Former PVI Bookstore Manager Dies

Special to the HERALD

FAIRFAX — Louise Saylor, recently retired bookstore manager at Paul VI High School in Fairfax, died Feb 12 after a lengthy illness. The celebrant of her funeral Mass, offered at St. Mark Church in Vienna Feb. 16, was Father John Lyle, OSFS, PVI principal.

Concelebrating the Mass were former principals Fathers Donald Heet, OSFS and Robert Mulligan, OSFS; former vice-principal Father Robert Mancini, OSFS; chaplain Father Matthew Hillyard, OSFS; and religion teacher Father Michael Cavanaugh, OSFS. Religion department chair Brother Ed Ogden, OSFS, assisted. Father Christopher Pollard, parochial vicar at St. Mark was also a concelebrant.

Saylor was honored for her 13 years as bookstore manager at a faculty luncheon Feb. 4. In addition to gifts of appreciation from the school and faculty, the Mothers Club presented what Saylor said at the time was "the best gift of all, a living memorial." The Mothers Club will grant a Louise Saylor Textbook Scholarship each year to one sophomore, one junior and one senior. The value of each will be $250. Students who have a grade point average of 3.0 will be eligible for an annual drawing.

Father Lyle remembered Saylor in his eulogy as a "character," a "volunteer," and most of all a "mother." He noted that although she had only one child, son Jamie, of the class of 1989, she was a mother to all the students of Paul VI. She praised and encouraged them for the most part, but was not afraid to tell them if they were not meeting her high expectations. Alumni continued to come and visit Saylor long after they graduated and she was always eager to hear of their lives at college and after.

For many years before Saylor took on the position as bookstore manager, she volunteered her services, first at Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Vienna and then at Paul VI. She served as president of the Parent Teacher Organizations at both schools and was also president of the Athletic Boosters and chaired one of the first All-Night Graduation parties at Paul VI. During the early years of the school, Saylor donated kitchen cabinets and appliances and ran a concession stand for the athletic field. She was well-known for her booming voice cheering on the Paul VI teams.

Saylor was a graduate of Georgetown University and worked in the 1950s for the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. She also sang in the Lou Smith Band. She was proud of her Canadian citizenship, but became a United States citizen in 1991.

Last May, the choir surprised Saylor with a serenade to celebrate her 65th birthday and more than 200 students and faculty members showered her with flowers and balloons. Saylor wrote to the school newspaper, "My heart gets really sentimental when I remember all the wonderful students who prayed and stopped into the bookstore to see how I was doing … This made my birthday the crowning moment of my 12-year career at Paul VI."

Although Saylor had suffered from cancer during the past two years, she rarely missed work and continued to come in even when she had to use a walker. She finally retired just before Christmas. Religion teacher Anne Henry-Gross remembered, "Louise was a woman of deep faith and indomitable spirit. Her faith gave her the courage to accept the difficulties and the indignities that cancer brought her with elan and a laugh. Louise did not know the meaning of giving up."

Former Paul VI parents were among the members of the St. Mark’s Resurrection Choir and ushers. One of the soloists was Sarah Bennett Swanner, class of 1993 and one of the readers was Daniel Ciatti, class of 1989. Paul VI band director Don Witman was the trumpeter at the Mass.

Saylor is survived by her husband Donald and son Jamie. If desired, donations may be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Fund, 1400 Eye St. N.W., Washington, D.C.

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