Unity – Truth – Love
The day at Our Lady of Grace Catholic School usually begins with students assembled for prayer in front of the “Oasis of Peace,” a mural on the outside of the school building picturing happy children amidst a green landscape crowned by a rainbow. The space includes the “peace bench” where students can sit and talk or retreat for a quiet time. To Principal Susan Anderson, the Oasis of Peace sums up, in concrete form, the school’s core values: “Unity-Truth-Love.”
OLG School, guided by the curriculum standards of Oakland Diocese and State of California, utilizes the latest technological tools. Schoolwork also includes the tactile, from hand written essays to art projects. The after-school program features CYO athletics, Chess and Homework clubs, and a weekly music and band program. Parents are actively involved in parish and community events, including OLG’s annual Fall Festival and Auction, Fox River Socks for Soldiers, and CV Outreach for Christmas.
But it is in creating a positive, inclusive, and supportive learning environment that the school lives out its core values. “Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘Be the change you want in the world,’” says Principal Anderson. “Every day our student body comes together to grow spiritually, socially, and academically. To be a lifelong learner requires focusing consistently on the tasks at hand and doing that in the way Jesus modeled for us.”
Educating the whole child—intellectually, morally, spiritually—has been the school’s mission over the course of its sixty-plus years—from a teaching staff composed entirely of nuns to lay professionals; from blackboards and chalk to computers and iPads. It is something of a miracle that these values have weathered the vagaries of time. But, upon reflection, it is an affirmation of the timelessness of the school’s core values. At OLG School, students are participants in affirming—and putting into action—the core values of Unity-Truth-Love.
The school as an institution has been tested, from larger economic downturns to a crisis that almost forced the school’s closure. But, as this history reveals, faith and perseverance has led the way. Like the planted seed, this is a story of how to nurture an institution through ever-changing seasons so that it blossoms and grows.
“Beautiful indeed and of great importance is the vocation of all those who aid parents in fulfilling their duties and who, as representatives of the human community, undertake the task of education in schools.”
— Declaration on Christian Education: Gravissimum Educationis, October 28, 1965.
On October 28, 1958, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli emerged from the conclave of Cardinals as new pope. Roncalli was in his late seventies when he took the name John and began what many assumed would be a “caretaker” papacy. But in January of 1959, Pope John Paul XXIII shocked the world with his call for the Second Vatican Council, the first major Vatican colloquium in nearly a century. His goal was aggiornamento, an updating of the church—he likened it to throwing open a window to let in fresh air. The future saint would not live to see the Council to its conclusion, but the caretaker pope changed the church and the world. The Council, with four sessions held in Rome from 1962 to 1965, is known for such landmark documents as Nostra Aetate (“In Our Time”), which reversed centuries of anti-Semitism, declaring “as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination against men or harassment of them because of their race, color, condition of life, or religion.”
The Council also produced the Declaration on Christian Education: Gravissimum Educationis, proclaimed by His Holiness Pope Paul VI, on October 28, 1965. The document declared education a “universal right” and the means to be “in harmony…with other peoples in the fostering of true unity and peace on earth. For a true education aims at the formation of the human person in the pursuit of his ultimate end and of the good of the societies of which, as man, he is a member, and in whose obligations, as an adult, he will share. Therefore children and young people must be helped, with the aid of the latest advances in psychology and the art and science of teaching, to develop harmoniously their physical, moral and intellectual endowments.…”
Gravissimum Educationis declared Catholic schools vital in developing “intellectual faculties” and preparation for professional careers “but also to form the ability to judge rightly, to hand on the cultural legacy of previous generations, to foster a sense of values.…” This meant students of different backgrounds and abilities joining together in a “spirit of mutual understanding…whose work and progress must be shared together by families, teachers, associations of various types that foster cultural, civic, and religious life, as well as by civil society and the entire human community.” [Note: Declaration on Christian Education: Gravissimum Educationis, October 28, 1965, Section 1: The meaning of the Universal Right to an Education,” and “5: The Importance of Schools.]
At the conclusion of the historic Vatican colloquium, Our Lady of Grace Parish was into its ninth year of providing Catholic school education. Like the church itself, the decades ahead would see the parish school grow and evolve. Guiding OLG’s educational process was the mission of developing the whole person, academically prepared, grounded in the faith, and guided by moral bearings to be positive contributors to the world.
