Ascension School has long been a cornerstone of Oak Park’s Catholic community — as in 100 years long. Located at the intersection of Clarence Avenue and Van Buren Street, the school that has turned into a regional magnet evolved from humble beginnings.
In 1907, Archbishop James Quigley commissioned Rev. Thomas J. McDevitt to open a parish in South Oak Park. Construction of the school began in 1911, and Father McDevitt began to look for nuns to teach the children, who would begin school in the fall of 1912.
Sister Rosemary Meiman, archivist for the Order of Saint Ursuline’s Central Province, writes:
“Mother Paul in Springfield received a letter from Father McDevitt in which he told her that his parish had a large debt, inadequate living quarters for the sisters and insufficient income. Mother simply replied, ‘How many sisters do you need, and when do you want them?’
“Following this encounter, five Ursulines arrived to staff the school: Mothers Raphael Armstrong (principal), Aloysious McGrath, Genevieve St. John, Fidelis Sams, and Johanna Majerus. During the first year, four classrooms hosted 240 children.”
Growing pains
Despite the initial challenges, the school steadily grew. Nineteen nuns served the school by 1939, and the building that had once housed the church, convent and classrooms, was now dedicated to classrooms on all three floors.
Many changes came to the school in the 1940s under the guidance of Father Francis “Packey” Ryan who modernized the school. In 1944, cloakrooms were replaced with lockers, fluorescent lighting lit the classrooms, new ceilings were insulated for sound, and new desks and flooring were installed. The Pine Room replace the former lower level parish hall, creating a gathering place for school and parish events.
In 1946, 594 children were enrolled at the school. That number would more than double in the next 15 years as soldiers returned from World War II and started the Baby Boom.
In the school year of 1950-51, with the student population at 725, Father Ryan had plans drawn up for an addition to the school that would include more classrooms and a gymnasium, but Father Ryan passed away suddenly in 1951 before he could put the plans in motion.
His successor, Monsignor John Fitzgerald carried on with the addition, and in October of 1954, an addition opened that included a gym, youth center, kindergarten rooms and more classrooms.
Students from the 1950s recall roller-skating in the new gym on the beautiful parquet floor after school and the emphasis on school sports, including football and baseball. Traditions such as the May Crowning of Mary and the annual Cookie Walk began during this time period.
Former teacher Jean Ott, who attended Ascension from 1935 to 1943, recalls how she came to teach at the school.
During the 1950s, she writes, the Cold War and Russia’s launch of the Sputnik satellite brought much attention to science programs in local schools. When Ascension wanted to beef up its science program, Ott’s sister Miriam volunteered her to help, thinking Ott’s degree in biology and chemistry would be helpful. Ott began teaching science to the seventh grade.
“I had no books and no equipment,” she reminisces, “but somehow managed to do the work, so I was asked to return to teach that same class the next year. I learned more from those two years than I could have learned from a master’s degree in education. This sold me on a future of teaching.”
Ott taught at Ascension until retiring in 1994, after 35 years of service. She continued to volunteer as a tutor at the school for 10 more years.
The challenging ’60s and ’70s
School enrollment peaked in 1963, when there were over 1,200 students at Ascension. The largest class graduated in 1966. As changes within the church led to fewer young women joining the Ursuline Order, fewer nuns were available to serve as teachers. As more lay teachers had to be paid, tuition rose, and many families began to choose other schools for their children. By 1977 school enrollment was down to 493.
Sister Lois Castillon served as Ascension principal from 1975 to 1980. She recalls her first administrative job as challenging but very rewarding.
“I used to ride my bike to Concordia to take my classes to get certified as an administrator. Oak Park then was like its own little world, but with all the realities of the big city right next to it.”
As schools across the country struggled in response to integration, Ascension, like all of Oak Park, had to face a changing society.
“I remember our committee of 12,” Sr. Lois said, “which consisted of principals, pastors and school board representatives from Ascension, St. Catherine’s, St. Giles and St. Edmund’s. We met every month to talk about the challenges of having a gospel environment. We wanted to welcome all people to our school and be open to everyone while keeping our faith strong.
“It was a time of great racial strife in our area, but we were all committed to gospel justice. From the get-go, Oak Park was open to integration, and we all worked to be an environment open to all races.
“We also had some great sharing with the Oak Park public schools during those years. They would send a trailer over to Catholic schools to provide help for students who needed special services. It was a real community partnership.”
In 1984, Sister Theresa Davy, announced her retirement, and for the first time no sister applied for the principal’s job. Dave Grayson became the first lay person to lead the school, and in 1985, the Ursulines announced their departure.
