relocated every three or four years, I attended three elementary schools. I remember with particular fondness St. Ann's school in Cleveland Heights, OH. The pastor was Fr. John Mary Powers. Father was given the project of starting a new parish in 1915. The area was undeveloped then, and he influenced the local government to create a neighborhood at the same time and avoid putting commercial buildings adjacent to the parish grounds.
I went to St. Ann's from Kindergarten through third grade. Every day, my siblings and I walked the mile to school from our home on Guilford Rd. to the parish school on Coventry. The parish church was just finished in the early fifties, so I was among the first generation going to Mass in the Church instead of the school. I made my First Communion at St. Ann's.
When Fr. Powers retired in 1966, he had been pastor at St. Ann's for 61 years. Those were the days when priests really were the "fathers" of their flocks. Instead of reassigning priests like junior executives every three or four years, many pastors remained for life in one parish. Fr. Powers was not an anomaly! He was a gift of fatherhood to his people.
Every year on Father's feast day, the school congregated to sing a song, no doubt written by one of the nuns. I can still sing that song today.
What's the matter with Father? He's okay.
What't the matter with Father? It's his feast day.
I hope he remembers when he was a boy
How a free day was greeted with joy.
What's the matter with father? Where's our free day.
And then father would announce a school holiday and we'd all go home with a little box of hard candies carried with a string like animal cracker boxes. Is it any surprise that a child would carry remember that into adulthood?
I loved those years in Cleveland Heights although my memories are hazy. My grandparents lived across town in Lakewood and those were the only years I experienced grandparenting since my mom's parents died when I was an infant and, after we moved, we only saw my dad's parents once a year or so when they came to visit. But during those four years I remember the fun of the glider swing in the back yard and the adventures in the basement exploring. But most of my memories involve St. Ann's: learning to tie my shoes, roller skating or riding bikes to school, playing on the playground, and there in the background Fr. Powers.
The history of the parish is fascinating:
The buildings of St. Ann Parish, which were landmarked by the city of Cleveland Heights in 1975, became Communion of Saints Parish in 2010. This group of buildings, each one a different architectural style, includes the school, hall, rectory and church. Both the history of the parish and the styles of architecture contribute to the significance of these properties.
In 1915, the Diocese of Cleveland established a church in Cleveland Heights for about 40 families, and appointed Father John Powers to serve the community.
After finding a suitable location at the top of the streetcar line, Powers had a wooden church constructed at the corner of Cedar and Coventry roads. It was his goal to establish an elementary school, high school and college on the campus. Powers began his mission of constructing the elementary school immediately.
The oldest buildings on the campus, the rectory and recreation hall, were built in 1915 in a Georgian Revival style. The architects for the hall were Koehl & Van Renssalaer; the architect for the rectory is unknown. [Source]
Fr. Powers was born in 1876 in Cleveland and spent his life there, dying at the age of 89 in 1966. I'm praying for Father's intercession for all the priests of the world. May they all have the same dedication he had for his beloved parish, St. Ann's. At the dinner celebrating the 50th anniversary of the parish, just a few weeks before Father died, the local mayor, Kenneth Nash, described him as the "Guardian Angel of Cleveland Heights." Rest in peace, Fr. Powers, and thank you for the memories.
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