For the average family, occasions for getting together with your siblings and all the cousins are usually limited to weddings, funerals, family reunions and every other holiday.
For Laura Erwin and her three siblings, it can happen any weekday around 3 p.m., when all 11 cousins exit the doors of Holy Cross Academy in Fredericksburg, her own elementary alma mater.
While it may seem like a coincidence at first, this unique occurrence is rooted in a legacy of Catholic school education that spans three generations. A legacy that grew out of tragedy.
Laura’s mom, Betsy Moran, was 5 years old when her father, Cmdr. Samuel Joseph Brocato, was killed while on deployment June 9, 1960. According to Betsy, the Naval aviator was flying his A4 Skyhawk in formation while preparing for an airshow for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. A tragic aviation mishap occurred when the pilot above Brocato, flying an F4 Phantom, accidentally released an empty pod from his bomb rack, which struck Brocato’s canopy and sent the plane plunging into the South China Sea.
He left behind his wife, Florence, 37, and their four young children in California. In the time following that tragedy, Florence felt the support of the military community, family and friends, but also from the Catholic school where she enrolled Betsy and her three brothers, Tom, Bob and Barry. Her brother Bob would later become a Catholic priest.
“The church was so kind to my mother,” said Moran. “You look back and think, ‘How did she do it?’ She had a strong sense that, ‘God is always with me and I am never alone.’ ”
Florence never forgot the generosity she experienced and the value of Catholic education. It motivated her and her second husband, Capt. Ed Lighter, to offer to pay for their grandchildren’s education when Moran moved to Fredericksburg with her husband and four children, Sarah, Laura, Julea and Brendan.
Thanks to her grandparents, Laura and her three siblings started at Montfort Academy, which closed in 1997. They transferred to the newly built Holy Cross Academy the following year. Erwin was part of the first graduating class in 1998.
According to Erwin, one of the most memorable aspects of their time at Holy Cross Academy was the self-described “infiltration” of their mother, Betsy Moran, into school life. She started as PTO vice president that first year. Over the next 14 years, she was a substitute, volunteer and classroom aide. The Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales, who helped found the school and worked at if for many years, asked Moran to join the front office, where she worked until 2012.
“I loved working there and seeing the kids,” said Moran. “I miss the hugs the most.”
Now all four of her children have enrolled their own children in Holy Cross Academy and all 11 of the cousins are experiencing elementary school together.
“We realized the numbers were going to be higher when the preschool was brought over to the “big school,” said Erwin. “There is some sacrificing that goes into it and of course, carpool is a scream, but it’s really a dream come true and a joy beyond measure to see them grow and mature together.”
Sadly, the cousins’ time together will not last. Next year, Erwin’s brother will move his family to Texas after finishing his master’s degree while at Quantico Marine Corps Base. But even though their time together at Holy Cross Academy will be short, it has been memorable. Moran hopes the experience will encourage the grandkids to continue the legacy if they have children someday.
“You can teach them at home, but when the school creates that atmosphere, it is a blessing,” said Moran. “It all reminds me how important it is to learn about God.”
