Sacred Heart Catholic School recognized two of its faithful alumni Jan. 26 with a new award called A Heart Like Christ’s Alumni Award.
The award, given to James Boehm and Sharon Giese, goes to former Sacred Heart students who continue to embody the values of their faith and inspire the current students to serve and live lives of faith.
“We’re kind of focusing on our Catholic identity,” the Rev. Edward Looney said about the award and other activities taking place at the school as part of Catholic Schools Week. “We’re going to celebrate two people today that are alumni of our schools.”
Boehm, 67, graduated from Sacred Heart in 1972 and is an active parishioner at St. Raphael Parish in Oshkosh. He currently serves as the executive director of Father Carr’s Place to Be, a shelter serving homeless people. The shelter also operates a food pantry and provides free medical and dental care for those who are underinsured or uninsured.
“I am very honored and very humbled to win this,” Boehm said. “Sacred Heart has meant an awful lot to me. My earliest childhood memories, a lot of them have to do with Sacred Heart.”
Boehm lived on Randall Street less than one block away from the school and church, so he and his family were at Sacred Heart for much of the week. He remembered that, in first grade, a group of nuns from the Order of St. Joseph from St. Louis, Missouri, came to teach at the school.
“My first crush was Sister Justine Elise, my first grade teacher. I had a big crush on her,” Boehm said. “The sisters wore habits in those days, and it looked like they were looking through a hole. Their faces were completely surrounded by the habit, and they wore these big, flowing, black gowns. She was very beautiful.”
The nuns weren’t all fun, Boehm said, as he walked out of Mass one day and accidentally made the sign of the cross with his left hand. A nun named Sister Eustace slapped his hand, and that was the last time he used the wrong hand to pay tribute.
What Boehm didn’t know then was that his time at Sacred Heart would influence what he became later in life. With his faith, he found his wife, Karen, and he also found the opportunity to sing as part of a music ministry. He added that he wouldn’t be able to do what he does at Father Carr’s without what he learned at Sacred Heart.
“There was a time in my life where I made a lot of decisions just for myself,” he said. “I didn’t care about anybody else. Even if the decisions hurt somebody else, it didn’t matter to me. We hear in the Scriptures about building a house on rock versus building a house on sand … and the Lord, in his beautiful ways, would bring things into my life where, all of a sudden, I knew he was back there. He would bring opportunities into my life.”
Giese, 82, a 1957 eighth grade graduate of Sacred Heart, has been a lifelong member of the Shawano parish. Her dedication spans generations, with her children and grandchildren also attending Sacred Heart.
Giese’s work for the parish includes serving as a member of the school’s booster club, church picnic volunteer, member of the Council of Catholic Women and its many initiatives — including the annual rummage sale — and as a principal cook for funeral luncheons.
Giese has also prepared meals for Shawano Area Matthew 25, participated in Catholic Order of Foresters and Catholic Financial Life, and served on numerous parish and school committees, including the parish’s finance council.
Giese noted that her graduation 68 years ago was not where the school currently sits but was in a three-story red brick building.
“There were three rooms on the first floor, three rooms on the second floor,” she said. “Our coat room was in the basement by the furnace.”
There were no such things as hot lunches in those days, Giese said. Students brought their meals with them, or they went home for lunch.
The school did not charge tuition in those days. Book fees were charged, Giese said, but the family was always able to sell the books to future students. She couldn’t ride the public school bus then, because the parochial school didn’t have arrangements with the school district, so she usually went to school via taxi.
“My mother couldn’t drive, and my dad was working,” Giese said.
Her dedication to Sacred Heart never stopped, even after graduation, and she feels it’s important to give back.
“I just love going to Sacred Heart and contributing to the community any which way I can, whether it’s cooking for somebody or leading something,” Giese said.
Looney noted that Boehm and Giese both took what they learned at Sacred Heart and made a difference in the world. He said the current students have the potential to do the same.
“It may be in their local church,” Looney said. “It may be with an organization, or it may be with their city or their community.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
