Rick Stetson '62 sent these pictures and descriptions of the St. Mary Help of Christians Parish Life Center in Aiken, also known as St. Angela Hall!!. Nathaniel Stetson, father of Saints Barbara, Rick, and Carol, continues to be a champion for St. Angela and St. Mary, as well as the larger community cherishing the gift of education.
St. Mary Help of Christians Parish Life Center is now part of the growing complex on York Street that we knew as St. Mary's School. My Dad chaired the design committee for both the Life Center and the adjacent Kindergarten building which sits between the Life Center and the oldest portion of the school which is now called Boyd Hall. Hopefully the photos are of good enough quality to put the additions into perspective and provide a sense of the building. Dad worked hard to build consensus in naming the Parish Life Center St. Angela Hall. He was also able to integrate several key pieces of St Mary's and St Angela's history into the setting which, I hope you will agree, should make all who knew and loved St. Angela Academy proud that at least part of the tradition carries on.
Current Sign - a formal sign is installed in front of the Life Center, but it lacks a nameplate. Friends and parishioners have been asked to make donations in support of the kitchen in the Life Center in the amount of $120 to have a brick in the walkway with their name. If interested, call the Parish Office @ 803-649-4777. This is the series of bricks immediately off the York St. sidewalk with the name of the building.
This shot is looking South down the North leg of York St. I'm sure you will recognize the original addition to the school nearest the camera. Just beyond the three parallel parked cars you can see first the Kindergarten Building (above the 2nd car in that line) and then the Life Center beyond that.
This picture was taken from the South leg of York Street looking at the face of the Life Center. The Kindergarten Building is immediately to the left.
This view if of the left side of the Life Center (looking from York St.) and shows one of the two stained glass windows that were incorporated into the design of the Life Center. Immediately to the left of the Life Center is the covered walkway from the Kindergarten Building to the Life Center. You can get some sense of the exposed wood beam design that was incorporated into the Life Center.
Looking down the sidewalk and through the covered walkway one sees the statue of Mary with the children and animals kneeling at her feet. This is a representation of the appearance of Mary to the peasants of Portugal at Fatima in 1917. I'm sure the boarding students at St. Angela will remember this statuary as it was prominent adjacent to the Boarding Hall on Berrie Road for many years. The Sisters of Charity donated the statuary for display at the new Life Center. At the left you can see the brick and wrought iron fence surrounding the Kindergarten playground and beyond that is the chain link fencing around the major playground. Immediately behind the statuary is the staff parking lot and then Fairfield Street.
This is an interior shot of the Life Center. You can make out the stage which is at the York St. end of the building. I hope you can see the basketball goal in front of the stage. This is roughly a reverse shot of the Left Side of the Life Center above. The interior is reminiscent of St. Angela's gym with the major exceptions being that this is about 20% larger, exposed wood
beams and the stained glass windows. There is also a large storage area and a very large kitchen at the end of the building opposite the stage. Very impressive!
This is the stained glass window at the stage end of the building. This is St. Agnes. I didn't realize until my Dad shared that Msgr. Smith's mother's name was Agnes and he had this window done in her honor. The two windows were found in the basement of the church. They were removed from the church as part of an earlier addition and Rosamond McDuffy, who is active in the history of St. Mary's had the windows refurbished and Dad integrated them into the design of the Life Center for posterity. Those old enough will recall that these windows were located in the space behind each of the side altars in the main church. They were removed in the mid-1950's as part of a renovation of the two side altars. The side altars used to be similar in design to the main altar. The other stained glass window is of St. Joseph and it is located in a similar postion at the kitchen end of the hall.
This is looking from in front of the Mary and Children statuary back to York St. This is the fresco from the face of the gym at St. Angela. The fresco as it sits today is directly visible from the sidewalk from the staff parking area leading to the Life Center in the rear of the building. Pat Cunning, Class of '65, was able to reclaim the fresco from the contractor who demolished the St. Angela building. (NOTE: See Photos by Mark Barkley for a relatively clear view of the fresco as it appeared on the gym.) The fresco is housed in a galvanized steel frame which is painted white and is in a very large underground concrete foundation. There are a few chips around the edges of the individual panels, but I believe those add character to the setting. I wanted to make sure that my Dad was included in this overview so he's pictured here with the fresco. He did work tirelessly on behalf of both St. Mary's and St. Angela's and the extended family to insure that the St. Angela tradition was continued in Aiken. Also, my youngest sister Carol and her husband Jim, who live in Aiken, hand cleaned the fresco with toothbrushes to restore it to it's near original condition. To the right in this picture is the edge of the walkway pictured in the Left Side Building picture above.
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