Calling on Our Lady of Perpetual Help, class of 1969!

Forty-four years ago, in 1969, Diane Durnin and her classmates were celebrating a significant milestone in a student’s lifetime: graduating from Our Lady of Perpetual Help High School.

Promises were made to stay in touch, but life got in the way and the students of the 1969 class drifted apart, each with a dream in mind. Years passed and Durnin, who’s lived in Albany for the past 30 years, is now calling upon all the “girls” who went to school with her to catch up over a late-summer dinner, a reunion that would take place Saturday, August 10 from noon to 4:30 p.m.

So far, Durnin (aka Diane Durnin Doyle) has been able to reach 52 girls of a total of 133. She started using social media to reconnect after what she calls a “surprising” incident.

Durnin, 62, had recently lost her husband of 25 years when something “strange” happened. A book, that turned out to be her high school yearbook, fell off a shelf—wide open on a name: “Pat Murray.”

When Durnin decided to look Murray up on Facebook, she found her. The rest is history. Durnin has located and exchanged many messages with those who used to be her classmates.

“I have three college degrees and I feel like I’m in nursery school,” she said about using Facebook.

Two of her classmates have died, she was informed, so the day of the reunion will also include “releasing balloons with the two classmates’ names,” as well as “additional balloons for the husbands who are not here, the faculty, and a classmate (who is physically with us, but who’s unable to travel),” she added.

Durnin has come back to Brooklyn four times since her big move. “I love it up here,” she remarked, “[There’s a] slow taste to life.”

Her family used to live on 72nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. If you went to OLPH with Diane Durnin Doyle, reach out to her by calling 518-239-4478, or emailing irishtown87@gmail.com. She’s also on Facebook under Diane Doyle rather than her maiden name, Durnin.

“Hope to hear from everyone,” she said.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.