A service was held Saturday commemorating the time Doane Stuart school occupied the Kenwood Campus. The future of the site is uncertain after a devastating March fire.
The Doane Stuart School was founded in 1975 when the Roman Catholic Kenwood Academy, which opened in 1859, merged with the Episcopal St. Agnes School. Doane Stuart moved to Rensselaer in 2009 after failing to reach a purchase agreement for the Kenwood grounds with the Sisters of the Sacred Heart.
Along came a procession of would-be buyers and proposed projects in addition to a failed attempt to get the sprawling campus registered as a local historical site.
In March, a massive fire gutted the main building. Former and current Doane Stuart students recently gathered in a tribute to the old school. Head of School Marcey Kathy explains why holding the service is important.
“The Kenwood campus and the sacred covenant of the Sacred Heart have left an impression, an impression on each of us," said Kathy. "On us as individuals, as families, on a religious order, and on the surrounding community. The loss that was felt many years ago, when the Kenwood campus was sold, and vacated, left a wound for many that seemed impossible to fill. The recent devastating fire, much like aches and pains from an old injury, and the anger and loss, have been difficult to process. Even as we are here, in this beautiful space, surrounded by many familiar symbols of Kenwood, there is no replacement for the covenant that started, the convent that started there in 1859, and the schools that started and thrived there. But I'm asking you to open your eyes again, for the first time, to see the hope to see the joy and to know that the traditions that were started there continue.”
Winnie McCarthy, class of 1966, shared a story about "the school dime" that was kept in a silver case. McCarthy explained she lived in Troy, and to call Troy from Albany cost 10 cents. So if she needed to telephone her mother during the school day, she had to first borrow the dime, call home collect, then return the dime to a school official.”
“She was not bashful about asking anyone's mother for the 10, 20 or 30 cents that we might have lost the dime in the telephone or the call was not made collect," McCarthy said. "But I thought to myself, this place is weird. But you know what? I stayed, I graduated and I had a wonderful time. And what I think about Kenwood now is, it's about faith in education. It's about family, and it's about friends. And it's those things that have all come together in so many of our lives.”
Teachers Patty and Seamus Hodgkinson met on campus and were married in the Kenwood Chapel in 1986.
“I have vivid memories of the bagpiper we hired, coming down the hill from the upper field," said Patty. "He certainly delighted all those in attendance on that warm July day. I have memories of a day filled with laughter, love and pure joy, within the comforts of a place that has always had a special place in my heart and my family. All of our children, Katie, Bridget and Daniel were baptized in that chapel as well. All three attended Doane Stuart from pre-K through grade 12 and became known as ‘lifers.’ While that term has been debated at times it's perhaps not the best name to call our graduates.”
Seamus said “The bricks and mortar of those special buildings indeed seem to harbor and offer something rare. It was always a wondrous give-and-take as generations of young minds each brought their own sometimes surly, often uppity, yet always sacred rebellions to the mix, and in the process, urged the progress ever forward. Beyond even the power of fire to dose the wondrous flames of all that happened here. So despite the heartbreak nothing really ended on March 23. In fact, something began which links us all mystically forever.”
The campus was sold at a bankruptcy auction days before the fire. A hearing in conjunction with bankruptcy proceedings is scheduled for early June.
Mayor Kathy Sheehan's Chief of Staff David Galin responded to a request for an update on the fate of the campus with a short statement.
“The Albany Fire and Police Departments continue to actively investigate the fire at the former Doane Stuart School. The City of Albany stands ready to work alongside Albany County and the owners of the property to redevelop this integral and historic tract in Albany's 1st Ward.”
Again, Head of School Marcey Kathy.
“So let us remember and let us embrace the whole of our tomorrows together," Kathy said. "The laughter that we remember? Let us laugh again today. The friendships and the hardships, let us celebrate them and also release them today. There is a tomorrow that includes sunshine and blue skies. There is a tomorrow for all of us as a part of the Kenwood campus legacy. And that is not bound up in a physical place. That is in our very soul and in our DNA. It is what makes us the people that we are. We are who we are because of our connection to Kenwood and to the covenant of the Sacred Heart. That tomorrow is beginning in our gathered community tonight. This is why we are here.”
