TERRE HAUTE —
With a little help from their friends, Schulte High School alumni hope to see a golden bear standing guard at their old stomping grounds next year.
Fundraising efforts are under way, and members of the alumni base have commissioned local artist Bill Wolfe to produce the bronze bear, which will stand over a statue containing the school crest, name and years of existence. The whole work is expected to be about 10 feet wide by 6 feet tall, organizers said.
Schulte High School operated as a private, Catholic school between 1953 and 1977 at 2900 Ohio Blvd., east of what is now the Meadows Shopping Center. The property is owned by the Hulman family and serves as corporate office space.
Wolfe has numerous sculptures on display throughout the country, including a work depicting Terre Haute native Max Ehrmann at Seventh Street and Wabash Avenue, as well as others including Ernie Pyle and Abraham Lincoln. But breaking into the animal world will be new to him.
“This will be pretty neat for me to get to do a sculpture of a bear,” he said, adding the 6-foot tall bear alone could weigh between 500 and 600 pounds.
Commemorating the existence of a local high school is also important.
“A lot of people don’t know the high school was there at one time. It’ll be a higher profile way of displaying that and getting it out,” he said, pointing out the number of smaller schools that have come and gone over the years.
Kathy Alexander, Class of 1965, said she’s excited about the project and glad to know Wolfe is involved. Schulte High School itself was quite small in student population, but the list of local alumni pitching in is filling up quickly, she said.
“It was a wonderful school and educational experience. It was small enough that everyone knew everyone else. You knew all of your teachers,” she said, noting her graduating class had about 125 students.
Catholic parishes throughout the city operated elementary schools which fed into Schulte, but one didn’t need to be Catholic to attend, she explained. The Golden Bears fielded great sports teams, and her own class now has a reunion every year, the former yearbook committee and Girls Athletic Association member said.
One of her classmates, Bernie Van Sell, is also serving on the project’s committee.
“We hope to have the dedication some time next year around Memorial Day. That will be based around how our fundraising goes,” he said.
The project will require about $40,000. Donations can be made through First Financial Bank, or online at www.schultehighschool.com/memorial.html.
Van Sell lettered in football and baseball before enlisting in U.S. Navy after graduation. He served 22 years before retiring from active service to work another 20 years as a civilian on behalf of the Navy. After retirement, he moved back to the Wabash Valley and lives outside of Centerpoint.
Van Sell said given the opening and closure dates of the school, hundreds of people attended but did not graduate.
“We’re guessing no more than 3,000,” he said of alumni, adding that anyone who ever attended is welcomed to participate. The group will send out mailings to the estimated 3,000 living alumni this year.
“The fact that it was such a small school, and it was a four-year high school when a lot of them were only three-year, was significant,” he recalled. “You pretty much knew everybody all the time.”
Two of his sisters attended Schulte, and Van Sell recalled other families who had as many as 36 Golden Bears enrolled over the years.
The exact location where the statue will stand is still being discussed, he said, expressing his gratitude that the property owners are allowing its existence. Given that the last class graduated about 34 years ago, he said maintenance shouldn’t be too big a problem for a while, joking that the “last living Schulte alumnus will have to polish the bear.”
Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.
News
Related Photos
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Backer: Schulte High School graduate Dennis Atterson is one of the organizers behind getting a marker made for his alma mater.
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New project: Sculptor Bill Wolfe will create the bear for the Schulte marker to be placed in front of Corporate Square, the old high school.
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Looks like: This is a composite photograph of what the marker might look like when completed.
Discussion
Return of the Bear: Alumni work to put marker at former Schulte school
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