Alumnae gather to say goodbye to Queen of Angels Academy

MONTREAL – Hundreds of people packed the Queen of Angels Academy campus Friday night.

The speakeasy 1920s-themed party gave former students, teachers and staff a chance to say goodbye, as the high school will close its doors at the end of the school year.

The glitzy event was filled with new graduates and many students who left Queen of Angels Academy’s hallowed halls decades ago.

Founded by the sisters of Saint Anne in 1888, QAA has been at its Bouchard boulevard home since 1959. There were 33 students who started that year; Pat Marshall was one of them.

“It was a beautiful, interesting school. I loved the time I spent here. When I started, we were seven students in my class, so we couldn’t get away with anything,” she explains.

In 2006, there were 515 students enrolled at the private girls’ school. This school year there were fewer than 200.

But the halls of Queen of Angels will still be home to a different group of students next year. Elementary school students from College Ste. Anne will have classes in the building.

Friday’s party saw former students from the United Kingdom, the United States and the rest of Canada pack into the infamous “Moose room” to take a picture.

“It’s definitely bittersweet,” says Stephanie Steeves, President of the alumnae association. “We’re celebrating sisterhood, but it’s the end of an era.”