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Mercy Sister Janet Rozzano graduated from St. Gabriel School in 1952. (Courtesy Photos)
October 25, 2018
Christina Gray
Students of St. Gabriel School in San Francisco past and present came together to share memories spanning seven decades at the school’s 70th anniversary celebration Oct. 13.
About 450 alumni, current and former families, faculty, clergy and staff were on hand for the event, said Michelle Harrison of the school’s development department. The day included an open house in the school building with memory boards and timelines offering a visual snapshot of school life through the years, campus tours, and a school Mass concelebrated by St. Gabriel pastor Father Tom Hamilton and Msgr. Harry Schlitt, pastor from 1994-1998.
This group of St. Gabriel fifth graders were among those celebrating the school’s 70th anniversary Oct. 13.
On hand was a special commendation to St. Gabriel School from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for 70 years of excellence in education.
Some guests poked their faces through cardboard facsimiles of nuns in habit and posed for pictures while others told stories over food and drink in Bedford Hall.
Mercy Sister Marilyn Morgan and Mercy Sister Lucy Calvillo are both former members of the faculty at St. Gabriel School.
“There is the never-to-be-forgotten first day of school in 1958 when my class hit the jackpot,” Karen Lustenberger Baxter, Class of 1962, recalled in a compilation of student memories. Miss De Leon was the first lay teacher her class ever had. Until then, the Sisters of Mercy had been their only teachers.
“Not only could we see her hair, but she wore a stunning outfit every day,” she said. “A group of us girls would stand on the sidewalk in front of the school anticipating her arrival in her beautiful Chevy Bel Air. Miss De Leon was an excellent educator and a wonderful role model to impressionable young minds.”
Other memories were more serious.
“I don’t think I would be where I am today without the structure of my St. Gabriel education,” said Noreen Quimson, Class of 1981, now a dentist. She came to San Francisco from the Philippines as a young child and didn’t speak English. She said one sister met her early each morning for extra help so she could get into Lowell High School, and she did.
“Public schools would not accept me in 1955,” said Jane Clark, Class of 1960, who had a brace on her leg. “But St. Gabe’s did. Totally changed my life.”
In the years prior to the school’s opening in 1948, the Outer Sunset evolved from a sparsely populated landscape of shifting sand dunes to a neighborhood filled with block after block of houses and many young children.
During the 1950s, St. Gabriel had a peak enrollment of 1,200 students, making it the largest Catholic elementary school west of the Mississippi.
In 1982, Mercy Sister M. Pauline Borghello became principal, a role she held for the next 34 years. In 2015, Gina Beal took over the long-held seat. Under her leadership the school has continued its transformation with innovative plans, including turning the original library into a preschool and building a new library. A fine arts center is also underway.
“We will take this opportunity to celebrate all of our milestones and use them as stepping stones on our road to the future of St. Gabriel School,” said Beal.