40th birthday for Marist-Sion
Marist-Sion College celebrated its 40th anniversary recently with a weekend of celebrations including a gala dinner, mass and back-to event.
Past and present staff and students gathered for the weekend of celebrations on October 17 and 18.
The weekend included a gala event at Lardner Park exhibition centre on the Saturday night and “Back-to Marist-Sion” at the college, including college tours and memorabilia displays on the Sunday.
Principal Peter Houlahan said it was great to have Brother Mark Needham attend the weekend.
He said Mark was among the last Brothers who worked at MaristSion until they withdrew at the end of 1982.
Ken Taylor spoke at the gala dinner about the early days of the college’s history. Ken was the first lay person to become a member of the Principal’s Association of Victorian Catholic Secondary Schools.
Mr Houlahan said Bill Pyle and Bob Allen, both of whom played key roles on the board in the early days, attended events and recounted stories of the difficult, but important early days.
Joan Pilgrim, who started at Our Lady of Sion and worked at the college for 33 years, spoke about how the college dealt with ups and downs due to external pressures.
Joan worked as deputy principal with Chris Holt, who was unable to attend as he is in England.
Member for Narracan Gary Blackwood, a former Marist College student, parent, board member, board chairman and now grandfather of students at Marist-Sion, recounted some of his experiences.
He spoke about strong values of respect, forgiveness and compassion that the college engendered in its graduates.
Fr Herman Hengel celebrated mass at St Ita’s, Drouin. Sister Angela Bayliss, who worked at Sion, also attended the mass and back-to celebration.