In Good Faith

Former headmaster Peter Benedict, current headmaster Mike Mersky and former headmaster Dale Sorensen meet on the playground with children from the lower school.

From the beginning, Saint Edward’s School was defined by an extraordinary fidelity. Most people don’t know that the independent day school with a nine-to-one, student-teacher ratio and a 100 percent college acceptance rate faced debt that could have closed it down in its first year – and that it was rescued by a 25-year-old headmaster. Or that a group of parents bought Saint Edward’s its first school bus, a VW Wagon, so its students from Fort Pierce could commute together. Or that the first graduation was conducted in a tent that nearly collapsed during a rainstorm. The fact is, there have been points in its 50-year history when Saint Edward’s has operated solely on blind faith.

It all started with a vision. In 1959 Mary Lou Hammond was a young widow and mother of two small children for whom she wanted an excellent education. Determined to find a home for an independent school in Vero Beach, she approached Paul Semon, who owned the old Riomar Club, and convinced him to sell the building and two cottages. Then she met with Fred Tuerk, who donated some of the underdeveloped property where Indian River Shores is today. 

“I was absolutely determined we would get a school together,” says Hammond. “I’ve always said that if you make up your mind to do something, you can do it.” Next she visited with Claude Douthit, who agreed to donate money for the school. Douthit, who was on the vestry of Trinity Episcopal Church, approached Father Wyatt-Brown, who had his own vision. After founding Saint Andrew’s School in Boca Raton two years earlier, he wanted to establish Episcopal-affiliated schools throughout Florida.