A school stalwart is saying goodbye

When All Saints Catholic School students and teachers return in the fall, a familiar face won’t be there to greet them. After 46 years working in the office at the school’s St. Mary’s campus, which currently serves pre-K to grade 3 students, Cecile Beaulieu is retiring this June.

“After 46 years, Cecile’s retirement marks the end of a long chapter in the history of our school,” says Johanna Lake, principal. “She has been an essential part of the school’s foundation and has touched so many lives. Her dedication is a reminder of the many different ways people contribute to the fabric of our school community. We are all excited for her to enjoy this next phase of her life with her loved ones.”

“To come here to work has been a joy. That’s all. I have liked the people over the years. It has been a great job,” she says.

Cecile started working at the school back in 1979, when her own children attended. Wanting to stay close to them, she became active in the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and started volunteering in the school library and cafeteria.

“I was here a lot for almost everything they had going on — every fundraiser, cooking, whatever they needed done,” she says. “I had worked on many PTO projects, did a lot of typing for them, and I was just involved. I was very involved in the school, and my husband and I were also both eucharistic ministers. We were greeters. We did a lot.”

Cecile says when Sister Eileen Turner, RSM, the principal at the time, approached her about filling an administrative assistant position, she didn’t hesitate to accept.

“I loved the school, and I loved the atmosphere, and my kids loved it, too,” she says. “I loved Sister Eileen Turner, who was my principal at the time. And just being there every day with my kids, that was more important to me than the job itself, but I adapted to the job quickly.”

Cecile’s position is multi-faceted. If you call the St. Mary’s campus, you’ll likely hear her voice at the other end of the phone. She also welcomes visitors who come to the door, helps with lunch schedules, keeps track of attendance, orders books, collects payments, and more. She says she has always been a quick learner, which has helped her keep up with changes over the years. In fact, she says the job in many ways is easier now than it used to be because of technology.

“I used to have to add the columns for attendance, those little zeroes and ones,” she says.

Father Frank Murray, who served as pastor in Bangor from 1994 to 2003 and again from 2016 to 2020, says Cecile’s ability to adapt and move forward has been one of her greatest gifts. He points out, for example, that when Cecile started, the school was on First Street and was run by the Sisters of Mercy. That school burned down, forcing classes to be held in modular classrooms, until a new school was built. Later, in 2000, St. Mary’s School merged with St. John’s School to form All Saints Catholic School.

“She went through all these radical changes over these four-plus decades and did it with a lot of grace and a lot of charm and was able to put, I’m sure, many, many, many parents at ease that things were changing for the better and things would be OK, and your kids are going to be happy here,” Father Murray says. “She is just a very faith-filled, committed, dedicated woman.”

Putting children at ease has been one of Cecile’s special gifts, whether through offering a prayer, a listening ear, or an occasional hug.

“When I first came here, I was in kindergarten and I didn’t really know what was happening. And there was COVID, so I really had no one to lean on. And when I was little, I pretended to be sick so I could go home or at least go down to the office and see her, for her to give me a big hug and say that I’m OK and stuff,” says Ellie, a fourth grader.

“When I first came here, I was really scared that I wouldn’t make any friends. And then when she smiled, it just made me feel comfortable because that made me feel like everybody else here was really nice,” says Quinn, a third grader.

“I think she has just wonderful people skills, starting with really young people,” says Father Murray. “She is able to deal with not just one age group but many, many age groups. Catholic education now is so supported by grandparents who are there for their grandchildren, and she can relate to grandparents and great-grandparents just as talentedly as she does three, four, five, six-year-olds and everything in between.”

“I have a very warm heart for people,” Cecile says. “I try to stay away from negative energy altogether.”

Cecile says it is the children whom she will miss the most when she retires.

“I love the younger ones,” she says. “They’re very innocent. I like that about them, and they want to learn. They’re motivated.”

 She says she has also had wonderful coworkers through the years, including the eight principals with whom she served, first Sisters of Mercy and then laypeople.

“In my heart, I have thought of it as more of a ministry than a paying job,” she says. “I love people. That’s the bottom line. I’ve loved most of my families who have come here. I’ve met some great, great, great people, and some of them have stayed lasting friends.”

Cecile says she’s learned a great deal while at the school, including about her faith. She says she has no regrets about the many years she has spent there.

“It’s been a great 46 years,” she says. “I’m going to miss it, but do you know what I’m going to do? Nothing for a long time! And then, I’m going to volunteer.”