Page 6 - Priorities #34 2006-July

Priory History
These Original Benefactors Were Also Founders
They were risk-takers, these patrons who decided to take a chance on a fledgling school in a small, rural community. The 1960-1961 yearbook acknowledges the following patrons:
Mrs. Gertrude Allen
Dr. and Mrs. Peter L. Beal
Mr and Mrs. John L. Bodó
Mr. and Mrs. James E Brophy
Mr. and Mrs. Charles V. Carter
Mr. and Mrs. Edward W. Church Mr. and Mrs. Guilford E. Congdon Mr. and Mrs. George T. Cronin
Mr. and Mrs. Howard Daschbach, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Bernard A. David
Mr. and Mrs. H. W. Dougherty
Mr. and Mrs. Lawrason Driscoll
Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Duff
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas G. Ferruggia Mr. and Mrs. Howard Finn
Dr. and Mrs. James A. Flippin
Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Freeman Mr. and Mrs. Robert F. Gill
Mr. and Mrs. Richard S. Gould
Mrs. Marcia Hart
Mr. Byron L. Haviside
Mr. and Mrs. Rader J. Hilbe
Mr. and Mrs. John Kiely
Lt. Col and Mrs. Lawrence Lahm Mr. and Mrs. Frank R. Lanzone
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Leth-Nissen
Mr. and Mrs. A. C. McCoy
Mr. James J. McBride
Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Murphy
Mr. and Mrs. E. Whitney Olson
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Perrelli
Mr. and Mrs. Albert J. Ruffo
Mrs. Madeline M. Scott
Mr. and Mrs. William P. Scott Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Stadler
Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Stafford
Mr. William C. Stolk
Mr. and Mrs. John F. Tulloch
Mr. and Mrs. Richard West Jr.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Wynne
Lee Watson Union Service
Readak Reading Library
‘You Deserve the Credit.” Prior Egon to the Class of 1961
The Class of 1961 helped build a school— literally—where none existed. Father Egon Javor explains it well in this excerpt from his letter to the Class of ’61:
“. . . When you came, four years ago, a single modest classroom, situated awkwardly on the edge of barren hills, welcomed you here. Now a series of classrooms, a chapel, a library, laboratory, dormitory and sports fields bid you a ‘good-bye’ when you depart. You witnessed the birth of a new school and you matured together with it, taking a steadfast part in all the hardships of its beginnings.
You accepted courageously the noble aims
of this new sanctuary of Benedictine education, you tried to strive constantly for excellence, you wrestled daily with the arduous studies, and you molded your wills beneath the healthy yoke of the school discipline.
By doing this, you were filling a vacant campus with life. . . perhaps unconsciously, you, too, became builders and co-workers in establishing Woodside Priory School, laying the foundations
for its traditions and forming its spirit. Over and above your individual scholastic achievements, you deserve the credit for accepting the difficult beginnings and carrying through the programs of the school with such loyalty.
Your stability, your efforts, and your pioneering spirit will remain with us here as an encouraging example for the students of generations to come. . .”
Some adults also ‘deserve the credit.’ Father Egon Javor, OSB was Prior, Father Christopher, OSB (deceased) was headmaster. Of the 16 faculty members mentioned in the yearbook, nine were Benedictine priests and/or monks—Fathers Leopold Hoffer, Benignus Barat, Achilles Horvath, Malachy Murphy, Pius Horvath, Charles Schilly, and Brother Benedict Menezes in addition to Egon and Christopher. Other pioneer faculty members were Robert Borelli, Patrick Omlor, James Kilkenny, John O’Neill, Damon Nalty, Frank Verduccci and Fredrick W. Goode.
Other adults took a chance by providing financial support to bring Benedictine education to California. Their names are boxed on this page.
Lloyd Karl Clair
Frank Greenlaw
Csaba Hrotko
James Thomas Ruffo
Dennis Merle Duff
John Anthony Flynn
Andrew Kudlacik
Edward Whitney Olson
Thomas Whitebone
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