Who We Are
Commission Members
John F. (Jack) Ready was born in Monroe in 1943. His education includes 8 years at St. Mary School and 4 years at Catholic Central (’61). He received a BA in History with a minor in Education from Notre Dame in 1966, an MA in History from Michigan in 1971 and a JD from Notre Dame in 1977. He worked in the education field from 1966 to 1974. He has been practicing law in Monroe since 1977. Jack was member of the Co-Institutional Development Board that helped facilitate the merger of St. Mary Academy and Catholic Central in 1986. He has served two six-year terms on the SMCC School Board, including 4 years as Chairman of the Board. Jack and his wife, Pat, are strong believers in Catholic Education. Pat, like Jack, is a product of Catholic education at the elementary, secondary, undergraduate and graduate school levels. Their three adult children all graduated from St. Mary School and SMCC (Joe ’03, Dan ’05, and Maire ’07). Joe has since received a BA from Marquette. Dan will receive his BA in May, 2009 from Xavier and Maire will complete her undergraduate degree from St. Marys College in 2011. (Yes, there will be no money left for them to inherit. They have already received the best we could leave them.)
Molly Roehrig attended St. Agnes Grade School in Toledo, Ohio, Central Catholic High School in Toledo, Heidelberg College, Kent State University, and the University of Toledo, College of Law. She spent ten years working with children removed from home before she retuned to school to pursue her J.D. She currently works for the United States Courts in Detroit, Michigan. Molly and her husband, Michael, moved to Monroe in 1995, and joined St. Michael the Archangel Parish. She has served on the Worship Commission, as a Lector, as a Catechist, and takes Communion to the homebound. Michael and Molly have four children. Three attend St. Michael School.
Jean Walsh Foster was born and raised in Monroe, and recently moved back to Monroe with her husband, Carl, and two boys, Luke (3.5) and Ian (1.5). She had the benefit of a Catholic education, starting at St. John the Baptist School in Kindergarten and then graduating from SMCC in 1991. Jean’s parents, Peter and Arlene Walsh, who also grew up in Monroe and graduated from SMA/MCC, dedicated much of their lives to Catholic education by being active members of St. John and sending all of their children through St. John and MCC/SMA (Jerry ’81, Jon ’83 and Julie ’86). The Walsh family has been a member of St. John for over 60 years and has been actively involved in both school and church activities. That is something Jean hopes to continue through her service on this committee. It has been a joy for her to see her nieces, nephews and now her own son, Luke, attend St. John and walk through the same halls as she did, as well as her siblings and father. Jean received a B.S. in Education from CMU with a double major in Health Education and Psychology. Upon graduating from CMU, she received a full Graduate Assistant scholarship to Indiana University where she received a Master in Public Health. Jean then took a full-time teaching position at Batavia High School in Batavia, IL where she was the Lead Health Education teacher, the Chairperson for the K-12 Health Education curriculum, the Coordinator for the mentoring program for at-risk students and the coach of both volleyball and softball. In 2003, Jean and Carl decided to be closer to family and moved to Brighton, MI. They recently decided to be even closer and moved back to Monroe in September of this year. Jean’s husband, Carl, works as a Pediatric Optometrist at UM, and Jean is in her fifth year teaching at EMU in the Department of Health Education and Human Performance. Her primary teaching duty consists of teaching future Health Educators methodology, content, evaluation, and assessment. In 2007, Jean also received a Master of Arts in K-12 Educational Administration. Jean is happy to be home and back at St. John.
Kenyon (Ken) Calender attended Airport High School, Monroe County Community College and Eastern Michigan University. He began his career at Ford Motor Company. He is CEO and Founder of KC Transportation, Inc. Kenyon is member of St. John the Baptist Parish, where he has been Stewardship Chairperson. His service to the community includes, SMCC School Board Chairperson; been a member of the Board of Advisors, College of Business at EMU, and a Port of Monroe Authority Commissioner. Kenyon has been married for 29 years. He has four daughters.