Groundbreaking
San Francisco Archbishop John Joseph Mitty officially created Our Lady of Grace Parish, in the unincorporated San Francisco East Bay town of Castro Valley, on September 19, 1947, with Rev. Joseph Donworth as pastor. It was a prescient move, given the postwar boom that transformed a rural valley of chicken ranches and apricot orchards into a thriving residential community. While an effort was underway to secure a permanent site, Sunday Mass was first offered in a temporary hall on Baker Road on September 28. [Note: Peter Thomas Conmy, A Parochial and institutional History of the Diocese of Oakland: 1962-1972 and two centuries of background (Mission Hills, California: Saint Francis Historical Society, 2000), p. 443.]
On December 17, 1947, the new parish ceremonially broke ground on three and a half acres on Anita Avenue off Williams Street (to be renamed Somerset Avenue). The Oakland Tribune reported the church groundbreaking was part of “a long-range program that includes construction of a parochial school….” The $60,000 Spanish style church hall and parish house was envisioned for completion, appropriately, by Easter and the first Mass at the new church was celebrated on Easter Sunday.
The church building, recalled as “a small farmland structure,” served a congregation of about 200 families. In 1951, Father Patrick J. Stack was “given the mission of putting Castro Valley together.” Stack was from Limerick, Ireland, and shortly after being ordained in Switzerland in 1928, was sent to San Francisco to be assistant pastor at St. Edwards Church and Sacred Heart Church, before moving to All Saints Church in Hayward, and serving as pastor at St. Joachim. Given limited or non-existent facilities at the Castro Valley parish, Pastor Stack had to conduct catechism classes in parishioner’s homes. [Note: “Castro Valley Church Sets groundbreaking Ceremony Sunday…,” Oakland Tribune, December 17, 1947, Hayward Area Historical Society, Research & Archives (HAHS).]
The school construction faced frustrating delays. The local Daily Review headline on September 24, 1953, reported: “No Progress on Plans for C.V. Catholic Church.” The problem was an open creek and drainage issues at the 19540 Anita Avenue site had “bogged down” with the Alameda County Planning Commission. The parish, pleading lack of funds, asked the Commission to waive requirements and allow a partial covered drainage ditch and a concrete lined open channel that would be covered at a later date.
Only five days later, the Review headline read, “Prospects Brighten.” The planning commission when “informed that the sponsors were willing to grant an easement to the flood control district approved the application.” The matter would go to the board of supervisors and, when approved, construction could begin. “The flood control district will have supervision of the open drainage channel which will be bordered by a six-foot high chain link fence for safety to school children,” the Review noted. [Note: “No Progress on Plans for C.V. Catholic Church,” Daily Review, September 24, 1953, HAHS; “Prospects Brighten for New CV Church,” Daily Review, September 29, 1953, HAHS.]
The $275,000 two-story school building and a convent at 19883 San Miguel rose together, each integral to the other. A priest newly returned to the Bay Area from Japan had worked with the Carmelite Sisters of Charity, and told Father Stack of the Order’s enviable reputation and work in schools, hospitals, and orphanages throughout Europe, Asia, and South America. On March 16, 1955, months ahead of the OLG school opening, a contingent of eight Carmelite Sisters and one Mother Superior were on their way from Madrid to staff the new school. In an era when ocean liners regularly carried travelers between Europe and America, it was newsworthy that nine nuns were traveling by air.
The Sisters Arrive
It was dawn when the plane landed at San Francisco International Airport and Mother Superior Maria Delores Blasco disembarked with her charges—Sisters Angeles Serra, Manuela Vencesla, Engracia Fernandez, Josefina Ordiain, Marie-Rosa Lopategin, Maria-Lonzina Olarte, Francisca Mota, and, “still a student,” Gloria Zamore. The group showed “little of the weariness exhibited by even the most experienced globe trotters after a 6000 mile flight…,” observed Daily Review reporter Don Carter, who followed the sisters through their first day in America.
“Everyone in America has been so kind to us,” Mother Superior Blasco reflected later that day. “The airline people would not even let us carry our hand baggage. It’s wonderful!”
The convent on San Miguel was completed and OLG parishioners had worked hard to prepare it for their arrival. The sisters were not prepared for the luxury of rugs and soft beds—“In Spain, where we were also teaching at a school, the cells were not like this,” Mother Superior told Don Carter. They had a lot to do before school opened that fall, including collecting books for the school library and meeting parishioners. They also planned to “brush up on their English,” Carter reported. There would be more Carmelite Sisters to come as the school ramped up. [Note: Don Carter, “Nine Carmelites Arrive To Teach In Castro Valley,” Daily Review, March 17, 1955, HAHS.]
