Louise Laing is something of a trailblazer.

In 1970 when the Argentine Sisters of the Infant Mary, who had originally staffed Holy Family School in Citrus Heights, left for another calling, it was Laing who became the school’s first lay principal.

Msgr. Vito Mistretta, pastor of Holy Family Parish at that time, had started the school in 1959, and faced the dilemma of having a school filled with students and no women religious to teach them.

So with the blessing of the late Bishop Alden J. Bell, Msgr. Mistretta asked Laing, then a member of the teaching staff, to come to the rescue.

“She was great. There was just no one better,” said Msgr. Mistretta, who retired from active ministry in 1990.

“We were very compatible,” he said. “If we needed something (for the school) and there was money in the budget, we got it. It was as simple as that.”

Holy Family School became the first Catholic elementary school in the diocese with an all lay teaching staff and lay principal.

In recognition of the distinctive service of Holy Family School’s founder and first lay principal, Msgr. Mistretta and Laing were honored at the school’s third annual Grandparent’s Day, celebrated Jan. 29, the first day of the recent Catholic Schools Week.

Sister Arlene Connelly, current principal of Holy Family School, credited the honorary grandparents with “doing everything necessary to keep the school going.”

“Msgr. Mistretta had the foresight to buy this 10-acre property which now has 13 buildings besides a church and rectory,” said Sister Connelly, a member of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “The two of them just did everything to keep the school going. They were just a great combination.”

Laing, a member of the parish, recalled that being the first lay principal during the 1971-72 school year felt something like “being in a fish bowl.”

“My philosophy was to always have an open door policy with the parents and teachers,” she said. “The secret is caring about people and having an open mind.”

After retiring from her career as an educator in 1990, Laing wasted no time utilizing the leadership skills learned as a school administrator as president of the Sacramento Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, a position she held from 1991 to 1993.

Laing was selected to serve as director of the National Council of Catholic Women’s San Francisco province in 2006, the same year she was honored as the Sacramento Deanery “Woman of the Year.”

She has also served as president of Holy Family Parish’s Women’s Club.

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