Rev. Bagley's memory honored

The Rev. Gary Bagley, recently deceased pastor of St. Benedict Church, was school chaplain at Sacred Heart Academy, where he will be fondly remembered for years to come. He served the Sacred Heart Academy community for more than 30 years.

This school year, Rev. Bagley celebrated three Masses sharing messages of love, faith and community with students and friends. He opened the school year with a Mass for teachers and staff, reminding them of the importance of their job of educating young women of Sacred Heart with love, compassion and humor.

In honor of Rev. Bagley's years of dedicated service and commitment to Sacred Heart Academy, a memorial service was held. The memorial service was attended by his parents, Howard and Bea, faculty, staff, the entire student body and members of the Sacred Heart community.

Sacred Heart Academy alumna Eileen Warner gave a moving reflection on Rev. Bagley. Those in attendance were reminded of his message of "planting the seeds" of faith, hope and spiritual insight in our lives.

Rev. Bagley would question us, challenge us and make us work our way through to the answers we were seeking. Sometimes these questions were the seeds, and they took time, hard work, and lots of rain and sun before we would get to the answer, but that was what made the answers so meaningful.

Head of School Barbara Ochterski announced that Sacred Heart Academy will forever remember Rev. Bagley's message of planting seeds by creating a memorial garden with a tree that can grow in his memory.

The memorial service concluded with the school's Chamber Singers singing "For Good," the song from the musical "Wicked" that tells about how "I have been changed for the better since I knew you."

Staff and students Sacred Heart Academy