Generations celebrate graduation at Lauralton Hall

Posted by: Debbie Bowley on Tue, 07 June 2005 14:41:34

Class of 2005 joins alumnae to mark school’s 100th year

By Meg Barone, June 6, 2005

©2005CONNECTICUT POST (Used with permission)

MILFORD - Deanna LeRose returned to the Academy of Our Lady of Mercy Lauralton Hall Sunday for the first time since her graduation from the Catholic women's school 50 years ago.

LeRose, of Greenwich, and about a dozen others from the Class of 1955 sat in a place of honor in the gymnasium during the commencement exercises, in which 114 young women received diplomas.

"It was just time to come back," LeRose said. She said she liked the tradition of graduates carrying a single yellow rose - a gift from the school staff. That was not a part of her graduation experience.

Directly opposite the Class of 1955 was the Class of 1980. The silver and golden jubilarians were invited to the 2005 graduation as part of the centennial anniversary of the school.

The Sisters of Mercy established Lauralton Hall in 1905 to educate "women in leadership in a world that needed women in leadership roles," said Sr. Eileen Dooley, president of the Sisters of Mercy of Connecticut. "One hundred years later, the world doesn't know how desperately it needs the influence of women," she said.

Sunday's graduation was a celebration of women, the mark they have left on the world and the influence they will wield.

"We face an unprecedented time for our gender," Elizabeth Damm, 18, of Fairfield, said in her salutatory address. Damm said women have made amazing gains in boardrooms and in racecars, referring to Danica Patrick's fourth-place finish at last week's Indianapolis 500.

"It even seems possible that we will have a female president in the not-too-distant future," she said.

Valedictorian Emily Marquardt, 18, of Bridgeport, told fellow graduates it is their duty to share their talents with others. "Imagine how much we can teach and how many jaws we can make drop once we are unleashed upon the unsuspecting world," said Marquardt, who will study engineering at Columbia University.

The recipient of this year's Catherine McAuley Award was Saron Smith-Hardin, 18, of Milford.