28 JANUARY 25, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
Sharing memories of Glendale school’s
110 years of faithful education
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Many of our readers, and
even this Old Timer, were
saddened to learn recently
that one of Our Neighborhood’s most
vaunted institutions of learning — St.
Pancras School in Glendale — would
be closing permanently at the end of
this school year.
For a century and 10 additional
years, the school at the corner of
Myrtle Avenue and 68th Street helped
grow young minds, build friendships
that lasted forever and prepared
generations of Catholics to receive
three important sacraments (penance,
communion and confi rmation).
Like many Catholic schools around
Brooklyn and Queens, St. Pancras
came to life in 1908, just a few years after
the founding of St. Pancras Church.
St. Pancras, by the way, is considered
to be the patron saint of teenagers. According
to church teachings, he lived
in Syria or Phrygia in the late third
century. He converted to Christianity
aft er his uncle converted. St. Pancras
was executed in the 300s during the
reign of Roman emperor Diocletian;
Pancras, then only a teenager, had refused
to off er a sacrifi ce to pagan gods.
The current iteration of St. Pancras
School opened in 1950, the large campus
accommodating the ever-growing
population of baby boomers in the
area. Over the next six decades, the
school became an intricate part of the
neighborhood, hosting an expansive
youth sports program, scout meetings,
An old class photo from St. Pancras School in Glendale
Students entertained an
audience that included
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio
back in 2011.
For All Saints Day 2011, St.
Pancras fourth-graders dressed up
as their favorite saints.
The St. Pancras Marching Band, participating in a 1970s Memorial Day Parade in Ridgewood.