The parish school opened in September of 1955 with 250 students at the elementary school, including 100 first graders, and 50 students each for second, third, and fourth grades. Four classrooms, representing grades five through eight, were vacant—a new class would be opened each year until, after four years, the school had its full complement of eight grades. Father Stack told the local paper that transfers of individual students, or complete classes, from public to a parochial school beyond grade four was not advisable: “The change is too marked.” In the meantime, openings in the first four grades would be filled from a waiting list.
The school administration was led by “teaching principal,” Mother Superior Dolores, assisted by Sister Josefina, Sister Francesca, Sister Angeles, and Sister Maria Rose, with lay teachers Genevieve Kavanaugh and Gertrude Keller. The school day, which began at 8:45 a.m. and ended at 3:05 p.m., followed the normal elementary school curriculum set by California’s Department of Education, while Father Stack hoped to add special courses, notably Spanish language classes. [Note: “New Parochial School Opens in Castro Valley,” Daily Review, September 13, 1955, HAHS.]
The school’s early years, led by the pastor from Ireland and the sisters from Madrid, had little of the inclusiveness and transparency that would characterize the school in the near future. Parishioner Bettylu Vaz recalls that when she sent some of her children to OLG school “there was no communication at all with the parents. We got a little bill for the monthly fee, but that was the entirety of our connection.”
But there was positive growth. OLG and other parishes had previously been part of the San Francisco diocese, but were now included in the Oakland diocese that was formed in 1962 and encompassed parishes in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties (and included Transfiguration, a new parish on the eastern side of Castro Valley). Continued growth at OLG included construction of a large hall in 1968 to meet youth religious education needs—it would later be named Stack Center, in honor of the parish’s pioneering pastor (whose canny eye for real estate facilitated the parish’s growth).
An era ended when Father Patrick Stack retired in 1972 (the following year he was appointed to the honorary rank of monsignor upon recommendation of Oakland Bishop Floyd Begin). Rev. Stack had been pastor for 21 years, and had fulfilled “the mission of putting Castro Valley together.” When he passed away in 1984, a parish of 200 families had grown to about 2,500 families.
Father Keene became pastor, Sister Mercedes was appointed principal, and a school board was established.
And so Our Lady of Grace Catholic School began.
During the school year, the principal writes a little article that is printed in the Parish Bulletin the first Sunday of each month. It tells about some of the things that have been happening during that month. They are little time capsules.
April 5, 2020 marks the beginning of OLG School’s response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The school did not miss a beat immediately going to distance learning and a full teaching schedule thanks to the our Principal, Teachers and Staff. The recording of the Principal’s messages here marked the realization that a great deal of our history is reported in these little bulletin messages.
And with the June 11, 2023 entry, we close the recordings of the Principal’s Message, having started them with Principal Susan Anderson and recording the onset of COVID-19. They are a window into a tumultuous time of changes to teaching, schedules, and lives in general. The effects due to Diocese changes are also reflected in messages from an Interim Principal, Kathy Gannon-Briggs, leading to the first year of Principal Gena McGowan as we march back into normalcy.
It was all pretty simple: Find someone to be Interim Principal for one year; To replace a beloved Teaching-Aid/Instructor/Teacher/Principal of over 30 years; To keep the school running for the year at its current high level; And get it ready for the future.
With that on his plate, Father Tom ( Father Thomas Czeck OFM Conv, our pastor ) set out to find such a person. He did. Pulled off of the freeway near Atlanta GA to take the call, in a hot parking lot in the baking Georgia sun, on her way to retirement. This phone interview was important. Fr Tom needed someone that could fill the gap, give good leadership, and have a full understanding of a school and its future.
Fr Tom was speaking to Mrs. Kathy Gannon-Briggs. On vacation, she was all set for a nice relaxing retirement, ready for spin and swimming classes, committed to working a full day every Thursday in a hospital in the Tri-Valley area which she had already been doing for six years, and planning a pilgrimage to sites in Europe in the fall. Two hundred plus kids were not on her radar.
Mrs Gannon-Briggs had filled the role as interim principal several times to help schools. But usually for several months, and at most half the school year. But one year? It gave her pause.
On the phone, neither Fr Tom nor Mrs. Gannon-Briggs could know that coming were: the Omicron variant that would force distance learning again for several months; a furnace malfunction that would flood two class rooms with smoke and fill the rest of the main building with overpowering odors two days before Christmas Break ( fortunately before kids arrived for the school day) that forced the cleaning of the upper floors, the replacement of two furnaces, the testing of all air quality, all to be done before the children were scheduled back after Christmas break; the relaxing of masking mandates in mid March that allowed no-mask options in schools for teachers and students; and the need to get the school community back together after the long isolations brought on by COVID-19. And at this writing, there are still two months of school left!
