Former students recall early days at St. Edmond High School

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
June 16, 2005

FORT DODGE - Students from the first graduating class of St. Edmond High School recall fond memories of senior year.

Father James McAlpin, pastor at St. Bernard Church in Breda, was a member of the first graduating class.

"The new building, because of some labor problems, was a little tardy in getting finished. School started in a facility that was not really done, so the students got to do a little of the finish work," noted the priest.

He helped to install and seal the gym floor.

"By then the bulk of the pain was over in closing the previous Sacred Heart and Corpus Christi Schools," recalled Father McAlpin.

Wes Garvey, a 1956 graduate of St. Edmond, recalled early memories of going into a new building.

"It was a total new experience coming from a small school - Sacred Heart," he said. "It was a whole new type of learning experience with homerooms, science labs and things we never had in the other school."

Sacred Heart had been the smaller of the two high schools.

"It was somewhat overwhelming at first, but it was neat because we all got along so well," said Garvey. "We were two schools that were big rivals in sports."

He has fond memories of his classmates and said he believes they set the stage for St. Edmond.

"There was a lot of camaraderie among us. There was no jealousies or anything like that. I am really proud of my class," said Garvey, who added that when he moved back into the area he was pleased that St. Edmond's continued to have such a good reputation. "I think it's a rare school."

Father McAlpin, who had been a student at Corpus Christi, agreed that the students from the two schools melded well together.

"There had been a great rivalry between the two parish schools so they became united and the kids for the most part got along pretty well," he said. "The facility was far superior to what either of us had enjoyed previously. At the time, it was really a state-of-the-art facility."

Years later, from 1978 to 1983, Father McAlpin served as the vicar adjutor and then pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Fort Dodge. Ironically, Msgr. Gerald Kelly who had been the first superintendent at St. Edmond, also was serving at the parish at that time.

"It was a true blessing for me because he had very vivid memories of those early struggles and the reflections on the students. He remembered things very clearly, sometimes too clearly - little dogfights the students would get into. We spent many, many hours reminiscing," said Father McAlpin.

The priest pointed out that his days at St. Edmond and earlier at Corpus Christi, helped to nurture his vocation to the priesthood.

"All of these consolidated schools that we have in this diocese were the work of Bishop Mueller. Consolidation then and consolidation now is not an easy thing to negotiate, but Bishop Mueller had a vision of building strong schools. These things are hard, but it pays off," said Father McAlpin.

He stressed the fact that St. Edmond and other Catholic schools continue to excell academically and "obviously the spiritual dimension is very worthwhile as well."