When Loretto High School first opened its doors in 1955 at its temporary location in the St. Philomene School gymnasium, a staff of nine teachers were present to welcome the 51 girls enrolled for the school year.

Now 50 years later, the Sacramento Catholic school, with a student body of 560 girls, resides on a 10-acre campus enhanced by a new center for the performing arts, state-of-the-art science center, soccer field and parking lot expansion.

What has remained the same over time is a healthy respect for a tradition that challenges students to be the best they can be.

To commemorate Loretto’s 50th anniversary, a Mass was celebrated by Bishop William K. Weigand on the school’s campus on Sept. 18.

Guests numbered more than 1,200, including a vast alumnae group, many of whom participated in the liturgy. Also present were families of past and present students, former principals, original staff members and Sister Maria Bierer, Assistant to the Superior General of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loretto Sisters) in Rome.

“This is a time to go back and remember all the people, the initial administration, the cornerstone Sacramento Loretto families who literally built this school on their hands and knees,” said Loretto Sister Helen Timothy, school president. “It was their sweat that built this school.”

During the early years Loretto moms were creative entrepreneurs, baking up hundreds of fruit cakes for school fund-raisers.

“Our parents worked so hard for that school,” said Sally Sanford, whose mother Marie sold 500 fruitcakes that first fall as a fund-raiser for the new school.

The project received a boost from a savvy marketing plan that involved displaying the California State Fair blue ribbon Sanford had earned for her baking expertise.

Sister Timothy said that same pioneer spirit came full circle in 1992 when she arrived at Loretto to initially serve as principal.

It soon became apparent, she said, that “the demand was huge and the school was just too small.”

“Remodeling the existing school and then opening a new five-acre campus in 2001 was just a huge historical landmark for us. It is the second era of the high school,” she said.

Ann Shoff is a member of one of those early Loretto families that now includes three generations of alumnae. Shoff’s mother was a teacher at Loretto when she was a student, and her daughter Lindy is a member of the high school’s class of 1998.

Both mother and daughter credit Loretto with teaching them one very valuable life lesson.

“The big piece that comes from (the Loretto Sisters) is that women are equally capable, that women can do great things,” said Ann Shoff, who was taught from the first to eighth grades by Loretto Sisters at Our Lady of Assumption School in Carmichael.

Lindy Shoff now works at the Loretto campus store near the office where her mother serves as alumnae director.

“You always feel like you can come home here,” she said. “You’re not just part of a group, you are part of the community.”

Another Loretto graduate, Joanne Frago, was a member of Loretto’s first class enrolled in 1955. She said the Loretto nuns who founded the school and became her friends “were strict but always treated every girl the same.”

“They always had time for their students,” she said.

Her fellow students are now a circle of friends who continue to enjoy annual reunions.

Longtime school secretary Arlene Frazer has listened to the laughter of generations of students passing through the hallways to classes. Her own three daughters and one granddaughter have now graduated from Loretto.

Frazer has watched the school grow physically and academically over time but likes most something that has not changed.

“It’s a family campus where I was able to call 100 girls by their first name…yet its way out there keeping pace with what’s going on in the world now,” Frazer said.

One of the students she remembers well is Sister Timothy, who Frazer affectionately recalls as “probably not one of our more quiet students.”

“She knew what she was going to do and did it,” Frazer said. “She was a very free spirit.”

Looking at the current generation of students, Sister Timothy said she has been “struck by the seriousness of how they approach education today.”

“I’m impressed with students’ ability to prioritize to meet their goals with very demanding academic schedules and full personal lives,” she said. “The challenge now for Catholic educators is in being good stewards of our resources to financially assist families in need.”

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