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- [S142] Newspaper Article, The Roanoke Times (VA), 8 Feb 1998.
Pittges-Beaver marriage announcement
- [S142] Newspaper Article, Chicago Sun-Times, 25 Oct 2004.
In 1954, when Holy Cross priests decided to open up a boys' high school in Niles, Dempster Street was filled with tomato farms and orchards and there were no Roman Catholic boys' schools from the northwest suburb all the way to the Wisconsin border.
Notre Dame High School for Boys is celebrating a half-century, graduating 11,000 and sending alums to the fields of sports, business, the Pentagon and even contributing to Chicago's 1960s rock 'n' roll explosion with student Jim Pankow, a founding member of the band Chicago. During the baby boom, bursting with 1,600 students, Notre Dame was so crowded it had to institute one-way traffic in the hallways.
The school kept its boys busy, sometimes from 7:30 in the morning until 7:30 at night, counting after-school activities. Then, the Holy Cross priests fanned out to area churches to say weekend mass. That, combined with the bright green jackets worn by Notre Dame students, made it hard to goof off, even outside the school. There was always a familiar priest or a neighbor keeping an eye on those green jackets.
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Graduates also credit Notre Dame with teaching leadership and integrity. "All throughout my career, I've -- we've -- been faced with challenges," said Bill Pittges, a member of the class of 1983 and an information technology manager for General Electric. "You can do it the easy way or do it the right way. It might cost money but you do it right."
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Notre Dame High celebrates 50 years // School for boys taught students to 'think, not memorize'
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