Construction on the main school building begins.
The School’s Founding Headmaster, the Rev. Canon David Forbes with Norman Smith (Chaplain and Latin Teacher from 1960-1969)
One of the School’s first Field Days
Ladies’ Auxillary of Cathedral School
to provide another educational option for boys. Following the post-World War II baby boom, there was not enough space in the current private schools to accommodate everyone. The founders were interested in creating a school that did not yet exist in San Francisco: one that offered an Episcopal education, was grounded in high academic standards, and would provide an education to a diverse socio-economic group of boys. It should be acknowledged that, at the time, this was a radical proposal. Furthermore, the founders sought to create a school that fostered an appreciation of music and the choir. This was the mission that drove the School’s founding. Shortly before her death, Mimi Lowrey entrusted a small six-ring leather bound notebook that she used to keep notes to Jim Schmidt, Cathedral School for Boys’ Director of Development. On the first page Mimi neatly wrote: “First meeting held at the home of Mrs. Edmond Gillette, Jr. 10:15 May 10, 1957… discussed the possibility and need for another boy’s private school in this city. However, it was determined at this meeting that the group had to raise $15,000 in order to make this possibility a reality.” Three meetings later, on June 25, 1957, she exclaimed: “We made it!!! $16,125.00 in underwriting. We will have a school.” (Jim Schmidt points out that when one considers that $16,125 in 1957 represents about $144,000 in today’s dollars, it’s easy to understand their enthusiasm.) Without these early pioneers, Cathedral School for Boys would not be. Cathedral School for Boys opened in the fall of 1957 with 11 students in grades four and five, two teachers, and a dog named “Shadow.” Canon Forbes served as acting Headmaster, and the School benefitted from a very active Ladies’ Auxiliary and Board (which also had ⅓ female representation). Tuition was set at $475. According to one newspaper article from the time, Richard Purvis, organist at Grace Cathedral, “[would] lean heavily on musical training but [would] not require musical ability for admission.” It went on to state, “the School was to include religious education.” Teachers were to be secured through Stanford University and there were never to
be more than 15 students in a class. In those first years, the School was housed in the Crypt of Grace Cathedral and the Dean’s house, which no longer exists, and has since been replaced by the grand staircase leading up to the Cathedral. While Canon Forbes was the School’s founding and acting Headmaster during the early months of the School, Peter Keating served as the School’s official first headmaster for approximately the next two years. In the fall of 1959, enrollment jumped to 75 boys with the addition of grades six, seven, and eight. Those classes occupied what are now the vesting room, the Choir Guild room, and the bell tower. On December 16, 1960, Cathedral School for Boys celebrated the Christmas season with its inaugural Lessons & Carols. The first class to graduate was the 15 boys of the Class of 1960. In that same year, Canon Forbes once again became Headmaster (and remained in that role until 1972), and the School also held its first Field Day. The Ladies’ Auxiliary was there at every step of the way, providing much of the funding for the School to operate. In 1962 they opened a “New-to-You” second-hand shop on California Street, and in 1968 moved that shop to a larger space at 1036 Hyde Street. In 1964, a largely completed Grace Cathedral was consecrated. On June 3, 1965, ground was broken for a new Cathedral School for Boys building. One and half years later, on September 12, 1966, the building opened with an enrollment of 164 boys in grades one through eight, and a faculty of 15. An unlabeled newspaper article entitled “Unfounded Furor” states, “After all of the commotion and furor that initially surrounded the project, we think the completed Cathedral School for Boys, on Nob Hill, next to Grace Cathedral, lends an architectural as well as educational distinction to the neighborhood. A visit to the School, which was dedicated last week and has been holding open houses, should convince anyone that the fears of an obtrusive nuisance once expressed by some neighbors are quite without foundation. The Cathedral School, with its new $750,000 home, and with 162 (sic) boys of all colors and
Jane Harper (Cathedral School’s first librarian from 1966-1974) reads to boys
economic classes, is a permanent and welcome home (to) the San Francisco scene.” Apparently, Cathedral School for Boys had proven its right to exist and was finally accepted by the neighborhood. In 1968 the original structure that we know as the School today was completed. By the late 1960s, the School had found its voice. Many of the traditions familiar to us today were established. Canon Forbes began Friday Hymn Sing. The 1967-68 school year was the first full year of Bay Area Independent Elementary Schools interscholastic sports competition between Cathedral, Town, Stuart Hall, Marin Country Day School, and Menlo School. By 1969 the School had attained its desired size: 176 boys in grades 1-8, with waitlists for every grade. The seventies brought new changes. In 1971, when St. Luke’s Preschool closed its kindergarten program, Cathedral responded by establishing our own kindergarten and housed it on and off in the Crypt, under the Cathedral. (Apparently it was very noisy, due to the absence of carpeting.) In 1972, the crypt space under Grace Cathedral (Founder’s Hall) was built out to create a gymnasium and what is now known as Gresham
Capital fundraising for construction of new buidling
Student body 1968
FALL 2018 • RED & GOLD | 17
16 | CATHEDRAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS
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