St. Vincent Ferrer High School

Class of 1957

A History of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish and its Schools from 1946 to 1958

Rev. E. L. Sanguinetti, O.P., 1946-1951

Rev. E. L. Sanguinetti became the pastor of St. Vincent’s in 1946. The population of the parish continued to fluctuate. Personnel at Mare Island was reduced drastically that year; consequently, several hundred newly- acquired war-time parishioners moved elsewhere. Many long-time parishioners were also affected by the layoff and were forced to leave Vallejo in search of employment.

In 1947 the interior of the church was redecorated at a cost of $7,128, the school yard was graded and paved, and high school maintenance included the installation of new electric fixtures and new chalkboards.

The following year saw improvements made at St. Louis Bertrand in South Vallejo. A new foundation was laid, the floor was repaired, and the church was painted, both inside and outside. During these two years the St. Vincent’s Dads’ Club and Boys’ Club were organized, and the Legion of Mary was also started in the parish.

New elementary school on Kentucky Street

School enrollment did not suffer too much, it seems, despite the loss of parishioners when the war ended. In the late forties, plans were made to erect a new grade school on the corner of Kentucky and Santa Clara Streets. Construction began in June of 1949 and continued during the following year. In the fall of 1950, at a cost of $225,000, the new building was ready for use. It was dedicated on Sunday, October 22, by Most Rev. John J. Mitty, Archbishop of San Francisco. Ceremonies began with opening prayers in the church after which there was a procession to the new school. The building was blessed and a crucifix was hung in the foyer. Ceremonies continued in the schoolyard where the Archbishop blessed the American flag, which was then raised above the school while St. Vincent’s students sang The Star-Spangled Banner. The assembled crowd was addressed first by Rev. John Foudy, assistant superintendent of Catholic schools in the San Francisco Archdiocese, and then by Archbishop Mitty. Distinguished visitors included Rev. Benedict Blank, O.P. of San Francisco, the Dominican provincial; Rev. Leo T. Maher of San Francisco, secretary to the Archbishop; and Rev. John Scanlon of San Francisco, a member of the Archdiocesan department of education. The ceremonies were followed by an Open House during which the public toured the school.

Constructed in such a way that additional rooms or wings could be added later if necessary, the building contained eight classrooms, music rooms, a kindergarten, library, cafeteria, and administration offices. According to the Vallejo Times Herald of October 22. 1950, it was regarded as one of the most modern school buildings in Solano County, being of concrete and steel construction.

Remodeling of old school building

The old brick building, which bad been vacated upon completion of the new grammar school, was readied for a face-lift. Plans had been to raze the old building, but rising costs, coupled with building restrictions, made way for a complete remodeling instead. And what had once been a school would now be converted to a convent for the Sisters. Their old convent had first served as a rectory for the Dominican Fathers until 1870 when the Sisters arrived in Vallejo. The priests had then moved into a new building on the site of the present rectory. and had turned their former residence over to the Sisters for use as a convent. At least three additions had been made to the frame house over the years as the number of Sisters increased. Now, after eighty years, a new convent was needed.

Rev. William B. Moore, O.P., 1951-1957

Renovation plans were drawn up under the direction of Father Sanguinetti, the pastor, and in August 1951, work was begun by J. A. Bryant, Vallejo general contractor. A bazaar was held in the fall to help defray the estimated cost of $200.000. A drive to raise funds for the same purpose was conducted in October. According to the records, both efforts seem to have been successful. Work was completed early in 1952 during the pastorate of Rev. William B. Moore, O.P. On April 6, the new convent was dedicated by the Right Rev. Hugh A. Donohoe, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. About 3,000 visitors attended the Open House held on April 20, and admired what looked like a new structure. The two-storied brick school had been transformed into a three-storied stucco convent. The seventeen-inch-thick walls had been retained, but the interior had been completely re-designed.

Before remodeling—school building

After remodeling—Sisters’ convent

Sisters’ chapel

Of interest is the detailed description of the convent published in the Memorial Program which was issued for the occasion:

Father Moore with Dominican Sisters outside main entrance of remodeled convent

Sister Magdalen Lucas, S.S.S.

