Holy Family Community Celebrates Its 64-year History

Father John Boeglin, pastor of Holy Family Parish in Jasper for 20 years, had a dream that sparked an idea back in January. 

He wanted to recognize the 64-year history of Holy Family School. He began working with his staff and a parish committee with the idea of creating an event that would capture the stories and history of the school.

The plan was that everyone — former students, current students, families, friends —  would be invited. He wanted to assure that the school’s history would not be forgotten.

Last weekend, his dream was realized as over 800 attended the Friends of Holy Family School party.

In attendance were former pastors, teachers and staff members as well as former and current parents and students.

The celebration included Mass, followed by a power point presentation about the school which began with the ground-breaking ceremony and the building of the church, convent and rectory.

Those in attendance were able to walk the hallways of the school, connect with old friends and reminisce about their experiences at Holy Family. They were able to look at photo displays of each of the 64 classes.

During his many hours of research, Father Boeglin was able to find students from each of the 64 classes, and  someone from nearly all of the classes was able to attend the celebration. 

He said, “The party was awesome!

“There’s really no other way to describe it. Young people didn’t know the history, and didn’t realize the sacrifices that were made, nor the effort and treasures and deep faith it took to make it all come together.

“Holy Family came to be during an era that generally established a school first, and then built churches in gyms, similar to parishes such as St. John in Newburgh and Christ the King and Good Shepherd in Evansville.

“The idea was to bring the children together first, and build a parish later.”

There will be a new school system in the Jasper area at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year. It will be known as Holy Trinity School with three locations.

• St. Mary Parish in Ireland will be known as the West campus. It will house pre-school three and four year olds.

• The Precious Blood facility will be referred to as the Central campus. It will house pre-school for three and four year olds, kindergarten and grades one and two.

• The Holy Family Parish school building will be used for grades three through eight. It will be known as the East campus.

Sally Sternberg, currently the principal at Holy Family School, has been named principal at Holy Trinity School.

Precious Blood Parish will celebrate its own 58 years of history with a Mass and dinner on May 16.

All school families – past and present – parishioners and supporters are invited to attend.