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By Currents News and Alexandra Moyen

GLENDALE — At 98, Sister Theresa McCombe still remembers her first-grade classroom at St. Pancras School, which she recalled always smelled of pickles from a nearby factory, and the “exceptional” students she taught.

After 11 years, she said her heart broke when she was transferred out.

“I was very comfortable in St. Pancras. I love the community, the parish, but obedience called me,” said Sister Theresa, who was known as Sister Marie Germaine when she taught at the school from 1947 to 1957. “I eventually wound up teaching high school, but in my heart, I was always a first-grade teacher.”

She said she never expected a Sunday Mass in May at the Church of St. Aidan in Williston Park, New York, to reconnect her with a student she taught nearly 70 years ago, or for that encounter to lead her to a reunion with 20 more.

“It’s so humbling,” Sister Theresa said. “I never thought in my wildest dreams that students I taught so many years ago would remember me.”

Sister Theresa McCombe with her former students. (Photos: Alexandra Moyen)

For the past 20 years, approximately 30 alumni from the Class of 1961 at St. Pancras School have met annually to catch up, reminisce, and expand their circle as they track down classmates through social media.

This year’s reunion, held on June 11 at Zum Stammtisch Restaurant in Glendale, took on special meaning when the students were joined by Sister Theresa, whom they had often spoken about but never expected to see again.

When Ed Heinsohn ran into Sister Theresa a month ago at the Church of St. Aidan, he said he didn’t realize she was his first-grade teacher. As they exchanged small talk, she mentioned she was a Dominican Sister of Amityville, and he replied that they had once taught him.

“And she goes, ‘Who was your first grade teacher?’ And then it struck me,” Heinsohn said. “I go, ‘Sister Marie Germaine,’ And she goes, ‘That’s me.’ I was thunderstruck.”

He said he then shared an old picture on his phone with her, showing the class.

Heinsohn then shared the news of his encounter with fellow Class of 1961 alum Dennis Macauley, who suggested inviting Sister Theresa to the reunion.

“I thought the rest of the class would be enthralled like I was and because of the way we met, too,” Heinsohn said. “There’s got to be the hand of God involved with this or something. You just don’t meet your first-grade [teacher].”

Macauley said he never thought he would see Sister Theresa again. He recalled the first time he met her, when he was experiencing first-day-of-school nervousness while waiting in line with his father to enter the building. The pressure became too much, and Macauley said he ran home a block away and hid until his parents found him.

“This time, my mother took me,” Macauley recalled. “All the kids were in class by this time, so she took me to the principal’s office, and the principal took me by the ear and led me down to the first grade class, and she knocked on the door, and this kindly [sister] opened the door, it was Sister Marie Germaine.”

“She was kind and saw how upset I was, and then she said, ‘Don’t worry, Dennis, everything will be fine,’ ” he added. “That’s the kind of person she was.”

Maureen Kane, who also graduated from St. Pancras in 1961, said learning about the lives and successes of her former classmates at each reunion is a reflection of the “good work habits” they learned from teachers like Sister Theresa.

Now 77, Kane said the reunions feel more important than ever.

“Part of it is enjoying, and the other part is that we have the motivation to do it because it’s fun to find someone, be able to say, ‘Come and visit us,’ ” Kane said. “If we find somebody and they can have a few laughs, it’s a great victory.”

Sister Theresa said she always felt at home in St. Pancras School, which closed in 2018. The school opened its doors in 1908, serving students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

“I lived with wonderful sisters. There are so many people that I remember who have passed away, and it was a blessing to have lived with them and shared our mission of bringing Christ into students’ lives,” Sister Theresa said. “I’m overwhelmed.”

Before the day ended, the group posed for their annual reunion photo. This year, Sister Theresa was in front, surrounded by the students she taught seven decades ago.

As for future reunions?

“Absolutely,” Sister Theresa said. “I love to party.”

Sister Theresa McCombe was able to reconnect with her students at the St. Pancras School. Here, she is seen shaking hands with one of them, Maureen Kane.