Notre Dame Catholic School

Duane's take

Now here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Notre Dame Catholic School in Kerrville, Kerr County — and friend, this one's worth pulling over for. Let's start with a man who wasn't supposed to be here at all. Father Henry Kemper, ordained in 1910, out of Chicago — and at the very moment of his ordination, the people around him believed his death from tuberculosis was imminent.

That's where most stories end. For Father Kemper, it's where the story begins. He went to St.

Mary's Sanitarium in Boerne. And somewhere in the Hill Country air, he learned of a growing Catholic congregation over in Kerrville. Now, fourteen visiting priests had been serving St.

Mary's Catholic Mission Church up to that point — fourteen of them, rotating through — until 1911, when the mission finally became a parish church and Father Kemper arrived as its first resident priest. A man the world had half-written off, showing up to build something that would last more than a century. He didn't waste a moment.

He acquired eight adjoining lots and two houses. He went to the archdiocese in San Antonio and applied for the construction of a school — first through twelfth grades. And when they asked what tuition would run, the answer they published in the advertisement was this: one dollar a month, and free to the poor.

Let that sit with you a second. On August 28, 1912, twenty-seven pupils walked through the door. Three nuns from the Sisters of Charity of Incarnate Word opened the school alongside them — Sisters Cresentia, Dymphna, and Ita.

By the end of that same year, enrollment had tripled. The school was originally called St. Mary's, but it was renamed — to honor Father Kemper's revered alma mater, Notre Dame University.

What followed was a school that kept proving its worth to the community time and again. Night courses in music, languages, and art. Then the Great War came, and Notre Dame pivoted — teaching stenography and bookkeeping to ladies who filled needed jobs on the home front during World War I.

When the Great Depression arrived and squeezed everything tight, the school downsized to eight grades and closed the night school to keep the doors open at all. It held on. Father Kemper — the man ordained when his death seemed certain, the man who came to the Hill Country and never left — died in 1957.

The front page headline of the Kerrville Daily Times read: "Death Takes Hill Country Benefactor." Front page. Because Kerrville knew exactly what it had in him. For more than a century, Notre Dame Catholic School has been training up young people and serving its community.

One dollar a month, and free to the poor. That's the foundation they built it on. And it held.

What the marker says

NOTRE DAME CATHOLIC SCHOOL Fourteen visiting priests served St. Mary's Catholic Mission Church until 1911, when it became a parish church and Father Henry Kemper of Chicago became its resident priest. Father Kemper was ordained in 1910, when it was thought his death from tuberculosis was imminent. He went to St. Mary's Sanitarium in Boerne and learned of the growing Catholic congregation in Kerrville. He would spend the rest of his life building what would become Notre Dame Catholic Parish and School into a large and giving community with many people devoted to Christian service. After acquiring eight adjoining lots and two houses, Father Kemper applied to the archdiocese in San Antonio for the construction of a school serving first through twelfth grades. An advertisement stated that tuition would be "one dollar a month and free to the poor." Twenty-seven pupils and three nuns from the sisters of charity of incarnate word, Sisters Cresentia, Dymphna and Ita, opened the school on August 28, 1912. Enrollment tripled by the end of the year. Originally called St. Mary's, the school was renamed to honor Father Kemper's revered alma mater, Notre Dame University. The school served the community with night courses in music, languages and art. During World War I, the school taught stenography and bookkeeping to ladies who filled needed jobs on the home front. In order to remain open during the great depression, the school downsized to eight grades and the night school was closed. When Father Kemper died in 1957, the front page headline of the Kerrville daily times proclaimed "death takes hill country benefactor." For more than a century, Notre Dame Catholic School has trained up young people and served its community.