Former Our Lady of Grace Academy
pulls together alumnae association

By Brandon A. Evans

BEECH GROVE—Each month, a small group of women gathers at Our Lady of Grace Monastery to piece together more parts of a mystery.

The mystery is where 900 women who attended the former Our Lady of Grace Academy, run by the Benedictine sisters of the adjoining monastery, ended up after they left the school.

Once found, the alumna is being offered the chance to connect with their old school and become part of an alumnae association.

Also, as a part of the monastery’s 50th anniversary this year, there will be a special all-class reunion for anyone who attended the former academy, beginning with a Mass at 5 p.m. on Aug. 27.

Tracking down all the alumnae has been mostly successful, but there is still a ways to go. Benedictine Sister Ann Patrice Papesh, director of development for the monastery, said that of the about 900 names they have to search for, they have found more than 500.

Many alumnae, she said, “still have a great love” for the academy, which was open for 22 years beginning in 1956. People call Sister Ann Patrice to tell her that if the academy was still in operation they would send their daughters to it.

Theresa Eck, who has been attending the monthly meetings to help find former students, was part of the first graduating class in 1960.

She said that she had a good experience at the school, and that it did what she hoped it would—namely, prepare her for college.

She felt sad when news of the school’s closing reached her, Eck said.

The sisters made the decision to close the academy in light of decreasing enrollments and economic difficulties.

Benedictine Sister Carol Falkner, ­prioress of the monastery and a member of the class of 1963, said that the closing left a “big void” in the life of the community.

Benedictine Sister Juliann Babcock, formation director and member of the class of 1966, said that the closing initiated a long process of studying “what would be the best use of the building and the best way to serve the Indianapolis area.”

The old school building, including a secondary building housing a gymnasium and pool, still stands. In 1981, three years after its closing, the sisters re-opened the facility the Benedict Inn Retreat and Conference Center.

People may still tour the building to bring back memories of their time there.

Marinell Hinz, a member of the class of 1964, remembers one of the long hallways in the school in particular.

“We used to call this the five-mile hall because it was so long,” she said. “And I remember giggling and laughing all the way down the hall.”

Benedictine Sister Rebecca Marie Fitterer, subprioress and member of the class of 1969, remembers the school’s spaghetti socials.

“It was like a festival—but it pulled in absolutely everybody in the school,” she said.

Sister Carol said the school “was small, it was intimate—I liked that.” She compared it to a family.

For some of the sisters at the monastery, the academy has the added significance of being a place central to their discovery of a religious vocation.

“I think the warmth and the dedication of the sisters was very attractive,” Sister Carol said.

“The sisters seemed so real,” Sister Rebecca Marie said. It seemed to her that religious life was something that was doable, that was within her grasp.

Sister Juliann, who lived nearby as a young girl and saw the academy being built, said that she worked on the school newspaper her senior year and had the chance, through a sister she worked with, to see the joy that flowed from the religious community.

Though the academy is closed now, memories of years spent there are still alive, and in the coming months alumnae will continue to search for more graduates to share those memories.

(For more information, call 317-787-3287, ext. 3033, or log on to www.benedictine.com and click on the link for “Our Lady of Grace Academy Alumnae Association” on the left side of the page.) †