. Vincent’s Alumnae Association
The Executive officers are:
Immediate Past President – Maureen (Sears) Hanlon
President – Anne Marie (Leahy) Ahearn
1st Vice-President – Brenda (Kruky) Clayton
2nd Vice-President – Suzanne (Stephen) Buckley
Treasurer – Louise (Murphy) O’Connor
Secretary – Susan (Russell) Buckley
Chairman Scholarship Committee – Marijke Blok
Volunteer
Are you interested in volunteering for St. Vincent’s Alumnae Association? Event planning? Community involvement – there’s lots to do! E-mail alumnae@stvincents.ca for more information.
Special Occasion & Memorial Cards
If finding a gift for a friend or relative celebrating a special occasion is sometimes difficult, why not consider a donation to St. Vincent’s Alumnae Scholarship Fund in their honour. St. Vincent’s Alumnae has “special occasion” cards for members to use to support the Scholarship Fund.
“Memorial cards” are available at all local funeral homes or by contacting the Alumnae at alumnae@stvincents.ca
Tax receipts for donations to the Scholarship Fund are available upon request.