History




REGISTER TO VOTE!














WHITTIER SCHOOL



Whittier School
As most of you know our only neighborhood school is on the PPS proposed list of school closings. If you would like to get involved in saving the school Click on the link below:
Hello Everyone!
It would be greatly appreciated if families or concerned neighbors could fill out one or both of these surveys. I am working on our arguments for the meetings next week and really need your insight about the future.
Please also remember we have a Q&A session with our board rep Emma Yourd and a fellow board member. Theresa Kail-Smith, Michael Carlin and Leigh Ann Wilson will also be present. Please RSVP here. This meeting is open to everyone. 

Many many many thanks to everyone that showed up at Whittier to have a Q & A session with our board reps. Many thanks to Michael Carlin and Theresa Kail Smith and offering their support and guidance during the meeting.
Showing up is what makes our neighborhood awesome. I really feel we made an impression despite the hard and emotional conversations.
Please be on the look out for more posts with meeting updates! If neighbors aren't on FB please be sure to share this information with them!!! We need everyone to help us fight this potential closure!




VETERAN'S DEDICATION




MOUNTIE NEWS














OLYMPIA PARK

    The SMMA is again pleased to be sponsoring a team in the WHAA. This was made possible because of the dues from our loyal Alumni.
Below is our schedule - stop down at Olympia and see a game.
SMMA Mt Washington Pony A Schedule - Under 14

TUE, JUN 4 @ 6:15 PM EASTSIDE PONY A HUNTER PARK
WED, JUN 5 @ 6:00 PM WESTWOOD OAKWOOD PONY A OLYMPIA PARK
TUE, JUN 11 @ 8:15 PM ETNA BLUE PONY A OLYMPIA PARK
WED, JUN 12 @ 8:00 PM SQ. HILL PONY A OLYMPIA PARK
FRI, JUN 14 @ 6:15 PM SWISSVALE PONY A LES GETZ MEMORIAL PARK
MON, JUN 17 @ 6:15 PM ETNA GREEN PONY A DOUGHERTY FIELD
SAVE the link below for Results and Standings:
https: //pittsburghrbi.leagueapps.com/leagues/4065378/teams/6583829
Team Home Page for Mt. Washington Pony A : Pony A : Pittsburgh RBI (leagueapps.com)
Team Home Page for Mt. Washington Pony A : Pony A : Pittsburgh RBI
PITTSBURGHRBI.LEAGUEAPPS.COM
Team Home Page for Mt. Washington Pony A : Pony A : Pittsburgh RBI
Team Home Page for Mt. Washington Pony A : Pony A : Pittsburgh RBI





POINT STATE PARK


To read about the history of the Point, Click on the link below:



















REMEMBERING FORBES FIELD






















1956 ST MARY'S STAFF


A 1956 photo of IHM Sisters from St. Mary of the Mount in Pittsburgh, PA, with the city skyline in the background. Pictured here are: Row 1 Sisters Catherine Ambrose, Brigid O’Leary, Mary Grace McCarthy, Julian Thayer (Theresa), Alma Shelley, Ann Elizabeth O’Donnell, Marie Patrick Comer, Anacletus Farrell, St George Hall, Maria Margaret Hanley. Row 2: Sisters Clarice Reddon, Hyacinth Serafini, Miriam Catherine Corcoran, Antonina Williamson, Coronata McNulty, Maria Benedicta Gilbery, Venard Ryan, Ina Kenney, Adelaide Marie Eells,
Louise Marie Leonard, Maria Edmund Sweeney, Hosina McCloskey (Genevieve), Anna Teresa McArdle, and Julie Pfister. IHM Sisters served at St. Mary of the Mount Parish and School from 1909 to 2012. 


AULD LANG SYNE

Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians




What does “auld lang syne” mean?

“Auld lang syne” is the title and key phrase of a 1788 Scottish poem by Robert “Rabbie” Burns, typically sung on New Year’s Eve around the world. The phrase “auld lang syne,” which literally translates to “old long since,” basically means “days gone by” in the Scots language. Or, as Merriam-Webster explains, the “auld lang syne” meaning is “the good old times.”

