Last class of St. Clare High getting ready to celebrate 50th anniversary

WOONSOCKET – Addressing her classmates at their 1973 graduation ceremony, St. Clare High School Salutatorian Jeanne Duquette proclaimed that despite being the last class to graduate from their school, “St. Clare will never die.”

“Even though the doors of St. Clare will be closed, there will always be a bond uniting everyone who has ever been so fortunate as to attend this very special school,” she said, according to a copy of the speech published in the Woonsocket Call and Evening Reporter.

Her prediction seems correct, as the class of 1973 has celebrated every major anniversary of their graduation and is now preparing to reunite for year 50.

“We were a close-knit group of girls because we were a small school,” said Connie Anderson, who has helped plan all of the class reunions starting with five years.

Of the 96 or so girls in her graduating class, about 20-30 usually return for the reunions, Anderson said. Already, she and Paulette Hamilton, another St. Clare alumna and a member of the North Smithfield Town Council, have been in contact with about 20 former classmates as they plan the 50th reunion for late April.

“Facebook is such a wonderful tool for that,” Anderson said. The group already has a page set up where Anderson has been posting updates.

Though many of her classmates have stayed somewhat local, Anderson said there are a handful who moved away but make the journey back to attend the reunions. Reuniting every five years usually means “commiserating for a few hours” together, Anderson said, but also sharing old stories and memories.

“It was an all-girls high school so we had some fun stories,” she said.

“You can only imagine with an allgirls school in the late 1960s we did all those things you’re not supposed to do in a Catholic high school.”

After operating in the city for nearly eight decades and expanding twice, St. Clare High School closed its doors once the class of 1973 graduated in June. That November, the Religious of Jesus and Mary officially transferred the title to a private trust, paving the way for the development company Living Enterprise Corp. to renovate the building into the Chateau Clare Apartments.

The St. Clare High School Class of 1973 50th reunion is planned for Saturday, April 20 from 12:00-4:00 p.m. at Savini’s Pomodoro Restaurant on Rathbun Street. Anderson said members of the class may contact her at constance.anderson@ verizon.net for more details.

Photo courtesy of Connie Anderson Members of St. Clare High School class of 1973 reunited at River Falls restaurant to celebrate their 40th reunion. The class did not have a 45th reunion during the pandemic but is now planning their 50th reunion for this spring.