Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
August 9, 2000
Former orphans declare, `We are family!'
By Roxanne King
Tears, love and laughter overflowed at the first ever Queen of Heaven Orphanage reunion held in Golden the weekend of July 29 and 30 at the Denver Marriott West Hotel and the Mother Cabrini Shrine.
Some 300 former orphanage residents and their families attended a dinner and dance at the Marriott July 29 where alumna reconnected with old friends and honored the nuns who cared for them.
Established by Saint Frances Xavier "Mother" Cabrini in 1905 and operated by her Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, commonly called the Cabrini Sisters, the girl's orphanage was located on several acres at 48th Avenue and Federal Boulevard in northwest Denver.
On July 30, over 400 attended a Mass and barbecue at the Cabrini Shrine Stone House, which Mother Cabrini built as a summer home for the orphans. The barbecue was sponsored by the Cabrini Sisters.
More than 14,000 girls ages two to 18 lived at Queen of Heaven anywhere from a few weeks to several years during its history. Originally located in a farmhouse, in 1920 a five-story brick structure that housed over 300 was built. In 1965, as orphanages were replaced with the foster care system, the facility was reorganized as Saint Cabrini Memorial Private School, a girl's boarding school. Closed in 1969, the facility was torn down in 1973.
"This is truly a sacramental moment," said Sister Pietrina Raccuglia, M.S.C., as she addressed those at the banquet. A former housemother at the orphanage and a psychologist, Sister Raccuglia is now an administrator with Cabrini Immigration and Social Services in New York City.
"Take the opportunity to say the things you've always wanted to," she said. "Whatever needs to be done, do it now."
Women hugged, laughed and cried as they shared childhood memories.
"Nothing has changed. We've done different things with our lives but it's like we're the same people we were then, we have the same personalities," said Maria Cristina (Romero) Halloran, who was one of more than 200 Cuban refugees the orphanage took in between 1958 and 1964. The girls' parents sent them to the United States to flee communism in a project called Operation Peter Pan.
Halloran helped locate 40 of the Cubans, 25 of whom attended the reunion. One traveled from England to attend.
Addressing her American "sisters," Halloran told those gathered at the banquet: "All of the Cubanas want to convey their gratitude to you, even though it's a few years too late. We thank you for sharing your home with us."
Betty (Granado) Loughlin, also a former Cuban refugee, told the gathering that the reunion was an opportunity "to reclaim a family that we'd lost through time and distance."
Although separated from their biological families, some for months, others for years, some forever the Cuban women "overwhelmingly were glad their parents had the courage" to send them to the U.S. "where they could be free," Loughlin said, adding that a "twist of fate" landed them at Queen of Heaven, where they received loving care.
"We were never hungry, nor cold, we were attended to when sick, we received spiritual support through our religious upbringing and we received an education," Loughlin said.
They also learned English via songs — mainly cowboy tunes and television ad ditties — taught by Sister Ignatius Miceli, M.S.C., better known as Mother Iggie. Arriving at the orphanage in 1952, Mother Iggie served the home and shrine 46 years before retiring in 1998.
Although recovering from a recent stroke, the beloved nun delighted all by making it to the reunion.
"I liked learning the Iggie way," Halloran said, as Mother Iggie was given a plaque and gifts in appreciation for the service she gave.
"The best way to teach English was through music. I did teach from textbooks, too, but that wasn't much fun," Mother Iggie said. Expressing pride in the women, she added, "I really loved every one of you and still do."
During her comments, Sister Bernadette Casciano, M.S.C., administrator of the Cabrini Shrine, brought laughter from the crowd as she revealed that prior to coming to Colorado, Mother Iggie had been her seventh grade teacher back home in Scranton, Pa.
Giving a history of the Cabrini Shrine, Sister Casciano explained that Mother Cabrini purchased the mountain property and had Stone House built as a summer dormitory for the Queen of Heaven orphans. When the orphanage closed the site became a retreat center and shrine.