So, what did Mrs. Kathy Gannon-Briggs bring to the table?
A teacher with many years of classroom experience meant that she knew children, their needs both for moral and intellectual growth. She was able to get things done in the midst of chaos, as any good classroom teacher can and must do. A strong sense of the importance of the spiritual foundation to accompany the educational foundation so important for future life. An understanding of how to make the school work and what was down the road.
Principal Gannon-Briggs hit the ground running in August. She got in, met the staff, set up her goals and looked everything over with a keen eye and white glove. She made sure that the religious aspects of our school were front and center along with education. She met the School Board in September and quickly got us on board with her vision and was quickly able to get our input on aspects of the school where the board brought expertise.
She quickly got the board and staff working on the writings that would go into the accreditation work that would need to be done in the following two years. She moved on anything that she considered health and safety issues and involved the Safety and Maintenance committee of the board. She found a parent, a nurse in charge of infectious disease information and mandates at UCSF to be on the board to help guide us through this most difficult time of Covid.
During her spare time, she filled in for sick teachers, shepherded children and parents,
looked after the budget and provided strong leadership for a school community that had been through a very difficult 2020-2021 school year. People would get email answers to questions at 5:30am on school days, and even once, an okay of the board minutes from somewhere in Spain.
She has been completely dedicated to the school and its community, working tirelessly on the children’s behalf. She quickly addresses every issue.
This picture was taken on a Friday, when 4 teachers were out with colds, the open house was in two days, and a hectic life was even more so. There was a child on the bench in front of the office. After talking with Mrs. Russell and the child, Principal Gannon-Briggs walked down the quiet hallways
back to 1st grade with the child.
The OLG School Board wishes to thank Principal Gannon-Briggs for her wonderful work in taking care of the students, parents, staff and community that is Our Lady of Grace Parish School and shepherding us through a very challenging year.
THANK YOU Principal Gannon-Briggs.
First Days of School. You remember them. To line up in a new row with old friends. The teachers at the head of each row. You are too excited to stop talking. Too excited to listen. Your backpack is full of new pencils and fresh unused erasers.
Parents, standing off to the side, cannot believe the noise that is coming from this not so small group. Will the chaos of movement and noise ever be tamed? Controlled? Then there is quiet, just that suddenly. The school year has started.
8/13/2020 was different. The only lines signaling school were cars staged to pick up or drop off packets of papers. Distant faces behind windshields and rolled up windows as contact was kept to a minimum. The school doors are locked. Few ventured out. We were in lockdown.
Thus began distance learning. Much had been learned about distance learning through the end of the 2019-2020 school year. But no one believed that it would continue. It did and the uncertainty of how long continued too.
It is now April 2021. Eighth grade has just joined the rest of the school for on-campus learning. All classes are back. It was a monumental task requiring the support of families, and the tireless diligence and caring of Teachers, Staff and Admin.
With a sigh of relief and prayers for continued success, the OLG School Board would like to recognize the school’s Principal, Teachers and Staff as the reason that the students and families are back in the classroom, together again learning, having fun, and experiencing school as it should be experienced. It was through their tireless work, energy, caring and love that the students and families are, maybe a bit worse for wear, physically together again.
