Sharing memories of St. Mary’s Central High School

Christian (Christ) and Rose Reisenauer were raising a strong Catholic family of six children on a farm in rural St. Anthony, N.D., when a recruiter from St. Mary’s Central High School spoke at Mass in the spring of 1951. It took Christ very little time to make the decision and financial sacrifice to send their 3rd child, Rose Mary, as a freshman to the newly opening high school. Christ had long held a belief that if one of his children entered into a religious vocation, it would gain merits for his and his wife’s acceptance into heaven.

Rose Mary remembers that first day of school in September of 1951 like she was entering a palace, everything from the tiles to the lockers were enveloped with a glossy shine. The school was so new that the gym would not be completed until after Christmas of this first year. Instead, she remembers going outside for gym class. Arrowhead Shopping Center was not yet built and the lot directly north of the high school was an open field which they used for their class. Virtually all teachers were either sisters or priests with a few exceptions in the areas of gym, music and industrial arts. Superintendent Fr. John Garvin and Principal Fr. Blaine Cook ran a very disciplined school and enforced policies from dress length for girls to haircuts for boys.
 
St. Mary’s Central High School was a sports powerhouse in 1951, winning the state championship in football and being the defending state champion in basketball. Although a powerhouse, Rose Mary doesn’t remember attending many games as she wasn’t at the high school for sports. She was living with 18 other girls in the Benet House on Thayer Avenue. The Benet House was a boarding house for girls contemplating a religious vocation, operated by the Sisters of Annunciation Monastery. She fondly remembers the house as an extended family with no alone time. The house taught her the values of community, acceptance and tolerance. A fond memory of how Benet House taught these values was if the sisters realized you were not getting along with a fellow student, you would go away for a holiday vacation, and when you returned, your new roommate would be that very student.
 
To the chagrin of her parents, the Benedictine Sisters and Rose Mary realized midway through her sophomore year that her future would not involve a religious vocation. She then moved from Benet House to the home of a host family, the Reuben Will family, who needed assistance babysitting their children in the evenings.   
 
Rose Mary graduated in 1955 from St. Mary’s Central High School and three years later, married Henry Horning. She and Henry had three children and were married for 60 years until Henry’s death in January of 2019. While raising a family, Rose Mary also worked for the N.D. Department of Health and the N.D. Tax Department for a combined 40 years. Staying always faithful to her Catholic roots, Rose Mary became a resident of St. Vincent’s, a Prospera Community, in October of 2014, where she attends daily Mass and rosary.
 
Rose Mary treasures her Catholic education and is eternally grateful to her parents who sacrificed to provide her with this opportunity. She has passed on the value of a Catholic education to her children and grandchildren.
 
In speaking to her about the new St. Mary’s Central High School, she looks forward to the growth the new high school will provide to Catholic education in Bismarck. She is especially interested in the much larger chapel.
 
Rose Mary had a chance to visit the school on Aug. 14 and was in utter amazement at the new home of the Saints. Several times during the tour, she put her hands over her mouth in astonishment. With tears in her eyes, she said, “I just hope these kids understand and feel grateful for what they have been given.”
 
When asked what advice she would give to students as they enter a brand-new school, she stated, “I would tell each of them to reach out to someone new or someone who doesn’t seem to fit in. I was that person in 1951.”