Besides expanding its buildings, the parish continued to develop in other ways. Down through the years the parish had provided religious instruction for children attending public schools. However, in 1953 the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) was organized at St. Vincent’s by Sister Magdalen Lucas, S.S.S. who had come to the parish in 1949. With the establishment of the Confraternity, an organization of lay catechists and assistants, the teaching of religion found a new identity. Meanwhile, Sister Magdalen’s own work was still largely devoted to released-time classes. In October of that year, the Sisters of Social Service sent Sr. Paulita Bernuy to join the Vallejo community. She assumed direction of the religious education program of St. Basil’s, enabling Sr. Magdalen to devote her full energies to St. Vincent’s. In a report made to the community in 1954, Sr. Magdalen’s work is described:

A visit with Sister Magdalen

Parish support for the new CCD program under Sr. Magdalen ’s direction is evident from the report also:

This luxury vehicle was appropriately christened Vincent. More than transportation, Vincent was a portable CCD office, housing CCD records, books, and teaching aids, and in rainy weather becoming a classroom for released-time students. Sr. Magdalen’s four-week summer program had an enrollment of over a hundred children. In addition to catechism, crafts, and folk-dancing, the group went to Boyes Springs every Thursday for swimming, followed by a picnic with an ice cream treat. The teacher list included Beverly Posedel (Sr. Mary of the Angels, O.P.), Mrs. Hall, Mary Alice Brown, Margaret Martinez, Mrs. Albina Tintorri, Marrell Levensaler, Loretta and Dorothy McKenna and Mrs. Helen Ross. Expenditures for the summer of 1950 included $2.84 for ten gallons of gasoline.

A 1954 panoramic view of Vallejo with Mare Island on top left

The history of St. Vincent’s Parish has developed side by side with that of Mare Island and quite frequently the life of one has been touched by that of the other. In 1954 Mare Island celebrated the hundredth anniversary of its existence as a naval shipyard. The island had been purchased by the U.S Government in 1853 for $83,491, and on October 3, 1854, one year before the founding of St. Vincent’s Parish, it. had been formally dedicated by Captain David G. Farragut. In honor of that first hundred years a bronze plaque to mark the original site of the first church was presented to St. Vincent’s.

Mare Island Centennial Plaque

The Mare Island Centennial Plaque was dedicated with impressive ceremonies on August 21, 1954. The ceremonies began with a Solemn Memorial Mass at St. Vincent’s Church at 11 a.m. The Mass was followed by a procession to the site of the first church on Marin Street, between Capitol and Virginia Streets, across from the former City Hall. The procession was rather fitting, as was noted by Harry Murphy, a prominent civic leader and City Councilman who was chairman of the program. He pointed out that in 1867 another procession had gone in the opposite direction, marching from the Marin site up Sacramento Street to lay the cornerstone of the present church at Sacramento and Florida Streets.

At the original site the commemorative plaque was officially presented by Mayor George C. Demmon, chairman of the Mare Island Centennial Committee. Rev. William Moore, O.P., pastor of St. Vincent s, accepted the plaque on behalf of the parish. The main speaker was Rear Admiral Frederick Entwistle, U.S.N., base commander, who traced the ties between Mare Island and St. Vincent’s over a hundred-year period.

Participating in the ceremonies were members of the clergy, parishioners, civic officials, the Centennial Plaque Committee, and representatives of Catholic organizations in Vallejo. Among the foregoing were State Senator Luther E. Gibson; Assemblyman Samuel R. Geddes; J. T. Moroney, master shipfitter (retired); J. V. O’Donnell, master boilermaker (retired); Ross Gibbons, chief engineer in the Mare Island Design Section; and George Holzhauer, electrician, Mare Island Navy Yard. Newspaper accounts noted that Moroney, O’Donnell, Gibbons, and Holzhauer, whose careers on Mare Island had been closely identified with outstanding shipbuilding achievements there, had all been lifelong members of St. Vincent’s Church.

Members of the organizing committee included chairman Harry Murphy, William Tormey, William Parrie, Chet Dion, Melvin Lewis, Pat Dion, Mrs. Ed Millerick, Mrs. Jerry Troy, Mrs. Lourdes Pasco, Mrs. Walter Prather, Mrs. S. H. Lorenzo and Miss Julia Keiser.

As the parish neared the end of its first hundred years, it needed a new facility which could be utilized as an athletic center for young people, as an auditorium for lectures and dramatic productions, and as a general meeting place for the many Catholic organizations in the community. The proposed center was envisioned as providing a return, in a way, to the days when the Church was the pivot for all social, recreational, and educational activities of a community.