Dedicated to Mother Cabrini, the first American saint and patroness of immigrants, the site is a place of prayer and pilgrimage. Earlier this year the shrine was placed on the National Historic Register. It is also one of seven local sites designated as a Jubilee pilgrimage site where the faithful can go to acquire a special indulgence during this Holy Year.
Paraphrasing words the Holy Father used in a message to the Cabrini Sisters as he commemorated Mother Cabrini's 150th birthday this July 15, Sister Casciano told the former orphans, "You have not only a glorious history to reconnect with, but also a great history to be accomplished."
Sister Casciano was among several Cabrini Sisters who were given gifts during the program in recognition for their service at the orphanage or shrine.
Carl Francis, who worked 54 years at the orphanage and shrine as maintenance supervisor, was given a posthumous service award. His wife Elda and son Tom accepted it on his behalf.
A slide show, featuring groups of girls lined up, nuns working in the orphanage kitchen, pet dogs, First Communions and graduations brought laughter and squeals of recognition from the women.
Talented vocalist Ciria Arellano, whose mother Perla Arellano grew up at the orphanage after being abandoned as an infant, performed songs dedicated to the orphanage "family."
Former residents and Sisters who have died were commemorated by having their names read during the program.
Perla Arellano (the former Pearl Martinez) and Mary (Pelikan) Brown, primary organizers of the event, served as masters of ceremonies.
Capuchin Father John Lager, O.F.M., gave the opening prayer.
Tears were shed as a letter from former orphanage housemother Sister Edmond Cirullo, now 80 and living at the Cabrini Sisters' retirement home in Pennsylvania, was read that told of her devotion to the orphans.
"I know what it is to lose a mother, because I lost mine at an early age," Sister Cirullo wrote. "I always took care of you and made sure you never lacked what other children had."
Sister Cirullo sewed the girls new clothes for Christmas and Easter, made them eat their spinach, gave them ice cream that she suspected they shared with the dogs, took them swimming and made sure they bathed twice a week. When they were sick, she recalled tenderly holding them, "so you would know a mother's love."
Like any mother, Sister Cirullo ended her letter urging the women to say nightly prayers and asking them to send current photos.
In quiet moments away from the festivities, Queen of Heaven alumna shared their memories growing up at the orphanage with the Register.
"I really was happy with the nuns, they were good to me," said Susie (Gonzales) Huth, 65.
Huth attended the reunion hoping to find her long-lost older sister, Mary Gonzales, who lived with her at the orphanage in the 1940s. The girls were placed there when their parents separated. A brother was placed at Mount St. Vincent's Home. After Mary graduated from the eighth grade, the girls' father reclaimed the children and moved them to El Paso, Texas. One day Mary left for work and was never heard from again. She was 16.
"I'm hoping she heard about this and that if she's still alive she'll be here," Huth said. Pulling worn photos out of her purse, she identified herself in a group of girls performing a tambourine dance at the orphanage. She then displayed the tattered half of another photo, the last taken of her sister, a beautiful slender girl walking down the street with her mother.
Huth's sister was not at the reunion.
"This is closure of my expectations of ever seeing her again," Huth said. "When she disappeared she may have run into some misfortune and is gone. Now I can sort of say, `Well, she must be with God or just doesn't want contact.' I think that she's with God, otherwise I would have heard from her."
Virginia (Trujillo) Chapman, 80, and her sister Stella (Trujillo) Linsay, 74, lived at the orphanage with another sister, Pauline, who is now deceased, in the 1930s. The girls were placed there when their mother was widowed with six children. They have no regrets about their orphanage days.
"I left the orphanage at 17, but I would have stayed if I could have because of the care I got — all the love and tender touch, the nuns were my mothers," Virginia said.
Earning the privilege to crown the Blessed Mother in May Crowning services three years in a row for good behavior is among Virginia's favorite memories.
"I am today what they made me and I'm proud," Virginia said, adding that today she wears a relic of Mother Cabrini.
Mary (Pacheco) Hollingsworth, 53, lived at the orphanage until she was 12. The child of an unwed woman, Hollingsworth's mother gave her up at birth.
