Schools
Reunion To Celebrate Ecole Saint Pierre's 60 Years in Waltham
The Sept. 28 reunion is open to anyone who attended the School Street school that closed in 1970.
WALTHAM, MA — A 50-year class reunion can be something special. A class reunion for a school that's been closed for nearly 50 years is something that graduates of Ecole Saint Pierre grammar school in Waltham are hoping will bring out generations of those who attended the school from when it opened in 1910 until its closing in 1970.
The Sept. 28 event will be held at the French American Club on Elm Street from 3 to 8 p.m. and will include a light buffet lunch.
"We did it three years ago and it was a great success so we thought we would do it again," said alumna Helen David, who is helping to organize the reunion. "It was a wonderful event. We decided to replicate it because we heard after the fact that a lot of people didn’t hear about it, or were interested but couldn’t make it."
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David said the oldest graduate at the 2016 reunion graduated in 1941 with many groups of family members there to reminisce about the plays, Mardi Gras at the church hall, the nuns and the fun in the playground of the School Street school that went from kindergarten to eighth grade.
"There has always been a large contingent of French-Canadian residents in the city and a lot of those families sent their children to the school," she said. "Back then, you had families of nine, 10, 12 kids, so you had big groups of siblings who went there. If you were French-Canadian growing up in Waltham back then, there was a good chance you went there."
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David said there will be a great collection of pictures and slides from the decades the school was open at the event.
"The last one wasn't this big, wild party," she said. "But it was nice for people to get together and tell old stories and see friends that you haven't seen in years. It's heartwarming to see all these people who are still interested in the school after all these years. As everyone gets older, and you start to lose people who went there, you start to lose those memories."
Those interested in attending the event can contact the organizers here.
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