After 38 Years, FSHA Assistant Principal Says Goodbye...Sort of

Recent back-to-back events honored longtime Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy Assistant Principal Katy Sadler, who has retired after nearly four decades. 

The festivities began on June 7—the last day of school—when current and former faculty and staff members gathered for a luncheon on FSHA’s senior lawn. It was there that colleagues shared thoughts, favorite memories and well-wishes for Sadler, a longtime La Cañada resident, according to Alexis Finc, the school's director of marketing and communications.

The following day a late afternoon Mass was held at FSHA in Sadler’s honor, followed by dinner catered by Los Tacos. More than 200 people attended the celebration, with a guest list comprised of alumnae, family, friends, Dominican Sisters, former colleagues, faculty and staff.

Reflecting on her time at FSHA, Sadler said she never thought she would have stayed at the school for so long. 

 “I don’t know what I expected, but I think when you’re on that journey of life, you can’t think too far ahead. It just all works out somehow,'' Sadler said during the event.

Although she will no longer be the school's assistant principal, Sadler will still be found on the hill this fall. She’s joining the development office on a part-time basis to focus on alumnae relations. Sadler’s already developed a list of projects to work on, Finc said: First up, a retrospective of each graduating class.

Additionally, Sadler has personal ties to FSHA. Her three daughters are alumnae, with one granddaughter a 2012 graduate, two granddaughters currently attending and one more entering in the fall, Finc said.

“What’s most special is seeing what I love through them, and that is Flintridge Sacred Heart,” Sadler said in a press release. 

'A Generous Heart'

During the luncheon, English teacher Maureen Grady, presented Sadler with a painting of African children carrying buckets of water on their heads while walking back from a well. It was a reminder of Wells of Life, a project that provides clean water to villages in Uganda—one that’s dear to Sadler’s heart, Finc said. (Earlier in the 2012-13 school year, FSHA students raised $3,000 to fund a well, which will now be named in Sadler’s honor.) Grady then read from a poem she wrote about Sadler: “The seeds are deeper, burrowed/in her humanity, compassion./Somehow her abundance is made of light,/spirit,/airborne.”

Grady was followed by Ed Smith, director of counseling and student support services, who spoke about "Sadler’s smile, infectious joy and generous heart.'' 

Smith continued, “She asks us to lift up our hearts and see beyond ourselves. To reach into our pockets and give a little more. To step out of our protective narcissism and see that the world is a bigger place than our backyards.''

Sadler first joined the FSHA community as a U.S. history and religion teacher in the fall of 1974—and never left. Over the past 38 years, Sadler has had enormous impact on the school, Finc said. In the late ‘70s, she brought the Advanced Placement program to the school and taught the first AP class; in the ‘80s, she started the East Coast trip, which took juniors across the country to visit colleges and universities in the Northeast (and still continues); and in the ‘90s, she helped develop Kairos, a four-day retreat for seniors, which many describe as the highlight of their time at FSHA.

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