A Beautiful Sum

How one family reached 100 years at St. Mary’s

St. Mary’s girls can do some serious math, but it was simple addition that led Josie McNeely Walker ’76 to a milestone discovery.

Last year, she was talking with husband Ron about St. Mary’s, a place where she spent the majority of her life — 10 years as a student and 37 years as a Spanish teacher. Now retired, Josie is the longest-tenured alumna faculty member in the school’s history, and her family’s collective legacy hits the 100-year mark this year.

We’re calling it the Turkey Quotient, the total number of years a family (or student) is connected to St. Mary’s. Go ahead. Check her math:

Sisters
Susan McNeely Nicholas ’67*, two years as a student
Pam McNeely Williams ’69, four years as a student
Josie McNeely Walker ’76, 10 years as a student and 37 years as a teacher

Children
Ellen LeVaughn Kowalchuk ’96, 14 years as a student
Justin Nicholas, five years as a teacher
Jessie Walker Wiley ’04, 15 years as a student

Granddaughters
Elaina Nicholas, five years as a student
Jane Wiley ’36, six years as a student (and counting)
Camille Wiley ’40, two years as a student (and counting)

So who do the McNeely sisters have to thank for this great legacy of a St. Mary’s education? Josie credits their grandmother, Olga McNeely, and mother, Camille “Bobby” McNeely, both of whom valued a strong education.

The McNeelys lived just north of Marion, Arkansas, where the girls’ father worked on the family farm. Josie started school at the now-closed Holy Cross Episcopal School in West Memphis, and she said the headmaster and his wife “kept talking about the school over in Memphis called St. Mary’s.”

The girls’ parents and grandmother wanted this experience for them, and their grandmother agreed to help with tuition. Since Susan and Pam were older, entering grades 11 and 9, their parents sent them to St. Mary’s first. A year later, Josie started at St. Mary’s in third grade.

“She wanted us to excel,” Josie said of her grandmother. “I think she even bribed me. If I had been valedictorian of my class, she was going to give me a Tennessee walker (horse) or a car.”

Josie didn’t become valedictorian, but she definitely excelled. In her first two years at St. Mary’s, she said she was proud to achieve the highest class average.

Pam remembers that other West Memphis and Marion girls were also enrolled at St. Mary’s, including Rikka Pulliam ’71*.

“At that time, there wasn’t I-40 or I-55 to circumvent the city, so we all piled into sedans and station wagons to drive Crump Boulevard and then on to Walnut Grove,” Pam said.

Picked for the cheerleading team at her previous school, Pam said she wasn’t thrilled at first about transferring to St. Mary’s, but her perspective changed over the years.

“St. Mary’s was the best decision made for us, as it prepared us for college and life itself,” she said. “I wouldn’t trade my experiences there, and Brian and I definitely knew our daughter, Ellen, would follow in the McNeely tradition.”

Ellen said her mom and aunts always spoke fondly of their time at St. Mary’s, and she knew where she was headed.

“There was never any other option for me; I would be a St. Mary’s girl,” she said. “The education and character shaping I received over my 14 years at St. Mary’s were a huge factor in making me the woman I am today. I’m grateful to my parents for the sacrifices they made to send me there.”

Entering St. Mary’s eight years after cousin Ellen, Jessie is also a “lifer” (a St. Mary’s student for at least 13 years) and now has two daughters at the school.

“Growing up, St. Mary’s always felt like an extension of home,” Jessie said. “Being a student there felt like joining a family tradition rather than just attending classes. I loved hearing stories and seeing photos of some traditions before I experienced them myself.”

Both Ellen and Jessie had Josie as a Spanish teacher. For Jessie, that meant her mom knew all of her teachers and friends well and truly understood the environment where she was learning and growing.

“The school showed me what it means to be a compassionate person, deeply grounded in values, and that’s something I hope to pass on to my daughters,” Jessie said. “Having my daughters at St. Mary’s is incredibly meaningful.”

Reflecting on her family’s ties to the school, Josie remembers the late Mary Davis, former school historian, Upper School Head, and Dean, being instrumental in helping them transition to the community.

Before Josie was a student at St. Mary’s, she would go to some of the meetings her mom had with Ms. Davis, who would say with kindness, “Be patient. Just give it a go.”

When the McNeelys first enrolled their daughters at St. Mary’s in the 1960s, they couldn’t have known just how meaningful the school would become for their family. Now, their daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters are helping tell that story.

So far, their history adds up to 100 years, but their legacy is exponential, extending far beyond what any one generation could imagine.

Courtney Shove Meador ’96, pictured here with Josie in 2017, is proud to have had her for four years of high school Spanish, along with Ellen LeVaughn Kowalchuk ’96, Josie’s niece. Courtney and her sister Heather Shove ’94 have a Turkey Quotient of 12; each attended St. Mary’s for five years, and their late mother, Sherry Shove, taught second grade there for two years.

 

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Celebrating 50 years of the Class of ’76

Take Josie McNeely Walker’s 100-year family legacy, divide it by two, and you get the number of years she will be celebrating at this year’s Alumnae Weekend. Yes, the Class of 1976’s 50th reunion coincides perfectly with this magical milestone year for the McNeely descendants.

All it took was a little number crunching to stumble upon these key calculations, which seem to crack a code of generational significance that goes beyond just one family.

“St. Mary’s is just in some families’ DNA,” said Mary Walton Walker Allen ’76, who is co-chairing the reunion with Josie. In fact, Mary Walton has a strong Turkey lineage of her own. Her grandmother taught ballet at St. Mary’s, her mother attended for a few years, her nieces are alumnae, and alumna daughter Walton Allen Webster ’00 now teaches Pre-Kindergarten at the school.

“We have some alumnae who have built strong legacies,” Mary Walton said. “A number of us sent our daughters and now granddaughters to follow in our footsteps.”

In addition to Josie, classmate Allison Brown Coates ’76, a St. Mary’s teacher since 1989, has made her career at the school.

Together, the Class of ’76 reminds us that St. Mary’s isn’t just a school — it’s a true community that spans generations.

Class of 1976 and their alumnae daughters

• Mary Walton Walker Allen & Walton Allen Webster ’00
• Allison Brown Coates & Lindsey Coates Horvatich ’02
• Martha Flowers & Austin Hasenmueller Toplam ’12
• Cori Friese McLaughlin & Maddie McLaughlin ’16
• Lisa Morrow Morten & Anna Morten ’11, Meredith Morten ’07
• Kim Brown Mullins & Carson Mullins Pigg ’12
• Josie McNeely Walker & Jessie Walker Wiley ’04
• Jan Valentine Wiygul & Lauren Wiygul Riley ’05
• Ginny Waller Zanca & Nelia Zanca Lynch ’03

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