
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 12, 1990                   TAG: 9006120312
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHRISTINA A. SAMUELS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROANOKE CATHOLIC GRADUATES GIVEN FOUR FINAL RULES

"Pomp and Circumstance" rang out of St. Andrew's Church for Roanoke Catholic School's 40th commencement Monday.

The class of 1990 is the 40th to graduate since the merger of St. Andrew's and Our Lady of Nazareth high schools.

The Rev. James E. Parke, the school's chaplain and the pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help church in Salem, gave the commencement address. He told the graduates to follow four rules: live today, give away, proclaim hope and love deeply.

"Leave the past to mercy and the future to God's promise," Parke said. "Love and embrace yourself and others with a passion that speaks of your heart, your mind, your soul . . . that's the only power that will ultimately set us free."

Valedictorian William McKinley Thomas said his class was "like a puzzle - many pieces, but each one essential to the whole."

Thomas said the teachers at Roanoke Catholic have helped his class to see God as a friend rather than a strict judge and he concluded, "Like a strong ship, we are ready to face the rough seas that lie ahead."

Two students, Andrew Michael Monsour and Brian Andrew Bowles, immediately upon receiving their diplomas exchanged their mortarboards for baseball caps in front of the audience - Monsour's read "James Madison Dukes," for the college he will attend, while Bowles' cap carried the symbol of the New York Yankees.

Both Monsour and Bowles received awards from the Knights of Columbus: Bowles received the Outstanding Male Athlete Award and Monsour won the Male Scholar Athlete award.

The Catholic Daughters of America presented an award for Outstanding Female Scholar Athlete to Elizabeth Ann Marler.

In addition, the Anna Louise Haley History Award went to Shawn Matthew Simpson; the Cy Brunner Memorial Award was presented to William McKinley Thompson; the School Board Leadership Award went to Andrew Michael Monsour; the Patrick Rowe Memorial Award went to James Jonathan Spichek, and the Camilla M. Buchanan Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Sharon Lynn Hanson.

by CNB