Celebrating 100 Years of Villanova: Honoring the Past, Embracing the Future
Last October 12, 2024, Villanova Preparatory School celebrated a much-anticipated milestone: our 100th Anniversary.
On October 12, 1924, 15 boys, three teachers, and two Augustinians entered Cantwell Hall to begin their education and formation. One hundred years later, on October 12, 2024, over 300 guests gathered in the shadow of Cantwell Hall to commemorate a century of providing a quality Catholic education rooted in the Augustinian intellectual and spiritual tradition, anchored in the core values of unity, truth, and love. It was a truly elegant and lively celebration, and I am deeply grateful to all who joined us for the Mass and Gala Dinner.
The event was not only a chance to reconnect with the school community, recall fond memories, and reflect on the lasting impact of a Villanova education but also an opportunity to express heartfelt gratitude to those who have played key roles in Villanova's history: the Augustinians, religious, teachers, staff, parents, benefactors, and especially the students. Of course, none of our success as a school would have been possible without the blessings and grace of God through the intercession of St. Thomas of Villanova, our patron.
As we look forward to the future, we continue our mission to prepare the next century of Wildcats in the spirit of unity, truth, and love.
Villanova Preparatory School
Headmaster Brian Grisin
View Villanova's 100th Anniversary Video
It's the first day of August 2024, and I'm sitting outside the ranch house on 80 acres of land in San Antonio Valley, California, 20 miles south of Livermore, completely off the grid, surrounded by Blue Oaks, Pines, Junipers, and Buckeyes. My travels from Villanova have brought me to this place.
After graduating in 1969, I attended Stanford University and graduated in 1973 with a degree in architecture. That was also the year I married my best friend from fourth grade. In addition to our day jobs, we spent that first year as the live-in night assistant couple at an animal hospital.
My day job for the next 27 years was working in the Palo Alto area as an architect for firms whose clients included the National Park Service, Stanford University, San Jose State University, and the US Navy. Small part-time gigs [shaping dough for the Acme Bread Company and weekend baker for a restaurant] kept me connected to my love of food.
We settled in San Jose in 1974 [where we live to this day] and, magically, four children and three grandchildren have appeared.
In 1998, I became involved with acting in community theater and, by 2017, had appeared in over 45 productions, big and small. My skills also led me to design and construct theater sets for about 90 productions around the Bay Area. It helped that we happened to buy an old California National Guard Armory [built in 1933] that I and other theatre groups used for office, storage, and construction space.
At some point during this period, I stopped working as an architect and became a caregiver to my live-in in-laws. My work around their needs included becoming a volunteer narrator and later a paid sound technician for a non-profit, a massage therapist, an artist model, and whatever personal art and craft work caught my interest.
Other events scattered over time include hiking John Muir Trail [Whitney to Yosemite]; hiking the Grand Canyon rim to Phantom Ranch and back; bicycling Santa Barbara to Los Angeles to San Jose; completing several Double Century bike rides; civic involvement on San Jose Community Development Block Grant Steering Committee and the Fine Arts Commission; scuba diving the Monterey Bay.
Fred's website and contact information is found on his webpage http://fredsharkey.com/.
