St. Therese Catholic School

Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, 2222 Lower Huntington Road, in Waynedale; preschool through eighth grade; ground broken June 22, 1958 for a school planned to open that fall, a feeder school to Bishop Luers High School

A Parish Planted in Liberty Gardens: St. Therese, the Church of the Little Flower, began as ground. Bishop John Francis Noll bought the wooded plot in Liberty Gardens in 1937, nine years before there was a parish to put on it. Father Herman A. Schoudel was appointed on November 13, 1946 to found the parish, and its first Mass was said on April 13, 1947 in the Wayne Township School gymnasium. The chapel the parish worshipped in first was moved onto the ground on January 17, 1948; the first Mass in the church followed on March 7, 1948, and the church was dedicated on October 5, 1948. Father Albert Q. Senn, OFM, became the first Franciscan pastor in 1956, and on June 25, 1957 the city annexed Waynedale around the parish. The Waynedale News told the parish's whole story twice, in September 2018 and again in February 2026, and this entry rests on its telling for the parish years.

The School of 1958: The school came eleven years after the parish. Ground was broken on June 22, 1958, for a building planned to open that fall, under Pastor Senn, as this history's group entry records. No source reached for this entry states the first day of classes, and none is invented here: the entry keys 1958, the documented groundbreaking year, and flags the key as a building year of the same standing as its documentation, a plan for a fall opening rather than a recorded first morning. What is documented is the school's place in the city's Catholic geography from early on: it is a feeder school to Bishop Luers High School, as the diocesan newspaper describes it, and its boys stand in the paper's tournament history as champions in 1984, the year the Catholic Youth Organization tournament was cut to a two team format, and among the five champions of 1998. No mascot was found in the school's or the diocese's published pages read for this entry, and none is printed.

Fire, and Thirty Years of Masses in the School: On December 6, 1970 fire destroyed the church. The school became the parish's church: the building was redesigned into a church and school combination, and its worship space was dedicated on October 17, 1971 by Bishop Leo A. Pursley. Masses were held in the school for about thirty years, a generation of Waynedale children educated in the building that was also their church. In the spring of 1996 the parish adopted a five year plan for a new church and renovated classrooms, with Father Joseph A. Rulli as pastor; the diocesan retrospective of Bishop D'Arcy's building years lists the new St. Therese church building under 1999, and this entry takes the plan's completion from that list, the parish sources reached giving the plan and its dedication under Bishop John M. D'Arcy without pinning the year.

Principals and Counts: The principal's line is documented in the diocesan newspaper's obituaries and appointments, and it ends, in the sources reached, in an open place. Chuck Grimm joined the school in 1992 as assistant principal, became principal in 1995, left and rejoined in 2006, and died on August 24, 2016, at fifty four; the paper's account of Bishop Rhoades's visit of September 1, 2015 quotes him as principal, with two hundred eighteen students including prekindergarten before him. Jeanette Donovan followed, acting principal and then principal, and died on May 14, 2017. Nick Bobay was appointed principal in July 2017. The principal who followed Bobay is not named in the school, parish or diocesan sources this entry rests on, and the chair is left open here rather than filled from a commercial directory. The pastor is Father Lawrence Teteh, CSSp, in the post from 2011. The counts stand with their instruments, and they fall as the century turns: two hundred eighteen including prekindergarten in 2015; two hundred in February 2017, prekindergarten through eighth grade; more than two hundred in the Waynedale News of September 2018; one hundred thirty three in kindergarten through eighth grade in the federal survey figures; and ninety five in this history's group entry, on the federal private school survey of 2023 and 2024. The school's own published address is 2222 Lower Huntington Road, phone 260-747-2343; Waynedale News calendars of 2013 placed school events at 2304 Lower Huntington Road, and the variance is printed here rather than smoothed away.

Sources:

1. The Waynedale News, September 14, 2018 and February 13, 2026, the parish history told twice: Bishop Noll's purchase of the wooded Liberty Gardens plot, 1937; Father Herman A. Schoudel appointed November 13, 1946; the first Mass, April 13, 1947, in the Wayne Township School gymnasium; the chapel moved January 17, 1948; the first Mass in the church, March 7, 1948; dedication October 5, 1948; Father Albert Q. Senn, OFM, first Franciscan pastor, 1956; the annexation of Waynedale, June 25, 1957; the fire of December 6, 1970; the school redesigned into a church and school combination, the worship space dedicated October 17, 1971 by Bishop Leo A. Pursley; the five year plan of spring 1996, a new church and classroom renovation, Father Joseph A. Rulli pastor; more than 200 students in 2018; school events at 2304 Lower Huntington Road in the paper's community calendars of 2013.
2. This history's published group entry, The Catholic Grade Schools of Fort Wayne and Allen County: the school groundbreaking of June 22, 1958, the building planned for that fall under Father Albert Senn; no first day of classes in the record; Masses held in the school for about thirty years after the 1970 fire; 95 students, on the federal private school survey of 2023-24.
3. Today's Catholic, February 23, 2016: St. Therese named Catholic Youth Organization champion in the 1984 format change year and among the five champions of 1998; February 14, 2017: the school a Bishop Luers feeder, 200 students, prekindergarten to grade 8; September 16, 2015: Bishop Rhoades's pastoral visit of September 1, 2015, 218 students including prekindergarten, Principal Chuck Grimm, Pastor Father Lawrence Teteh, CSSp.
4. Today's Catholic, August 31, 2016 (Principal Chuck Grimm: joined 1992 as assistant principal, principal 1995, rejoined 2006, died August 24, 2016, age 54); May 23, 2017 (Jeanette Donovan, acting principal then principal, died May 14, 2017); July 28, 2017 (Nick Bobay appointed principal, July 2017; Father Lawrence Teteh pastor from 2011).
5. Today's Catholic, February 17, 2013, the Bishop D'Arcy retrospective: new church buildings listed for St. Therese, Fort Wayne, 1999.
6. St. Therese Catholic School, its own published listing (stthereseschoolfw.org): 2222 Lower Huntington Road, Fort Wayne, IN 46819, phone 260-747-2343, grades prekindergarten through 8; National Center for Education Statistics, as republished by Private School Review: 133 students, kindergarten through grade 8.