What is the song “Auld Lang Syne” about?

If the “auld lang syne” meaning has to do with remembering days gone by, the song must reminisce about the good ol’ days, right? Sort of. It’s a bit boozier than that.

The original five-verse version of the poem essentially gets people singing “let’s drink to days gone by,” an appropriate toast for the new year. That’s right: Deemed by music historians to be the most famous “song that nobody knows,” “Auld Lang Syne” is a piece of the long oral tradition of getting drunk and belting out a tune. However, it can also be used as a funeral song, where it’s played at the end of a funeral service or a graduation ceremony.

Where does the term “auld lang syne” come from?

Now that you know the “Auld Lang Syne” meaning, here’s where the term is from: The nostalgic phrase “auld lang syne” appeared in Scottish song as early as 1588, but it was Burns who gave us the version we prefer to butcher every Dec. 31.

When Burns turned in the manuscript of his poem “Auld Lang Syne” in 1788, he was quick to cite the Scottish oral tradition as his muse. “The following song, an old song, of the olden times,” he’s said to have remarked, “has never been in print, nor even in manuscript until I took it down from an old man.”

Burns embellished the old ballad with a few verses of his own, mostly adding lines about drinking, like “we’ll take a cup of kindness yet” and “we’ll take a right good-will draught.” The ballad quickly became a standard for the Scottish New Year celebration of Hogmanay.

How did “Auld Lang Syne” become so popular?


GEORGE RINHART/GETTY IMAGES

As Scots immigrated around the world, they took the song with them. Eventually, North American English speakers translated Burns’s dialect into the common lyrics we know today, made famous in part by Guy Lombardo and his band, the Royal Canadians. The group performed the song on New Year’s Eve from 1929 until about 1977. It’s this version that plays every year after the ball drops in Times Square. This year, when you refill your glass with a twinkle of nostalgia in your eye, know that you’re doing exactly what Rabbie Burns would have wanted.

Rom-com enthusiasts also know the “Auld Lang Syne” meaning is a topic of conversation in the hit flick When Harry Met Sally, which features a memorable New Year’s Eve scene. Harry, baffled about the song’s meaning, says, “My whole life, I don’t know what this song means. I mean, ‘Should old acquaintance be forgot.’ Does that mean that we should forget old acquaintances? Or does it mean that if we happened to forget them, we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot ’em?” Sally replies, “Well, maybe it just means that … we should remember that we forgot them, or something. Anyway, it’s about old friends.”






BANNER

NEW BANNER




OLD BANNER





Pancake Breakfast










The Mike Awards

















Remembering the Edge















POINT OF VIEW


Jim West sculptor – Point of View

 POINT OF VIEW is an iconic piece with timeless relevance that truly embodies my ‘Art as Dialogue’ vision statement.

Both literally and figuratively, there is quite a lot happening in this piece.

POINT OF VIEW memorializes a meeting between two prominent historical figures who fought on opposite sides of the French and Indian War – a worldwide conflict between two superpowers, England and France – and who put their differences aside for the greater good of all.

As I created this sculpture, I intentionally wanted both figures to be viewed as equals.

Their heads are at the same elevation.

They are faced eye-to-eye. Guyasuta sits with his back against the west.

Washington keeps his gaze toward that direction in deference to the westward push by colonists.

They are listening to each other. They are having a civil dialogue and putting their differences aside.

That’s the story. That’s the lesson for us all, then and now.