Aerial view of St. Vincent’s prior to construction of Memorial Center

In 1953 a site for the new center was acquired on Sacramento and Florida Streets directly across from the church. With the help of a loan obtained through the San Francisco Archdiocesan Office, the parish purchased lots 11, 13. 14, 15 and 16 in Block 346 at a cost of $69;000. The houses on these lots were then moved to other locations. The lots had been owned by Mrs. E. M. Fields, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hagwood, Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Middleton, Mrs. Leo Cavanagh, Mrs. Mary Healy and Thomas N. Healy, and Mrs. Elizabeth Lane. The transaction was handled by the J. V. O’Hare Realty Company and the Vallejo Land and Title Company

Ground-breaking for the Memorial Center in 1954

. Plans were made to begin work on the center in the fall of 1954. Ground-breaking ceremonies were held on September 17 The pastor Father Moore and television star Ed Sullivan shared the shovel handle as they turned the first sod. In October construction began on the new gymnasium-auditorium, which would be erected in memory of men who served and gave their lives for their country, and which would appropriately be named the St. Vincent’s Memorial Center.

The newly-completed multi-purpose gymnasium-auditorium

Upon its completion the following year, a detailed description of the new building was included in the Vallejo Times-Herald of September 25, 1955, a description which probably evokes some memories in the minds of those who participated in Physical Education classes, games, rallies, assemblies, and other functions held there in afteryears:

In 1955 St. Vincent’s Parish celebrated its centennial year. One hundred years had elapsed since the small white frame church on Marin and Capitol Streets had been consecrated and dedicated to St. Vincent Ferrer. The Dominican Fathers and Sisters, together with the parishioners could now look back proudly on a century of growth and achievement. Over the years they had struggled to build the physical plant which now comprised a church, rectory, convent, high school, elementary school, and a new auditorium. But more importantly, in the process they had molded themselves into a parish—a community of people who together worshipped and worked, laughed and cried, lived and died, inspired by love of God and of each other. The buildings stood as visible monuments to the invisible values and beliefs of all those who had been a part of the century-old Catholic tradition in Vallejo.

Throughout the year 1955 various parish activities marked the centenary celebration. The highlights of the celebration, however, occurred in the fall. separate Homecoming Days were held for the Dominican Clergy and the Dominican Sisters on September 24 and October 1 respectively. In each case a special midday luncheon was arranged by a committee chaired by Mrs. James Bertuzzi. Each luncheon was followed by an afternoon reception organized by Mrs. J. N. DeCelle. Sunday, September 25, was set aside as a day of special observance of the centenary. Three main events were scheduled for that day—Solemn Mass at 11:00 a.m. in St. Vincent’s Church, dedication of the new Memorial Center at 4:00 p.m., and St. Vincent’s Centennial Banquet at 5:30 p.m. in the Vallejo Country Club.

Blessing of the new Memorial Center

Presiding at the Solemn Pontifical Mass was the Most Rev. Merlin J. Guilfoyle, Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco. The Mass Was celebrated by Rev. William B. Moore, O.P., the pastor, assisted by Rev. Dominic Hoffman, O.P. and Rev. John Myhan, O.P. as deacon and sub-deacon. Music for the Mass was provided by St. Vincent’s Choir. The sermon was preached by Bishop Guilfoyle who summed up local history in three words—Solano, Vallejo, and Dominican. A convert to Christianity, the Indian Solano created peace between the natives and the settlers, General Vallejo planned the city, and the Dominican Fathers founded the first Catholic church in the area. In a simple ceremony after the Mass the bishop blessed the Memorial Center.

