The long, proud tradition of single-sex education that had formed the backbone of Archbishop Prendergast and Monsignor Bonner High Schools for decades was coming to an end.
Everyone knew it. That did not make it any easier. A sense of unease settled over the schools' Drexel Hill campus on the hill in Upper Darby as they awaited word from a commission that had been reviewing archdiocesan high schools.
Everyone was expecting bad news.
No one was expecting what they got.
Stunningly, both schools were targeted for closure.
That was three years ago. The school, merged into a single Bonner-Prendergast coed school, is still going strong.
That is largely the result of the work of one man.
The thunderbolt that both schools landed squarely in the lap of the Rev. James Olson. He was president of the two schools. Almost immediately after arriving in Drexel Hill, he was routinely peppered with questions about the schools' future and the belief that the idea of two, single-sex facilities would wind up on the chopping block.
Everyone expected that would be the ruling. No one ever imagined both schools would be targeted for closure.
It was Olson who had to make the decision of whether to appeal the recommendation of the archdiocese's blue ribbon panel.
It was not an easy decision to make.
I had Rev. Olson on our 'Live From the Newsroom' show several times, both in reaction and shock to the original recommendation, and then again as he mulled the decision to appeal.
Rallied by an incredible resolve in the community - and the money to back it up - Olson announced the schools would in fact appeal the ruling.
What happened next is near legend in Delaware County - and the archdiocese.
The schools' backers - pushed by Olson - not only raised enough money to save Bonner and Prendie - they laid the groundwork for a fundraising campaign that saved all the high schools on the hit list.
I hope this newspaper played a small role in supporting that effort. Almost daily we would update the fundraising effort, right up to the explosion of joy that accompanied the announcement that in fact the schools would remain open, albeit as a single facility.
At every step of the way, Rev. Olson did something I wish more people in his situation did. He worked with us. He returned our calls. He asked us to keep the message out in front of the public.
Over a matter of several months, he saved Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast.
Tony Mullen, co-chairman of the Bonner-Prendie Board of Advisers, put it fairly succinctly.
"He is a true hero," Mullen said. "He laid the foundation for the new school. He, more than any other person, is the reason the schools is here and thriving."
Now Bonner and Prendie will need a new hero.
Rev. Olson is leaving. He has been reassigned by the Archdiocese to the position of chaplain at Neumann-Goretti High School in Philadelphia.
His loss will be deeply felt here in Delaware County, in particular among the young men and women who call Bonner and Prendie home.
On a personal level, I will miss his friendship.
I know, in this job I'm not supposed to make friends with the people we cover.
I would guess those who make that kind of stance have never met Rev. Olson. On the days when we were reporting the worst possible news for the school, he never once called to complain.
Instead, he did what too few officials manage to do. He harnessed the power of the media in his efforts to save the school.
Today, that gleaming dome still stands on the hill in Drexel Hill.
It does so in large part because of the work of one man.
As long as there is a Bonner and Prendie, the Rev. James Olson will be remembered.
That is his legacy.
He saved those schools.
He will be deeply missed.
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