#guyasuta #georgewashington #frenchandindianwar #pittsburgh #history #bronze #sculpture #publicsculpture #figurativesculpture #art #listentoeachother




EVERYONE COMES TO THE FISH FRY











MOUNT WASHINGTON BANNER PROJECT

Banner Celebration
November 6,2022


Click on the link below to see the celebration at the
Duquesne Heights Incline

Then Click on Full Screen to get the full effect:












Click on the link below to view some of the applicants for the Banner Project



THE BABY BOMBERS OF WORLD WAR II

T

Squadron Posters recently came across an amazing and seldom heard of story of what we are calling The Bomber Babies of WWII”. We were recently contacted by an elderly parishioner of a church in Pittsburg who reached out to us and shared a rare story that we have never heard of before. School children during WWII sold War Bonds to help support the war effort. This particular school raised more money than any other school and set an incredible record. When the children of the “St Mary of the Mount School” in Pittsburgh began their War Bond drive their target was to raise sufficient funds to purchase one aircraft. By the time they had completed the collection they had raised enough to buy 1 B-17 Flying Fortress, 4 Grasshopper flying ambulances7 jeeps, 1 amphibious jeep and 35 ambulances. At the same time, it was also sufficient to fund 5 $3000 hospital units and $2000 of medical equipment.

Incredibly, the children of St Mary of the Mount raised a total of $447,804.64 in their campaign. This may have been more than any other school bond drive in WWII. To mark the purchase of their B-17 bomber, the War Department sent a photo of a B17G embellished with the title of their school. (Sadly, this was almost certainly simply a photo retouched with the title, like so many of the war bond planes at that time).

The pupils however had their christening ceremony nonetheless. Water drawn from the Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela rivers was poured over a model B-17 airplane in a proxy ceremony. A photo in the Pittsburgh Post Express (19 March 43) shows Father Thomas Quigley accompanied by several pupils of the school (Photo yet to be located). 11-year-old Michael Hickey sold $49,000 of bonds, Raymond Streily sold $44,125 and David Harold added another $35,000. At the ceremony, all three high school juniors were made “Honorary Generals” for their efforts. – We passed this story onto the USAAF Nose Art Research Project and here is the result of their research so far: HERE

We are not sure if any of these school children are still alive today. However we would be very interested in hearing from anyone who knows anything about this time and event in the school’s history. 

We find this story fascinating as most Americans are not aware of the efforts of school children supporting the war effort. Also, most Americans are not aware that this record was set and what they have accomplished. We also believe this story has never been told (other than during the war years). We believe this story is worth telling and preserving, especially in light of recent world events and the patriotic unity around freedom.

The American Schools at War program was a program during World War II run by the U.S. Treasury Department, in which schoolchildren set goals to sell stamps and bonds to help the war effort. The program was also administered by the U.S. Office of Education, the Federal government agency that interfaced with the nation’s school systems and its thirty-two million students. The Office, however, allowed the Treasury to work with the schools directly as the main objective of the program was raising money.

Planning for the program began before the December 1941 United States declaration of war on Japan. It started in earnest with the 1942–1943 school year. Students were taught that they could support the war effort in several ways. Their most important contribution was financial. Students bought war stamps and bonds with their spare change or earnings. However, more significantly, they were a sales force of millions selling to their families, neighbors, and communities. By the end of the war, they had raised over $2 billion (equivalent to $29.4 billion in 2020).

Schools at War supplied literature to teachers and posters that encouraged all aspects of the program. Individual schools were incentivized with a special flag to reach 90 percent student participation. School sponsorship of a particular item, such as a jeep or airplane, motivated sales. Tens of thousands of jeeps and hundreds of planes were “bought” under the program.

Here are a few of the postes from this program:

If you know of anyone who can elaborate more on the specifics of this “St Mary of the Mount School” story, please contact us at: squadronposters@gmail.com

 

              https://www.squadronposters.com/the-bomber-babies-of-wwii/





Click here to download the banner application.

The link below instructs you on how to get DD214 forms if you're interested in purchasing a banner.



BANNERS COMING TO MT WASHINGTON


Officials representing the city of Pittsburgh, a veterans organization, and two civic groups used a Memorial Day service Sunday to usher in a display of banners — beginning in June — honoring those from Mount Washington who served in the military.

