My name is Richard E. Jonas, and I was in the graduating class of 1957. I have many stories that pertain to the old school.

Of all the years that St. Mary's Academy was a girls' boarding school, I was the only male ever to board at St. Mary's. This was approximately 1945-1946. My mother was in the hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, and I boarded at the school for approximately nine months. To help pay for the school tuition and boarding, I was given the job of cleaning and polishing the Golden Stairway twice a day during that time.

Years later, I was one of the boys along with Jim Hickey, Arnie Babl, and two or three others that I do not recall at this time, that hand built most of the sidewalk and grottos in the school garden where the Sisters used to walk and pray.

I also was one of the volunteers who helped fight the fire the night the school burned. A day or so later, as the dirt loaders were dumping bricks and concrete in the trucks to be hauled away, I salvaged a piece from the sidewalk that had the words "St. Mary's" embedded in slate. This piece of sidewalk I had at my parents home at 115 W. Clay for over 20 years. A few years ago, when the new school was asking for memorabilia, bricks, etc. for a memorial, I donated this "St. Mary's sidewalk piece" back to the school, which should be in place somewhere around the building at this time.

Sincerely,

Richar Edward Jonas (DICK)