Her favorite childhood memories are of the loving care she received from the nuns, who were her "mothers." "In the younger years there was Sister Edmond, whether you were good or bad, healthy or sick, you got love from her and then later, Mother Ignatius — she's a projectionist and prepared us for the outside world," Hollingsworth said. "The hard part was leaving the orphanage for the unknown." As an adult, Hollingsworth had recurring dreams about a heavyset woman in a rocking chair that she called "Mother." The dreams motivated her to search for her birth mother. When Hollingsworth did find her, the woman fit the description of her dreams. "The Lakotas said it was a dreamquest," Hollingsworth said of the dreams that led her to her find. Hollingsworth discovered she has six half siblings and that her father is Native American. "My mother said she had prayed for years that I would find her and that she hoped I wouldn't be angry with her for giving me up," Hollingsworth said. "I told her, `You gave me a chance in life.' She had enough love to let me go. That's unconditional love." For Hollingsworth, attending the reunion was an opportunity to reconnect with the "mothers" and "sisters" she grew up with. "It means an important touch with my past to understand my present and future," she said. "Who I've become today is because of where I began, where I started." Theresa (Atuna) Martinefski was sent to the orphanage with a younger sister in the mid 1950s. The state investigated their home for neglect. When the police arrived at their house, the children had not seen their mother, a single parent, in two weeks. Martinefski, who was 10, had been stealing to feed her brother and sister. With the exception of being separated from her sister, "she was in the younger girls, I was in the middle girls,"Martinefski's memories of her days at the orphanage are happy ones of playing with pet dogs, being surrounded by roses in the yard, attending summer camp in the mountains and eating "really good food" that the resourceful Mother Iggie always managed to get. "I have a lot of good memories," Martinefski said. As the banquet ended a disc jockey began the dance music with Sister Sledge's "We are Family." Immediately, the alumna formed a circle into which each woman took a turn strutting her stuff, celebrating the bond of sisterhood she shared with the others by dancing together as they did when they were children. "This has been one of the best experiences for me," an elated Perla Arellano said. "It's been love, laughter and tears all night."
Her favorite childhood memories are of the loving care she received from the nuns, who were her "mothers."
"In the younger years there was Sister Edmond, whether you were good or bad, healthy or sick, you got love from her and then later, Mother Ignatius — she's a projectionist and prepared us for the outside world," Hollingsworth said. "The hard part was leaving the orphanage for the unknown."
As an adult, Hollingsworth had recurring dreams about a heavyset woman in a rocking chair that she called "Mother." The dreams motivated her to search for her birth mother. When Hollingsworth did find her, the woman fit the description of her dreams.
"The Lakotas said it was a dreamquest," Hollingsworth said of the dreams that led her to her find. Hollingsworth discovered she has six half siblings and that her father is Native American.
"My mother said she had prayed for years that I would find her and that she hoped I wouldn't be angry with her for giving me up," Hollingsworth said. "I told her, `You gave me a chance in life.' She had enough love to let me go. That's unconditional love."
For Hollingsworth, attending the reunion was an opportunity to reconnect with the "mothers" and "sisters" she grew up with.
"It means an important touch with my past to understand my present and future," she said. "Who I've become today is because of where I began, where I started."
Theresa (Atuna) Martinefski was sent to the orphanage with a younger sister in the mid 1950s. The state investigated their home for neglect. When the police arrived at their house, the children had not seen their mother, a single parent, in two weeks. Martinefski, who was 10, had been stealing to feed her brother and sister.
With the exception of being separated from her sister, "she was in the younger girls, I was in the middle girls,"Martinefski's memories of her days at the orphanage are happy ones of playing with pet dogs, being surrounded by roses in the yard, attending summer camp in the mountains and eating "really good food" that the resourceful Mother Iggie always managed to get.
"I have a lot of good memories," Martinefski said.
As the banquet ended a disc jockey began the dance music with Sister Sledge's "We are Family." Immediately, the alumna formed a circle into which each woman took a turn strutting her stuff, celebrating the bond of sisterhood she shared with the others by dancing together as they did when they were children.
"This has been one of the best experiences for me," an elated Perla Arellano said. "It's been love, laughter and tears all night."
