8/26/22 - Friday Forget-Me-Nots by Jim Silcott

Photo Caption: 8th Grade Disciples at work already.

Dear Our Lady of Peace Family,

This week I have experienced my 62nd first week of school. My first one was in Baltimore, Maryland at Immaculate Heart of Mary in first grade. I was weeks away from being five years old and yet I was placed in first grade. No, I was not a child prodigy. Catholic families didn’t send their children to public school and Catholic schools didn’t have Kindergarten.

I don’t remember anything about my very first day of school back in 1961. Relying on what I do remember, I probably walked to school down Putty Hill Lane with my older sister and some neighbors. My lunch was packed. I wore a white shirt and dark blue pants and a very skinny clip-on tie with the initials for the school embroidered on it. I had a Sister for a teacher in full black habit, and the class probably had 40 students or more in it.

Attached to the front of my desk was the bench for the desk in front. There were still holes on the writing surface where the inkwells used to be. The only audio-visuals we had were filmstrip projectors that beeped to let the teacher know when to advance the slide. There was no air conditioning. The Mass was in Latin with the priest’s back to us most of the time. It was a different time.

Looking back all those years to this week as we started another year at Our Lady of Peace so much has changed in schools, in our Catholic Church, and in our world. However, there are still some things that stay constant with school year beginnings.

For one, the start of a school year means new beginnings., new hopes, new chances to succeed where perhaps the year before we struggled. I think everyone, student and teacher alike begin, a new school year with hope that the upcoming year will be a great one.

My parents loved me back in 1961 as much as parents love their children in 2022 and want their children to succeed. Circumstances may have been different back then. My Mom had younger siblings to watch at home and one car which my dad took to his job. We had no choice but to walk to school. But love from parent to child does not change from year to year.

In 1961, in Catholic schools, most of the teachers in elementary school were religious order Sisters. Today, all the teachers at Our Lady of Peace are lay people. Both Sister Mary Ella, my first grade teacher, and Ms. Corrie Sheshull, our first grade teacher here, share the same compassion and dedication to their students.

Catholic schools today are just at Catholic as schools in 1961. We still pray, we still learn about Jesus and the Apostles. We still practice diligently for First Communion. We still wear uniforms. We still go to Mass as a school and celebrate Christmas not just as a winter holiday but a birthday party for our Savior. We still proudly wear ashes on our forehead on Ash Wednesday. We still don’t serve meat on Fridays in Lent (although in the old days that mandate was for every Friday all year!).

If you go back 62 years from my first, first day of school in 1961 it would 1899! Think about what life was like back then compared to the 1960’s or today. The world changes. A lot. Some of the changes are for the better, some not so good. But Catholic schools remain as schools of excellence, as schools of order, as schools of compassion, as schools of faith.



The Kindergartners and first graders of the 2022-2023 school year probably won’t remember much more about their first day than I did mine. But hopefully, they will always remember that with Christ at the center of their lives they can accomplish anything. Let’s have a great year!

Jim Silcott