Father Rick Phipps and Ann Hardy, principal, thanked everyone for their help in preparing for the blessing.
Christopher Green (above) reads a display about Sister Bowman set up in the school.
Sherman Nunn Abdur-Razzaq of the Mississippi Afrocentrik Dance and Drum Ensemble performs during the ceremony.
Students spell out Sister Thea Bowman as Yolanda Henderson, sixth-grade teacher, holds up a photo of Sister Bowman during the blessing ceremony for the Sister Thea Bowman Catholic School at Jackson Christ the King Church on Sunday, Oct. 29.
Jackson man remembers St. Dominic’s early days By Fabvienen Taylor
JACKSON — Zachary Taylor Sr., 84, a retired pharmacist, was attending Jackson State University taking courses in science and mathematics in the 1940s after the Springfield, Ill., Dominicans (OP) took over the Jackson Infirmary and established St. Dominic’s.
Employed at night at Walgreen’s Drug Store downtown, he worked temporarily one week helping move furniture at St. Joseph High School on Amite St. When the job was over a Sister of Mercy told him St. Dominic’s was hiring.
What happened after that?
I went there and Sister Rita Rose (Monaghan) interviewed me, found out about my interest in medicine and mathematics and sent me to the pharmacy to speak with Sister Mary Carl (Marty), the pharmacist.
What was she like?
She was a lovely, bright woman, well-versed and friendly. After the interview she hired me to assist in the pharmacy. My job was typing and since I knew Latin, from my days at Holy Ghost School, I would type directions for prescipitions, under her tuteledge.
How long did you work there?
Maybe about two and a half years. After I had worked there for a while she was trying to interest me in pharmacy and taught me pharmaceutical phrasing and things like that.
It was real nice work, interesting and new to me. I enjoyed it very much.
Were the Domincan Sisters strict?
Maybe some of the older ones. The younger ones were not strict. They were very friendly and sociable, so to speak.
I remember quite a few of the sisters like Sisters Mary Robert (Armstrong), Rita Rose (Monaghan), Helen Marie (Ebers), Del Carmel (Kane), and Sister Mary Jude Judd.
I got to know them all and they got to know me.
Why?
There was a little sitting room near the pharmacy and it was a stop off point when the sisters were headed back to the convent after work. Sometimes they would be extremely tired and would stop off and maybe get a cool glass of water and talk with Sister Mary Carl.
Did they like your jokes?
Quite well. I used to tell them jokes about Honolulu where I was stationed in the Marine Corps during World War II, about jellyfish, about other things. They let their hair down at certain times you know.
The hospital was segregated back then wasn’t it?
Oh yeah, definitely. The basement was for blacks, or back then, coloreds. Everywhere here was segregated then. At that time I may have been the only black Catholic working in the hospital. Maybe, I’m not sure. Other blacks worked there too.
I remember seeing a future governor there once and had to help hold him down one night when he was a little inebrieated. This was prior to his becoming governor.
You never worked in the new hospital on Lakeland?
No I was in the reserves by then. I had been called back in and went into the Air Force. I became a registered pharmacist while in the Air Force in conjunction with several universities.
What do you think about the book, “The Love of Christ Impels Us”?
It’s a good interesting historical book I enjoyed seeing all those faces I knew so long ago.
I saw (Deacon) Sam Baker’s photo in there. I used to go to school with his wife, who was then Barbara Willis, when we were in high school at Holy Ghost. I believe she was a year ahead of me then.
I graduated in 1942.
I remember Bishops (Richard) Gerow and (Joseph) Brunini. There were a lot of Irish priests too who would come by the pharmacy to say hello to Sister Mary Carl when they were visiting the sick, or to celebrate Mass. I got to know two or three of them very well.
Did Sister Mary Carl ever meet your future wife, Darthy?
Yes. Darthy would come by sometimes on Sunday afternoons when I would get off work about six.
She told me Darthy was a pretty girl and asked if she was Catholic too. I told her no sister, but she’s studying to become one. (Editor’s note: Zachary Taylor Sr. is Fabvienen Taylor’s father and lives in Jackson. Zachary and Darthy Taylor had six children, five boys and one girl. A seventh son was adopted by the family later.)
pharmacist, was attending Jackson State University taking courses in science and mathematics in the 1940s after the Springfield, Ill., Dominicans (OP) took over the Jackson Infirmary and established St. Dominic’s.