As Guardian Angels Catholic School in Chaska prepares to close its doors for good May 28 — more than a century after it opened — students, teachers and parents are recognizing the moment with a special Mass, a final-day picnic and fond memories.

“It was just kind of a family,” said Jim Smyth, father to Rosalyn, an eighth grader who graduated this year with nine classmates; fifth-grader Audrey, kindergartner Lilian, and Charlotte, who would have been in preschool at Guardian Angels next school year.

“People who had been there awhile kind of picked up the ball, showed us the ropes,” Smyth said of moving to Chaska in 2010 with his wife, Stephanie, and finding a strong faith community at the school and parish. “Kindergartners are hugging the seventh- and eighth-graders … It’s more on the family side.”

Catholic education will continue for the Smyths’ children, however, with Rosalyn set to attend Holy Family High School in Victoria and the younger children at St. John the Baptist School in Jordan. Busing to both schools is available, Smyth said May 14.

Other Catholic schools in the area include St. Hubert School in Chanhassen and Shakopee Area Catholic School in Shakopee. The families of about two-thirds of Guardian Angels’ 64 elementary school and 16 preschool students have decided to continue sending their children to an area Catholic school, and one-third were still deciding, said Lynn Arnal, business administrator for Guardian Angels parish and nearby St. Nicholas parish in Carver.

The school’s storied history includes the fact it was also a high school for 50 years, from 1923 to 1973. In the 1940s, part of the school was open to the public as a community bowling alley, with regulation lanes and leagues for men and women. The school was staffed first by Benedictine sisters from 1869 to 1873, then lay teachers, followed by Sisters of Christian Charity for 115 years, from 1877 to 1992.

But the 108-year-old building housing the school needs costly updates and repairs. It also has seen declining enrollment over the last 20 years, in part because of its location in the lower reaches of the Minnesota River bluffs, Guardian Angels officials said. After discussions that included three town-hall type meetings with the pastor, Father Tony VanderLoop, Guardian Angels on Feb. 18 announced the decision to close.

A parishioner who wrote a history of the parish for its 150th anniversary in 2008, Theresa Fahey, said the community was blessed to have a Catholic school for 152 years. “Some families and mine have been privileged to receive education there for five generations. We all have many happy memories, and it is with great sadness that it will be closing,” she said.

A new, regional Catholic elementary school near Chaska is being discussed, in part to help meet the needs of a growing population around St. Nicholas and areas higher in the bluffs along U.S. Highway 212. That would take time to develop, but there is potential, Arnal said.

Meanwhile, students, teachers and parents wound down the school year at Guardian Angels with a mix of fun, faith and finals, Arnal said. “Yesterday, we had llamas,” she said of a local farmer’s recent visit to share the animals with Guardian Angels students.

There was a talent show, and plans include a May 26 final Mass with Archbishop Bernard Hebda, eighth-grade graduation May 27 and an end-of-school picnic May 28.

A kindergarten teacher, Peg Scott, was saying her final goodbyes as well, which for her includes retiring after 41 years in Catholic education, 36 years at Guardian Angels. Many of those years were spent teaching first graders, but Scott said she also has taught second and third graders and has been assistant principal and interim principal.

“It’s been a family,” said Scott, 63. “It’s really hard to talk about, even now. When I go out in the community, the parents are friends that I see. Kids will come over just to talk when I’m in the classroom.”

Guardian Angels challenged students academically and encouraged them in the faith, said Scott, a parishioner of St. Joseph in Waconia. She recalled one group of students about three years ago who felt so close to their schoolmates that upon graduating from eighth grade they came back and formed a youth group for the school.

“They bonded so much with kids at the lower grade levels,” Scott said May 14. “We have a buddy system, they made friends throughout the school. That’s what drew them back. They wanted to spend time with them.”

Guardian Angels milestones

1869 Catholic school education begins in Chaska as the congregation of Guardian Angels church purchases property across the street and converts a house on the new property’s west end into a school, staffed by Benedictine sisters.

1873 The Benedictine sisters leave and inexperienced lay teachers instruct the students.

1876 Franciscan Friars are assigned to serve the parish. They ask the Sisters of Christian Charity to teach in the parish school.

1880 A new school and convent are dedicated by Bishop Thomas Grace, the second bishop of the Diocese of St. Paul.

1914 A new Guardian Angels School is dedicated. A new convent is dedicated in 1916.

1923 The elementary school becomes part high school.

1925 A tornado destroys the southwest corner of the school, including the auditorium and some classrooms. With extensive repairs, the school also is expanded for more high school students.

1940s Part of the school is a community bowling alley. The lanes are conditioned to American Bowling Congress regulations.

1973 The high school graduates its final class before closing.

1992 The Sisters of Christian Charity leave the school as the order faces aging members and declining numbers of religious sisters.

2021 The elementary school closes.

— Guardian Angels Church, Chaska, Minnesota, 150th Anniversary 1858-2008