William A. (Bill) Kipf was born in Monroe in 1952 and is a graduate of Monroe High School and Monroe County Community College. He began a career in the building products supply industry in 1973. He is a past member (9 years) of the St. Mary Parish School Advisory Committee, where he helped start the annual Parent Club Auction and served as a co- chairman for 10 years. Bill currently serves the parish as an usher, and for the past 20 years, he and his wife, Vicki, have helped with the pre-marital classes for engaged couples. He also was an adult leader for Cub Scout Pack 519 (13 years) sponsored by the parish. Bill spent 6 years as president of the SMCC Athletic Boosters as well as being involved as a Parent Ambassador and was on various other committees at SMCC. Bill has been married for 35 years to Vicki, who is an R.N. in labor and delivery at Mercy-Memorial Hospital in Monroe. They have three sons, all of whom attended and graduated from St. Mary Grade School and S.M.C.C. (Matt ‘96, Adam ’00, and John ‘05).
Gabriel Martin was born in Monroe in 1971. He attended and graduated from St. John Grade School and St. Mary Catholic Central High School. Gabe received his bachelors degree from Western Michigan University (‘95), majoring in Organizational Communications with a minor in Religion.
Gabe is employed at Martin’s Shoe House; a family owned business established in 1846. Gabe is a board member of the Downtown Development Authority and serves as Chairperson of the Downtown Monroe Business Network. Gabe and his wife Susan have 3 children; two of which attend school at St. John. Gabe is committed to Catholic education for his children and is serving on this commission to ensure that a Catholic education is available to all students in the Monroe community for years to come.
Lou Bonanni was born and raised in West Toledo. He is a graduate of Regina Coeli grade school and Central Catholic high school. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Siena Heights University in Adrian. He worked at Enterprise Rent a Car for over nine years rising from Rental Representative to Group Car Sales Manager for Cleveland, Ohio. He is currently an Executive Sales Representative for GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, working in most of Northwest Ohio. He has three children all attending St John the Baptist school in Monroe. He also currently serves as Co-Chairman of the school advisory committe there.
Donna St.Pierre is a native of Monroe, Michigan. She graduated from St. Michael’s grade school, St. Mary Academy and MCCC. Over the past 30 years Donna has been active in the parish life of St. Mary’s, Monroe. She has served as the Sunday Preschool director and teacher, has been a Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader, room mother, on the annual Parent Club Auction committee, and as secretary and then chairperson of the parish pastoral council. At SMCC she served as a bingo chairperson, worked the fair food booth and was a scorekeeper for the boy’s soccer team. She also started the first fair parade fund raiser for the soccer team. Currently, she is a Eucharistic Minister, a member of the RCIA team, on the Worship Commission and a volunteer for God Works! at St. Mary. In the larger Monroe community Donna has served on the executive committee, building committee and as a board member at the Monroe Family YMCA. She also served 9 years as a board member of Caring Alternatives.
She and her husband Al, a graduate of Monroe Catholic Central, own and operate St.Pierre Ace Hardware and Dundee Ace Hardware. They have 3 sons who graduated from St. Mary and SMCC (Dan '93, Andrew '94, Rob '97) and four grandchildren under 3 years old.
Donna is grateful to her parents for the gift of a Catholic education, and that her children were able to attend Catholic schools. She is confident that her grandchildren will have the same opportunity for a Catholic education when they attend school.
Mary O’Lear attended St. Patrick’s grade school and graduated from Monroe High School in 1985. Mary is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University, and is a Registered Occupational Therapist. She is currently a Director at Advanced Physical Therapy, Monroe, and treats patients with upper extremity injuries. Mary is a member of St. Michael’s Parish and is a Eucharistic Minister, and former School Board Member. She is active with fundraising at the school and assisting in activities involving her twin sons. Her husband Mike is active on the Athletic Board at St. Michael’s.
Lyric Centa Hodgson was born and raised in Monroe and has been a lifelong advocate of catholic schools. She attended St. Mary Grade School under Sr. Margaret Cutcher and graduated from St. Mary Academy (SMCC) in 1986. After graduating from Bowling Green State University with a Bachelor's degree in Secondary Education with a major in mathematics she and her husband Don moved back to Monroe where Lyric taught algebra and geometry at SMCC for five years.
She is now actively involved at St. Mary Grade school with her three kids. Zach (13) in seventh grade, Regan (11) in sixth grade, and Hannah (8) in second. She is a member of the School Advisory Board, Faith Formation Committee, and SMCC Endowment Board.