Crusader Stories

The Torris Family

​We have been at St. Peter since the pandemic in 2020. We were displaced from California and looking for a school that was similar to our Catholic school in California. We did not have to look far to find St. Peter Catholic School.

Our family was in a unique situation; our middle son had just been diagnosed with brain cancer and his father and I went to Memphis for his treatment, while our daughter and younger son stayed here with family.  St. Peter became such a blessing.  We never questioned if our daughter was being taken care of or if her schooling was suffering because of the crazy world of the pandemic. St. Peter did a wonderful job navigating the ever-changing circumstances and keeping the kids in person. The teachers, staff, and students knew what was going on with our son, and were always checking in on our daughter.  Her teacher at the time, Mrs. Anderson was wonderful at communicating with us and answering our questions while we were unable to be present with our daughter.

When my husband and I came home with our middle son, there was no question, he started school at St. Peter as soon as he could. The entire school was so caring and supportive of him and his situation. He started in pre-K with Ms. Heffner and then went on to kindergarten with Ms. Kusman. Through many ups and downs, our son ultimately lost his battle with cancer in 2021.

While trying to navigate every parent’s greatest fear, we realized not only were the teachers and staff amazing, but the community at St. Peter is completely unmatched. We knew people knew of our family and our trials, but due to the pandemic and missing much of the last year, very few people knew our family personally. To this community, that didn’t matter. They all showed up for us in a way I couldn’t imagine: from Fr. Gregory leaving a trip to come meet us in the hospital, to the teachers and staff feeding our family for the first week and constantly checking on our other two children, to the cards that the students from the whole school made for us. We were blessed by the whole school wearing our son’s favorite color (orange) for a day to remember him, the parish setting up a meal train that fed us for months, and the spiritual support from Fr. Gregory and the rest of the parish office. God knew what he was doing when he led us to St. Peter. He knew that we were going to need a community to take care of us, and this community here is nothing short of a gift.

As we continue to navigate our new life, everyone at the school continues to be kind, thoughtful, and supportive. Our daughter is now with Mrs. Chavez, and our youngest son is with Mrs. Hatton. They both communicate with us regularly to let us know how our children are doing, as does the rest of the staff. It gives us peace of mind to know that when our kids aren’t with us they still have people who care about them. We really have found such a blessing in St. Peter Catholic School.