School Hosts Aquinas Graduates For Lunch

louis fabro
St. Charles was pleased to host graduates of Aquinas College High School for their September Alumni Association meeting September 14 in the Campus Theater’s Cavello Center.
 
For the luncheon, St. Charles enlists T.A.T. Ristorante Di Famiglia, run by the family of the late Jimmy Corrova (AQ ’53), to cater the annual luncheon. As part of the meeting, Aquinas’s Alumni Association President Lou Nobile (AQ ’57) invited St. Charles Principal, Rick Ey ‘94 to make remarks to the group.
 
In addition to several St. Charles staff members and administrators, the Terrier graduates were joined at their tables by 12 students who are receiving scholarships this year through two endowment funds set up through the generosity of Aquinas alumni and friends.
 
The school has annually hosted the Aquinas Alumni Association's  September meeting since 2012 (except for 2020 and 2021 during the the COVID pandemic). The gathering includes a buffet lunch sponsored by St. Charles which enlists T.A.T. Ristorante di Famiglia to cater the affair.  

This is one of many activities that has been coordinated between the two groups over the last 22 years. St. Charles Alumni Director Louis J. Fabro ’83 and Aquinas’s Alumni Association President Lou Nobile (AQ ’57), have worked on several projects to bring the groups closer together. 

In 2022, St. Charles accepted Aquinas' accumulated memorabilia, which had lost its home when the former Jubilee Museum closed. Now it is displayed throughout the school and stored in the Carolian archives.

In 2003, the two schools created the Memorial Grove between the Main Building and Theater to honor alumni of the schools who died in service to their country. For several years, the schools engaged in the SC vs. Aquinas Golf Challenge.

Aquinas College High School was an all-boys high school operated by the Dominican Fathers from 1905 to 1965 under the watchful eyes of Father John Smith OP, the legendary Aquinas teacher and disciplinarian who served as the school’s “Dean of Discipline” for 32 years (1932-1965).  

Both St. Charles and Aquinas have long traditions and many Columbus families have graduates from both schools. Since Aquinas closed its doors in 1965, many of its graduates have had sons, grandsons, and nephews attend St. Charles.  The alumni associations of both schools have worked to help foster a growing respect and friendship between graduates of these once competitive rival schools. 

Graduates of Aquinas have a very stirring saying that “As long as we are, Aquinas will be.” But rest assured, “As long as there is St. Charles, Aquinas will be!”

We look forward to many, many more years of camaraderie with our Aquinas “brothers.”
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