Print Issue: November 14, 2002

St. Jude The Apostle - On One Family's Land Legacy, The Heart Of A Church and School Community Thrives

The rain subsided long enough for a school-wide balloon launch in the St. Jude the Apostle School parking lot, one of the day-long activities during the school's 40th anniversary celebration. (Photos by Michael Alexander)

By Erika Anderson, Staff Writer

ATLANTA - In 1960, hoping he was not too presumptuous, Hughes Spalding wrote Bishop Francis E. Hyland, asking for a simple request for a school and church that would be built on the land his family had donated.

"By the way, if I am not presuming too much, we would be much pleased if the new church, when erected, was named in memory of St. Jude," Spalding wrote. "St. Jude is a favorite saint with the Spalding family, and has pulled us out of a good many holes; so I think it would be appropriate if you erect the new church on the land given you by the Spaldings, to name the church in honor of St. Jude. Please don't think I am presumptuous."

The Spaldings had donated 10 and a half acres of land at Spalding and Glenridge Drive in Sandy Springs. Construction began in 1961 for a school and temporary church. The school officially opened on Sept. 4, 1962.

On Oct. 28, 2002, teachers, students, parents, faculty and alumni celebrated the 40th anniversary of St. Jude School, an institution that has formed a Catholic foundation in many of those who have attended since its opening on Sept. 4, 1962.

St. Jude Parish was established on Oct. 1, 1960 by Bishop Hyland, who appointed Father John Stapleton as its first pastor. The school opened with kindergarten through fourth grade and was staffed by five lay teachers. Father Stapleton assumed the role of principal. The first 150 students occupied the west corridor of the building, while the east corridor served as a temporary church.

In 1963, the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart came to St. Jude to staff the school. Sister Sally White, GNSH, now a chaplain at St. Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta, was the first official principal of the school. She remembers well the sparsely settled area of the school, now full of homes and office buildings, including the massive United Parcel Service Headquarters.

"There was nothing there but the school," she said. "The school was what attracted people to move into that area. There was a wonderful spirit. I think that's always present when you open a new school."

With the arrival of the women Religious, eight grades were staffed. Having taught eighth grade at Christ the King School, Atlanta, Sister White took on the same teaching position in addition to her role as principal, which she held for six years.

"The people at St. Jude's are very, very special," she said. "They are just unusually good people. Serving at St. Jude's was a very special gift for us and for them, because they believed in us."

Sister White believes that the simplicity of the school added to its charm when it first opened.

"We didn't have a lot of money, but we did OK," she said. "In time the school grew, but because we had so much less materially, we really had so much more. We had wonderful, wonderful students and parents."

The first class of 18 students graduated in June 1964.

The early years at St. Jude were special times. Each morning the students would gather for assembly, saluting the flag and singing a hymn. The local book mobile visited each week and served as the school's library.

In the 1960s, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the entire student body walked home during civil defense drills.

"The students were trained to walk home at the signal," Sister White recalled. "They would gather out in the parking lot and there were colored flags that designated where they lived. It was very orderly. The older students would be the leaders, and everyone would just walk home."

The Grey Nuns staffed the school faculty and administration through the 1970s.

Third, fifth and seventh graders gather around one of two picnic tables with decorative tiles made by the students. The tables were a gift to the school from the students. (L-r) Jenna Moran, Maeve Connolly, Father Andrew Schoenfield, Eddy Martinez, Nicole Decraene, and Liz and Katie Alford watch as St. Jude the Apostle School principal Patty Childs cuts the first slice of a five tier cake marking the Atlanta school's 40th anniversary, Oct. 28.

During the next three decades, the school grew significantly, adding a gymnasium and athletic fields, as well as a media and computer center. In 1973, the school received its accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Bruce MacLane Jr., attended St. Jude School from second through seventh grade, 1974-1980. His ties to the school, however, reach even further. The great grandson of Hughes Spalding, MacLane said that his great-grandfather was "a great philanthropist of the Catholic Church in Atlanta and was very blessed to have the opportunity to have something to give back." MacLane himself is grateful to have attended St. Jude's.

"Some of the best friends I have today are friends I made at St. Jude's," he said. "I cherish my years at St. Jude's, not only because of the family history, but because it was such a fun, nurturing place to go to school."

A parishioner of the Cathedral of Christ the King, MacLane said St. Jude helped to lay the groundwork of his faith.

"It all started at St. Jude. My Catholic beliefs started there-the foundation was laid there," he said. "Without a doubt, I grew to love my Catholic faith at St. Jude's."

Barbara Poole, who served as principal for eight years, and retired at the end of the 2000-2001 school year, said that St. Jude's holds a special place in her heart.

"I continue to see it as a community. That's one of the things that makes St. Jude's so special is that it is a family," she said. "That's how children learn best when the environment is positive."

She said that everyone who has a part in the school works as one.

"I think it has always been a school that works as a team - the parents, the teachers, the kids - everyone worked together and I think that's the secret of the school's success," she said. "It's where I hope my grandchildren go to school one day."

With a current enrollment of 499 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, St. Jude's is keeping its traditions alive.

Principal Patty Childs said it is "quite an honor" to be a part in the school's history and believes that the school's success will only continue.

"It shows that the tradition is well and alive and continues here, and hopefully we will take that with us as we move into the future," she said. "We can only get better."

On Saturday, Oct. 26, St. Jude's celebrated their anniversary with an alumni dinner and dance.

"It was wonderful to watch them interacting with each other," Childs said. "It was like they couldn't get enough of each other. It was phenomenal to see."

A time capsule with items from each grade was buried on the school grounds. The capsule will be opened again in honor of St. Jude's 60th anniversary. Childs hopes that school will continue to grow.

"I hope we keep doing what we're doing - moving the children to meet the ever-changing world," she said. "At the same time, I hope we always keep that human connection, that family. I want the children to know that it's OK to cry, it's OK to grieve and it's OK to celebrate in this wonderful, family-like environment. I want that to continue long after I'm gone."