Distinguished Alumnus, Saint Clare School Class of 1948

It is my honor to share the story of a member of the St. Clare class of 1948, describing the incredible, generation-spanning impact a St. Clare Catholic education has had on my family.

My father, Joseph Nicholas, attended St. Clare School from grades 1 through 8, all classes being held in the main building as there was no separate middle school. The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur provided a Catholic education in a structured and caring environment. Coming from a single-parent family of modest means, and having academic challenges, it would have been easy for my dad to ‘fall through the cracks’ and face an uncertain future. The support he received from the sisters helped him develop a positive sense of self; he could accomplish what the other students did, he just had to take more time and put in more effort.

After graduating from St. Clare, he attended Bellarmine College Preparatory with the recommendation from the sisters that he would be successful if the Jesuit fathers supported him, as the sisters had done during his time at St. Clare. Taking their advice to heart, they gave him the ‘fatherly support’ he needed to negotiate the adolescent years and graduated in 1952. During this time, he attended Mass every Sunday at St. Clare Parish, growing in his faith where the foundation was laid by the Notre Dame Sisters.

Continuing his college education at what was then University of Santa Clara, he had not ventured far from his educational roots at St. Clare. Upon graduating in 1956, he worked for a time at SCU as their one man ‘audio-visual’ department – the forerunner to what is now Media Services. He had also discerned about becoming a Jesuit, but that wasn’t to be his vocation. In June of 1957, he took a vacation to Germany to visit some family friends and also meet a young woman he had been writing to for five years. One thing led to another and my parents were married on August 15th in a suburb of Cologne, Germany. My parents were active parishioners of St. Clare; my three siblings and I were baptized at St. Clare parish.

Before any of us started school, my dad decided he wanted to become a teacher, and earned his credential at San Jose State. He returned to St. Clare to complete his student teaching in the new middle school wing of the school. My dad was a high school teacher for over thirty years. There were no Catholic schools in the small Central Valley town we moved to, but my parents made sure we were educated in our Catholic faith.

Moving forward a few decades, In the fall of 1997, my son enrolled in the kindergarten class of St. Clare. In one of my first volunteer opportunities, I met the grandmother of one my son’s classmates. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that she not only knew my dad, but they were friends from the class of 1948. After volunteering in various capacities, I realized God was tapping me on the shoulder to follow in Dad’s education footsteps. After working as a substitute teacher for the Diocese, I returned to SCU to earn my teaching credential and Master’s Degree in Education, when my younger son entered kindergarten.

My dad was able to attend both of his grandson’s graduations from St. Clare, moments he recalled with pride and admiration. Like their grandfather, both boys continued their education at Jesuit High Schools and Universities. My dad was also very proud that one of his daughters became a teacher at the school that made a such a difference in his life. He went to his heavenly father in 2017, and my mom was reunited with my dad in 2020. Being that St. Clare has been educating students since 1856, I am sure there were many alums waiting to welcome them with open arms.