The OLG Board’s Dedication for the 2020-2021 school year is to :
| Principal | Susan Anderson |
| Office Manager | Debbie Russell |
| Secretary | Chrystalla Sanchez |
| TK Teacher | Kristen Russo |
| Kindergarten Teacher | Nubia Giles |
| 1st Grade Teacher | Kathleen Kirkland |
| 2nd Grade Teacher | Clara Castillo |
| 3rd Grade Teacher | Molly Gotchet |
| 4th Grade Teacher | Michael Killian |
| 5th Grade Teacher | Denise Danek |
| 6th Grade Homeroom | Shyra Dawson |
| 7th Grade Homeroom | Patricia Hierro |
| 8th Grade Homeroom | Kimberly Hughes |
| Art | Barbara Westerhoff |
| Lang. Arts Grades 6th-8th | Br. Chris Saindon |
| Mass Preparation | Claudia Dobbs |
| Math Grades 5th-8th | Patricia Hierro |
| Algebra | Jeff Stone |
| Music Grades TK-5th | Marlee Marshall |
| PE TK-8th | Raquel Torres |
| Science Grades TK-1st,4-5 | Bridget Britt |
| Science Grades 6th-8th | Kimberly Hughes |
| Reading Specialist | Lori Singer |
| Spanish | Maria Fajardo |
| Inst. Asst. | Maribel Barrera |
| Inst. Asst. | Amy Hernandez |
| Inst. Asst. | Thelma Dawson |
| Inst. Asst. | Rose Filson |
| Inst. Asst. | Miriam Teran |
| Kid Kare Director | Carmen Tortolani |
| Kid Kare Staff | Susana Bedolla |
| Counselor | Katey Woods |
 Susan Anderson |
 Debbie Russell |
 Chrystalla Sanchez |
 Kristen Russo |
 Nubia Giles |
 Kathleen Kirkland |
 Clara Castillo |
 Molly Gotchet |
 Michael Killan |
 Denise Danek |
 Shyra Dawson |
 Patricia Hierro |
 Kimberly Hughes |
 Barbara Westerhoff |
 Br. Chris Saindon |
 Claudia Dobbs |
 Jeff Stone |
 Bridget Britt |
 Lori Singer |
 Maria Fajardo |
 Maribel Barrera |
 Amy Hernandez |
 Thelma Dawson |
 Miriam Teran |
 Carmen Tortolani |
 Susana Bedolla |
A Brief History of COVID Time @ OLG School :
- August 13, 2020
- School Starts
- Distance learning format
- Zoom and smiles
- Zoom and frustrations
- Teachers available from 8:00-3:00 M-F
- September, October
- Distance learning continues as students, parents and teachers work hard together
- Hard working kids
- A full school day 5 days a week… School is in session
- supportive parents
- loving teachers
- little kids that need to be together
- Distance learning continues as students, parents and teachers work hard together
- November
- TK, K, 1st and 2d return to campus
- Those that choose to remain at home can now use Facebook Portal
- Never been so happy, never been so tired.
- Both students and teachers.
- January
- Use what worked, fix what didn’t
- 3d and 4th grades return
- late January to early February
- Bigger kids need more space
- 5th and 6th grades return
- February
- Each family decides when it is safe to return
- TK and K are fully on campus
- March 16
- The big kids are returning
- 7th Grade returns to the classroom
- April 12
- A full school means a school that is FULL
- 8th Grade returns to the campus and classroom.
- Welcome back students.
Someday, we will look back fondly on the school year 2020-2021.
For the Class of 2020, the school year 2019-2020 started out on a normal note. Well, not so normal, since they were the senior class of OLG School, an honor long in coming but earned.
They started out looking like a group at the end of a journey.. ready to start a new one.
Over the years, they were a class, making friends, becoming a family.
With the coming of March, they were asked to deal with life as no other class had been asked in the history of OLG School. They were asked to be students, to be friends, to be a family… from a distance.
It was hard for them… for their parents… for their families. The entire school was learning.. the entire country.. the entire world. And they did it. They learned. They stayed a class.. a family.
They have succeeded. They are Graduates. And as for the future? It is yours, Class of 2020!
We are so proud of you Class of 2020 !!!
The OLG School Board would like to make our first dedication for this site to Roger Lowe. Roger was a part of the Board that in 2019 voted to create this site.
What made his participation in the action so special, was that he was also a member of the first OLG School Board. And no, he didn’t serve continuously. No person could have that strength of constitution. He returned in 2016, being asked by Susan Anderson for his help as she assumed the reins of OLG School as Principal. He was the steadying force of the board as it supported the new principal’s vision and direction.
Roger passed away on Sunday, November 18, 2019. He was actively working on finance committee issues, facilities issues, and giving opinion and advice on countless other topics. Those of you who’ve known and loved Roger know that he always had lots of opinion and advice for us all.
Through the years, Roger has been a constant presence at both OLG school and OLG Parish. He and Liz, his wife, raised three children in the parish and sent them through OLG school, and on into adulthood.
Time passes quickly as we attend to business. Each day our lives change and are preserved as snapshots catching moments along the way…
.. till it is our little children’s children that find their ways into our moments and memories ..
.. finally allowing us a glimpse of full and wonderful lives.
Thank you Roger.
A Legacy is not built in a year, or 3. A Legacy grows, as does a strong tree from a seed. Planted in rich soils, nurtured, and with good fortune, receiving water and sunlight, till it grows strong to provide shade from hot suns and shelter from cold rains… a place to sit on a fine spring day.
The History and Legacy Committee and the OLG School Board are pleased to inaugurate the Legacy Dedication with a tribute to Susan Roberta Anderson. May she look at these memories with fondness along with her family, students, and the OLG School Community, past, present and future. [ May 1, 2022 ]
Legacy Dedication : Susan Anderson