YOUNGSTOWN Many bid farewell as St. Edward School closes

St. Edward's graduates serve this community well, the speaker said.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The closing of the 86-year-old St. Edward School marks the end of an era for many families whose children have attended the school.
Thirty-nine eighth-graders -- the school's final graduating class -- received their diplomas Thursday evening in a baccalaureate Mass in St. Edward Church.
"As long as you represent your memories of St. Edward, the values of St. Edward in your character, as long as you seek out others who have gone before you at St. Edward and share those memories, St. Edward will live on as a school and not just as a memory," Wallace J. Dunne, who was principal at the school from 1971-89, told the near-capacity crowd.
"I'm very sad about the closing, but this school has made a tremendous contribution to this community over the years. If you go to city hall or the hospitals or the legal profession, or any of the other areas of work in our community, you'll find St. Edward graduates have done well," said Dunne, director of government programs and resource development for the office of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Youngstown.
'Whole school is special'
"I feel sad because I've been at St. Edward since kindergarten, and I don't want to leave the school," said Catie McKelvey of Liberty, who completes fifth grade as classes end today. She will be transferring to St. Rose School in Girard. "The whole school is special. All the teachers -- I've had most of them, and they're all really special to me," said Catie, whose brother, Jonathan, graduated from St. Edward last year.
"I'm very grateful for the education my kids have received here. The teachers have always been wonderful,'' said Meg McKelvey, mother of Catie and Jonathan. Meg McKelvey, who grew up on Crandall Avenue, said she and five of her siblings and her mother attended St. Edward School, on Redondo Road on the city's North Side.
Her husband, David, and his brothers and sisters also attended the school.
"It's sad, but life goes on," she said of the school's closing. "I think that it was inevitable. The student enrollment dropped to an all-time low, and you need the student enrollment to fulfill the budget," she said. However, she added, "We feel very blessed that we've had this school for as long as we have."
A last photo
A free-lance photographer, McKelvey took the photo of the school's last graduating class, which was printed in the graduation program and imprinted on the congratulatory cake for the class of 2003, which was served at the reception following the service.
"I feel very sad about its closing. I know all the teachers, and they're all very nice," said Sam Smith, who resides on Saranac Avenue about 100 yards from the school. Sam completes sixth grade today at St. Edward, where he has attended school since kindergarten, and he will be transferring to St. Patrick School in Hubbard.
"It's been a positive influence on him. The teachers are great. The kids are good. He's had a good school career here," said his mother, Cheryl Smith.
Falling enrollment
The enrollment decline was caused by the out-migration from the Youngstown area of working families with children, movement of families with children to the suburbs, and the difficulties parents faced in paying tuition during troubled economic times, Smith said.
"It's upsetting. St. Ed's has been my life. We've lived here. We've gone to church here. I've gone through school here. My child has," said Smith, who has served the school as a kindergarten teacher's aide and basketball coach.
Meg McKelvey and Smith said they would remain as parishioners at St. Edward Church despite the closing of the school. McKelvey said she and other parents would explore formation of a youth ministry to keep the children together and active in St. Edward Church.
"I feel bad about the closing because it was one of the greatest schools around," said Edward Diana of Tod Lane, a St. Edward parishioner, who attended the school, as did all nine of his brothers and sisters. All five of his children attended the school, and his grandson, Anthony Diana of Wick Avenue, graduated Thursday.
milliken@vindy.com