JL wrote:
In searching for the Oakland address of the Convent of the Sacred Heart, I came across a Catholic Action publication from 1922/1923 which listed, under the "Catholic School Defense League ..." the Sisters of Mercy from Our Lady of Lourdes [School] in Oakland, California. Does anyone remember this school, its history and location?
Oh my, yes … not that I’d have too much good to say about it ;^)
Our Lady of Lourdes (henceforth known as OLOL) was a small Catholic school located on the corner of Lakeshore Ave. and Boden Way. It was in operation from 1924 to 1989.1 Let me digress here … I just remember being fascinated by the passage of time evident in the graduation photos which once lined its upper hallways. As one walked back toward the principal’s office (as I did, daily), the photos changed from color to B&W, and the insolent-looking, multicultural faces gave way to somber, sober portraits of mostly white, crew-cutted boys and bouffanted girls under the tutelage of increasingly severe, pinched-looking nuns. But the walls only had room to display back to the early 1950s, and it seemed likely the school had existed long before [note: that’s when I found the 1924 date]. Interestingly, I heard a rumor that after the school finally closed, Glenn Duhe (or did I hallucinate this part?) managed to grab some of those old photos (which, as far as anyone knows, were the only real record of who graduated from that place), and the rest were thrown in the trash. I don’t know the truth, but schools are … institutions, and it kinda still stings to think that records would not be kept for the benefit of posterity!
