5560 Shelby Oaks Dr.
For
Immediate Release
For more information contact:
PR Consultant Kim Brukardt,
682.3324 or cell: 832.4527
St. Agnes Values “Ring True” In The New Year:
After-Celebration Set for Jim’s
Place East
MEMPHIS,
TENN.
(January 9, 2007)…Young ladies from St.
Agnes Academy
continue to choose Jim’s Place East for their Ring Ceremony after-celebration.
Following the juniors’ ring ceremony at St. Louis Catholic Church (at 10 a.m.),
75 young women are expected to lunch at Jim’s with their families and school
faculty. The total number should climb to 240. The luncheon will begin at 11:45
a.m. on Friday, January 26 at 5560 Shelby Oaks Dr.
“This is the 17th time that we have
celebrated at Jim’s Place,” said Betty Pate, chair of the St. Agnes Theology
Department. “We are pleased to keep our
longstanding reservation. Jim’s has served our community well for the past 85
years and we will continue to return for the service, the food and
accommodating staff.”
“We always look forward to serving the students,
faculty and families of St. Agnes. It’s an honor to be a part of their tradition,”
said Angelo Liollio, co-owner of Jim’s Place.
The menu for Friday’s luncheon will include a crisp
garden salad with Jim’s house dressing, chicken kebabs skewered with fresh
vegetables over a bed of rice pilaf, and Jim’s signature dessert, chocolate
mousse in a phyllo pastry shell.
A rich tradition steeped in fine education, family
ties and a faith that sustains, the St. Agnes Ring Ceremony is significant
because “it marks the first step toward graduation, celebrates where they’ve
come as a class, how they’ve matured and how they’ve grown into the lovely
young women that they are,” according to Ms. Pate. The St. Agnes juniors are
now three semesters shy of being the 156th graduating class of the
all-girl institution founded in 1851.
This year, St. Agnes junior Savannah Whitington,
16, of Germantown,
will feel twice honored. Her uncle, Fr. Carl Hood, pastor of St. Therese, the
Little Flower, will join Fr. John McArthur in officiating
the celebratory mass at St. Louis Catholic Church, 203 S. White Station Rd.
“It is a pleasure to be part of a ceremony honoring
the girls of St. Agnes,” Fr. Hood said. “They are beginning to grow as young
adults in their commitment to all that’s good and virtuous.”
Fr. Hood, who is the Whitington family’s priest,
wrote inspirational letters to his nieces Savannah,
16, and Montana,
18. He expressed hopes that they remain devoted to Jesus Christ, and be a
credit to God, their family and their school. “It’s important that we’re loved
when we are young. When we grow up, we have debt of gratitude to those who have
made our lives possible – God, parents, teachers and friends. The girls are in
that transition period. Now it’s time to give back that debt of love by living
the faith and becoming outstanding Christian young women.”
Also educated in Catholic private schools, Fr. Hood
is a 1978 graduate of Bishop
Byrne High
School. He would later return to teach religion
and serve as chaplain for the school from 1988 to 1993. For the past 13 years,
he was pastor of St. Mary’s at Bolivar and St. Jude in Selmer, Tenn.
He also ministered at two prisons in Whiteville as well as the psychiatric
hospital at Bolivar. In July 2006, he assumed his duties as pastor of St.
Therese, Little Flower at 1644
Jackson Ave.
Savannah
and Montana’s
parents, Mary and Frank Whitington, chose St. Agnes
for the great tradition and academics. They also have a son, F. Gaines, who is
a fourth-grader at St. Dominic. Mary and Frank own a real estate company, The Whitington Company, located at 710 S. Perkins.
The Whitington girls
certainly have thrived at St. Agnes. Savannah
is a gymnast and has qualified at Level 10 for the Junior Olympics. Her sister,
Montana, was homecoming queen at Christian Brothers High School
this past October and is a member of the St. Agnes soccer team, ranked third in
the nation. Both girls are members of the National Honor Society. Graduating
senior Montana is currently waiting to hear
about acceptance to Stanford University as well as the College of William
and Mary. She has already been accepted at Santa Clara
University in California.
The St. Agnes Ring Ceremony has always been family
centered and this year is no exception. Montana
will present her ring to younger sister, Savannah,
during the ceremony at St. Louis Catholic Church. Savannah has attended St. Agnes since
kindergarten.
Other Whitington family
members at St. Agnes include cousin Kelsey Green, 16,
also of Germantown, who is in the junior class
with Savannah.
The “St Agnes/Whitington” family tree also includes
cousins Caitlin and Brennan Palazola who graduated
St. Agnes, respectively, in 2004 and 2006 and are now
students at Clemson
University. And going back in time, several Whitington family aunts and cousins donned the junior rings
and received their diplomas including aunt Barbara
Ryan Steiber, class of ’39, who now lives in Dallas, Texas.
Barbara’s sister, Patsy Ryan Springer, graduated a couple of years later. She
now lives in Alhambra, Calif. Barbara and Patsy grew up in South
Memphis. Savannah and Montana’s grandmother, Emma Rena Hood, attended Siena College
(previously operated by the Dominican Sisters of St. Catharine, Kentucky - -
the same sisters that started St. Agnes). Emma lives in Olive Branch, Miss., and will be
celebrating at Jim’s with her family on Jan. 26.
Within this year’s junior class alone, five girls
have sisters who are graduating this year. And within the entire class of 75,
there are 36 juniors who have relatives that have graduated from St. Agnes,
according to Ms. Pate.
The St. Agnes theme this year is “Growing Seeds of
Faith.” “We pray that the girls will reap a harvest of blessings and a
bountiful future,” Ms. Pate added.
For more information on Jim’s Place, call 388.7200.