Following an Open House at the center from 3 to 4 p.m. the Armed Forces Dedication took place. The program opened with the advancement of colors by the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps under the command of Sergeant L. J . Stewart U.S.M.C. of Mare Island Marine Barracks. Taking part were members from Benicia Arsenal, Travis Air Force Base, and Mare Island Naval and Marine Units. The National Anthem was sung by Mrs. Marie Maxwell, and the invocation was given by Rev. William R. Feehan, O.P. Opening remarks were made by Mayor G. Wilfred Hewitt and William F. Goheen, chairman of the Solano County Board of Supervisors. Master of ceremonies Thomas J. McCaffrey sketched the history of Catholics’ service to their country. Then Very Rev. Joseph J. Fulton, O.P., provincial of the Dominican Holy Name Province introduced the many dignitaries on stage and in the audience. American flags were presented to the parish by Joe Butts, past commander of Mare Island Post 550, American Legion, and Mrs. Catherine Strubinger, president of the Fifth District, American Legion Auxiliary, on behalf of Vallejo Auxiliary 104. California Bear Flags were presented by Philip B. Lynch, past president, Vallejo Parlor Number 77, Native Sons of the Golden West, and Mrs. Marcella Turner, president, Vallejo Parlor Number 195, Native Daughters of the Golden West. A vocal selection entitled I Love You, California was sung by Mrs. Alice Gallagher also of Parlor 195. The flags were blessed by Rev. John Myhan, O.P., and later the large American flag was raised on the new flagpole by Explorer Scouts of St. Vincent-sponsored Post 205. In his ensuing short address Father Moore reminded his audience that the men to whom the building was dedicated had given their lives for justice, and he called on all to work towards justice: We must rededicate our lives. We must be willing to surrender some of our very lives that our justice . . . will survive. The ceremony ended with a closing prayer by Rev. Dominic Hoffman, O.P. and the retirement of colors.

The Centennial Banquet commenced at 5:30 p.m. at the Vallejo Country Club. The evening celebration began with an invocation by Father Hoffman, O.P., the National Anthem, and some words of welcome from James P. Boyle, chairman of the event. Distinguished guests were introduced by Tobias D. Kilkenny, master of ceremonies and retired city engineer, who had overseen construction of the Memorial Center. Very Rev. Joseph Fulton, O.P. addressed those present at the banquet. He noted that while its hundredth anniversary was being celebrated by St. Vincent Parish, the six-hundredth anniversary of its patron, St. Vincent Ferrer. was being observed in Europe. The Memorial Center, he believed, attested to parochial spirit, in which members of the parish carry out the love from God in loving one another.

Then a musical program was presented which featured vocalist Miss Marilouise Rossini and accompanist Mrs. Philip B. Lynch. Specially honored during the banquet was Mrs. J. N. DeCelle, who at eighty-four years of age, was the oldest living parish worker of St. Vincent’s. She received a blooming plant and other tokens of appreciation for her generous service to the parish. Father Moore, O.P. and Mr. Boyle made some closing remarks. and the final blessing was given by Father Feehan, O.P. General chairman Mrs. Cyril F. Ryan, reminded everybody that the centenary observance did not. end with the events of that day, but would continue throughout the remainder of the year with the various activities planned for the ensuing months.

In the meantime the parish continued to grow and change in many ways. In 1955 the Catholic Filipino-Guamanian Club was organized by Rev. Thomas Gabisch, O.P. and Sister Magdalen .S.S.S. During that same year about one hundred fifty families moved out of the parish due to the closing of Government Housing, while new parishioners moved into three new subdivisions the following year.

Improvements continued to be made on the parish plant. In the high school, electrical work was done at a cost of $20,000, a new $12,000 chemistry laboratory was installed, and the old gymnasium was converted into a school library and faculty room. In the Memorial Center, a room was set aside for use as a parish library, and a playground was established on property adjacent to the center.

Georgia Street residence of Social Service Sisters

Further space had become available there when the parish acquired the home of the Social Service Sisters in 1956 at a cost of $12,000. In March of that year the Sisters had moved from the 423 Florida Street convent to a new home at 745 Georgia Street where Father Moore celebrated the first Mass on March 24, 1956. Their former residence was moved to 314 Alabama Street and is now owned and occupied by Michael and Antoinette Pappas.

The Dominican priests continued to teach in the high school. In 1957 Father B. Moore was appointed principal there, an office he held briefly until January 1958 when he left St. Vincent’s. On becoming principal he had been succeeded as pastor by Rev. E. L. Sanguinetti.

Parish reports from 1958 to 1960 noted that the parish was tending to become transient. A loss of three hundred families was recorded in 1958, two hundred in 1959. and the possible relocation of many families in 1960 due to the Urban Redevelopment Program initiated on a portion of the parish. Simultaneously, new groups were moving in, among them many black and Filipino families.

St. Vincent’s in the late 1950’s