The banners with vets’ photos will hang from street poles along Grandview and Virginia avenues in Mount Washington in years to come between Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

“Being recognized is important, especially for the families of those who have passed,” he said. 

Vietnam veterans from Post 5111 performed the gun salute for each name of service members who were killed in action. This was followed by the playing of taps to conclude the ceremony



May be an image of 3 people and text

 


JFK LEAGUE 
1975 ARMY TEAM



Back row L to R ,
 Mike Kearns,,, Mickey DelGatti,,Mike Malle ,,Glen Bobak,, Bruce Miller,,Willis Manion,, Cookie Campbell,,Gerry Hantz,,
 Middle row L to R ,,
 Bill McBride,, Dave Sweeney,, Pat "Bink " Goslin,, Jimmy Denilio,, Mike Brooks,, John Glaser,,Not Sure ? ,, Kevin OMalley,, Rick Gilvary,,
 Front Row L to R,
 ? ? Denny Morgan,, Dave Massucci,, Chuckie King,, Kurt Smallhoover / 1975 JFK Champs , Frank "Horse " Moreno ,Head Coach RIP Mickey DelGatti, Chuckie King,, Rick Gilvary














WE ARE THE MOUNTIES!



1960 Mighty Mountie Cheerleaders.

Back row  Connie Graff,  Caroline Weithorn, now a Sister, ? Maybe Connie Northrop, Rose Ann McDermott , Rosemary Quinlin ,

Front row Joy Uram, Fran Halpern, Rose Ann Mascaro and Janie Cawley  


Are they beginning work on the Grade School?


A plan to convert a former Catholic school on Mt. Washington into a 34-unit loft apartment building is moving forward.

The four-story building would become Grandview Lofts, with studio, one- and two-bedroom units for rent. They’ll be priced at market rate, Jones says, though they haven’t set the price yet.

The building’s ground-level gymnasium would be transformed into an entryway and lobby, business and fitness centers, a property manager’s office, tenant and bike storage, mechanical areas, and an ADA tenant apartment.

The three floors of classrooms above would become apartments, with lounge space and laundry rooms. A new rooftop deck would provide residents with 360-degree views of Downtown, the Monongahela River, the North Side, and Mt. Washington. To ensure that the guardrails don’t interrupt the views, they’ll be fitted with glass panels.





CLASS OF 1932



CLASS OF 1944



1967 DIOCESAN CHAMPS




ST MARY OF THE MOUNT 1967 BASEBALL TEAM

    DIOCESAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS (14-0)

COACH: WILLIE MILLER

PLAYERS:

1. GEORGE “BO” FIGLIOLIA 1967           10. JOE MERRIMAN 1968

  2. JACK FREDLAND 1967                           11. BILL WATERS 1968

3. TOM O’NEILL 1967                                 12. GUY CAPARELLI 1969

 4. RICK STAMBROSKY 1967                       13. MIKE GALLAGHER 1969

5. TERRY SCANLON 1967                           14. GEORGE GEYER

6. DAN BOLICK 1968                                   15. FUZZY ALSTON 1970

7. TOM COGHILL 1968                                16. ERNIE FAULDS 1970

8. JIM ERKLE 1968                                       19. JACK TEITZ

 9. ED WIRTH 1968                                       BAT BOY: PAUL PALMER

 


1971 ST MARY OF THE MOUNT
DIOCESAN CHAMPS


1971 HILLTOP CHAMPIONS






Some Future Members of the Class of 1971








Class of '63 3rd Grade Picture


                





1958 BASEBALL CHAMPS


    1960 BASEBALL CHAMPS



Samanatha FitzHenry Photos

Do you have any pics to send her?








RECOGNIZE ANYONE?


Mary Jane Schol Byerly Grade School Class


Ed and Denny's Little League team








MEMORIAL PLAQUE










CLASS OF 1965 - 1st GRADE PICTURE






Immaculate Heart of Mary Covent - circa 1955




1954 ST  MARY OF THE MOUNT YEARBOOK



WHAA LITTLE LEAGUE
1956





CLASS OF 1971

Can you name some of the folks below?




