Saying Goodbye to Holy Family High School

Vicki Smurlo, BVM is “smiling, though sad” as she visits the memorabilia case during the final gala at Holy Family High School in June.

by BVM Archivist Jennifer Head

Holy Family High School in Glendale, Calif., closed its doors in June due to declining enrollment. The school had served girls in Glendale and the greater Los Angeles area for 86 years, with the BVMs serving there from its opening in 1937 until 2012, when the last sisters left the parish.

Holy Family, a college preparatory high school, opened its doors in September 1937 with a freshman class of 24. A grade was added each year for the next four years. A 1952 account of the founding notes that the “curriculum was designed to fulfill the need for the intellectual, religious, social, and physical development” of the students. For the first three years, classes were held on the top floor of the elementary school. BVM Bertha Hayes served as the first principal.

In 1940, the pastor purchased the old Knights of Columbus Hall to use as the school building. In 1941, the high school served all four grades, with a total enrollment of 138. The charter graduating class had 17 graduates. Enrollment continued to grow. In 1951, two lots on the east side of the school were purchased and a new building was constructed. The move to the new building was challenging. In addition to the classroom furniture, the library books also had to be moved. The class of 1952 was the first class to graduate from the new school building which still stands today.

The annals document a number of milestones for Holy Family. The Sodality was organized in December 1938. In 1942 the school was accredited by the University of California. A motion picture projector arrived at the school in November 1945.

For at least eight consecutive years (1940–1948) a graduate of Holy Family won a scholarship to Immaculate Heart College. Students regularly won trophies for “most outstanding contribution to the Society of the Propagation of the Faith” through their fundraising. Demanding academic challenges, keen sports competition, and an outstanding fine arts program all contributed to helping graduates take their places as Catholic leaders in an ever-changing world.

In 1996, the school hired its first lay principal, succeeding seven BVM principals. Through the late 1990s and into the early 2000s, the number of BVMs teaching at the school declined, though several continued to volunteer. Nine sisters continued to live in the convent and did various ministries in the parish and the archdiocese.

In 2011, the pastor informed the BVMs that they would need to vacate the convent in 2012. The last nine sisters to live and work in Holy Family parish moved to the former Holy Redeemer Convent in Montrose in June 2012. One of the last activities to take place in the Holy Family Convent was the induction of the Class of 2012 into the alumnae association. Ninety-six BVMs were missioned at Holy Family Girls High School over the course of 75 years.