It was an extraordinary morning on Thursday as we celebrated the beginning of our 150th year at St. Peter’s School. The first special event was the all-school Mass, held in the Robert Frye Gymnasium since the church continues to undergo major restorations.
We were excited to recognize St. Peter’s High School sophomore, Gavin Foltz, a direct descendant of William Massa–one of the first four students to enroll at St. Peter’s in 1868. This is a 6th generation family that has been committed to Catholic education.
Pictured with Gavin is his father Brian Foltz ‘96, Sid Foltz, III ‘67, and Sid Foltz, II ‘41. Sid II is the son of Sid Foltz and Catherine Massa. Catherine’s parents were William Massa and Elizabeth (Whitner) Massa.
To the best of our knowledge, Gavin is the only current student directly related to one of the first four students enrolled at St. Peter’s School.
The Massa and Foltz families’ roots run deep in our parish. In fact, both families help fund stained glass windows on the north side of the church.
The servers, lectors, and petition readers today were all selected because they were part of generational families at St. Peter’s. These students’ family trees include names that many alumni will recognize including Givens, Moritz, O’Brien, Colarosa, Kreinbihl, Kleshinski, Rizzo, Herlihy, Dillon, Mulherin, and Schemine.
Thank you to our local media friends at the News Journal who joined us at this very special Mass. Read the NJ story HERE.