Christine Ondrla, who has headed Ascension’s Religious Education program since 1989, recalls that the last remaining nun was Sister Bernadette Vincent, who taught a second grade class.
“It was a watershed moment when she left for two reasons,” Ondrla observed “The Ursulines were exiting and there was no presence of the religious at the school for the first time in its history.”
After the Ursulines left in 1986, tuition continued to rise, enrollment continued to drop, and the school buildings continued to need repair. The pastor, Father Frank Jenks, considered closing the school. The school board, challenged to save the institution, hired current Principal Mary Jo Burns in 1997.
Rejuvenation
Burns actively turned the school around, doubling enrollment in less than 10 years. One hundred years after its founding, 470 students now call Ascension home.
Burns recalls the school building renovations of 1998 as one of the most important moments of her tenure. School and parish volunteers helped ready classrooms for a much-needed overhaul.
Father Lawrence McNally joined the parish in 2003 and cites the school ministry as one of the big draws of his assignment. Under his supervision, the Pine Room was renovated in 2004. Although the trademark pine paneling is gone, the room continues to serve as a lunch room, assembly room, and stage for school performances.
According to Burns, while the physical changes during her early years were important, she is proudest of their designation as a Blue Ribbon School in 2007 by the U.S. Department of Education.
“The Blue Ribbon award had a very positive impact on the school,” she says, “because we knew we had a good school, but this was national recognition. With only 50 many schools chosen nationwide, it felt like a wonderful acknowledgement of our school’s history. The designation not only verified our excellent academics but also offered distinction for our fine arts program and for our dedicated art teacher Pat Pesce who has served her whole career here.”
Burns is marking her 15th year with the school as it reaches the 100-year milestone.
“The centennial celebrates our wonderful history and our accomplishments,” she says, “but it will also help us look forward to our future. Ascension is a part of a wonderful parish, and it is unique in that generation after generation continues to call this home.”
“The centennial is about celebrating our past and our current, vibrant school,” echoes Fr. McNally. “We’ve got the past and the present, and with our faculty, staff and parents, we’re ready to go for the future.”
Multigenerational
With a strong community presence, Ascension continues to educate students whose parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents attended the school. A strong tie between parish and school shows up in many current families.
Ascension pre-school assistant Margaret Lyons, Ascension class of 1979, is just one of the many examples of a multigenerational family presence at the school, covering numerous angles.
Lyons’ mother, Kathleen Lynch Cliff, graduated from Ascension in the early 1960s and married Ken Cliff at the church. Lyons and her two siblings attended Ascension, as did her future husband, George, and his two brothers.
Although Margaret and George did not meet until after college, the Cliff and Lyons families knew each other through the parish. George’s mother, Joan, played piano for parish variety shows while his father, Terry, helped out, and the Cliffs worked on the shows as well.
When George and Margaret bought a house close to Ascension as a young married couple, they decided to send their son Sean to preschool at Ascension. He graduated in 2007, and his sister Shealagh followed in 2009.
Margaret returned to the school in a teaching capacity several years ago and continues to see the impact of Ascension on new and returning generations.
“What we love is the community of it. We’ve felt the amazing support of this community so many times. I hope it’s here for my kids if they ever need it.”
The oldest alumna
The school’s oldest living graduate, Mary Ruth (Fairman) Cullicott, 100, remembers her years at the school like they happened yesterday.
“I was born in 1911 and started Ascension in first grade. I graduated in 1924 when I was 12. My two brothers, Kenneth and Milton Fairman, also went to Ascension. Mother Borgia was our principal, and I still remember her. We had a nice class; we were all good friends.”
Then, as now, the neighborhood played a big role in the school.
“I lived all my life at 614 Gunderson, and I had a lot of classmates living around me, including Mary Frances Squibbs, John and Charlie Ryan, and Helen Chambers, who also lived on Gunderson. In those days, everyone who was Catholic went to Ascension, and everyone in the neighborhood who wasn’t Catholic went to Longfellow.”
Cullicott recalls that she attended the school when church services were held in a clubhouse at 641 S. Scoville Ave., before the church was completed in 1929.
“In those days, we didn’t have cars, so we walked everywhere. We walked to school, we walked to church. The kids would meet at Gunderson and Adams to get together.”
Cullicott went on to graduate from Trinity High School in River Forest in 1928, then married and lived her entire life in the Oak Park-River Forest area. She now lives in River Forest.
As she remembers her friends from her days at Ascension, she wishes that she could get together with others in her graduating class.
“I have such wonderful memories of Ascension,” she said. “I loved my classmates.”