Schedule & Registration for Reunion

Click on image to enlarge.

Reunion Meeting Plans Changed

The reunion committee meeting we had planned for today, Wednesday, February 25th at Sue McNamara Fowler's home at 920 Crawford Street, has been changed to McDonald's on the north frontage road facing I-20. We will still meet at 4:45 to finalize agenda and the registration form so we can mail out info for our class reunion. Hope you can attend on such short notice. We only have 60 more days and counting to get things organized. We will be posting info on our blog here to keep everyone updated as we go along. Marian

St. Paul's Catholic Church ~ First Communion

This photo (click to enlarge) was sent to me by Dickie Matherne yesterday. He said he ran across our blog the other day and it brought back fond memories of his days at St. Aloysius (one year at St. Francis).

He transferred to Carr Central after his freshman year and lost contact with many of the people that he attended school with from 1st - 9th grades.

He attached this photo of their first communion. It is the only group photo that he has of his classmates. Dickie is third one from the left on the second row from the top.

I was so happy to hear that he had found our blog and that he was able to relive fond memories. This was the intentions of our blog for all our classmates to go back down memory lane and enjoy their memories all over again. Thanks Dickie for submitting your photo. We appreciate your contribution.

Dickie Matherne
debbie10thave@gmail.com

Sister Mary Matthew, R.S.M.

Sister Mary Matthew McCloskey, R.S.M

Sister Mary Matthew McCloskey, R.S.M., of Catherine McAuley Retirement Convent passed away in Barling, Arkansas, February 15, 2009.

Sister Matthew was born November 22, 1911, in Carthage to Joseph and Rose Agnes McCloskey. She entered the Sisters of Mercy community September 3, 1932, and made her final vows in 1938.

She received a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts degree in secondary education and administration from Our Lady of the Lake in San Antonio, Texas. She furthered her studies at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., Note Dame university, Temple University, Georgetown and New York University in New York.

Sister Matthew taught at several schools in Mississippi, including Biloxi, Greenville, Gulfport, Jackson and Vicksburg. In 1990, she began pastoral care at St. Francis of Assisi in Brookhaven. She retired to Catherine McAuley Retirement Convent in Barling in October of 2004.

She is survived by a sister, Agnes Petrie of Grapevine, Texas, and several nieces and nephews who loved her dearly.

The rosary will be in Catherine McAuley Retirement Convent Chapel at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The Funeral Mass will follow at 10 a.m. in the chapel.

Graveside services and burial will be at St. Ann's Cemetery in Carthage next to her parents at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday. Wilcox Funeral Home of Carthage is in charge of arrangements.

Pallbearers will be her nephews, Matthew, John, James and Joseph Petrie and Michael and Patrick McCloskey.

Memorials may be made to the St. Ann's Cemetery Trust, c/o The Diocesan Foundation, P. O. Box 2248, Jackson, MS 39225.

Beautiful Dixie

This is for those of you who have never seen this beautiful part of our country.
Pretty good pictures and adjust the volume depending if you want to tap your feet to the banjo. (Overlook of the Buffalo National River in Northern AR. Picture taken in late Fall 2007)

Click here!

Drawdown Request

Patty Mekus, Development & Alumni Affairs Office, has requested that 50 year graduates that will be at the 26th Annual $10,000 Giveaway Drawdown on Sunday, February 15, to serve as greeters and to be there by 5:30. The event starts at 6:00 at the Vicksburg Convention Center.
Click here for more information on the event. Patty Mekus can be contacted at: (601) 630-9762 or patty.mekus@vicksburgcatholic.org

Vicksburg and the Sisters

In Vicksburg the Religious Sisters of Mercy have had a presence - in education and health care - dating to before the Civil War.

A small group opened a school on Crawford Street, at the site of the present-day Southern Cultural Heritage Center, in 1860. That building was used as a hospital for soldiers during the Siege of Vicksburg.

After the war, the school was reopened and eventually expanded to five buildings, including a convent, on a city block bounded by Crawford, Cherry, Clay and Adams streets.

It was there that Sisters of Mercy operated an elementary and a high school for girls until 1969, when St. Francis Xavier and St. Aloysius High School, formerly operated by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, merged with the high school complex at Clay and Grove streets.

The Sisters operated both sites until the early 1990's, when a new elementary school was opened on Clay, and all Catholic school students were moved there.

The sisters also operated The Street Clinic, Mercy Hospital, Mercy Regional Medical Center and the McAuley House, home for the retired from their order from the 1940's until the 1990's.

A few members of the order continue to live and work in Vicksburg, in education and health.

Class Reunion Meeting

Left to right sitting, Sue McNamara Fowler, Myrtle Loviza Alvarado and myself, Marian Love Phillips. Back Row standing, Vera Marshall Brown, Ina Lott Whittington and Katherine Myers Turcotte. (Picture taken by George Brown)


We had our class reunion meeting last night which was held at Sue McNamara Fowler's home on Crawford Street. We discussed our plans for the reunion and will be drawing up an agenda for everyone to view. On the agenda will include costs for:

a) Ice Breaker Party at The Ware House on Friday night, April 24, 2009.
b) Cobb House get-to-together for breakfast and tour, Saturday morning.
c) Picnic at the Knights of Columbus home, Saturday.
d) Alumni Banquet on Saturday night at St. Michael Parish Hall, April 25, 2009.

There will also be a Memorial service at St. Michael's Catholic Church for our deceased classmates Saturday evening. Included in the events will be classmates, their spouses, family members and former classmates who will be attending. As soon as the agenda is approved we will be emailing/mailing out to you. The agenda will also be posted here on our blogsite. We are all looking forward to this monumental milestone in our lives!