Education has always been important to me and has continued throughout my personal family history research and in my job as a professional genealogist.

 I love to tell people that I went to the same building for high school as my grandmother attended in grade school. That usually brings a quizzical look from anyone who hears me utter that strange sentence. That’s what I though was true. My maternal grandmother (born in 1901) attended St. Luke’s grade school here in Saint Paul, Minnesota because it was just down the block at 880 Portland Avenue from where the family lived at 1011 Portland. The St. Luke’s school building was later purchased and became Our Lady of Peace (OLP) High School. That’s where I went to high school.  Research to back up my statement later showed that the same building where I walked the halls was the second building on the same land as had been the grade school. The original building was built in 1904. That building was replaced with the larger brick building in about 1931. That’s from old research that shows my notes were not well-cited. (Do cite as I teach, do not do as I did.)

My next educational achievement that I like to share is that I went to William Mitchell College of Law (WMCL) in Saint Paul. That also brings some strange looks. No law degree, though. The WMCL purchased the OLP building after the high school shut down in the early 1970s. In 1975 the school was able to get the official address changed to 875 Summit Avenue in Saint Paul. Summit Avenue is a more prestigious address. The governor’s mansion is nearby as are many other stately homes. Today the law school is known as the Mitchel Hamline School of Law after a merger with the Hamline University law school. https://mitchellhamline.edu/

 I now have a citation for some of these dates! Susanne Sebesta Heimbuch who graduated from OLP three years before me, wrote an article for the Ramsey County Historical Society that includes the OLP story. Her article is “Growing Up in St. Paul: The Teen Years and OLP,” Ramsey County History. (Vol. 43, #4, Winter 2009): 20-27. The article has pictures of the various buildings including the high school’s layout. We did not have a cafeteria and had to bring our lunches. It took me three bus trips to get to the school in order to learn, spend time with friends, and eat lunch in what the nuns called the “Tea Room.” Really, they did!

https://www.rchs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/RCHS_Winter2009_Heimbach.pdf Yes, the byline has her name as Heimbuch and the PDF is Heimbach.

If you have read this far, you now get the pleasure? scare? laugh? of seeing my high school graduation picture.

© 2020, Paula Stuart-Warren. All rights reserved.