{"id":317732,"date":"2026-08-10T13:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T13:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/317732\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T13:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T13:56:14","slug":"queen-of-martyrs-school-closing-students-community-members-reunite-after-evergreen-park-illinois-catholic-schools-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/317732\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen of Martyrs school closing: Students, community members reunite after Evergreen Park, Illinois Catholic school’s closure"},"content":{"rendered":"

EVERGREEN PARK, Ill. (WLS) — Former students and community members gathered Sunday at Queen of Martyrs for a reunion and farewell<\/a>, two months after the school permanently closed.<\/p>\n

The event included a Sunday Mass followed by a reception celebrating the school’s 74-year history. Alumni from multiple graduating classes returned to reconnect and reflect on the school’s role in their lives and in the Evergreen Park community.<\/p>\n

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24\/7. Click here to watch<\/a><\/p>\n

“It’s like a family reunion to see a bunch of my classmates I haven’t seen in a while. It’s nice,” said Xavier Alvarez, a member of the Class of 2025.<\/p>\n

The Archdiocese of Chicago said Queen of Martyrs was facing declining enrollment<\/a> and was projected to have a deficit of more than $400,000.<\/p>\n

Many attendees expressed sadness over the school’s closure and the loss of a longtime community institution.<\/p>\n

“I feel bad I had some good times here some bad times here, but it’s a shame they let the school shutdown. We’re running out of places for kids to go to school,” said Bob Weber, a member of the Class of 1958.<\/p>\n

Although many alumni have since moved to other cities and states, they said the school remained an important part of Evergreen Park and their personal histories.<\/p>\n

“Just a part of your past is gone. It was sad when they changed the church then when I found out they’re changing the school that just hurts. I loved it that’s why it hurts, and I loved it because I was only two blocks away,” said Sue Panozzo, a member of the Class of 1967.<\/p>\n

For many who returned Sunday, the gathering offered an opportunity to reconnect with former classmates and celebrate the legacy of a school that served the community for more than seven decades.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EVERGREEN PARK, Ill. (WLS) — Former students and community members gathered Sunday at Queen of Martyrs for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[119867,56756,103485,119865,119866,119864,9,24,63,103565,119862,103566,122,124,123,119863,68415],"class_list":["post-317732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-119867","tag-catholic-school","tag-evergreen-park","tag-evergreen-park-il","tag-evergreen-park-illinois","tag-evergreen-park-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queen-of-martyrs","tag-queen-of-martyrs-catholic-school","tag-queen-of-martyrs-school","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-school-closing","tag-school-closure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}