Class of 1938 remembers Keveny

In 1860, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet started a school on Remsen St. in what would later become Cohoes. The first Catholic school in the area, it was named St. Bernard's.

Seventy years later, after a parish grew up around the school and the city had become a booming industrial center, the school closed -- but only because a new one arose in its place: Keveny Memorial Academy.

That school, which eventually closed for good in 1986, remains dear to a group of students marking the 70th anniversary of their graduation.

Memories

Bertha LaBarge Snyder of Troy, 88, was one of the students who attended the new school. In 1931, she and her classmates entered fifth grade.

"I can still remember our excitement. It was a beautiful new building," she recalled.

The building, designed in the art deco style, was named after the third pastor of St. Bernard's parish: Rev. Thomas Keveny.

Still in touch

In 1938, Mrs. Snyder's class of 17 students graduated from the 12th grade, and several of them kept in loose touch with each other through the decades that followed as they raised their families. Then, in 1988, they gathered for their 50th reunion.

"We were surprised that, after so many years, we recognized each other," she said. "It was as if time had stood still.

"I decided then that we would not go any longer without keeping in close touch with each other."

Linkage

Mrs. Snyder, a retired nurse, mother of three, foster parent of three more, grandmother of three and the great-grandmother of two, has taken on the task of keeping in touch with as many of her classmates as she can, including those out of state and even overseas.

She sends out notices and makes phone calls to her former classmates, now numbering eight, informing them of reunion picnics or dinners.

"In the past ten years, we've had quite a few reunions," noted Mary Ryan Belogi, a resident of North Troy and another '38 grad. "It's wonderful that we can get together like this. We have so many good memories of those years. We were all very close.

"Times were hard then. When parishioners raised the money to build Keveny, it was during the Depression. Their effort gave us a wonderful school for the future. Even though the times were hard, we managed to have a lot of fun. Remembering gives me great pleasure."

Last reunion?

Some surviving graduates recently gathered to celebrate their 70th reunion, but not everyone could make it due to distance and health.

Said Mrs. Belogi: "Our memories keep us together. We shared so much as students and young adults. Our relationship is still important."

"I imagine this might be the last reunion," Mrs. Snyder admitted. "I've tried to correspond with as many former students as I could find. I always thought it was important not to lose touch with people. Looking back at the fun we've had, I'm so glad it has worked out this way."

(Mrs. Belogi, a retired legal secretary, has five children, including Rev. James Belogi, pastor of St. Madeleine Sophie parish in Guilderland. Her classmate, Albert Patrick, became a Franciscan missionary priest and took the name Rev. Sixtus Patrick. All Keveny graduating classes have been invited by the Cohoes High Alumni Association to participate in an annual reunion weekend, Sept. 12-14. A dinner-dance, picnic at Ukrainian Park and tours of Cohoes are planned. For details, contact Anne McAlteer Cavosie at [email protected]; Millie McGork Girard at [email protected]; Sheila Roberts Marcil at [email protected]; Marge Romanelli Bissell at [email protected]; or Peggy Flynn Ryan at 383-1070.)

(07/10/08)