THE HARTMAN’S HISTORY WITH ST JOHN’S EL CERRITO
Emily’s Baptism
Bruce moved to El Cerrito in 1976 and immediately joined the parish. Fr Dennis Arahugh (Sp?) was the pastor at the time. Donna and I got married in 1979 at St Jeromes mainly because we didn’t want to be married by Fr., Dennis.
Stacy was born in August, 1983 and baptized up in Montana by my uncle.
Emily was born in December, 1986 and was baptized in January 1987 by my Uncle Fr. Plummer at St Johns. The godparents were Bill and Jan Saner.
Stacy went to St Johns school until she graduated from 8th grade in 1997. She went through First Communion and Confirmation while there and then went on to Salesian.
Stacy’s First Communion
Stacy’s Graduation
Emily went to St Johns school from 1992-2000 and then on to Salesian. She also went through First Communion at St John’s.
Emily and Fr. John
Emily’s Graduation
Donna’s retirement
Donna with Santa
Donna began teaching at St Johns in 1997 and retired in 2019 just before Covid. She started as a credentialed aid and then took over the 3rd grade class. The masses her classes put on, usually around Mother’s Day, were incredible. After working part time for several years, she became a resource specialist, pulling kids out of the classroom for tutoring.
Bruce was on the school board in the mid 90’s for 6 years. He joined the Finance Committee at Fr Maxwell’s request in 2008.
We taught Sunday Children’s liturgy for the kids for several years at the 9:30 mass. We would take the kids out before the readings and return them after the homily. At that time, the 9:30 mass was packed with young families, most of which had kids in the school. It was a time when there was a very strong link between the Church and school.
We also led the monthly Baptism preparations with the families
A lot of our memories with the parish revolve around the social events we had, the fall festival, the crab feeds, casino night, zydeco dances.
We have been here through several regime changes. All were different and incredible in there own ways. Fr. Maxwell was the one our kids identified with the most. He truly had a gift working with children.
This parish has been an anchor for the Hartman family for almost 50 years now. The incredible community we have has brought us great joy through the years.
THANK YOU ST. JOHNS
Sister Angela’s retirement
