As Sisters of Notre Dame celebrate final 4th of July festival, legacy continues in the people

Laura Keener

Editor

Notre Dame Sister Cormarie Rebhan patiently encouraged the young children to “pick a winner” as they fastidiously maneuvered fishing nets around the festival’s Duck Pond to snare a rubber a duck in exchange for a prize. Joan Lecoy, parishioner, Sts. Boniface and James Parish, Ludlow, and volunteer at the festival also working the Duck Pond, leaned over and whispered, “they’re all winners.”

The Sisters of Notre Dame, Covington, held its final Fourth of July Festival this year, ending a 103-year tradition. The festival began in 1922 as a way for local parishioners to help support the Sisters and to fund the building and maintenance of St. Joseph Heights convent, Park Hills.

At that time the St. Joseph Heights Home Association, affectionately known by the Sisters as “The Old Faithful Club” and led by John F. Cook, Grand Knight of the Price Hill Council of the Knights of Columbus, organized the first Fourth of July Festival. For 103 years the Club has helped the Sisters of Notre Dame organize the Fourth of July Festival, which has become a way for the entire community to not only financially support the Sisters but also to come together in joy and gratitude.

“Today we dress in red, white and blue and are graced with patriotic fun and genuine friendship in the SND style,” wrote Notre Dame Sister Mary Dennise Wagenlander, Festival Chair, in the “103 4th of July Festival: Fun for the Whole Family” program distributed at the event. “We treasure you, our faithful supporters and partners, in doing the mission of Jesus. We are grateful for the many ways you contribute to help us fund-raise and friend-raise.”

Walter Witt, parishioner, St. Agnes Parish, Ft. Wright, is one of the many volunteers who, out of love and respect for the Sisters, has been working the festivals. Mr. Witt will celebrate his 90th birthday next month, and the Sisters of Notre Dame have been a part of his life since he was a student at Sacred Heart School, Bellevue. He is grateful to the Sisters of Notre Dame for their dedication to Catholic education, not only his own but also that of his five children and the thousands of children throughout the Diocese of Covington over the last 151 years, beginning with Mother of God School, Covington in 1874.

“The Sisters, they have staffed I don’t know how many schools right in this area. Ever since they came here from Germany the sisters have, you know, given a lot to the community,” said Mr. Witt.

Mr. Witt said he began volunteering at the festival 50-plus years ago. His daughter, Margaret, a second grader at St. Agnes School, raised her hand when Sister Paulita asked for volunteers to help the festival. Since then, the Witt family has been a mainstay at the festival, beginning with the Grocery Booth and moving up to the Major Raffle booth for the last 25 years.

“They’ve (the Sisters of Notre Dame) been part of my life, you know, in my younger days of formation, and you appreciate these things,” said Mr. Witt. “If you can say ‘thank you’ by giving them some service when they need some helpers, I was honored to do it.”

The Fourth of July Festival is ending the way it began, being connected to the rise and fall of the St. Joseph Heights building. For over 100 years, St. Joseph Heights has been home to the Sisters of Notre Dame. With the number of Sisters decreasing, so did the need for the large historic building. The Sisters conducted studies to find ways to repurpose the building, but none proved feasible. Days after the final Fourth of July festival, O’Rourke Demolition Company began razing the building, July 7.

The Sisters of Notre Dame plan to continue its mission and ministries in Northern Kentucky by repurposing the property to address the many needs of senior adults, including recreation, education, housing, inter-generational opportunities and meeting space for Park Hills seniors. This work will continue as St. Charles Community, a senior living community founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame, assumes the property.

“The ministry and mission of the Sisters of Notre Dame will be continued from the Dixie Highway to the expressway. That whole the property can then house the mission and ministry,” said Notre Dame Sister Shauna Bankemper.

By the end of October 2024, all of the Sisters had moved from the Heights building. Of the 68 Sisters of Notre Dame living in Kentucky, 38 are living at St. Charles Community. The other 30 Sisters are living and ministering in the Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati area.

“The Sisters might not be living there, but our mission is continuing through St. Charles and Notre Dame Academy,” said Sister Shauna. “The building isn’t the legacy. Our legacy is the people. You are our legacy. Where you go, our mission and ministry goes forward. You carry it forward,” she said about the all the students taught by the Sisters of Notre Dame and at Notre Dame Academy and all of the people whose lives have been touched by the Sisters.

Considering the immense influence of the Sisters of Notre Dame, through the grace of God and his Divine Providence, like the children at the Duck Pond, all the people in Northern Kentucky are winners.