1968 ST Mary's Grade School BB Team





REMEMBER THIS COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUE?






REMEMBERING  1943















SPARKLETTES - 1970'S? 


Mounties Grade School Team - 1999?





1971 Hilltop Christmas Tournament
Champs





Remember the Statue behind the High School?




The Statue of the Blessed Virgin that stood in the high school courtyard and then on the front lawn of the grade school has been moved again, It now resides on the lawn in front of the church on Grandview Avenue. Kudos go out to Greg Falvo, Tony Naccarelli Construction, and John Deogardi of Rome Monuments
for miraculously making this happen last January.
Passerbys viewing it probably aren't aware of their many travels. 


MAY CROWNING









The Blessed Virgin celebrates the Holidays!
Kathleen Stromple, Class of 1963 drew this picture of the statue for the cover of their 50 year reunion program. Thanks for sharing!





Demolition


70 year old Catholic school to close

Reprinted from the Pittsburgh Press  - Sunday, June 13,1982
                                                               By Mary Neiderberger

        St.  Mary of the Mount High School, a 70 year old institution on Grandview Avenue,
Mt Washington, closed its doors forever Friday because of declining enrollment.
    And the students, who had to stay at the school to get their final grades, lingered for more than an hour in the empty halls and classrooms. They couldn’t face the last goodbye.
    Books were packed away, blinds were taken from the window, lockers were emptied and even the crucifixes were stripped from the walls.
    “I’ve been here since first grade and I feel like this school is a part of me. I feel like part of me is closing,” said Chas Parker, a junior  who added that, although he was transferring for his senior year, he still feels he is going to graduate from St. Mary’s because it’s the ony school he ever attended.
    Junior Mary Beth Erkel agreed  .” My dad went to school here and so did all my brothers. I’ve been here since first grade, and now I have to leave for my last year. I cried so hard when I found out the school was going to close,” she said. “There never will be a Class of ’83, but we have a ring. It’s a collector’s item.”
   Cindy Scalo, a junior, has been at St. Mary’s since the third grade, and”took it for granted that the school would always be here for us to come back to. But now there won’t be anything. Even the view ( from high above the Golden Triangle) we took for granted. We never appreciated it. “But yesterday, we all stood out in the back and looked at it because we knew it would be the last time we saw it from here.”
   Cindy and here sister, Darla, a sophomore plan to attend Canevin High School in East Carnegie – as do most of the 115 students forced to move. The 39 members of the Class of ’82 graduated last week.
   The underclass expressed apprehension about transferring because the school population at Canevin is almost 4 times that of St. Mary’s. They are afraid they’ll get lost in the crowd.
   Mary Lewis, a junior knows what its like to attend a large school. “I switched from St. Mary’s to South Hills High School last fall because I wanted to see what it was like. I switched back before the year was over because I missed the closeness here.” We are all really clase agreed junior Terri Hannigan. “Most of us have been together since gradr school. We always thought the school would be there.”
    Sister Electa Schmidt, who taught business education at St. Mary’s for eight years tried to comfort the students with an impromptu farewell speech. “ I don’t have to tel you to be good.I know you will. You’re the kind of kids who are going to do well. You’re going to make everyone proud of you. I just hope you’ll remember good old St. Mary’s” as she tearfully embraced several sibling students who promised to come and visit her at her new assignment in New York City.
   Sister Genevieve, an English teacher at St Mary’s for 19 years, also tried to soothe the students, But instead ended up in tears herself. She described her feelings as “sad with a capital S.” I saw this Building go up in 1956 ,and now I’m seeing it empty. It’s just too emotional. One thing I can say is that I never taught a nicer group of people”

1 comment:

  1. Does anyone remember or have a picture of the old building that stood in the playground of the grade school? I think at some time before it might have been a convent. I (Lorraine Legler) remember going to class there but have no idea of the grade I was in.

    ReplyDelete