Holy Family Academy Reunion, Iroquois County, Illinois Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives Copyright 1999 Elaine Frigone BEAVERVILLE'S HOLY ACADEMY PLANS REUNION All that remains there now is a marker, but on July 30, many will congregate in Beaverville, exchanging memories of the Holy Family Academy. In conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the sisters of Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary arriving in the United States, the Holy Family Academy, Beaverville, will conduct a celebration July 30. A mass will begin at 1 PM at St. Mary's Church. A reception and buffet will be from 2:30 to 5 PM at the parish hall. Friends and former students are invited to attend. Mary Jane LaFond, a 1960 graduate, said that invitations to the celebration were sent out in April to graduates not living in the area. LaFond said people are coming from as far as California, Texas, Connecticut and Washington. The Academy was opened by the sisters in September 1895 with 60 pupils. In less than 20 years, the enrollment increased to 300. Additional buildings were added in 1905. The Academy served as a coed elementary school and an all-girls high school. Do to a drop in enrollment, the elementary school was closed in 1965 and the high school in 1969. The building was razed in 1976-77. The sisters of Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary began in Paris in 1865. They found the poor and sick and brought healing to the abandoned orphans of Paris. The women asked to be consecrated as women religious, to commit their lives by vows, to serve in the mission of the church. A Holy Ghost priest listened and founded the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary. Attending Mass one day, they were taken captive during one of Paris's revolutions. The soldiers claimed the church, turned it into an emergency site and ordered the sisters to care for the wounded and dying. Ten years later in 1889, four sisters were asked to leave France and "spread the good news" in the infirmary of St. Viator's College [currently Olivet Nazarene College] in Bourbonnais. The Academy was soon opened in Beaverville. In 1897, Kankakee citizens built a hospital and asked the sisters to operate it. It is now St. Mary's. Today, Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary may be found in France, Canada, Cuba, Argentina and the Cameroon's, in addition to the United States. Besides health care, the sister in the U.S. may be found teaching schools and working in a variety of pastoral ministries in Illinois, Minnesota and Maryland. There are nine sisters originally from the immediate area: Paul Marie LaFond, M. Cecelia Laine, M. Raphael Laney, Alma Marquis and Evelyn Varboncoeur, all of Beaverville; Lois Nixon of Watseka; Scholastica Traman and M. Ursula Yonke of Clifton; and Patricia Kieffer of L'Erable. LaFond said at the academy it was mostly boarders from Indiana and Chicago who attended the high school. They traveled into town by train. She said the Academy was also where women entered for training to become nuns. The grade-school students were mostly form the local area. They rode the same buses as the public school students. Currently, the Parish Hall sits where part of the Academy was located. Much of the area where the Academy stood is now leased by the Beaverville Lions. There is a baseball diamond in the area. The Lions restored the grotto, and the gazebo has also been restored. LaFond said 400 to 500 people are expected for the celebration. She knows of 160 people who will travel a great distance to attend. "There's a lot of people around with connections to Beaverville," she said. ------------------------------------------------------------------ USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organiza- tions or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contri- butor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ----------------------------------------------------------------- File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Elaine Frigone