St. James School in Falls Church has seen three generations of the Lauby family.
It began with Anne (née Winslow) Lauby and her eight siblings, who attended the school during the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. Then she and her husband sent their four children, including daughter Natalie Keffalas, to the school in the 1980s, ’90s and 2000s. Today, Keffalas’ three sons are carrying on the family tradition. Attending the school “always has been a constant, which has been a great foundation for me and for my family,” said Keffalas, adding it is a place “you can come back (to) for support for the good times and the bad times.”
Lauby and her family first moved from New York to Virginia when her father got a position selling liturgical candles to churches in the area. Her parents heard good things about a priest in Falls Church — Msgr. Paul V. Heller — so they bought a home in the boundaries of St. James Church. “By then they were expecting number four, and they thought they had died and gone to heaven because it was a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house,” said Lauby. “Down the street from us was a farm that still had cows.”
The parish school, run by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, was overflowing. “Kindergarten, first grade and second grade had half-day sessions. (One) nun would have 130 kids total — 65 in the morning and 65 in the afternoon,” said Lauby. “We’d be here for a half day and we’d have a lot of homework.”
One vivid memory Lauby has from her time at St. James was the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. “One of the priests made an announcement and said the president had been shot, then he got on later and said that he had passed away. That was really shocking for everybody,” she said. “At least for people my age, that’s a demarcation of being innocent and not being innocent anymore.”
After eighth grade, Lauby attended Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington. In 1975, she and her husband married at St. James. They sent their children — Brian, Eileen, Robert and Natalie — to St. James, but the atmosphere was a little looser. “They had more fun” at school, Lauby said.
When Lauby’s youngest was in school, she began subbing and then teaching at St. James. She appreciated the encouraging attitude of the sisters she worked with. “Along with their faith, they also had great hope. Prayer was a constant in their lives, and calling on God for help was, too,” she said. “They made me realize that I alone could not solve every problem at school or at home.” A few years later, Lauby taught English at O’Connell.
Like her mother, Keffalas is now a teacher. As a girl, she loved going to school so much that she would wear her uniform on the weekends. “I wanted a Staples-themed birthday party because I loved teaching stuff already,” said Keffalas. It was there that the music teacher discovered her talent for singing. “I was cantoring Masses and singing at weddings and funerals when I was 12 years old, and I’m still doing that today 25 years later,” she said.
In 2015, Keffalas and her husband married at St. James. They have three sons — Luke, a second grader; Nicholas, a kindergartner; and Nathan, a preschooler. “We all come to school together every day, which is fun,” she said. Luke, who likes math and grammar, said the best part about school is the friends he’s made. Nicholas enjoys getting ice cream treats on the days of his classmates’ birthdays.
Lauby and Keffalas now watch as the boys experience many of the same St. James School traditions they once participated in, such as the pageants, the May Mary crowning and the annual parish bazaar. “It was the highlight of the school year to go to the bazaar,” said Keffalas. In addition to eighth grade graduation, the school also has a ceremony for the kindergartners. “(At) the kindergarten graduation, the kids today sing the same songs that I sang at my kindergarten graduation and (my mother) sang at hers,” she said. Nicholas already knows the words and the accompanying hand motions.
Over the years, the family has leaned on the support of the St. James community, but particularly last year when Keffalas had a jaw tumor removed. It was a trying ordeal, especially for a singing teacher. “My fibula was taken out of my leg and made into a new jawbone,” she said. “It happened during the last week of school (but) I didn’t have to worry about rides for the kids (or) meals. All summer long, random families and teachers would come over and say, ‘I’m taking the kids to a museum, we’ll be back in a little while.’ It was very nice.”
From the lifelong friendships they’ve made to the faith-filled education they received, the mother and daughter are grateful for their years at St. James, and that a new generation gets a chance to be a part of it. “(The teachers) genuinely love the kids that come through here, so I know that my kids are in great hands,” said Keffalas. “They love school, they love going to church, they pretty much love everything about St. James.”
Maraist is a freelancer from Reston.
