Members of St. Mary’s Dominican High School Class of 1956 celebrated over lunch when one of their classmates who has lived in Georgia for many years was briefly in New Orleans recently.

From left are: Patricia O’Brien Toso, Maureen Pfister, Sandra Meacham Gutknecht, Marie O’Rourke Hosemann, Jolise Heiderhoff, Sr. Dominic Savio OP (Celeste Estorge), Georgia Ann Power Horne, and Donna Ward Heim.

Over the past six decades, classmates have kept in contact, and several are also alumnae of St. Matthias Elementary School in New Orleans. The elementary school closed in 1979 after 58 years in operation. In 2016, the school’s alumni gave to St. Mary’s Dominican High School the marble state of St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and Patron of Catholic Schools, originally located at the elementary school. It was given in gratitude for the Dominican Sisters who taught at St. Matthias, the school’s graduates who attended Dominican, and the parishioners of Blessed Trinity Catholic Church in New Orleans. The statue’s relocation was made possible by Catholic Daughters of the America Court Mater Dei #868.